Florida's Jeff Kanter blocks a punt by Miami's Brian Sickler in UF's 1976 victory over the Hurricanes in Orlando. (Photo: Fort Lauderdale News archives via Newspapers.com)
Carter's Corner: Gators-Miami Rivalry No Stranger to Neutral Sites
Thursday, April 18, 2019 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
Editor's note: The Florida-Miami season opener is a little more than four months away. In this occasional series leading up to the game, we take a historical look at a rivalry launched in 1938.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – For the past three decades, any Florida Gators-Miami Hurricanes football game has been celebrated since the schools don't play annually as they once did.
They meet for the 56th time on Aug. 24 in Orlando at Camping World Stadium in a game that will be broadcast nationally and serve as a festive kickoff to the 150th anniversary season of college football.
The UF-UM rivalry dates to 1938 when the Hurricanes visited Florida Field. The rivalry shifted to Miami for the next six meetings, then became mostly a home-and-away matchup from year to year.
However, neutral-site games between the schools have been an integral part of the rivalry, starting in 1958 when the Gators beat the Hurricanes in Jacksonville. In defeating Miami, Florida secured a Gator Bowl berth against Ole Miss, only the second bowl trip in school history.
(Chart: A look at neutral-site games in history of UF-UM rivalry).
YEAR
CITY
STADIUM
SCORE
1958
Jacksonville
Gator Bowl
Florida 12, Miami 9
1959
Jacksonville
Gator Bowl
Florida 23, Miami 14
1976
Orlando
Citrus Bowl
Florida 19, Miami 10
1984
Tampa
Tampa Stadium
Miami 32, Florida 20
2000
New Orleans
Superdome*
Miami 37, Florida 20
2004
Atlanta
Georgia Dome**
Miami 27, Florida 10
*Sugar Bowl; **Peach Bowl
Florida led 12-0 in the '58 game before the Hurricanes charged back in the fourth quarter to put a scare into the Gators and their fans among an announced crowd of 24,000 at the Gator Bowl.
Bill Beck, then-sports editor of The St. Petersburg Times, wrote the Gators "were seized with acute jitters at the first Miami threat and thereafter played with the confidence of an old lady carrying a dozen eggs across an icy street in a high wind."
The Gators managed to hang on when defensive lineman Joe Hergert forced Miami quarterback Bonnie Yarbrough to fumble inside Florida's 10-yard line. UF defensive back Jackie Westbrook recovered with 1 minute, 10 seconds left.
Following a two-year hitch at the Gator Bowl in '58-59, the rivalry returned either to Gainesville or Miami until 1976, when the game was played at the newly renovated Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
The UF-UM game made big headlines in Central Florida because it marked the Florida football team's first game of the modern era in Orlando. In the program's infancy, the Gators traveled to nearby Winter Park to play Rollins College on multiple occasions, but the Gators had never played in proper Orlando.
The banner headline across the top of The Orlando Sentinel's sports page on Jan. 31, 1976. (Source: Newspapers.com)
The Gators had planned to open the 1974 season against California in Orlando, but the game was moved to Florida Field when expansion of what was then known as the Tangerine Bowl was delayed.
As for the game, a little-known Gators defensive end made a key play that broke a 10-10 tie in the fourth quarter. In a defensive battle in front of an announced crowd of 40,055, Florida's Jeff Kanter rushed into Miami's backfield to block a punt in the end zone for a safety, giving the Gators a 12-10 lead. Five minutes later, Gators quarterback Jimmy Fisher put the game away with a 48-yard touchdown run, sealing Florida's 19-10 victory and sixth consecutive toppling of the Hurricanes. Fisher had perhaps his finest day as a Gator, combining for 366 yards of total offense (263 passing, 103 rushing).
The Gators stepped onto the field with an attitude after hearing Miami's trash talk all week.
"They openly challenged us,'' Gators defensive tackle Darrell Carpenter told The Orlando Sentinel. "You can't let them get away with that."
Miami continued to talk after the game, too.
According to newspaper reports, a large number of observers in the press box counted 12 Gators on the field when Kanter blocked UM punter Brian Sickler's kick. Afterward, Sickler was asked if he noticed an extra man for the Gators.
"That would be typical of the Gators from what I've heard about them,'' he said. "Of course, I'm only a freshman and don't know too much about the Gators – but I'm learning."
The '76 game remains the only Florida-Miami game to be played in Orlando. Eight years later, they played for the first time in Tampa. However, after playing in Miami in 1985 and '87 and at Florida Field in '86, the annual rivalry was put on hiatus as Florida transitioned into adding another Southeastern Conference game annually with the expansion of the league from 10 to 12 schools in 1992.
Much has changed in the 43 years the schools last played in the city known more for its tourism industry than college football. One key ingredient has not: the Gators and Hurricanes still don't like each other.
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