• I knew all those Outback Bowl trips would pay off. Tom Mulhern doesn't want to pile on in the geography of recruiting debate, but the Wisconsin State Journal reporter couldn't help but notice a slight, uh, disparity where his home state is concerned:

Talking to St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) football coach George Smith this week, he told me he had 10 players from his team who already had given oral commitments to colleges and a couple more expected before the Feb. 4 signing day.

The news that Homestead linebacker Ben Gardner had committed to Stanford now makes 12 players in the entire state of Wisconsin who have committed to Football Bowl Subdivision schools (not counting walk-ons). That's right, when it's all said and done, one team from Florida could have about the same number of FBS recruits as all of Wisconsin.

It might help Mulhern to mention that the state of Florida has three times Wisconsin's population and three different I-A universities with larger enrollments than Wisconsin's. But yeah, that's a fairly wide gap for any monster state school that's come to expect to compete nationally -- the other Big Ten states all produce more I-A players., with the possible exception of Minnesota, where Tim Brewster has done an admirable job of locking down the state.

At least Bret Bielema can't be accused of not paying attention: Two Aquinas players, linebacker Conor O'Neill and safety Dezmen Southward, are committed to play for the Badgers, along with a third Floridian, defensive end David Gilbert. That's compared to just five commitments to UW from the Badger State itself. If Bielema gets one strong, late push into Florida, maybe he can make Madison "Little Fort Lauderdale."

• Don't act so surprised, please. More Big Ten recruiting woes, even at Ohio State, where the Buckeyes are totally cleaning up overall, except in one key area: Quarterback. OSU hasn't signed a signal caller despite a fairly desperate situation behind Terrelle Pryor, and when the Buckeyes missed on their main QB target, Tajh Boyd, earlier this week, they were forced to reach waaaaaaay into back of the file cabinet to float an offer to two-star Miami of Ohio commit Austin Boucher, whose other offers were from Toledo and Air Force. Boucher's reaction, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "I was like, 'What? No way.'"

After the initial shock wore off, though, OSU was still in the lurch: Boucher turned the offer down to stick with Miami.

• What's it take to get a little pull around here? Matt Grothe is the most recognizable player in South Florida history by about a million miles, and can probably take a good share of the credit for putting USF football on the map the last three years. That still wasn't enough to get him in the gate when NBC called to have Bull star toss passes to announce-person Cris Collinsworth before the Super Bowl:

Grothe would have been off-camera while throwing to Collinsworth, the former Bengals receiver, and USF had signed off on the move, since it wasn't promotional in nature and thus didn't violate any NCAA rules.

Alas, Raymond James Stadium is so locked down in preparation for Sunday's game that NBC couldn't get Grothe added to the list of credentialed staffers with access to the stadium Wednesday, so the plan was scrapped and the network will have to find someone who already has a credential and a decent arm for the segment.

Credentials? Grothe's 14-4 as a starter in Raymond James and thrown 26 career touchdown passes there. Eh, sorry kid: This is the NFL and you're like 5'11". Never heard of you.

Quickly ... UNC-Charlotte unveiled its financial plan and seat license program with an eye toward beginning I-AA play in 2013. ... Both Phil Fulmer and Tommy Tuberville will work Signing Day for opposing networks, since they have nothing else going on that day. ... Richard Samuel, who could have used the time to compete with Caleb King for Georgia's starting tailback job, will miss spring practice while recovering from wrist surgery. ... USC corner Shareece Wright has turned down a plea bargain in his charge of resisting a police officer last fall. ... Even after two player collapses in a year, recruits aren't holding it against UCF. ... Alabama put 22 players on the SEC Academic Honor Roll. ... And you're hooked up for your midweek MAC fix for another nine years, at least.