For the first time since the 1970s both Florida State and Miami find themselves "playing for pride" in early November rather than competing for a national or conference title. For both programs this represents a major break with the past and a tsunami to both fans and players who expect to be in the top 5 every season. But much does remain at stake for both programs, and reasons remain to watch both teams.
- Florida State still plays hated rival Florida and can still finish at .500 in the ACC. Florida State's season can be effectively salvaged by knocking UF out of the national title chase.
- Florida State has found an exciting, energetic quarterback in Xavier Lee. While Lee is less accurate than Drew Weatherford, he is also more capable of making plays which is what the sluggish Noles need. Watching Lee develop for the rest of 2006 will be exciting.
- Buster Davis and Lawrence Timmons are both can't miss NFL prospects.
- Unlike Miami, Florida State still has a dangerous special teams unit that can block kicks and return punts for TDs. (Miami at one time it seems used to block a punt or return a kick for a TD in every big game.)
- Miami plays hated rival Virginia Tech this week (one of only two annual rivalries Miami plays) and a a win over Va Tech would certainly ease much of the angst among Canes fans about both Coach Coker and the current malaise of the program. For whatever reason, the media always seems to group Va Tech and Miami in the same sentence even though they are very different programs. This in many ways has led to a late blooming intense rivalry ala Florida-Tennessee, and much like the UF-UT game a championship was typically on the line when the teams played. Through the years Miami and VA Tech have saved each others best for one another.
- Javarris James is perhaps the second best true freshman tailback in the nation, behind CJ Spiller. While Miami is struggling, they have the game breaking, feature back the program has missed since Frank Gore's injuries began to limit his effectiveness a few years ago.
- Watching an emotionless, lifeless team like the Canes reminds everyone why Ron Zook actually had his supporters around the nation. At least his Gator teams showed some fire!
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7 comments:
J. James should transfer. He will be ruined by Coker and the inept Miami staff.
FSU's Buddy-Lee looked great against a 2nd-rate defense.
Vagina this weekend shouldnt pose a threat, but Buddy Lee of course is 1 interception returned for a TD away from being yanked.
UF's secondary, although not the most spectacular man-to-man coverage has more speed than Maryland's running backs. Playing a cover 2, UF will bait Buddy Lee into throwing deep.
Look for Tim Tebow to play Safety and Percy Harvin to play at CB. Before the game Tim Tebow will fly one of the planes in the fly over, sing the national anthem, and then sell concessions in between offensive possessions. After the game he is going to lead the band, sign autographs, and sow his oats all over sorority row.... twice!
Xavier Lee=Chris Rix. Even if he is good, Jeff Bowden will hog tie him and not allow any decision making of his own and ruin him. I was a huge Chris Rix fan as I was a gator, but if you look at his freshman year, vs his senior campaign, I think you will agree he played much better as a freshman when he was allowed to make "freshman mistakes" and make big plays. Then when they started to slide, Jeff Bowden tightend the reigns and didn't allow him to play.
Maybe Jeff had $ on Adrian McPherson.
God Bless
Florida St. and Miami will still play in the ACC championship game.
Why is everybody getting so excited over Xavier Lee? I don't get it. Wyatt Sexton was the best QB FSU has had in awhile. That's why they've gone into a slump.
Kartik,
What makes Xavier so special? Maybe he just had a good game. All the other times we've seen him play he looked like a high school freshman.
Buddy-Lee isnt going to save FSU. Neither is Kyle Wright or Larry Coker going to save UM.
They are the laughing stock of the ACC. And whats even funnier is that both these schools arent shit in basketball either. I'd give UM a mid-tier rank in the ACC, but in all honesty... they could be UNC's towel boys.
So what happens to an FSU that sucks in football and in basketball? What recruit is going to want to go there after this season?
The UF v. FSU game cant come soon enough. All I want to see is FSU take a beating this holiday season. The nail in Bobby's coffin!
St. Bobby RIP
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