 | |
| Sport | Football |
|---|---|
| First meeting | November 23, 2002 Florida Atlantic 31, FIU 21 |
| Latest meeting | September 14, 2024 Florida Atlantic 38, FIU 20 |
| Next meeting | September 13, 2025 |
| Stadiums | FAU Stadium (Florida Atlantic) FIU Stadium (FIU) |
| Trophy | Don Shula Award |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 22 |
| All-time series | Florida Atlantic leads, 17–5 |
| Largest victory | Florida Atlantic, 52–7 (2022) |
| Longest win streak | Florida Atlantic, 7 (2017–present) |
| Current win streak | Florida Atlantic, 7 (2017–present) |
TheShula Bowl is the name given to theFlorida Atlantic–Florida International football rivalry.[1] It is an annualcollege footballrivalry game between the only two public universities in theMiami metropolitan area:Florida Atlantic University (FAU) inBoca Raton andFlorida International University (FIU) inUniversity Park. The game's winner receives a traveling trophy, the "Don Shula Award," for one year. The current winner is Florida Atlantic, winning 38–20 on September 14, 2024. Florida Atlantic leads the all-time series 17 games to 5.
The game and trophy are named after formerMiami Dolphinshead coachDon Shula. Don Shula was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 1970 to 1995. Each school's first head coach has previous ties to Don Shula. Florida Atlantic's first head coachHoward Schnellenberger was an assistant of Shula in the 1970s, and FIU's first head coachDon Strock was a player under Shula in the 1970s and 1980s.[2] Don Shula set numerous records as head coach of the Miami Dolphins and his legacy is seen throughout the Miami area. The Shula Bowl pays homage to Shula, toSouth Florida football and the ties and history of both universities.
The Shula Bowl was first played atHard Rock Stadium, then known as Pro Player Stadium, in present-dayMiami Gardens, Florida, on November 23, 2002. The game now alternates between Florida Atlantic and FIU'shome fields. Until 2010, Florida Atlantic used Pro Player Stadium (later renamed Dolphin Stadium in 2006) as its home field, where FIU has almost always used the on-campus venue now known asFIU Stadium as its home field. On one occasion, in 2007, FIU used theMiami Orange Bowl inLittle Havana,Miami, as its home field, while FIU Stadium was undergoing an expansion. The 2007 game was played in the final months of the Orange Bowl before being demolished for the construction ofLoanDepot Park.[3] Beginning in 2012, Florida Atlantic used its newly builtFAU Stadium inBoca Raton as its home field, marking the first time the Shula Bowl was played on both rival schools' campuses.
For years the game was telecast on theESPN family of networks through an agreement to broadcast games in theSun Belt Conference. In 2013,both schools moved toConference USA, and the game was instead aired onFox Sports 1, as C-USA did not air games on the ESPN networks (save for the conference championship game). In recent years the game has aired onStadium and is carried locally onWSFL-TV The CW South Florida.
It was announced in 2021 that FAU was set to leave Conference USA for theAmerican Athletic Conference beginning in the 2023–24 school year, making it unclear whether the rivalry series would continue in the current format.[4] It was presumed that football in particular would be on hiatus until at least 2024, because that would be the next year when both teams would have openings in their non-conference schedules.[5][6]
In a statement announced on September 26, 2022, the FAU and FIU athletics departments inked a four-game series that would continue the Shula Bowl beginning in 2024.[7]
| Florida Atlantic victories | FIU victories | Tie games |
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