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As part of our commitment to Gator football, the Gatorsfirst.com team will provide a weekly update on which teams we should be rooting for each week, and how it affects the Gators. At the start of the season it's pretty simple as we'll be rooting for teams that we play against. But as we approach the end of the season, we'll be rooting for teams in games that usually don't affect our ranking...
This week we don't play anyone in the SEC. Therefore we should be rooting for everyone on our schedule to win this week (sans Miami, OH). The reason for this is because it invariably affects our strength of schedule, which is calculated as part of the computer rankings. It also puts an inkling in voters minds that the Gators may have a quality win over a team that beat so-and-so.
Teams On Our Schedule
South Carolina over Southern Miss
South Florida over Stony Brook
Kentucky over Louisville
Tennessee over Tennessee-Martin
Georgia over Louisiana-Lafayette
LSU over North Carolina
Florida St. over Samford
Alabama over San Jose St
Mississippi State over Memphis
Vanderbilt over Northwestern
Appalachian St is an FCS school, so their records do not factor into BCS computer rankings. Also, South Florida, Tennessee, & Florida St play FCS schools. Obviously a loss by one of them would hurt greatly.
If we're strictly talking about Gator football, we should be rooting for each of these teams on our schedule. Let me point out three games in particular. Kentucky plays former Gator coach Charlie Strong and his Louisville team. Louisville is in the Big East and a win over a BCS school is good on the resume. The LSU game against NorthCarolina will be very close in my opinion. SEC over ACC is always good. Also, Vanderbilt faces Northwestern to determine which conference has the better nerd school. Hopefully the SEC takes it.
Other SEC Games
Mississippi over Jacksonville St
Arkansas over Tennessee Tech
Auburn over Arkansas St
We should always root for SEC schools out of conference. However, only Auburn's opponent is FBS, which are calculated in the computer rankings.
Other National Games of Interest
Virginia Tech over Boise State
Washington over BYU
Oregon State over TCU
Purdue over Notre Dame
Illinois over Missouri
I think you have to go with VT, Washington, & Oregon St here to prevent the ''BCS Busters'' from possibly taking BCS bowls away from SEC teams. Even though VT, Washington, & Oregon St will have their opportunities to win out, you gotta think that they'll slip up in their respective conferences. As long as Notre Dame has that absurd auto-qualifier stipulation with the BCS, all BCS conference teams should root against them. I'll only root for Illinois because I feel bad for the Zooker.
Oh yeah, root for the Gators. But I shouldn't have to tell you that... |
