UCF's bowl opponent is finally set.

By early Sunday afternoon, the Knights knew they were headed to the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa. Now they know they'll be facing Georgia Tech. The Big 12 vs. ACC clash will be played Friday, Dec. 22 at Raymond James Stadium with a 6:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPN.

Earlier in the day, Brett McMurphy of Action Network and the Big 12 tweeted - and then deleted - it would be a UCF-Duke matchup. That would have been a rematch of last year's Military Bowl, which Duke won 30-13.

After a couple hours with no official announcement, the ACC tweeted it would actually be Georgia Tech in the Gasparilla Bowl. UCF officially announced the matchup minutes later. McMurphy later clarified the ACC made a last-minute switch to avoid the rematch.

There are multiple ties as well as recent history between the Knights and Yellow Jackets.

On social media, the game is already being called the "O'Leary Bowl." The two schools share a legendary former head coach in George O'Leary, who is a member of both the GT and UCF Halls of Fame.

O'Leary coached the Yellow Jackets from 1994-2001, leading the program to five consecutive bowl games from 1997-2001 and winning the ACC Co-Championship in 1998.

O'Leary went on to coach at UCF from 2004-2015 where he guided the Knights to four conference championships and seven bowl games including a Fiesta Bowl win against Baylor in 2013. Without O'Leary setting the foundation, UCF may not be in the Big 12 today.

UCF and GT have played recently in non-conference action. In 2020, the Knights beat GT 49-21 in Atlanta. The series concluded in Orlando in 2022, a 27-10 UCF victory.

That was the final nail for GT head coach Geoff Collins, who was fired days later. Brent Key, the longtime UCF assistant under O'Leary who was part of Collins' GT staff, ascended to interim head coach. The Jackets finished 2022 with a 4-4 record under Key (including wins vs. Pitt, Duke, Virginia Tech and UNC) which helped Key, a GT alum, secure the full-time job.

Both UCF and Georgia Tech finished the 2023 regular season with 6-6 records. Notable wins for the Jackets include triumphs over nationally-ranked foes Miami and North Carolina. Two of their losses came against teams playing in New Year's Six bowl games: Ole Miss and Georgia.

Overall, GT holds a 3-2 edge in the all-time series. While UCF has won the last two games, GT won a trio of games in 1996, 1999 and 2000, all played in Atlanta.

This will be UCF's eighth consecutive bowl game and their third Gasparilla Bowl appearance in the last five years. This will be Georgia Tech's first bowl game since 2018.