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FSU Rivals: Florida’s Big 3 Schools Need To Play Every Season

By Jason Parker

Nov 29, 2014; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles mascot Chief Osceola stands on the field prior to the game against the Florida Gators at Doak Campbell Stadium. Florida State Seminoles defeated Florida Gators 24-19. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 29, 2014; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles mascot Chief Osceola stands on the field prior to the game against the Florida Gators at Doak Campbell Stadium. Florida State Seminoles defeated Florida Gators 24-19. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /
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With the news that FSU’s rivals, Florida and Miami, will meet for one game in 2019, it drives home the need for all three to play each other every year.

28 times in the history of college football inside the state of Florida, the state’s there biggest programs have taken the field against each other, including 19 straight seasons from 1969 to 1987. When FSU, Florida and Miami took the field, it determined who was truly the champions of the Sunshine State.

In the 28 seasons since the Gators and Hurricanes last took the field as part of a yearly game, the true battle for the Sunshine State has taken place just six times, with two of those coming thanks to bowl meetings between the two schools. At the same time, FSU has maintained games each season with both rivals, including six straight wins over Miami and five of their last six over Florida.

This week, news came out that Florida and Miami have agreed to renew their series…for one single game to start the 2019 season. The game will take place not in Gainesville or South Florida, but at a neutral site location in Orlando at the newly named Camping World Stadium (formerly known as the Citrus Bowl).

For new school football fans in the Sunshine State who think that FSU-Florida of the 1990’s or FSU-Miami of the 1980’s was the top rivalries between the schools, they would be shocked to know that the game between the Gators and Hurricanes was, for the longest time, THE rivalry game inside the state.

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As FSU was building their program into the national power it would become starting with the arrival of former head coach Bobby Bowden, Florid and Miami were the established programs who, despite not having much national success, still ran football in the state of Florida.

Eventually, the rivalry would die away for different reasons depending on who you believe. Florida said they couldn’t play the series anymore due to an increased SEC schedule and obligations to rivalry games against Georgia and FSU, saying Miami wouldn’t be willing to make it a neutral site series.

Miami, who would win their second national title in five seasons in 1987, says the Gators stopped playing them because they were tired of getting beat, having lost seven of the 10 games played between 1978 and 1987.

Whatever the reason, it’s insane that FSU is the only school who plays each of their two in-state rivals each season. While it has given the Seminoles much more cred when it comes to saying they will play anyone at any time (being the only school during the Hurricanes’ glory years who didn’t cancel their series), Florida and Miami shouldn’t be a rare occurrence.

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The ‘Canes and Gators should meet to start the year, while FSU would play Miami in October and finish the season against Florida. There is no reason, using the 2016 schedule for example, that the ‘Canes should be playing FAMU, FAU or Appalachian State instead of Florida. At the same time, the Gators have no excuse for playing UMass, North Texas or Presbyterian instead of Miami.

In a state where football is close to a religion and the best high school talent in the country plays (along with college alumni and fan bases that can’t stand each other), everyone would win with FSU, Florida and Miami taking the field each season. It’s the right thing to do.

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