Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley put an end to talks of renewing the longtime football series with in-state foe Miami.
For nearly three decades, a college football rivalry that (at one point) was one of the most important in the Sunshine State has remained mostly quiet. The year 1987 was the last time that the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Gators met on a yearly basis.
Since then, the teams have met just six times (two of them coming in bowl games) and are scheduled to play another game to open the 2019 season in Orlando. After that, their are no scheduled games.
At the same times, officials from both schools have said they had hopes of renewing the series one day if things could work out properly. That seems to no longer be the case according to Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley.
According to College Football Talk, Foley told Gainesville radio station WRUF-AM that any future series renewal doesn’t seem promising:
"“No, I do not see them on our schedule on a regular basis. I think when you’re asking your football team to play eight games in this league and Florida State? That’s a tough slate. This league is obviously as good as it gets, and Florida State is as good as it gets.”"
As part of the SEC’s requirement that each school play one opponent from a Power Five conference each season, Florida meets that with their yearly season finale against the Florida State Seminoles. Miami also plays the Seminoles on a yearly basis, something that was done even before the Hurricanes joined the ACC in 2004.
Miami leads the all-time series over Florida 29-26 and has won 12 of the last 16 meetings dating back to the 1978 season.
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