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Gators are lukewarm No. 1

Miami gets 13 more first-place votes but is a close No. 2.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 12, 2001

GAINESVILLE -- Florida coach Steve Spurrier can't seem to figure it out, and Miami isn't too happy about it, but Florida is now the consensus No. 1 college football team in America.

One week after being voted No. 1 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, Florida is the top pick in the Associated Press poll released Saturday.

Miami, defending national champion Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas rounded out the Top 5 and Florida State is No. 6. This is the sixth time in the past 11 years that UM, FSU and UF have begun the season together in the Top 10.

But like many other things surrounding the Gators, the vote was not without drama.

Miami, which defeated Florida 37-20 in the Sugar Bowl last season, received 33 first-place votes -- 13 more than Florida -- but finished second in the voting by 16 points. Florida had 29 second-place votes to Miami's 12 and got more overall points (1,716 to 1,700). It is the highest ranking for Miami in the preseason poll since 1992 when the Hurricanes began ranked No. 1 and played Alabama for the national championship in the Sugar Bowl.

"They probably deserve a lot more first-place votes," Spurrier said after Saturday's practice. "If they had seen us practice today, they wouldn't have voted us No. 1."

Spurrier added: "I was thinking that probably Miami and Oklahoma would have been ahead of us," "We probably don't deserve to be No. 1. I don't know how many teams went from No. 10 (at the end of last season) to No. 1. But we'll take it. We're appreciative. I'm not criticizing those voters out there. They may know more than I know."

For the first time since 1989, Florida State is not among the Top 5, but coach Bobby Bowden isn't complaining. FSU began the 1989 season at No. 6, lost its first two games, then won 10 straight to finish third.

"Anybody in the Top 10 is in pretty good shape," Bowden said. "I can remember Oklahoma coming from 20 to 1, but I can also remember back when West Virginia started below that, had an undefeated season and couldn't get there. You don't want to start too far down that ladder. You want to be visible so that if you win and the team above you loses, you more than likely will move up. We're in a good location."

The Hurricanes finished last season 11-1 and return 16 starters.

First-year Miami coach Larry Coker said being near the top is good enough -- for starters.

"The main thing is you want to be (high enough) so you are there, where you have a chance," Coker said. "I'm not really sure what the difference is between being 1, 2 or 10 in the preseason, but I know it will play out. There's a lot of football that remains to be played. I can't get upset about it now. If we're undefeated at the end of the season and don't get a chance to play for the national championship, then I'll get upset."

This is the third time since 1994 that Florida is ranked No. 1 in a major preseason poll. Players' opinions differed on what it means.

Tailback Earnest Graham said he'd make Miami No. 1, but the ranking isn't important anyway.

"It's good for the fans and the university," Graham said. "But that kind of stuff just really doesn't matter to me. Look at Tennessee the year they won it (1998). I don't think people expect them to win the national championship but look how it turned out. Those things don't mean anything."

But quarterback Brock Berlin said Florida is as deserving of the preseason honor as anyone.

"They voted for us to be the No. 1 team and I feel we're capable of being No. 1," Berlin said. "We've got the players and coaches to do it."

This is the fifth time -- and the second for Florida -- a team without the most first-place votes is No. 1 in the preseason poll since it originated 51 years ago. The others were Notre Dame in 1971 and 1954 and Michigan State in 1952.

Florida State is the only team to go wire-to-wire, and only nine teams voted No. 1 in the preseason finished there.

The last time a No. 1 team didn't have the most first-place votes in the regular-season poll was on Oct. 29, 1995, when Nebraska was No. 1 with 23 first-place selections.

"Deep down inside, it makes you feel pretty good, but you can't get too full of yourself because you haven't done nothing yet," senior defensive end Alex Brown said.

-- Staff writer Brian Landman contributed to this report.

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