The Miami football team’s August 24 game against Florida in Orlando is one of the most anticipated of 2019. Several national media sites have named the rivals first meeting since 2013 one of the best college football games for this upcoming season.
The Miami football program has played Florida more than any other school but Florida State. The rivalry has almost intensified because of their lack of annual meetings that was discontinued since the 1987 season. The Hurricanes and Gators have played only six times in the 31 seasons after the yearly rivalry ceased.
A few of those games have been memorable. The Hurricanes took out their frustration of not being selected for the FBS Championship Game after the 2000 season against in the Gators in the Sugar Bowl. Miami’s defense dominated Steve Spurrier’s offense in a 37-20 victory.
The Hurricanes also earned a 27-10 victory in the 2004 Peach Bowl. The most memorable of the five most recent games was the Miami football team’s epic comeback led by former Gators quarterback Brock Berlin in 2003. The Hurricanes rallied from a 33-10 second-half deficit to defeat Chris Leak and UF 38-33.
The rivalry between Miami, Florida and Florida State is a unique dynamic. The three schools combined for 11 national championships between Miami’s first title in 1983 and Florida State’s most recent in 2013. Five of those national championships belong to the Hurricanes.
No other rivalry in the country has the added relationship of sharing your hatred of another school with one of your rivals. If there is anything that Miami football and Florida State fans can agree on its the dislike of Florida. The same goes with Miami and Florida fans and their dislike of Florida State.
The 2019 game between the Miami football team and Florida takes on the added dimension of Miami head coach Manny Diaz facing his former boss, Florida head coach Dan Mullen. Diaz was Mullen’s defensive coordinator at Mississippi State in 2010 and ’14.