Florida vs. USC? It’ll happen one day

[cobalt1999]

Good article. I'd really like to see more SEC vs PAC-10 match ups. The Rose Bowl needs to end the Big Ten tradition. We only see Big Ten vs. PAC 10 leaders going at it.


www.bradenton.com/sports/story/1143784.html

Florida vs. USC? It’ll happen one day
By RALPH D. RUSSO - Associated Press


MIAMI — As the confetti was being swept up from college football’s final party of the season, it was impossible not to be left wanting more.

Fans of Utah and Texas certainly felt less than satisfied. For most of us, though, only one thing could fill that empty space: Florida vs. Southern California.

Pete Carroll’s West Coast Empire against Urban Meyer’s emerging dynasty in Southeast.

It didn’t happen this season — the Gators beat Oklahoma Thursday night 24-14 to win their second national championship in three seasons — but it’s a matchup that seems destined to happen.

Every year begins with USC on the short list of national title contenders, and ends with the Trojans playing as well as any team in the country.

Yet their last national title was in 2004. Texas’ Vince Young ripped what would have been a third straight crown away from them in 2005. In the last seven seasons, USC has finished ranked no lower than fourth.

No. 3 is where the Trojans landed in the final AP Top 25 when the last vote was counted early Friday morning.

<snip>

In the most important areas, though, they couldn’t be more alike — natural leaders and relentless competitors. Meticulous in their quest to be the best.

“I really have a dream of what Florida should look like. And it’s getting real close. There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Meyer said.

Carroll’s winning percentage in eight seasons at USC is .854, the best among active coaches. Meyer is second on that list at .830.

Could the ‘09 Trojans stand in the way of Florida’s repeat at next year’s title game? Well, college programs are often slaves to timing. It’s not enough to have the best athletes. Having the right blend of talent and experience to be a championship team takes a little luck.

USC loses 10 starters off that ferocious defense, but if quarterback Mark Sanchez returns for his senior season, the Trojans’ offense should be ready to take flight.

The current BCS set up won’t help get the Trojans and Gators on the field. One loss can eliminate a team from title contention, and the system doesn’t necessarily reward teams that peak late.

So USC will continue to reign over the Pac-10, while Florida rules in the Southeastern Conference, a tougher place to keep the crown, indeed.

It could be this way for years, these two superpowers separated by 2,122 miles, competing for championships but never coming face-to-face.

Yet, somehow, that meeting seems inevitable.

Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

[trumad]

1. Uh---this article assumes that Florida will remain top dog in the SEC...

Don't think that will happen.

[Jack from Charlotte]

7. Wait 'till next year......

when Florida returns 10 starters on D. plus all 11 defensive back ups, returns 7 starters on O., the best punter in the country and the best kick off/punt returner in the country. Also will bring in it's 4th straight Top 5 recruiting class on Feb 4th.



Oh yea... the QB, returns too. Old...what's-his-name.

[nickgutierrez]

2. Please.

Florida won't even play Miami these days - what makes you think they'll schedule an out-of-conference powerhouse like USC?

[cobalt1999]

3. You mean the same Miami they beat by over 3 touchdowns earlier this year.

The same Miami that finished the year not only unranked but couldn't even break into the "also receiving votes" category?

The same Miami that draws about 15,000 to a home game, less than our local H.S.?

:rofl:

Thanks, I needed a good laugh today.

[nickgutierrez]

4. Yeah, that Miami.

Sorry, that's a rivalry, no matter how average one of the teams may be. You don't drop a rival from your schedule, unless you think you have something to fear.

[cobalt1999]

5. Miami is & always was a 3rd tier rival, at best, to Florida fans.

Ranking well behind the Georgia, Tennessee, FSU, and Auburn rivalries in terms of importance.

What Miami fans can't stomach is that Florida doesn't play them annually, not because of fear but because Miami just isn't important enough to the Florida fan base.

When the SEC added a game to the schedule, the least important Florida home & home rival had to drop off the schedule. That's the cold hard fact that eats at Miami fans (all 15,000 of them).

[Awsi Dooger]

9. Gators are nothing but world class wimps to Canes fans

That's what Florida fans will never be able to stomach, and it eats at them constantly, as witnessed by the flurries of posts on Miami message boards from Florida fans, desperately trying to rewrite history, as you are.

For every title there's still 5 billion gallons of yellow splashed across that orange and blue.

I've posted the articles many times. Florida rationalized dropping Miami due to wanting to pursue, "an aggressive intersectional schedule." That's currently defined as zero out of state, out of conference road games since a drubbing at Syracuse in '91. :rofl:

Naturally you can try to downplay the significance of the Miami/Florida rivalry more than 20 years later, when you remember two decades of annual games against those teams you named, but only a handful versus Miami. But your ranking is comical based on realities at the time.

USC began a home and home with Ohio State this year. Miami is in the middle of a similar contract with Oklahoma, and has Ohio State on deck. The Gators' primary risk is home to Citadel.

Florida could play Miami annually by moving the Georgia game to true home and home. Auburn and Alabama did that seamlessly not too long ago. But Florida is too gutless to pursue a simple solution like that because the Gators know they have the best of all the variables. Florida essentially plays fewer true road games than any team in the country but is never called out on it, although I'm confident that will soon change. The Georgia game is a home game disguised as neutral site. Steve Spurrier emphasized countless times that there was no excuse for Florida not to win the vast majority of those meetings, playing in the same state and Gainesville much closer to Jacksonville than Athens is. Yet calling that game a neutral site allows Florida to pretend it is a road game, requiring an additional home game every season. And naturally the Gators fill that slot with a stiff opponent. If the Georgia game were switched to true home and home, Florida could host Miami on the years they play at Athens, and play at Miami in the years they hosted Georgia.

There have been at least a dozen admirable Gator fans on other sites who have agreed with me on that. They remember what the rivalry was like and want it restored. But the vast majority of Gator backers prefer to scramble for deflective cover, and low risk scheduling. As vulnerable as Miami was this year, often terrible on defense, in an intense game like that the Canes stepped up and held Florida to 9 points until a bogus call late in the 3rd quarter. That's what happens in rivalry games. In fact, I'm sure Florida would have stunned some of Miami's best teams if the series had continued from '88 forth. It's a loss to college football in general.

[cobalt1999]

13. You are right about a couple of things.

Florida could add another home-home series by ending the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party game in Jacksonville, and, yes, college football missed a few potentially classic games when the annual Miami-Florida game ended.

However, if WLOCP ever leaves Jacksonville (probably due to Georgia ending the tradition), I would NOT be in favor of adding Miami back to the schedule. That's not due to some perceived "fear" of Miami, but because of the argument you made above.

As you said above, Florida rarely gets to play outside of the southeast. Adding Miami would just add, yet another, game where, again using your quote, "zero out of state".

Frankly, I'd rather Florida skip adding Miami and instead add non-Southern team such as a USC. Florida being confined to the Southeast is a loss for college football too.

BTW, I'm old enough to remember the annual Miami games, and, yes, there were some good ones. With 20/20 hindsight and seeing how good Miami got afterward, I wish we hadn't now. However, at the time, I totally agreed with the decision. The focus for Florida fans, again, AT THE TIME, was 90% on winning the SEC (something we'd never done), 9% on FSU, and 1% on Miami. At the time, Florida fans would have traded 10 straight losses to Miami for ONE SEC championship.

That's what I mean by Miami being lower on the rivalry list.

[trumad]

12. Oh that's fucking rich....

The Florida fan base---- oh my God--- is that why you guys ran from the rivalry and replaced us with Montana State? That's a hilarious twist of history from a dumb ass Gator fan.

Here's a nice pic of the Florida Fan Base.

[cobalt1999]

14. Wow.

Who would have thought there would be as many Miami fans here in this forum as there are in the stands for one of their games?

I'll stop responding to your posts until you have something substantive to say.

[trumad]

16. Of course you will because you're a chickenshit Gator....

I love the way you rednecks in Gainesville crow about attendance----

Dude---or dudette--- what the fuck else can you cousin fuckers do in one-tooth-ville??? Mud Whomp?

[cobalt1999]

18. Which one of these fans is you?

With so few fans, you should be able to pick yourself out of the "crowd".

[trumad]

19. I don't think I was at that game...

I may have been Deep Sea fishing, nah--- maybe I was at the Grove or South Beach,

there were many things I've could have been doing that day...

And that's my point... we love our Canes--- but if the choice is seeing a game between Charlotte Southern, or catching some Mahi Mahi off the coast of Miami---well----

Now you rednecks in toothlessville---- you have nothing to do but tailgating at that ugly ass stadium.

[cobalt1999]

20. "We love our Canes"

Yes, lots of love being shown there every Saturday. :rofl:

What you fail to realize is most Florida fans don't live in Gainesville and have the EXACT SAME OPTIONS (boating, fishing, going to the beach, or the hundreds of other things that living in on the coast provides) that Miami fans have...EXCEPT, we actually give those things up and make the multi-hour drive to/from Gainesville.

Miami fans can't even be bothered to show up when there are enough of them to fill the stadium within 30 minutes drive.

You are a hoot. :rofl:

[trumad]

24. Oh please....

Gainesville is the most boring place on earth. Not a god damn thing to do but look at trees. The majority of the one-tooth Gator fans live in Gaineville and the surrounding area and for you to compare Gainesville to South Florida is typical of a cousin fucking Gator fan.

[cobalt1999]

25. LOL

Yes, the states largest university that has been graduating tens of thousands of fans for many decades and they all live in Gainesville. :rofl:

Sounds like the thought process of a University of Miami graduate. Oh wait, of those 15,000 Miami fans only a couple of hundred actually attended the University, so you are probably just another hanger on.

[trumad]

26. Nope---they got the fuck out of there as soon as they could...

Can you blame them? Cousin fuckers everywhere..... it might rub off.

[cobalt1999]

27. Since Florida has the state's largest endowment of $1.25 Billion

compared to UM's 96th nationally ranked endowment total, I guess cousin fucking must pay a lot.

Face it, you'll always be the poor little school in the corner of the state with no real fans to Florida alums. No wonder you want Florida to play you, it's the only way your stadium will ever fill up.

I'll finish by saying, we sure are enjoying the Randy Shannon era and I hope you keep him around (same thing with FSU and Bobby Bowden). I hope they both stay around for a LONG time. :)

[trumad]

28. yeah--- 5 NC championships in football...5 in baseball...

and you have what?

Also: this little school has beaten your chickenshit Gators the last 5-6 times.

Keep talking you one tooth cousin fucker.

[trumad]

11. Uh numnuts

Miami has beaten the Gators 5 out of the last 6 times they played them.

Your chickenshit team gave up the rivalry to play Montana State....

Don't even get me started on the chickenshit Gators and their one-toothed cousin fucking fans....

[joeybee12]

6. This article assumes Florida actually won the national title instead of

being given it ONCE AGAIN!

[Jack from Charlotte]

8. Florida played a Home and Home with USC in '82 & '83....

Won the game in Gainesville 17-9. In this game USC could barely run it's vaunted pitch sweep because Wilbur Marshall, Florida's weak side outside LB caught the USC back from behind constantly. The USC, QB, who was Sean Salisbury, if I recall, probably still has Marshall's footprints on his chest.

In the return game the following year in California in '83, the 2 teams tied. So Florida has a win and a tie in the only 2 games played between the two schools.

It'd be nice if the 2 could do another home and home but it's just not going to happen. Florida played the #1 ranked strength of schedule last season and the #4 this year. The team that plays the #1 most difficult schedule in the country is not looking to make it more difficult, generally.

[Awsi Dooger]

10. That was Florida's last home and home with anyone in Division 1

Close enough to accurate.

I attended that '82 game at Florida Field. "Cheatin' Charley" ran a victory lap with the team. He should have completed about 105 more, one for every NCAA violation.

[Jack from Charlotte]

22. Oh gosh I always thought.......

Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Syracuse, Florida State, Georgia, Tennessee...were D1 schools.

Tell me, how did Florida become the only school in history to win the D1 National Championship while playing the #1 ranked most difficult schedule (twice, actually) without playing any D1 schools home and home.

I just have to hear this explanation.

[trumad]

17. Titletown...LOL

5 makes you a title town?

[Renew Deal]

15. An 8 team playoff is long past due.

Take the top 8. Make sure to include the quality undefeateds. And let them fly. Shorten the season by a game if necessary.

[RT Atlanta]

21. Already has...

they play the Gamecocks each year as part of the SEC's Eastern Division

[nolabels]

23. Oh my gawd, not another bird team

:argh: