Florida Gators eager for Florida State rivalry

Jim McElwain has put his education degree to work during his first season as the head coach of the Florida Gators. Week in and week out he has found a new way to motivate his football team, keeping them from suffering letdowns and helping to elevate their game against their tougher opponents.

McElwain continues to deploy his motivational tactics, but there is no motivating necessary for the last weekend in November. It’s rivalry week. Florida vs. Florida State with bragging rights on the line.

“I’m looking forward to this game,” McElwain said after calling this game “personal” for a lot of people.

The Florida-Florida State rivalry is one of the premier rivalries in all of college football. It earned that stature in the ‘90s when Steve Spurrier and Bobby Bowden seemingly made sure that the entire country tuned in to watch the Orange and Blue square up with the Garnett and Gold. Trash talk throughout the week led to pregame tussles, personal fouls when one team ran up the score and a bitterness in the mouth of the team who took the loss for a full 365 days until they have another opportunity to play in the game.

For Floridians, this game is special. It took pressure from Florida legislature to make this game an annual fixture on the schedule but has quickly become a weekend that both fan bases look forward to.

Kids all throughout the state dream of playing for Florida or Florida State, they started playing football together in backyards and then Pop Warner fields and into high school. For the players on the field, this is more than a game.

“Yeah, it’s bragging rights, really, a lot of guys from Florida,” sophomore cornerback Quincy Wilson said. “You just want to make a statement. Pretty much that’s what it is.”

The feeling and emotion that surrounds this game is contagious. Growing up in Maryland, sophomore cornerback Jalen Tabor doesn’t have old friends playing on the other side of the field but after just one foray into the rivalry, he knows what it now means.

“Nothing needs to be said in our locker room. Those guys up the road, we don’t like them and they don’t like us,” said Tabor. “We feel like we’re the best team in the state, they feel like they’re the best team in the state. They’re coming in here. They’re coming in The Swamp. They’re going to have to bring everything they’ve got in here.”

The Gators enter this weekend’s edition of the rivalry with 10 wins and still hold a chance at making the College Football Playoff. That run to the playoffs starts on Saturday with a win over the Seminoles.

Florida State comes in with a two game winning streak over the Gators. The Noles’ championship dreams were dashed by a last second loss to Georgia Tech, but their two losses will all be forgiven and forgotten with a win this week.

That’s what this rivalry does to you. If you’re going to win just one game all year, make sure it’s against Florida or it’s against Florida State. That’s’ what brings the juice in this series and that’s what makes it great.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

2 COMMENTS

  1. This could be very, very, ugly with the Gators being shut out. This team has all my support, but the reality we face could be quite different. Painful to watch this offense. The FG/PAT game is beyond awful, possibly the worst I’ve seen at any level, anywhere.

    • Terrible QB play. Need to go a different direction. Why not give Jacob Guy a shot. Develop Luke Del Rio in the offseason. All I know is that I don’t want to see this for the first 6 games of next season.