CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- The football series between Florida International and Miami, marred this year by a bench-clearing brawl that led to the suspension of 31 players, will continue in 2007.
"We're going to play it," Miami athletic director Paul Dee told The Miami Herald on Tuesday. "We have good people, and I think everyone understands what happened can't happen again."
A message left on Dee's cell phone by The Associated Press was not returned. Miami's athletic department said it was not planning any other announcements about the future of the series.
The schools, with campuses only nine miles apart in South Florida, are set to meet again Oct. 6 at the Orange Bowl. That was the originally scheduled date for the second half of the two-game series between the programs, who have no other meetings in football scheduled after 2007.
The fight came in the third quarter of the first ever meeting between Miami and Florida International, a game the Hurricanes won 35-0. Florida International suspended 18 players, kicking two of those off the team entirely, while Miami suspended 13 players for their role in the brawl.