No Matter The Records, Florida-FSU Is Always A Bloodbath

Happy Days , Happy Thanksgiving. Now Back To Reality And The Matter Of Florida State. (Chris Spears Photo)

Strange things seem to happen at Doak much as they do at Auburn, seemingly “haunted,” as Saban says.

By CARLTON REESE

GatorBaitMedia.com

Nick Saban warned Texas A&M about going to Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium to face the underdog Tigers on ESPN’s Gameday pregame show last weekend.

“That place is haunted,” the six-time national champion coach said. He remembers quite vividly the times his favored Crimson Tide teams fell in that building, and not in the most conventional of ways. His words were targeted solely at the Auburn home turf, but they also seemed to perfectly describe that brick-façade erector set in Tallahassee called Doak Campbell Stadium.

Strange things seem to happen at Doak much as they do at Auburn, seemingly “haunted” as Saban says.

So as Florida takes a 6-5 record and a wrecking ball of momentum into Tallahassee Saturday night to face a 2-9 Seminoles team just waiting for that school bell to ring, one would think smooth sailing for the Gators. History shows, however, that taking this game for granted under even the most favorable circumstances can be dangerous.

Florida must beat FSU Saturday – it cannot lose; it must not lose. Three weeks of goodwill accumulated by coach Billy Napier and this team go down the drain as though none of it ever happened if the Gators lose to the Seminoles.

To come back to Gainesville with a loss would be the greatest humiliation faced by this program since 1979 when Tulsa whipped the Gators at Florida Field for homecoming. The old cliché is that when rivals take the field “you can throw out the records” and it certainly holds true in this one, where a bloodbath seems to ensue on the field, and sometimes off.

This year’s version of what should be referred to as “The Bloodbath” instead of that innocuous “Sunshine Sizzler” some have tried to peg it as, features something rarely seen: An FSU team with a losing record hosting the Gators. The last time this happened was in 2018 when the Willie Taggart-led Noles took a 5-6 record into the game, and that one turned out rather well for Florida in a 41-14 rout. Before that, one must go all the way back to 1976 when FSU was 2-3 the day it hosted Florida. The Gators won that one as well, 33-26.

Florida has lost 14 times in Tallahassee, not including a tie that is deemed a loss by most Florida fans. Many of those 14 losses were prime examples of what can go wrong in that stadium if you’re the Florida Gators. Here are some of the more memorable ones Gator fans would prefer expunged from memory:

• 1964 – The first meeting in Tallahassee would also be the first time FSU would beat Florida. The 5-2 Gators turned it over six times, including a lost fumble at the Seminoles’ 2-yard line on Florida’s first possession. Steve Tensi’s 55-yard TD pass to Fred Biletnikoff engineered FSU’s 16-7 win.

• 1980 – Florida, 7-3 and ranked 19th, was the underdog to the 3rd-ranked ‘Noles, but the Gators dominated the first half in going up 13-3. FSU shut Florida down in the second half and won 17-13. UF head coach Charley Pell is purported to have gone to the FSU locker room after the game to congratulate them, then returned to the Florida locker room to tell his players what he had just done. He followed that up by saying he would never lose to that team again. He didn’t.

• 1990 – At 9-1 and ranked 6th nationally and led by first-year coach Steve Spurrier, the Gators gave up a 73-yard TD bomb on the game’s second play then fumbled on the opening possession to put them in a two-score hole it could never recover. The 8-2 and 8th-ranked Seminoles would win 45-30.

• 1994 – The Choke at Doak needs no explanation, but here goes: A dominating 31-3 fourth quarter lead flushed in a defensive laydown wound up with the Gators practically lucky to finish tied 31-31. Danny Kannel passed for 232 yards in the final quarter alone.

• 1996 – Two undefeated teams, Florida ranked No.1 and FSU No. 2 pounded each other. UF quarterback Danny Wuerffel was sacked six times and battered on late hits throughout that FSU coach Bobby Bowden later admitted they were coached to play not to the whistle, but to “the echo of the whistle.” Florida missed two crucial field goals and saw a go-ahead TD in the first half wiped out by a penalty. FSU won 24-21, but the Gators exacted their revenge a month later by crushing FSU in the Sugar Bowl, 52-20, for the national championship.

• 1998 – Again, the Gators dominated the first half and saw a defensive TD ruled a safety in the second quarter as Florida led just 12-6. In the third quarter, UF defensive back Marquand Manuel had a certain pick-6 bounce off his hands to FSU receiver Peter Warrick, who scored on the play, a 14-point swing for the ‘Noles and catalyst for their 23-12 win.

• 2002 – Like the 2024 season, Florida entered on a roll after a slow start to the season, having won four straight including a win over 5th-ranked Georgia. Chris Rix scrambled for yardage under intense Gator pressure and Aaron Walker had a pass bounce off his hands that was picked off and returned for an FSU touchdown, securing a 31-14 win.

• 2014 – With lame duck coach Will Muschamp, the Gators had a chance to pull off the series’ biggest upset against the undefeated and defending national champion Seminoles. They intercepted Jameis Winston four times and controlled the game early, but managed only three field goals. After an interception deep in FSU territory set Florida in position to go up 16-0, a short pass bounced off the shoulder pads of a receiver and FSU returned it 93 yards for a TD to completely change the game’s momentum. FSU went on to win 24-19.

• 2022 – Florida’s last trip to Tallahassee, with the Gators taking a 6-5 record against the 16th-ranked Seminoles. The game turned into a shootout eventually won by FSU, 45-38. The Gators drove to the FSU 21 on their final possession with less than a minute to play, but turned it over on fourth down when an FSU defender clearly committed a facemask penalty that was not called.

Overall, Florida is 14-14-1 in Tallahassee and has never lost there when it has been a prohibitive favorite, which has been rare.

When the Florida Gators step onto the Doak Campbell Stadium turf Saturday night, it should do so with likely the largest contingent of Gator fans it will ever see in that stadium. Lest anyone think FSU will simply mail it in, consider that this team has absolutely nothing to lose, just as a cornered animal with rabies is dangerous.

Despite mercenaries up and down their roster, the FSU players hate the Gators and it should be expected they will play their best game of the year with their best game plan. Even then, it shouldn’t be enough to beat Florida, but it would not be the strangest thing ever seen, only the most disappointing.