- Florida Classic
Collegebowl
name = BASEPAGENAME
full_name = Florida Classic presented by State Farm
nickname =
defunct =
image_size =
caption =
stadium =Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium
previous_stadiums =Daytona International Speedway Doak Campbell Stadium
location =Orlando, Florida
previous_locations =Daytona Beach, Florida Tallahassee, Florida
years =
previous_tie-ins =
conference_tie-ins =Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
payout =
sponsors =State Farm Insurance
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prev_matchup_year = 2007
prev_matchup_season=
prev_matchup_teams =Bethune-Cookman University vs.Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
prev_matchup_score = 34-7
next_matchup_year = 2008
next_matchup_season= 2008
next_matchup_teams =Bethune-Cookman University vs.Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
next_matchup_date = November 22The Florida Classic presented by State Farm (more commonly known as the Florida Classic is the annualcollege football game between the Wildcats ofBethune-Cookman University and the Rattlers ofFlorida Agricultural and Mechanical University .The game is televised nationally by
ESPNU as a part of a multi-year contract with theMid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).Since 1997, a total of 689,592 fans have watched the Florida Classic in the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium, an average of 68,708 per year. By comparison, the total attendance for the 17 years prior to Orlando was 765,529, an average of only 45,031. Between Orlando and Tampa, the Classic has drawn 1,383,905 fans. The record for attendance at the game is 73,358, set in Orlando in 2003. The series record is FAMU 18, B-CU 10. In Orlando, that record is FAMU 8, B-CU 4.
Annual attendance
The Florida Classic has now drawn in excess of 1.3 million fans since 1978 including 65,367 fans at the 2007 game.
Location
Games were previously held at the
Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium inOrlando , theDaytona International Speedway andDoak Campbell Stadium inTallahassee until the two schools agreed on a permanent site inTampa, Florida , in 1978.History
The series between the two schools began in 1925, with Florida A&M winning 25-0. B-CC’s first win came a year later, 12-0 in 1926. At one stretch, the Rattlers won 19 straight games including a 68-6 victory in 1959, a 97-0 win in 1960 and a 76-0 win in 1961. Overall, the Rattlers lead the 59-game series, 45-15-1.
Florida A&M won the first Florida Classic game in 1978, 27-17, overcoming a 17-0 halftime deficit. The team went on to win the inaugural
NCAA Division I-AA championship. Bethune-Cookman made the series competitive starting in 1973, winning 11 of their 14 series victories during that span, including a 58-52 overtime win in 2004, which was the first-ever three-peat for the ‘Cats in the overall series, which dates back to the 1920s. Florida A&M holds an 18-10 edge in the meetings since the instate rivalry moved from a home-and-home scenario to an annual neutral site game in Tampa Stadium in 1978.The two schools went through a two-year hiatus in 1983 and 1984, when they could not agree on a playing site, but public pressure from alumni, fans and state officials brought them back to the negotiating table and they resumed the series in 1985. Bethune-Cookman won the rivalry renewal game, 31-27 in 1985.
The 1997 season saw a change of venue for the Florida Classic, as the two schools moved the game to
Orlando ’sFlorida Citrus Bowl Stadium .The 1997-2007 games saw the Florida Classic revived to the point that it overshadowed the drawing power of the
Bayou Classic in New Orleans, betweenGrambling andSouthern University in terms of attendance. In 1998, 66,245 packed the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium for the game which determined the 1998 MEAC Championship and postseason invitations. In 1999, the game drew 70,125 fans to Orlando, the sixth-largest football event ever held in the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. The 2000 MEAC title game, which drew 70,719, for a 31-28 thriller won by the Rattlers. The 2003 game stands as the largest crowd ever in the series - 73,358.In 2005, the game made its debut on
ESPNU , the 24-hour college sports network, as a part of a commitment to broadcasting HBCU games.Results
"Bethune-Cookman victories shaded in ██ maroon. Florida A&M victories are shaded in ██ green. "
Other activities
Halftime Show and Battle of the Bands
Marching bands from both universities compete during the Florida Classic halftime show and at various events during the weekend.
In a 2006 article, Orlando Weekly Magazine said, "at most college football games, halftime is for beer runs and bathroom breaks. At the (Florida) Classic, halftime is the reason to go."
Over the years fans have agreed with these types descriptions of the game's halftime show. They also point out that areas under the stadium clear out as fans go to their seats or stand on walkways located at the stadium's end zones because they provide unrestricted views of the football field and the halftime show.
Prior to the MEAC's contract with ESPN to broadcast the game, the two bands enjoyed almost unlimited time to perform their last, longest and undoubtedly best show of the year. In fact, in the 2002 Florida Classic halftime, both bands performed shows that were almost 45 minutes long, nearly tripling the halftime's allotment of only 30 minutes based on NCAA rules.
The rivalry between the two programs is also evident in phrases used by the bands' announcers. Although good friends, Horatio "In Stereo" Walker of Bethune-Cookman's Marching Wildcats and radio jockey Joe Bullard of FAMU's Marching "100," don't express any kind words for the opponent band as they narrate their marching band's respective shows.
The marching bands' appeal is also used to attract fans to other events during the Florida Classic weekend. On Fridays, both bands perform after high school bands during the annual State Farm Battle of the Bands at Amway Arena. Prior to the 2007 match-up, both bands performed annually at a parade at one of the Walt Disney World parks.
External links
* [http://floridaclassic.org/ floridaclassic.org/] - Official web site
* [http://bccathletics.cstv.com/ bccathletics.cstv.com] Bethune-Cookman Wildcats Athletics
* [http://www.famurattlersports.com/ famurattlersports.com] Florida A&M Rattlers Athletics
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