- 14 hours ago
FSU and Miami’s beef saw mascots handcuffed, Cold War comparisons, and dominated college football
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00:00The University of Miami and Florida State University have been playing each other since 1951.
00:07For a long time, their games didn't matter.
00:10And both schools focused the majority of their attention on those idiots over in Gainesville.
00:15Honestly, FSU and Miami had more in common than not.
00:21And then, seemingly overnight, things changed.
00:24And what had appeared to be a simple in-state rivalry was actually a volcano long dormant, ready to explode into something significantly beefier.
00:38First off, I intend no insult to any fan base and therefore will likely hurt many feelings when I say the football programs at Miami and Florida State are incredibly similar.
00:49Hear me out.
00:50Both schools have flirted with joining the Southeastern Conference, taking turns wanting in and, at times, choosing to stay out.
00:58Both lived beneath a gator-shaped shadow and viewed the University of Florida as their true big bad.
01:04And in the 1970s, both programs faced the possibility of being dropped entirely.
01:12Finances mattered, but the real problem was simply not being good.
01:17Something even Florida shared at that point.
01:20Seeking stability, Florida State made the first move.
01:24In 1976, Bobby Bowden brought enough charm, familiarity, and ambition to reshape the program.
01:32His initial goal was obviously beat Florida, a box that he ticked in year two, in what was the best season the program ever played.
01:42Two years later, FSU finished one win shy of flawless.
01:46The turnaround was quicker than even Bobby believed possible.
01:52And yet, there they were.
01:54As FSU settled into the top ten, Miami made its move.
01:59Howard Schnellenberger arrived in 1979 and soon one-upped Bowden.
02:03Year five, Miami won the whole thing.
02:07The first national title for any Florida school.
02:11We're only going to talk about AP poll from here on.
02:13This even more impossible makeover came thanks to the fact they had a coach who believed in their excellence, who took the team by the hand and led them to glory, and who then used that success to make one of the dumbest moves in coaching history.
02:29Schnellenberger ran off to the USFL.
02:32He never coached a game for the team he was in charge of because they moved to Orlando before very quickly folding.
02:39And by the time Howard looked back at the college ranks, his seat had been filled by an incredibly nice head of hair that proved wildly important for our future beef.
02:49Jimmy Johnson took Schnellenberger's foundation and bolted a gold-plated jet engine onto it.
02:55His very first game, a win over number one Auburn.
03:00His teams played with swagger and destruction, fueling a heated rivalry with Notre Dame, but more importantly, pushing Miami deeper into its in-state battles.
03:11Traditionally, Florida football's pecking order was UF on top, with Miami and FSU trading 2A and 2B.
03:21But as the latter two climbed into the rankings, Florida got slapped with a three-year postseason ban for a laundry list of violations.
03:29The Floridian throne suddenly sat empty at such a perfect moment.
03:34Miami had already seized the edge, but Bowden wouldn't go quietly.
03:38The stage was set for 1987, which became not just the start of something extraordinary between these schools, but a turning point for the entire sport.
03:49Ever the promoter, Bobby Bowden saw FSU's Week 5 matchup with Miami as the Florida championship, something that would tie straight into the national title.
03:59The top five showdown was the biggest game in FSU's history, partly thanks to the expectation that whoever won jumped to the top spot in the nation.
04:09The game looked like a great opportunity for everyone.
04:12Two quality teams facing off with a whole lot on the line, but pleasantries coming from both sides.
04:19Fans, meanwhile, had already uncovered an additional layer of animus, but suppose they had to point it somewhere with Florida on the ropes.
04:27Now, too often, a game with this level of hype becomes a letdown, and through 40 minutes, it looked like that would be the case again.
04:36The Seminoles stormed out to a 19-3 lead, impressive enough that, on the broadcast, Brent Musburger congratulated FSU in the third quarter, saying that they clearly wanted it more.
04:48And then Steve Walsh connected with Melvin Bratton from 49 yards out, then Walsh hit Michael Irvin from 26 yards out, Miami converted a pair of two-point conversions to tie it up, and then Irvin got loose again for a 73-yard touchdown.
05:09Seven-point lead, Miami.
05:11The football gods wouldn't allow FSU to completely collapse just yet.
05:17They clawed back with a touchdown of their own with about a minute to play, and that's when we got a beef-shaping decision.
05:26In 1987, college football didn't have overtime.
05:30So, FSU had a very interesting choice.
05:33Kick the extra point and signal to the world that they're okay playing for the tie, or go for two, and the win, to try to cement their status as the best school in the state, if not the nation.
05:47Bowden went for it all.
05:49Miami denied him.
05:51After dominating the day, winning in nearly every way they could, FSU lost where it mattered most.
05:59The decision not to kick the extra point hung over Bowden and the Seminoles from there on out.
06:05Didn't matter that his team had his back, or that Johnson said he would have made the same call.
06:11Bobby had to answer this question all year long.
06:14Even when Miami took home another national title at season's end, Bowden's decision not to kick stole focus.
06:21Because that loss to Miami was Florida State's only blemish.
06:25While Miami celebrated, Florida State had front-row seats as the nation's, and therefore the state's, second-best team.
06:33What could have been became the off-season storyline.
06:37Maybe this was fueled by Bowden waffling here and there on the decision.
06:42Maybe even more so when the Seminoles' place kicker Derek Schmidt, who didn't get the chance to tie the game,
06:48finished the 1987 season as the NCAA's all-time leading scorer.
06:52While this discussion didn't directly question Miami deserving to be the national champion,
06:59it certainly didn't shut the door on that sort of conversation.
07:03And as August rolled around, boy did that talk intensify.
07:08Not only were FSU and Miami scheduled to kick off the season against each other,
07:13but they'd do so with Florida State as the AP's top team.
07:18FSU's number one preseason ranking was a first for any Florida school.
07:25And with Miami all the way down at eight, August turned into a frenzy.
07:30Their matchup was described as a cold war, each side looking to gain any advantage they could,
07:36knowing everything helped for the top ten battle.
07:38This time, the coaches played into the growing beef.
07:42Did Bowden think that Miami cheated?
07:44No, of course not.
07:46But he did compare them to his wife, who maybe cheats at cards?
07:52Johnson was left looking over his shoulder, expecting his counterpart to pop up anywhere,
07:57trying to steal some secrets.
07:59An offseason can do interesting things to football-starved minds.
08:04The rankings seemed to re-litigate the 1987 season.
08:09Florida State lost to Miami, and that meant maybe they were actually more impressive?
08:16Were people already that fatigued by Miami's greatness?
08:20For the Canes players, they couldn't have cared less.
08:24The typically talkative bunch kept quiet ahead of the season opener.
08:28Well, relatively quiet.
08:30If you can deliver a line like this, you've got to.
08:32Meanwhile, FSU players definitely read some of the articles about their very own greatness.
08:39They followed their coaches' coded way of speech to hint at Miami being lucky.
08:44But they also admitted how much pressure came with being number one.
08:48Any misstep in your tumbling.
08:50People are looking up, expecting you to fall.
08:53And Bowden saw this as his program having a huge target on its back for the season.
08:58But before worrying about the entire year, Miami loomed large.
09:04FSU's coach didn't have an eye on revenge, though.
09:07He knew that that's how you get blown out.
09:10And he had his guys ready to go.
09:12Oh, dear God.
09:14Okay.
09:14Okay.
09:15Maybe the revenge narrative might have helped.
09:20Now it was time for Miami to talk.
09:22After their beatdown of FSU, guys said they saw fear in the eyes of Florida State.
09:29The game was a cakewalk.
09:30Practice was harder for them.
09:32They said in years past, FSU brought an intensity that they just didn't have out there this time.
09:39They weren't ready.
09:41Bowden made no excuses.
09:42He had not prepared his team well enough.
09:46And maybe an offseason full of praise went to their heads.
09:50This game really affected the Seminole head coach.
09:54But in his depression, he could still deliver some bangers.
09:58For the second season in a row, FSU had just a single blemish on their record.
10:03Each time via Miami.
10:05And both years at season's end, when the final rankings came in, there both schools were.
10:10Miami at two, Florida State at three.
10:14Another year defined by what if.
10:17And another year where the national champion was undoubtedly impacted by Miami beating the Seminoles.
10:23The offseason after 88, though, at least saw the spotlight swing towards the Hurricanes.
10:29Jimmy Johnson left Miami for the pros.
10:32The incredibly talented squad that finished second in the nation now had a new chip on their shoulder
10:38and reason to prove Johnson foolish for leaving them.
10:42They likely recognized that folks in Tallahassee would see this as a door opening.
10:47FSU's chance to strike before new head coach Dennis Erickson could settle in.
10:52Unfortunately for FSU, they had to wait until week nine to get their chance.
10:57By then, the Seminoles had dropped a pair of games and the Hurricanes had climbed up to second in the nation.
11:03But with far less to lose this year, FSU players had no reason to hold back.
11:10Gators, Schmaters, all my hatreds for Miami now.
11:14In three short years, college football in Florida had turned upside down.
11:19Players showcased grudges that seemed generational.
11:22The best example of this came from a pair of cousins on opposite sides of the matchup.
11:26FSU's Eric Hayes called Miami's Bernard Clark every day for three weeks telling him to watch out.
11:34Clark escalated things depicting an all-out war.
11:38It all felt so new in such contrast to the days of
11:42that's a great ball team over there, I tell you what.
11:45This was heated.
11:48And it stayed that way right up to kickoff.
11:51During the pregame ceremonies, referees could barely maintain order.
11:55Players were going after each other, or worse, going after mascots.
12:01Miami players wouldn't let FSU's Chief Osceola and his horse Renegade have a clear path for the school's flaming spear tradition.
12:09Not to be outdone, Tallahassee police had to detain Miami's mascot in full IBIS gear.
12:16Sebastian had procured a fire extinguisher and planned on dowsing that flaming spear,
12:21but blasted a cop with it instead before five officers pinned him against a fence.
12:26Which, fortunately, happened close enough to Joe Rimkus Jr. of the Miami Herald to snap this photo.
12:33The disrespect carried on from the coin toss to after-scoring plays.
12:38Everyone was getting involved, whether part of the play or not.
12:42And in this chaos, maybe thanks to this chaos, the underdog Seminoles finally did it.
12:49For the first time since 1984, they beat Miami.
12:54FSU's Tony Yeomans delivered the line of the day.
12:57But this was only one battle within a war which wasn't ending anytime soon.
13:03The Seminoles had clearly needed this.
13:06The win seemed transformative.
13:09They appreciated just how good Miami has been, which made this win all the sweeter.
13:14As for the war, well, there was no learning curve for Erickson in Miami.
13:20To be fair, Johnson left him with a solid start.
13:24While that three-year stretch serves as a tiny window within a storied rivalry,
13:30the beef shared in this moment fizzled as quickly as it erupted.
13:33I think that's partly because, despite FSU getting the monkey off their back,
13:39they needed a different focus in order to take the next step to win it all.
13:43Had Johnson stuck around long enough to lose to the Knolls at the height of their power,
13:48maybe this thing would have lingered.
13:50But at the same time, we should be thankful for what came next.
13:54This rivalry not only defined the champions of the late 80s,
13:57the impact carried through the 90s, with the theme continuing of Florida State heartbreak.
14:04In 1990, Miami returned to their winning ways, which helped knock FSU out of title contention.
14:11And the teams again finished the year back-to-back in the rankings.
14:15In 1991, this time facing off as the nation's number one and number two,
14:20Florida State missed a would-be game-winning field goal in the final seconds wide right.
14:27A year later, they did it again.
14:30Wide right, too.
14:31But Bowden and Erickson could now appreciate the big picture.
14:36No longer were these schools chasing identity.
14:39They were simply maintaining greatness.
14:42And what was good for one school was typically good for the other.
14:45Overshadowed by three years of war, this feud brought more concentrated success than maybe
14:52any beef we've seen.
14:54When the Seminoles earned their first true national title in 1993,
14:59it marked the fourth time in seven years where one of these schools sat atop the AP poll at season's end.
15:06And for six of those years, both teams finished top four when the games were over.
15:10And that seems pretty good for two programs that, just 20 years prior,
15:16people were questioning their existence.
15:18Hey, thanks for watching.
15:27I hope you enjoyed this beef.
15:29If you really enjoyed it, I think you might have a good time joining the ranks of our top secret agents,
15:35whose names you're seeing on screen right now.
15:37They're enjoying our stuff over on Patreon.
15:39I think you would like it, too.
15:40Every Monday, we drop something new over there, like this one that you just finished.
15:44And honestly, if none of that sounds good, but you're still listening to me for some reason,
15:50well, I don't know.
15:51Here's some other videos on YouTube that I bet you'll enjoy.
15:54We'll see you soon.
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