Who Should Florida Play?

by mlmintampa on Feb 13, 2009 4:04 AM EST in Florida Football

I was really surprised at the response to Thursday's story about scheduling. It seems the only thing fans can agree on is that we want the Gators to play a non-conference team that's not from Florida. On the other hand is dealing with potential loss of revenue from turning a home date with Charleston Southern on pay-per-view into a road game at Texas on ABC.

So here's a little game from my WRUF days when I'd co-host with Hanson and Timmy C would call in and rant about something. Pick an out of conference team you think Florida should have a home-and-home with and why. But before you go picking USC, here's the catch; the team you pick cannot have two previous games against the Gators. USC has two previous games against Florida, as does Michigan and Nebraska. Use this chart as your guide.

Any team with one game or zero games played against UF would be eligible. Pick your team and post in the comments why they should play UF. I'll go first.

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Florida vs. Navy

UF has never played the Naval Academy despite nearly 220 combined seasons of varsity football. The game in Gainesville would be notable for the huge number of midshipmen who would come from Annapolis for the game. Plus, Florida has a sizeable Naval population and they would probably get their hands on a decent number of tickets. This game would be on national TV for the novelty of Navy’s 19th century offense against Florida’s 21st century offense. For the rest of us though, it’d be hard to compete with a guy in dress whites for a girl in Grog. I guess you could act like a 6th grader and call him seaman to break his game.
The game at Navy would be played in Baltimore (just like Notre Dame-Navy) and would be a way to show Florida to recruits from Pennsylvania, Virginia, DC and Maryland. Also, it is close enough for Gators in New York to come, giving some much needed attention to an alumni base that rarely gets to see their team live. Also, Florida has about a 97% chance of winning both games.

mlmintampa
UF C/O 06

by mlmintampa on Feb 13, 2009 4:23 AM EST reply actions

I Like It.

Navy is a quality opponent that we should be able to handle. I’d love to play all the service academies in some sort of rotation, actually. Would Navy want the road game to be in Jacksonville, though?

by ejruiz on Feb 13, 2009 5:27 AM EST up reply actions

Instead of on rotation, we could play all of them every year for guaranteed wins like Notre Dame does. Wait, they lost to some of the service academies?

by tbcook on Feb 13, 2009 9:16 AM EST up reply actions

We’re only picking schools Florida has played 1 or 0 times, so Army is out. (Florida has played them three times.) But if the new Meadowlands Stadium is anything like the new Cowboys Stadium, they will have several college games played there. How about a neutral site Florida vs. Army game?

mlmintampa
UF C/O 06

by mlmintampa on Feb 13, 2009 12:28 PM EST up reply actions

The Buckeyes

If only for the novelty of watching an entire state explode when we crush them in the horseshoe.

On second thought, the novelty of that will be lost this year when USC does just that.

by falcontom on Feb 13, 2009 4:50 AM EST reply actions

Meh.

I’m tired of tOSU getting punked.

by ejruiz on Feb 13, 2009 5:28 AM EST up reply actions

So Many Choices!

Notre Dame would be my first choice, but I’d also like to play Oregon. More realistic picks would be Pitt or perhaps Louisville.

by ejruiz on Feb 13, 2009 5:24 AM EST reply actions

I'd like to see it be a PAC-10 team....

Maybe not USC, but Arizona State, Oregon, or Cal would be a fun home & home series.

by tenaciouslee on Feb 13, 2009 9:20 AM EST reply actions

Florida has played Cal twice, so for the purpose of this game would be out. But I like the idea of playing Stanford. You get the chance to play in California against an opponent you can beat. Plenty of Gator fans would head out there because it’s in the San Francisco area. Also, Standford is one of the schools that competes with Florida for the All-Sports trophy because they have about 50 sports including women’s cricket and men’s softball.

mlmintampa
UF C/O 06

by mlmintampa on Feb 13, 2009 12:19 PM EST up reply actions

Here’s a good analogy for this argument. Think of it as a race. Here are our racers and the school they represent for this analogy:

Jeff Demps – Florida
Chris Rainey – USC
Tim Tebow – Stanford
Carl Johnson – Charleston Southern

It is not possible for Demps to lose in a 100 yd dash to either Tebow or the Pancake Man. However, he looks a lot better with Tebow behind him at the finish line than with Carl Johnson trying to catch his breath at midfield. If it’s a guaranteed victory either way, why not challenge Tebow instead of the 300+ pound offensive lineman? Rainey is a different story. If Demps were to race Rainey, a slip-up along the way could cost him the race.

I know this isn’t exactly the same thing, but it’s another way to look at it. If you want to prove you are the best, challenge the best. But if you know you are going to win the game, go with someone that at least has some name recognition rather than somebody that you are embarrassed to be with on the same field.

by tbcook on Feb 13, 2009 12:48 PM EST up reply actions

That was funny - I like it

I suppose UT would be one of the Pouncys?

by skigator93 on Feb 13, 2009 3:20 PM EST up reply actions

Utah

That way they can shut the hell up about deserving to play in a BCS game.

by tbcook on Feb 13, 2009 9:25 AM EST reply actions

That would get SO MANY people in Utah.

Maybe Boise State too. It’d be interesting to see us on a blue field.

by bdalebs on Feb 13, 2009 7:51 PM EST up reply actions

Also

I also like the idea of playing someone along the lines of Pitt, Rutgers, or Boston College. We would need to play a team with a respectable stadium. If they can’t seat as many as Vandy, it’s not worth going to their house. Also, a team of the caliber of these three teams does not really stand a chance of beating us.

by tbcook on Feb 13, 2009 9:43 AM EST reply actions

I love the Navy and Notre Dame suggestions

But my choice would be Colorado. Boulder is the type of city I would be excited to travel to go see the Gators. A few years ago, while on a ski trip, we swung by Boulder and walked out on the field and I thought – it would be really cool to see a game here. Then we walked over to a bar called the James and drank $1 drinks.

When the Buffs travel to Florida, their fans could bring their families and go to Disney just a couple hours away. I wouldn’t even mind if the game were played in Orlando to help sway some central FL recruits our way. I suppose that would prompt the away game to be played in Denver – which would allow more seating (I’m guessing at that), and would still be cool to visit – but not as fun as Boulder. I like college towns for college football games.

South Bend would be cool just to visit Notre Dame’s campus, but my guess is there isn’t much else around there. Baltimore and Pittsburgh you can have, I wouldn’t have any interest in going to those cities.

by skigator93 on Feb 13, 2009 9:56 AM EST reply actions

My cousin went to ND and says South Bend is an incredibly boring town. When the college in town is fiercely Catholic, that happens.
Pittsburgh is a nicer city than Baltimore, but Baltimore would be more accessible for alums in DC and New York.

mlmintampa
UF C/O 06

by mlmintampa on Feb 13, 2009 12:24 PM EST up reply actions

Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh

That’s like being asked whether you’d rather be shot or stabbed.

by skigator93 on Feb 13, 2009 3:20 PM EST reply actions

In Pittsburgh, you stab yourself.

mlmintampa
UF C/O 06

by mlmintampa on Feb 13, 2009 3:55 PM EST up reply actions

What about Mizzou or Texas Tech?

Compare spread offenses (and the defenses’ abilities to stop them).

Or, maybe USF. There were talks, IIRC, but they broke down b/c we wouldn’t go to RayJay. And that’s also an in-state team.

by bdalebs on Feb 13, 2009 7:57 PM EST reply actions

I like Timmy’s suggestion about Boston College. Boston is an AMAZING town and I would love the chance to go see the Gators play there. Also, it’s always fun embarrasing an ACC team.

by Lcr239 on Feb 14, 2009 10:43 AM EST reply actions