Well in the football heirarchy of rabid-fanness you got:
(a) FSU and Florida for the high-IQ population (or those that think they are). Bowden's success seems to breed more fans than the tradition-rich Gator program that seems to have more ups and downs than the stock market;
(b) followed by Miami because its a private school so not everyone would consider going there because the credits don't transfer. In the world of college rivalries, neither FSU nor UF really consider it much of a rivalry.
(c) followed by Univ of Central Florida and Univ of South Florida, which are up-and-coming programs but will always be second fiddle to UF and FSU.
Then on Sundays, the masses follow
(a) the Miami Dolphins, because they've been around the longest of the Florida NFL teams, so they have a deeper-entrenched fan base. They also have a reputation of being a good program year in and year out, with a number of Monday Night Football nationally-televised games to help keep their fanbase together. And a rivalry with the Jets doesn't hurt, either;
(b) the Buccaneers, who finally got some respect with the Super Bowl championship. I've followed the Bucs since their my home town team, and during the dark years I would watch them on tv because it wasn't worth buying a ticket to go to the game. While the Bucs/Packers rivalry will never equal the Jets/Dolphins games, at least its something;
(c) the Jaguars, who are sort of the red-headed stepchild of the Florida football group. They're sort of the Deep South backwoods team in the metropolitan big-city football world of NFL Florida.
The way I see it, with the new divisions coming into their second year, I think the Falcons and Saints games will become bigger and bigger, particularly since both programs are somewhat decent this year and (hopefully) will get better.
