Florida Football: Top 5 greatest all-time rivalry games vs. Florida State
By James Bowers
5. Florida State 30, Florida 23 (1999)
The 1999 Florida State Seminoles were a near-impenetrable force. Led by 27-year-old junior quarterback Chris Weinke, the garnet and gold largely laid waste to their opponents with little effort. Not even the off-field legal troubles of Peter Warrick nor the scare at the hands of a Clemson team led by Bobby Bowden’s son Tommy could knock the ‘Noles off their path to become the first team to be No. 1 in the polls for an entire college football season.
The Florida Gators, who had an unthinkable two losses that year, were keen to spoil the Seminole party. Florida would have home-field advantage for the contest and stars such as Doug Johnson and Earnest Graham were motivated by the possibility of derailing FSU’s near-assured national title quest.
The game started as expected, with FSU taking a 10-0 lead by the dawn of the second quarter. on the strength of a Warrick (cleared of wrongdoing) touchdown and Sebastian Janikowski field goal. Period No. 2 saw the Gators get on the board with a lengthy Jeff Chandler field goal to make it a 10-3 affair, only for Janikowski to counter with a 27-yarder to extend the ‘Nole lead to 10, 13-3, Chandler cut the lead to 13-6 just before halftime, and FSU fans were leery of an upset.
The third frame was one to remember.
Florida opened with an impressive 78-yard drive but were forced to settle for another field goal. Gator safety Bennie Alexander turned the game on its head, hauling back a Weinke interception 43 yards to the end zone for a touchdown, giving the Gators a 16-13 lead. Not to be outdone, FSU marched up the field en route to a game tying field goal, making it a 16-16 affair.
A costly Gator turnover on their next possession set up a Jeff Chaney touchdown run to put FSU back on top, and when Florida State added another score in the fourth, it appeared as though they had iced the game.
Florida had one more score in them, though. Johnson and Palmer teamed for yet another 80-yard touchdown drive to cut the game to 30-23. Florida State took precious time off the clock in its next series, but were forced to punt; Florida drove to the FSU 35, but two Palmer passes fell short.
The game went final with the Noles on top, 30-23. Florida State would go on to outlast Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl to give Bobby Bowden his second national championship and complete the goal of being No.1 “wire to wire”. Florida finished their season on a sour note, dropping both the SEC title game to Alabama and the Citrus Bowl to Michigan State.