The 2020 college football season managed to make it through its entire schedule all the way to the national championship game, but the campaign was not without its casualties. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, conferences were forced to limit their participation to schools within their league borders, which caused the cancelation of many storied rivalry games across the country.
One of those unfortunate losses was the Florida-Florida State matchup, which had previously been played unabated since the series began in 1958. While the rivalry has been mostly one-sided for the past two decades, with each school trading turns claiming the wins, it still remains a game that football fans from outside of the state tune into regardless of the teams’ respective records.
Over the course of history, UF holds the all-time edge in the series with a 36-6-2 record, winning the past two meetings and owning the longest winning streak at nine games — which came from 1968 to 1976. The ‘Noles had dominated the recent decade with five-straight wins before the Gators broke that streak in 2018.
So it comes as no surprise that Athlon Sports’ writer and editor Rob McVey included the rivalry game in his list of top 10 intriguing non-conference games in 2021. Here is what he had to say about the matchup.
8. Florida State at Florida, Nov. 27
Florida State head coach Mike Norvell probably dodged a bullet by not having to face the Gators in his debut season at Florida State, but it was still a shame to see this annual end-of-season in-state rivalry off the schedule for the first time in 63 years. The good news is that the Sunshine Showdown will return for 2021, marking the first-ever meeting between Norvell and Florida head coach Dan Mullen. Florida has some big shoes to fill on both sides of the ball from last year’s SEC East title team, but the Gators should have enough talent in place to once again rank among the top teams in the conference. The Seminoles should see improvement in Norvell’s second year at the helm as well. Hopefully, the gap between these teams starts to close sooner than later to bring one of college football’s greatest rivalries back to prominence.
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