On Saturday, the Bill Belichick-led North Carolina Tar Heels are set to head to Orlando, Florida for a Week 4 matchup with the UCF Knights. But ahead of the matchup on Tuesday, Belichick perhaps gave UCF some added motivation from the way that he referenced his upcoming opponent during a press conference.
Belichick had nothing but praise for his opponents when speaking about the game, calling them a “good football team.” But he chose to refer to UCF as simply “Central” instead of as Central Florida.
“We’ll just go through the preparations for Central,” said Belichick. “That’s another good football team. You know, I know Scott (Frost) does a good job down there. But we’ll have to gear up for what they do. They have a lot of skilled athletes. They get the ball in space a lot. Defensively, they have some explosive guys that we’ll have to handle. So we’ll find out.”
Bill Belichick referring to UCF as “Central” is the kind of stuff I know the UCF fan base loves. @UCF_Football #ucf pic.twitter.com/zxnlU5GfR6
— Pat Welter WRAL (@PatrickWelter) September 14, 2025
It may seem like a very minor difference between Belichick referring to UCF as “Central” compared to “Central Florida.” But according to a former UCF beat reporter and current reporter at WRAL News, an NBC affiliate in Raleigh, the program has made it a point to either be referred to as UCF or Central Florida and not to be called “Central.”
It’s kind of an inside joke for UCF fans. I covered that team and lived in Orlando before coming to Raleigh. The school has made a push to be referred to as “UCF”. Some people still say Central Florida. Literally no one says “Central”
— Pat Welter WRAL (@PatrickWelter) September 16, 2025
Despite the fact that the program seemingly does not like to be referred to as “Central,” the UCF social media team poked some fun at Belichick referring to them as such, putting “Central Football” in their X bio.
Bill Belichick refers to UCF as “Central,” hence the change to Central Football 😉 pic.twitter.com/dfxaT2eDnf
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 16, 2025
Will any of this matter when the two teams ultimately face off on Saturday? Probably not. But at the very least, it may feel far sweeter for UCF should they ultimately be able to beat Belichick and UNC.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.