I've found over the years that it's not just pizza or Italian, bagels and bakeries that taste better up there than points south. The same thing goes for Chinese food. I don't know why.
Of course I'm sure BBQ tastes better down south than up north. And while I think there was great Mexican/Latin food up in Jersey, I've found that it's not at all bad where I live.
I don't notice much of a drop off in Mexican/Latin food here from up home, but it's very noticeable in pizza, Italian and Chinese.
Pizza and Italian isn't as bad in Florida as it probably is in Georgia, Alabama or the Carolinas, as there's a lot of transplants from up north that moved down here to open pizza places. And plenty of the transplants are satisfied with some of the pizza places here.