More
Contact
Submit
Premium
This is the Derelictable College Football Top 25. This is exactly how the Top 25 will look at the end of the season. We swear. Today's entry: No. 24 Florida.
Let me get this off my chest: I am not a Charlie Weis fan. I was, for a while. Then I realized he simply wasn't head coach material and he overstayed his welcome by a year at Notre Dame. I never wound up doing it, but there were games in his last season with the Irish that I went into thinking I should probably root for them to lose because it would mean the end for him, and be better in the long run for the Irish. That's bad.
All that being said, it's going to be really fucking weird seeing him wearing Florida blue and orange this fall. While the Irish and Gators never met on the field in Weis' tenure, the Gators were known for stealing away Notre Dame commitments, especially at positions of need -- Justin Trattou and Omar Hunter, I'm looking at you. Florida was always the anti-Notre Dame to Irish fans, the new Miami, if you will. Florida was loose academically (we had no proof of this), the arrest capital of college football (this is true, and yes, I'm going to willfully ignore Michael Floyd forever and ever) and most certainly doing something shady. We, of course, were blocking out the fact it was a warmer, had hotter girls and was 10-million times as good in the past decade.
So while we totally wanted Charlie to get the fuck out, that doesn't mean we weren't going to get a little pissed when he went to certain schools. USC, was obviously one of those schools. And Michigan. And probably Michigan State. Those are all on-field rivals, and obvious. But Florida, for some reason, seemed the most odd and spiteful. At the same time, good luck with that running game, Gators.
As far as football goes, Weis is probably the best thing that could have happened to John Brantley outside of pissing in a fountain next to Peyton Manning. He was, how do I put this lightly, shit-tastic last year. Really, that's lightly. Ten touchdowns and nine picks is not a good way to follow up The Tebow. He was the second-most hated man in Florida last year, behind Steve Addazio (Ron Zook will always be No. 1).
Brantley is Will Muschamp's saving grace, no matter what happens. If he plays well, Florida wins games. If he doesn't and Florida loses, Muschamp gets a free pass because John Brantley was his quarterback, and thank fucking god he'll be gone next year.
Why they could be lower: Inexperience is going to be an issue for the Gators, who return nine starters, total from last year's team. That's not normal for a team full of ridiculously good talent that just went 8-5. Normally you'd think youth was the issue on a team like Florida, but, well, Brantley and Addazio. Like Michigan State, Florida is replacing three of its offensive lineman. Also, one of its returning starters is Trey Burton, who will play fullback this year after playing some quarterback in spots a year ago. Oh yeah, their coach has also never been a head coach. So, yeah, inexperience.
Why they could be higher: Speed. A ton of fucking speed. Sure, this is nothing new for an SEC team or for Florida, but if Weis realizes how to properly utilize Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps this season, the Florida offense might not need Brantley to be all that good. The problem, of course, is Weis inability to build a run game. Of course, he never had two guys who run sub-4.3 40s.
Schedule: It's an SEC schedule, so it will be brutal. Even though the Gators are in the East, they crossover and play Alabama, LSU and Auburn (not as good this year, no, but still the defending state champion). The East also figures to be tougher this season as Georgia and South Carolina are teams on the upswing. So is Florida State, which the Gators close the season with. There are five very losable games on this schedule, and a couple others that certainly aren't gimmes. But despite last year's 8-5 record, Florida still has a team that has more talent than most any other team it will be on the field with. I think that's good enough for another 8-5 year, and with that schedule and a late surge, I think that's good enough to put Florida in the Top 25.
