FSU Football: Sorry Miami Fan, Clemson Has Passed You
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU Football used to have two main rivals in Florida and Miami. Now a third one has emerged and passed Miami on the list in terms of what winning that game means.
The FSU/Miami rivalry goes back decades and who can forget all of the memorable moments. All the wide rights, the missed two-point conversion in 1987 and the Christian Ponder pass in the dirt to give Miami its last win over FSU in 2009.
In fact, FSU has gone (8-2) over the past decade against Miami, winning several ACC championships and a National Championship in 2013. Miami hasn’t even made the ACC championship game since moving to the ACC in 2003.
Of course, the series always has its ebs and flows as rivalries often do. Miami rattled off six consecutive wins between ’00-’04 with FSU winning five consecutive games between ’95-’99.
FSU football has won the last the last six in a row against Miami and that trend may continue unless Mark Richt can find some of that magic he had in his early years at Georgia.
The last few years haven’t had the same rivalry feel as those matchups in the 80’s and 90’s or even the early 2000’s. Miami is on its third head coach in less than a decade, they are not recruiting at an elite level and they are not winning at an elite level.
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Clemson has emerged over the past decade and surpassed Miami as its biggest rival in the ACC. Let’s take a look at three reasons why that’s the case:
- Recruiting
- Game Atmosphere
- Game Impact
If you don’t have the players, you can’t win at an elite level and that’s one of the things Miami has lacked over the past few years. FSU has owned Miami’s backyard in recruiting, and other teams have gone down there and cherry picked players too. That’s why “Uncle Luke” has been so furious. The Devonta Freeman’s and Dalvin Cooks of the world have come to FSU.
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Clemson has been recruiting at a near elite level as well. We would have to go all the way back to 2010 for Miami to have a higher composite score average per player than Clemson. Miami has had higher ranked classes, but that was mainly due to taking bigger classes than sheer talent.
The game atmosphere for FSU/Miami games are like home games for FSU football whether it’s a home game or an away game. How is it possible that FSU has more fans to travel to Sun Life stadium than actual Miami fans attending a home game?
However, when you look at the FSU/Clemson games over the past few years. The atmosphere is absolutely electric.
The game impact for FSU/Clemson is much greater than FSU/Miami. Now, the FSU/Clemson game winner usually goes on to win or at least play for the ACC championship while being in the football playoff.
FSU/Miami is a game with nothing but bragging rights on the line nowadays. Miami is never in the picture to compete for an ACC championship. The only significant thing is that Miami has folded their seasons after losing to FSU in recent years.
The trash talk from Miami fans isn’t even fun to get into anymore. All of the “5 Rings Yo” stuff is ancient history. How about “No ACC Rings Yo? How about make and win a meaningful bowl game?
Clemson is doing that or at least putting themselves in a position to do it. The same can’t be said for Miami and that’s why Clemson has surpassed Miami on the biggest rivalry list.