Florida Football: Ranking Florida's Top 5 Rivals

Merriam-Webster defines rivalry as, "a state or situation in which people or groups are competing with each other." 

While Merriam-Webster may be the go to source when it comes to finding a definition, I think we can all agree that a good college rivalry is about more than just competing against an opponent. Florida will compete against Bowling Green on September 1, but you wouldn't consider that a rivalry. 

So what makes a good rivalry you ask?

In order to have a proper rivalry the schools need to meet three criteria. 

First: There needs to be a close proximity between the two schools, and they need to play regularly. 

Second: There needs to be parity between the teams.

Finally: There needs to be a strong disdain, or a high level of mutual respect, between the two schools and fan bases. 

The teams that find their way onto this list hit all three of those criteria. They are games that the team, and fans, circle when the schedule comes out, and games that can make or break a season while providing bragging rights for the calendar year. 

Let's take a look at the Gators' top five rivals. 

5. Alabama

The Florida and Alabama rivalry is predicated on championships. 

No two teams have faced off more in the SEC championship game (7), and no team has won more SEC championships than Florida (7). 

While the two teams do not face each other on a yearly basis, they have faced off in each of the last four seasons, with Alabama winning three of those contests. 

While there is not the same kind of disdain towards Alabama as some of the other teams that will make this list, the mutual respect and championship pedigree makes this rivalry more than worthy enough for this list. 

4. LSU

While Florida and LSU were both charter members of the SEC conference in 1932, they didn't play each other until 1937, and didn't become regular opponents until 1971. 

Since becoming regular opponents in '71, the Gators hold the series lead 23-16-2. However the total series is closer, with Florida holding a slightly smaller edge, 30-25-4. 

LSU and Florida boast some of the rowdiest fans in the SEC, and play in two of the most hostile venues in all of the country. It doesn't take much to get either of these fan bases going. But the week leading up to the matchup has a special feeling to it.

Although Will Muschamp insists that he would like the annual rivalry continue, the sentiment is not reciprocated in Death Valley.

The Gators and Tigers are two of the strongest teams in their divisions and the game is a good gauge of how strong each team is in a particular year. It would be a shame to do away with this game.

3. Tennessee

While the Florida-Tennessee rivalry has lost some of it's luster in recent years, Tennessee is still one of the Gators' most hated rivals. 

The series almost doesn't meet the criteria for parity. One team's domination over the other has gone back and forth from the start, and the teams didn't play regularly until 1990. 

Tennessee started off the series by winning the first 10 times the teams met from 1916-1953, but have only won nine games since. 

Florida has dominated the series since starting off 0-10 with winning streaks of four games, five games and the current winning streak of seven games. 

While the series has gone to the Gators since most of you reading this have been alive, it hasn't cooled this rivalry off as far as the fans are concerned. Gator fans love beating Tennessee just as much as they hate hearing 100,000 plus fans screaming "Rocky Top," ad nauseum, for four quarters. 

2. Georgia

The rivalry between Florida and Georgia is so bitter that the schools can't even decide when the rivalry started. 

According to Georgia, they won a game against Florida in 1904 and lead the series 48-40-2. Florida's athletic department disputes that the first game was played in 1904 citing that the University didn't officially recognize a sanctioned football team until 1906. 

The series has been dominated by Florida since 1990, compiling a record of 18-4. 

You know a rivalry is good when it has to be played on a neutral site and the host city creates a hall of fame for the series. Currently 37 Florida players have been inducted to Georgia's 38. 

The game has been played in Jacksonville since 1933, with the exception of '94 and '95 due to the construction of their current stadium. 

Both games were won by Florida. The first, a 52-17 win in Gainesville, FL, and the second in Athens, GA with a little bit of controversy.

Then-head-coach Steve Spurrier continued throwing in the fourth quarter despite holding a 38-17 lead. Backup quarterback Eric Kresser threw for two touchdowns in the final quarter to bring the score to a 52-17 final. After the game, Spurrier was quoted as saying that the Gators wanted to be the first team to score "half a hundred" on the Dawgs because "we heard no one had ever done that before."  The 52 points still stands as the most points scored against the Dawgs in their home stadium. 

There was also an incident in 2007 where the entire Georgia football team ran into the end zone after the first touchdown of the game. A year later, Urban Meyer would get revenge in what would become known as the "Gator Stomp." The Gators and Dawgs both came into the game ranked in the top 10, but Florida would dominate the game in route to a 49-10 victory. Meyer would use two time outs in the final minute of the game to let the score really sink in and allow the team, and fans, to continue celebrating. 

1. Florida State

The team that comes in at the top of this list may come as a surprise to some because they are not in the same conference. But make no mistake about it, these teams and fan bases hate each other. 

While the series was heavily sided in Florida's favor for the first 20 years, these two teams have been evenly matched for most of the series. 

The game which typically has been played as the last game of the season has had it's share of national championship implications along with a slew of memorable games.

There has been "The Choke at Doak" in '94, in '96 the teams faced off as No.1 vs No. 2 for the first time and played in a rematch that same season for the national championship and Ron Zook won his last game as head coach of the Gators the same day Florida State dedicated the field in Bobby Bowden's honor. 

Growing up a Gator you are taught to hate Florida State, and there is certainly the same sentiment from Seminole fans. 

That's my list of the Gators' top five football rivals. Let me know in the comments section if you think a team should have cracked the top five, or if you would rearrange the list. 

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