Michael Robertson is mobbed after his walk-off double that gave UF an 11-10 win over Clemson (UAA Photo) “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller from the film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” The destination has always been Omaha, starting way back in February when every prognosticator in the country had the Florida Gators penciled in as mortal locks to return to the College World Series. Well, things have moved pretty fast since then, which is why the Gators have gone from the 2024 season’s most disappointing team to the one that had no business making the NCAA field to the one that nobody at the College World Series is going to want to play. There is no doubt far too often during the regular season the Gators found themselves stopping to look around. Too often they snatched losses from the jaws of winnable games. And yet, for the past month, those same Gators who almost seemed to invent new ways to lose are red hot, having won the NCAA Stillwater Regional and the Clemson Super Regional. The Gators, who some critics believed got into the NCAA field based on lifetime achievement while more deserving teams stayed home, staved off three straight elimination games to win in Stillwater, beating Oklahoma State two straight on the Cowboys’ home field. Winning four out of five at Stillwater was unexpected, but Clemson was supposed to be a whole different animal yet somehow the Gators went 2-0 to eliminate the Tigers at a ball yard where they rarely, if ever lose. Florida took out the Tigers 10-7 on Saturday behind a 3-run homer by Jac Caglianone and four innings of brilliant relief by Brandon Neely. Sunday it took the Gators 13 innings to put Clemson’s season on ice. Florida’s 11-10 win in 13 innings involved serious contributions from Caglianone and Neely, but this was a day when heroes showed up in unexpected places. It is way too early to be calling the Gators (34-28) a team of destiny, but the way they pulled off the Sunday win makes you think maybe there is something to it. Unlike Saturday when Caglianone’s 3-run homer put Florida in front for good and Neely proved untouchable, the Sunday win was white knuckles all the way. Caglianone hit a 2-run homer in the first and gave the Gators 5-2/3 innings on the mound, leaving the game with a 5-4 lead with two out in the sixth. Who knows if Caglianone could have had a dominant effort on the mound, but he spend more than 30 minutes between pitches after a bit of a dust-up along the first base line that resulted in the third out of the inning. Nolan Narwocki tapped a slow grounder down the first base line that resulted in the third out of the inning when Caglianone fielded and jumped into the basepath in front of Narwocki to apply the tag. Narwocki gave Caglianone a shove, Caglianone shoved back and said something and next thing you know the umpires were making sure things didn’t escalate into a brawl when the Clemson dugout emptied out onto the field. At some point during all the festivities, Clemson’s Jack Crighton, who was nearly at third base when the tag was applied, raced over and apparently got into a shouting match with one of the umpires. Video evidence showed he reached out and grabbed an umpire. Peace was restored to the playing field, but for nearly 19 minutes the NCAA technical people in Pittsburgh kept reviewing the entire situation over and over again. They finally concluded that Crighton should be tossed, which sent the Clemson crowd into a frenzy. Florida still had to bat so by the time Caglianone threw his next pitch more than 30 minutes had elapsed and it was the top of the third. He wasn’t as sharp as he was in the first two innings nor was his velocity the same or as consistent.  A walk, a run-scoring double and a home run gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead that was erased in the Florida half on a run-scoring single by Colby Shelton. Caglianone pitched scoreless fourth and fifth innings with the Gators taking a 5-3 lead in the fifth on Shelton’s 2-run single. In the bottom half, Caglianone gave up another home run and one out later gave up a walk to a freshman .231 hitter. That was the end of his day on the mound as O’Sullivan called on freshman Jake Clemente to get the final out. In the Florida half of the inning, Brody Donay launched his 12th homer of the year, a 2-run shot that gave UF a 7-4 lead. Caglianone gave the Gators 5-2/3 innings but the question that will linger is what might have happened without the lengthy delay? He was good after the delay but he was a dominator before. If anyone deserved a day off Sunday it was Neely, but he told O’Sullivan pre-game that if he needed an out or an inning just make a call to the bullpen. The call came in the eighth when the Tigers got to freshman reliever Jake Clemente. Neely got the Gators out of a jam although he gave up a hit that plated two runners put on base by Clemente, narrowing Florida’s lead to 7-6. That one out or one inning would turn into four. Another of Florida’s cast of unlikely heroes showed up in the UF half of the eighth when Ashton Wilson, the unexpected MVP of the Stillwater Regional, hit a 410-foot, 2-run homer that gave the Gators a 9-6 lead. The way Neely has been throwing lately, a 3-run lead seemed very safe, but he was operating without a day of rest, not to mention the fact that Clemson just wouldn’t go away. Cam Cannarella hit a 3-run homer that tied the game with one out in the ninth. Instead of yanking Neely, O’Sullivan left him in and he got the final two outs. Even running on fumes, his heater was in the 94-95 range when he needed something extra. Neely kept the Gators in it through the 11th. He gave way to Frank Menendez in the 12th but one walk and O’Sullivan gave him the hook in favor of freshman Luke McNeillie, who induced a double play grounder and got a strikeout to end the threat. McNeillie gave up a 2-out, 2-strike home run in the top of the 13th but he got the third out. That was gutsy. Back in April, one home run might have become two and two might have become three. Not anymore. Composure is a sign of a maturing pitcher. It is almost fitting that the 13th-inning rally that decided the game was ignited by three Gators who were a combined 1-14. Luke Heyman, 0-6 with three strikeouts, hit a single that the Clemson shortstop couldn’t handle. Tyler Shelnut, 0-5 with four consecutive whiffs, singled deep in the left center gap. That Heyman held up at second on a ball hit deep enough to move him to third necessitated O’Sullivan sending in pinch runner Jaylen Guy. Dale Thomas, a .230 hitter and 1-3 in the game, executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners over. Clemson intentionally walked Brody Donay rather than risk another home run. Donay sent a ball into near orbit in the sixth, a 2-run job, but he struck out in the seventh and the 10th. That brought Michael Robertson to the plate. He spent a good portion of the season riding the pines because of his inconsistency at the plate. The lights came on at Georgia and he’s 14-43 since. He was 1-5 when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded Sunday. It was his opposite field double in the left center gap that scored Guy and Shelnut to send the Gators to Omaha and bring Clemson’s season to an end. they could have won at either Stillwater or Clemson, but here they are 8-3 since winning two of three in the final regular season series in Athens. Even when the Gators were struggling to find a measure of consistency they were a dangerous team, which probably explains why they were swept only one weekend series all year. They could always find a way to pull out at least one win on the weekend, but things have changed. Why? How? That is a question that maybe only O’Sullivan can answer and even he may not have all the answers. Sports momentum can often be filed under a category entitled mysterious. The Gators had to use a lot of freshman pitchers, but other teams had freshmen step up consistently. That also doesn’t explain why Cade Fisher and Ryan Slater have been largely ineffective all season even though they were brilliant in the fall and preseason. There is no explaining Neely, either. He struggled as a closer, started a few games and struggled some more. Since the Georgia series he’s been a warrior. The Gators aren’t in Omaha without his 11-strikeout game in relief against Oklahoma State or his 1-hit over four innings Saturday against Clemson. Other than that one pitch Cannarella hit out of the yard, he was gutsy good Sunday. Even running on fumes, he was good. Caglianone is the best player in baseball. Sunday’s home run was his 33rd of the year, matching his school record 33 of a year ago and moving him to within one of Matt LaPorta’s Florida record 74 career homers. Cags has been Florida’s only consistent hitter and pitcher. He won’t win some of the postseason awards because Florida’s record wasn’t all that good, but the Gators wouldn’t have gotten this far without him. Given the consistency of Florida baseball in Kevin O’Sullivan’s 17 years on the job, this has to rate as probably the Gators’ most puzzling season, but all the games in which the Gators seemed to invent new ways to lose, either have already been forgotten thanks to this late season run or else they will be soon if the Gators can win a game or two in Omaha. The record says it would be foolish to pick the Gators to win even one game in Omaha. The weekends at Stillwater and Clemson say it would be foolish to count them out. Could they win it all? Probably not. The odds are stacked against UF pulling off a monumental task like that, but how many thought the Gators would leave Stillwater with a regional title? And how many thought UF would dispose of Clemson in two straight? Life has moved rather fast for the Gators the last couple of weekends. There will be time to look around and enjoy it after Omaha. No time now to take a day off. Sunday’s SEC super regional scores: Clemson: FLORIDA (34-28) 11, No. 6 Clemson (44-16) 10, 13 innings; FLORIDA wins series, 2-0, advances to Omaha Knoxville: No. 1 Tennessee (55-12) 12, Evansville (39-26) 1; Tennessee wins series, 2-1, advances to Omaha Lexington: No. 2 Kentucky (45-14) 3, Oregon State (45-16) 2; Kentucky wins series, 2-0, advances to Omaha College Station: No. 3 Texas A&M (49-13) 15, Oregon (40-20) 9; Texas A&M wins series, 2-0, advances to Omaha Athens: No. 7 Georgia (43-16) 11, No. 10 North Carolina State (37-21) 2; Series tied at 1-1 Monday’s game Athens: No. 7 Georgia (43-16) vs. No. 10 North Carolina State (37-21), 7 p.m., ESPN

Jac Caglianone (14) greeted at home plate after his 3-run homer against Clemson (UAA Photo) “For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble” – Butch Cassidy from the 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” For a moment Saturday afternoon the Florida Gators seemed to be in real trouble. Down 4-2 to Clemson through the first four innings, this had the feel of a game that could spiral out of control for the Gators. Florida starter Liam Peterson lasted one inning. Reliever Fisher Jameson had given up a suborbital blast to left field so high and so far that no one in the broadcast booth actually saw it return to earth. Clemson lefty Tristan Smith had a fast ball going that probably seemed like it was 100-plus on the gun the way he mixed it up with a wicked change-up and a slider that had all sorts of movement. What happened in the fifth inning of Florida’s 10-7 win in the Clemson Super Regional is what football coaches call sudden change, that instant when a mistake or bad decision causes a momentum shift. Michael Robertson coaxed a walk out of Smith although Clemson fans will swear in unison that home plate umpire Scott Letendre should have called strike three on the fifth of a 7-pitch at bat. Cade Kurland didn’t give Letendre a chance for a makeup call. He looped a single to right center on an 0-2 count that sent Robertson scurrying to third. Up to the plate stepped Jac Caglianone, who had rocketed a single off the right field wall in the third. Decision time for Clemson coach Erik Bakich. There was an open base so walking Caglianone was an option even if it meant loading the bases. Colby Shelton and Luke Heyman, the next two hitters behind Caglianone, were a combined 0-4 at the time and neither had hit anything that even remotely resembled the laser beam Cag hit in the third. Rather than take his chances with Shelton and Heyman, Bakich elected to pitch to Caglianone, not exactly one of the wiser decisions the Clemson coach made that day. On an 0-1 count, Smith left a ball out over the plate. Rather than try to pull the ball, which he would have almost certainly done a year ago, Caglianone went with the pitch and sent it flying a few rows in the stands beyond the left field fence. Just like that Florida had a 5-4 lead. Given Florida’s history holding onto leads prior to mid-May, a 1-run lead could only be classified as shaky, but this isn’t the same team that kept finding creative ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the first three months of the season. The Gators played and won three straight elimination games last week in Stillwater to win the regional. The Gators of March and April couldn’t have done that. In hindsight, Bakich rationalized, “He (Caglianone) did what good players do and got a hit, but it was a 1-run game. The dagger was we allowed four more runs to score.” True, it was only one home run and the Gators did pour it on for a 9-4 lead before the third out of the fifth, but pitching to Caglianone, who is 14-30 in Florida’s last nine games, is a gamble whether the bases are empty or full. It would seem less of a gamble to pitch to Shelton and Heyman, who both have this nasty habit of striking out a lot (Shelton 71 times, Heyman 63; Caglianone, by contrast has struck out only 23 times all season). Given their frequency of swings and misses, it would seem that Clemson’s odds were better escaping the fifth no worse than tied at 4-4 than they were of plugging up the floodgates that were opened by pitching to the most dangerous hitter in all of college baseball. The way Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan described things post game, the Gators were more hopeful than confident up until the time Caglianone came to the rescue. There are times when 4-2 deficits have the feeling of a game teetering on the verge of slip sliding away. This was one of those games. “I just felt like if we could hold it together and maybe get a couple of guys on, hopefully one of our players would run into a ball, and Jac obviously did that,” O’Sullivan said. The home run essentially sucked all the oxygen out of 90 percent of the fans jammed into Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Superstars have a way of doing that when they seize That kind of thing happens when superstars come through in critical moments. Momentum clearly shifted Florida’s way but there was still the problem of holding onto the lead. Jameson, who took over for Peterson in the second with the Gators trailing 3-0, gave up a home run to Jimmy Overtop in the third and another home run by Tristan Bissetta in the fifth, ran into problems in the sixth when he walked the leadoff batter. Cade Fisher came on and gave up a single to the only batter he faced. Trouble once again. The answer this time was Brandon Neely, who spent February, March, April and until mid-May trying to regain what made him an All-American closer a year ago. Since taking two losses in the Kentucky series a month ago, Neely has gone 16-2/3 innings, allowing just seven hits and one run while walking just five and striking out 25 batters. In preserving the Gators’ the first of two regional wins over Oklahoma State, Neely went 5-2/3 innings, allowing one hit while walking three and striking out 11. Yogi Berra would call what happened against Clemson déjà vu all over again, because for the second straight outing, Neely was untouchable. He challenged the Clemson hitters who managed only one measly 7th-inning single that was erased by a slick Kurland to Shelton to Caglianone double play. Once he took the ball from O’Sullivan, Neely knew it was his game to win or lose, so he dominated, closing out a 4-inning stint by giving up just one hit and walking three while striking out seven. Neely struck out the side in the eighth and walked a batter with two out in the ninth. Even as he worked the final batter, Neely’s fast ball was clocking 95-96 miles per hour.  This is the Neely Kevin O’Sullivan thought he was getting when the season began back in February. Back in February, Florida was expected to have the talent that could take the Gators on a magic carpet ride to Omaha for the College World Series. It’s silly to rehash all the problems this team has had to solve, but they have put it all together at just the right time. By winning the Stillwater Regional and taking game one of the Clemson Super Regional, the Gators are no longer the team that so many believe got into the NCAA tournament on reputation alone. Now, even the naysayers have to admit the Gators are playing like a team capable of winning and advancing. The Gators could advance as soon as today (2:30, ESPN). Because the Gators won game one of a 3-game series, the pressure is all on Clemson (44-15), which has to beat Florida twice to advance to the College World Series in Omaha. Since dropping two of three to Kentucky in the regular season, the Gators are 7-3 and playing like a team that knows how to handle trouble. This season didn’t begin the way Kevin O’Sullivan envisioned, but it’s not about how your team started. It’s all about how you finish and right now the Gators are playing like a team ready to take care of a season's worth of unfinished business.

He was not named a finalist for Golden Spikes, but rest assured the voters are second guessing themselves after watching Jac Caglianone and the Florida offense find a new life in the postseason.

Florida’s women go into Saturday’s final session in first place with 26 points and a chance to give the Gators their second national championship of the weekend. Hayes, McIvor and Prude ran three legs of the 4X400 relay that clinched UF's national championship (UAA Photo) It came down to the final race of the night, the 4X400 relay. Doesn’t the NCAA Division I track and field championship seem to come down to that final race every single year? Well, it happened again Friday night in Eugene, Oregon. Trailing Auburn by five points, the Gators needed to finish no worse than third and ahead of Alabama and Southern Cal to bring home a third straight national championship. What made this mad dash to the 14th NCAA title won by head coach Mike "Mouse" Holloway so incredibly special was the final race was run without Wanya McCoy and Robert Gregory, who had run in the 200 meters about 30 minutes earlier. Taking their places in the 4-man relay were freshman Rios Prude Jr. and senior Jenoah McIver. The Gators got a strong opening leg from Reheem Hayes, who had finished seventh in the 400 earlier. He handed the baton to Jevaughn Powell, the third place finisher in the 400. Powell got a great start, held the lead around the track and gave Prude some room to stretch the lead. Texas A&M and Arkansas closed the gap on Prude, who handed off to McIver, who maintained the lead until the final turn. McIver was far ahead of Alabama and Southern Cal, however, as the Gators finished third with a XXXX. The six points gave the Gators a 1-point edge over Auburn to win the NCAA championship for UF. It could be said that the hero of the night was triple jumper Sean Bodie-Dixon. On his sixth and final attempt of the night he surpassed Nebraska’s Terrol Wilson by 2-3/4 inches to finish eighth, good enough for one point, which proved to be the winning margin. Here is how it happened for the Gators, who had only six points after Wednesday night’s opening session thanks to a third place finish in the long jump by Malcolm Clemons. The Gators got a fourth place finish in the 4X100 relay with a time of 38.34. McCoy earned a sixth place finish in the 100 with a 10.02 time. The Gators got eight points in the 400 meters as Powell finished third with a 44.54 and Hayes finished seventh with a 45.78. Gregory finished second in the 200 with a 20.08, but McCoy pulled up lame, which could have proven disastrous. Kai Chang’s final throw in the discus of 198-10 was good for a fifth place finish and four points. Then came Bodie-Dixon’s final effort in the triple jump for the point that proved the difference. This was Holloway’s seventh NCAA outdoor championship with the UF men. He has won five indoor titles with the men, plus one indoor and one outdoor title with the UF women. Florida’s women go into Saturday’s final session in first place with 26 points and a chance to give the Gators their second national championship of the weekend. The Gators won the NCAA men’s and women’s championships on the same weekend back in 2022. With Parker Valby, who won the 10,000 meters title Thursday, expected to win the 5,000 Saturday and Grace Stark the favorite to win the 100 hurdles, the Gators could easily surpass 55 team points which should be good enough for a win. Men’s top 25 final team scores: 1. FLORIDA 41; 2. Auburn 40; 3. Southern California 35; 4. Alabama 32; 5. Texas A&M 31; 6. Houston 30.5; 7. Arkansas 30; 8. Virginia 26; 9. Georgia 25; 10. (Tie) Kansas and Miami 22; 12. Texas 20; 13. (Tie) Nebraska and Texas Tech 19; 15. Washington 18.2; 16. LSU 17; 18. Harvard 17; 19. Iowa State 16; 20. Florida State 15; 21. (Tie) Kentucky, Ole Miss and Wisconsin 14; 24. (Tie) New Mexico and Northern Arizona (13)

This isn't the first time the shoulder has put me on injured reserve Three days off from writing after discovering that (a) I am no longer in possession of float like a butterfly feet, (b) can’t headbutt a tile floor into submission and (c) my golf swing is going to need Moe Norman to rise from the grave to repair it after fracturing and dislocating my right shoulder in one swell foop, I am back at the keyboard. As the great Jim Tom Pinch, the late, great Dan Jenkins’ alter ego would say, sometimes you gotta play hurt. I have the injuries to prove it. So, here are several observations from this completely unexpected time on injured reserve. One last hug by a pair of Gator greats after the season ended in OKC 1. I’m going to miss Skylar Wallace and Katie Kistler: Maybe not for the reasons you might expect. Yes, Skylar Wallace is one of the greatest softball players not only in University of Florida history, but in the history of the SEC and the nation. How many times during her career did Katie Kistler come up with a key hit or sensational defensive play? Oh, those things are worth remembering, but what I will miss them for is I can’t ever recall either one of them making an excuse. Ask a question, you got a straight from the heart answer. No ducking. No dodging. I’ve been around the sports writing business long enough to have dealt with some of our modern sports heroes, many of whom always had a Connie Hawkins-sized index finger pointed at someone else and others who made it a practice to slither away from tough questions that might involve admitting they choked. The years have taught me to appreciate honesty, especially when it comes to two who always put team above self. 2. Tim Walton makes me fondly remember Leon Brogden and Spike Corbin: Leon Brogden and Spike Corbin were high school coaching legends in Wilmington, North Carolina who won state championships in football, basketball and baseball. Leon Brogden, the great coach and gentleman at New Hanover High School, won 55 state championships in the three sports. His most famous products were Sonny Jurgenson and Roman Gabriel. Spike Corbin won nearly that many at Williston, the black school that was a block away from New Hanover, and finished his coaching career by taking an all-white John T. Hoggard team to the state baseball championship in 1972 led by future San Francisco Giant Ron Musselman. Spike’s most famous protégé was George Lemon, who became known as Meadowlark when he was with the Harlem Globetrotters. Name the sport, Leon Brogden and Spike Corbin could not only coach it, but they won, and they won with a kids first philosophy. They believed if you built up the kid and made the kid believe in himself, the kid would strive to be the best he could be on the playing field. Obviously, it worked.  I see that same quality in Tim Walton, whose philosophy is to build up the woman first and then she will do all she can to be the best she can be. Tim Walton is truly elite. I believe he would be every bit as good as he is a softball coach in any sport he chose to coach. 3. Just when everybody was ready to write off Kevin O’Sullivan: You have no idea how many times I was bombarded with text messages during the baseball season. The one I remember so well – and more than one person sent it – was, “I hope Kevin O’Sullivan takes another job somewhere else. It’s obvious he doesn’t have it anymore.” For a guy that doesn’t have it anymore, these last four weeks have been a keen reminder that Sully hasn’t forgotten how to coach and that it simply took longer for his young talent to develop this year. Look what has happened since winning two out of three against Georgia in Athens to ensure a winning record that gave the Gators a chance to make the field of 64. Since the Gators heard their name called, they have endured the inevitable do they even belong in the tournament questions. Some people still think the Gators swiped a spot from some low-to-mid-major with a great record against inferior competition. What happened in Stillwater should tell you the Gators definitely belong. They go to Clemson this weekend, underdogs for sure since Clemson is the No. 6 seed in the tournament and playing at home, but you would be foolish to bet against the Gators winning two-out-of-three to make a return to Omaha. The Gators actually are in better shape to win a short series like this than they were to win a double elimination regional at Stillwater. In a 3-game series, Kevin O’Sullivan can be far more creative with his pitching staff and if the Gators swing the bats the way they did to win the regional, Omaha could be beckoning. Prediction: Florida in two. Nobody hits it harder or farther than Jac Caglianone (UAA Photo) 4. For my money, Jac Caglianone is the best college baseball player in the country: I doubt he wins the Golden Spikes Award. Either Georgia’s Charlie Condon or Tennessee’s Christian Moore seem destined to win it, I believe, not because they’re better players but because they played for teams that had much better records than Florida. Also both Condon and Moore had hitters in front and behind them that didn’t strike out as much. Give Cags the protection he had last year with guys like Wyatt Langford hitting in front and Josh Rivera hitting behind him and I can only imagine how monstrous his season would have been. Cags has been Florida’s best pitcher over the course of the season, a gold glove fielder at first base and at the plate he’s hitting .410 with 31 homers and 63 RBI. I do believe that Caglianone should be the easy choice as the Jon Olerud Award winner as the nation’s best two-way player. I think he could seal that award if he hits well and gets a win on the mound in the Clemson Regional. Of course, will Clemson even give him a chance to hit unless there is no open base for him? During Barry Bonds’ steroid-induced run, teams sometimes walked him with the bases full. Would Clemson be tempted to try that with Jac Caglianone? It’s not a preposterous notion. 5. Some folks just don’t get it: I keep reading all this innuendo about Billy Napier being on the hot seat at Florida, one writer even posting Wednesday what if Billy Napier gets fired? Well, here’s the short answer for that. It’s not going to happen short of Napier having some sort of personal meltdown or getting caught up in something scandalous. Other than those two scenarios, he’s good through the 2025 season. If he doesn’t have the Gators on a strong path by then he will be gone, but otherwise, Billy Napier has two years go get his program implemented and for it to bring positive results. Two things are working very strongly in Billy Napier’s favor: (1) The people at the top understand that the revolving door of coaches has to stop. Napier is the sixth coach not named Steven Orr Spurrier in this century and that has to change if Florida is to regain its status as one of the truly elite football programs in the country. (2) DJ Lagway. Florida earned a lot of recruiting momentum when DJ Lagway signed with UF, momentum that is surely going to grow in December when every recruit out there knows and understands that Lagway will be the QB in 2025, ready to be a star from day one after apprenticing a year under Graham Mertz. If Billy Napier were fired during or after the 2024 season, bet the farm DJ Lagway wouldn’t be around for 2025 and the higher ups at UF won’t risk that. 6. Farewell to the Pac-12: When the clock strikes midnight Sunday, we may be able to officially stick a fork in the Pac-12. UCLA and Stanford are done in the Women’s College World Series. Oregon (at Texas A&M) and Oregon State (at Kentucky) are the last two teams standing in baseball. Track and field will crown a men’s champion Friday night and a women’s champ Saturday. After one day at the NCAA championships in Eugene, Oregon, Southern Cal leads the men’s standings with the women set to begin competing today but even so it’s doubtful a Pac-12 team will win the championship given the strength of the SEC. So, the “conference of champions” will likely go down without a champion in the final month of competition. This is a sad day for college sports that a league with this much tradition and so many national championships is going down in flames. I think college sports is weaker without a strong conference on the left coast. From a recruiting standpoint, I don’t think Southern California, UCLA, Oregon and Washington are going to get any kind of boost moving to the Big Ten. I’m still trying to see how the ACC is going to benefit Stanford and California other than non-revenue sports. Maybe Arizona and Arizona State will be relevant in a Big 12 minus Texas and Oklahoma. 7. Texas and Oklahoma will be full-fledged SEC members on July 1: The SEC didn’t go seeking Texas and Oklahoma, but Greg Sankey wasn’t about to say no to them when they came calling. This is where Texas and Oklahoma want to be. Certainly, the move is football driven but their entire sports programs will benefit and they will make the SEC even more dominant. Texas has won four national championships in football and 57 in NCAA sanctioned sports. Oklahoma has won seven national championships in football and 36 in NCAA sanctioned sports. Now, the road to national championships would be easier for Texas and Oklahoma in the Big 12, but they were willing to lose some football games – and they will – to play against the best competition and in bigger stadiums. Texas has a 100,000-seat stadium and Oklahoma’s seats 84,000. In the Big 12, only recently joined BYU has a stadium that seats more than 60,000. In the new Big 12, all 12 of the stadiums seat 55,000 or fewer people. Of the 16 teams in the SEC, only Missouri, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt are smaller than the largest stadium in the Big 12. Playing before bigger crowds both in the stands and in terms of television viewership will expand the Texas and Oklahoma brands far more than playing the likes of Cincinnati, West Virginia and Colorado in the Big 12. 8. Florida is going to be one of the nation’s surprise football teams this fall: That is my opinion, but it is the opinion of a lot of people who are shaking their heads at Lindy’s ranking the Gators as the No. 12 team in the SEC. The schedule is brutal, that’s for certain, but this Florida team is going to be much better than the previous two seasons under Billy Napier and it starts with Graham Mertz. This is a quarterback driven game and there isn’t a more experienced starting quarterback anywhere in the SEC. With 43 career starts in Division I, only Dillon Gabriel, now with his third team at Oregon has more (51). Experience matters, particularly when the QB will be playing behind an upgraded offensive line and will have more weapons with speed than he’s ever had before. The ceiling for the Gators this year is probably in the 8-9 win range but this is a funny game. Even though it’s the nation’s toughest schedule and the final 6-game gauntlet has a brutal look to it, you never know what’s going to happen once we get to the midway point when injuries, quarterback controversies and coaching problems manifest. As long as Florida is healthy and the off-the-field issues are at an absolute minimum, this will be one team NOBODY wants to play in the second half of the season.

Florida softball ended its season with a 6-5 loss to juggernaut Oklahoma. After stopping OU’s streak of 20 WCWS wins in a row, hopes were high as Florida got off to a 5-2 lead after three innings. Home runs by Jocelyn Erickson in the first, Ariel Kowalewski in the second and Reagan Walsh in the third brought in all of UF’s runs.

Florida ended Oklahoma’s 20 game-winning streak at the NCAA tournament as the Gators extended their season, just one win away from the Women’s College World Series final against Texas, which took care of Stanford Monday, 1-0, in the other semifinal game.