Anez Cooper is an Alabama native, and there, the Iron Bowl is the king of college football rivalries. So it is not surprising that he came to Miami without too much knowledge about the Florida-Miami rivalry.
But all it took was one 53-year-old controversial play to get the junior offensive lineman amped up to face the Gators.
“I didn’t know that it started because I think the whole Florida defense laid down on the ground, and I guess they let Miami score for the quarterback to get some stats or something like that,” Cooper said. “But seeing that, it just got me excited. I’m just ready to play.”
While a repeat of the infamous “Gator Flop” is unlikely, the Florida-Miami rivalry has proven to be unpredictable. The next installment is Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Gainesville, and it feels like the whole state is excited for the showdown.
“Motivation in football should always take care of itself, and when you play a rivalry game like this, it tends to crank up a couple of levels,” UM coach Mario Cristobal said. “I think it’s important to always recognize that games like this — and games in general — are won throughout the offseason. They’re won in your Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday practices. You almost play the game before you play the game.”
The season-opening matchup in the Swamp will set the tone for two programs that are in similar positions to start the year.
Both Florida and Miami are starting their third seasons under their current head coaches. The Gators hired Billy Napier eight days before the Hurricanes brought Cristobal from Oregon back to his alma mater. Both hires were lauded at the time for their potential to turn around ailing former powerhouses, but both coaches have lost more games than they have won since their arrivals. Both coaches have been criticized for their game-management abilities.
They even have a working relationship that dates back to the mid-2010s when both were assistant coaches on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama. Both coaches took time to praise each other this week.
“Hard worker, really good person,” Cristobal said. “(It) certainly was a pretty interesting collection of coaches back there. We all took a ton of pride in our work and working for coach Saban and had a lot of success together. Certainly have a tremendous amount of respect for him. Great family man, as well.”
Said Napier: “I had tremendous respect. Very passionate. I think he took pride, tremendous pride, in his role. I love his family. Just a great human being. We were in the trenches on offense. We were in the trenches together in recruiting. There’s certainly a relationship there. It’s an added element to the game, to some degree.”
Entering the 2024 campaign, college football pundits have Florida and Miami in different circumstances. The Hurricanes are considered an ACC title contender with a shot at reaching the 12-team College Football Playoff. The Gators have a schedule widely viewed as the toughest in the nation, and reaching .500 for the first time since 2020 would be an achievement in itself.
Like Miami, Florida returns several key players while supplementing its roster with important transfers. The Hurricanes brought in Cam Ward from Washington State to be their starting quarterback. Florida returns Graham Mertz as its quarterback after he transferred from Wisconsin before the 2023 season.
“Not enough can be said about their quarterback,” Cristobal said. “I think, statistically, he leads the country in accuracy when under pressure. Certainly, his touchdown-to-interception ratio lends you to understand how accurate, how decisive (he is), what kind of caliber of decisions he makes. He’s on point. He’s a very well-coached player, he’s a very smart player, but he’s also elusive. He’s got great feet, great body control. He’s got great awareness in the pocket, and he’s a winner.
“Now, going into his second year in the system, certainly a guy that you have to control throughout the course of the game.”
But the records are blank right now. The stat sheets are empty. Neither team has built any momentum nor suffered any tough losses. The Swamp will be full of energy. The Hurricanes believe they have prepared adequately to face whatever Florida and its fans have to throw at them, knowing how important this game is.
“It means a lot,” UM defensive lineman said Rueben Bain Jr. said. “It’s a big rivalry, a big in-state rivalry … something that’s very historical. It goes back many generations, even in my family. It’s something that we’re all looking forward to.”
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