As Florida State looks to run its winning streak to 28 games this week in its annual rivalry match-up with the University of Florida, a number of Gator fans have begun pulling out their “recent history” books citing the recent past as examples of times when contests similar to this one went the way of the Gators.
As the teams square off in Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday, Florida will be returning to the spot it won 37-26 more than two years ago. Florida raced to a 13-0 lead and Florida State responded with 20 unanswered points, but five total turnovers simply proved too much for the Seminoles to overcome. Florida fans and other parts of the nation have maintained that it could and some are saying that it will happen again this week.
While Florida fans like to point out the fact that the Gators are the last team to beat FSU, Florida State fans like to point what’s happened since that loss. Since falling to Florida at home in 2012, the school has gone 27-0 which includes a pair of ACC titles and the Seminoles’ third national championship. Florida since that victory has gone just 10-13 with home losses to the likes of Vanderbilt and Georgia Southern.
Another big storyline surrounding Saturday’s contest is that it will be the final game at Florida for head coach Will Muschamp. Muschamp is 28-21 in four years in Gainesville.
Naturally, parallels have been drawn back to 2004 when Ron Zook was the head man at the University of Florida. Zook was given the boot following an October 23rd loss to a Mississippi State team that finished just 2-10 the year before and had losses to Maine, UAB and Vanderbilt earlier in the season.
Like Muschamp this season, Zook was given the opportunity to finish out the year. The regular season concluded at Doak Campbell Stadium against Florida State.
The Gators hadn’t won in Tallahassee since 1986 although there was one very memorable tie. On a night in which the playing surface was re-named Bobby Bowden Field, the Gators outlasted Florida State 20-13. Florida fans are hoping Muschamp is able to have similar fate.
But for Florida State, there’s plenty of reason to believe this year will be different. The 2012 Seminoles were very good, but didn’t have the championship makeup that the 2014 team does although it deserves a lot of credit for where Florida State is now.
As far as the upset in 2004 is concerned, that was a time when the Florida State football program was in decline. FSU that year lost to Maryland and struggled with the likes of Syracuse and Wake Forest. The Seminoles couldn’t decide on a quarterback either as both Chris Rix and Wyatt Sexton saw action under center.
While it may be fun for Florida fans and cause for concern for FSU fans to draw parallels between this year’s game and games of the past when Florida was able to upset the Seminoles, nothing that’s happened before will have any bearing on this year’s contest. It’s true that Florida could easily be 8-2 and could present some match-up problems for FSU, but neither the Gators’ last visit to Tallahassee nor Ron Zook will be a factor if Florida is to snap the Seminoles’ 27-game winning streak on Saturday.
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