Sad but true. I remember back in the 1980s when Pensacola had a lot of Gator fans. Nowadays it seems to be Criminoles and Bama.
...Maybe more Bama than anything else in Pace. No scUM to speak of and few if any dwags are seen in these parts - that's some consolation I suppose.
Well, one has to be old enough to remember the Dan Jenkins quote. I'm paraphrasing but basically, he said "Florida fans have the arrogance of Notre Dame and the trophy case of Wake Forest." Jenkins said that in the early sixties. Florida never was really considered a true SEC school because frankly, so many Floridians are from outside the state, which was due to the contributions of Willis Carrier. With affordable air conditioning, the population of the Sunshine State exploded with folks from out of state, particularly the Northeast. Except for the panhandle and inland, Florida wasn't (and to a degree still isn't) a southern state. For years, SEC fans would attend games dressed in their Sunday best (often a white shirt and tie, along with the ubiquitous "Bama Bangs"), while Gator fans would wear t-shirts and shorts (especially the dreaded jorts). Many Gator fans sneered at the other SEC schools' seemingly backward ways, while the rest of the SEC looked upon us as yankee carpetbaggers. As for FSU, their hatred stems from the fact that their football program did not start until 1950, and they had to play catchup for years before they started to field strong teams. Hate Bobby Bowden all you want, but he brought the Noles to the top tier of college football, which in turn compelled Gator fans to sneer at their little brother status, their relative lack of academic prowess, their easy schedule, etc. All those arguments have holes, but they persist to this day. Miami? There has been a mutual hatred between Gators and Canes before there was hatred between Gators and Noles. It involved competing recruiting, and the extraordinary success of a succession of coaches starting with Howard Schnellenberger. We played them every year, and the games were always contentious. They see us as arrogant (as do everyone else), while we see them as thugs (the image cultivated by Jimmy Johnson). In my day, I'd say the order was: 1. Georgia (by far) 2. Miami 3. FSU Over the past decade, it's probably 1. FSU 2. Georgia 3. Miami ...with Miami lagging behind because they aren't regular opponents. Just my take best on a memory that goes back more than a half century...
Easy one. Gators play in the most competitive conference and are the only school that also has multiple in state rivals not in the that conference. Toss in the sec rednecks that think UF isn't southern enough and have a bit of jealousy over UFs recent dominance across all sports while being a superior academic school. Of course if we continue to suck at football maybe they won't hate the Gators as much. Most fans don't hate teams they always beat.
Don't forget we are the Flag Ship university of the state, with the largest body of students, The largest and wealthiest alumni, The best academics, the best stadium and we are not just good at Football we have been kicking everyones ass in ALL sports. All rivals hate each other just ask Alabama and Auburn how much they love each others, but winners will always be hated and I would never have it any other way. Just ask the Yankees how much hate they get. Also, we have the toughest admission standards and FSU and Miami are full of students and alumni who were rejected by UF.
Pretty much everyone hates us in football. In 2021, we went 6-7. UK pulled down the posts on us, and that half breed SEC school in South Carolina did the same. Envy and jealousy are the reasons. Hell with them. Who hates us the most? Georgia. And folks, it is not even close. And I return the favor. It Is GREAT To Be A Florida Gator!!!!!
Fsu stormed the field the last time I was at the joke and we weren’t very good. That part was as funny as our president.
Asked the random 5 UM fans and 5 FSU fans this question this week.....yes, a wide sample...heh. All the UM fans said they hated FSU more than UF....the whole being in the same conference thing seemed to win the argument. Maybe if/when FSU moves out that may change. (They also said with UF having a losing record lately, they don't really care as much about beating UF as opposed to FSU). Small poll.
FSU seems to hate Miami worse than us these days. Probably because they've been in the same conference for a while now. TN probably hates us the worse because of how we've dominated them for the past couple of decades, but, Alabama would be a close second for them. Miami probably hates us worse than they hate fsu because of past history.
It always goes in cycles and Tennessee Alabama is the oldest rivalry between the two, but Tennessee hasn’t beat anybody in so long that nobody hates them quite as much as they normally do
45-55ish. But I agree, there are probably generational differences. These guys were all within a friend circle, so mindsets are probably similar too. As noted, not a wide sample selection.
We need to kick the shit out of FSU for about five straight years and refresh their memory and then revisit that discussion.
