As a University of Florida graduate living in the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, Lawton Chiles has to be careful not to offend his neighbors.

Tallahassee is, of course, home to Florida State University.

But this week, Florida’s governor showed up at a public event in Miami wearing a blue shirt and an orange tie. Florida Gator colors.

“Obviously, the governor isn’t running for re-election,” Texas Sen. Phil Gramm joked.

Politics is one thing. College football is another. This week there’s no question which is more important in the Sunshine State.

No. 1 Florida meets No. 2 Florida State this afternoon at Doak Campbell Stadium. For the first time in 40 meetings, both teams come in with 10-0 records.

“Probably the biggest game in either school’s history,” Florida State linebacker Daryl Bush says.

All that’s at stake is a shot at the national title - and the right to yap at one’s neighbors for the next 12 months.

It’s hard to tell which means more in Florida.

“It’s part of life here,” says Karen Pankowski, a Chiles spokeswoman. “You can’t escape it.”

As a Maryland alumna, Pankowski may be the closest thing to an unbiased source on the touchy subject of Gators vs. Seminoles.

“This week I might as well come from outer space,” she says. Unlike many of the other rivalries being played out across the college football landscape this month, Florida-Florida State is relatively young. But it is as emotional and noisy and colorful and personal as almost any other.

The campuses are only 2 hours apart by interstate. Proximity most definitely breeds contempt.

This joke has been making the rounds in Tallahassee:

Q: How close is Florida to a national title?

A: 149 miles. (Florida State’s 1993 national crown is the only one either school has won).

“There’s a lot more hatred between these two schools than there is between Florida State and Miami,” says St. Petersburg Times sportswriter Bob Harig, who has covered the rivalry for years. “Almost everybody down here went to one or the other. Florida people still look down on FSU.”

It’s been this way since 1958. Florida, the established school with rooters from Pensacola to Key West, wanted nothing to do with little Florida State, a longtime women’s college that didn’t field a football team until it went coed in 1947. The series finally came about when the state Legislature began making noise about withholding funds.

“The Gators were so condescending, just to play them was a major victory,” says 1959 Florida State grad Bill Bunker. “When we went over there and tied them 3-3 in 1961, Florida State people tore down the goalpost.”

Like many fans in northern Florida, Bunker’s life has been touched by both schools; he worked for Florida State as an athletics publicist but married a Gator girl.

Bunker says he never guessed when the series began that the feisty little backyard brawl would grow into The Game That Ate a State.

Florida-Florida State is so enormous the Tallahassee Democrat has published a daily wraparound section devoted to the game all week. One day, its reporters tried to get former Florida State star Deion Sanders and former Gators great Emmitt Smith, now Dallas Cowboys teammates, to talk a little trash. Both refused.

It’s a little harder to keep a muzzle on ESPN analyst Lee Corso, a Florida State grad. Corso was on the Seminoles’ coaching staff in the schools’ first meeting, a 21-7 Florida victory at Gainesville.

“It was a big deal then, but now …,” Corso says. “First of all, you’re usually playing for No. 1, 2 or 3 in the nation. I mean, the stakes are so high. Look at any other rivalry, except for Florida State-Miami in the their heyday, and what other rivalry has No. 1, 2 or 3 on the line every year?”

Florida has a 24-13-2 overall lead in a series marked by streaks. The Gators dominated early, winning five of the first six games and tying the other. But in 1964, the Noles broke through with a 16-7 triumph, a game marked by Fred Biletnikoff’s 55-yard touchdown catch.

The Florida State media guide calls the win “historic.” Florida coach Steve Spurrier, a backup Gators quarterback that day, would disagree. He seems to view the Seminoles as more of a nuisance than a rival.

In 1994, Spurrier called Florida State “Free Shoes U” after Seminoles players were disciplined for taking part in an embarrassing agent-sponsored spree at an athletic shoe store.

This week, he raised Seminoles hackles again by insisting the Florida State tussle is no bigger than the Dec. 7 showdown with Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title game.

“Both games are important,” he said. “If we are fortunate enough to win (today), there will be no wild celebration. And if we lose, there won’t be any extreme depression.”

To understand why FSU fans adore Bobby Bowden, check his record against Florida: 11-9-1.

Spurrier, by contrast, is only 2-4-1 against Florida State. No wonder he would rather focus on the SEC title game. He knows if the Gators lose to Florida State but beat Alabama, they still will qualify for an alliance bowl slot.

But Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley admonished Spurrier for his supposed indifference.

“Spurrier’s attitude bothers some Gator fans,” he wrote. “They are of the opinion that if you could only win one game, it had better be Florida State.”

Likewise, Florida State fans say a 1-10 season wouldn’t be so bad if the 1 came against Florida.

One legion of followers will be mourning their national title hopes by tonight.