First meeting | October 5, 1951 Miami 35, Florida State 13 |
---|---|
Latest meeting | October 7, 2017 #13 Miami 24, Florida State 20 |
Next meeting | 2018 |
Trophy | Florida Cup |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 62 |
All-time series | Miami leads, 32-30 |
Largest victory | Miami, 47–0 (1976) Florida State, 47–0 (1997) |
Longest win streak | Florida State, 7 (1963–72, 2010–2016) |
Current win streak | Miami, 1 (2017–present) |
The Florida State–Miami football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Florida State Seminoles football team of Florida State University and Miami Hurricanes football team of the University of Miami. Miami leads the series 32-30. Florida State has won the last seven meetings. Since the late 1980s, one or both squads have been highly ranked entering the game, adding national championship implications to an already heated rivalry. Kicks have played an important role in the series with many wide right, wide left, blocks and other mistakes occurring with the game in the balance.
The series has consistently drawn very high television ratings with the 2006 game being the most-watched college football game—regular-season or postseason—in ESPN history, and the 2009 and 1994 meetings being the second- and fifth-most watched regular season games, respectively.
In one of the season's biggest shockers, FSU stunned Miami 24–0, in the season opener for both squads. Miami quarterback, George Mira, had been the cover boy for Sports Illustrated's 1963 college football preseason preview. Miami head coach Andy Gustafson, who had been named athletic director in the spring, put off retirement for a year to coach what most pro scouts believed was the best quarterback in all of college football. On this night, however, Steve Tensi and Fred Biletnikoff were the stars and Florida State made its first real appearance on the national stage. This win marked the first of seven straight wins by the Seminoles and the longest winning streak in the series. All of the Seminoles wins came on Miami's home turf, the Orange Bowl.
FSU and Miami played an epic game in 1987. This game had more future NFL players on the field than any game played in CFB history. Both teams were ranked in the top 4. FSU jumped out to a 19–3 lead. FSU led until Miami came back in the 4th quarter to take a 26–19 lead. FSU scored a touchdown with 42 seconds left. FSU could tie with the extra point, but Bowden decided to go for the win. The pass was broken up and the Noles lost 26–25 to the Canes. Miami would go on to win the program's second national championship.
Florida State beat Miami 24–10 as Miami was missing their starting QB and was forced to play freshman Gino Toretta (Gino went on to win the National Championship in '91 & Heisman trophy in '92). Miami went on to win the National Championship upon Craig Erickson's return. FSU did not compete for it, as they suffered two losses at the beginning of the season to a Brett Favre led Southern Miss and Clemson.