Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
UF-FSU has meaning again
GAINESVILLE — For more than a decade, the annual Florida-Florida State game pitted two of the nation’s best teams playing for much more than bragging rights.
From1990 to 2000, the Gators and Seminoles may have been the rivalry game in college football. Consider the stakes during that span: Both ranked in the top 10 in all 11 games, while each was in the top 5 during five meetings.
On five occasions, either Florida or FSU would go on to play for the national title, with the two schools’ playing for it all in the 1996 Sugar Bowl, a 52-20 Gators’ win.
Overall, the schools would go on to play in a combined16 major bowl games.
But Florida State’s steady decline late in Bobby Bowden’s tenure and Florida’s recent fall from national prominence turned the series into a game with little impact and limited interest outside the state’s borders.
This weekend, Florida-Florida State will take center stage once again.
When the teams square off at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium, the Gators and Seminoles will be 10-1 and ranked in the top 10 concurrently for the first time since the third-ranked Seminoles’ 30-7 win over the fourth-ranked Gators in 2000.
“This is like the old days,” FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said after the Seminoles’ 41-14 win Saturday at Maryland.
These days, Fisher has replaced Bowden, while Florida coach Will Muschamp has returned the Gators to the national spotlight they had under Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer.
The next step for Muschamp is to turn the game back into a true rivalry, following consecutive Gators’ losses to the Seminoles by a combined score of 52-14.
“They hate us. We don’t like them — at all,” Gators senior guard JamesWilson said following Saturday’s 23-0 home win against Jacksonville State. “We got to switch over bragging rights.”
But Saturday night’s shakeup at the top of the BCS standings brought the bad blood to a boiling point and resurrected this rivalry game as one with possible national championship implications.
Losses by No. 1 Kansas State and No. 2 Oregon cracked open the backdoor to the BCS title game Jan. 7 in Miami.
“There’s still a lot of things out there to play for,” Fisher said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen these last two weeks of ball.”
The Gators might be able to slip into the title game with a win against FSU and a loss Saturday night by Notre Dame at reeling USC. Even if Florida does not make it to Miami, a win in Tallahassee would position the Gators well for a BCS bowl game.
Meanwhile, an FSU win followed by a loss by the Irish would keep alive the Seminoles’ slim hopes of a title shot.
Some computer polls that previously have not favored FSU due to its weak schedule and the ACC’s poor standing in football would have to revaluate the Seminoles following a non conference win against a highly ranked opponent.
An ACC championship guarantees the Seminoles a spot in the Orange Bowl, but FSU would welcome some BCS love.
“This is going to be a huge matchup and we’re looking forward to it,” FSU quarterback E.J. Manuel said. “They’ve had a great year just like we’ve had a great year.”
Florida and FSU both have more to prove on the field.
The Gators’ offense, ranked 104th nationally, managed just one touchdown Saturday against FCS member Jacksonville State and will now take on the nation’s top-ranked defense. Meanwhile, FSU has faced just one ranked team all season (Clemson) and will face the nation’s fourth-ranked defense.
It might not be pretty in Tallahassee, but one team will walk away looking even better than before.
“They’re a great defense, we have a great defense,” Florida wide receiver Frankie Hammond Jr. said. “Eventually somebody has to give. It’s going to come down to a game of turnovers and a game of field position.”