Football in Florida
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 09:57AM
Congratulations to the University of Florida Gators for winning their second BCS National Title in 3 years. For Florida residents, this is not a big surprise. In the last 25 seasons, the National Champion has come from the state of Florida 10 times — far more than any other state. Miami has 5 titles, Florida 3 and Florida State 2.
Residents of Florida enjoy the best college football in the nation. In addition to the three schools mentioned above, the University of South Florida has a successful program that, at one time last year was ranked number 2 in the polls. Florida is also the site of 6 bowl games and this year also hosted the National Championship game in Miami.
Pro football is also huge in the Sunshine State. Florida boasts 3 NFL teams, the Miami Dolphins, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The 2009 Super Bowl will be played in Tampa — the 4th time this city has hosted the game. In fact this will be the 14th Super Bowl played in Florida. Miami has been home to the game 9 times and Jacksonville once.