Has the Florida State-Miami rivalry game lost its national appeal?

The Florida State Seminoles and Miami Hurricanes square off this Saturday but the rivalry game doesn’t have the same cache as it did in the 80s and 90s during their heyday.

The rivalry between Florida State and Miami used to be one of the best in all of college football. It was at its peak in the late 1980s and early 1990s with one of the biggest games coming in 1987 when both were ranked in the top four and vying for a national championship.

That game ended in epic fashion, as the Seminoles scored with just 42 seconds remaining and rather than going for the field goal and tying the game, they went for the two-point conversion and tried to win the game. Unfortunately for Florida State, the pass was broken up and Miami won the game and eventually won the national championship.

While Miami got the better of the Seminoles during the peak of the rivalry, with several notable missed field goals by FSU, the games were still fun to watch. The rivalry continued into the 2000s and once Florida State started winning, the rivalry wasn’t nearly as enjoyable, as the games were pretty lopsided.

College GameDay will be on hand for the Florida State-Miami rivalry game, but has the game lost its appeal with national audiences due to the programs no longer at their peak?

With Miami and Florida State no longer national championship contenders, the rivalry has lost some luster outside the Sunshine State

Even though some of these Miami vs Florida State games have been competitive, it just doesn’t have the same feel to it. For one, Florida State has been irrelevant since Jimbo Fisher resigned as head coach. He had been in Tallahassee since 2010 and led them to a National Title in the 2013 season while also notching four bowl wins and making it to a bowl game in each of his seven full seasons.

Once Willie Taggart took over as the head coach of the Seminoles, things unraveled very quickly and that’s where the rivalry took a hit because Florida State wasn’t good anymore. They had losing records in both 2018 and 2019 and even though their two games against Miami were close, it just didn’t feel the same as it did in those 80s/90s/00s games that went down to the wire and had everyone on the edge of their seats.

Florida State has yet another head coach, Mike Norvell, and they’re already 0-1 after just 1 game despite being heavily hyped heading into the 2020 season. Meanwhile, No. 12 Miami is 2-0 and looking like one of the better teams in the nation.

The Hurricanes have been up and down over the years, but have been a more relevant program than that of Florida State. They’ve made it to bowl games and been ranked at one time or another, but haven’t quite been able to match their 10-3 season they had in 2017.

With Miami and Florida State squaring off this weekend in Miami, it really does beg the question of if this rivalry is still an exciting one to watch. With Florida State being in a slump, Miami being a top-15 team and winning the last three match-ups, it doesn’t really give viewers much to look forward to in this one.

The Hurricanes are 11-point favorites over the Seminoles and will likely have another pretty big victory over their in-state foes. While the rivalry will always be a rivalry, it just doesn’t have the same feel anymore, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be revived and become what it once was again.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.