Florida's biggest football surprise: Bethune-Cookman.

Byline: Rick Maese

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. _ Now is the time of year to love college football in Florida. There's an undefeated team with national title hopes, a top-rated quarterback vying for a new trophy and a hungry squad battling criticism of a weak schedule.

Don't get confused. Alphenia Mitchell can set the record straight for you. She spent a good chunk of her Wednesday afternoon perched in a green plastic lawn chair outside the Bethune Boulevard Grill, chatting with anyone who had time to listen."

Look Daytona is not Miami and Bethune-Cookman is not the University of Miami," she says, her fuzzy black slippers almost detracting from her matter-of-fact words. "But there's something special going on over there."

She points to the rows of red brick buildings just a first-down pass away from the restaurant. Forget your Gators and your Seminoles and suspend belief in the Hurricanes for a few minutes. Behind the series of buildings, there's a football program with virtually no budget, a coach with no contract and a proud team with no losses.

Bethune-Cookman College, a traditionally black school that has just 2,500 students, is Florida's biggest pigskin surprise of the year.

At 9-0, Wildcats are one of the…