FanHouse

It's that time of year, yet again, for one of college football's ugliest, bitterest rivalries.

It's the rivalry that takes the word "hate" and redefines it with expletives. It's getting dragged out of your car, kicking and screaming, to defend your life in the center of a violent, gang-infested neighborhood. It's blood on the curb, teeth on the pavement, and scalps flapping in the breeze. It's a street fight; a brawl, an out-and-out slugfest between two teams and two fanbases who despise each other. It's brass knuckles instead of boxing gloves, broken bottles instead of fists, bicycle chains and steel-toed boots instead of shoulder pads and cleats. It's an orange and blue molotov cocktail; it's a garnet-and-gold colored brick of C4 explosive and ball bearings strapped beneath the toilet lid.

Yeah. It's nasty.

Florida vs. Florida State. Ranks right up there with Ohio State vs. Michigan, Alabama vs. Auburn, and Texas vs. Oklahoma.

Respect? None given by either side.

Mercy? Never asked, and never granted.

The desperate hate which drives the engine of this powerful rivalry derives its energy from the yin and yang relationship between the two universities. The 陰/阴, which is Chinese for yin -- the dark element which ancient Chinese philosophy describes as "sad, passive, dark, feminine, downward-seeking, and corresponding to night" is as apt a description of Florida State as you'll find anywhere. And the 陽/阳, the yang -- the "brighter" element -- is "happy, active, light, masculine, upward-seeking, and corresponding to day," and clearly describes the Florida Gators. Even the school colors seem to support the relationship. Florida State's garnet and gold scheme is dark, dreary and drab. Florida's orange and blue is bright and colorful, a majestic combination of hues.


While this dichotomy defines each element's respective football program and university, it's also a good description for each team's 2006 football season. Florida enters the grudge match ranked #4 in the nation with a 10-1 record over four ranked teams, while Florida State limps in with a 6-5 record, those six wins over teams such as Duke, Rice, Troy, Virginia, Western Michigan, and Miami. (And just to illustrate how bad Miami is this year, Duke almost beat them.)

Florida has lived up to their "Yang" part of the agreement, but Florida State comes in so weak, so overmatched, so pathetic, that the game has been moved to 12:00 noon by the television networks due to the expectation of another UF blowout. In fact, it makes one wonder...

... if it isn't the perfect setup for an upset.

In fact, one of the key tenets of the yin and yang concept is that the yin can transform into the yang and vice versa; that the yin can consume the yang.

Could that happen on November 25th?

In every possible category, at every position, at every level, Florida is superior to Florida State. That includes the players, the coaches, the trainers... you name it.

But don't rule out the football gods' dark sense of humor. 'Nole fans are undoubtedly praying that they balance the tilt out of this rivalry to give FSU a fighting chance.

Florida fans would love to see another humilating blowout, ala last year's 34-7 trouncing of the Seminoles in the Swamp. Since FSU was shut out by Wake Forest 30-0, could it happen again?

5 days and counting.

Go Yang.