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Still I thought UM HATED the Noles, surprised such blatant brandishing of FSU gear down there.
What's more I thought there would be a larger Gator contingency for these reasons;
1. Reportedly a large group of UF kids are from South Florida, and it's the biggest school in the state.
2. They are HUGE in college football and that's the only real way to get a pro markets attention.
3. I have heard that the UM fanbase is either diluted, too spread out or just plain weak by comparison (NOTE NOT MY OPINION, just what I heard!)
Still I thought UM HATED the Noles, surprised such blatant brandishing of FSU gear down there.
It wasn't like there were thousands upon thousands of FSU fans down there, but I noticed the ones I saw because I didn't like em, and they didn't belong in Miami
What's more I thought there would be a larger Gator contingency for these reasons;
1. Reportedly a large group of UF kids are from South Florida, and it's the biggest school in the state.
True, but there are more I've come across in my path who grew up in Miami that end up going to FSU for college. I know what you're thinking about why would Miami kids go to FSU? I noticed it more maybe because of my hate for FSU. I would see an FSU bumper sticker or license plate every once in a while in Miami and wonder what the hell are they thinking. They're in the wrong area for that, but I noticed more FSU people down there then Gator fans in my experience. Maybe someone else can chime in if they actually grew up in Miami and say their experiences too. Oh, and actually UCF is the biggest school in the state beleive it or not
2. They are HUGE in college football and that's the only real way to get a pro markets attention.
Yeah currently they are huge in College football, but over the years FSU seemed to be more known due to the wide right games with Miami and Bobby Bowden's long tenure as a coach. No doubt that the Gators have a huge fan base in Florida, but FSU has a slight edge as far as more FSU fans flying their colors compared to Gator fans that I saw in my 26 years in Florida. I'm not saying either team has a small amount of fans around the cities in Florida. I'm just giving FSU a slight edge because I noticed their fans out and about a little more.
3. I have heard that the UM fanbase is either diluted, too spread out or just plain weak by comparison (NOTE NOT MY OPINION, just what I heard!)
UM is hated by a lot of people who aren't from Miami due to the swagger they had back in the 80's and early 90's and then again in the early 2000's. Couple that along with all of the players who went to jail and you get a lot of haters of UM. But "real" UM fans are more die hard or should I use the word crazy....yeah, Crazier than any other fans I've seen...lol
Also many people don't realize that UM is a private school and relatively small in comparison - they don't have the student population or alumni mass that some of the other schools do
One dude on Bleacher Report suggested that a sizeable contingency of Gator Nation is bandwagoning.
Don't get me wrong, it's not like they were a joke before the OBC came, a decent program but I know history, they weren't really world beaters in the days of the Bear, Vince Dooley, Jonny Vaught or Jonnhy Majors.
In the 80s it seemed like it was all Canes and Noles.
So you're saying that UF has a bigger fanbase? What are you basing your opinion on? You must not have lived in Florida most of your life
No, this is the opinion of SEC officials. The estimation Slive threw out of something like "80% of all college football viewers with an allegiance to a team in Florida identify themselves as Gator fans". That's not to say FSU or Miami are not viable options for SEC membership. Florida is a huge state population wise after all.
I think we can all agree that while Miami was popular at many points the last 30 years, their core fanbase has never been strong. They've had empty seats at every stadium they leased.
There are absolutely some bandwagon UF fans that would have been Miami or FSU fans pre-OBC, but the last 20 years UF has really solidified much of that state. UF's success since the 90s coupled with the SEC's massage growth during that same period leads many to believe it will be a major UF state for years to come.
I wonder what the ACC officials would say.......................
Touche.
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