The End of the Season FSU-UF Game Should Remain There

According to one of my favorite sports bloggers, FSU's hot new coach, Jimbo Fisher, would like to play Florida for the first game of the season instead of the traditional final game. Why? As an FSU alum and an avid Seminole fan, I was relieved to read that UF officials nixed the idea.

Steve Spurrier used to say the same thing - he thought it would be better for all parties involved to switch the FSU-UF with the Tennessee-UF game, because there was too much pressure to go into the state-rivalry with everything a potential national title line. Never understood that logic. How would replacing it with another rivalry game that could decide the SEC East take pressure away?

In any case, no matter who it's coming from, it's a bad idea. College football, like all good entertainment, is about anticipation. It's that date circled on the Calendar, the end of November, when the weather in Florida is perfect for a football game. There is no reason good enough to get "the one we've been waiting for" out of the way. Heck, I think the FSU-Miami game should stay mid-October.

By all means, make the first weeks exciting. Travel to Oklahoma to take on a perennial power (as we do this year), take on another vaunted SEC team in the Georgia Dome. I am all for exciting early-season games. USC and Ohio State did us all a favor by playing each other early for two years straight, and more teams need the courage to do this. But the best part of college football is the deep traditional rivalries. Michigan-Ohio State. Army-Navy. FSU-UF, end of the season, best for last.