Living in Florida, I can assure you that UF owns the state right now.
Not only is it racking up National Championships, but it is the toughest state school to get in to.
I have known kids with 1300 SAT and 3.5 GPA who couldn't get in. Now if you are Tebow you get in with a 990 SAT, but that is another story.
Both of my boys are in high school, so I hear all the college chatter. The only downside to UF is the size of the school turns off some students. There are 40,000+ students. My son is interested in engineering, but crossed UF off his list after he saw that Freshman calculus had 1100 students for a 900 set "classroom".
For him Florida Tech or Geogia Tech are better fits. He is even looking at the UT Nuceular Engineering program.
But if you are the best academic school in the state with the best sports, it is hard to beat.
Think UT with Vandy academics.