No. 4 Miami and Florida set to renew rivalry, with Hurricanes rolling and Gators sputtering
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- — Miami is unbeaten, ranked No. 4 in the country, got first-place votes in the AP Top 25 for the first time in nearly eight years, has a Heisman Trophy frontrunner in Carson Beck and is coming off its biggest victory margin over a ranked opponent since 2001.Florida is 1-2, sputtering and is about to face a top-5 team for the second straight week.
That would make it seem like the two programs are headed in very opposite directions. That’s exactly the sort of thinking that Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal is desperately trying to avoid going into a Saturday night matchup between the in-state rivals.
“The part that has to be respected most is their talent level,” Cristobal said of the Gators. “Their coaching, their size, speed, physicality. Schematically, they’re very challenging in a lot of different ways. They’ve been playing elite defense for several games dating back to last season, and offensively, they’ve been very close on several occasions to having some great performances.”
In other words, no, Miami does not expect this to be easy, even after the Hurricanes went into Gainesville last season and rolled to a 41-17 win.
The Gators are trying to avoid their first 1/3 start since 1986, and a loss this weekend would only further turn the heat up on coach Billy Napier — who is 20-21 in his time at Florida, 5-14 in games played in neutral sites or on the road, 4-15 against ranked opponents with the Gators and 0-12 when those games are played away from Gainesville.
“I think that they’re a group that knows how they’re that close,” Napier said. “All parts of our team have to go play at a high level, given who we’re playing. … A lot of our guys are doing a heck of a job. So, yeah, we’re close to being pretty dangerous, in my opinion.”
“The state championship is always going to be one of the highest goals that we have,” Cristobal said. “These guys play against each other. The fan bases, alumni bases, they’re at it all offseason. There’s deep meaning to it.”
Only 10 FBS quarterbacks have more completions entering this week than Lagway (71), despite the fact that his six interceptions so far tie for the second-most nationally.
It usually doesn’t take a ton of points to win a Gators-Hurricanes game. Miami is 22-3 when scoring 17 points or more; Florida is 13-2 when scoring more than 21 points.
Also, don’t expect a close game just because it’s a rivalry: just over half of the past Gators-Hurricanes games (29 of the previous 57) have been decided by 10 or more points.
Florida is 2-4 in its last six games against in-state competition.
Miami has scored the second-most points in the country since the start of 2024 with 692, one less than Indiana. The Hurricanes also lead the country in that span with an average of 7.49 yards per play.
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