Florida’s opener a mismatch
GAINESVILLE (AP) – Florida’s opener probably will be a laugher.
The top-ranked Gators begin their quest to repeat as national champions Saturday night against Charleston Southern, a Championship Subdivision team that is 0-16 against the big boys. The Buccaneers lost 52-7 last year at Miami and have been thumped by a combined score of 159-19 in four games against South Florida.
What’s in store in Gainesville?
One oddsmaker tagged Florida a 73-point favorite. It is believed to be the biggest spread in the history of college football, though some oddsmakers won’t set lines on games between major college teams and those from Division I’s lower level (FCS).
“The thing I love about this game, the thing I love about intercollegiate athletics is it’s about opportunity,” Charleston Southern coach Jay Mills said Tuesday. “Our country’s been about opportunity and we preach that and teach that at our universities.
“We were founded on a bunch of underdogs many years ago. In athletics, everybody has an opportunity to be able to realize dreams.”
They could become nightmares, too.
Florida returns every starter on a defense that stymied Oklahoma’s high-powered attack in the Bowl Championship Series title game in January. Although both offensive tackles and leading receivers Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy headed to the NFL, coach Urban Meyer had several talented backups waiting to step into starting roles.
If the Gators have any major concerns about this season, they’re hiding them well. They opened fall practice talking about wanting to go undefeated and becoming the first team in more than a decade to win three national titles in four years.
Even Meyer, who has tried to keep his players focused on getting to Atlanta and playing for the Southeastern Conference championship, admits this is a special group.
“This is from the heart: I love to coach this team, and you don’t hear me say that very often,” Meyer said. “You’re going to see a really good team jog out to practice today. They’re going to be full-padded, there’s not going to be any complaining and they’re going to be (eager) to get going. … That sounds easy, but just look across college football. You don’t hear that stuff. You hear a bunch of other stuff.
“I’m awful proud of where we’re at right now.”
Meyer expects his toughest task this fall will be keeping his team humble and hungry. His toughest task this week, though, might be figuring out when to call off the dogs, er, Gators.
“Obviously, we’ll have a personnel advantage,” he said.
Although Appalachian State’s win over Michigan in 2007 still gives FCS teams hope of knocking off a BCS bully, few anticipate a stunner in this matchup. Florida’s last game against an FCS opponent, The Citadel in November, was a 70-19 drubbing that could have been worse.
Meyer would prefer to not schedule often-overmatched FCS teams, but points out the difficulty in getting quality opponents to play in Gainesville without a return trip. Since the Gators have a home-and-home series with Florida State and play Georgia annually in Jacksonville, they don’t want to give up any more lucrative home dates and play away from Florida Field.
That means paying teams like Charleston Southern $450,000 for guaranteed games – and guaranteed wins.
“If you said our goal was to have the most difficult schedule in America, that’s not on our pyramid of success,” said Meyer, whose previous openers at Florida were Hawaii (2008), Western Kentucky (2007), Southern Miss (2006) and Wyoming (2005). “We’re going to do what we have to do. Our scheduling is well thought out. Our job is to get our team in position to go to Atlanta. If that means playing Miami, we play Miami.
“It’s not easy to just go pick a game. We are constantly in communication with schools, trying to get (a game). We’re not going to be a team to go travel very often and go play. That’s just not what we do.”
Around the country, though, other BCS teams are playing games that are far from gimmes. This week alone, South Carolina plays at North Carolina State, Oregon visits Boise State, Oklahoma and BYU play in Texas, Georgia travels to Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech and Alabama meet in Atlanta, and California hosts Maryland.
The Florida State-Miami series also is back on Labor Day night.