Florida, Miami renew in-state rivalry with home-and-home series for 2024-25
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) —Florida and Miami have scheduled a home-and-home series for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, renewing an in-state rivalry that used to be an annual affair.
The Gators and Hurricanes made the joint announcement Tuesday, four days before they usher in the college football season against each other in Orlando. The neutral-site game Saturday night will be their sixth meeting in the last 32 years.
Barring a bowl matchup, they won't play for another five seasons. Florida will host the Hurricanes in the Swamp on Aug. 31, 2024, and play at Miami on Sept. 20 the following year.
"I think it's great for our fans and the entire state to have two top teams like Miami and Florida play at each other's stadium," first-year Miami coach Manny Diaz said.
The teams last played in 2013, with Miami winning 21-16. The Canes have won seven of the past eight and 12 of 16.
Florida's non-conference schedules have been mostly lackluster aside from an annual game against rival Florida State. The Gators face two teams from the Football Championship Subdivision this fall, and their 2020 schedule includes visits from Eastern Washington, South Alabama and New Mexico State.
But athletic director Scott Stricklin has taken a more aggressive approach to future schedules, signing contracts in the past 15 months to face South Florida (2022, 2023, 2025), Colorado (2028, 2029) and Texas (2030, 2031).
"Florida and Miami playing periodically is good for college football in general, but especially in the state of Florida," Stricklin said. "It is a great rivalry with two storied programs and in line with our current philosophy of trying to schedule a minimum of 10 Power Five opponents annually."
Miami also has a home-and-home series scheduled with Notre Dame in 2024-25. The Canes also have similar series with Michigan State (2020-21) and Texas A&M (2022-23).
Florida and Miami played every season from 1938 to 1987, with a brief hiatus during World War II.
The Gators ended the series in 1988 because they wanted to play a "more national schedule." Florida promptly replaced Miami with Montana State. The Hurricanes said the Gators of pulling out because they had started to dominate the series.
