Bobby Bowden on Steve Spurrier

Paul Kennedy catches up with Florida State coaching icon Bobby Bowden to discuss former Florida coaching great Steve Spurrier, who resigned as coach at South Carolina.

[@steveacree5827]

Gator fan all my life. Saw SOS play in 65 but Bobby is all class in his comments.

[@jerrysullivan7223]

Coach bowden and spurrier two legends two great men that will never be replaced ever in the game of football

[@seandavis2520]

Spurrier was great at UF... As an FSU Alumni we always tried to time out throwing a golf visor to the ground along with Steve! He brought the Gators back and the best games were FSU Miami UF in the 90s.. Of course we made the top 5 every year.. UF did most of the 90s .. Which made the games so exciting... Steve is still mad because the "Old Man" in Tally had a better record against him..

[@60BloodyChamp60]

The Choak at Doak is my all-time favorite football game ever. Good job bringing that up and not the National Championship the year before that overshadows it. They somehow top 1993 with that game in 1994. And Bobby's answer about the PAT now is the same as it was then and I agree 100%.

[@veryhairykrishna7225]

The choke in the Swamp in '97 was pretty great too. Some say it is the best game ever played in the Swamp.

[@duaneholcomb8408]

Bobby is so gracious. Never demeans his opponents. But still honest. About things,,,

[@slabbusterrtr7690]

BB was a class act one of the best ever... coming from a bama fan..RIP coach bowden

[@Drgroomes]

Steve Spurrier and Bobby Bowden are Florida football legend....

[@veryhairykrishna7225]

It was a dank time for us all.

[@dylanhills3244]

Jimmy Johnson smokes them both.

[@dylanhills3244]

@Literally Hitler He readjusted Miami's defense for his first year in 1984 and had 5 losses on the defending national championship team, so...

[@dylanhills3244]

@Literally Hitler Bowden never did much at FSU aside from his 14-year Top 5 streak, and Spurrier never won the SEC Championship at SC, and only made it to the Championship Game once with them and got destroyed.

[@mattjudy6780]

@@dylanhills3244 thats one more SEC game than any other coach in history took them to.

[@kellymcclendon6601]

Nice of bowden not speaking bad od Spurrier.

[@willbergie55]

I remember well when Bobby Bowden was the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers from 1970-75.

[@jtjt4827]

I miss the ole coaches. All of em. Even if they beat MY team.

[@billybergendahl3515]

When Bobby Bowden was the head coach at West Virginia he suffered a very painful loss. After leading 35-6 over Pittsburgh at the half West Virginia wound up losing 36-35.

[@kevintuohy6402]

uf won most game' vs fsu when noles weren't good when noles got better uf avoided them and had to b ordered by State legislature to play.not to mention f was scared to play the U during the 80's and 90's.

[@bobbaker7980]

kevin tuohy not the state made Florida play fsu back in the 50s know what you're talking about before you type something about a subject you apparently know nothing about

[@markstouffer2448]

Correct, Bob. UF originally wouldn't play FSU till the State Senate mandated it. UF stopped playing UM annually using the excuse of "not enough home games due to SEC schedule" to avoid them. That decision was made after UM whacked the gators 31-4 or something like that back in 1987.

[@60BloodyChamp60]

The UM rivalry was as hot as the FSU rivalry at it's peak. Anybody who remembers that unique trophy they had for that game will agree lol!

[@carltonreese4854]

@@markstouffer2448 No, the 31-4 game came after that decision to end the annual series was made.

[@nathandubose2876]

Right

[@6.8SuperDutyDriver]

Best wishes to Coach Bowden's family, friends and players!

[@greghobbs1728]

Bowden fails to mention that his predecessor Bill Peterson wanted to throw first to set up the run. He was from Sid Gilman's coaching tree ( Early AFL Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers 1960-61 ). In 1964 FSU beat UF for the first time. That team won at Georgia earlier that season and featured a senior wideout from Erie Pennsylvania named Fred Bilitnikof whose grandparents had immigrated from Soviet Russia. "Throw the damn ball." Has taken over from, "There are 4 things that can happen when you throw the ball, and 3 of them are bad ." The concept came from Southern California not the old ball coach.

[@nickbrown9163]

Before Spurrier was coach at Florida the SEC was a run, run, incomplete pass, punt league. Many old SEC fans apperciated the style (and class) of Bobby's Noles teams in that had in that era. Two great coaches and leaders of men. RIP Coach Bowden.

[@knightguy1188]

8-5-1 vs Spurrier but Bobby lost 6 years in a row 2x. 1981-1986 and 2004-2009. Gators are 34-23-2 vs FSU.

[@billjenkins8855]

How many time did Spurrier and the Gators win in Tallahassee ?? NONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@lenn9o9n]

As UF fan, it's a stat I'll always respect. Up there with how Peyton Manning was winless against us :)

[@billjenkins8855]

There has been many good games between FSU & UF. It took me a long time to like and respect Steve Spurrier, but I completely do now.

[@lenn9o9n]

Seeing he's in Gainesville now makes me so happy (maybe our offense can can get above 100 overall). I grew up with him as a kid and it felt like a good parent/friend, someone you knew stood for something at least. No bullshit with SOS.

[@nicholasjoost5111]

Bill Jenkins y'all really turn it up a notch when we play you guys at Doak. Keeping Spurrier winless at Doak is def something y'all can always brag about. BUT...3 things make up for that: 52-20 in the Sugar Bowl for the natty title, spoiling your chance at a title in '97 in the Swamp, and finally Ron Zook Field in 2004. That '04 game got a huge monkey off our backs when we thought we might never beat y'all at Doak ever again.

[@ThePeoplesCritic]

You can talk about any game during the regular season all you want, but when it came down to it, on the grandest stage of them all, The HBC, dominated the Noles.

[@insanemob8508]

Yea and cried bout the FSU pass rush before that game like a lil girl

[@insanemob8508]

And in 1996 UF didn’t deserve to play FSU twice that season

[@jorybrosted7298]

@@insanemob8508 the fact that they beat FSU 52-20 sort of convinces me that they DID deserve that rematch

[@insanemob8508]

Jory Brosted , so basically you saying when FSU beat UF that yr , that wasn’t impressive enough , it meant nothing cause they gave UF second chance , if UF would’ve won the 1st time they wouldn’t needed a 2nd time to play em

[@jorybrosted7298]

@@insanemob8508 I’m saying that I think that Spurrier and Uf players did a good job in the press of complaining and placing a damper on the close FSU win over UF by emphasizing the late hits and complaining. Obviously the AP and media agreed enough to put uF in a position to get the rematch. Just saying, if the rest of the country felt the way you do then there never would have been a rematch. Then the fact that they won so convincingly when both teams that night knew that the winner was gonna be the undisputed national champ, so both sides knew all they had to do was give it all that 60 minutes that night, they proved they deserved it. Just my opinion. I’m not the God of football nor do I claim to be, but that’s how I feel about it, especially with all of the strange things that happened to get them back in position to play for it. All of the unexpected last minute upsets. Seemed like fate to me as a UF supporter.

[@no40acresandamuleforyou.47]

In the 1990's Florida, every season, had to play Tennessee, ( a powerhouse team that beat FSU in a championship game), Auburn, LSU, Georgia, and usually played Alabama in the SEC championship game and of course FSU. Throughout the 1990's FSU only had two hard games each regular season. Miami and Florida. Had FSU been in the SEC in the 1990's FSU would not have had th success they had. No way.

[@KreativeKingdomMinds]

But FSU easily missed out on 5 to 7 more championship games b/c if they beat Florida then they would lose to Miami. And when they would beat Miami they would lose to Florida