Florida State hosts Florida on Saturday night (8 p.m. ET, ABC), and while the game doesn’t hold the national title implications we’ve come to expect from this series over the past three decades, it’s still a big game. For starters, it’s Florida State-Florida. That always brings in certain connotations.
But it’s a massive game for Florida State’s seniors. That group is looking to become the first class in Florida State history to book a 4-0 record against both intrastate rivals Florida and Miami.
The 2016 class owns victories of 41-14, 30-26, 29-24 and 20-19 over Miami, and they’ve swept Florida to this point by scores of 37-7, 24-19 and 27-2.
Considering the state of Florida’s offense, it’s a good bet that Florida State gets it done for its seniors in Tallahassee.
Of course, there is a bit of irony in Florida’s seniors possibly getting skunked by their FSU counterparts. FSU head coach Jimbo Fisher is 12-1 overall against Florida and Miami, which is part of the reason LSU will pursue him as their next coach for the second consecutive year.
And who made that pursuit possible this time around? Florida. It was the Gators’ 16-10 victory in Baton Rouge on Saturday that has allowed LSU to more openly pursue Fisher to replace Ed Orgeron as the Bayou Bengals’ coach.