Florida fans may be bored with Louisiana and Jacksonville State coming to town, but don’t expect athletics director Jeremy Foley to apologize for the Gators’ mid-November lull. Consecutive games against the Ragin’ Cajuns and the Gamecocks are welcomed. Playing the little guys keeps the lights on.
Foley is just happy the schedule is full.
Since the NCAA added a 12th game to the schedule prior to the 2006 season, Foley said filling out the Gators’ slate each year has proven challenging.
“It’s just finding teams that want to play you,” Foley said. “Everybody is scrambling to get opponents.”
Every team ranked in the top 10 of the BCS standings has played at least two non-BCS opponents this season.
The Gators also need to schedule opponents who will play in The Swamp. While Southeastern Conference schools Georgia and Alabama have recently played home-and-home series with Arizona State and Penn State, Florida needs the dollars from home games.
According to UF’s 2011-12 athletic budget, the Gators made $2.3 million per home football game last year. Football, which supports Florida’s other 20 sports, accounted for 65 percent of the UAA’s revenue last season.
Next season, the Gators will host fewer than seven home games in a single season for the first time since 2005. Florida will play at Miami on Sept. 7, 2013, as part of a home-and-home series. The Gators defeated the Hurricanes 26-3 in The Swamp in 2008.
“When you’re taking a game off campus, it’s costing you money,” Foley said. “We’ve been setting aside money in our budget since 2008 to make up for the loss we’re going to have next year by not having seven home football games. If you did that every year, you’d drastically affect the ability to run this program.”
Meanwhile, Alabama coach Nick Saban has made a habit of playing competitive openers since arriving in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in 2007. In six seasons under Saban, the Crimson Tide has faced a top-10 team in three season openers and played a ranked foe within the first two weeks for five consecutive years.
“It’s good for our fans to have a national game that they can look forward to,” Saban said. “It helps our team develop in the offseason as well as in fall camp, having a challenge like that early on. I do think it has prepared us for a lot of the tough games in our league.”
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The Swamp was drying up.
As Louisiana’s Blake Comminie scampered into the end zone after scooping up a blocked punt, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium fell silent. For the third time in less than a year, Florida trailed a non-BCS opponent at home.
“For the first time all season at home, I thought to myself, ‘We’re going to lose this game,’” said Freddy Masterson, the UF Fightin’ Gator Marching Band drum major. “I let it get the best of me.”
After entering the game as a 26.5-point favorite, Florida’s 49-game winning streak against non-BCS foes was in jeopardy. UF’s last loss to a non-BCS team was against Memphis State in 1988.
In 18 games against non-BCS foes since the 12th game was added in 2006, Florida has outscored its overmatched opposition by more than 38 points per contest. The Gators eclipsed the 50-point mark in eight of those games.
“The only way the fans can vote is by not showing up, by being apathetic about it,” ESPN College GameDay host Chris Fowler said. “You see that in a lot of places. (There are) a lot more empty seats than you’re used to seeing from some big teams, because the matchups just don’t warrant it.”
Win or lose, Louisiana helped Florida extend an ongoing streak. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium failed to sell out for a fifth consecutive contest against a non-BCS opponent.
Prior to 2011, UF had notched 137 consecutive home sellouts, which at the time was the fourth-longest active streak.
Attendance for the Gators’ win against the Ragin’ Cajuns was listed as 86,482. But when Loucheiz Purifoy blocked a fourth-quarter punt and Jelani Jenkins returned it 36 yards for the game-winning touchdown, not even 60,000 fans were around to cheer.
Few cared about a game in which UF had little to gain and much to lose.
“Scheduling games that are exciting for the players and the fans is important,” Fowler said. “You’ve got some very soft scheduling that is anti-college football.”
The last time the Gators opened the season with a non-conference BCS opponent was 1990 — Spurrier’s first game as UF’s coach.
Florida defeated Oklahoma State 50-7, starting the Gators’ current 23-game winning streak in openers. Twenty-one of those victories came against non-BCS foes.
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When UF leaves Gainesville for a non-conference game, the trips are usually short.
Excluding a visit to Tallahassee every other year to face Florida State, Florida’s last two non-conference road games were against Miami in Coral Gables in 2003 and Syracuse in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1991.
When asked why the Gators had not left the Sunshine State for a non-conference game since his second season in Gainesville, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier was frank.
“Because Florida doesn’t have to,” he said. “[Florida has] plenty of tough competition without trying to find three major opponents.”
The Gators boast one of the toughest schedules in the nation this season with games against half of the top-10 teams in the BCS standings. Florida is 3-1 with a matchup against BCS No. 10 Florida State looming on Nov. 24.
“You look at our record,” UF coach Will Muschamp said. “You look at our schedule and what we’ve accomplished this year. We’ve had a hell of a year.”
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Florida’s 27-20 win against Louisiana meant the world to the Ragin’ Cajuns. Already eliminated from Sun Belt Conference title contention, Louisiana needed something to play for. Even in defeat, the Ragin’ Cajuns were confident and composed.
“I know everyone in the locker room feels bad, but we also know we should have won this game,” Louisiana wide receiver Harry Peoples said. “The next game and the next game and the next game and the next game, we are going to show that we should have won.”
Peoples tallied 73 yards on 10 catches against Florida, marking the most receptions by an opposing wideout this season. After reviewing the film, Peoples' confidence soared even higher.
“We should have beat them, (by) at least two touchdowns maybe,” Peoples said on Monday.
Ragin’ Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth added: “Their confidence level, to me, has never been higher.”
Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze knows the feeling. As the head coach of Arkansas State in 2011, Freeze consistently emphasized to his players the significance of opportunities to play against top-notch BCS schools.
“We used it as a platform to show that we were competitive,” Freeze said.
Freeze saw a change in Arkansas State after a 26-7 loss to eventual Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division champion Virginia Tech last season. Following their loss to the Hokies, the Red Wolves won nine straight games to clinch the Sun Belt Conference championship and earn a bid to the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
“A lot of it has to do with the leadership of your team,” Freeze said. “If the leadership of your team says, ‘Hey, this shows what we can do, and let’s get into conference play and do something special.’ We were fortunate to have that kind of leadership.”
Foley touted how UF's games against non-BCS opponents aid the visiting school. According to a UF spokesperson, Florida paid Bowling Green $1.25 million, Louisiana earned $1 million and Jacksonville State will receive $500,000 for Saturday’s game.
The Ragin’ Cajuns’ check from the Gators is worth 8 percent of Louisiana’s $12.5 million athletic budget, which includes $5.1 million in state funds.
“Honestly, it’s a win-win situation,” Foley said. “Fans don’t all see that. But the money we pay them very much helps them run their athletic programs. We have to have a game. We have to fill in a certain date. The process of scheduling is very, very difficult. You have to find people that are available. You have to find people that (are) interested.”
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Since Muschamp took over as Florida’s coach in 2011, one of the philosophies he has stressed is that every opponent on the schedule is a “nameless, faceless” team.
“It’s the next game,” Muschamp said on Oct. 22 of playing Georgia. “That’s why it’s the most important game.”
His attitude remained unchanged leading up to last Saturday’s win against Louisiana.
“It’s all the same to me,” Muschamp said on Nov. 5.
On Tuesday, offensive coordinator Brent Pease said of preparing for Jacksonville State: “It’s our same approach every week. You go out, and you got a standard you want to play to.”
Despite the same preparation week after week, the Gators manhandled LSU but went down to the wire against the Ragin’ Cajuns.
In Florida’s past three games against non-BCS opponents, the Gators have trailed. They have started slow and relied on late surges to avoid upsets.
In more than 20 years as a collegiate coach, Spurrier has avoided upsets against non-BCS foes. Even Spurrier, known for his brutal honesty when discussing opposing teams, said he approaches each opponent similarly.
“You only have 12-13 [games], sometimes 14,” he said. “There’s no excuse if you’re not ready to play.”
Foley understands fans’ frustrations when Florida plays sub-par competition. He said his goal is to have the Gators play as many entertaining games as possible.
But playing a high-profile game every week is simply implausible with a 12-game schedule. Not when UF needs to stay at home to keep the revenue flowing.
Besides, Foley does not think the Florida faithful mind the extra victories too much.
“Every fan we have, I think, has the same goal,” Foley said. “One is to get to Atlanta and another one is to try to get to the last football game of the year. Scheduling is a big part of that conversation.”
Contact Joe Morgan at joemorgan@alligator.org.
Louisiana running back Alonzo Harris (46) bursts through a pack of defenders to score in UF’s 27-20 win. Unlike most non-BCS teams, the Ragin’ Cajuns tested the Gators.
Josh Evans (9) and the Gators have typically beaten up on their non-BCS opponents, defeating them by an average of 38.2 points per game since 2006. The games generate dollars but little interest among fans.
