Sorry, but I’m Rooting for LSU over Florida State on Sunday Night

Let me start this article by saying that I understand rooting for the other teams in the ACC and how it can help the Miami Hurricanes and the conference as a whole. I don’t care. Would it be great if both Miami and FSU were undefeated when they play this season? It would be great for the rivalry. Otherwise, who cares? I just want the Canes to beat the Seminoles, like I do every season.

Miami fans: do you really think former HC Manny Diaz and AD Blake James would’ve kept their jobs if we beat FSU last season? After the spotlight Kirk Herbstreit put on the program for a national audience, not a chance. Plus, Manny Diaz led the Canes to decisive wins the two years prior, 27-10 in 2019 and an absolute demolition, 52-10 in 2020, and we all knew he stunk as a head coach. The goal is to beat FSU every season, no matter what. Miami’s loss last year was especially tough when looking at FSU’s 2021 team. They lost to Jacksonville State and started the season 0-4. Losing to that FSU team is definitely worse than winning and giving Manny Diaz a fighting, yet slim, chance at saving his job.

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Writing this made me think of when this “root for your conference as a whole” became a thing. Well, I have a good guess...

I believe the “root for your conference as a whole” thing came on strong in the late 2000s/early 2010s. And shockingly, it originated from one conference. My roommate at the time, Alex (FSU fan) and I loved watching big college football games, no matter who was playing. We started to notice people at bars or our buddies’ houses chanting S-E-C when one of the teams would win. We were perplexed as the person was never a fan of the team playing. Alex and I came up with a perfect response to these SEC robots chanting their favorite letters: “Oh, so you must be an Alabama fan?” The person usually snapped back, told us no way and repeated the often-said line of how deep the SEC is as a whole. The problem with that was ‘Bama was busy dominating the conference with six SEC Championship Game appearances in a ten-year span from 2009 to 2018. Auburn and LSU were able to break through a couple times. However, the other half of the conference was bad for the most part during that time before Kirby Smart left Nick Saban for Georgia. Smart is responsible for the one SEC East conference championship since 2009 (2017).

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When Clemson would make it to the CFP, I rooted for them against Ohio State because of my hatred of Ohio State. I rooted for Clemson against Notre Dame because of my hatred of Notre Dame. I rooted for Clemson against Alabama because I’m sick of Alabama winning. I didn’t root for Clemson because they’re from the ACC.

All this is to say, in my humble opinion, rooting your for conference as a whole, is dumb. If Head Coach Mario Cristobal is the man to bring Miami back and into CFP contention, it won’t matter if there are a bunch of other good ACC teams.

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Last thing: do you think Alabama fans have ever chanted S-E-C? The answer is no. They’re too busy counting their wins, championships, first-round draft picks. The list goes on.

I’m a Miami Hurricanes fan. I root for the Miami Hurricanes, not the ACC.