Florida Football: Top 5 greatest all-time rivalry games vs. Florida State
By James Bowers
2. Florida State 24, Florida 21 (1996)
The No. 1 ranking of Florida and No. 2 ranking of Florida State at the time of the 1996 clash is not the only reason this game was selected as one of the best in the series. It was a back and forth battle that was the type of game you have come to expect from an intrastate, inter-conference rivalry.
By 1996, Steve Spurrier and Bobby Bowden had turned their respective programs into two of the nation’s best. The rich talent pool of the sunshine state, coupled with the innovative play-calling of Spurrier and reputation for excellence that Bowden and assistants such as Mickey Andrews and Chuck Amato had cultivated at Florida State put the two schools on top of the college football mountaintop.
November 30,1996, was the first time the two schools had met while occupying the top two spots in the AP Top 25. The game was worth the hype, but as a result of a certain bowl game not wanting to break with tradition, had an unexpected consequence.
The defenses of Florida’s Bob Stoops and Florida State’s Andrews dominated this one.
Danny Wuerffel was pounded mercilessly throughout the duration of the contest, enduring six sacks and twenty knockdowns. As a testament to their talent, the Gators still gained 443 yards of total offense during the ballgame.
Thad Busby and Florida State jumped out to a 17-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Early in the second, a 50-yard connection from Wuerffel to Reidel Anthony set up a one-yard touchdown pass to Jacquez Green to cut the lead to 10. After a Seminole three-and-out, a personal foul penalty for one of the many rough hits on Wuerffel set up another touchdown pass to Green, this time cutting the lead to three.
The second quarter ended on a sour note for each team. Florida State was forced to punt and Florida suffered another Wuerffel interception. The two teams spent the entirety of the fourth quarter trading punts as quarterbacks Busby and Wuerffel were punished by hard hits.
A Florida drive that began at the end of the third quarter ended in a lengthy Bart Edmiston field goal that was no good; the failure was attributed to a very poor playing surface at Doak Campbell Stadium. Florida State then embarked on a 75-yard touchdown drive, with Pooh Bear Williams doing the honors from one yard out. The Seminoles now led 24-14.
Florida could not score on their next possession, but their defense was able to prevent the Seminoles from padding their lead. Florida got the ball back on their own 20 with 3:47 left.
Wuerffel was able to get the Gators to the end zone, hitting Anthony from two yards away. By this point, there was just over a minute left on the clock. Florida hoped by some miracle they could get the ball back, but Busby was able to run the clock out, giving the homestanding Seminoles a 24-21 win.
Florida State was now headed to the then Bowl-Alliance run Sugar Bowl, designated as the “national championship game”. Florida was disappointed, but not discouraged, and after beating Auburn to claim their fourth consecutive conference title. They, too, would head to that championship game.
The No. 2 team in the country at the end of the 1996 season was Arizona State. As the championship of the Pac-10, the Sun Devils were contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl. Officials for that game refused under any circumstances to allow ASU to play in any other postseason contest, and the one-loss Gators were the next-best team available.
Florida learned the Seminoles’ tricks in their loss to FSU, and used their new knowledge to obliterate State 52-20 and claim their first of what would eventually be three national titles.