Since when are Ohio State and Florida rivals? Since Florida beat Ohio State 86-60 in Gainesville on December 23, Gators and Buckeyes have not been on good terms. When Florida beat Ohio State 41-14 in the BCS Championship football game, the relationship between the schools was only made worse. But many people argue that it is not a true rivalry. Most sports enthusiasts will tell you in order for a competition to qualify as a rivalry, both teams must have previously won and must both stand a chance at victory. While Ohio State is a worthy competitor of Florida, the Buckeyes and Gators cannot truly be considered rivals because Ohio State has not beaten Florida in basketball or football.
Tomorrow night the two teams will compete for the second time this season. This meeting will have a lot more on the line though: a national championship. Florida hopes to make history by winning back-to-back national championships with the same five starters. Ohio State hopes to prove it can beat Florida in a major sport. Moreover, Ohio State does not want to see a repeat of the BCS Championship Game in which Ohio State came into the game with a better record than Florida, was heavily favored to win and lost by 27.
University officials at both schools - especially Florida - must be loving the attention. Both schools have been heavily publicized for both the football and basketball championships. Florida gets more attention for defending the national titles in both sports. Now all that is left to do is await the outcome. Will Ohio State shock the nation and actually beat Florida in a major sport for once? Or will the Gators prove that Gainesville is in fact Titletown? Either way, from a public relations perspective, both teams benefit tremendously. The media coverage of this is rare and special because it is improbable for the same two schools to play each other for championships in two different major sports in the same year.
Let's go Gators!!!!!!!!! (And Lady Knights! They dominated LSU to make the final game in the women's tournament!)
1 comment:
That's really true, how can someone say that a team is a rivalry if they have not beat their opponent. The gators have made clowns out of Ohio State in both football and basketball...so how are they are rivalry, they don't even compare.
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