After losing 33-26 to Florida Atlantic University and winning by forfeit to the University of Miami at the Florida Rugby Union College Championships in Tampa, Fla., the UNF rugby club is proud of the resilience it showed but knows it could have done better, UNF Rugby President Jackson Frenot said. The UNF rugby club entered the championships with high expectations and a lot of confidence, team captain Max Schwartz said. After upsetting FAU earlier in the season, UNF quickly fell behind in the first half of the two teams’ tournament match. UNF executed a surge in the second half but came up short in the final minutes.

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Question 1: With this year’s BCS stir-up bigger than ever, who deserves to be in the college football championship game?
If it were up to me, I’d put Utah and Boise State in the championship game in hopes of destroying the BCS all together.	Alabama because they have the momentum with John Parker Wilson to propel them to the big game. Plus, if I rooted for anyone else, my girlfriend would kill me.	Me. I’ll stir up all them bowls.	The winner of the ‘Bama, Florida game should play Oklahoma – assuming they win the Big 12 title. Unfortunately, I think it’ll be Florida holding the crystal trophy when it’s all said and done.

The first win of the season for the UNF women’s basketball team came Nov. 30 against Wofford College at the UNF Arena. Teamwork, communication and hard work were the main components contributing to the Ospreys’ 71-60 win, said UNF women’s basketball head coach Mary Tappmeyer. In the first half, the Ospreys trailed 23-26. But after entering the second half and accumulating 20 turnovers, they caught up and took a 48-34 lead. “We challenged the girls at halftime to come out and play to win and to not play scared,” Tappmeyer said. “I thought they really stepped up to that challenge. Our rebounding got a little bit better in the second half. We still have to work on our defensive rotations though.”

A fourth-place finish in the NCAA Division I Provisional Tournament Nov. 22 closed the UNF volleyball team’s 2008 32-match season – its longest season since its transition to Division I. UNF went 2-3 in the tournament with wins against North Carolina Central University and Winston-Salem State University. UNF lost to Presbyterian College, the University of Central Arkansas and the University of South Carolina Upstate. “I was really proud of how they played for the tournament,” UNF head volleyball coach Kevin Campbell said. “I wanted them to play the same level they always do, but in reality, we’re down two outside hitters. They fought and passed well all weekend, not to mention they attacked offensively and served tough. I was really proud of that.”

The UNF men’s basketball team had a game on a platter for them the day after Thanksgiving, but gave it away at the charity stripe. In its 68-60 loss against Charleston Southern University Nov. 28, UNF had the lead throughout the majority of the game including the final minutes of regulation. UNF started the game off quickly by taking a 13-point lead in the first 10 minutes, but Charleston Southern was able to cut the lead down to two points with the score 27-25 at the half.

Recovering from a fifth-place standing after the first day of competition, the UNF swimming and diving team finished in third place out of eight teams at the Davidson Invitational Nov. 23. Davidson...

In response to the all-across-the-board budget cuts that seem indiscriminate to the aspects of our lives that it effects, UNF has been forced to make admission changes in the midst of an upcoming fee assessment.

NCAA athletics is a multi-million dollar industry, and the majority of the “student athletes” who participate in these sports are not students at all, just athletes. Many major college football and basketball programs are using the four-year learning period as a minor league of sorts, and that’s exactly how the players, coaches and trainers look at it. The athletes play four years, win some games, turn some heads and then get called up via the draft, signing a multi-million dollar contract for their potential.