Bill Belichick to the rescue!
Huh? Stick with me.
Maybe you were watching the first quarter of the Florida-LSU game last Saturday and saw the weak holding penalty that wiped out an 87-yard TD pass that would’ve put the Gators up 10-0.
Game-altering call? Definitely in the short-term, possible for the long-term.
Or maybe you saw the Jags lose to Cincinnati Sunday, literally due to a pass interference call by an official who might’ve been trying to justify his existence. Hey, it happens. A lot.
The sooner the better on replays for interference calls. Attempts to draw such flags seem baked into game plans these days. Jake Browning was QB, after all, not Joe Burrow, who might hopefully be out of body parts to damage now that he’s down to the toe.
Both were strong candidates for the lead topic this week, but never underestimate the power of the trivial. Not sure how often this has been said throughout football history, outside of the Boston area, but God bless Bill Belichick.
Belichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels (man, that still sounds weird) visit Orlando this weekend to play UCF. After his club beat Richmond last Saturday, the Head Heel mentioned the Knights in the postgame press conference.
Less is more when it comes to Belichick in these situations.
It was 11 years ago when his Patriots were coming off a blowout loss and preparing for a game against the Bengals. Several questioners, hoping to penetrate the impenetrable, received an answer that instantly engrained itself in pop culture.
“We’re on to Cincinnati.”
“We’re on to Cincinnati.”
“We’re on to Cincinnati.”
This one, last weekend, didn’t have the repetitive advantage and, frankly, was probably nothing more than a 73-year-old man latching onto the first word available in his mental Webster’s — much like the “Hey bud” you toss out when you can’t remember your neighbor’s name.
Belichick offered the familiar plaudits about his upcoming opponent — explosive athletes, skilled athletes, good football team, etc. — but inadvertently or not, ignited a mini-storm in the Knight universe.
“We’ll just go through the preparations for Central.”
Central?
It was nearly 20 years ago when the branders decided the Central Florida Knights will forever be known simply as the UCF Knights. They also slimmed down the old Golden Knights.
Why?
It was roughly 15 or so years before that when Steve Spurrier, early in his coaching tenure with the Gators, was trying to recall the name of the school one of his SEC opponents was facing in the coming week. Was it Southwestern Louisiana, Southeastern …?
“One of them directional schools,” Spurrier blurted out.
Several of us looked at each other, smiling and mentally adding “directional school” to the new football vocabulary Spurrier was inventing on the fly — ballplay, ballcoach and half-a-hundred had already been formally adopted.
With that, “directional school” took on a negative connotation. No surprise that the marketing folks in Orlando, regardless of their map dwelling, were having none of it.
This week, few if any took offense to the directional tone of Belichick’s comment. In fact, the official UCF community had fun with it, as if it’s a badge of honor to be on the radar of a legendary coach who, up to a few months ago, might not have found Central Florida (or UCF!) on a map.
Rank & File: Shakeup affects ’Canes and Gators
The weekly ranking of Florida’s seven big-league college football programs, based on results versus expectations, current trends, and the total number of winks, divided by nods, from the ghost of Beano Cook.
1. Miami Hurricanes (3-0). Last week: (Ranked 2) beat USF, 49-12. This week: Florida at home. FYI: While still a Dawg last year, Carson Beck threw three interceptions against the Gators. Georgia still won by 14. Twice in Monday’s weekly press conference, Head ’Cane Mario Cristobal said the Gators are “well coached,” in case those in Gainesville are looking for a second opinion. The pick: Hurricanes 27, Gators 13.
2. FSU Seminoles (2-0). Last week: (3) Off. This week: Kent State at home. FYI: A moderate blast of research shows FSU has played football against 91 different colleges since the school brought urinals back to campus in 1947. Not once have the ’Noles met the Golden Flashes of Kent State, who’ll receive $1.2 million as part of a welcome basket and something much less pleasant as a parting gift. The pick: ’Noles 52, Flashes 9.
3. USF Bulls (2-1). Last week: (1) Lost to Miami 49-12. This week: S.C. State at home. FYI: Week 4 is an odd time to get a traditional Week 1 opponent, but the Bulls will take it after working through the AP rankings the first few Saturdays. USF fell from No. 18 in those rankings and are now in the RV (“receiving votes”), which beats hitch-hiking. The pick: Bulls 41, Bulldogs 6.
4. UCF Knights (2-0). Last week: (4) Off. This week: North Carolina at home. FYI: During their pregame chat at midfield, do you think Scott Frost and Bill Belichick will compare championship rings? Me neither. One of these teams finally gets a win over an opponent in its weight class, and when in doubt, take the home team. The pick: Central 19, North 16.
5. Florida Gators (1-2). Last week: (5) Lost to LSU 20-10. This week: At Miami. FYI: The Gators were 1-2 last year and won two straight, and were a game under .500 later in the year and won four straight. Neither time, however, did they go on the road to beat the nation’s fourth-ranked team. Is it time to sing a song of severance? In the immortal words of Judge Elihu Smails, co-founder of Bushwood Country Club: “Oh Billy, Billy, Billy …” The pick: See above.
6. FIU Panthers (2-1). Last week: (6) Beat FAU 38-28. This week: Delaware at home. FYI: The Cats can win two straight for the first time in two calendar years and would be three-fourths of the way to their highest win total since Butch Davis was still there and still in a decent mood. The thermostat guardians at FanDuel have FIU favored by 6½, and that sounds about right. The pick: Panthers 24, Blue Hens 17½.
7. FAU Owls (1-2). Last week: Lost to FIU 38-28. This week: Off. FYI: It was four head coaches ago when FAU last lost to FIU. Back in 2016, it came amid a seven-game losing streak in a year the Owls went 3-9. Next week brings Memphis. Tray tables up, seatbelts fashioned.
The Other Picks: No trophy for Hoosiers and Illini?
This isn’t exactly normal. Indiana and Illinois don’t often face each other in football with a ranking number alongside their school names on the schedule.
But here come the Illini, ranked ninth, to face the home-standing and 19th-ranked Hoosiers in Bloomington. The oddity doesn’t end at the mutual rankings. These two schools have met 73 times since the McKinley Administration yet they can’t even scare up a special trophy for this cross-border rivalry.
Along the way, the Hoosiers play Purdue for the Old Oaken Bucket, Michigan State for the Old Brass Spittoon and used to play Kentucky for the Bourbon Barrel.
Illinois plays Northwestern for the Land of Lincoln Trophy, Purdue for the Purdue Cannon and Ohio State for a carved turtle named Illibuck. True story.
But nothing Saturday. Sure, there’s bragging rights, but that doesn’t fill a void in the trophy case. The only thing at stake Saturday, for both 3-0 teams, is a fourth win — Hoosiers 22, Illini 20.
ELSEWHERE: Oklahoma by 3 over Auburn; Utah beats Texas Tech in OT; Maryland over Wisconsin; Clemson beats Syracuse; Oregon big over Oregon State for the Platypus Trophy, as you surely know; Nebraska upsets Michigan; and just west of Battle Creek in the hometown of William Shakespeare (the fisherman, not that other one), the Kalamazoo Hornets by 10 over the Anderson Ravens.
BTW: Kalamazoo College is the alma mater of Harold Ty Warner, who became a gajillionaire by convincing your kids they just had to have a Beanie Baby.
BTW II: Not far from Kalamazoo’s Angell Field, tailgaters who planned poorly can reload at the University Roadhouse, where the Dirty Girl martini includes olives stuffed with blue cheese — except they spell it bleu, which allows them to charge $9.29.
— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Bill Belichick knows where to find UCF. Plus picks: Gators or Canes? Indiana or Illinois?
Reporting by Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
