Florida–Tennessee football rivalry
The Florida–Tennessee football rivalry, sometimes referred to as the "Third Saturday in September", is an American college football rivalry between the Florida Gators football team of the University of Florida and Tennessee Volunteers football team of the University of Tennessee, who first met on the football field in 1916. The Gators and Vols have competed in the same athletic conference since Florida joined the now-defunct Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1910, and the schools were founding members of the Southeastern Conference in 1932. Despite this long conference association, a true rivalry did not develop until the early 1990s due to the infrequency of earlier meetings; in the first seventy-six years (1916–91) of the series, the two teams met just twenty-one times. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) expanded to twelve universities and split into two divisions in 1992. Florida and Tennessee were placed in the SEC's East Division and have met on a home-and-home basis every season since. Their rivalry quickly blossomed in intensity and importance in the 1990s and early 2000s as both programs regularly fielded national championship contending teams under coaches Phil Fulmer of Tennessee and Steve Spurrier at Florida.
Florida–Florida State football rivalry
After the Florida State College for Women became the co-educational Florida State University in 1947, the newly formed Florida State Seminoles football team achieved immediate success on the gridiron. Under head coach Don Veller, the Seminoles became the first collegiate football program in the state of Florida to go unbeaten and untied, finishing 8–0 in 1950. Under Coach Tom Nugent, the Seminoles made the move to major college status in 1955. Just three years later, Nugent would lead the Seminoles onto Florida Field to face the Gators, with Florida winning 21–7. With the arrival of Bill Peterson in 1960, the Seminoles began their move to national prominence. Under Peterson's direction, the Seminoles beat the Gators for the first time in 1964 and earned their first major bowl bid. Peterson also led the Seminoles to their first-ever top-ten ranking. While Peterson was taking the Seminole program to new heights, Ray Graves had been hired as the Gators new head coach to improve the Florida football program. When the two teams fought to a 3–3 tie in 1961, Graves likened the result to "a death in the family." From that point on, the game took on new significance and the rivalry intensified.