Miami-Fla. State rivalry reheating up

While Saturday's showdown with Miami (Fla.) will be the first as head coach for new Florida State boss Jimbo Fisher, he has been through the rivalry as an assistant and is keenly aware of its history.

Now, he's at the forefront of it as the Sunshine State foes get ready to battle in Miami (ABC, 8 p.m. ET).

"You go (through) your career, and to get involved in some of the great traditional rivalries in college football, you feel very blessed," says Fisher, who was FSU's offensive coordinator the last three seasons and previously was an assistant at LSU, Cincinnati and Auburn. "When you're a kid watching TV, growing up, wishing you could be a part of that, this is one of them you talk about all the time.

"You go back to the players that have played in this rivalry, to the plays that have been made, the implications of the games in this rivalry. Hopefully that's what both programs are trying to do now: build that back."

No. 14 Miami (3-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) and No. 24 FSU (4-1, 2-0) each lost to highly ranked non-conference opponents in the second week of the season. The Hurricanes fell at No. 2 Ohio State 36-24, while Florida State was swamped by Oklahoma 47-17. The Sooners were ranked 10th at the time but have since moved up to No. 7.

"I think we've gotten a lot better since then," says FSU running back Jermaine Thomas, who ran for 122 yards and two touchdowns last week in a win at Virginia. "After the Oklahoma game, we went back to basics. We're playing more together now. We weren't in sync that day. We've eliminated a lot of mistakes."

FSU and Miami have not been near their national championship-contending peaks in recent years, and this is the first time the teams have met with both ranked in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll since the opener of the 2006 season. It's the first time in seven years that they've met with both ranked after playing at least one game each.

However, Seminoles defensive tackle Everett Dawkins says, the buzz around this game is a signal to him that the intensity of the rivalry is being renewed.

"You hear people around campus talking about it, and you hear about it on TV," he says. "I definitely do think that feeling is coming back. It's getting back to where it was."

Miami coach Randy Shannon says along with intensity comes high regard for the opponent, especially since many players know each other from playing with or against them in high school.

"It's a rivalry, but we respect them and they respect us and we play that way," says Shannon, whose team beat the Seminoles 38-34 last season.

"I can't tell you what will happen, but it's a game that you watch and there's a reason the TV networks put it on (in) prime time. They see two teams that are fairly even, and it's a state game with old-time tradition."

In those old times when the game often carried national championship implications, both teams usually had outstanding defenses. That's coming back, too.

While quarterbacks Jacory Harris of Miami and Christian Ponder of FSU have talented skill-position players to get the ball to and direct potentially high-scoring offenses, this contest might come down to which defense is at the top of its game.

Florida State leads the nation in sacks (5.0 a game) and is second in tackles for loss (9.4) and fourth in rushing defense (74.8 yards a game).

The Hurricanes lead the nation in tackles for loss (10.5 a game) and are second in sacks (4.25) and 12th in total defense (266.8 yards a game).

After FSU gave up more than 30 points a game last year in a 7-6 season, Fisher hired defensive coordinator Mark Stoops away from Arizona to replace longtime FSU coordinator Mickey Andrews.

Stoops, known for his stifling zone schemes, was defensive backs coach at Miami from 2001 to 2003, during which time the Hurricanes went 35-3, won one national title and played for another.

"The scheme is changed, and we're getting more pressure (on quarterbacks) this year," Dawkins says. "The approach is different. Everybody's trying to get to the quarterback."