Gainesville, FL (Sports Network) - The Florida Gators opened their 2008 season in impressive fashion, destroying the Hawaii Warriors, 56-10. Urban Meyer's team continues its season-opening homestand this weekend, welcoming Sunshine State rival Miami to Gainesville.

The Hurricanes also posted a lopsided win in their season-opener, disposing of Charleston Southern, 52-7, marking Miami's highest scoring outing since 2005. It also opened play for Miami at Dolphins Stadium, after a seven-decade stay in the Orange Bowl.

This game will mark the 54th all-time meeting between these two teams. Miami has dominated the series of late and holds a 28-25 all-time edge, thanks to wins in each of the last six meetings. Florida's last win over the Hurricanes came in 1985.

The Hurricanes didn't eclipse 37 points all of last year and although it was against an inferior opponent last week, it was impressive nonetheless. Randy Shannon's team got off to a fast start, scoring 21 first-quarter points, its highest scoring quarter since 2006. The Hurricanes were able to roll up 416 yards of total offense on the Buccaneers, thanks to a potent ground game that churned out 224 yards on nearly six yards per carry. Miami scored five times on the ground and was led by tailback Javarris James' 73 yards and one score. Shawnbrey McNeal had just five carries, but made the most of them with 45 yards (9.0 ypc) and one TD. Sophomore Graig Cooper notched a rushing score as well, but made a bigger impact on special teams, returning a punt 66 yards for a TD.

Freshman QB Jacory Harris filled in for suspended Robert Marve, who should be back for this contest. Harris was certainly serviceable, completing 16-of-26 passes, for 190 yards and one TD and had a 30-yard scamper for a TD to open the scoring in the first quarter. For his effort, Harris was named the ACC's Rookie of the Week, but that success in no way affects Marve's status as the starter according to Coach Shannon.

"Robert Marve is our starter, and that's it. Even if Jacory has a great game, Marve will be our starter. No matter what, he's our starter."

Miami dominated on the defensive side of the ball as well, holding Charleston Southern to a mere 126 total yards, including just 49 on the ground. Middle linebacker Spencer Adkins tallied just three solo tackles in the game, but was responsible for two sacks, picking up ACC Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week honors. Shannon got to utilize a number of defensive players in the blowout, so it is not surprising that the team's leading tackler in the game, junior LB Darryl Sharpton, tallied just 3.5 tackles.

Part of Tebow's rather bland passing effort could have been a result of Florida missing All-American candidate Percy Harvin on the outside. The big time playmaker is nursing a heel injury, but is listed as probable for this week's contest. Last year, Harvin led the team in receptions (59) for 858 yards. He is also the school's all-time leader for rushing yards by a receiver (1,192). In 2007, Harvin averaged an impressive 11.4 yards on 142 touches (59 receptions, 83 carries).

Hawaii was an offensive juggernaut under June Jones last year, but the new- look Warriors under the guidance of new head coach Greg McMackin, looked nothing like that prolific offense. It certainly didn't help that Florida's defense was always swarming on the ball. The Gators limited the visiting Warriors to a mere 241 total yards last weekend, allowing just 60 yards rushing and 181 yards passing.

In addition, Florida forced a whopping six turnovers, including four interceptions and also recorded four sacks in the game. Two of the interceptions were returned for touchdowns. Two of those picks were by Ahmad Black, who returned one 80 yards for a score.

An impressive performance considering the team was without its heart-and-soul in First-Team All-SEC linebacker Brandon Spikes (foot injury), who could return to the lineup this week.

Up front, Lawrence Marsh (two sacks) and Jermaine Cunningham (1.5 sacks) were tough to block. There is plenty of depth along the line, with Meyer taking advantage of the lopsided win by giving several freshmen valuable playing time against Hawaii.

Marve can't wait for chance to face No. 5 Gators

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- It's been nearly two years since Miami quarterback Robert Marve has taken a snap in a real football game. Almost two years since he handed the ball off, thrown for a touchdown, or done any on-field celebrating with teammates.

He's looking forward to doing all that again.

And, oddly, there's something else he can't wait for: Marve is longing to get hit again, because that will mean he's finally back in the game.

"I hope I get knocked (around) soon," Marve said.

Oh, the Florida Gators will probably try to accommodate that request Saturday night.

"I expect Marve to do great things," said Miami center Xavier Shannon, the son of the Hurricanes' head coach.

Marve won the starting job in training camp over Jacory Harris, who threw for 190 yards and accounted for two touchdowns in Miami's season-opening 52-7 win over Charleston Southern last Thursday night. Harris will play against the Gators in the Hurricanes' version of a two-quarterback system, but the bulk of the work will go to Marve, who couldn't have hid his excitement if he tried Tuesday.

"To be able to go out there after some doctors said they don't know if I'd be able to play anymore, it's just a blessing to be out there," Marve said. "I'm going to have fun with it."

Marve was one of the most coveted quarterbacks in the country when he signed with Miami, where some expected him to play as a true freshman last year. All those plans changed July 16, 2007, when he and two teammates were making a late-night drive from their homes in southwest Florida to the Coral Gables campus.

Teammate Jermaine McKenzie was driving and fell asleep behind the wheel of the 2007 Dodge Charger owned by Marve's family. The car flipped at least six times before coming to rest, flattened, at the base of a tree. Marve, in the back seat, suffered a broken wrist, dislocated finger and a deep cut on his left hand, and needed at least two surgeries to repair the damage.

Surviving something like that likely makes the prospect of facing 90,000 screaming Gators fans Saturday night - even if it will be in his first college game - a bit less daunting.

It's an odd matchup in the sense that three quarterbacks who won Florida "Mr. Football" awards - the state's top prep football honor - will play, with reigning Heisman winner Tim Tebow prevailing in 2005, Marve in 2006 for Tampa Plant and Harris last year for Miami Northwestern. All won state titles, too.

As a senior, Marve threw for what were state records of 4,380 yards and 48 touchdowns, surpassing marks set by Tebow.

So in a way, it's fitting that Marve and Tebow - who never met on the field in high school, although Tampa Plant beat Tebow's alma mater Ponte Vedra Beach Nease for the Florida Class 4A title in 2006 when Marve ended his career by throwing a touchdown pass in the final seconds - finally will face off at the college level.

"We've talked a couple of times when I was in high school and he was already at Florida," Marve said. "I really look up to him. He's a great player. He's done great in college. You can't take anything away from him. He was a great high school player and now he's doing the same things at Florida."

This game is being hyped for so many reasons, the least of which is Marve vs. Tebow.

Miami has won six straight in the series, with no losses against the Gators since 1985. But the Gators are two years removed from a national title and are expected to contend for another this year, while the Hurricanes - three-touchdown underdogs in this game - are rebuilding coming off last year's 5-7 record.

Marve has been here before.

Before he emerged as the guy who broke some of Tebow's records, Tampa Plant wasn't exactly a Florida high school powerhouse. With Marve at the controls, that changed, and he's anxious to get his chance at engineering another turnaround at the college level.

The way he sees it, the best stage to make that happen would be The Swamp on Saturday night.

"I know how great it can be to be on the upside of a program that's been down for a second," Marve said. "I'm just trying to do as much as I can to prepare and help us get to where we need to be."

New Poll:    USC #1, Gators #5

NEW YORK (AP) -- By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking. No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia 1 and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowl, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team (USC) go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs' opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington on the road, 27-24.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place votes), No. 7 LSU (one first-place votes) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama, Kansas and BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State, and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

No. 5 Gators turn attention to rival Miami

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- It didn't take very long for Florida's focus to shift from beating Hawaii to facing rival Miami.

Maybe even less time than it took for Brandon James, Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps to score those long touchdowns in the fifth-ranked Gators' 56-10 victory Saturday.

Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow mentioned the Hurricanes several times in his post-game news conference, several teammates from South Florida talked about what it would mean to beat their hometown team, and receiver Louis Murphy clearly has been waiting for this one for a long time.

"We're going to let the dog eat," Murphy said. "It's rivalry week and we're going to come after them. They're going to come into The Swamp, trying to take our swagger, trying to take our throne, but we're not going to let that happen."

Miami has won six in a row in the on-again, off-again series. Florida's last victory came in 1985, before most of the current Gators were even born. So all they have seen is Florida on the losing end of a once-heated rivalry that used to be one of the best in the country.

"No matter how good they played other teams last year or whoever they're going to play the rest of the year, they'll play their best game next Saturday versus us. Hopefully, we'll do the same."

The Gators can only hope they play as well as they did against Hawaii. Even with receiver Percy Harvin, tight end Aaron Hernandez and guard Jim Tartt on the sideline and Tebow doing less than ever before, Florida managed 406 yards of offense - most of it coming in the second and third quarters - and dominated every aspect of the game.

The Gators scored eight touchdowns in a 26 1/2-minute span, getting big plays from offense, defense and specials teams.

James had a 74-yard punt return for a score, Rainey followed with a 33-yard TD run, and then Demps trumped both of them with an electrifying, 62-yard scoring run. They Gators also scored twice on interception returns.

"Our speed is crazy," Demps said. "At any time, anybody can score from 80 or 90 yards. It's fun to be around these guys and watch them play."

The Gators could be even faster against the Hurricanes. Coach Urban Meyer said Sunday he expects to get speedy receiver Percy Harvin back in the lineup against Miami. Harvin has been limited since having heel surgery in April. Meyer also hopes to have guard Jim Tartt (shoulder) and linebacker Brandon Spikes (foot) back for Saturday's game.

Meyer said he doesn't know much about the rivalry, which includes the "Florida Flop" in 1971, the "Peach Pelting" in 1980 and the "Bourbon Street Brawl" in 2001.

But he recognizes this:

"I know we have not beat them in 20 or 25 years or some ridiculous number like that and we're 0-6 against them," Meyer said. "I grew up watching Miami. I'm very well aware of what personnel they have. We'll face arguably one of the best personnel teams in the country."

Murphy wasn't so convinced.

He wanted to sign with Miami in 2005, but said then-coach Larry Coker didn't offer him a scholarship. And he's been harboring resentment since.

"At the time I was coming out, they were loaded," Murphy said. "They were actually good then. I wanted to go there and be a part of that receiving crew. They didn't want me. But now we have the best receiving crew here now. Right now, it's fueling me inside."

Murphy even took a shot at Miami's moniker.

"If I'm right, the 'U' stands for the University of Miami. Well, we're the University of Florida. We're the 'U.' I don't refer to them as the 'U.' I refer to them as Miami. If the 'U' is for university and winning and championships, we're the 'U.' They are Miami, and that's what I call them."