here's what I posted on that other thread:
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Miami Hurricanes - who's even heard of Miami University outside of college football, and maybe basketball. They don't have the history or the real college experience of Alabama or Penn State or Ohio State or Nebraska or Oklahoma or Michigan or Notre Dame or Texas, or even the other Florida schools, and I don't like them.
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I'll expand upon it. Even though they had Jimmy Johnson, and even though they now have some football players I like, I just cannot root for them. It's a football factory, and nothing more. Yeah, lots of people like Notre Dame that haven't gone there. The same can be said of most state schools, too. Miami, on the other hand, is known for nothing other than its athletic program, and mainly football. There are more Miami players in the NFL right now than from any other school, and they may as well call it an NFL farm team than a school. The stands are filled with miami citizens, not students. Hell, they even have the same colors as the Dolphins. Every other school that is a perrenial football power at least has a real school.
Think about it: Michigan, UVa, and UT are places where you can get a world class education. Notre Dame is well known and well respected for it's academics. Even state schools like UTenn, Georgia, Ohio State, 'Bama, OU, and Nebraska, while maybe not as highly ranked, are the destination of choice for so many high school seniors from their respective states. Other good football schools have school-wide reputations. USC-wealthy party kids or film school wannabes; Colorado-partying hippies; Syracuse -partying jews; Purdue, Wake, NC, Duke, and several others have good academic reputations; Auburn, VAtech, Texas A&M, Arkansas -rednecks; FSU, LSU -just plain partying; etc...
Miami -... uhm, football in the last 25 years.
I know and have heard far more about Miami of Ohio as a school than I have the school that is represented by the Miami Hurricane football team.
Maybe I'm wrong. I'm not from South Florida, but I've met plenty of people from the schools above that aren't from around here. If there's someone out there that knows many non-football Miami students or grads, let me know, and I'll eat my words. But my impression is that Miami is not really a school so much as it is a football factory, and therefore I can't make myself root for them unless I need them to win to help a team I do care about.