Mario Cristobal calls rivalry games will fellow Florida schools 'paramount'

The Sunshine State sees two main rivalries played annually, with Miami–Florida State being an ACC matchup and the Seminoles also facing off against Florida. Not too often do we get Miami playing Florida, with there only being seven contests between the two since 2000. Once a rivalry played every year, the current generation of Cane and Gator fans do not see each other on the field too often.

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal believes having a round-robin between the three schools is “paramount” and something he wants to see. Miami and Florida would be the ones who need to figure out how to schedule each other, with Florida State currently locked into playing the other two.

“Miami, Florida, and Florida State playing each other is paramount, in my opinion,” Cristobal said. “Those games are always as intense and important as they possibly can be.”

The Miami-Florida State rivalry dates back to 1951 and has been played every year since 1969. Miami was independent for a long period of time before moving to the Big East in 1991. Florida State moved off its independence in 1992 and joined the ACC. Eventually, Miami joined them in 2004, making the rivalry one of the ACC’s staples.

As mentioned, the other in-state game has not been as frequent. Luckily, there is a Miami-Florida matchup upcoming on Aug. 31 at the Swamp. A return trip to Coral Gables is in place for Sept. 20, 2025, to complete the home-and-home series.

From there, nothing is scheduled between the two.

Taking advantage and beating your rival will be as important as ever. Both Cristobal and Florida’s Billy Napier need to begin the 2024 season in a big way. No better way than beating an in-state rival before the month of September begins.

Cristobal is not quite ready to think about the matchup, though. We are still a few months away from the college football season beginning. Miami will not begin discussing specific games until fall camp gets underway, wanting to focus on summer workouts.

“The next game is always the most important game,” Cristobal said. “One thing I won’t do in May — we won’t start discussing an opponent. We won’t do that.”

Miami will move on to the Florida game at some point. May or June may be a little too early in the calendar, even if people around the program will be thinking about the long all offseason.