The moaning, crying and knee-jerking on this thread is just epic. SAD!!!! First Foley was the strong man who bullied Sankey. Now he's the awful negotiator who got steamrolled by this clown at LSU.
I'll try not to re-litigate the arguments for/against cancellation and/or postponement for the same weekend, but here's my take. The one and only (and eventually impossible as people were shuttered and prepared for the worst from South Miami to the FL-GA border - the entire east coast - which is unprecedented) good scenario was for the game to be played as originally scheduled. Every other alternative scenario was bad for UF, save maybe Nov. 19 in G'Ville, which LSU refused. IMO Foley was right to wait until the last possible minute to hold out for the only good option. If early on he agreed to a sunday/monday game as a contingency, LSU would have made it the de facto number 1 option, which is why they were loud about putting it on the table. Leave aside emergency responders/security/hotel vacancies/gas shortages, etc. because most, if not all, on here have not the first clue of the top level logistics that go into that, from a competitive standpoint, sunday/monday sucks. Smaller crowd, less recruits, if any, kids distracted with family who may have been affected by the storm, schedule thrown off, etc. With the injuries, we needed a fully juiced swamp to win this game. We weren't getting that on sunday/monday, so Foley rightfully refused that option and held out for maintaining the original schedule.
Foley knew the second best option would be Nov. 19th in G'ville, which is why that option came out soon after the cancellation was announced. Unfortunately, LSU held the leverage here: they have no shot in the west and know it, we are contenders in the east, so we need the game to be played more than LSU. If LSU looked like a world-beater, then maybe you re-think playing in LSU, but as others have said they should be a beaten bunch by Nov. 19th and Fournette likely will have packed it in with both eyes on the NFL. If that holds true, we should win that game. If LSU plays its brutal schedule tough, who here believes we would win the game wherever/whenever anyway? Not me.
The recruiting angle from the cancellation is overblown. It's pretty simple: if the product on the field is good and there is a buzz about the program going into the bowl games/offseason as a result, the recruits will follow. If not, they won't. After Ole Miss and before the Grier debacle, UF was popping with serious interest from most top flight recruits. There was a buzz. The way the season played out after Grier sucked all of the wind out of the sails, the potential for that class was destroyed.
Here's what I'm hoping for/expecting? the rest of the way. LDR gets better with every game, stays healthy, young WR's begin stepping up, and by the end of the season the offense looks really really good. Win lose or draw the East, the most important aspect the rest of the way for recruiting purposes is how the O looks, full stop. If there is excitement with the offense, it's a signal that Florida is back, and the recruits will follow. Spurrier made offense the hallmark of the program; without it, UF is just another big state school. I think Mac gets us there, but if not and we are looking at 3 straight middling to good recruiting classes, then Mac's fate as head coach is sealed. Without the horses, you can't win the race, and if you can't win the race well, then all you have is horse-teeth.
