The Miami Hurricanes are close to renewing football series’ against the Florida Gators and the Florida International Golden Panthers.
According to a report by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley was “receptive” when Miami athletic director Blake James recently spoke to him about renewing the series.
There is one requirement, however. Florida will only play Miami at a neutral-site, which Foley also stated last year.
“I would have to think about Orlando,” Blake James told the Miami Herald. “That’s not real neutral but it’s an easy distance to our campus.”
The Gators and the Hurricanes met last season at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. Miami won the game 21-16 and has beaten the Gators in seven of the last eight contests dating back to 1986.
Earlier this year, UF announced that they were extending their annual home-and-home series with rival Florida State through the 2018 season.
That announcement essentially stifled any chance of Florida and Miami playing a home-and-home series any time soon. With the rigors of an SEC schedule, the Gators certainly don’t want the added toughness of playing the Seminoles and the Hurricanes in the same season very often.
Miami is also reportedly close to scheduling Florida International again. The two schools met in 2006 and 2007, with Miami winning both games.
But the 2006 contest was marred by a bench-clearing brawl in the third quarter. After Miami went up 14-0, a fight broke out which resulted in the ejection of eight FIU players and five Miami players.
The following day, 31 players from both schools were given one-game suspensions. The 2007 game was played without incident.
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