TALLAHASSEE -- It's like being underwater, eerily quiet, strangely serene, and then all of a sudden you burst through the surface and try to survive in a stormy sea.
That's what it feels like to be inside Florida State's locker room.
That's what it feels like to walk out of that locker room and onto the field for a game with Miami.
Slow motion and then the car crash.
It's not FSU-Duke. It's not Miami-Rutgers. Prior to those types of games, the locker rooms are loud and loose.
Mostly because the players know they are simply better. It's also because players have to do more to gear themselves up for games in which they are the heavy favorites.
Miami-FSU is very different, players say. Almost nothing is said before the game. Players keep to themselves more. There's not much to say, anyway.
"Games like this, Miami and Florida, the locker room's real quiet,'' FSU running back Greg Jones said.
Sometimes, the only sounds you hear are players crying.
Not crying after the game, crying before it.
"We'll have some guys who will just start crying for no reason,'' FSU defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said. "You'll have some guys just sitting at their lockers right before the game and tears will be dropping out of their eyes because it means so much to them.
"You've got to realize, coming out of high school, that you really want to play these types of games and you've got four opportunities to play against Miami.
"And when they get to clicking down and you realize you've only got two more games, you get so frustrated and focused that tears come out of your eyes.
"I'm pretty sure they have guys who do that, too. It's natural for a football player to have that type of instinct.'' They will file out of the locker room and into the tunnel. It's probably more intense inside the tunnel than on the field for the game.
It's a cannon crammed with gunpowder.
"That is amazing,'' FSU quarterback Chris Rix said. "You're really anxious and the adrenaline starts building and building and you just kind of explode out.''
"It's a level of excitement you really can't explain,'' FSU offensive lineman Ray Willis said. "It's what college football is all about, college football in it's purest form.
"You have 100 guys and another 100 guys just ready to go to war. It's almost primal in a sense. It's almost war. It's the essence of war.''
Sometimes, the players will puff out their chests at midfield when Chief Osceola throws his flaming spear into the ground at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Miami players will try to get near midfield, and FSU players will attempt to back them off. Sometimes fights occur, but security is kept tight around the area.
And then the game starts.
"I'm not sure there's many NFL games as intense as a Miami-Florida State game because there's so much behind it,'' FSU defensive back Stanford Samuels said.
Trash-talking reaches creative highs.
"There's so much trash-talking and so much riding on it that you have to play it like it's your last game,'' Samuels said.
Players do their best to intimidate, but fear of the opponent doesn't seem to be a factor, according to Samuels. And there's a reason.
"That fear is gone,'' Samuels said. "We've been playing against each other the majority of our lives.''
Players are a step faster, their eyes a bit wider. Hits are a decibel louder, underneath piles it's a lot rougher.
"Anytime you get in an atmosphere like that you're going to see guys doing things they don't normally do,'' Willis said. "You see guys go up and try to make catches they normally couldn't make because the adrenaline level is so different.
"It will be the highest peak of athleticism for everyone, I believe.'' FSU-Miami.
Name another rivalry where players cry before kickoff.
Stroy
That's what it feels like to be inside Florida State's locker room.
That's what it feels like to walk out of that locker room and onto the field for a game with Miami.
Slow motion and then the car crash.
It's not FSU-Duke. It's not Miami-Rutgers. Prior to those types of games, the locker rooms are loud and loose.
Mostly because the players know they are simply better. It's also because players have to do more to gear themselves up for games in which they are the heavy favorites.
Miami-FSU is very different, players say. Almost nothing is said before the game. Players keep to themselves more. There's not much to say, anyway.
"Games like this, Miami and Florida, the locker room's real quiet,'' FSU running back Greg Jones said.
Sometimes, the only sounds you hear are players crying.
Not crying after the game, crying before it.
"We'll have some guys who will just start crying for no reason,'' FSU defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said. "You'll have some guys just sitting at their lockers right before the game and tears will be dropping out of their eyes because it means so much to them.
"You've got to realize, coming out of high school, that you really want to play these types of games and you've got four opportunities to play against Miami.
"And when they get to clicking down and you realize you've only got two more games, you get so frustrated and focused that tears come out of your eyes.
"I'm pretty sure they have guys who do that, too. It's natural for a football player to have that type of instinct.'' They will file out of the locker room and into the tunnel. It's probably more intense inside the tunnel than on the field for the game.
It's a cannon crammed with gunpowder.
"That is amazing,'' FSU quarterback Chris Rix said. "You're really anxious and the adrenaline starts building and building and you just kind of explode out.''
"It's a level of excitement you really can't explain,'' FSU offensive lineman Ray Willis said. "It's what college football is all about, college football in it's purest form.
"You have 100 guys and another 100 guys just ready to go to war. It's almost primal in a sense. It's almost war. It's the essence of war.''
Sometimes, the players will puff out their chests at midfield when Chief Osceola throws his flaming spear into the ground at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Miami players will try to get near midfield, and FSU players will attempt to back them off. Sometimes fights occur, but security is kept tight around the area.
And then the game starts.
"I'm not sure there's many NFL games as intense as a Miami-Florida State game because there's so much behind it,'' FSU defensive back Stanford Samuels said.
Trash-talking reaches creative highs.
"There's so much trash-talking and so much riding on it that you have to play it like it's your last game,'' Samuels said.
Players do their best to intimidate, but fear of the opponent doesn't seem to be a factor, according to Samuels. And there's a reason.
"That fear is gone,'' Samuels said. "We've been playing against each other the majority of our lives.''
Players are a step faster, their eyes a bit wider. Hits are a decibel louder, underneath piles it's a lot rougher.
"Anytime you get in an atmosphere like that you're going to see guys doing things they don't normally do,'' Willis said. "You see guys go up and try to make catches they normally couldn't make because the adrenaline level is so different.
"It will be the highest peak of athleticism for everyone, I believe.'' FSU-Miami.
Name another rivalry where players cry before kickoff.
Stroy
