The Evolution of Football in the State of Florida

Today, the state of Florida is among the elite in high school and college football competition. Florida high schools churned out the most Rivals100 prospects this past year, and over the last 20-25 years have been consistently producing big names in football.

Similarly, the level of competitiveness of the Florida colleges over the last 25 years has been extraordinary.

First, Miami ruled the '80s and early '90s with four national championships and numerous future NFL players, dominating with speed and athleticism not seen before.

Then Florida State came to power with an amazing run through the '90s with two national championships, two Heisman winners, ACC championships from '92-2000, and an incredible fourteen-season streak with ten wins or more.

Florida and Miami were also solid throughout that decade, with the Gators racking up several SEC Championships and their first national championship for the 1996 season. The Miami teams of the early and late '90s were also a force to be reckoned with.

Of course, in this decade, Miami fielded the disputed best team in history to win the 2001 Championship over Nebraska. Florida State opened the decade continuing their ACC dominance with three outright titles from 2002-2005.

The Gators slumped through the Zook years, but returned to power with two SEC and national championships in '06 and '08 under Urban Meyer.

In the past five years, the Big Three has become the Big One on the national scale, but certainly don't count Miami or FSU out for long.

So how did this all start? Like I mentioned before, this was not always the case in the state of Florida, so why all of a sudden did the state take the national stage by storm?

The answer to that question is undeniably complicated. However, there are factors that can be nailed down as part of the foundation for this uprising.

One of those factors is progressive coaching. When Howard Schnellenberger went to Miami in 1979, he talked of pro-style passing and national championships.

Crazy guy.

Four years later his team scored 31 points on a Nebraska team that had dominated for two years and became only the second team in history to win a championship while passing for more yards than rushing.

That 1983 championship marked a changing of the guard for college football, and even though Schnellenberger left after that season, it opened the door for another progressive coach—Jimmy Johnson.

The Jimmy Johnson era at Miami was defined by the speed and grit of its defenses. A former defensive player himself, Johnson was one of the first to believe in and implement the "speed first" strategy.

Cornerbacks hit the weight room and brought their speed to the safety position, safeties beefed up a little and moved to linebacker, etc. The key being speed was upgraded at every position.

Defensive speed was a prominent motif in the story of the state's uprising, and is my second factor.

In the years of the Johnson era, a former teammate from Arkansas had already made a name for himself—Barry Switzer.

Switzer had perfected the wishbone and led Oklahoma to national championships in '74, '75, and '85. From 1985 to 1987 the Sooners only lost three games.

All of them to Miami.

Fact is, the Miami defense smothered the Oklahoma wishbone, holding the nation-leading offense in 1987 to only 179 rushing yards (when they averaged 428).

A dominant Oklahoma offense limited by a speedy defense well below their average...that sounds sort of familiar.

Coming out of the late '80s and into the '90s, the Florida State Seminoles with Head Coach Bobby Bowden started making a splash on the national stage.

High school competition rose emphatically during this time as well, and the rise of Miami and Florida State, followed by the Spurrier era at Florida, kept a lot of the speedy natives in state.

The progressive coaching, the speedy defenses, and the increased quality of young players in-state led Florida as a whole to dominate the national spectrum for the last 25 years.

Since 1983, there have been 26 college football seasons (like the math?). Out of those 26 seasons, Florida schools have accounted for 10. 10.

To put in perspective, that is the same number of championships teams from the Big 12 and the Big 10 have won combined.

This run put together by the state of Florida's teams is something to marvel about. Fans of those teams should appreciate it while its here, because the only thing guaranteed by the future is change.

It will be truly interesting to see what changes the next era of football will bring us. For now, I'll just be grateful.