The Swamp is about to host one of the biggest games in its 70-year history.
A once-in-a-generation player, who is part of one of the best recruiting classes ever, will say goodbye to The Gator Nation.
A legendary coach might be saying goodbye to Florida Field.
ESPN College GameDay is coming to town.
There’s that whole UF-FSU thing, too. This will be the eighth meeting between the intrastate rivals that is featured by College GameDay. (Florida, by the way, leads the nation with Saturday being its 31st appearance on the two-hour pregame show. Ohio State sits in second at 25.)
The No. 1 Gators (11-0) have won 21 games in a row and are one week away from possibly the biggest Southeastern Conference Championship Game in history.
The Seminoles (6-5) clinched bowl eligibility for the 28th consecutive year — the longest streak in the nation — with a 29-26 win over Maryland last week.
A loss against the Terrapins would have left FSU needing a win over UF to keep its bowl streak alive.
That won’t be the case, but Florida State still faces an uphill battle if it wants to pull off the big upset Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
The Seminoles are more than three-touchdown-underdogs and will be starting their backup quarterback, EJ Manuel. The redshirt freshman is 2-0 since Christian Ponder went down with a shoulder injury, but those wins came against Wake Forest and Maryland, two of the lesser Atlantic Coast Conference teams.
No unranked FSU team has ever defeated a ranked Florida squad. UF coach Urban Meyer is 4-0 against Florida State. In the last two years with Tim Tebow starting at quarterback, the Gators defeated the Seminoles by a combined score of 90-27.
That doesn’t even take into account the potential effect of an emotional Senior Day on Florida. This will be Tebow’s final home game. One of the biggest faces of college football has walked off Florida field a loser only twice.
But there is more to this Senior Day than Tebow.
There is Brandon Spikes, UF’s starting middle linebacker and one of the team’s biggest emotional leaders.
There is Ryan Stamper, another starting linebacker who will be finishing up his time at Florida after five seasons.
There are juniors that might jump to the NFL, as former Gator Percy Harvin did after last season. Harvin was a first-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings, and current Gators such as defensive end Carlos Dunlap and Joe Haden also appear to be locks for the first round. Dunlap and Haden may be playing their last game in The Swamp.
On the other sideline, you have Bobby Bowden, currently in his 33rd year at Florida State. Who knows if Bowden will still be around in 2011 when the Seminoles return to Gainesville?
The storylines are endless, even if the teams appear to be a mismatch on paper. If anything, 25 years from now, there’s a good chance you might want to be able to tell your son or daughter that you were at the Tebow’s final home game.
Like I said, it’s going to be a big one Saturday.
