Florida vs. South Carolina: 10 Little-Known Facts About the Spurrier Bowl

It's not a cocktail party. It's not the South's oldest rivalry. And it's definitely not clean, old fashioned hate.

The Florida-South Carolina football rivalry is one thing—it's the "Spurrier Bowl."

The two teams are not linked by any deep rivalries that are filled with a rich history and hotly contested games. They are, however, linked by one man, Steve Spurrier.

After his failed NFL experiment, Spurrier returned to coaching in the SEC. But instead of settling back down in Gainesville, Spurrier set up shop in Columbia, South Carolina.

In his first game against Florida, Spurrier dealt the Gators a 30-22 loss and a rivalry was born.

10. EA Sports Simulation

If it means anything for Gamecocks' fans, South Carolina did win in the weekly EA Sports simulation.

It's true games aren't played on paper, but they are played in video games.

Look for this game to play out much the same way with the score being close until someone finally can pull away in the second half.

9. South Carolina Has Won Once in the Swamp

As visiting teams will tell you, "The Swamp" is not a friendly place to play.

The Gators enjoy one of the best home field advantages in terms of wins and crowd noise at Ben Hill Griffin stadium. Teams just don't walk into Florida and walk out with an easy win.

The Gamecocks have won only once in Gainesville in the history of the rivalry. But the good news is that win came last year, in perhaps the biggest (SEC implication wise) game between the two in recent years.

8. Arkansas: The Best Motivator?

Last year, the Gamecocks may have been looking ahead a little.

Arkansas handled the Gamecocks in a 41-20 contest. South Carolina needed a win to keep it's SEC East title hopes alive and next up were the Gators.

The Gamecocks marched into Ben Hill Griffin stadium and gained the respect of college football fans everywhere by soundly beating the Gators at home.

This year, South Carolina again lost to Arkansas. Are we set for another South Carolina statement game after some "Razorback motivation?"

7. This Year's Game Could Be Called "The Return from Injury Bowl"

This year's contest marks the return for several key players for both teams.

For South Carolina, Connor Shaw has been cleared to play after suffering a concussion in last week's game against Arkansas.

John Brantley, who's had injury concerns all season, was knocked out of the final two series against Vanderbilt after being hit and temporarily losing feeling in his throwing hand.

Florida will also get Chris Rainey back after he sat out last weeks game with an ankle injury.

6. Steve Spurrier's Worst Loss Came Against Florida

In 2008, the No. 4 ranked Florida Gators traveled to Columbia.

Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin were all over the place making plays and putting points on the board. When the dust settled, the final score read 56-6.

It was the worst defeat for Spurrier in his coaching career.

5. One Sided Rivalry

This "rivalry" has been about as one sided as it gets.

Prior to Spurrier taking over, the Gamecocks had only beaten Florida three times, with the last win coming in 1939. Spurrier has beaten the Gators twice since taking over but that pales in comparison to some of the final scores outside of his two wins.

The majority of the games have been decisive Florida wins with 19 of the 23 coming by way of 10 points or more.

4. Beating Unranked Florida Is Harder Than It Seems

The last two times South Carolina has faced an unranked Florida team, the Gamecocks came out on the losing end.

In 2007, the Gators dropped 51 points en route to a 20-point victory. The year before saw the Gators escape with a narrow one point win after losing to the Gamecocks the year before.

South Carolina will look to buck the trend of underestimating Florida and not allow the Gators to play spoiler to their SEC East title hopes.

3. The Game of SEC Champions

Although the game between Florida and South Carolina rarely have national title implications, the game is very important in the SEC East.

In the past five years, one of these two teams has been crowned SEC East champion in every year but 2007.

Beating the other team often means more than just bragging rights, it means the chance to play in the SEC Championship game and have a chance at a BCS bowl game.

2. Steve Spurrier Is Money in the Bank

As far as rivalry games go, the "Ol' Ball Coach" has earned his keep at South Carolina.

Against the long time hated Georgia and Clemson, Spurrier is a combined 13-5.

Now Spurrier needs to work on the new rivalry with the Gators. Spurrier's best opportunity to win two in a row against the Gators is now given the struggles UF has faced all year.

Beating all three of your rivals in the same year wouldn't hurt on the recruiting trail either.

1. The Gators Return

Other than the 2005 win that became the signature win of Steve Spurrier's inaugural season in Columbia, the Gators haven't had much trouble winning at Williams-Brice Stadium.

In their last trip to Columbia, the Gators defeated the Gamecocks 24-10 in Tim Tebow's final season.

John Brantley is now in his final season and would love to close out his SEC career by defeating the Gamecocks.