Your Thoughts Thursday: Florida is the Must-Win Game for FSU in 2019

Two days separate us from college football and just nine separate us from Florida State football.

In this week’s The Daily Nole Poll, we asked our social media followers who they would have FSU beat this season if they could pick from just one of the following four teams: Boise State, Clemson, Miami or Florida. The results were closer than many may have guessed, but the winning choice was not surprising.

There were 180 total votes in this week’s poll, but arch-rival Florida topped the poll with 42 percent. National champion Clemson was a close second with 34 percent. Boise State and Miami each got 12 percent.

Our Take
Again, the voters got it right.

While beating Clemson is the pipeline to winning the ACC, beating Florida is more important to reclaiming the state. Under first-year coach Dan Mullen, the Gators won 10 games, a New Year’s Six bowl and throttled FSU 41-14 to snap a 5-game losing streak to the Seminoles.

With Mullen and FSU head coach Willie Taggart both in their second seasons, the Seminoles cannot let Florida take stranglehold of the state. Traditionally, being state champions has led to bigger championships.

It’s true that Miami is also an in-state rival, but at this point, Florida is much closer to where FSU wants to be than Miami. The Hurricanes have won the last two in the series, but by just a combined five points. Miami is not currently a player on the national scale while Florida may be.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson. Like The Daily Nole on Facebook. To pitch an idea, author a post or to learn more about The Daily Nole, email Mike Ferguson at Mike@TheDailyNole.com.