‘They Don’t Like Me, I Don’t Like Them’: Florida–FSU Rivalry Nears Full Boil
It is the season of giving and showing thanks for everything in life, with one exception: college football. Because when everyone else is showing kindness and gratitude, college football’s biggest weekend of the year tends to bring out the worst in each other. The regular-season finale, otherwise known as “Rivalry Week,” showcases teams going up against their most-hated team.
While most fans’ attention are on rivalries like The Game, Iron Bowl, Lone Star State Showdown, Clean-Old Fashioned Hate and the Egg Bowl. There’s a game played each year between two teams separated by 150 miles called the Sunshine State Showdown, where Florida and Florida State have been at each other’s throats since 1958.
“They don’t like me, I don’t like them,” Gators offensive lineman Austin Barber said. “There’s a lot of stuff that goes into that game.”
A rivalry that did not start to take off until the 1990s, when coaches Steve Spurrier and Bobby Bowden were leading its respective powers on the field. Still, there have been plenty of great moments between the two programs, including the 1996 National Championship, where Florida avenged its regular-season loss to FSU in a 52-20 win that secured the school’s first title.
The 1994 “Choak at Doak” saw Florida hold a 31-3 lead heading into the fourth quarter before surrendering 28 unanswered points and eventually ending the game in a 31-31 tie. The two schools would rematch again in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the 1995 Sugar Bowl, where FSU would edge out a 23-17 win.
Since Florida secured that national championship, the two schools have each gone on runs, with Urban Meyer’s Florida teams controlling the 2005-2009 seasons, while Jimbo Fisher’s FSU teams went 7-1 from 2010-2017. Recently, Florida has won four of the last seven meetings, including last season’s 31-11 win in Tallahassee that snapped a two-game losing streak to the Seminoles.
The win was a big moment for Florida, which capped off the 2024 season winners of three straight before ending the season with a bowl win to finish 8-5. However, the win against Florida State carried a little extra juice postgame, when Gators EDGE George Gumbs Jr. capped off the 20-point win with a midfield flag planting that ensued a postgame brawl. The flag planting has been a talking point this week as Florida looks to defend home field and deny the Seminoles of returning the favor.
“We don’t need them planting no flags on our field,” Gators defensive tackle Caleb Banks said. “So we’re going to go out there and handle business for sure.”
Banks and Barber are among the many seniors for Florida playing in their final game Saturday at 4:30 p.m., when Florida looks to salvage a dead season with a win over FSU. On the other hand, Florida State finds itself at 5-6 and needing one more win to achieve bowl eligibility. It is a similar spot Florida found itself during the 2023 season, when Florida welcomed 12-0 college football playoff hopeful FSU into The Swamp and needed an upset win to get to a bowl game.
Down a number of starters, including former starting quarterback Graham Mertz, Florida held a 15-14 lead before eventually falling 24-15. But it was the Seminoles’ postgame antics that have Florida ready for this weekend’s matchup. After the win, a number of Seminole players dug up pieces of turf to keep as souvenirs, something that lit a fire under the Gators to avenge that loss.
“I remember seeing Jared Verse; he was digging, picking up the grass. It was hitting, that’s when I started realizing I really don’t like these guys,” Banks said. “Like, why are you doing that? We can’t let that happen this year.”
Barber, who did not play in the 2023 game due to injury, shared similar thoughts.
“Oh, yeah, 100%. That was something that’s been ingrained in our minds for a long time,” Barber said.
In a season where wins have been hard to come by for Florida, the team spirits have yet to waver and many of the seniors on this team are looking for one last bit of Gator magic before calling it a career. Many of them would love nothing more than to not only get a win but wreck Florida State’s season in the process.
“To play in a big rivalry game at home, last time I’ll ever put on the orange and blue and strap it up one last time with all the guys, like Jake Slaughter, Tyreak Sapp, Caleb Banks, all the seniors,” Barber said. “It’s special. We need the win.”
Category: ACC, College Football, Feature Sports News, Gators Football, SEC
