This is going to be the Game Thread for tonight big game Canes vs Gators ... LETS GO CANES !

Any Predictions for the game tonight ? I say 42-13 Canes

52-6

I am gonna post soem of todays Articles from the PB Post on the game.

 

Talent gap: Illusion or reality?

 

 

By Dave George, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, September 6, 2003

 

 

 

CORAL GABLES -- Two touchdowns. That's the chasm all those Las Vegas sharpies see between the University of Miami, persistent participants in the national title game, and the Florida Gators, who last September in the Swamp were manhandled 41-16 by the Hurricanes.

 

Two touchdowns. That doesn't say rivalry. It doesn't even suggest an interesting fourth quarter. It just doesn't feel right to be talking about this series losing its savor, not when the Gators are returning to the Orange Bowl tonight for the first time since 1987. It just doesn't seem real that the anticipation could be squeezed from a matchup this surly and replaced with something approaching resignation.

 

How did this perceived gap in talent happen, and when? Well, there's at least three ways to look at it.

 

First, the whole thing could be an illusion. Every now and then the oddsmakers fall flat on their faces, along with the teams they adore. One example is the 1993 Sugar Bowl, when Miami's personnel was rated so far above the rest of college football that No. 2 Alabama was an 8 1/2 -point underdog against the defending national champion Hurricanes. The Crimson Tide won that game 34-13, with Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta throwing no touchdown passes and three interceptions. For what it's worth, the talent between major programs seldom is as different as advertised.

 

Second, and this theory is very popular, there is the belief that the Gators simply are not the same without Steve Spurrier, and maybe they never will be. The problem in this particular case is that Spurrier didn't do much with his one shot at Miami, losing 37-20 to the Hurricanes in a bowl game following the 2000 season.

 

Third, and most likely, there truly is a significant gap between Miami and Florida in terms of the overall athletic skill and the consistent depth on their rosters. If so, second-year Florida coach Ron Zook already has begun to address that basic disadvantage with a 2003 recruiting class that ranked among the nation's top two in every important publication. The question is whether he will be allowed to restock the inventory for the life of his five-year contract. It will take that and more for Zook to be around the next time Florida and Miami play in 2008.

 

"We did leave the cupboard somewhat bare," Spurrier, coach of the Washington Redskins, told The Orlando Sentinel last month. "That 2000 recruiting class we signed that was No. 1 in the nation, a lot of those guys didn't pan out for one reason or another. That's one reason the talent level isn't what it should be."

 

Another reason Zook's rookie season proved so difficult was the early departure of four NFL-ready players. Wide receivers Jabar Gaffney and Reche Caldwell, cornerback Lito Shepherd and offensive tackle Mike Pearson didn't stick around to see how the new coach worked out. They left for the pros the same time Spurrier did, all going in the first two rounds of the draft. No other program was hit so hard by early defections, which highlighted Florida's challenge in preparing a sound team under a new system in time to compete with Miami.

 

Zook's most important recruiting success that first year was a matter of maintenance, convincing quarterback Rex Grossman and wide receiver Taylor Jacobs to stay with the team.

 

"The thing I noticed," said Hurricanes coach Admin Coker, "is that their coaching staff was new and we played them early. I've been asked if that was an advantage for us and I think it was."

 

Still, the Gators for years have drawn heavily and well from the same talent pool that made national champions of Miami and Florida State. Coker, 25-1 since taking the Hurricanes job that Butch Davis relinquished, is not willing to say that Florida's talent no longer is formidable. Even during last year's game, while Miami was rushing for 306 yards and Grossman was having difficulty finding open receivers, Coker refused to budge on that point.

 

"I noticed a lot of talent on both teams," Coker said. "I saw they had a quarterback who was a Heisman Trophy candidate. I saw a great running back (Earnest Graham) and I saw Keiwan Ratliff, who is a great player at cornerback but could pay anywhere. I saw two defensive linemen who went high in the NFL Draft."

 

Actually, Florida sent three defensive linemen to the draft, Ian Scott in the fourth round, Tron LaFavor in the fifth and Clint Mitchell in the seventh, but Miami can top that, too. Four Hurricanes defensive linemen were selected in the 2003 draft before any were from Florida. That list includes Jerome McDougle and William Joseph, both of them first-rounders.

 

Overall, Grossman was the only Florida player taken in the first round. Miami had four.

 

All comparisons aside, there is a natural reluctance on Zook's part to rate Miami's talent over his own. It would be dangerous psychologically for a Gators team that sent 46 players through the tunnel for last week's opener with no previous college experience. It would be contrary, too, to his personal style, a mixture of intensity and optimism that brought him through an opening 8-5 season with no loss in recruiting momentum.

 

"I don't know that I ever said there was a gap in the program," Zook said earlier this week. "Obviously Miami's been a very, very successful program since what, 1983? I played them in '82 when I was at the University of Cincinnati and I can remember when they beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl for the national championship, I couldn't believe it. I remember calling coach (Mike) Gottfried and saying, 'Can you believe those guys won the national championship?' because we had just played them the year before and really should have won the game."

 

Zook was Cincinnati's defensive coordinator in 1982. He refers to a 19-13 Miami win over the Bearcats. It was the final game of the season, with 18,447 in attendance in the Orange Bowl, as Howard Schnellenberger and the Hurricanes finished up at 7-4 and without a bowl invitation. The next season Miami went 11-1 to win it all, underscoring the kind of change that can come over a team when a series of good recruiting classes finally percolate to the top.

 

Using that as a contemporary measure, Florida does seem to have some catching up to do. The list of fifth-year seniors from the recruiting class of 1999 is a good place to start.

 

Eight of Miami's 20 signees from that class still contribute to the team, including three starters in Outland Trophy candidate Vernon Carey on the offensive line, wide receiver Kevin Beard and strong safety Mo Sikes. Five more former Hurricanes from that recruiting class are in the NFL, some who completed their four years of eligibility without a redshirt season and some who left early for the pros.

 

By contrast, Florida has just five players still on the team from the 1999 signing class. Many of the rest burned up their eligibility in four years because the Gators didn't have the luxury of red-shirting them. Some, like Gaffney and Shepherd, played right away at Florida because they were among the most talented and left early for the NFL for the same reason.

 

Does this say anything about the relative depth of the teams? Zook played 24 freshmen in last week's 65-3 win over San Jose State, a Florida record for a season opener. Coker played 13 freshmen in Miami's opening 48-9 win at Louisiana Tech, but kept Kyle Wright, his top quarterback recruit, on the sidelines. Zook, meanwhile, threw his prized true freshman quarterback, Chris Leak, right into the action, and after a 10-for-14 passing performance against San Jose State the kid can count on playing against the Hurricanes tonight as well.

 

Senior Darrell Lee, Florida's most experienced defensive lineman with four career starts, doesn't care for all the analysis.

 

"I don't know that there's any gap," Lee said of the talent on both sides of the field tonight. "Things went their way last year and we had a not-so-great season. That's about it."

 

Sounds simple enough, but if there is a difference of two touchdowns or more in tonight's final score and it's Miami coming out on top, the questions won't end. If anything, a few new ones might take precedence.

 

Like, how did Florida's talent level fall below SEC Championship standards, and when did it happen?

 

Forget that Spurrier failed to win the SEC in four of his last five Florida seasons. Zook is the man in Gainesville now, and thus far the Miami Hurricanes are not impressed.

Miami brings wins; Florida supplies fans

 

 

By Dave George, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, September 6, 2003

 

 

 

CORAL GABLES -- No need to hang on to tonight's Florida-Miami football stub as some kind of marketable memorabilia item in the years to come. There will be more tickets printed for this rivalry, in 2008 for sure and most probably in 2013 and 2014, too.

 

Those are the seasons in which NCAA legislation allows for 12 regular-season games. The Gators, therefore, can get in their eight mandated SEC games, plus Florida State, plus a sufficient number of Swamp-bound patsies to guarantee six home sellouts and, hey, why not, a novelty match with the Hurricanes, too.

 

It's always going to be this way. Doesn't matter who likes it. Doesn't matter if Miami wins five more national titles to go with the fistful already gained. Florida will play the Hurricanes when it works for Florida, but never at an inconvenience, and never because a date with the Hurricanes is essential to make a stadium expansion drive work or get the Gators noticed on national television.

 

That massive skybox addition in Gainesville, bringing stadium capacity to 90,000-plus? It didn't get built because Miami is on the schedule. The place was filled last week for San Jose State, and has been filled, regardless of opponent, for 85 consecutive games. Nebraska has been packing them in for much longer. Same goes for Notre Dame and Michigan, but that's it.

 

Miami has been on a significant attendance upswing, averaging a record 69,539 for six home games last season. The pattern, however, is not consistent. Incredibly, attendance at the Orange Bowl actually decreased in three of the five seasons that immediately followed national championship success for the Hurricanes.

 

Here's the real kicker. Back in February 1999, when Florida and Miami finalized the home-and-home agreement that started with last September's 41-16 Hurricanes victory in Gainesville and concludes tonight in the Orange Bowl, it's wasn't an even-steven deal. Not quite.

 

"We made a big concession on tickets," Miami athletic director Paul Dee said this week, acknowledging that the Hurricanes' allotment of tickets to sell in the Swamp in 2002 was significantly smaller than the number of tickets made available to Florida for tonight's game.

 

"You have to remember, when we reached an agreement to play these games our attendance was not what it needed to be. In a sense, it was not what it has become. That's a concession we might not make the next time."

 

The next time, 2008, will be at a neutral site. On that Dee and Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley already have agreed. Could be Orlando or Tampa or Jacksonville. Might even be Pro Player Stadium. It's open to the highest bidder, Dee said.

 

Now that's more like it. An earthshaking program like the Hurricanes should be highly valued. The ACC certainly knows it. That conference recently added Virginia Tech, not the first, second or even third choice for expansion, just to make certain a new partnership with Miami didn't fall apart.

 

There is a business reality, though, to every college football contract. When Orlando and Tampa and Jacksonville and Pro Player get serious about bidding for that 2008 game, it will be Florida's vast booster base that drives the money up. Think of all the meals bought and hotel rooms booked at the five in-state bowl games the Gators played from 1997-2002. Those five games, irrelevant to the national title chase each time, were played in Orlando and Miami and Tampa before an overall average attendance of 67,922.

 

Miami, meanwhile, manhandled the Gators in the Sugar Bowl after the 2000 season, won a national title in 2001 and played for another in 2002, yet three minor bowl games featuring the Hurricanes during that same six-year stretch struggled to sell more than 40,000 tickets.

 

Who knows what it will be like at the Orange Bowl tonight, with at least a quarter of the sellout crowd and maybe more howling for the Gators? It's not the ideal arrangement for a Miami home game, but Dee didn't mind it so much when the deal with Foley was first struck.

 

"Our season tickets are up over 50,000 now but they were somewhere around 24,000 or 25,000 back then," Dee said. "If they were able to sell some tickets for us, that was fine. I was happy to do it."

 

Happier, still, to know that Miami's muscle finally is beginning to show. The next meeting, after all, will be at a neutral site rather than the Swamp.

 

Back when the series was an annual affair, Miami had to accept consecutive games in Gainesville in 1982 and 1983 and a third in Tampa in 1984 before the Gators returned the favor with a trip to the Orange Bowl.

 

dave_george@pbpost.com

Dave Barry said it well.

 

"Canes have an off night...107-0 Miami."

The Orange Bowl.........South Florida's Home for Football. Pro Player What????

Can Gators back up their talk?

 

 

By Jorge Milian, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, September 6, 2003

 

 

 

MIAMI -- The Florida Gators have talked a good game this week. Whether they can play a good game tonight in the Orange Bowl against the No. 3 Miami Hurricanes may be a different matter.

 

"A lot of people are counting us out," said Shannon Snell, the Gators' senior guard and chief rabble rouser this week. "But if I talk a little bit, it's going to give us a little confidence as a team."

 

Certainly, the oddsmakers don't have much confidence in the No. 21 ranked Gators. Miami is a 14-point favorite to extend its Orange Bowl winning streak to 23. The last time Florida was such a heavy underdog was in 1988 when Florida State entered its annual showdown with the Gators favored by 16 1/2 points. The Seminoles won that game 52-17.

 

While some see tonight's game as a potential lopsided snore, a few Florida players have done their best to keep things interesting this week.

 

Snell began by saying the Gators were going to make UM quarterback Brock Berlin's mouth "bleed." Senior defensive end Bobby McCray followed with critical comments about Miami tailback Frank Gore. Darrell Lee, Florida's other starting defensive end, wrapped things up by predicting a victory.

 

UM's players have kept quiet for most part.

 

"We're not going to say much," said Chris Myers, the Hurricanes' starting right guard. "We're going to do our talking on the field and let them see it the next day in the film room."

 

Among the various subplots in tonight's game, the most interesting is the one surrounding Berlin, the former Gator who transferred to Miami last year.

 

If not for the transfer, Berlin likely would have been the Gators' starting quarterback tonight. Instead, Berlin is starting his second game for the Hurricanes after opening his UM career by engineering a 48-9 rout last week against Louisiana Tech.

 

"I'm sure it will be pretty crazy," Berlin said of facing his former teammates.

 

The Gators know Berlin and Berlin knows the Gators, but the junior quarterback said the familiarity wouldn't give either side an upper hand.

 

"I don't think there's really an advantage," said Berlin, who completed 14-of-28 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown in the season opener. "It's a whole different system over there. And they know me, but that's about it."

 

While the spotlight may be on Berlin tonight, Florida's quarterbacks will also draw plenty of attention in the nationally televised game. UF coach Ron Zook played three quarterbacks last week in a 65-3 victory against San Jose State, but will likely stick with two -- starter Ingle Martin and backup Chris Leak -- against Miami.

 

Martin and Leak will be facing one of the nation's top defenses, but it's the frenzy of a sold-out Orange Bowl that may loom larger. The Hurricanes haven't lost at home since the 1999 season. During their 22-game win streak in the Orange Bowl, Miami has outscored opponents by an average of 33.4 points and has scored 40 points in 14 of those games.

 

"There is nothing bigger than this," said Art Kehoe, UM's longtime assistant coach. "There is no stadium in the world that will match the intensity of this stadium. Anybody who thinks they have been to big games before has no idea what this is going to be.

 

"This is going to be the wildest place you've ever been in your life."

the Gators have been making a lot of noise this week. i like how the canes have reacted, they've been relatively quiet. even Kellen has been pretty quiet except for a few things. just talk their game

 

the Orange Bowl at night on National television..."The Freaks come out at night". that place is going to be going buck wild with all those canes fans and gator fans in the building.

 

lets not expect a blowout though, that could cause a letdown if you overlook an opponent. they need to just go out there and play their asses off.

The Orange Bowl.........South Florida's Home for Football. Pro Player What????

yup

 

the canes and all 3 of thier fans, so much pride, what a great FB school

 

we might lose but dont expect a blowout

 

our D vs. your o-line, we are winning that battle

 

 

 

52-6? for the love of God WC have you seen the canes or gators play? jesus christ stop talking out of your a**. well lose a close one. 30-21

W/E this neutral site is, itll be packed with gators. stick in Miami, who cares, it will be swamp 2,

 

theres no way anybody in the south can outnumber gator fans

yup

 

the canes and all 3 of thier fans, so much pride, what a great FB school

 

we might lose but dont expect a blowout

 

our D vs. your o-line, we are winning that battle

 

 

 

52-6? for the love of God WC have you seen the canes or gators play? jesus christ stop talking out of your a**. well lose a close one. 30-21

yes, the Canes, their 3 fans and 5 NATIONAL TITLES in the last 20 years. just thought id mention that.

nobody cares how many people go to UF games compared to UM games or tuition or whatever, its like thats the only thing you have to cling to

yea,

 

that and were better in every other category imaginable except football.

 

go buy a US NEWS magazine

 

please read which is the 49th best school in the country?

 

wait, thats TEAR 1!

 

and miami still a tear 2, 62 in the nation.

 

yes, so superior

yea,

 

that and were better in every other category imaginable except football.

 

go buy a US NEWS magazine

 

please read which is the 49th best school in the country?

 

wait, thats TEAR 1!

 

and miami still a tear 2, 62 in the nation.

 

yes, so superior

dude, honestly, nobody cares. we're talking football today, not overall school. i honestly dont give a damn about the overall schools, we're talking football

of course you would

 

cuz thats the only thing you got

 

UM= renegade FB team

of course you would

 

cuz thats the only thing you got

 

UM= renegade FB team

yeah well that renegade team won 4 titles and had a shot at 2 more (im talking about the Johnson and Erickson years, i wouldnt consider Howards title team a renegade team), and these gentler nicer canes have a national title and was a bad call away from a 2nd one, and we couldve made the OB the year Oklahoma won it but the BCS gave the spot to FSU. we then got UF in the Sugar bowl... what exactly happened in that game?

 

UF from what i understand had some problems with the NCAA themselves

oh s*** ive reached 1000 posts :rock

 

anyway, im listening to 560 WQUAM and they're talking about all the trash talking the Gators are doing. the dude has made a good point, something i agree with 100%. when a team has dominated you the last few meetings and has won 35 out of 36 games... shut the hell up. dont say anything. go out and play and if you pull it off than start talking.

ive never denied UM fb greatness

 

all i say is UM has pathetic fans, which is a shame

 

UF has 1, well 2, sorta(82), and we pack the house

 

nebraska only has 17k stiudents and they pack that place. hell UMICH, couple miles from DET, packs the big house

 

um deserves better, they shoiuld think of adding bigger frshman classes.

 

miami= worst sports city ever, cant wait to try a new one.

 

have fun handing us our a**

ive never denied UM fb greatness

 

all i say is UM has pathetic fans, which is a shame

 

UF has 1, well 2, sorta(82), and we pack the house

 

nebraska only has 17k stiudents and they pack that place. hell UMICH, couple miles from DET, packs the big house

 

um deserves better, they shoiuld think of adding bigger frshman classes.

 

miami= worst sports city ever, cant wait to try a new one.

 

have fun handing us our a**

dude i agree with you about that. im not making excuses but lets not forget the OB is in a horrible spot with with horrible parking and is off-campus compared to UF's place, isnt Ben Hill stadium on campus? they do deserve better but what can you do. what im saying is that nobody cares today about tuition, the better fans, or facilities or whatever. this is about football. US News magazine or the past NCAA issues have no affect on the field today.

it is.

 

but that doesnt merit an excuse.

 

 

like i said UM should look into adding more students

 

dude those kind of useless things are what make schools elite

damn i just noticed BC is tearing Penn st. apart 21-0 with still over 6 minutes left in the 1st quarter

ajbaseball only sport ur cheap Gators can beat us in is Basketball , In football we own ur school and in baseball too

upset city....

 

42-38 crocs

have u ever been to gainsville? theres nothing to do there, thats why everyone goes to the games, if miami were gainsville with the same population as miami, wed sell out everygame in every sport, we have beaches clubs , shops strips, ladies, good weather, sports isnt always on the mind of everyone, maybe it is in st louis, and in gainsville and Tallahasee,michigan, penn, because theress nothing to do in town but go to the game

because Michigan, UF, etc are COLLEGE TOWNS.....

 

they arent major cities, thats what makes them awesome places to go to school...

 

you will never get the compassion and other s*** in Miami like you would in those other schools

because Michigan, UF, etc are COLLEGE TOWNS.....

 

they arent major cities, thats what makes them awesome places to go to school...

 

you will never get the compassion and other s*** in Miami like you would in those other schools

isnt that what i ment