Not long after arriving in Florida from Wisconsin in January 2023, Mertz caught a whiff of an old-fashioned Sunshine State rivalry via social media.
“I saw a Miami fan and a Florida fan getting into it on Twitter,” Mertz said Monday. “Really into it.”
Mertz’s view of a Gators-Hurricanes clash will take on a more personal tone Saturday afternoon when Florida hosts No. 19 Miami in the season opener at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. It’s the first meeting between the once-annual rivals since Florida’s 24-20 win in 2019 at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium.
Mertz, who grew up in the Kansas City area and spent four seasons at Wisconsin, is ready to get a taste of a rivalry with a bitter history.
Some have called it vile. Others refer to it as mean. Old-timers like to say Miami and Florida just plain hate each other.
“You play this game for these experiences,” Mertz said.
The matchup is the first of a home-and-home series between the schools over the next two seasons, announced four days before their 2019 meeting. The Gators play at Miami next season, which will mark the first time since the 2002-03 seasons that Florida will face in-state rivals Miami and Florida State in back-to-back seasons since the annual game with the Hurricanes was scrapped after the 1987 season.
While any Florida-Miami game is enough to generate headlines, this year’s season opener has ample standalone intrigue.
The Gators enter their third season under head coach Billy Napier with the most experienced and talented roster of his tenure. Florida has not had a winning record under Napier, and a victory over the Hurricanes would be a dose of momentum to start the season for a program that is 11-14 the past two seasons.
“We’re excited about our opportunity,” Napier said. “Our opponent this week, we’re very familiar with. Their head coach and I worked together for four years in the past. They have a very talented roster.
“This is an opportunity for our team to start telling their story relative to 2024.”
The Hurricanes are in a similar position under third-year head coach Mario Cristobal, who worked with Napier from 2013-16 when the two were on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama. After a 5-7 season in 2022, Miami finished 7-6 a season ago.
However, while league media picked Florida to finish 12th in the…
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