Ricky Aguayo was a high school sophomore the first time he watched Florida State take on rival Florida in The Swamp.
He was there to watch his older brother, Roberto, who was the star kicker on one of the greatest teams in college football history. The Seminoles were 11-0 entering that game, and they would go on to win the 2013 national championship. The Gators, meanwhile, were 4-7 and had been embarrassed one week earlier in a home loss to FCS opponent Georgia Southern.
Florida State was favored by 28 points that day, and few outside of the most ardent UF supporters could have given the Gators a chance to pull off the upset.
Yet when the younger Aguayo made his way to his seat for kickoff, he was floored by the noise generated by the announced crowd of 90,454. And four years later, Florida State’s starting placekicker expects a similar atmosphere this Saturday, despite the fact both teams will come in with 4-6 records.
“They were loud. They were very loud,” Aguayo said of that 2013 trip. “We were undefeated, and they weren’t having a good season, and they still packed that stadium out. So it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be kind of like Clemson -- they get that loud.
“I’m just looking forward to it. It’s going to be exciting.”
Whether it’s because of that crowd support or merely the comfort of playing at home, Florida has been almost a completely different team at home than it has been outside of The Swamp.
The Gators are 3-2 in Gainesville, and their two losses came by the narrowest of margins. They lost by one point, 17-16, to LSU after they failed to make a game-tying extra point. And they lost by two points to Texas A&M, 19-17, when the Aggies connected on a winning field goal in the final minute.
Juxtapose that to UF’s 1-4 record away from The Swamp, and the way that the Gators have lost some of those games: Most notably 42-7 to Georgia in Jacksonville and 45-16 at Missouri.
