Florida Gators win recruiting title too

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Florida won the recruiting crown in nearly as dominating fashion as the national championship. The Gators capitalized on last month's national title win over Ohio State and down years from Sunshine State rivals Florida State and Miami to bring in the top recruiting class in the country Wednesday.

"No one is even that close to them," recruiting analyst Tom Lemming of CSTV said. "They got help everywhere. In the past 10 years, this has to rank right at the top in recruiting classes. Every position is absolutely loaded."

The Gators also were picked as the top class by SuperPrep, Rivals.com and National Blue Chips, beating out Southern California, SEC rivals Tennessee and LSU, and Texas.

The Trojans closed strong, adding top running backs Joe McKnight from Louisiana and Broderick Green from Arkansas on Wednesday to a class that already included another top back in Marc Tyler; defensive end Everson Griffen, SuperPrep's No. 1 overall player; the nation's No. 1 receiver, Ronald Johnson from Michigan; and blue chip linebacker Chris Galippo from Anaheim, Calif.

"USC continues to be the place that a lot of skill-position players look to first," said analyst Bobby Burton of Rivals.com. "That doesn't mean the guys they get on defense aren't special. It just means they have the pick of the litter when it comes to offensive skill players."

But the Gators' class was best of all, signing nine of the top 16 players in talent-rich Florida and the No. 1 players from South Carolina, Indiana, Maryland and New England, according to Rivals.com."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/colleges/16646381.htm

[Awsi Dooger]

1. USC won on quality

ESPN listed USC first, despite signing only 18 players to 27 for Florida. There's no question USC would have come out on top if they had anything close to the 27 available scholarships that Florida used today. Pete Carroll has said this is his best class ever, and that was before they knew they would pry McKnight away from LSU. USC had the top rated classes the past three years and have had few disqualifications and flops, so naturally the number of available scholarships was down.

Check this chart from Rivals. USC's average rating per player is much higher than Florida's, 4.22 to 3.89. The difference is USC offered only two players rated 3 star, while Florida signed 7. USC got 5 of the top 17 players on the Rivals board.

http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/teamrank.asp?SID=880

I will give the Gators credit for one thing. They weren't too scared to compete against the Canes in recruiting. Florida and Miami fought for 5 top recruits and Florida came out ahead on 3 of the 5, including Deonte Thompson today.

[trumad]

2. Don't matter...

Gators still suck.

[rep the dems]

3. Enough is enough.

If you want to hate the Gators, fine. But don't say they suck when they're National Champions in both football and basketball, and are currently #1 in basketball. And PLEASE don't say anything like they got lucky or they didn't deserve to be in the championship. We all know that's not true.

[TSIAS]

4. Yep

I hate the Hurricanes, but I can admit that they had good times in the 1980s and early 2000s.

The Gators are clearly dominant in basketball and football. The current NCAA Basketball team is clearly a favorite to make the Final Four. Due to the one-game format of the tourney, they aren't assured to make it all the way. But the UF is clearly the best basketball team in the nation today.

[Jack from Charlotte]

10. Florida also has the second best overall athletic program in the country....

as measured by The National Association of Athletic Directors competion for The Directors Trophy. Stanford is going away #1. The AD's have a point system that rates overall athletics. Florida is consistently in the Top 10 and usually the Top 5 every year in overall athletics.

[trumad]

14. every year

LOL...

[trumad]

6. You're telling a Cane fan to quit saying the Gators suck--- now that's funny.

[rep the dems]

7. Whatever.

If you want to keep making yourself look like a sore loser, be my guest.

[trumad]

8. Sore loser?

we've played you guys 4 out of the last 5 seasons and beat your asses every time.

Face it---Gators Suck

[rep the dems]

12. And yet it's the Gators who can call themselves "National Champions,"

Funny how that works out isn't it?

[trumad]

13. Yeah---but can they say they're 5-time National Champions?

Nope---not even close. Shit---we lost more NC's than the Gators have played in.

[rep the dems]

15. But right now, we're the best. In football AND basketball.

And teams that are the best don't suck, no matter how much you dislike them.

[trumad]

20. The gators transcend Suck

The Gators also BLOW!

[rep the dems]

21. All right I gotta stop this.

I'll just end by saying it's possible to dislike a team without insisting that they suck. And it's ridiculous to carry on saying they suck a month after they annihilated the top ranked team in the nation in the championship game.

[trumad]

23. Oh really---

I'm supposed to give up years of Gator hating because they won an NC in a year of college football mediocrity?

Not a chance pal.

The Gators suck and always will.

[rep the dems]

24. Your post is proof that you aren't even trying to listen to me.

Are all Miami fans as childish as you?

[trumad]

25. Gator fan.

[Jack from Charlotte]

11. I'm hearing whispers that Miami might drop men's basketball ... AGAIN. Any........

truth to that? Know you dropped it for 20 years or so up until about 1990 so dropping it again would not really cause a stir. The little high school sized gym could be converted to something else, I'm sure. Also, the real ACC teams would just as soon not travel to scUM City to play before 2,500 rabid Hurricane hoops fans. UM dropping basketball would free up another conference game against a real ACC team, as well.

Hearing the faculty of Sun Tan U* are sick of the academic side of the school subsidizing the failing, bankrupt athletic department to the tune of over $5 million per year.

So what's the word?


*u = unranked

[trumad]

16. Gainesville dissing Miami--- too funny

You do know that they invented the toothbrush in Gainesville. If it was invented anywhere else it would have been called the teethbrush.

[Awsi Dooger]

5. The Gators will need those recruits considering the brutal non-conference schedule

Look at this murderers row for 2007:

* Western Kentucky
* Troy State
* Florida Atlantic

Can you believe that? It's why Miami fans have laughed at Florida for 20 years, dodging us but annually scheduling soft opponents at home early in the year.

No one is questioning the SEC slate but Florida mocks the process with embarrassing out of conference foes. This season it was Southern Miss, Central Florida and Western Carolina. In 2005 it was Wyoming and Louisiana Tech. In 2004 it was Middle Tennessee State and Eastern Michigan. In 2003 it was San Jose State and Florida A&M. Every single one of those games was at home.

The great thing about singling out the Gators is you don't even have to skip a game to make the point. It's not like they ever play a moderately strenuous game, one to conveniently leave out. Nope. That's every one.

They've yet to figure out a way to avoid FSU, the one yearly out of conference game.

You've got to give USC credit in that regard. They play at least one major home-and-home every year. Recently it was Auburn and Kansas St and Arkansas. Currently they are in the middle of a home-and-home with Nebraska, playing at Lincoln in 2007. In 2008 the Trojans begin a home-and-home with Ohio State.

Actually, come to think of it, it's not an embarrassing out of conference slate for the Gators. It takes two to be embarrassed and the boys from 'ole F-L-O-R-I-D-A obviously are not.

[Jack from Charlotte]

9. Florida played the No. #1 ranked schedule in the country this year....

and as I've REPEATEDLY pointed out to the apparently, un trainable fans of on-field-riot-U of Miami several times.... Why would the ONLY school in college football history to have won the National Championship while playing....... the #1 Ranked MOST DIFFICULT SCHEDULE.... take scheduling advice from those with lesser schedules?

Is there a moron in the house that will answer me?

"Excuse me sir. You played the #1 ranked most difficult schedule in The USA. But, why don't you upgrade it and add the few remaining teams in The Top 10 you haven't already scheduled?"

No matter how much the titty babies whine in order to get someone else's fans to fill up the wretched, fetid, city owned, financed and maintained, Orange Bowl, the team that played the most difficult schedule in the country .... the National Champion, Florida Gators.... do not take scheduling advice from those with lesser schedules.

Additionally, schools with every ticket of every home game sold out for over 20 years, with season tickets wait lists numbering in the tens of thousands, in a stadium that seats over 90,000 fans don't take scheduling advice from schools that draw under 20,000 fans while playing......friggin' Temple.


It's really that simple.

[trumad]

18. What the fuck else is there to do in Gainesville? Mud Whomping?

Chickenshit Gators finally agreed to play Miami again and what did we do--- We kicked your ass every time. Shit---you chumps let Brock Gator Berlin beat you year in and year out.

You guys are in for a big big fall this upcoming season... Plus--- you got about one more year before Urban realizes that he's in fucking Gainesbilley and heads to the NFL.

[Awsi Dooger]

17. BTW, Miami's out of conference schedule was impacted by the move to the ACC

It hasn't been as strong as we would have liked the last few years. Once you switch conferences all of a sudden there are date conflicts. Miami had far less scheduling flexibility since the date of the conference championship game had to be left open.

Plus the game against FSU switched from non-conference to a conference game. That opened a non-conference slot but on short notice the available opponents were not high caliber. One major school backed out of an agreed home-and-home. Finally this year the Miami out of conference schedule improves, with a meeting at Oklahoma and home game against Texas A&M.

Here's a link detailing part of the history of Florida backing out of the annual series against Miami. Notice it's always the Gators demanding favorable conditions and then running away when they are not met. And even cancelling scheduled games during the '90s. What a joke it is 20 years later, Florida's rationale that they wanted to get away from a regional schedule and "lure quality intersectional opponents." Yeah, like that block of teams I listed in the previous post. :rofl:

http://www.geocities.com/nolefan_fsu/summary/uf_um.html

"Arnsparger wanted the next two meetings after this fall to take place in Gainesville in 1990 and 1992, but Jankovich would only agree to that if Florida played at Miami in 1989. Arnsparger was unwilling to play on the road in 1989 because it would disrupt Florida's current schedule pattern of having at least six home games.

Florida announced last fall it would cut back on its games with Miami because it had to increase its Southeastern Conference schedule from six games to seven games, starting in 1988. This year's game is under a single-game contract, and Arnsparger was looking to pair that contest up with a home game in 1990."

<snip>

"Another reason behind the curtailment of the Miami-Florida series is the Gators' desire to get away from playing an entire regional schedule. With seven SEC games and Florida State already on the schedule, the Gators hope to lure a quality intersectional opponent for a home-and-home series during the 1988-91 seasons. Arnsparger has been talking with several schools outside the South about a home-and-home series, and Florida is expected to announce such an agreement before the 1987 season."

<snip>

A few years later:

"Florida officials said yesterday that the Gators will not play the Hurricanes in 1992 and 93, even though contracts have been signed for these years. Also, informal plans to resume the series annually in 1996 have been aborted as well. They said the decision was based on the Southeastern Conference's recent decision to have each school in the expanded 12-team league play eight SEC games instead of the current seven.

In a decision made Tuesday evening by the school's athletic board, Florida officials decided to exercise their escape option in the contracts for the games in 1992 and 93. The clause allows Florida to withdraw from the games by paying Maimi a cancellation fee of $75,000 for each game.

"Given all the circumstances, there was not another decision the board could come to," Florida senior associate athletic director Jeremy Foley said. "We had to do what's right for us. There is no question this is right. Miami did what they thought was right for them by joining the Big East. Now we're doing what is right for us."

Miami athletic director Sam Jankovich said yesterday he received hints of how Florida would play its hand in south Florida newspapers, but that he had not heard from Florida officials.

"I was shocked to learn through the paper about the Florida series," Jankovich said in a statement. "We had received no previous notice. As far as we're concerned, we have contracts and letter agreements to play Florida and we will do all we can to keep the series in place."

[trumad]

19. Yep--- a history of chickenshit

They'd back out with FSU if the could legally do it.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

22. How long will it be before the Gators are caught cheating by the NCAA?

Okay, just wishing - from a downtrodden Razorbacker.

[Awsi Dooger]

26. More on Florida's schedule

Other than playing at Miami in '03, a 38-33 loss, and visiting FSU every other year, the Gators have not played an out of conference road game since 1991.