Wowza.

If this weekend didn't prove the complete worthlessness of polls, then nothing will. Going forward, I think we're still in for some "adjustment" with the rankings. Something just doesn't feel right, and that's based on more than simply seeing USF at #6 ;)

Go SEC teams with Tiger mascots. Gotta enjoy watching grown men cry up in the swamp over a loss to Auburn. After the ref's hit Auburn with 30 yards in false penalties during the final minutes, I was glad to see the game go to the right team. UF may very well be looking at 3/+ losses this year. Call me crazy, but FSU has the same record right now, only their one loss came from an actual ranked opponent. ;) *chomp*

USF beat the crap out of WV Friday night in front of their first ever sell out. I really do think USF is a very good team, but it's hard not to wonder if the Big East will ever decide to play someone of substance out-of-conference. It's really hard to get a sense of how good they might be when there's not a single top 10 (maybe not even a top 25) OOC opponent on anyones schedule. Everyone loves to knock the ACC, but those teams are actually playing people. You don't earn respect from an inflated ranking. You earn respect from knocking out quality OOC opponents.

ESPNU just picked up the USF/UCF game for October 13th though. If the Knights can handle ECU the way they've been playing everyone else, we may have a decent OOC barometer for the big east. Should be an interesting afternoon. Thing is, UCF didn't look all that impressive against ULL (Hold on to the ball, Knights!), and ECU just surprised Houston.

Don't look now, but the Big10 suddenly looks strong again. OSU vs Wisconsin is shaping up to be interesting.

ND still sucks.

Texas finally succumbs to their suckatude. It's only going to get harder for the longhorns. If only they could look forward to playing ND.

Oklahoma, the team that was giving me nightmares for simply looking so nasty, lost to Colorado. Thank god I'm not all that big on gambling, I would have taken OK at 97 1/2.

If Southern Miss is Conference USA's flagship, the conference is in deep trouble. Boise took `em to the woodshed.

Not college related, but how about Daunte giving it to the Dolphins? I like the `phins and all, but man, good for him. Fun to see him find a little redemption in all that mess.

Games to watch next week - LSU vs. Florida: Predicted highlight: Dorsey choke slamming Tebow, nailing him with an elbow drop and pinning him for the three count and the intercontinental title belt. ECU vs. UCF: Predicted highlight: Kevin Smith runs from the 1 yard line all the way back to Orlando. In the first quarter. ECU 17, Kevin Smith - 645 miles.

Bill recorded this video from Gavin and my season tickets. I feel almost honored, because now, he's internet famous ;) The video's gaining traction. I'm watching the Miami game on ESPN, and they just made reference to it!

Go Bill! Book `em horns!

Saturday's game was amazing. A few opening-game quirks (running out of water, for one), but otherwise I couldn't have asked for anything more. UCF gave an amazing effort and almost knocked off the #7 team in the country. A few plays go another way, and that game was ours.

Thanks to the Sentinel for outstanding coverage leading up to the game. I hope it continues -- we're going to need a great crowd for the memphis game!

I'm out in San Francisco as of last night. We're here at the Palace Hotel for TechCrunch 40. So far so good, except the internet coverage is abysmal. Hotel internet is only via ethernet, and is $18 a day. WiFi is overloaded from all the laptops and iPhone's in the crowd. What was supposed to be 400 people has swelled to 1000 all in the ballroom here. High class problems, I suppose ;)

I'll do a writeup on my favorite companies after tommorow. A few of them have been great, some of them.... Not so much. I'm wondering if 40 may have been too many. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" though, and I'm one of those pesky east-coast cynics.

Mark Zukerberg chats with Mike Arrington for the keynote tonight, which should be good times. I'm really looking forward to that!

Black is too hot. White is too lame. Gold is just right.

"Vegas gold" is the official gold for UCF, but I'd imagine anything yellow will work. On the cameras, it will all blend together anyhow. Spread the word.

Hat tip to Gavin

In 2006, Orlando Business Journal listed UCF as a larger area employer than Lockheed Martin. The school is home to 46,000 residents, the majority of them under the age of 23 (largest undergraduate population in FL) Each year, the school pumps out thousands of educated professionals into the local economy.

In a town not known for much outside of tourism, UCF's growth is helping to diversify our economy. The addition of a medical research facility has the potential to radically affect the area. Investments into digital media by Orlando and UCF stand to further Orlando's technology sector. UCF's aggressive push to build state of the art facilities are already attracting major acts that would otherwise find themselves in Tampa. UCF has very quickly become a key ingredient to our booming economic and cultural development.

On Saturday, Orlando's newest venue opens up with a football game against the Texas Longhorns. While UCF has been playing ball in the Citrus Bowl, the move to an on campus stadium will bring a true sense of college football to Orlando for the first time. Affordable family entertainment against a nationally ranked team in a safe, clean environment. It's not just a win for UCF, it's a win for the city.

If you're an Orlando resident, there are numerous reasons to be excited about the developments going on over in East Orlando. Imagine if someone gave you the chance to design your very own university, what kind of campus would you build? Now drive out to UCF and take a look around, because that's exactly what's going down. A modern, clean, advanced college atmosphere.

With all that being said...

It surprises me how many folks look for reasons to talk down UCF, and it seems to almost always be UF alumni doing it. For years, Orlando has been a gator town. Gainesville is only about an hour out of Orlando, and UF is the big name public university. I'm just not sure if I see the threat, the comparison, or the need for college affiliations of a local region to be so exclusive. It comes across as nothing more than defensive.

My claim may seem anecdotal, but when you consider Facility Senate member Kathleen Price voted against (successfully) awarding Gov. Jeb Bush with an honorary degree because he approved funds for other state schools to have medical facilities (that is, UCF), or when Orlando Sentinel reporter Jeremy Fowler, who rumor has it is a UF graduate, needlessly bashes the home town team the week of the stadium opening, you have to wonder what their deal is (or, in the later case, if the Sentinel's traffic is truly that bad. Hope the link helps...;). Who, exactly, benefits from bashing and attacking the efforts of UCF to enter the "big time", when the city of Orlando gains so much from them doing so?

I often find myself preaching the Orlando gospel to folks outside of the area. It helps to find cities to compare us to, usually a more club-centric (ugh) version of Austin (in terms of size and tech. sector revenue), or a less sprawling version of Atlanta seem to fit (Charlotte and Atlanta are the only two southern-style cities that have a decent tech presence that come to mind for me).

Atlanta seems to be a fitting situation, and works perfectly in context to this post. UGA, Georgia's name brand university, is located in Athens about an hour out of town. Ga. Tech, an engineering school, is located inside the city. Add in George O'Leary and UCF's uniforms and I think we have a viable comparison. UCF is to Ga. Tech as UF is to UGA.

Maybe USF/UCF is not the budding state rivalry we all thought it was after all... ;) 20 years from now, FSU will be rebuilding after Bowden fires his grand children (even if he should pass, Bowden will still be coaching FSU from the other side), USF and Miami will be fighting over the definition of South Florida and UCF/UF will be engaged in a full out turf war. When it happens, remember that you heard it here first. God knows what the Sentinel's slant will be ;)

Upcoming Schedule

• Update: Thursday, 9/13: Bill Cosby at the brand new UCF Arena
• Saturday, 9/15 - UCF vs Texas at the brand new UCF Stadium (first on campus football game in UCF history)
• Sunday, 9/16 - Travel to SF
• Monday, 9/17 - Techcrunch 40
• Tuesday, 9/18 - Techcrunch 40
• Wednesday-Thursday - Mini-code jam, various meetings
• Friday, 9/21 - Travel to Orlando
• Saturday, 9/22 - UCF vs Memphis (second on campus football game in UCF history ;)
• Sunday, 9/23 - barcampOrlando (Seriously.. this is going to kick ass)
  
• Update: Wednesday, 9/26 - Gavin's 27th Birthday ;)
• Thursday, 9/27 - blogOrlando, blogger dinner
• Friday, 9/28 - blogOrlando (I'm leading a discussion on the local orlando scene, come join us!)
• Saturday, 9/29 - blogOrlando Epcot trip, UCF vs. ULL (third on campus football game in UCF history ;)
• Sunday, 9/30 - A day of rest.

Actually, I have four.

UCF Seasons just arrived :)

Hellloooooo, Austin!

We're at a codejam out here in Austin, TX. We'll be stopping in on some of the SXSW bruhaha this week. Give me a hollah via email, cell or twitter if you're around.

Both Kathryn and I are in Orlando now. We arrived this past weekend after one hell of a cross country drive back.

We met up in Portland, Oregon, drove north of Seattle, flew to Orange County, and drove to the east coast. There's just too many things to talk about in one blog post, and we haven't gotten the disposable camera pictures developed yet (our elph broke), but, included are my camera phone pictures.

Click "continue reading" for the photo-journal of sorts ;)

So yeah, 42-0.

That's one hell of a shut out.

Lot's of people over at Rivals are up in arms and freaking out as if it's something that was completely unexpected and is some sort of coaching travesty. The fact is, UF has third string walk ons that would probably start at most schools. Until the Knights are consistently going to bowl games every year and competing for conference championships -- we're just not going to recruit the same level of talent that a powerhouse SEC school is going to attract. We might pull a coup on one or two guys each year, but I mean.. come on.. Last year was the first bowl game we've ever been invited to. It takes time.

UF beating UCF is supposed to happen. What's not supposed to happen, is USF requiring a full 60 minutes to squeek one out on FIU, 21-20. Next week is the War on I-4 as USF travels to Orlando to face UCF. O'Leary, the players, and just as importantly, the fans, need to get over the UF stomping and fast. A loss to a USF team that's struggled two weeks in a row against bottom barrel opponents could cause a mass exodus of fans before conference play even begins. Gotta love the bandwagon.

In other news, the Ohio State/Texas game wasn't quite the thriller we all hoped it would be. I think it's safe to say though that OSU plays for the national championship come January. The last time they played (and won) the championship, we ended up with rule changes, a league wide instant reply and 5 years of soap-opera.

I can't believe UCF opens up at home in Orlando against Texas next year. In a brand new on campus stadium no less. My oh my, how far we've come. Here's to hoping we at least get on the scoreboard.... :-\