Florida-Miami was once a huge rivalry, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at the schedules from the last decade. The two teams have played each other only five times this century. All but one of those were during the Ron Zook era.
Now that we’re about to see the newest addition to this once-storied rivalry, younger fans may be wondering, ‘Why is Florida-Miami a big deal?”
It’s not a conference game, and the Hurricanes haven’t been good of late. So why isn’t this just another game on the schedule?
Well, obviously, Florida and Miami share the state. Gators fans and Hurricanes fans grow up as each others’ neighbors, attend their respective schools and have to deal with each other on a day-to-day basis. This engenders spite between the fan bases.
And when the teams have played, they have been evenly matched.
Right now, Miami leads the all-time series 28-26. The Gators and Hurricanes played annually from 1939 until 1987 with a year off in 1943, so that gave the teams time to build up a hearty dislike of each other.
Miami has the hot hand in the series, winning six of the last seven, but Florida won the most recent game — a 26-3 home victory in 2008.
Also, the two teams compete for young talent in one of the top recruiting hotbeds in the nation — South Florida.
The fertile fields of Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County are right in Miami’s backyard, but Florida has a large enough presence in the south to sway recruits to travel up the Florida Turnpike to Gainesville.
But aside from general dislike and competitiveness, there have been plenty of incidents on the field that have sparked animosity between the two teams.
To get your rivalry juices flowing, here are three of the most notable games between the Gators and the Hurricanes.
1971 — 45-16 Florida: Neither team was particularly great this year — both finished 4-7. The Gators managed to blow out the Hurricanes early in the game, but it wasn’t the final score that stuck a thorn in Miami’s side.
This game was the last of the season, and UF quarterback John Reaves was aiming to break Jim Plunkett’s NCAA record for passing yards.
The Hurricanes had the ball late in the game with Reaves only 14 yards short of the record. After using their timeouts to keep the game going, Florida’s defenders dropped to the ground to allow Miami to score so the UF offense could get the ball back.
Reaves found Carlos Alvarez for a 15-yard completion to set the record, and the entire team jumped into a fountain at the Orange Bowl to celebrate. The play, known as the “Gator Flop,” still angers Hurricanes fans, even though Reaves’ record has been passed multiple times.
2003 — 38-33 Hurricanes: The return of Brock Berlin. Berlin began his college career with the Gators, joining coach Steve Spurrier’s 2000 recruiting class.
But when Spurrier bolted for the Washington Redskins in 2002 and Zook took over, Berlin took his talents to Coral Gables.
The Gators pounded the Hurricanes in the first half, jumping out to a 33-10 lead halfway through the third quarter while intercepting Berlin twice.
But Berlin went on an 18-for-20 tear, picking apart the Florida secondary and Gator chomping his way to a 38-33 win.
1984 — 32-20 Hurricanes: This game should have been all Miami. The Hurricanes were coming off a national title season, and the Gators had enough injuries to make this year’s Yankees’ suffering look tame.
Miami boasted Orange Bowl MVP Bernie Kosar. Florida started walk-on quarterback Kerwin Bell, who was eighth on the Gators’ depth chart at one point.
Bell nearly pulled off the upset victory, tossing a go-ahead touchdown pass with 41 seconds remaining. But Kosar staged a last-minute comeback, leading a 76-yardscoring drive.
Bell attempted a last-ditch touchdown play, but his pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown to seal the 32-20 defeat.
In the stands that day was a young Will Muschamp, who will now get a chance to leave his own legacy on the Florida-Miami rivalry.
Follow Adam Lichtenstein on Twitter @ALichtenstein24.
Will Muschamp watches the Gators participate in warm-up drills prior to Florida’s 24-6 victory against Toledo on Aug. 31 in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Florida plays at Miami this weekend.
