Rivalry game to bring drama
FSU-UM game will determine the rest of the teams’ seasons.
Bobby Bowden was college football’s grandfather, full of country charm and old-age wisdom, in
1997 when he shook hands on the field with then-Miami coach
Butch Davis after Florida State crushed a scandal-struck Miami 47-0.
“I hope you guys get better,” Bowden told Davis.
Those words, said with genuine feeling, stuck with Davis. They fueled him. They followed him even as Miami did get better, as Davis built a contender and the Hurricanes were crowned a champion once again.
But here we are again: Don’t you hope these guys can get better?
It’s both of them this time. They’re each in reputation rehab. Florida State, especially, looks like someone misplaced their program. Smoked by Syracuse? Scared by Samford (“The Stanford of the South”)?
There are reasons for the fall, starting coach Willie Taggart’s first year. He deserves time. But the program that once ranked in the top four for 14 consecutive years enters this game again unranked. Worse, a win here won’t change that.
Miami, by comparison, looks on the way back. It looked closer before being run off the field in the opener against Louisiana State. UM’s schedule still makes the ACC Championship game probable. It can inch up from its No. 17 ranking until then.
It can answer questions that range from quarterback N’Kosi Perry to the kicking game (yes,
punting and placekicking have issues). But its verdict awaits in December or January rather than this October Saturday, as it once did.
This game will have drama. It typically does.
“We’re coming back,” UM’s Michael Irvin once famously to Florida State defensive back Deion Sanders after Miami had been down 26-3 and indeed came back.
“They’ll put on my tombstone, ‘But he played Miami,’ ” Bowden once said. There were the “Wide Rights” that spawned Roman numerals. Florida State won seven straight years and was on its way to an eighth straight last year when Miami’s Darrell Langham caught a touchdown in the final seconds of a game with fun, heroes, emotional swings – everything sports offers. Except consequence. That’s the prime ingredient needed for more than a gardenvariety rivalry. The Knicks-Heat were a great rivalry in the 1990s because they kept meeting in the playoffs. The Dolphins and Jets matters because they became prime AFC East contenders through the 1980s.
Miami ranked 13th when it beat unranked Florida State last year. That’s the picture of this game, too, though Miami is down a few slots at 17th.
It’s still a big game in the manner Texas versus Texas Tech, or Michigan versus Michigan State is a big game. In its state. To its fans. For local recruiting and bragging rights.
“It’s Florida State week,” Miami coach Mark Richt said to open his weekly news conference.
“No Seminole needs to be reminded it’s Miami week,” Taggart said in Tallahassee.
“We all know what a big game it is,” Richt said. “We all know what is at stake. We’re excited about playing it, and I’m sure they are, too.”
“I expect them to be crazy,” Taggart said of the Hard Rock Stadium crowd. “This is one of the great rivalries out there, and you can see how excited everyone is about it.”
The build-up, though, isn’t comparing nationaltitle hopes. It’s contrasting the style-setting “Turnover Chain” to the nerdy “Turnover Backpack.” It’s wondering if Miami should be a 13 1⁄2-point favorite and why its hasn’t won at home against Florida State since 2004.
For some of us, it’s wondering when this rivalry will be what it used to be again.
“Yeah, I see they’re calling this the ‘Game of the Century?’ ” Davis said before No. 7 Miami beat No. 1 Florida State in 2000. “And when we play them next year, it’ll also be called the ‘Game of the Century.’ ”
Saturday will be a good game, a fun day, a defining afternoon for these two teams. But, deep down, the hope is for what Bowden said all those years ago to Davis.
Don’t you hope both teams get better? The 17th-ranked Hurricanes are set to host rival Florida State on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium. Miami is looking to win its first home game against its biggest rival since 2004.