Written by Philip Rossman-Reich on 26 November 2011.
The last four weeks of the college football season could have been a celebration of the Sunshine State. There's today's Thanksgiving weekend battle between Florida and Florida State, and with Florida State and Miami playing each other later in the year, it set up a classic slate of games for fans in the state.
Instead, the Florida rivalry games have been reduced to afterthoughts on the national stage in light of the struggles of the Hurricanes, Seminoles and Gators.
Florida State fans thought they would be back on top after receiving a No. 5 ranking from the USA Today Coaches Poll and a No. 6 ranking in the AP poll. The clear consensus was that the 'Noles had the talent back to become a power like they were in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Ever since E.J. Manuel hurt his should against Oklahoma, FSU has floundered, suffering losses to Clemson, Wake Forest and Virginia. If one team in Florida has reason for hope, however, it is Florida State, which does seem to be slowly putting the pieces together with a relatively young roster.
The Seminoles' rivals to the south, Florida and Miami, are not going to be able to say as much.
The Gators started the year at No. 23 the Coaches Poll and No. 22 in the AP. Miami was receiving votes in both polls, while still handling the Nevin Shapiro scandal that blew up in its face at the beginning of the year. Neither of these teams had national championship aspirations, but with new coaches, they both expected to see some improvement.
Florida was rolling until it ran into Alabama and LSU in back-to-back weeks. The Gators offense has shown no sign of life since the first half of that Alabama game.
Miami has sprinkled in losses throughout the year and has not shown the consistency that the program expected with veterans all over the field. The Hurricanes' game against Florida State was emblematic of that inconsistency, as Miami was able to drive for much of the game only to turn the ball over in the red zone or come up short. Friday afternoon, Miami fell to a lackluster Boston College team, sending The U to 6-6 on the year.
The fact that all three programs reached bowl eligibility this season – Miami's athletic department is holding the team out of any postseason game in light of Shapiro's allegations – should be of little consolation. So what has gone wrong with these three programs? Why is the recruiting hotbed of Florida struggling so much to produce strong college football teams?
New coaches have to have something to do with it. Jimbo Fisher is in his second year as head coach at Florida State, although he was the coach-in-waiting behind Bobby Bowden for a significant period. Will Muschamp and Al Golden are in their first years coaching there teams.
Whenever a new coach comes in, there is going to be a period of adjustment. For Florida, moving from the spread option attack Urban Meyer employed to a more traditional pro set has been especially difficult. The types of players needed for both offenses are very different. Miami had to handle the suspensions that came with the Nevin Shapiro mess earlier in the season, which compounded its uneven play.
After a solid offensive start to the year against less than stellar opponents, Florida has had just one game in the last six with more than 300 yards of total offense. That came in a win over Vanderbilt. In four of those five losses, the Gators have gained fewer than 250 yards of total offense. South Carolina nearly held them below 250 yards in the one odd game in that stretch – the Gators had 261 yards of total offense versus the Gamecocks.
The inconsistency on offense has led to inconsistency on defense. Florida's talented and developing defensive line has had zero time to rest and has been pounded by bigger, more brutalizing offensive linemen. Plain and simple, the Gators have lost this season on the line of scrimmage.
Miami too has been hit with inconsistency. The defense has had solid games – 209 yards allowed against Ohio State and 211 yards allowed against Georgia Tech – and some porous games, including 470 yards allowed to Virginia and 499 yards allowed in the opener to Maryland.
Like Florida, this talented group of players has not been able to put it all together. If you took Florida's defense and Miami's offense and turned them into a single team, you might have an eight-win team.
And this is where Florida State has become the premier team in the state. The Seminoles offense has had only two games generating less than 300 yards of offense – the win against Miami this past week and the loss to Oklahoma at the beginning of the season. The defense has bent a lot – its average is 279.5 yards allowed per game, but has given up 14.5 points per game – but found its rhythm during its recent five-game winning streak. Florida State gave up 275.2 yards per game and 11.6 points per game during the win streak.
Florida State getting E.J. Manuel back to health helped settle the offense down. His play against Miami was a big key to the Seminoles getting that win.
While the Seminoles' rivals are faltering and hoping recruiting classes can replenish talent, the Seminoles seem to be looking to finish strong. Maybe that strong preseason ranking was a year early?
The question fans in the impassioned state of Florida want to know is when will the state return to its glory days?
The Seminoles seem close with the players they have on the field, but they are also adding the ninth-rated recruiting class in the country in 2012, according to Scout.com. FSU has six players in the recruiting service's top 100 and four five-star players.
Believe it or not, according to Scout, that is the worst of the three big schools in Florida. The Gators are bringing in the fifth-best recruiting class, with seven top 100 recruits and two five-stars. The Hurricanes are sixth, with 27 players committed to the school, including two in the top 100 and one five-star athlete.
There is no doubt these three teams can continue to recruit and still appeal to high school stars. The opportunity is there for another golden age of college football throughout the state. It still feels far away, though, with all three teams so far out of the BCS bowl hunt.
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