Will there be a big 4 in Florida Football?

[IncrediBULL]

Wanted to get other's opinions.  USF came out last year as the second best team in the state (in virtually all polls, stats, and measurements).  Beast is a tougher conference than ACC hands down.  Of course, SEC is probably the toughest....

FSU has had multiple down years in a row. UM wasn't looking good last year. 

Anyway, if USF beats some ranked opponents, comes in first or second in the BEAST, and if 3 - 4 teams are top 25 in our conference, and assuming we go to a bowl and end up top 25 for our season, will there truly be a Big 4 in the state of florida. 

Or do you feel that it will take years for us to prove that we belong with the Big 3, thus creating a big 4.  If so, how many years will it take to show we were not a fluke last season? 

Obviously some joker will post "win the NC and we will prove it".  We could be a decade away from that, or just a couple of seasons, hard to tell.

On a related note, do you think UM and FSU will continue in the Big 3 / Big 4 of Florida, or do you see that tapering off?  I for one feel that once bowden steps down, and since Tally does not have much to offer (compared to Tampa or Orlando) more kids will not go there over time.  I don't see the attaction today, quite honestly.  Miami has some great HS football programs and they can always continue to recruit local kids.  but, being a private college and quite expensive, it is prohibitave for many to attend there.  This could affect their future growth.

So, I want people to weigh in on whether USF will become part of the Big 4, and if you see any programs declining in the next 5 years or so...

[postmortem]

I don't hear many people refer to it as "the big 3" outside of this board.

Florida is going to be very good this year.

Miami is going to take a huge step back in the right direction with another year under Shannon.

FSU will struggle to get 8 wins.

We should be competing for a BEAST championship and could have 10 wins this year.

So, I would consider us a part of the elite programs in this state.

[Apis Bull]

We are not an elite program until we actually win something.

[IncrediBULL]

We are not an elite program until we actually win something.

There are some great SEC schools year in and year out, that don't win the NC or SEC conference.  However, if you are top 25 for multiple years, I think that makes you in the elite.

The point of my post was to say if we do well and end up in the 2 or 3 slot in the state, and have multiple top 25 years, wouldn't that make a big 4?  Heck UM didn't even go to a bowl this year, but we have 3 years in a row...........  FSU was not in a bowl last year. 

Yes, everyone has down years, but we had an up year. 

[Unintelligibull]

Excuse me but we clearly were the second best school in the state last year and I would have liked a shot at UF.

Selvie vs Tebow, that's big time.

At Ray Jay, we'd have had a real chance.

[SouthFLBully]

Excuse me but we clearly were the second best school in the state last year

We were clearly the second best team in the state the past 2 seasons.

[Apis Bull]

We are not an elite program until we actually win something.

There are some great SEC schools year in and year out, that don't win the NC or SEC conference.  However, if you are top 25 for multiple years, I think that makes you in the elite.

The point of my post was to say if we do well and end up in the 2 or 3 slot in the state, and have multiple top 25 years, wouldn't that make a big 4?  Heck UM didn't even go to a bowl this year, but we have 3 years in a row...........  FSU was not in a bowl last year. 

Yes, everyone has down years, but we had an up year. 

Are you saying that South Carolina and Kentucky are elite football programs just because they are in the SEC?  Wouldn't that make Baylor, Duke, etc. elite programs also?

[sdgukhsdgl]

Excuse me but we clearly were the second best school in the state last year and I would have liked a shot at UF.

Selvie vs Tebow, that's big time.

At Ray Jay, we'd have had a real chance.

Ha.... UF would have put up 70 on us

[IncrediBULL]

We are not an elite program until we actually win something.

There are some great SEC schools year in and year out, that don't win the NC or SEC conference.   However, if you are top 25 for multiple years, I think that makes you in the elite.

The point of my post was to say if we do well and end up in the 2 or 3 slot in the state, and have multiple top 25 years, wouldn't that make a big 4?  Heck UM didn't even go to a bowl this year, but we have 3 years in a row...........  FSU was not in a bowl last year. 

Yes, everyone has down years, but we had an up year. 

Are you saying that South Carolina and Kentucky are elite football programs just because they are in the SEC?  Wouldn't that make Baylor, Duke, etc. elite programs also?

I am saying that any team who can be top 25 for 2 - 3 years in a row, and who are in a BCS conference, would be considered as part of the elite of their conference/region/etc. 

My belief is that if we come in second in the state for the next few years, either the Big 3 is no more, or we become part of the big 4. 

[Orlando Bull]

Excuse me but we clearly were the second best school in the state last year and I would have liked a shot at UF.

Selvie vs Tebow, that's big time.

At Ray Jay, we'd have had a real chance.

Ha.... UF would have put up 70 on us

You really think that? You know that a bulk of Tebow's passing yards were on deep balls where his receiver just left the defender right? You also know we had 2 NFL corners. I think it would have been a good game. I am not sure if we could have stopped Tebow from running, but with McKenzie and Moffit, I won't rule it out.

I don't think their defense could have stopped us very easily either when we were on our game. I always feel like our defense is going to keep us in most games. Would have liked to see us vs. UF in a bowl (couldn't have been any worse than what happened for either team).

Is it football season yet?