Saturday the 13th: Florida's 2009 Non-Conference Schedule

(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Florida International ranked 107th in the nation last year at running the football, averaging just under 100 yards a game. If they can’t run against the Gators, good luck trying to throw against perhaps the best secondary the University Florida has ever fielded. Lockdown corners Janoris Jenkins and Joe Haden will ensure that FIU doesn’t meet its average of 212 passing yards a game and head-hunting safety Major Wright should make anyone think twice about coming over the middle.

Florida International may show up late in the season, but they have no better chances of winning than early casualty Charleston Southern. Scratch this team off the list of heroes, but this flick wont end here. 

Florida 62- 0.

Florida State: 11/28/09—The Victorious Hunk...Maybe

Like any good slasher film, this whole story climaxes in a final showdown.

Both parties have been bruised and battered, but find themselves face-to-face and only one can come out alive. The scene we’ve all been waiting for is finally here!

Florida State will certainly give the Gators the best contest of all the non-conference foes.

The O-Line returns all five starters from last year, so Florida’s vaunted front seven will have their hands full. FSU returns surprise quarterback Christian Ponder at the helm, but it will be a challenge to find any other recognizable names on offense. Bert Reed dazzles, but the rest of the wide receiver corps had to deal with a horror story of their own, as many players found themselves on trial and/or off the team during the summer. They must improve on a passing attack that ranked 82nd in the nation last year.

The Seminoles' defense is always a strength, and Coordinator Mickey Andrews will have them ready to slaughter Tebow. Look out for sophomore Nigel Bradham to carry the torch of bone-crushing linebackers at FSU.

This will be a better game than it has been in recent memory, and with a rivalry of this magnitude, anything goes.

So will FSU come out with a nail-biting, last-second, in-the-nick-of-time improbable victory? I hate to ruin the ending, but remember this isn’t the movies, and everything does not follow a script.

Florida 48-14.

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