The Smackdown

You like theories? Me, too.

One of my favorites is this: when two mismatched college football teams get together, the undermanned team can scheme up and throw curve balls for only so long before the team with superior talent prevails. Crafty play-calling may buy you time, but if you're truly outmatched, it'll catch up with you. When jabbering with Terry Norvelle and Brady Ackerman on the Chevy Tailgate Saturday set, I summarize that theory by saying "in the second half, athletes take over."

Best example from this weekend was Virginia Tech pulling away from North Carolina. The Hokies led that game 6-3 at halftime, then scored 24 unanswered in the second half. Thanks to that talent gap, the Hokies are in the ACC Championship game next week in Jacksonville.

Miami's loss to Georgia Tech the week before - the one that knocked them out of the ACC title hunt - only proved that the Hurricanes don't have the clear edge in athletes anymore. The ACC, buoyed in recruiting by the 1992 addition of Florida State and further strengthened by the addition of Miami, has drawn tighter. Five years ago, nobody gives Georgia Tech a chance against the Hurricanes. Today, nobody is giving Florida State a chance against Va Tech. I wonder if Bobby Bowden ever looks in the mirror and wonders at the monster he created in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

On the topic of the ACC title game, Todd Wright posed an excellent question on Sports Talk Live last week: given a choice between beating Florida or winning the ACC Championship game, which would Florida State fans choose?

After the show, I saw several threads on this topic at Renegade Report, the Seminoles' Scout.com affiliate. While I often see "STL" topics get repeated on the boards - which is fine by me - I don't think we prompted this particular discussion. Rather, it was FSU-Florida week, and this was just a pretty good question. So anyway - which would you take?

FSU won or shared the ACC title eleven times in its first 13 years in the league, including a run of nine straight titles - only two of which were shared - from its 1992 entry until Maryland broke the string in 2001. Even in this so-called "down" year, the Noles are still playing for a title come December 3rd. So I was not surprised to see overwhelming sentiment among the internet nation in favor of beating Florida. After all, winning the ACC is old hat for Florida State - and since Miami hasn't done it once, and won't this year, Seminole fans can still hang their hat on league dominance. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

What about Florida? Would Gator fans rather beat Florida State or win the SEC Championship game?

Different question, that one. The Gators played in seven of the first nine SEC title games, winning five, but it's been a five-year drought since the 28-6 shellacking of Auburn in 2000. Florida's football history in the SEC dates back to 1932 - fifteen years before Florida State started playing football - and those ties run deep, even deeper than the FSU rivalry. Without checking Gator Country, I'd bet that most Gator fans would take an SEC title over a Florida State defeat. Spurrier used to put the screws to Bowden by saying as much back in the day. Interestingly enough, Bobby admitted before the Florida game on Saturday that he now knew what the Head Ball Coach was talking about.

Speaking of Saturday, how huge was that game for Florida? You cannot measure the difference between 8-3 and 7-4. To me, that is the biggest jump in college football. Eight wins, and you can successfully argue that your system is working. Four losses, and you start defending your job. I got an e-mail on Saturday night from Gator Country writer Mark McLeod, who gave me the play-by-play on all the recruits who watched the Gator win in person. Jarred Fayson, a kid from Hillsborough in Tampa who happens to have Tim Tebow's ear, pulled the trigger on Florida after watching the "Smackdown In The Swamp." History teaches us that Florida State will still land its share of talent, but you'd be kidding yourself if you argued against the notion that the win on Saturday was one of Urban Meyer's most important performances, in terms of recruiting.

We've been doing this Chevy Tailgate Saturday thing for three seasons now. As soon as the final gun sounded in Gainesville on Saturday, I turned to Terry Norvelle and said something along the lines of, "this is ENORMOUS for Meyer." Ten minutes later, during his postgame press conference, the coach echoed that sentiment. It's a hell of lot easier to sell the program coming off a win - and 8-3 - than coming off a loss, and 7-4.

Anyone else catch the comment from Meyer regarding the long-overdue scholarship offer to kicker Chris Hetland? As a parent, I would have donated bone marrow to hear the phone call Hetland made to his dad, telling him that the tuition payment was covered starting in January. I don't care what side of the fence you're on - that brief story from Meyer is one of the reasons why I love college football so much.

Bobby Bowden appeared exhausted during his postgame press conference on Sun Sports. As far as we could remember, it was the first time he had spoken on the podium this season without the sunglasses, and the first time he was compelled to stand up rather than take a seat. The conspiracy theorist in me wondered if the lack of seating for Bowden was subtle gamesmanship on the part of Florida. That would be awfully cynical, wouldn't it?

One more note on Florida - Florida State: three questions into Bowden's postgame address, somebody asked him if he had considered inserting Xavier Lee into the game in place of Drew Weatherford. I don't know much, Seminole fans, but I know this - Weatherford is your guy. No knock on Lee, who I am sure is a remarkable athlete, but you're not losing anything with Weatherford under center. If Lee was better qualified to start at quarterback, he'd be out there. Coaches are not stupid. They do this every day. Weatherford is your guy.

Terry and I commented off-air that Weatherford is one of the toughest kids on the FSU roster, and his postgame interview was proof of that fact. He made no excuses, and even had the cajones to call out his teammates for not "bringing the fight." You want him on that wall, you NEED him on that wall. Florida State is a young team, with boatloads of talent ready to step up next season, and Weatherford has proven himself equal to the task. This has nothing to do with Xavier Lee. I'm sure he can play, too - but Weatherford is your guy. Let it be.

On other fronts, USF got cold-cocked - literally - in the 33-degree furnace of East Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday, ending their Big East dreams. UCF learned that they will host Tulsa for the Conference USA championship game next week, as UTEP lost to Southern Methodist. And damned if Florida International didn't hang 50-plus on Florida Atlantic in the Shula Bowl.

Just a couple more Rec Warehouse College Kickoff shows left for us, then the Bowl Previews, and then we turn our attention to college basketball, and the NBA schedule. And the beat goes on.