Florida Gators

[KeviNole]

Exactly, and Duke would have finished 3rd or 4th in the ACC Coastal this year. Probably 3rd if the ball continued to bounce their way (which it did a lot this year).

[The Gray Ghost]

Yes a lot of good teams would have finished behind FSU and Clemson, and while still being worlds ahead of the other dozen ACC teams.

[Jungle Rat]

The SEC is not some unbeatable rock, and a team isn't good just because of the conference they are in, but the fact does remain that A&M finished 4th in our division and yet defeated the ACC runner up in a bowl game.

Disagree. The SEC schedule does play into this.

[Dr. Strangelove]

The SEC is not some unbeatable rock, and a team isn't good just because of the conference they are in, but the fact does remain that A&M finished 4th in our division and yet defeated the ACC runner up in a bowl game.

Disagree. The SEC schedule does play into this.

Except that no one in the SEC plays all the good teams. Alabama's schedule this year is proof of this. Drawing Kentucky & Tennessee from the east is as favorable as it gets. And Ole Miss, Miss State, and Arkansas are no juggernauts. Throw in 2 bye weeks strategically located before the tough games, 3 cupcakes, and a game against a very mediocre VT squad, and this is not nearly as difficult a schedule as its portrayed.

Until the SEC switches to 9 games, schedules will continue to be wildly unbalanced and unfair. Even then it'll still be a problem.

[The Gray Ghost]

Gators win SEC hoops opener while starting point guard goes down with injury (again). Good thing we have obamacare coming online.

[GBJs]

The SEC is not some unbeatable rock, and a team isn't good just because of the conference they are in, but the fact does remain that A&M finished 4th in our division and yet defeated the ACC runner up in a bowl game.

Disagree. The SEC schedule does play into this.

Except that no one in the SEC plays all the good teams. Alabama's schedule this year is proof of this. Drawing Kentucky & Tennessee from the east is as favorable as it gets. And Ole Miss, Miss State, and Arkansas are no juggernauts. Throw in 2 bye weeks strategically located before the tough games, 3 cupcakes, and a game against a very mediocre VT squad, and this is not nearly as difficult a schedule as its portrayed.

Until the SEC switches to 9 games, schedules will continue to be wildly unbalanced and unfair. Even then it'll still be a problem.

I realize the Buckeyes are inexperienced in playing a divisional conference, but scheduling can be very cyclical... I didn't see anyone complaining in 2010 when the last 6 conference foes took a bye week before playing Alabama... 2008 and 2009 Alabama didn't face Florida in the regular season but faced them in the SECCG, then played them regular season in 10 and 11...of course only faced Urb in 10 after his health scare...

Urb knows how to get to the SEC stadiums, I doubt any of them would refuse a home / home.

[Dr. Strangelove]

The SEC's scheduling is not Bama's fault, but it's undeniable that Bama received a much easier schedule this year than LSU or the draw Georgia got (playing LSU AND Auburn) in the East. So long as 14 teams only play 8 game, things are going to be wildly unfair.

As for a home-and-home with an SEC team, I don't believe you guys are as willing to do that as you claim. Florida doesn't play home-and-home with anyone but FSU and (rarely) Miami. We had one scheduled with Georgia a while back but both sides decided to cancel. We replaced them with Texas. As for Bama, you guys canceled every home-and-home you had on the books a couple years ago and have been scheduling these one-shot neutral site games as your only tough non-conference opponents into the foreseeable future. If we want a game with Bama it'll likely have to be in Atlanta.

[dave_rickart]

....or a bowl game loss

[Dr. Strangelove]

....or a bowl game loss

Heh, yes

[10ac]

of course only faced Urb in 10 after his health scare...

heh

[SuperGator]

Look, the Gators were pathetic this year. Injury riddled and yes, poorly coached. The conference as a whole did not look very good, but I thought that the ACC looked fairly good this year. The big 10, well, they looked like the big 10 and that just isn't saying much.

Now, to the other UF fans on this page. I hope to never see or read about the amount of season ending injuries like I have this year. It was crazy. Didn't keep us out of any championship games because coaching would have seen to us missing any of those, but it was hard to watch. Much like an Ohio State watching the juggernaut that was "the Ohio State" get a real gang raping at the hands of the Spartans. It reminded me of their "Glenndaling" that occurred just a few short years ago.

[GBJs]

The SEC's scheduling is not Bama's fault, but it's undeniable that Bama received a much easier schedule this year than LSU or the draw Georgia got (playing LSU AND Auburn) in the East. So long as 14 teams only play 8 game, things are going to be wildly unfair.

i surely ain't disagreeing with that...part of the problem is going to 14 to begin with. I believe in 2012 UA would have faced Georgia in the regular season versus only in the SECCG (assuming both teams would have made it after playing each other in the regular season). Instead, an arguably better UA played an already injury depleted Mizz. This season, UA winds up with UT and UK... I don't know how that came about instead of playing Mizz again but it did. With UT as our "protected" game because of tradition, that team is in a down cycle versus an up cycle and I don't know of anything to be done about that. No one had any compassion for UA when UT was up and we were down.

I do think the SEC will wind up going to a 9 game conference schedule... i hope so because games like UA / UT and UGA / AU just should be played every year. That would be like losing OSU / UM... just ain't right. aTm and Tejas should also play each season.

As for a home-and-home with an SEC team, I don't believe you guys are as willing to do that as you claim. Florida doesn't play home-and-home with anyone but FSU and (rarely) Miami. We had one scheduled with Georgia a while back but both sides decided to cancel. We replaced them with Texas. As for Bama, you guys canceled every home-and-home you had on the books a couple years ago and have been scheduling these one-shot neutral site games as your only tough non-conference opponents into the foreseeable future. If we want a game with Bama it'll likely have to be in Atlanta.

At least Atlanta is a better venue than C bus or T town... and while I don't have time to check our schedule for the upcoming seasons several seasons in advance, I thought we had one coming with Mich St??? I know we changed out seasons with Penn St from our last run in with the law... I like the neutral site games to an extent. Nothing beats on campus and sometimes it is more difficult to travel, but I think in most cases there are real benefits to both programs. The games will sell out anyway as there are enought season ticket holders that WILL travel either way. The games in Atl or Jerry's house also provide ops for recruiting. Y'all want us to come up to C bus and grab another line backer?

[Dr. Strangelove]

The series with Michigan State was cancelled a few months ago.

I guess I just don't get the appeal (as a fan) of the neutral site games. Nick and other coaches do them for recruiting purposes, I'm sure. But I'm not that interested in seeing a college game in a dull pro stadium, no matter how nice it is.

BTW, the ACC initiated a request with the NCAA that could potentially shake up scheduling for everybody and make divisions irrelevant. I'm kind of hoping it gets approved. Basically if it had been in place this year, FSU and Clemson would've played for the ACC title. You pretty much wouldn't even need divisions to hold a championship game. That way you'd have probably 2 or 3 teams on your schedule that you always play and everyone else would rotate.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... fying-redo

[Jungle Rat]

GLENDALE!!!!

[The Gray Ghost]

These season opening neutral site games are not about appealing to fans, they are about money (same as the home-only tomato can games). The third-party hosts kick in extra money and pass that cost along in ticket prices. The schools like it because they only have to play one game instead of two in a home/away contract.

[innocentbystander]

We grabbed another 5th year offensive tackle from Florida (to replace Patchan) and we got Tyler Murphy to step in for Chase Rettig. So I have to ask, how is Tyler Murphy? Is he going to suck for BC? I kind of figure Addazio wouldn't be grabbing so many 5th year transfers from Florida if he didn't think they would start immediately. So I guess we are stuck with Murphy this year (his last year.)

[KeviNole]

I didn't see him as much as Gator fans but I found him underwhelming. He doesn't have a very strong arm, isn't slow but isn't particularly fast either. He'll be serviceable and in the right system (the one he was in at UF probably fit him as well as any) he can be effective but don't expect an NFL-calibre QB. As I understand it, Addazio is trying to move to the spread and that's what Murphy was recruited for by Urban...Murphy has enough accuracy he might do pretty well there.

[The Gray Ghost]

He turned out to be a serviceable backup QB - not a strong arm, but decent footwork, instincts and work ethic. That was enough to get by on the three weakest conference games, but when the key players around him started going down with injuries and the level of competition ramped up, he was barely adequate and then he hurts his shoulder. No telling what he does at BC, but don't expect him to carry the team on any count.

[innocentbystander]

Thanks guys...

As I understand it, Addazio is trying to move to the spread and that's what Murphy was recruited for by Urban...Murphy has enough accuracy he might do pretty well there.

He turned out to be a serviceable backup QB - not a strong arm, but decent footwork, instincts and work ethic. That was enough to get by on the three weakest conference games, but when the key players around him started going down with injuries and the level of competition ramped up, he was barely adequate and then he hurts his shoulder. No telling what he does at BC, but don't expect him to carry the team on any count.

As I understand it Frank Spaziani's recruiting sucked. We have one QB left on the roster with any game day experience (Josh Bordner) who will be a Senior in 2014, but he sucks. After that, we have two reshirt frosh that Addazio recruited and 3 three true frosh we'll be getting this year. I don't think Addazio wants to throw any of them out there so he was stuck with Bordner. Grabbing Murphy to replace Chase Rettig (even for just one year) tells me that sending Bordner out there is probably not an option for Addazio. Addazio wants to win right now.

Patchan was great at left tackle, but again, when we grabbed him from Florida, we got one year. So now we grab Ian Silberman from Florida to replace him. Again, this basically says Spaziani and some of his recruits, suck. They suck so bad, we are forced to grab players with one year of eligibility in order to even field a team.

BC will likely have 9 Seniors on offense this year (4 on the O-line including Silberman at LT.) If Murphy starts at QB (can't imagine why he wouldn't) then that would be 9 (leaving Miles a sophomore to replace Andre Williams and a sophomore at right tackle.) Even with Williams running insane, I think Miles Willis still got a couple hundred yards rushing last year as a true freshman. I believe he was the one that scored or TD vs USC. Egads.

On defense, we pretty much get almost everyone back with the exception of the linebackers. So I don't see the pressing need to back fill there the way we are on offense.

[Jungle Rat]

He'll do fine at BC. Average.