College football loves to justify the existence of otherwise mundane conference games by adding in a musket or hog’s snout or some other performatively folksy bauble that tries to mask over the bloodless, production-line feel of the entire industry. None was more shameless than the Civil ConFLiCT trophy, which was supposed to raise some buzz about UConn’s annual made-up rivalry game with Central Florida.
Seeing as the two teams will play this Saturday, Hartford Courant columnist Jeff Jacobs went on a search to find the white elephant of coach Bob Diaco’s underwhelming tenure with UConn football. As Jacobs discovered, no one knows (or wants to admit they know) the award’s current location.
Ever since UCF beat UConn in 2016 and left the swaddled trophy on the field, the Civil ConFLiCT trophy’s whereabouts are unknown. UConn said it followed Diaco out the door. Huskies successor Randy Edsall said he’s never seen it. Nebraska, which employs Diaco as a defensive coordinator, wasn’t helpful. Knights head coach Scott Frost, who was amused by the question, didn’t give a revelatory answer:
The Omaha World-Herald’s Sam McKewon asked Diaco, the creator of this monster, about the trophy. The coach just wants to forget. Via the Courant:
“I’ve eliminated it from my mind,” Diaco said. “I put the experience in a chest, locked it, dumped it into the ocean and I threw away the key. That’s the important thing. I’ve thrown the key away. I don’t even know ‘it” or what you’re talking about. Because I’ve eliminated that whole painful part from my mind.”
H/t to Corey