You take your football pretty seriously down here, don'cha?" - Paul Crew
Posted on 09/20/2006 5:47:13 AM PDT by elc
Once upon a time, in a Florida far, far away, the lakes were translucent lagoons, teeming with fish and fowl. The landscape was a tropical Eden, saturated with guava fruit, papaya, coconut and mangoes. And, most importantly, the football fields were filled with magnificent touchdown prances and end zone dances.
These days, something awful and alarming is happening to our beloved land. The lakes now teem with slime and sludge. The landscape is covered in strip malls and T-shirt shops. And, worst of all, the football fields are barren wastelands, devoid of offensive imagination and innovation.
Who unplugged our scoreboards?
Who barricaded our end zones?
Who knew global warming would dry up the once-fertile offenses that made our brand of football the most electrifying and exhilarating in the nation?
The Kingston Trio once presented the musical inquiry: "Where have all the flowers gone?" And, now, we distressed Floridians ask an even more critical question: "Where have all the touchdowns gone?"
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
I miss the days when FSU, UF, and UM were ranked at the top and winning games between them meant a trip to the national championship.
Oh, boo-hoo! This is no differerent than the locals here in North Carolina complaining because they don't win a national championship every year.
Thought you might be interested in this article...
You take your football pretty seriously down here, don'cha?" - Paul Crew
Things go round and round. Some years LSU wins the national championship, some years Auburn does. (Like this year - War Eagle!)
That's pretty clever. Blame the lousy football teams on Global Warming!!!
It's all Bush's fault!
I miss the days when THanksgiving meant a Ou vs Nebraska showdown for all the marbkes abd a shot at the National title virtually every year, now thats a rivarly that once meant something.
Ping!
What a bunch of whining crap. UF is the defending basketball champs and ranked number 5 in football. It's Great To Be A Florida Gator!
It's a great day when UF wins and f$u and scUM lose.
"The U" now stands for "Unraked." :)
Funny nicknames. Hey, any UF players mishandling guns again recently?
Part of the problem is that the big three college programs used to be the only 1-A schools in the state, and therefore got the pick of the litter when it came to in-state bluechip recruits. Now, there are at least 6 1A programs and the talent well has been diluted.
Plus, Miami has gone through probation after the mess Dennis Erickson left, and the U. just doesn't have that same aura they did in the late 80's-early 90's. The low point came on Saturday when Louisville blew them out, which almost guarantees that Larry Coker will lose his job.
St. Bobby lost his best assistants and the replacements, like his son, are mediocre to just plain awful. Florida State can still recruit, but the rest of the ACC has started to catch up.
Florida was definitely hurt when Spurrier left, but is the only one that seems to have held everything together, relatively speaking. As bad a coach as Zook was, he could still recruit, and Urban Meyer is reaping the profits.
As for the pros, J'ville looks to have a defense that is dominating, and the 9-0 win is misleading from an offensive view in that they beat the defending champs, who also have a pretty good D.
Now, Miami and Tampa Bay, Culpepper is better than he's displayed through the first two weeks, but I understand Harrington is getting the start this weekend. Is Saban getting desperate, or is the knee still bothering Daunte? As for the Bucs, I always felt Chris Simms was overrated, even in college, where he had a tendency to self-destruct in big games. All I can figure is he's decided to take the whole offense with him this time, because no TD's in two games is bad for any NFL team.
Thank you. Nice to see a little constuctive discussion on the subject.
No problem. If it relates to Southern football, I always have an opinion, plus this discussion came up a couple of months ago on a college football forum.
USF, Central Florida and the other Florida schools that have moved up to 1A are still years behind the big three, but they have had a modest impact on recruiting that started showing up a couple of years ago when UM, FSU, and UF started their respective slides. Only Florida seems to have weathered it and kept everything intact. UM and FSU were given preseason ranks based on reputation rather than what they could put on the field.
Good post. My take, fwiw:
FSU--Bobby Bowden is just too darned old now. He makes few decisions and when he decided FSU would join the ACC he doomed the team to drop the level of the rest of the league--instead of the other way around. Now they are mired in the situation of having lousy coaches, plus they recruit players who likely won't qualify academically, which is why so many wash out before stepping on campus.
I recently saw on the FSU Warchant message board they are actually asking if they can get the hated Steve Spurrier for a coach! Sad for them.
MIAMI--Bad coach and bad recuiting. Coker is also too old to relate to players and they also recruit questionable "student-atheletes". The kid they got to campus with something like a dozen arrests on his record finally washed out this year.
FLORIDA--Last year were still realing from the Zook years, INCLUDING the recruiting, which is why they are getting a lot of meaningful contributions from true freshmen. They are on the upswing with a great young coach the players respect. FSU and UM are not.
I wouldn't rule St. Bobby completely out yet, because JoePa went through the same stretch of mediocrity at Penn State that FSU is experiencing now, before bouncing back.
I'm not sure Bowden will be willing to do what needs to be done though. He's gonna have to clean house on the offensive side of the coaching staff, including his son, who obviously is out of his depth. If the AD and administration make that demand, he may just retire.
If the alums are starting to breathe down his neck, and the message boards are lighting up with fans hoping SPURRIER!!! of all people(that's mind-boggling) will take over means that he's got to be feeling some serious heat in Tallahassee.
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