(Editor's note: Miami wide receiver André King will file a weekly diary with ESPN.com throughout the season. For more on Miami, visit the Hurricanes' official athletic site.)

Oct. 6, 1999

It has been a long two weeks since our last game (a 27-23 loss to East Carolina) and the whole team is anticipating the moment we get to Seminole land. It has been four years since we've beaten Florida State -- so as of now, they have the edge over us, but this year we're looking to swing the gate in our direction and hopefully come out of there with a win.

This week, since we had the bye week, we've been concentrating on the fundamentals, going back to the basics and just getting back to what made us win against Ohio State and against Florida A&M. Our locker room is very excited. Any time you get the opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the country and compete against it, it speaks volumes about your program. I think that's what we're striving for as a team. We want to get some of that respect back that we lost the last two weeks.

We've become a more focused team this week because we know the magnitude of this game. Guys are still having fun while we're practicing, but when it's time to get down to business, guys are focusing in on the tasks at hand.

Miami vs. FSU is such a long-going tradition, and the game has always been a status game for state-wide supremacy, even though we haven't played Florida since I've been here. But it's been an intense rivalry ever since we've started the series, and going in their back yard with more than 70,000 screaming fans ... it's just incredible to play there in front of that crowd.

My freshman year, I recall going up there. In the huddle I could hardly hear the quarterback, even though I was just inches away from him. It definitely brings another challenge to overcome in trying to get a victory there.

This game is going to make a statement on how the country looks at us throughout the rest of the year. The media has said it time and time again that the University of Miami football season is directly related to how we play against Florida State.

So we're going to go out and play for 60 minutes and lay all of our guts on the line, leave all of our energy on the field between the lines and see what can happen if we can go hard for four storming quarters.