Florida Eases Into a Bowl It Doesn't Deserve

The University of Florida football team has a good thing going for themselves in spite of this year's mediocre edition. They are currently 5-5 and will probably lose next week's regular season finale against a superior Florida State team. And why do I emphasize the words "regular season"? Because, in spite of their difficulties and probable humbling 6-6 finish, they will still be eligible to play in a post-season bowl game, full of its pomp and glory (and financial reward). This is due to a rule allowing schools with non-losing records to participate in bowls and likewise prohibiting the "losers" from "disgracing" these games with their presence. But Florida?

The Gators aren't the only major college school that pads their schedule with easy opponents, but they may well be the worst offender. They opened their season against two pushover small colleges, giving the world (and sadly even themselves) in doing so the false impression that they were a much better team than they actually were. Add to this the fact that their next two conference opponents were having dismal seasons and you had a 4-0 team pushing to be included in the Top Ten. Then, the bottom fell out of their season as they played against several highly ranked teams and went 1-5 (and barely pulling out their one victory during this stretch). So UF is 5-5 with the Seminoles to play next week. So how do they get to go to a bowl?

For some reason I cannot fathom, a few years ago the bigshots who set the rules for college football decreed an extra game in the regular season, making it twelve games. Florida reacted by scheduling a powder-puff pushover college late in each season. This year they are playing Furman, a team that hasn't exactly sparkled, even against other schools in their level of play. That game, which the Gators could win blindfolded, is going to begin here in Gainesville less than two hours from now. This "victory", hollow as it will be, will nevertheless be the one that gives them a pass into a bowl game, one that I think they don't deserve at all.

What's really sad about this Furman game today will be the feigned excitement expressed by the play-by-play radio announcers whenever Florida pulls off a successful play against their grossly (and deliberately) outmatched opponent.