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.