Sportline article: LSU/Florida the greatest rivalry in college football?

The big thing that would disqualify something from being called a "rivalry" is if you don't play each other every year. Like Tennessee and LSU have a big rivalry, but we don't place each other every year. Same with Georgia. But Florida and LSU are most definately a legit rivalry. We have played each other each and every year since 1971. As for Auburn we have only played them each and every year since 1980. Point is that LSU vs Florida is a legit rivalry, just like Oklahoma vs Texas and Michigan vs Ohio State. Sports Illustrated picked of all three of those games this year as the Top 3 games to watch, with the LSU vs Florida game as #1. The main reason people would argue we don't have a rivalry with Florida is because they are still living in the past. Since 2001, we have been 3-3 with Florida. Before that, in the past, we were 1-13 against Florida. No one considered it a rivalry back then because we weren't on the same level as them at the time. Now we are.

 

I think he hits the nail right on the head with this statement. Yes, UGA and UT may be more important for UF since they have to beat both to earn tie-breakers, etc. to get into SECCG.

However, with the current structure of the SEC scheduling, LSU plays UF every year just as UT and UGA do. Add to that the potential of LSU/UF meeting for a second time in a season would be outstanding.

I think we are on the verge of both schools dominating their division for the next 7-10 years. So, the possibility of this happening are extremely high in my opinion.

 

I live in florida and the gator fans are sickening. I left BR in 2001 and I was sad only to see us beat UF once during my time there. However, I will make sure the Gators hate us in Florida. I make sure of it everyday with my LSU wear. I depise the gators more than any other team.
You think Bama fans are arrogant, meet some Gator fans, you would think they have won everything in the past 20 years.




GEAUX Tigers

 

Yeah, it really is hard to hate a team more than Florida. I mean the entire decade of the 90's they just beat us down over and over and over and over -- and they would beat us down big time, 56-13 ('96), 28-10 ('95), 42-18 ('94), 58-3 ('93). And yes, Florida fans are the most arrogant fans in the SEC, which just made it worse -- they would just rub it in our face. But yeah, that one victory we got against them in the 90s, that 1997 win over a #1-ranked Florida team, that was my best moment as an LSU fan -- even better than being in the Dome for the NC against Oklahoma. We beat them after they had beat us down for 10 years straight before that, and we beat them when they were ranked #1. We stormed the field, ripped down the goal posts. It was insane. The result made the front page of Sport's Illustrated with the title "See you later Gators." I'm so glad we beat Florida this year. They are definitely the rival I want to beat the most.

 

:angryfire florida is at the top of my most hated list.:angryfire

 

Just to add to this a bit, we seem to be in a bit of a rotation with them right now in both conference and national supremacy. I suspect that FU will be the conference favorite in 2008 and we could be the conference favorite in 2009.

It's definitely a good series right now. Auburn is still a good series as well, and as tough as the FU series is, I still hate Auburn more. Not sure anything will change that, not even jorts! :lol:

 

Me too. Probly 7 or 8 years ago in Gainesville I unwittingly walked through a student housing area, barely escaped with my life but then again unwittingly walked past a few frat houses: every Florida fan I saw that day was a total a$$. And then UF puts their students next to the visiting fans. Roughly 40% of the UF students spent the entire game with their middle fingers extended to the visitors, classless morons, all of em. They're arrogant arses who know nothing of sportsmanship.

 

Florida gave us our only loss of the 2003 season. If it wasn't for them, we could be claiming a 14-0 season and the undisputed national championship, instead, thanks to Florida, we finished 13-1, and the AP didn't even vote us the #1 team in the nation.

 

Sad to say...but I dont believe LSU will ever have that big time rival. The biggest reason is location. IMO, if LSU were to have ever developed a "true" rival, it would have been with Tulane. However, LSUs isolation from other big time programs is the same reason LSU should maintain elite status.

On the other hand....I dont think any program in the country has as many "mini" rivalry games as LSU.

 

while that loss was devastating at the time i felt like without it, we would've stumbled somewhere down the road. in the end i felt the loss was necessary to pull the team together and regroup and refocus.

i might not have a whole lot that agree with me but i think without that loss we don't win a nat'l championship that year.

i still hate fla. though. :wink: