Many are seeing connections between this week’s matchup between the Florida Gators and Florida State Seminoles and the 2004 edition of that rivalry game. Back then, fired coach Ron Zook led his unranked Gator squad to an upset of a ranked Seminole team in Tallahassee.

They don’t need fireworks to get ready for this one. They’ll be ready to go, our guys are excited about this game.

A decade later and outgoing head coach Will Muschamp is taking his team into a similar scenario this week with the 6-4 Gators heading into Doak Campbell Stadium to face the undefeated and No. 3 ranked Seminoles.

But at his press conference today, Muschamp was drawing more from the Gators 2012 win in Tallahassee, a game that several current Gators played in, and said reminiscing on the historic Zook win “ain’t going to help us win the game, I assure you of that.”

But the game plan from 2012, quite possibly Muschamp’s greatest win, could help this Gator team. Recounting the 2012 game, he said the key was to get a “fast start, take care of football, be able to run the ball, something we’re going to need to be able to do come Saturday.”

In 2012, the Gators came into Doak Campbell Stadium as the AP No. 6 team in the country, facing a Seminole team that was 10th ranked. The Gators lead that game 13-0 in the second quarter.

The Seminoles wrestled the lead back to lead 20-13 late in the third quarter. Then, the Gators scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including a 32-yard run from Matt Jones to put the game out of reach. The Gators won that one 37-26.

In 2004, FSU was ranked 10th and 8-2 going into the game, while the Gators were 6-4. But under Zook, the Gators pulled a surprising 20-13 win. The ‘Noles were playing for an outside shot at a BCS game, while this year’s undefeated FSU team is still in the thick of playoff contention.

The Gators will have starting quarterback Treon Harris back, who went out with a knee contusion against Eastern Kentucky, and also have packages ready for Jeff Driskel. He said the Gators will need to play better against FSU to pull the upset in Tallahassee. “We need to prepare better than we did this past week. We need to practice better than we did this past week,” he said.

But the players will be ready and motivated for this week, he said. “I was concerned Saturday, going into that ballgame,” Muschamp said. “They don’t need fireworks to get ready for this one. They’ll be ready to go, our guys are excited about this game.”

The Gators will play FSU at 3:30 pm on ESPN.