University of Miami football coach Randy Shannon said his phone rang for hours following the Hurricanes' 26-3 loss to No. 5 Florida in Gainesville on Saturday.

Shannon said the calls were from recruits, congratulating the Hurricanes coach for a well-played game and confirming their allegiance to UM. Despite the lopsided score, the Hurricanes' gritty performance -- they trailed 9-3 after three quarters -- has drawn the attention of teenagers who might want to be part of the rebuilding process and now know they have a chance to play early.

Said Shannon: 'We had more kids calling us last night from 1 to 4 in the morning. [They would say,] `Coach I'm still coming to Miami. I'm excited about it, Coach. You guys played well.' ''

When asked how the game affected recruiting, Shannon made a cryptic statement that appeared to reflect his disappointment at UF coach Urban Meyer choosing to throw the ball into the end zone near the end of the game. Shannon, however, refused to name Meyer.

''I'll just say this one statement,'' Shannon said. ``Sometimes when you do things, and people see what type of person you really are, you turn a lot of people off. Now, whatever you want to get out of that, I won't say it again. But it helped us. It helped us more than you'll ever know.''

The loss was quite a contrast from the second game of last season, when the Hurricanes were humiliated on national television in a 51-13 road loss against then-No. 5 Oklahoma. That day, the Canes left Norman, Okla., with little to rally around.

But Saturday, the Hurricanes left Gainesville with hope that the experience at UF will help them improve for their next game -- another tough place to play. Miami has this weekend off before traveling to College Station, Texas, to play Texas A&M on Sept. 20.

''I think we're a whole lot better than we were last year when we went to Oklahoma,'' Shannon said. ``Same situation, same ranked team, but different deal. A loss is a loss no matter how you do it. But we've got to keep improving from last year to the next game to the next.''

The Hurricanes were helped at UF by an infusion of young talent. Freshman linebacker Sean Spence made five tackles (two for 14 yards in losses) and a sack, and freshman quarterback Robert Marve completed more than half his passes without turning the ball over.

The defense flustered Gators quarterback Tim Tebow by shutting down the run, and the offense managed to grind time off the clock despite struggling to sustain drives.

Tebow needed two long, fourth-quarter drives to give the Gators some separation.

''I think we've closed the gap,'' Shannon said. ``Are we a lot better than we were last year? Yes. Are we a lot better . . . with this football team competing and playing hard and fighting? Yes.''

• The Hurricanes lost an important part of their running attack Saturday when tailback Javarris James left the game after only two carries. Shannon said he wasn't sure about the extent of James' injury, but that he thought it was a high ankle sprain. That type of injury can keep a player out for several weeks.

''That was probably one of the biggest things that hurt us offensively,'' Shannon said. ``Because Javarris is our big back and we weren't able to use our big back in a game like this where you've got to pound it, pound it, pound it.''

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