The way coaches Jimbo Fisher and Dabo Swinney have their respective teams rolling, the ACC Atlantic Division had the looks of an annual two-horse race. With that Clemson-Florida State game usually played in the season’s first half, the backstretch of the Atlantic race wasn’t nearly as eventful as that of, say, the Kentucky Derby’s.
Coincidentally, here comes Louisville and, specifically, its coach, Bobby Petrino. Although the division is Florida State’s to lose even if the Cardinals upset the No. 2 Seminoles Thursday night (7:30 p.m. ET ESPN), a modern-day revival of the 2002 game could set the stage for years to come.
“I don’t know for sure yet. We’ll have to wait and see how this game goes,” Louisville linebacker Keith Kelsey said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Both rosters are full of talent, thanks in large part to the relentless recruiting of Fisher and the connections former coach Charlie Strong built with high school prospects and their families. A great rivalry needs players of the same caliber, and that should be a constant in this rivalry.
In college football, however, true rivalries are established because of the blended intrigue in the men patrolling the sidelines. Fisher and Petrino are among the best offensive minds in college football, perennially finishing toward the top of the leaderboard in points per game.
“If you look at their film, they're kind of similar to us,” Fisher said. “I won't say we mirror, but we have a lot of the same philosophies. Bobby's a very good coach.”
What really could make this rivalry most captivating in the ACC isn’t the play calling of Fisher and Petrino but the personalities.
Petrino has at times been a contributor to college football’s moral malaise. He unceremoniously left the NFL’s Jaguars before trying to backdoor his way out of Louisville numerous times, and then eventually left for the NFL’s Falcons. His exit from Atlanta -- and Arkansas, too, for that matter -- are all part of a humiliating public record.
He’s been called egotistical and arrogant, but he’s also been called a winner. Those same words are now being used to describe Fisher.
Fisher and his Seminoles have generated negative off-field headlines for nearly a year, and the fifth-year Florida State coach has defiantly backed his players through each incident, the latest being an alleged domestic violence incident involving leading rusher Karlos Williams, who is expected to play Thursday.
Fisher has withstood each pounding wave of criticism of his seemingly Teflon program, even firing his own shots back. He scoffs at the national perception his actions have enabled players and instilled a lack of accountability at FSU. Fisher’s approval rating outside of Tallahassee has plummeted, which he and his team have only embraced. Schadenfreude is the term thrown around Florida’s capital city these days.
Petrino and Fisher are similar, or at least perceived in similar contexts. Outside of each fan base, neither coach is well liked at the moment, and the volatile pendulum of public opinion doesn’t look to be swinging back anytime soon.
Yet that same haughtiness that rankles outside fans can endear coaches to his respective fan base. With college football rosters the equivalent of a revolving door, opposing fan bases need to acquire a certain distaste for the opposing coach. For the sake of this rivalry, Fisher’s and Petrino’s egos could be the root irritant. What FSU fans love in Fisher they’ll abhor in Petrino. And vice versa.
For the neutral fans, the appeal will always be whether this is the game that somehow neither team wins. National eyes are on this game, for reasons on and off the field, and for a conference lacking cachet in a subjective playoff system, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. The ACC needs to usher in a new rivalry, and these are the right coaches and teams.
In a sense, it’s Fisher vs. Fisher or Petrino vs. Petrino, and that could make for a fun future.