Miami and Florida played at Camping World Stadium. Courtesy photo
Last Saturday’s matchups saw the first NCAA FBS football action of the season with a game between powerhouse teams with the University of Miami taking on the University of Florida and the University of Arizona facing the University of Hawaii.
The eighth ranked Florida Gators handled business against the unranked Miami Hurricanes, winning 24-20 in Orlando.
Playing each other for the first time since 2013, the highly anticipated featured flashy plays, some of which yielded seeing Miami’s turnover chain and a new addition, the touchdown rings.
The Gators went into the game as heavy favorites and did their best to keep that goal of winning. Surrendering four turnovers, most teams would be out of the game, but the Florida players showed exactly why they were a ranked team.
Miami caused multiple disruptions in the offense, but the Gator defense kept pressure on the freshman quarterback Jarren Williams and was able to slow him down just enough to edge the victory in the game.
Even after a horrible offensive showing late in the fourth quarter, resulting in the score being unchanged for nearly half of the quarter and Florida took home the win.
Later that night, the Arizona Wildcats traveled to Aloha Stadium to face off against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in an offensive explosion where Hawaii earned their first win with a final score of 45-38.
In a horrendous defensive showing, both teams allowed a over 1,100 yards in total offense combined.
The Wildcats forced six turnovers, yet still just fell short — literally.
With the game clock ticking down to zeros, a last ditch run effort by quarterback Khalil Tate that would most likely force overtime was stopped one yard short of the end zone. Hawaii’s defense chose a strange time to adjust but somehow were able to stop the 30-yard run and secure their team a win.
Both teams will have many things to improve on and can use this game to highlight weak points in both offensive and defensive showings.
New head coaches and freshmen players all around the FBS have fans excited to see how the season will pan out and who will take the title home.