On September 7, 2013, the Florida Gators will travel to take on the Miami Hurricanes. It will be the first time Florida has played at Miami since a 38-33 loss back in 2003.
The last meeting between these two schools was in Gainesville in 2008, which the Gators won 26-3.
This year’s meeting will also be the last for the foreseeable future as Florida and Miami have no future games scheduled and have not had any discussions for a series.
“I haven’t spoken with Jeremy (Foley) or the University of Florida about future games and I don’t know how it would fit into their schedule or fit into ours right now. There hasn’t been any conversation and there isn’t anything on the schedule for the future” Miami athletic director Blakes James told ESPN back in May.
Florida and Miami began playing in 1938 and met each season through 1987. Since then, the two have only squared off five times and two of those were in bowl games.
Fans would love to see Florida and Miami meet annually. Heck, this year’s allotment of single-game tickets is already sold out! But an annual game with Miami just isn’t feasible for Florida for a couple of reasons.
First, the Gators play their biggest rival, Florida State, in an annual non-conference game that alternates home sites each year. Second, they play conference rival Georgia every season in Jacksonville.
In even years, Florida travels to Tallahassee to play FSU. That leaves them with seven possible home games since four SEC games are on the road (including the Georgia game in Jacksonville).
In odd years, the Gators only get three SEC games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium since they are considered the “home” team in Jacksonville. That again leaves them with the possibility of having a maximum of seven games at home.
But when they step outside the box and agree to a game at Miami, they get what should be considered an anomaly for their 2013 schedule — only six home games.
With the SEC considering a move to a nine-game conference schedule and teams trying to tweak their schedules for the upcoming College Football Playoff era, the possibility of a regular Florida-Miami game looks dimmer by the day.
At the SEC Spring meetings in Destin, Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley echoed that sentiment.
“You never say never, but that’s not high on the agenda right now,” Foley said. “You’ve got too many other issues. For me to sit here and say we’ll do that right now down the road, there’s too many unknowns with scheduling right now.
“If you’re at nine conference games, plus Florida State, I’d probably tell you it’s really unlikely. But there has been no discussion between us and the University of Miami. Again, I have great respect for the Miami total athletic program, but that’s just something that is not high on the list right now.”
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