Gators coach Will Muschamp in favor of facing 'Canes in the future
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- In his "Sunday Buzz Column" for The Miami Herald, sports writer Barry Jackson created some buzz with an item he used when emptying his notebook.
Jackson wrote: "Athletic director Blake James said UM intends to play FIU in football sometime after 2015 and that UF athletic director Jeremy Foley was receptive when James recently asked him about renewing the UF series. The Gators will agree only to a neutral site. I would have to think about Orlando," James said. "That's not real neutral but it's an easy distance to our campus."
The Gators and Hurricanes played last season -- a 21-16 Miami win at Sun Life Stadium -- to conclude a home-and-home series that dated to 2008 when the Gators defeated the Hurricanes 26-3 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
While the schools have faced each other 55 times since 1938 -- and every year from 1944-87 -- they went 15 years between regular-season meetings until a home-and-home series in 2002-03.
Gators coach Will Muschamp was asked Tuesday evening about potentially facing the Hurricanes again in the future.
"I think that would be really good for us and really good for the state of Florida," Muschamp said. "That's something Jeremy and I have talked about. We have been in such a holding pattern scheduling-wise for several years because of the unknowns of what our league was going to do.
"I'm open to it because I think it's a good game. It's a good lead-off game and that's what it was for a long time. That's what I grew up with in the '70s and early '80s."
While there appears renewed interest in continuing the rivalry, nothing is imminently brewing between the Gators and Hurricanes.
"We just received some clarity regarding future schedules from the league office and there have been no discussions with Miami at this time," Florida spokesman Steve McClain said. "An in-state, neutral site matchup is certainly something we could consider in the future."
