Steve Spurrier pays tribute to Bobby Bowden - 247Sports

There was little love between the two when they were going head to head as coaches in the state of Florida, but former University of Florida head coach Steve Spurrier paid tribute to former Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden on Sunday with the passing of the legendary Seminole coach. The two were part of one of the fiercest rivalries ever in college football.

When Spurrier became the head coach at Florida in 1990, Florida State was already dominating most every team they faced including Florida and enjoyed a three game winning streak over the Gators just before Spurrier arrived in 1990.

The Gators were in a grinding pace of mediocrity at the time coming off of three years of probation a few years before that time and Spurrier came in and changed that by winning nine games in his first year. But the change wasn’t good enough to beat Bowden and the Seminoles. Despite coming in and throwing the ball around like it hadn’t been done in Gainesville maybe ever, Florida and Spurrier would lose that first round to FSU 45-30 as the Gators left Tallahassee limping in 1990.

In all, Bowden had an 8-5-1 record against the Steve Spurrier led Gators and was just under the .500 mark against Florida overall with a 17-18-1 record.

The tie between the two teams was one that likely still gets under the skin of Spurrier to this day. In Tallahassee in 1994, Florida led 31-3 over FSU and it was all over… until it wasn’t. The Noles stormed back in the fourth quarter and would tie the game in the end 31-31 and infamously dubbed the “Choke at Doke” for all of eternity. To add insult to injury, the two teams would meet again that year in the Sugar Bowl for what was called “The Fifth Quarter in the French Quarter” and the Noles would take that game 23-17.

Just two years later No. 1 Florida traveled to No. 2 Florida State and in one of the most brutal games you will ever see in terms of hard fought football, the Seminoles scraped out a 24-21 win. After a few upsets around the country in the championship week following that game, the two teams would meet again in the Sugar Bowl and the Gators would end up with their first National Championship ever as the No. 3 Gators would beat No. 1 FSU 52-20.

That’s just what kind of series it was between the two programs at the time that Spurrier and Bowden headed the two teams. And while there was no love lost between the men back then, they grew to respect one another after their coaching days were over.

On Sunday, Spurrier posted a quick thought on Bowden via Twitter.

“Bobby Bowden was one of the all time greatest coaches in the history of college football,” Spurrier wrote in reverence. “He's the second winningest coach of all time behind Joe Paterno. We had some good battles during my 12 years at Florida. He won most of them and we won a few.

“I enjoyed our relationship after coaching as we served for Rising Stars which helps young men and women from difficult backgrounds go to college and be successful.”

Maybe it is me, but it seems they don’t really seem to make coaching rivalries like this anymore. Coaches move around a lot and the good ones seem to go where the money will take them.

You have to respect Bowden for at least one way he built his program. When he was first given the reins back in 1976, he was willing to go up against any team and it didn’t matter where the game was played. His team would travel and often times play road games only at Notre Dame, Michigan, and other places. The Seminoles were trying to get noticed and he knew the only way to do it was to go and eventually beat some of those teams. Their motto was “we will play anyone, anywhere, at any time”. It really worked in big way.

He was a pioneer and it’s a shame we can’t have him and Spurrier match up forever. The folksy old man will be missed by college football.

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