Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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‘Canes – ‘Noles take step backward from last year’s contest; Grossman moves on up

Riding my bike down Gilman Street a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t help but notice the two bike cops flagging me to the side of the road.

One was a husky-looking female officer, who looked at me sternly and asked, “What do you think you are doing?”

Confused, I gave a typical dumbfounded response: “Uh, I dunno.”

“Riding your bike against traffic is a $75 fine,” the officer informed me.

Considering there was absolutely no traffic in broad daylight, and there were larger problems in the world, such as the country being attacked by terrorists, I was more than a little fumed about being penalized for this minor infraction.

With the entire world cracking down on security after the events of Sept. 11, Madison police decided to follow the crowd and jump on the bandwagon to do a little cracking down themselves. (Because only a terrorist would ride their bike on the wrong side of the road, right?)

Sports fans, much like the MPD, also tend to jump on bandwagons. Be sure to be on the right bandwagon this weekend when watching NCF play. Here are a couple of suggestions.

Get on the Rex Grossman/Florida bandwagon: This guy has been nothing but butter this season. As the nation’s highest-rated quarterback, Grossman has been dissecting defenses at leisure. He has improved significantly each game, throwing for 300 yards in five consecutive games, a UF record. Then, against a talented LSU team, he mustered up 464 yards — another school record — and five touchdowns.

And it’s not like he has been playing against patsies. Grossman has torn apart Mississippi State and LSU, two teams who were then ranked in the nation’s Top 25.

Right now, he is among the top three in the Heisman race, but he does have a couple of things going against him. For one, he is only a sophomore. Secondly, he did not have the hype surrounding his season at the beginning of the year the way a player like Eric Crouch did.

But nonetheless, with a solid O-line and big-play receivers, Florida’s quarterback is putting up numbers that Danny Wuerffel could only dream of in his Heisman-winning season of 1996.

Jump off the Miami and Florida State bandwagons as soon as possible: Really, these are not the same two teams who put together the classic of a year ago.

Miami is still living off of all the preseason hype that they received at the beginning of the season. Miami has been either No. 2 or No. 1 all season, but throughout the first five games, one thing has remained evident — they have yet to play a tough squad.

Florida State has also had their share of cupcakes. The Seminoles and Hurricanes have defeated porous squads, who have combined for a lousy 3-14 record this season.

Miami’s defense was surprisingly bad against Troy State last week. Yep; Troy State, who joined Division I-A this season, moved the ball with relative ease against the ‘Canes. In the first half, Troy State garnered up 175 yards, 12 first downs and a touchdown. If they would have connected on their two field goal attempts, Miami would have held a slim four-point lead going into the locker room.

Miami, who many experts picked to be a lock in the Rose Bowl, may not even be invited to a BCS bowl. If the season were to end today, the Hurricanes would not crack the top 10 in the BCS standings. Some BCS computers have Miami landing somewhere in the middle 40s.

Florida State has been anything but spectacular this season. They have yet to play a top-caliber team, and were embarrassed by a lowly opponent in North Carolina, 41-9. They also have been injury-rattled since the beginning of the season. Already, 17 Seminoles are on the injured reserved list, including Anquan Boldin, whose athleticism brought him to the top of the quarterback depth chart, but sidelined him for the season with a knee injury.

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Nonetheless, this year may be a game that comes down to a wire, but keep in mind that these two teams are extremely overrated. Jump off that wagon soon!

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