FSU is the team for Northwest (conservative) Florida and the Gators belong to the liberals downstate. Here in Panama City we have a fairly new branch of FSU so we tend to lean a little more their way.
I lived in southwest Georgia when Bowden built up the program. At the time, folks there seemed to split fairly evenly between Georgia, Auburn, and FSU.
Post Bowden (or even starting late Bowden) FSU seems to have opted to go with the ‘thugs and gangstas’ recruiting system, with misconduct accepted if the player delivered on the field. I can’t see the program cleaning itself up at this point.