Miami fans interested in dragging FSU instead of worrying about Florida

Miami's "College GameDay" morning doubled as a rivalry reminder. Even with Florida in town Saturday night, a loud early chant from the Lakeside Patio crowd targeted the Gators — and the fan conversation around the show kept drifting to Florida State. Within minutes of the broadcast starting, microphones picked up an explicit anti-Florida chant that forced the desk to pause. "We didn’t even really get a word out, and they started with this," analyst Pat McAfee said on air.

The atmosphere was feverish well before sunrise. Saturday marked the show's first full, in-person stop at Miami since 2017 and served as the prelude to No. 4 Miami hosting Florida at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.

If the audio made clear how Miami fans feel about Florida, the discourse around the pick made clear who else is on their minds. There has been days of pushback for GameDay choosing Miami-Florida over other options, much of it from Florida State fans — so that might just also have something to do with the constant chants directed at Florida as well.

Miami entered the weekend as the ACC’s No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 and a betting favorite to win the conference. Florida State lurks a week later on the schedule after an Alabama win that reset national expectations. The Seminoles and Miami matchup could be a top-10 matchup next week, so it is slightly understandable that Noles fans wanted GameDay to be on it.

But the Hurricanes can't get too ahead of themselves. The Seminoles matchup will be important, but if they look past Florida, the Gators will make them pay. Say what you want about Napier but he has his players fighting out there and they would love nothing more than to revive their season with a road win against Miami.