How Do These Young Gators Really Compare?

It's no secret that this year's UF men's basketball squad is young. Just about every team breakdown mentions it, and they're right. There are no seniors, and just two juniors on the roster. Some point to the '04-'05 team as a comparison, and state that the "Big 3" of Horford, Noah and Brewer stepped onto campus in a similar situation and they ended up winning two national championships. Well, let's take a look at just how accurate that comparison is.

The '04 team started two freshmen(Horford & Brewer), two juniors(Walsh & Roberson) and one senior(Lee). The '07 lineup consists of two freshmen(Calathes & Lucas), two sophomores(Speights & Werner) and one junior(Hodge). Right away it's apparent that this year's team, while it's starting the same amount of freshmen, lacks the upper classman experience that the '04 team had. And what about the key bench players?

That 2004 Gators team had two freshmen(Noah & Green), two sophomores(Humphrey & Richard) and one junior(Moss) coming off of the bench. This year's team has three freshmen(Parsons, Tyus & Allen) and one sophomore(Mitchell) making an impact off of the bench. Once again, that '04 team had more experienced reserves.

And how do the two teams stack up through their first meeting of the season against Kentucky?

The '04-'05 Gators had a 14-6 record, including a 69-66 loss against the Wildcats. They were averaging 80 points per game, and had cracked the 100 point mark once up to that point.

The '07-'08 Gators have a 16-3 record, and that includes an 81-70 overtime win against Kentucky. They're averaging 81 points per game, and have scored over the century mark twice this season.

That '04 team finished with a 24-8 record, defeated Kentucky for the SEC title and made it to the second round of the NCAA tourney before being defeated by Villanova.

If this year's team can duplicate that type of success, then they are on the right track to achieving the same level of competitiveness that Horford, Noah and Brewer exhibited on their way to winning back-to-back national championships.

Should Notre Dame Have O'Hired O'Leary?

With this wacky season winding down it's time to take a look at one storyline that's excited some fans, and has been utterly devastating to others. I'm talking about the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and their dismal 3-9 season.

It's been six seasons since the George O'Leary hiring controvery at Notre Dame, and many people probably have forgotten about it. However, with the team's struggles under Weis this season it provides a good platform for a game of "what might have been". In this case, we'll compare what O'Leary has done at UCF to what Weis has accomplished at Notre Dame.

In case you're not aware, O'Leary has been the head coach at UCF for a year longer than Weis has been at Notre Dame. This does give him a bit of an edge in recruiting his own players, and installing his system successfully. However, most of the numbers we'll be dealing with are percentages which should help even things out a bit more.

Winning Percentage
Weis: 22-15, 59%
O'Leary: 21-27, 43%

Bowl Games
Weis: Fiesta Bowl('05), Lost 34-30 vs. OSU; Sugar Bowl('06), Lost 41-14 vs. LSU
O'Leary: Hawaii Bowl('05), Lost 49-48(OT) vs. Nevada

Record Against Top 25 Teams
Weis: 5-9, 35%
O'Leary: 0-5, 0%

Best Record In A Season
Weis: 10-3, 2006
O'Leary: 9-3, 2007

Even with the dismal season of 2007, Weis has achieved a bit more success than O'Leary. Obviously, getting top ranked recruits to Notre Dame is a bit easier than trying to do the same at the number four or five program in the state of Florida.

However, over the past two seasons O'Leary actually has a bit better winning percentage, 54%, than Weis, 52%. He also has UCF headed to a possible conference championship, and is in line to have UCF playing in their second bowl game in four years.

Whether or not Notre Dame should have hired O'Leary despite his resume inconsistencies remains to be seen. However, if UCF duplicates the success its achieved, especially in 2007, over the next few years, and if Notre Dame continues to struggle under Weis, then some may look back and question Notre Dame's decision not to keep O'Leary back in 2001.

2005 NFL Player Salaries Comparison Finale, The Wide Receivers

Two positions down and one to go. Up to now, we've found that in 2005 the top 10 highest paid NFL quarterbacks cost their respective teams an average of $675,880 per touchdown pass and the top 10 running backs cost an average of $1,524,719 per rushing touchdown. Now it's time to see how the wide receivers of '05 stack up to those numbers and each other.

Snagging Their Spots In The Comparison, The '05 Wide Receivers

In 2005, the highest paid wide receiver was Chicago's Muhsin Muhammad. His $9,335,407 million in salary was roughly $700k more than second place's Joe Horn. Let's see how all of their salaries stack up when comparing receiving touchdowns.

Muhsin Muhammad: $9,335,407/4 receiving TD's = $2,333,851/TD

Joe Horn: $8,667,200/1TD= $8,667,200/TD

Jerry Porter: $8,003,080/5TD's= $1,600,616/TD

Derrick Mason: $8,002,090/3TD's = $2,667,363/TD

Marvin Harrison: $8,000,000/12TD's = $666,666/TD

Randy Moss: $7,750,880/8TD's = $968,860/TD

Braylon Edwards: $7,743,000/3TD's = $2,581,000/TD

Isaac Bruce: $7,400,000/3TD's = $2,466,666/TD

Roy Williams: $7,067,500/8TD's = $883,437/TD

Eric Moulds: $6,600,000/4TD's = $1,650,000/TD

Those are the salary breakdowns for the top 10 highest paid receivers with respect to their receiving touchdowns. On average, they cost their teams more than either the quarterbacks($675,880/TD) or running backs($1,524,719/TD) with a sum of $2,448,565 million per receiving TD. Like those two positions there were a few players that peformed well during the 2005 season, but weren't in the top 10 in terms of total salary. These five receivers each reached double digits in terms of receiving TD's, but weren't paid in the top 10.

Steve Smith: $1,850,000/12TD's = $154,166/TD

Hines Ward: $5,668,960/11TD's = $515,360/TD

Larry Fitzgerald: $5,344,590/10TD's = $534,459/TD

Joey Galloway: $3,591,430/10TD's = $359,143/TD

Joe Jurevicius: $852,640/10TD's = $85,264/TD

That group contains two big-time "steals", Steve Smith and Joe Jurevicius. They each came in well below the $2.4 million average set by the top 10.

That's it for the salary comparisons of the 2005 quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers. Hopefully it provided some entertainment while you were counting down the days until the NFL Draft. I also hope that it provided you with some insight as to how the players at those three positions stacked up against each other within their position and outside of it.