There has been plenty of good-natured trash-talk between Alabama and Florida State fans in the lead-up to Saturday afternoon's game in Tallahassee. But the truth of the matter is that FSU fans really should only have two words to say to Alabama fans: thank you.
Because if not for a monumental mistake made by Alabama's administration in the aftermath of Paul "Bear" Bryant's retirement, Bobby Bowden would have left Florida State high and dry in the 1980s to coach the team he grew up cheering for.
Bowden was a Birmingham, Alabama native and grew up a diehard fan of the Crimson Tide. He started his college football career at the University of Alabama as a player in 1948 before transferring to Howard College (now Samford).
Alabama was his dream job. After Ray Perkins' tenure came to an end following the 1986 season, Bowden was one of the hottest names in coaching. Following the 1986 All-American Bowl in Birmingham, Bowden was willing to listen about the Crimson Tide's head coaching job - he just had no interest in interviewing for it, believing (correctly) that his resume spoke for itself.
Bowden had taken over a moribund program in Tallahassee and turned it into a national power. Though the best was yet to come for Bowden at Florida State, he had already led them to five Top-15 finishes in the AP Poll since taking over in 1976 and was revered by the faithful in Northern Florida.
Bowden attended a meeting in Birmingham, one he figured was going to include a formal job offer to become the Tide's head coach. Instead, it was just an interview. At the conclusion, Alabama didn't offer Bowden the job, a fact that was stunning to the Birmingham native.
Alabama instead hired Bill Curry, who was recommended for the job by Perkins. Curry went on to have a mildly successful tenure with the Crimson Tide, culminating in the 1989 SEC Championship, but his inability to beat Auburn led to pressure and the removal of some of his authority as head coach (i.e., the inability to hire his own assistants), and Curry left to take the Kentucky job after the '89 season.
Alabama circled back to the guy they should have hired in 1987 and offered the job to Bowden. At that point, however, Bowden had built a juggernaut in Tallahassee with the Seminoles finishing in the Top 3 of the AP Poll for three consecutive seasons with a National Championship on the horizon.
Bowden turned the job down, Alabama hired Gene Stallings, and both programs would win National Championships over the next four years.
Bobby Bowden to Alabama would have changed the trajectory of both programs
Simply put, Florida State would have never risen to the level they are now as a program if Bobby Bowden had left to take the Alabama job prior to the 1987 season. While he had success in Tallahassee already, his program didn't truly start taking off until the late 1980s.
From 1987 to 2000, Bowden led Florida State to 14 consecutive Top 5 finishes, an unprecedented run of success that culminated in National Championships in 1993 and 1999.
Had he taken the Alabama job in 1987 instead, that run for Florida State never would have happened, and their status as a national power would be very much in doubt.
Bowden would have built a legacy in Tuscaloosa instead, likely carving out the same kind of success and distancing Alabama even further from the rest of the pack as the greatest college football program of all time.
There will be plenty of Alabama fans making the trip to Tallahassee this weekend for the game. So, Florida State fans, be sure when you come in contact with one, you say two simple words: thank you.
Because if it weren't for Alabama, nobody would care to talk about Florida State at all.