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© St. Petersburg Times, published September 7, 2002
Let's compare Miami and Florida.
Never mind that Miami's so good it doesn't even have its own stadium and doesn't fill up the one it plays in.
Miami is so tough, it joined the Big East Conference. Exactly how many national championships has any other Big East team won since the conference started? How about none?
Florida plays one of the toughest schedules year in and year out. What other team has to face Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida State every year? Not Miami.
If Miami wanted to play big-league football it would have joined the SEC.
To most Gator players, FSU-Florida is the No. 1 rivalry. The Hurricanes, back when we used to play them all the time, were a very close second, the equal of us playing Georgia or Auburn. And for players who had played high school football in Miami, as I did, the rivalry was -- and still is -- right up there with FSU.
It's always going to be there, no matter that we haven't played each other regularly for so long. Mostly it's because most of the players on both teams know each other before they become Gators or Hurricanes. The recruiting classes still come mostly from in-state.
When I was a little kid, long before I started playing at North Miami High School, I used to go to the Orange Bowl and watch George Mira play quarterback. Florida and Miami both recruited me. When I got to Miami, Charlie Tate, their coach, had an alligator hanging from the ceiling. It irritated the hell out of me. I'd been leaning toward Florida. That put me over the edge. That has never left my memory.
In 1969, I caught 15 passes against Miami. We won 31-16. It was very emotional for me, going back to Miami and playing in front of a lot of Cubans. I think it was the first time a Cuban had played big-time college football. The Orange Bowl was packed, 70,000 people. It wasn't because the Hurricanes were having a great season. They weren't. We were.
Who's got the better team this year? Hard to tell. Who's got the better football program? Let's put it this way: Miami gets the players that Florida can't because, from a scholastic standpoint, Florida's got higher standards. The Hurricanes get the bigger kids. We get the smarter ones.
If you're talking about student-athletes, they come to Florida. If you're talking about starting an NFL career early, maybe they go to Miami.
Besides, Florida is a much nicer university to be at than Miami. I can see football players going to UM because of its reputation as a great football school, and if you're big-city oriented, Miami's not a bad place to spend four years of college life.
But for the ultimate college experience as well as the college football experience, there's nothing like the University of Florida. That stadium is always going to be packed, or very close to it, whether the Gators are winning or losing. If Miami's 3-8, how many people are going to show up at their games?
And why would they?
-- Former Florida flanker Carlos Alvarez, 52, an All-American as a sophomore in 1969 and an Academic All-American in 1969-71, holds UF records for receptions and yards in a game (15 and 237 vs. Miami, 1969) and a career (172 for 2,563 in 1969-71). He is an attorney in Tallahassee with a private practice specializing in environmental land-use litigation. He shared his thoughts on the rivalry with the Times' Bruce Lowitt.