College Football: Top 15 rivalry games we’d like to see return in 2020
By David Glancy
10. Miami vs. Florida
Games played: 64
Series record: Miami leads 29-27
Last played: 2019
Trophies: Florida Cup, Seminole War Canoe Trophy (previously)
Next meeting: 2024
Beginning with their first game in 1938, the Hurricanes and Gators played each other annually from 1938-1987 in what was the premier rivalry game in the state of Florida until Florida State’s late emergence as a national power.
There was a one-year break in the annual series due to World War II, but the series would continue until the SEC required conference teams to play seven conference games resulting in the Gators choosing the Seminoles as their annual rival with the Hurricanes getting dropped during their time as one of college football’s most dominant programs.
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The two powers met again in 2001 for the first time since the series when Butch Davis’ No. 3 Hurricanes defeated Steve Spurrier‘s No. 7 Gators, 37-20 in the Sugar Bowl.
The series between the two was set to begin in the 1992 season, but after the SEC again increase the number of conference games, the series was dropped until the 2002 season. The two programs have played six times since the 2001 Sugar Bowl with Miami leading the recent series 4-2, giving the Hurricanes the edge on the all-time record.
After a seven game win streak for the Gators ended in 1978, the series took a turn as one of the best annual matchups with Howard Schenellenberger taking over Miami in the late 1970s and turning the program into a national power. The series would then go back and forth between the Gators and the Hurricanes during the 1980s until the close of the series following the 1987 game with Miami dominating the Gators, 31-4 in the final annual match-up.
Despite the matchups following the 1987 season, Miami has retained the approximate 10-foot Seminole War Canoe Trophy which had previously been awarded to the winner of the annual game since it was given to the two schools in 1950 from the Seminole Indians.
The two schools now are involved in the battle for the Florida Cup in what is a three-way contest between Miami, Florida and Florida State, despite the fact that only Florida-Florida State game is played on an annual basis.
The two schools faced off for the first time in six years when Miami and Florida kicked off the 2019 season in Orlando with the Gators winning the sloppy contest. The Gators went on to defeat Florida State to end the regular season and brought the cup to Gainesville. The two programs are not set to meet in the regular season until a two year home-and-home series begins in 2024.