Florida Gators Football: Clash With Florida State Is Personal
The Florida Gators football team is preparing for something more than a road game against the Florida State Seminoles. This is personal.
The Florida Gators are two victories away from potentially clinching an appearance in the College Football Playoff. Though it’s easy to get excited about that exhilarating possibility, there’s far more on the line than a shot at the national championship.
When the Gators and Seminoles do battle on Saturday, the University of Florida will be trusting its football players to defend its pride and honor.
Florida and Florida State are preparing to play the 60th game in the history of this illustrious rivalry. Florida holds the massive advantage at 34-24-1, but Florida State owns the momentum at this current juncture.
Per Adam Schick of Gridiron Now, sophomore guard Tyler Jordan confirmed that Saturday will be more than just a rivalry game; it’s something personal.
"“I mean last year they came and they cut our turf out of our field, so that makes it personal,” Jordan said. “They’re the people up the road from us and we don’t like them.”"
This game is going to get ugly.
For the second consecutive week, Florida will be playing a Top 25 opponent with bigger motivations than just winning a football game. LSU made things personal following Hurricane Matthew, which resulted in the Gators going into Baton Rouge and securing a 16-10 win.
The question is: can the injury-ravaged Gators secure a second consecutive emotional victory?
Florida State cutting out turf from The Swamp is the ultimate sign of disrespect between rivals—and it happened in both 2013 and 2015. To make matters worse, the Seminoles have won three consecutive games over the Gators, including the 2013 and 2015 clashes in Gainesville.
Thus, Florida’s seniors are in danger of losing all four games they play against Florida State.
Jordan and the Gators understand how important winning this game will be to the fans and seniors. Florida State is standing between Florida and a shot at a national title, but it’s also a symbol of what’s been an underwhelming era.
Jordan plans to do everything he can to help Florida win this game for the seniors.
"…I think for these seniors, they’ve got it in the back of their minds that they’ve got to go out and beat these guys and come out with a ‘W’,” Jordan said. “And for me and all the other underclassmen, we’re gonna do everything that we can. It was kind of like Senior Day — we had to give these seniors a win on Senior Day and we did (against South Carolina), so we just got to keep working all week to help out with that.”"
Both the active players and those sidelined by injuries deserve this win.
Florida will be down seven players and could be without starting left guard Martez Ivey, as well. The players confirmed to be out for the Florida State game are Alex Anzalone, Bryan Cox Jr., Jarrad Davis, Luke Del Rio, Cameron Dillard, Marcus Maye, and Nick Washington.
This is one of the most resilient teams in college football, however, and that makes a win over Florida State entirely possible.
Must Read: Five keys to defeating the Florida State Seminoles
Whether the masses believe Florida has enough talent to defeat Florida State or not, this game is going to be personal. Anything is possible.