Whatever happens on Nov. 30 when the Florida State Seminoles head to Gainesville to play the Florida Gators, college football fans in the Sunshine State are torn between those two teams.
Democratic pollster Public Policy Polling (PPP) took a break from looking at politics on Thursday when it released a poll that finds college football fans are torn in their loyalties, with 24 percent favoring the Gators and 22 percent rooting for the Seminoles. Those two schools were far ahead of the University of Miami Hurricanes which was the favorite college team of 12 percent of those surveyed.
After their surprisingly strong showing hosting the University of South Carolina Gamecocks last weekend, the University of Central Florida Knights are the favorite team of 9 percent. Three other schools -- Florida Atlantic, Florida International and the University of South Florida -- lag far behind, each school with only 2 percent apiece favoring those teams.
The poll shows college football fans in the Sunshine State are generally happy with their coaches.
Despite replacing the legendary Bobby Bowden, Jimbo Fisher is in excellent shape with Seminole fans. A solid majority -- 56 percent -- of Seminole fans approve of the job Fisher is doing as head coach while 1 percent disapprove of it.
Al Golden is basking in the glow of Hurricanes fans approval after Miami beat the Gators earlier this year. The poll finds 58 percent of Hurricanes fans approve of Goldens tenure as head coach while 13 percent disapprove of it.
Will Muschamp, the head coach of the Florida Gators, gets the lowest approval from his fan base. Less than a majority -- 46 percent -- of Gators fans approve of the second-year coach who took over from Urban Meyer who won two national titles at UF. Muschamp is disapproved by 14 percent of the Gators fans surveyed.
Going into the weekend, the Seminoles, Hurricanes and Gators are all ranked in APs Top 25. The Seminoles are undefeated and ranked 8th. The Hurricanes are also undefeated and place 14th. Despite the loss to Miami, the Gators place 18th.
The poll of 579 registered Florida voters was taken from Sept. 27-29 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com.
