Gainesville, FL – Added the Florida Gators vs. Florida State Seminoles last minute as Game 732 during Thanksgiving week in the Sunshine State. Think collegefootballfan.com settled for a bye this week just to watch games on TV? No way. This isn’t the rivalry we all remember for its vaunted history in the 80s and 90s, but it remains intense. Our game No. 166 featured No. 1 Florida defeating No. 2 Florida State, 52-20 on January 2, 1997, for the National Championship at New Orleans in the Sugar Bowl.

The Seminoles had already defeated the Gators in the regular season, 24-21. Florida HC Steve Spurrier offset FSU HC Bobby Bowden’s pass rush in the rematch. He had Heisman-winning QB Danny Wuerffel operate from the shotgun to avoid pressure. The result became part of collegefootballfan.com history. Even this past Saturday, enjoyed being in Gainesville first-hand for all the passion and ferocity despite the two rivals struggling this past season. Just wanted you to know, we didn’t stumble and took advantage of this nearby opportunity.

Gators vs Seminoles 2025

5-6 Florida State’s goal this evening, win and become bowl eligible. 3-8 Florida’s focus: don’t let FSU win and go to a bowl game, no matter what.  90,007 avid fans sold out Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. At the least, you have to figure both teams impacted college football’s playoff format this season. Florida State’s season looked promising opening their season with a surprising 31-17 upset over Alabama. Florida gave notice after a 1-3 start upending high-ranked Texas, 29-21. The loss sends pollsters packing noting that a third loss against a 4-8 program presents a legitimate obstacle allowing the Longhorns into this season’s CFP.

Today’s contest, however, proved rivalries still bring out the best in crowd attendance.  At least the Gator team determined its primary goal to keep the Seminoles at home during bowl season. To do that, a secondary goal needed to get teammate RB Jadan Baugh over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season. 

Gators ran Baugh over, around and through Seminoles

Baugh ran the ball four times during the Gators’ first series to put Trey Smack into position to boot a 23-yard FG. Next, the Gators halted the Seminoles at their 22 to take over on downs. Baugh carried three times. Then, QB DJ Lagway led the Gators with a no-huddle passing attack to the FSU five.  He connected with WR J. Michael Sturdivant with a slant pass over the middle for a TD and a 10-0 lead.

The Seminoles started a drive thereafter putting them at the UF 39 to start the second.  With 13:39 left in the period, Thomas Castellanos connected with WR Michahi Danzy for a 13-yard scoring play. With a mix of runs by Baugh and passes by Lagway, the Gators retaliated with a 75-yard scoring drive.  This time Lagway rolled right and tossed a pass into the end zone from nine yards out to TE Tony Livingston to go up, 17-7. 

Turnover time

FSU moved into Florida territory.  The Gators stopped the drive with Bryce Thorton’s sack of Castellanos.  The QB fumbled and Caleb Brown recovered on the Florida 26. What went around came back around quickly, two plays later. Seminole DB Edwin Joseph picked off Lagway and put his offense back in business at the Florida 22. With 1:11 left to play in the half, Castellanos ducked a would-be tackler and ran it in for a TD. The play initiated a lot of feistiness between the two teams after. Two penalties assessed against the Noles set their subsequent kickoff up on their 20. No scoring after that, but still some pushing and shoving among fired -up rivals.  The half ended with the Gators on top, 17-14.  Looked forward to more intensity in the second half.

Defenses dominate second half start

The Noles forced a three-and-out following two sacks of Lagway. However, Tommy Doman’s 71-yard punt put FSU back on its 20 following the touchback.  The Seminoles went for a first down with one yard to go at their 40, but the Gators held Castellanos to no gain and took over in FSU territory. Baugh ran for 20 yards and then 14 more.  A facemask penalty put the Gators on the three. The turnover resulted with a three-yard TD pass from Lagway to TE Hayden Hansen. Florida extended its lead, 24-14. 

Later in the period, the Gators took over on their 42. Baugh culminated this drive with his longest run of the day.  He hauled the ball over from 22 yards out on a sweep to the left.  At 31-14, the Gators looked like they controlled the final outcome.

No Dice for Noles

Early in the fourth, PK Jake Weinberg misfired on a 42-yard FG for FSU.  An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty set the Gators back on their 12. Extracurricular activities continued throughout the game.  However, the penalty did not totally impede the Gator drive.  Trey Smack added to their lead with a 54-yard FG with plenty of room to spare.

The Seminoles hung in to try to come back.  Their ensuing 83-yard drive resulted in a 17-yard scoring pass to WR LaWayne McCoy (6 receptions for 116 yards, TD) to cut the score with 3:07 left.  Their onsides kicks was easily fielded by Florida. The Gators started play again at the Seminole 46.  With a fourth and three at the FSU 12, UF called its final time-out. Showing no mercy to their hated in-state rival, Baugh took it over for his second score.  Smack, recovering from his 54-yard score, missed the PAT.  With a final score of 40-21, Baugh finished the day with 38 of his team’s 42 carries for 266 of Florida’s 272 rushing yards.

Future records for Baugh?

His game stats came up short of the 316 yards rushing record set by Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith in 1989 against New Mexico. However, if Baugh, a sophomore, sticks around to play for newly announced Head Coach Jon Sumrall, he may get a few more opportunities to catch up with Smith.  We’ve seen Sumrall coach Troy twice in his two-year career with the Trojans. His team went 23-4 in those two seasons. In his last game as HC before exiting to Tulane, we watched his team defeat Appalachian State 49-23 to win the Sun Belt Championship.

In that game, Troy’s prime RB Kimani Vidal, now with the LA Chargers, exploded for five rushing touchdowns and 233 yards on 26 carries. Since Sumrall’s move to Tulane, the Green Wave record stands at 19-7 the last two seasons. Now, they await a bowl bid or possible CFP bid after the American Athletic title game against North Texas next Saturday. Point is: Sumrall wins wherever he goes, and he builds a team quickly.  Gator fans will love him. Baugh and returning teammates should hang in there and work with him.  Collegefootballfan.com thinks they have a lot to look forward to!

Week Fourteen leaves these two out, but…

Also, as “Rivalry Week” played out and playoffs started among the non-FBS, our path opened up for two good battles next weekend. On Friday night, Collegefootballfan.com returns to Jacksonville, AL for the Conference USA championship. The JSU Gamecocks (8-4, 7-1) defend their title and host the surprising Kennesaw State Owls (9-3, 7-1). Last year, we watched JSU blast Western Kentucky in the final, 52-12. This year at AmFirst Stadium, they dominated Delaware, a first-year FBS program, 38-25. Last season, we saw Kennesaw defeated twice on their way to a 2-10 season. We saw the Gamecocks decimate the Owls at Kennesaw, 63-24. In 2025, enter new HC Jay Mack with an impressive resume to KSU. In Jacksonville, Kennesaw lost its only CUSA game this year, 36-25. We look for a close, hard-fought game for this year’s title. Should be a good competitive game with the Owls having some added incentive.

The next day for a noon game, we travel 90 minutes away to Mount Berry, Georgia. There, the Berry College Vikings (9-1, 7-0) host Southern Athletic foe Trinity University (TX) (10-1, 6-1). The Vikings defeated the Tigers, 29-6, in regular season play. In round one, Trinity defeated Hardin-Simmons (9-2) of Texas, 34-24. The Vikings had a bye in the first round. The winner of this game will play the winner of perennial D3 power Mount Union (11-0) and upset-minded John Carroll (10-1). Fun game to be enjoyed at D-3 level.

Check out other historic games we’ve attended over the years. Read all about them!!

Click on the title about this life-long adventure: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun, and the Ugly on Amazon.com. Among 732 college games attended to date, we’ve seen all 136 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams play in person at least once. This tells our story! Read the reviews on the book page and get your copy today. If you’re trying to follow NILs and transfer portals, read what we predicted in 2023 and more. You’ll see we know what we’re talking about.

In addition, we offered solutions to issues occurring that we anticipated when we wrote this book. Based on our game story above, this fun, unique life-long Journey continues. Catch up on the last 45 years, and then please submit a review. We hope you will get a “kick” out of our great adventure over the years! Who else can say that? Continue to come back and follow our current and future adventures. Bowls and play-off games lie ahead for the rest of this season. Thanks for checking this out!