Wide Right. Wide Left. National Championship implications. Future NFL stars. Last-minute touchdowns. Miami and Florida State have spent decades turning one game into one of college football’s defining rivalries.
Miami and Florida State have spent much of the past 75 years making a mockery of predictions. National Championship ambitions have been derailed, leads have disappeared, and enough last-minute field goals have gone astray to give generations of Seminoles supporters nightmares.
Ahead of their 71st meeting, unbeaten No. 3 Miami host a Florida State team arriving at Hard Rock Stadium with a 3-3 record. The Hurricanes lead the all-time series 37-33, but if the history of this fixture tells us anything, records and rankings only explain so much.
The teams first met in 1951, with the series becoming an annual rivalry in 1969. For a UK fan still learning the traditions of college football, this is one of those games you need to understand because, at its peak, Miami-FSU wasn’t simply about bragging rights in Florida. It helped decide who would rule college football.
How the Rivalry Became So Big
Miami and Florida State are separated by hundreds of miles, but both recruit from the same football-rich state. Players have faced each other in high school, sometimes played together, and coaches regularly chase the same recruits. By the time the game kicks off, there is often history between the people actually playing in it.
The rivalry truly exploded during the 1980s and early 1990s as both programmes became national powers. Miami won its first National Championship following the 1983 season, while Bobby Bowden was building Florida State towards its own period of dominance.
Suddenly this wasn’t just a Florida rivalry. It was frequently a meeting between two of the best teams in America.
1987: The Game That Changed Everything
No. 3 Miami travelled to Tallahassee to face No. 4 Florida State on 3 October 1987. These were two genuine National Championship contenders, and FSU looked in control after building a 19-3 advantage.
Miami fought back behind Steve Walsh, who threw four touchdown passes, including two to Michael Irvin. The Hurricanes eventually moved ahead 26-19 before Florida State scored late to pull within one.
Rather than kick the extra point, Bowden went for two. Miami safety Bubba McDowell broke up the conversion attempt.
Miami 26, Florida State 25.
Miami went on to finish 12-0 and win the National Championship. It was a sign of what the rivalry was becoming, where one play in October could have consequences stretching all the way to the title.
Wide Right I
If you spend enough time around this rivalry, eventually somebody will say two words.
Wide Right.
In 1991, No. 2 Miami travelled to Tallahassee to face No. 1 Florida State in what was effectively a National Championship eliminator.
Miami led 17-16 late in the fourth quarter, but Florida State drove into field-goal range. Gerry Thomas attempted a 34-yard kick with the game on the line.
He missed.
To the right.
Miami escaped Tallahassee with a 17-16 victory, remained unbeaten and eventually captured another National Championship.
Wide Right I was born.
Wide Right II
One year later, both teams were undefeated and ranked inside the top five when Florida State came to Miami.
Once again, FSU had a kick at the end of the game that could stop Miami winning. Dan Mowrey lined up a field goal that would have tied it.
The kick went right.
Again.
Miami won 19-16 and Wide Right II entered the rivalry’s vocabulary. You can probably understand why Canes fans started enjoying Florida State field-goal attempts rather more than they should.
When Florida State Took Control
Rivalries rarely belong permanently to one side. Through much of the second half of the 1990s, Florida State turned the tables, winning six of seven meetings between 1993 and 1999 as Bowden’s programme established itself among college football’s elite.
Florida State entered the new millennium as the team Miami needed to knock off if the Hurricanes wanted to announce that The U was back.
2000: The Swagger Was Back
On 7 October 2000, No. 1 Florida State arrived at the Orange Bowl to face No. 7 Miami. The Seminoles had controlled the rivalry in recent seasons and were defending national champions.
Miami led 17-0 at half-time before FSU fought back to take a 24-20 lead with only 1:37 remaining.
Ken Dorsey then produced one of the drives that helped make him a Miami legend. He completed six of seven passes for 73 yards before finding Jeremy Shockey for the go-ahead touchdown with 46 seconds left.
Miami led 27-24, but FSU still had enough time to move into field-goal range. Matt Munyon attempted a 49-yarder as time expired.
Wide right.
Of course it was.
Wide Right III.
Miami had beaten the No. 1 team in the country and announced that the Hurricanes were returning to college football’s elite. A year later, Miami went to Tallahassee and won 49-27, ending Florida State’s 37-game home winning streak and 54-game unbeaten run at Doak Campbell Stadium. The Hurricanes went on to win the National Championship.
Wide Left
Miami entered the 2002 meeting as defending National Champions and the No. 1 team in America, but Florida State led 27-14 in the fourth quarter.
Dorsey helped drag Miami back. A touchdown pass to Kevin Beard cut the deficit before a 68-yard screen to Willis McGahee helped set up Jason Geathers’ go-ahead score.
Miami led 28-27, but FSU had one final chance. Xavier Beitia lined up a 43-yard field goal as time expired.
For once, it didn’t go wide right.
It went wide left.
Miami survived 28-27 and extended its winning streak to 28 games. By this point, the rivalry’s kicking history was bordering on the absurd.
And Then They Played in a Bowl Game
College football rivalries usually give you one game a year and 12 months to live with the result. In the 2003 season, Miami and FSU had to do it twice.
Miami won the regular-season meeting in Tallahassee 22-14, then the teams were paired together again in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day 2004.
Florida State led 14-3 before Miami fought back behind Jarrett Payton, who rushed for 131 yards and earned game MVP honours. The Hurricanes took a 16-14 lead, leaving FSU with another late field-goal attempt.
Xavier Beitia tried from 39 yards.
Wide right.
Miami won 16-14 for a fifth consecutive victory over Florida State. Sometimes sport really does write the same joke over and over again.
FSU Turn the Rivalry Around
Eventually, Florida State got its own extended period of dominance, winning seven consecutive meetings from 2010 through 2016.
That made 2017 particularly satisfying for Miami. The game featured five second-half lead changes before Malik Rosier found Darrell Langham for the winning touchdown with only six seconds remaining. Miami won 24-20 in Tallahassee and the seven-game losing streak was over.
A year later, FSU led by 20 points in the second half at Hard Rock Stadium before Miami came back to win 28-27. Different era, same ability to produce chaos.
52-10
Not every Miami-FSU game needs a missed kick or a last-minute touchdown.
In 2020, Miami simply flattened Florida State 52-10 at Hard Rock Stadium. The 52 points were, at the time, the most scored by either team in the history of the rivalry and gave Miami a fourth consecutive victory over the Seminoles.
For Canes fans, there are dramatic rivalry wins. Then there are nights where you just enjoy every minute.
The Rivalry Today
Florida State won three straight between 2021 and 2023, including a brutal 45-3 victory in 2022. Miami answered with a 36-14 win at Hard Rock Stadium in 2024 before surviving 28-22 in Tallahassee in 2025 after building a 28-3 lead.
That leaves Miami 37-33 ahead in the all-time series as the rivalry returns to Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday 17 October.
The Hurricanes arrive unbeaten at 5-0 and are now No. 3 in the AP Top 25. Florida State are 3-3 after a 44-20 defeat at Louisville. On paper, the teams are heading into the game in very different positions.
But this rivalry has been shaped by one-point games, huge comebacks, National Championship contenders, future NFL stars and enough missed field goals to traumatise several generations of kickers. There is a reason FSU week feels different.
Why This Rivalry Matters to a UK Canes Fan
When I started properly getting back into college football, rivalries were one of the things I needed to understand.
You can watch Miami against almost anyone and enjoy the game, but eventually you realise there are opponents where winning means something more. Florida State is one of them.
It’s difficult to inherit that feeling when you live thousands of miles away.
I wasn’t watching live when Wide Right happened.
I wasn’t inside the Orange Bowl when Dorsey found Shockey.
I didn’t spend the 1990s arguing with Seminoles fans at work or school.
Those memories belong to the Canes supporters who lived them. But learning those stories is part of becoming a fan.
You start recognising the names. You watch the old highlights. You understand why Miami fans smile when someone says “wide right”, and why beating Florida State feels different from beating another ACC opponent.
That’s one of my favourite things about following college football.
You don’t just support the current team.
Eventually, you inherit the history too.
The Last Word from Across the Pond
The more I learn about Miami and Florida State, the more I understand why this game means so much to Canes supporters who have followed the programme for decades.
I wasn’t around for those famous missed kicks or the great Miami teams of the 1980s and early 2000s. But I’ve enjoyed discovering the stories, and I can see why this fixture feels different.
Saturday will be another late night in Yorkshire. The tea will be ready, probably with a few chocolate digestives, and I’ll be hoping Miami can add another chapter worth remembering.
Just preferably without relying on a missed field goal this time.
Go Canes.
