Jalen Rivers, Francisco Mauigoa discuss excitement to renew Miami-Florida rivalry

One of the great rivalries in college football will be renewed this season when Miami opens up its season with a trip to the Swamp to take on Florida. The Gators and Hurricanes have met only twice in the past 10 seasons after meeting for 44 straight years from 1944-87.

The teams announced a home-and-home series for 2024 and 2025 that is set to bring plenty of excitement in the Sunshine State for fans who remember those classic meetings. For Miami offensive lineman Jalen Rivers, who grew up in Jacksonville, it’s a unique opportunity.

“I like it,” he said. “I’m from Florida as well, so I’ve seen a lot of Georgia-Florida, Miami-Florida, Florida State-Florida. You grew up enjoying that type of game. So to be able to play in it — this is my first time playing Florida — it means a lot.”

Rivers isn’t old enough to remember when it was an annual occurrence for Miami to play Florida. However, he does recall a 2019 meeting to start the regular season in which the Gators earned a 24-20 victory to open the season.

Linebacker Francisco Mauigoa also joined the interview to discuss playing Florida in the season opener. The senior returns after earn second team All-ACC honors this past season to finish with a team-high 82 tackles (18 for loss), 7.5 sacks two forced fumbles and one interception.

The former Washington State transfer is also set to enter his first experience in the Miami-Florida rivalry game, and revealed he has also come to appreciate the hype.

“I think any rivalry game is always exciting to watch,” Mauigoa said. “For this rivalry game, I think everybody’s pretty hyped up and pretty pumped up to play this first game. We’re starting off in a good stretch with Florida, so I think it’s gonna be an exciting game.”

Miami is coming off of a year in which it went 7-6 while Florida finished 5-7 record this past season. The Hurricanes are confident they can push through to the next level in 2024 after having finished with at least seven wins in three of the past four seasons.

Rivers, who is one of three returning starters on the offensive line for Miami, certainly has a strong belief in their ability to do so.

“Our confidence is through the roof I feel like,” he said. “We go around the locker room and around the facility with some confidence. So our confidence right now if very up there and we’re trying to go through fall camp with that confidence as well so we can have a great season.”