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Gator Football - 12/24/06

UF vies to become only program to hold titles in football, men's
basketball.

If Florida beats Ohio State in the BCS national championship game on Jan.
8, it will claim the second football title in school history.

But the accomplishment would mean much, much more than that.

It would make the Gators the only program in NCAA history to hold national
titles in football and men's basketball at the same time.

Only six Division I schools - including Florida and Ohio State - have won
championships in the NCAA's two marquee sports, but those titles haven't
come closer than eight years apart. That the Gators are playing for the
football title nine months after they won the basketball championship is a
historic accomplishment itself.

"To have the opportunity to play for two national championships, that's
special," Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said. "It's hard to do."

But Florida isn't the only team with a chance to make dual title history. Ohio
State, which has been ranked No. 1 all season in football, has a shot, too.

The Buckeyes' basketball team - which visits the Gators today - is ranked
third in the nation and has perhaps the country's best player in 7-foot-1
center Greg Oden.

"It's very exciting," Ohio State point guard Jamar Butler told the Akron
Beacon Journal. "You walk around campus, and people are yelling at you,
saying they want two national championships. We're going to try to do it. I
hope the football team gets their job done first, then we'll take care of ours."

The scene is similar on the Florida campus. Gators wide receiver Jemalle
Cornelius said he has been bombarded by wishes from friends, family and
fans urging him to get the football team to match what the basketball team
did.

"All the fans [are] behind us because nobody else really supported us this
year," Cornelius said. "We had to fight against a lot of odds. They're really
rallying around us, with all the excitement from the basketball team last year
and us winning the SEC for the first time in [six] years.

"Championships, they want that around here now. It's expected, so we're
getting a lot of that from them."

So is football coach Urban Meyer.

Fans have mentioned dual championships to him a few times.

"A couple thousand times," he corrected. "I say, 'Sure, let's go do it.' "

The first person to put the pressure on the football team was Florida forward
Joakim Noah. As he held the national championship trophy aloft at the
basketball team's return reception at Gainesville Raceway, Noah shouted to
the estimated crowd of 7,000: "I love you! Let's do it in football now!"

Tag, coach Meyer. You're it.

"I still remember the day that Noah said, 'Now it's football's turn,' " Meyer
said earlier this week. "I'll never forget that. [I said] OK, man, I'm with you,
let's go."

The Gators' appearance in the BCS national championship game means
the school will have played for a national title in football, men's basketball
and baseball in a 11/2-year span. Florida's baseball team lost to Texas in
the College World Series final in June 2005.

Winning two out of three would be a testament to the health of the Gators'
overall athletic program, and it certainly would mean that the football
program, which was an annual contender for the national title in the mid-
1990s, is back among the elite.

Credited Source: jacksonville.com