They say only three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and the existence of a bitter hatred between the fans of the University of Miami and Florida State University. One of these schools has a noble history, five national championship rings and, objectively of course, the smartest student body in Florida no matter what the US News rankings say. The other is FSU. Yet despite the obvious superiority of one of these institutions, they have enjoyed a bitter rivalry for decades. Once per year, they are pitted against each other on the football field where dreams are crushed or achieved, blowouts are sometimes seen and the occasional game has been determined by a last-second field goal. words_ isabella cascio. design_ lindsay jayne.
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graduated in 1995. “It’s such a fierce rivalry. It really feels like when people say you bleed orange and green.” UM’s football team formed in 1926 at the freshman level, according to MiamiHurricanes.com, and competed in their first varsity game in 1927, led to victory by coach Howard Buck. Throughout the late ‘30s and ‘40s they moved up under head coach Jack Harding. Finally, in 1954 UM was ranked for the first time in the “Top 10.” It was a taste of the success that was to come. Florida State’s football team, according to the Palm Beach County Seminole Club, was formed in 1900. In 1904, they won their first state title. Just one year later, Florida passed the Buchman Act, which turned FSU into an all-female school for 40 years. During this time, the FSU football players continued their education at an allmale school in Gainesville. It would be years before the brutal rivalry between the two teams really took off, heating up in the ‘80s when both teams skyrocketed to the top of college football. Coaches Howard Schnellenberger of UM and Bobby Bowden of FSU went head-to-head each year in front of roaring crowds as both teams contended for national championship titles and victory in the rivalry game. UM would take home three College Football National Championships in this decade: in 1983, 1987 and 1989. FSU won none. “That was right in the midst of when the Hurricanes were arguably the best team, perhaps of all time. We dominated Florida State,” said Mitchell Shapiro, a professor in the School of Communication who has taught at UM since 1982, referring to the “Wide Right I”
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he year is 1991, and all seems lost for the Miami Hurricanes. It’s the most anticipated college football game of the season, and the No. 2-ranked Miami team is up against their fiercest rival: Florida State University. With less than a minute remaining to win the game, Miami is up by just one point. But FSU is setting up to make a game-winning field goal. FSU kicker Gerry Thomas lines up for the kick. He goes in and the ball soars toward the field goal. It flies foward and begins to drop…just a few inches to the right. Dubbed “Wide Right I” by fans, it was an unforgettable game that propelled the Hurricanes to a national championship win later that year. But this nailbiter was just one of many peaks in a heated seven-decade struggle: Miami versus Florida State. Since they were first pitted against each other in 1951, the Hurricanes and Seminoles have gone head-to-head 65 times. Preceding the 2021 season, Miami held a narrow 35-30 lead. “My second favorite college team is whoever’s playing Florida State,” said former Hurricanes lineman Robert Bergman (class of ’05). He echoed a sentiment shared by generations of ‘Canes. Like any rivalry, this one is kept alive in large part by fans. Football has always been culturally significant at the University of Miami, and football against FSU is undoubtedly part of what makes a ‘Cane a ‘Cane. Students and alumni alike can attest to the uniting power of the long-lived competition. “As a student, you feel such pride,” said Cristie Carter, an alumna who
