Wowza.

If this weekend didn't prove the complete worthlessness of polls, then nothing will. Going forward, I think we're still in for some "adjustment" with the rankings. Something just doesn't feel right, and that's based on more than simply seeing USF at #6 ;)

Go SEC teams with Tiger mascots. Gotta enjoy watching grown men cry up in the swamp over a loss to Auburn. After the ref's hit Auburn with 30 yards in false penalties during the final minutes, I was glad to see the game go to the right team. UF may very well be looking at 3/+ losses this year. Call me crazy, but FSU has the same record right now, only their one loss came from an actual ranked opponent. ;) *chomp*

USF beat the crap out of WV Friday night in front of their first ever sell out. I really do think USF is a very good team, but it's hard not to wonder if the Big East will ever decide to play someone of substance out-of-conference. It's really hard to get a sense of how good they might be when there's not a single top 10 (maybe not even a top 25) OOC opponent on anyones schedule. Everyone loves to knock the ACC, but those teams are actually playing people. You don't earn respect from an inflated ranking. You earn respect from knocking out quality OOC opponents.

ESPNU just picked up the USF/UCF game for October 13th though. If the Knights can handle ECU the way they've been playing everyone else, we may have a decent OOC barometer for the big east. Should be an interesting afternoon. Thing is, UCF didn't look all that impressive against ULL (Hold on to the ball, Knights!), and ECU just surprised Houston.

Don't look now, but the Big10 suddenly looks strong again. OSU vs Wisconsin is shaping up to be interesting.

ND still sucks.

Texas finally succumbs to their suckatude. It's only going to get harder for the longhorns. If only they could look forward to playing ND.

Oklahoma, the team that was giving me nightmares for simply looking so nasty, lost to Colorado. Thank god I'm not all that big on gambling, I would have taken OK at 97 1/2.

If Southern Miss is Conference USA's flagship, the conference is in deep trouble. Boise took `em to the woodshed.

Not college related, but how about Daunte giving it to the Dolphins? I like the `phins and all, but man, good for him. Fun to see him find a little redemption in all that mess.

Games to watch next week - LSU vs. Florida: Predicted highlight: Dorsey choke slamming Tebow, nailing him with an elbow drop and pinning him for the three count and the intercontinental title belt. ECU vs. UCF: Predicted highlight: Kevin Smith runs from the 1 yard line all the way back to Orlando. In the first quarter. ECU 17, Kevin Smith - 645 miles.

I'm not a big ND fan. Actually, I despise ND. Talking National Championships, when was the last time ND was relevant? Yet every year, sports writers from around the nation talk about how ND is back and whatever other nonsense they can dream up. ND is now 0-4. "Rah! Rah! For Notre Dame," indeed. Someone yesterday told me that Touchdown Jesus has been renamed to Field Goal Jesus. I guess you have take what you can get...

What happens when a top 10 offense and a bottom 10 defense clash against one of the worst teams in the country? Louisville loses to Syracuse in a squeaker.

How `bout them bulls? USF is another team that I don't care much for, but they sure did throttle UNC. I don't think USF has beaten anyone ranked above #50 by Sagarin yet this year though. Lots of folks are questioning their top 25 ranking, wondering if it really is deserved. I actually think that it is. Grothe is simply incredible and Mike Ford has shown tons of potential. Next week against WV should be a great game.

Miami walked all over Texas A&M. Makes you wonder if OK is just that good, or if A&M was just that overrated. Kyle Wright is playing the way he knows how, so Miami may be on the verge of getting their act together. Randy Shannon is going to get them turned around in a hurry.

Speaking of Oklahoma. My god. That is all.

Florida showed some vulnerability against Ole' Miss. Either that, or they simply started to fall asleep in the third. I didn't see the game, but looking at the box score, that's probably about right.

I know some folks who were big on Alabama's team this year. I'm just not buying it and think it's another case of a storied program everyone wants to return to the prime time, but isn't quite there yet. Losing to UGA makes me feel a tad bit vindicated in that assessment. I wouldn't be surprised if they finish with 4, maybe 5 loses this year. A winning year, and something to be proud of, but certainly not the Alabama of old. We'll see.

And finally, UCF. Yesterday was a tremendous day out in east Orlando. Every kink that I noticed with the stadium against Texas was rectified. Water aplenty, perfect traffic flow, polite fans and most importantly, a big win. UCF has a long way to go until they're in the national limelight, but I'll tell ya, George O'leary is building the program up right over there. The foundation they've laid looks to be really strong. As far as the team, Kevin Smith broke 100 yards rushing in the 2nd quarter, and then pretty much sat the rest of the way. It was 42-0 by halftime. JuCo transfer and backup quarterback Mike Greco played for the first time in the 2nd. 11 for 12, 151 yards, 77 yards rushing on 10 carries. All he was missing was a jump-shot pass into the end zone. I like this guy, and I really like the idea of teams having to prepare for both Greco and Israel. Bring on the dual-qb threat, and bring on Week Five football!

In 2006, Orlando Business Journal listed UCF as a larger area employer than Lockheed Martin. The school is home to 46,000 residents, the majority of them under the age of 23 (largest undergraduate population in FL) Each year, the school pumps out thousands of educated professionals into the local economy.

In a town not known for much outside of tourism, UCF's growth is helping to diversify our economy. The addition of a medical research facility has the potential to radically affect the area. Investments into digital media by Orlando and UCF stand to further Orlando's technology sector. UCF's aggressive push to build state of the art facilities are already attracting major acts that would otherwise find themselves in Tampa. UCF has very quickly become a key ingredient to our booming economic and cultural development.

On Saturday, Orlando's newest venue opens up with a football game against the Texas Longhorns. While UCF has been playing ball in the Citrus Bowl, the move to an on campus stadium will bring a true sense of college football to Orlando for the first time. Affordable family entertainment against a nationally ranked team in a safe, clean environment. It's not just a win for UCF, it's a win for the city.

If you're an Orlando resident, there are numerous reasons to be excited about the developments going on over in East Orlando. Imagine if someone gave you the chance to design your very own university, what kind of campus would you build? Now drive out to UCF and take a look around, because that's exactly what's going down. A modern, clean, advanced college atmosphere.

With all that being said...

It surprises me how many folks look for reasons to talk down UCF, and it seems to almost always be UF alumni doing it. For years, Orlando has been a gator town. Gainesville is only about an hour out of Orlando, and UF is the big name public university. I'm just not sure if I see the threat, the comparison, or the need for college affiliations of a local region to be so exclusive. It comes across as nothing more than defensive.

My claim may seem anecdotal, but when you consider Facility Senate member Kathleen Price voted against (successfully) awarding Gov. Jeb Bush with an honorary degree because he approved funds for other state schools to have medical facilities (that is, UCF), or when Orlando Sentinel reporter Jeremy Fowler, who rumor has it is a UF graduate, needlessly bashes the home town team the week of the stadium opening, you have to wonder what their deal is (or, in the later case, if the Sentinel's traffic is truly that bad. Hope the link helps...;). Who, exactly, benefits from bashing and attacking the efforts of UCF to enter the "big time", when the city of Orlando gains so much from them doing so?

I often find myself preaching the Orlando gospel to folks outside of the area. It helps to find cities to compare us to, usually a more club-centric (ugh) version of Austin (in terms of size and tech. sector revenue), or a less sprawling version of Atlanta seem to fit (Charlotte and Atlanta are the only two southern-style cities that have a decent tech presence that come to mind for me).

Atlanta seems to be a fitting situation, and works perfectly in context to this post. UGA, Georgia's name brand university, is located in Athens about an hour out of town. Ga. Tech, an engineering school, is located inside the city. Add in George O'Leary and UCF's uniforms and I think we have a viable comparison. UCF is to Ga. Tech as UF is to UGA.

Maybe USF/UCF is not the budding state rivalry we all thought it was after all... ;) 20 years from now, FSU will be rebuilding after Bowden fires his grand children (even if he should pass, Bowden will still be coaching FSU from the other side), USF and Miami will be fighting over the definition of South Florida and UCF/UF will be engaged in a full out turf war. When it happens, remember that you heard it here first. God knows what the Sentinel's slant will be ;)

Ohio State challenges UF to a running contest in the middle of January. Ohio State loses.

Uhm.. a running contest in January, against a bunch of kids in Florida? I think OSU needs to add a few meteorology courses to their curriculum. ;)

Kathryn of course is recovering from a deep depression still. I could write on and on about the SEC in general and how phenomenal the conference looks right now, but there's nothing I can say that the Best Damn Band in the Land can't say for me... Enjoy (and go knights.... one day.)

On the Game:

USF handed UCF their second loss of the season on Saturday. All over the Internet The few places on the Internet where people who follow irrelevant programs convene, are flooded with USF fans saying things like "I hope this puts to rest the rivalry" or something to that effect.

Here's the thing fellah's.. I'm not sure what game you guys watched, but from my seats on the 45 yard line, 2nd row behind USF's bench, I saw two equally matched small time programs struggle with both defense and offense. I saw a game that came down to one team driving on the ten yard line with 30 seconds left that couldn't get it done. In the middle of the third, I turned around to the gentlemen behind me and started discussing comparisons. A giant pillow fight is the best we could come up with.

I also saw a USF team up close that, frankly, looked almost identical to UCF (minus the house arrest anklets). I did see, though, that Grothe (USF QB) is in fact going to be an amazing player. It's not so much his talent, but the intangibles that you can't teach. He had composure, he had vision, he had leadership -- that kid won the game for South Florida. I will say that as a freshman, I worry for his safety against a team like WV. He can't be more than 6 foot and a buck eighty. I thought Ken Dorsey was small back in the day. God help him when he plays a team with an actual pass rush.

On USF trolls:

The difference I'm finding between USF fans and UCF fans is a sense of realism and humility. Going 0-17 will do that to ya (keep in mind, when our program was USF's age, we were 9-2 and just as cocky). There isn't a battle for "fourth" going on the state of Florida, like many USF supporters like to claim. There is a battle for "not last" in the state. The competition isn't UF, FSU, UM and UxF. Its FAU, FIU, USF, and UCF. I wouldn't be surprised if UNF decides to join the mix. The talent difference between the big 3 and the rest of us is so large its immeasurable (Yes, Miami fell out of the top 25, but there are some obvious coaching issues going on). UCF fans understand that we're building a program from scratch. USF's quarterback stated after the game that they could beat anyone in the country. I love that kind of confidence, and I wish Moffett had some of it, but please, don't be fooled. The way Troy has been playing, they'd dismantle both of us.

A reader posted earlier today that its all about the W, and he's right, but outside of that, it's the same tired comment that you read all over the place. The trolling students over at that school do is simply unmatched. "It's not a rivalry" we're just going to go around searching out blogs to talk shit on in our spare time..... Riiiight..

All cynicism aside, USF fans have do have a reason to celebrate. 3-0 is their best start since their first year, and it's certainly more impressive than UCF's current 1-2. Playing two div 1aa schools and then UCF would hardly qualify as impressive though, and I'm pretty sure any pollster or simple sports fan would agree. Now, that's not to say UCF is in a better position -- we're not. We lost to a team that UConn decidedly manhandled last season and we gave up 322 yards of offense to Villanova. We won't speak to what happened up in Gainesville.


On the Future of The Programs:

I've never claimed UCF was anything than more than what it is (a team one season removed from 0-11) and I don't think any serious fan would. I would just love to meet a USF fan who is willing to admit similar sentiments about their program (10-13 over the past two years. Hardly big time).

USF also has a great head start with their BCS birth. I'm just not convinced it will mean much in the long run (short run, sure). With USF playing the likes of UL, WVU, and Pitt year after year -- it's going to be awhile before they take home their conference championship. The BCS table alone hasn't done much for programs like Stanford, Duke, Illinois, and the majority of other schools in the ESPN bottom 10.

More to the BCS point, with the recent off-season changes, a team like TCU can nancy prance their way through a MWC schedule and receive an automatic bid. We're witnessing the BCS slowly being forced (remember, it's only a decade old) into what it's suppose to be (structure, mainly). Non-BCS TCU will make it to a BCS game long before USF gets there, and they'll have an easier time doing it.

The two schools are taking completely different paths. I think UCF's O'Leary is building the program up the right way (character and discipline). The best example of this was his decision to suspend our top player, Kevin Smith (rb), for the USF game because he missed team curfew. Meanwhile, USF's starting tightend was arrested two weeks ago for a DUI, and has served no suspension of any kind to date. USF lost close to half (nine) of this summers recruiting class due to academic ineligibility. UCF has the highest GPA in the NCAA. Everyone has their priorities.

On the Future of the Series:

At the end of the day, it was a ton of fun on Saturday. On that everyone seems to agree. For those of us who actually feel invested into our community down there in Central Florida (USF qualifies, ironically), it served as a great example of what's possible for both schools. The economic impact alone justifies the game. Both public schools are paid for with tax dollars and the community deserves such a huge economic opportunity. It's truly fantastic to see. After the game, I was 13 miles away in Waterford Lakes and there were USF fans everywhere spending money. I'm sure it was similar last year when UCF traveled to Tampa.

I think USF will have our number again next year. In fact, it could end up almost exactly like the UF/FSU series. It was a series that ended up having to be forced on both schools via legislation because of stubborn administrators. It was also a series that UF won for probably a decade before it became competitive. 20 years from now (tradition takes time), USF/UCF will be a spitting image and all of Central Florida will benefit.

It's a great time to be a fan -- witnessing the birth of something great. Congrats on the win USF, best of luck in your conference, and I can't wait to see you again at RayJay!