I unintentionally began a discussion about the Florida - Miami series.  In a previous post I meant to explain why there was so much bitterness on the Miami side while a great deal of ambivalence for most Gator fans.  The exception being from Gator fans that live in South Florida and are exposed to infinitely more Hurricane talk and bravado than anywhere else in the state or country.  Since myself, Henry Gomez and Mergz (the latter two being bloggers on a sister blog Sagarian Saugacity) live in the South Florida area we would all love to see a renewal of the annual series.  But from an impartial perspective I wanted to address the issue.  (Going on the record that I would personally be ecstatic at the prospect of renewal and have long begrudged the UF administration for not adding the game years ago.)
 
The theory is that by playing in South Florida every other year that the envelope of Gator influence would expand in the three counties that comprise South Florida.  The benefits would be increased exposure on local media during the game.  Radio and television discussion would be intense leading to and immediately following the game.  The Florida basketball team regularly schedules itself onto the Orange Bowl Classic playing what seems to be 2 out of every 3 years down here to allow South Florida Gator fans to watch the team and as a recruiting tool to high school talent.  For the last few years the biggest college football game of the year has been the rivalry between Florida State and Miami which now has the added quality of being a conference game thus INCREASING its importance.
 
However, while Florida State has garnered local attention from the game, has it increased the Seminole presence in the region?  There are a number of Florida State graduates in the area and many of them go to the game.  However once the game passes there is little if any mention of Florida State in the media.  South Florida is a professional sports town with pro baseball, football, basketball and hockey teams all competing for a piece of the sports media’s attention.  College sports generally take a back seat, even the local Miami team.  Because college and professional sports have coincident schedules, the Hurricanes rarely get the attention they deserve while Florida State and Florida get barely a mention at all.
 
Academically there are several schools in the region that compete for students with many more going to FIU or FAU than UM.  UF does have an IFAS satellite office in Davie but the structure of the Florida University system has created NEW schools to fulfill the education needs of the state rather than expand existing Universities and create additional campuses.  Thus other than cooperative projects and the occasional extension center the logistic, political or monetary benefits for the academic mission of the school will not be increased as those resources will continue to go to the local, entrenched and politically connected schools.
 
South Florida as a population base is extremely enticing.  The large numbers of people and high school graduates is still expanding and providing a large student base.  However, the University of Florida has never been able to accept all of the students who apply for school with the current acceptance rate hovering around 50%.  Unable to significantly expand it’s enrollment, attracting a greater number of applicants from South Florida will only make admission even more difficult.  I cannot say whether Florida State benefits from an increased percentage of South Floridians in its overall student population.  In FSU’s case, I imagine distance is even more of a factor than for UF.
 
Under the Perry Clark reign, the Gators played UM in basketball on a yearly basis.  Prior to that Leonard Hamilton did not want to play the Gators since it was a recruiting benefit for the Gainesville program while UM benefited little.  Plus the negative affect of losses would outweight the benefits of wins for Cane fans who do not closely follow the sport and would directly compare the program’s successes despite differing resources, histories and conferences.  Whether Frank Haith has adopted the Clark or Hamilton approach I’m not sure but UF was not on the Cane’s 2006-07 schedule.   Florida has recruited and signed several players from the South Florida area.  Brent Wright, Udonis Haslem and Taureen Green being some of the more successful players from the region.
 
Would an annual football series benefit UF in football recruiting?  The Gators have historically recruited some of its players from South Florida, however never in large numbers.  Miami-Dade County, where the UM campus is located, has never been the pipeline of players to UF the way it has to UM.  Florida often picks up more players from Palm Beach and Broward counties.  In fact, a very small portion of Florida’s overall recruits come from the region and many of those are from the two counties outside the Hurricane enclave of Miami-Dade. The question of whether Florida’s presense in a game every other year would benefit the Gators is a good one.  With the a top 2 nationally ranked recruiting class in 2006 and currently ranked as the top class of 2007 though, to what degree could recruiting improve?
 
From an alumni standpoint, if Florida was willing to cast aside one of its current “sacrificial lamb” revenue games for a home and home series what would the Florida fans prefer?  Given a choice of a series with teams around the country, where would Miami rank on the list?  For most South Floridians and some older Gators the Hurricanes would be right there at the top of the list.  Most fans would list other elite programs like Notre Dame, Michigan, USC, Texas, Oklahoma, etc.  However if we take into account that Florida has not played a road game outside the southern US in over 15 years (and probably isn’t looking to reverse that trend) . . . Miami would likely be the top choice.  Miami is a historical (past 25 years at least) southern power with a national reputation and bright media spotlight.  The in-state rivalry and previous history only accentuates the natural regional matchup.
 
If you are trying to increase the excitement and anticipation of the future schedule then Miami seems to be the logical choice for an annual series.  But if football is run as a business and the good of the school outweighs the good of the sport then I doubt we will ever see the series return to what it once was.  None of the kids who play in the 2008 game will be around to see the rematch in 2013.  It’s clear that UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley lives by the adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it“.