Nothing compares
to Florida football
Not only will the outcome
of Florida’s ballot re
counts decide our next
president, it seems, but
the state is almost certain to deter
mine a more coveted prize: college
football’s national champion.
Yeah, the Sunshine State may be
whacked when it comes to poli
tics, but throw a pigskin in the mix
and everything is status quo. Just
check out the Bowl Championship
Series rankings: Following No. 1
Oklahoma are, in order, Miami,
Florida State and Florida.
And Vice President Al Gore
thought he had assembled a strong
contingent of heavy-hitters to bat
tle for the top spot. Florida always
seems to bring on the big guns
when the stakes are high.
Of course, in-state rivalries are
in vogue this weekend all across
the country. Clemson and South
Carolina battle it out in the South
east, with Auburn and Alabama
feudin' in the deep South. Western
Michigan and Eastern Michigan tie
one on in middle America, while
Texas Christian and Texas El-Paso
go mano-a-mano in the Southwest.
Closer to home, UCLA and USC
play for pride in California, but
Washington will perhaps be play
ing for a bit more against Washing
ton State in Pullman.
Of course, Oregon can put to rest
any Husky hopes of having a rosy
day with a win against Oregon
State.
None of those games, however,
can match the hype of Florida
State versus Florida. This game of
fers more melodrama than an
Aaron Spelling marathon on Fox.
The coaches dislike each other,
for starters. Florida State’s Bobby
Bowden jokingly asked for God’s
forgiveness the other day when he
told reporters that he and Gator
coach Steve Spurrier have a good
relationship — the implication be
ing that ol’ Bobby broke a com
mandment by telling a whopper.
Speaking of starters, Florida
State signal-caller Chris Weinke is
a front-runner for the Heisman Tro
phy, while Spurrier will rotate his
two quarterbacks, redshirt fresh
man Rex Grossman and senior
Jesse Palmer. This is interesting if
you know the two coaches’ styles:
Bowden puts trust in the individ
ual, while Spurrier believes it’s his
system that produces victories, so
the individual is irrelevant. (Not
surprising, Bowden is considered
a legend, even by Florida fans,
while Spurrier is pretty much seen
as a jerk throughout the state.)
Plus, there’s the amusing history
between the two schools. In 1905,
the Florida Legislature reorganized
its higher education system and es
tablished two state institutions, the
University of Florida and the Flori
da State College for Women. Forty
one years later, both schools went
co-educational, but it took the
threat of legal action by then-Flori
da Gov. Leroy Collin in 1958 to
force Florida onto the field to play
Florida State. Florida officials did
n't want to open up the possibility
of losing to the “all-girls” school.
Nowadays, both teams could
agree to play in Victoria’s Secret
lingerie and the fans would still
foam at the mouth the week lead
ing up to the game.
Here ifi Eugene, and up in Cor
vallis, the frenzy for the Civil War
is beginning to reach a fevered
pitch, to be sure, thanks to the
added bonus of a Rose Bowl berth
on the line. But until the two
teams play with these sorts of
stakes year in and year out — and
Turn to Jack Attack, page 22B
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