In the last 35 meetings between Florida and Florida State, the two arch rivals have split exactly; each has won 17 times with one tie. In a series dominated in the early days by Florida, Bobby Bowden created a program that regularly contended for National Championships and the rivalry became heated and competitive.
Florida is currently on a 6 game winning streak, but Bowden is gone, and FSU is playing better under Jimbo Fisher. The Seminoles (8-3, 6-2 in ACC) have matched their most regular-season wins in seven years and their best ACC record since 2004.
Florida State on Saturday welcomes Florida to Doak Campbell Stadium. And, for the first time since 2004, the Seminoles are the more highly ranked team. Florida State is No. 22 in the Associated Press top 25. Florida is unranked – which is also the first time the Gators will have been unranked in this game since ’04, when Florida State was No. 10.
"It's a rivalry game, and Florida's got a great ballclub," Fisher said. "Urban (Meyer) is a heck of a coach, and they've done a great job. They're a standard that a lot of people have been measured by for awhile around this country."
"It's a rivalry game. It's another must-win for us," Florida senior center Mike Pouncey said. "If we win this game, there will be a lot of proud guys on this team."
Meyer has always placed an emphasis on UF's rivalry games, and it is reflected in the Gators' record.
Under Meyer, Florida is 16-1 against Florida State, Georgia and Tennessee. The lone loss came against Georgia in 2007.
Said Meyer on his television show Sunday, "Our rival is having a good year, so we have to be ready for this one. They are very talented. We are going to have a great week in practice, we will. That's going to happen this week."
"What a great way to send these guys out. You are going to see a lot of effort this week."
The start time for the game at Florida State this Saturday, will be at 3:30 p.m. and the game will be shown in the Southeast region on ABC and to other regions on ESPN.
