From 1954 through 2017, Florida, Florida, and Miami avoided going 0-3 against the first Major College (FBS or historical equivalent, as defined by the NCAA) teams each of them faced. That even counts 1954, when FSU wasn’t yet considered Major College — a distinction they earned in 1955. During that time, particularly in the ‘80s, ‘90s, and ‘00s, the three emerged as national powers.
Florida’s Big 3 teams just hit a 65-year low together
For the first time since 1953, each lost its first game against an FBS team.
But that 1954 streak is officially over after Florida lost to Kentucky, meaning all three lost their first FBS games of 2018. For good measure, that also snapped a 31-game winning streak the Gators owned against the Wildcats.
There had been a few close calls throughout the history of this streak.
While two of the Big 3 have lost Major College openers before, the third has always saved the day.
- 1954: Miami beat Baylor, 19-13.
- 1963: Miami beat Purdue, 3-0.
- 1972: Florida State beat Pitt, 19-7.
- 1976: Miami beat Florida State, and FSU had already lost to Memphis in the first game of Bobby Bowden’s tenure. This is sorta a technicality, because the Canes lost to Colorado the next week.
- 2017: Miami beat Toledo in a game that the Rockets led at halftime.
- (In 1953, the Canes started by beating FSU, but the Noles weren’t FBS-equivalent yet. The Canes then lost to Baylor, so the streak starts in ‘54.)
But in 2018, all three lost to their first FBS opponents by multiple scores each.
In 2018’s Week 1, Florida State and Miami dropped their FBS openers in very different ways.
While the Gators erased FCS Charleston Southern, the Canes and Noles played two of the highest-profile games of the season-opening weekend.
Florida State bumbled through its loss to Virginia Tech at home with Bobby Bowden in attendance, getting dominated by a no-name Virginia Tech defense.
Florida State went 5-for-16 on third down in that game, then completed quite the parlor trick by doing worse (4-14) on third down against FCS Samford in Week 2. The Noles pulled out a 10-point win over the Bulldogs while not leading until there was 4:03 remaining in the game.
Miami smacked Savannah State, 77-0 in Week 2. That’s the same Savannah State team that has been one of the worst FCS teams for years, and has already begun the transition down to Division II. But don’t let any of that distract you from the fact that, in Week 1, the Canes found a way to lose a game with this final box score:
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The U trailed by 30 points at the end of the third quarter against LSU, so it somehow could’ve looked even worse.
It was awesome when Miami debuted their new turnover chain, but that deserves a reminder that they didn’t debut it against the Tigers because they didn’t get a takeaway ... and that depending on turnovers to win is not a long-term strategy.
And then there’s Florida, which put the cherry on top of all of this by finally losing to Kentucky.
Not sure quite where to start on it, but how about here:
Florida’s offense being an abject trash fire is nothing new, but the defense not being able to pick up the slack is going to be a not-so-fun change of pace for the Gators this season.
Regression on defense from the standard UF fans have enjoyed lately could be expected because of the youth on that side of the ball. And then there’s this:
A thin secondary, combined with a defensive coordinator notorious for blitzing a lot may lead to a long first season for Dan Mullen in Gainesville.
Of the group, at least Miami’s loss was respectable.
Miami outgained a current top-15 team, and nearly made it a game by the end. In Mark Richt’s third year, The U’s the closest to “back” that it’s been since the mid-2000s. Meanwhile, the losses by UF and FSU immediately erode any optimism about a Year 0 season for Mullen and Willie Taggart.
The Big 3 streak had survived so long because these days, at least one of the three teams is either playing a cupcake FBS team or is good enough for it not to matter. Either way, it’s impressive that it lasted this long, and hilarious the way it all went down in flames.
If Mullen or Taggart get their programs in the right direction, we’ll look back on the way their tenures started and chuckle. If they don’t, then we’ll look back and say that things didn’t look too hot from the very beginning.
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