Buddy Martin: Why There’s Extra Hot Sauce Already Added To The Spicy Florida-LSU Rivalry

(Chris Spears Photo)

"Bring on LSU," Gator fan seems to be saying.

We’ve got Tom Petty and Jimmy Buffet and Ronnie Van Zant and Cannonball Adderely and Kodak Black. They’ve got Louis Armstrong and Al Hirt and Wynton Marsalis and Pete Fountain and L’l Wayne – but don’t sing any of their anthems.

By BUDDY MARTIN

GatorBaitMedia.com Editor

Georgia is easily No. 1. But after those Damnable Dawgs you’d have difficulty getting a quorum from Gator fans about who they love to hate the most. Some would say FSU, but it’s tough to get fighting mad at somebody who can’t throw a punch anymore.

When you go through the long list of Florida rivals, to me it’s LSU that comes up next. This one Florida needs badly in its four-week, make-or-break gauntlet in quest of an eight-win season that would force the Vegas wise guys to pay off those who took the “over” at 7½. Besides, there is a bit of a grudge match holdover stemming from the 2016 hurricane rescheduling spat.

We can continue on with the rivalry and the cultural wars. I bring that up because this is the first Tom Petty Day/Night. We’ve got Tom Petty and Jimmy Buffet and Ronnie Van Zant and Cannonball Adderely and Kodak Black. They’ve got Louis Armstrong and Al Hirt and Wynton Marsalis and Pete Fountain and L’l Wayne – but don’t sing any of their anthems.

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In a short period of time, the “I Won’t Back Down” singalong has become one of college football’s most cherished soon-to-be traditions. The singer was born in Gainesville (1950), but never graduated high school or attended UF, although he once held a job on a campus grounds crew and was reputed to have planted a lime tree on campus (which he said he couldn’t remember doing). Petty’s career spanned the late ‘70s up until he died of a overdose from pain medication used on his final tour to offset discomfort from his deteriorating hip, emphysema and other maladies.

He had many hits and several genres. I am of the Travelling Wilburys era and love me some End Of The Line.

The musical wars … next the food wars…

When it comes to food, they’ve got the hard-to-beat Gumbo, Crawfish Etouffee, Jambalaya with Louisiana Hot Sauce, plus those tasty Beignets. They might throw in Red Beans and Rice and The New Orleans Muffaletta. Plus such fine eateries as Commander’s Palace and Antoine's and Galatoire’s.

Crawfish Etouffee is fairly scrumptious ...

We’ve got Key Lime Pie, Stone Crabs, The Cuban Sandwich and Grouper or Snapper. We could throw in Navel Oranges and Boiled Peanuts. And we’ll offer you these fine establishments: Bern’s Steakhouse and The Columbia Restaurant and Joe’s Stone Crabs.

They’ve got Death Valley. We’ve got The Swamp. Which gets us back to the matter of football and why Saturday’s game really matters.

And it's tough to beat a good Cuban sandwich

Over the last half century, Gator fans have become quite familiar with Louisiana’s amenities after frequent forays into Bayou Country. When Tulane was in the SEC, for Gator fans that meant at least one trip every season to New Orleans or Baton Rouge to face the Tigers or Green Wave -- plus culinary delights. And later there were those occasional trips to the Sugar Bowl, starting in 1965 when Steve Spurrier played and later coached for the Gators. It was he who brought UF back alongside as a legitimate rival. Eventually, you got to know Bourbon Street, Pete Fountain and Al Hirt and the Hurricane drinks at Pat O'Brien's.

Longevity counts in a rivalry. Even if LSU is a cross-over opponent, the Gators have been playing the Tigers for nearly 70 years, a long time before Florida State College For Women even fielded a football team.

The series is virtually even at 33-32-3. In recent years, we’ve seen some wonderfully bizarre moments-- like the 2006 Tim Tebow Jump Pass Game, the 2007 Tebow Phone Hack and Orgeron Fourth Down Bonanza, the 2020 Marco Wilson Shoe Toss and the 2021 LSU Storm Troopers who ran over the Gators like they were flattening squirrels in a Humvee.

Although Florida has a one-game edge, LSU has won the last three – sometimes in a bizarre setting that rivaled an Edgar Alan Poe or Alfred Hitchcock plot. And those losses played a part in the demise of UF’s coach. First off, just the mere shame of losing three times in a row to Ed Orgeron would be enough to have gotten Dan Mullen fired, wouldn’t it?

There’s extra incentive for Billy Napier and his former cadre of coaches and players at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The “little brother syndrome” that may have cost him a legitimate shot at getting hired by Big Daddy LSU and AD Scott Woodward. (Much to the appreciation of Scott Stricklin.) Napier declined to comment about it this week, but immediately invoked his loyalty clause, claiming there wasn’t a single day that went by he wasn’t happy and grateful to be at Florida.

Among the wiser, more mature fans, it is reciprocal. The methodical manner in which Napier is constructing his program while displaying his keen organization skills, plus artful communication, has produced instant – if only partial – success.

Instead, LSU got Brian Kelly. If he doesn’t win a national title at LSU, he’ll break the string of three straight coaches when Nick Saban started the run. (Yes, Orgeron and Les Miles DID win a natty.)

While easily cast as a buffoon by harsh social media takes, Kelly is a highly regarded member of the coaching fraternity who has enjoyed success at every level, but also was smart enough to realize he’d never compete for a national championship without the fertile recruiting territory and generous resources of a place like LSU. And the 95 million bucks wasn’t bad, either.

So as they say about successful baseball swaps, “it was a good trade for both teams.”

We may not be able to accurately assess right away which school got the better coach, but Saturday night is when we start running the meter. For certain, there doesn’t appear to be any drop-off in the heat of the rivalry – with or without the Hot Sauce.