Busted!

By JENNA MARINA Tribune correspondent

Published: Apr 15, 2008

GAINESVILLE - Oops.

The Gators' 2006 BCS National Championship trophy fell off of its stand in Florida's football offices and broke Friday.

Because Florida is preparing to move to new offices, expected to be completed in July, the trophy was in a temporary location in an open area of one of the stadium's sky boxes, Florida's operations and facilities director Chip Howard said Monday.

"It was on a coffee table, and it was inadvertently bumped," Howard said. "It doesn't take much for the top of it to fall off."

The trophy was insured for $8,000, and the university already put in an order to replace it. Howard said it should take about 90 days for the new Waterford crystal trophy to reach Gainesville.

This news might leave hundreds of fans confused since the trophy was displayed for a photo opportunity prior to Saturday's spring game. Fans did pose with the national championship trophy, sort of.

Howard said institutions have the option of ordering two trophies at the time of winning a championship. The trophy displayed outside the stadium Saturday morning was the second trophy.