Miami coach Mark Richt says the right things when it comes to the rivalry with Florida State.
He did that for five years as a player and 15 years as an assistant coach at Florida State before being somewhat sequestered from the rivalry for 15 years at Georgia. Yet his approach to a rivalry game in which No. 13 Miami faces Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday might be the best way for the Hurricanes to end a seven-game skid to the Seminoles.
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"The deal is FSU has been doing it, and Miami hasn't," Richt said on the ACC teleconference on Wednesday. "We've got to that, and we're working hard toward that."
Richt struck a different tone from his weekly news conference when he emphasized he didn't think about the seven-year drought much and that none of the current players has played at Miami for seven years. He isn't dodging the question so much as laying it out there and telling it like it is.
"It's a game that means a lot to us and our fans," Richt said. "Our fans have suffered through it more than anybody because they've been through it the longest. We owe it to them to make them feel better."
Here's what the Hurricanes can do on the road on Saturday. They can end that seven-game streak as a 3.5-point favorite behind quarterback Malik Rosier, a pleasant surprise in the early season, and running back Mark Walton, who can work in to the fringe of that Heisman Trophy conversation with a primetime performance against the Seminoles.
A victory then would have a three-pronged effect. It ends the stigma of a prolonged losing streak against a heated rival, eliminates FSU's very slim playoff hopes and vaults the Hurricanes into "that team" that can challenge Clemson for an ACC championship. Miami still hasn't appeared in an ACC championship game — and that has lasted twice as long, at 14 seasons. That's why this rivalry has lacked the punch of the 1990s and early 2000s. Richt also calls that as he sees it.
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"On a national basis, it's not quite as exciting as it used to be because Florida State has been dominating it lately, and Miami really hasn't been in position where people are talking about the Canes," Richt said. "When we win our share of these, it's going to be fun again for everybody."
Richt understands the swings of national rivalries from that long stint at Georgia. He went 5-10 against Florida but broke the Gators' six-game win streak that lasted from 1998-2004. Tennessee had won nine in a row against the Bulldogs from 1989-2000, a run that ended one year before Richt's arrival. He went 10-5 against the Vols, including five in a row from 2010-14.
Richt also went 13-2 against in-state rival Georgia Tech, with seven straight victories from 2001-07. Add it up, and it's a 28-17 record against three primary rivals. He might be 0-1 against Florida State, but there's time to work with it.
But that time is now. This is Miami's opportunity to take all those steps they haven't been able to — at least for the last seven years — and sometimes amazing momentum can be drawn from winning a rivalry game of this magnitude. This is the Hurricanes' chance to win that game, and to put away the latest chapter that was decided, of all things, by one kick.
"We obviously haven't beat Florida State in a long, long time," Richt said. "I've been here for a year of it. Our players have been here one, two, three years of it. It's time to make this a true rivalry."
FSU has been doing that. Miami hasn't. Richt can help change that now. He doesn't have to say much more.
