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BRIAN LANDMANAs expected in an intrastate matchup, there's always passion when FSU and Miami meet, but never animosity.
He has seen it end in excruciating fashion with missed field goals in the waning moments. He has seen it end in a historic shutout. He has seen it end - or buoy - national title hopes.
About the only way Florida State coach Bobby Bowden hasn't seen his team's annual showdown against Miami end is with ugly sneers and jeers or, worse, with fisticuffs.
"It's unbelievable," he said. "I have not seen a trace of bitter rivalry there. There's nobody on our schedule that we play that we hit harder against and that hits us any harder than Miami and yet I have not seen it (bitterness)."
Miami coach Larry Coker hasn't witnessed as many games in this ballyhooed series as Bowden, but he expects nothing different after tonight's nationally-televised showdown in the Orange Bowl.
Before or during, for that matter.
"That's the way you like to see college football played; very tough, hard-fought battles, but after the battle's over, you shake hands and (wish each other) good luck the rest of the way," he said. "You just really like rivalries like that and really they're too far and few in between."
Even within the state. During the past eight years, games between the Seminoles and their other intense rival, Florida, have deteriorated into examples of what college football - heck, athletics at any level - should not embody.
There's been a coach (Steve Spurrier) accusing his brethren (Bowden) of teaching dirty tactics after the team's 1996 regular-season meeting. There's been a pregame brawl: In 1988 a player (UF quarterback Doug Johnson) hurled a ball at a coach (Bowden). There's been a player (FSU defensive tackle Darnell Dockett) accused of intentionally trying to injure two opponents (quarterback Rex Grossman and running back Earnest Graham, who then threatened a civil lawsuit) in 2001. There's been a player (Florida's Mo Mitchell) chop blocking another (FSU defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley) and ending his season in 2002. And there was a postgame fracas in 2003.
"That's something that's kind of been there with Florida and Florida State," said UM senior quarterback Brock Berlin, who spent two years in Gainesville before transferring to Miami. "It's just kind of a different feeling."
"The perception is Florida-Florida State is always a little more intense," echoed FSU senior quarterback Chris Rix, who is good friends with Berlin. "I guess there's more pride at stake."
Not just on the field, but in the stands.
"The University of Florida has always been kind of the state university," Bowden said. "Miami and Florida State have always been trying to catch up with them and that's ingrained in our alumni and our boosters."
But come on. Given the history in the FSU-UM series, shouldn't there be some smack talk punctuating the onfield smacks?
No one has forgotten how Miami embarrassed FSU 31-0 in the 1988 opener, the top-ranked Seminoles' lone loss. Remember FSU's 47-0 humbling of a Miami team still reeling from NCAA sanctions in 1997? It was the Hurricanes' worst loss in more than three decades. And then there's all those Wide Rights, including one with 5:30 left in the Orange Bowl last season for FSU's fifth straight loss to the 'Canes. And still nothing but heart-felt embraces and sincere congratulations. (Okay, FSU and former Jesuit star Xavier Beitia were taunted after his wide left miss on the final play in a 28-27 loss in 2002, but the barbs came from a former student volunteer with the athletic department, not a player. Miami athletic director Paul Dee promptly apologized to Beitia, his teammates and coaches and "all of our friends at FSU.")
"It's a very competitive football game, but there's no need to be nasty," Miami senior cornerback Antrel Rolle said. "I don't think that plays a role in football. ... I see that quite often in other rivalries. After the game, we all hug each other, speak to each other and give each other high-fives."
It isn't for show or for a sportsmanship merit badge. Players, past and present, sincerely speak of their mutual respect and admiration for each other.
"During my years there, it was always the national championship game," said Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks, an FSU star from 1991 to '94 and a member of the FSU board of trustees. "You just always felt that Miami was just as good a team as you were and you never really felt that way about Florida."
"I think we look over there at Miami and we kind of see us," echoed FSU senior receiver/punt returner Dominic Robinson.
If a team you feel isn't as talented beats you, you're apt to scream out, "luck," which means you might want to duck. If a team you respect beats you, you tend to admit it was simply better.
"There's a lot of close friends (on the two teams) who played with each other or against each other in high school," said FSU senior cornerback Bryant McFadden, a Miami native. "Once you've played with a player and you've seen what he can do, you tend to respect him a whole lot. You know he's going to come out and give 100 percent regardless of the situation and he's going to fight until the end. I'm sure they (the Hurricanes) feel the same way about us. We dislike Miami. We hate Florida."
Folks have seen the difference and hope to see nothing different.