Gators in the Draft

The NFL draft begins tomorrow, and if you believe the folks at NFL.com, the only guys who are likely to be drafted from Florida are Derrick Harvey and Andre Caldwell. That certainly says something, considering both guys could have gone in last year’s draft. Only 12 Gators are even eligible for the draft, and 3 of them never played any significant time.

Kudos to the NFL for using a PNG image with an alpha channel on its website.

The NFL’s website only lists 5 Gators in its draft section: Harvey, Caldwell, Tony Joiner, Carlton Medder, and Drew Miller. The scouting reports for Joiner, Medder, and Miller seem to think that they’ll get an invite to training camps. I can see Medder and Miller getting a shot if they want it, but not Joiner as much. He had a rough senior year on the field and has “character problem” written all over him. The moment he slips up at anything, he’s cut.

If there are only two guys drafted, it would be the lowest count since the 1993 draft. That makes for great symmetry since last year, 9 guys were drafted. That’s tied for highest Gator draft count ever with the 9 guys drafted in 1992, though 4 of the ‘92 draftees were taken in the 8th - 12th rounds. It’s really a testament to how deep the 2006 team was, and how thin at the top the 2007 team was.

It’s too early to speculate who would leave early to go in next year’s draft. Percy Harvin seems like the logical place to start, but who knows? If his heel never heals up right, he could end up here for four years after all.

Just remember: the fact that only two Gators are going to be drafted tomorrow isn’t a knock on the program, since there’s only 5 players worth mentioning who are in the draft anyway. It’s a sign that next year’s team could be back on top of the conference thanks to depth and experience.

Orange and Blue Review

Well, only a few of my pictures from the game came out since my camera is just a simple point-and-shoot deal and not a professional setup where I can adjust brightness and color. I also got home late last night so I haven’t been able to see all the coverage from ESPN that I recorded, but I have seen some. I can just tell you a few quick impressions from the game.

The Crowd

It was a record crowd, at over 61,000 for the spring game. If you’re wondering why the crowd didn’t react to what the GameDay guys were saying despite hearing their voices echoing through the stadium at times is because you couldn’t hear them that well in the stands. Even when Chris Fowler counted off for the third pregame race and the people in the stands were quiet, it was still somewhat difficult to hear him. Despite the increased numbers, it was still a standard Spring game crowd: they cheered for only for the offenses and started filing out after halftime.

The GameDay set roughly 20 minutes before the game. As you can see, the location wasn’t conducive to a standard GameDay experience.

The Races for a Scholarship

Everyone around me in the stands wondered why Fowler only announced the final heat participants, and it appears from what the TV guys yakking with Urban Meyer said is that they saved the fastest students for the last race against Chris Rainey. It’s too bad they didn’t just start that heat with a whistle because though Rainey would still have won, the students in it did look pretty fast. It did worry some people that Louis Murphy didn’t win by much, but we gave him a pass since he’s been bothered by an ankle sprain this Spring.

Who’s red shorts? I gotta recruit red shorts to come play.

The Passing Game

It didn’t look much like anything we’ll see this Fall since so many guys like Percy Harvin and Cornelius Ingram were out. Tim Tebow is clearly better than Cam Newton still, which makes sense and all but the gap is unsettlingly large. Newton’s nadir was rifling a pass intended for 5′6″ Brandon James about 9 feet high. Still, he’s big (looks like he’s been on the JaMarcus Russell diet this winter), and we’ll see him carrying the ball to pick up tough yards so Tebow won’t have to. All you need to know is that despite the teams having roughly equal receivers, Tebow threw two interceptions and still had the blue team up 28-0 in offensive points by the end of the third quarter.

If the game is any indication, we’ll see a lot of roll outs, sideline patterns, and Riley Cooper on the slant route. Until everyone gets back, though, we won’t know what the total picture will be. I do have a hunch though that we’ll see a ton of Harvin.

Florida may have the rattiest no-contact jerseys in the country. Tebow’s and John Brantley’s have the numbers fading off the front, and here you can see Newton’s with a hole.

The Running Game

Based on who played and for how long, the depth chart here something along the lines of:

1. Kestahn Moore
2. Rainey
3. Mon Williams
4. James
5. Emmanuel Moody

James and Moore started for the orange, and Rainey and Williams started for the blue. Moody then replaced Moore in the orange’s rotation.

As I understand it, the game was a microcosm of Moody’s spring: it began slow, got better, but was marred by putting the ball on the ground. I think we can all give the “Yeah, but we got Moody” talk a rest for a while. Moore will almost certainly start the opener against Hawaii, and Williams will be able to get some tough yards up the middle.

What I didn’t get was rushing Rainey up the middle. We saw Meyer run James up the middle some last year too, and I can’t understand having undersized speed guys go between the tackles. Sure it’s unexpected, but that’s because it’s a bad idea. Rainey will be at his best on the edges in a Harvin-like role. And he will be very, very good.

The Defense

You never get to learn anything about the defense as a whole in the spring game since they can’t go after the quarterback full-on and there’s a lot more rotating of guys than normal. Carlos Dunlap has gotten a lot better, having added some technique to his natural skills, but it’s hard to say too much more.

So, I’ll just say how funny it was to see Tebow lay out Major Wright on Lorenzo Edwards‘ interception return. What you couldn’t see on TV was Wright tugging at Tebow’s sleeve after the play, evidently trying to remind him that it doesn’t just mean that he can’t be hit but that he shouldn’t be hitting other people either. He then got quite a lecture from Dan Mullen, more than what you saw on TV.

A coach’s nightmare: the returning Heisman-winning quarterback in his no-hit jersey winding up to lay out the hard-hitting starter at free safety in the spring game.

Special Teams

Chas Henry has a monster leg now. If he can be consistent, he’ll be a humongous asset in the field position game.

Caleb Sturgis definitely has a big leg, but he’s got to find accuracy. Jonathan Phillips will probably be the kicker to begin the year, but Sturgis will almost certainly do the kickoffs.

Overall

No serious injuries, and everyone had a good time. You really can’t ask for much more out of a spring game, especially when you get 4 hours of free publicity on ESPN while you’re at it.

In Gainesville This Weekend

I will be in Gainesville this weekend, visiting family and friends and of course, attending the Orange and Blue game. I’ll try to get some good pictures to share.

I’ll be interested to see the progress of Urban Meyer’s prized Gateway of Champions, as detailed by Pat Dooley at the Gainesville Sun. Apparently it’s all covered over and will remain as such until its done, but that’s somewhat of an improvement over the random steel girders blighting the southwest corner of the stadium last fall. It apparently will contain a large alligator near the entrance with the names of every player from the 1996 and 2006 national title teams on it. That brings up two questions:

1. Will Marcus Thomas‘ name be on it? (guess: no)
2. Will they put the names on it like a tag cloud where the most important players’ names are the largest?

My guess on #2 is also no, though it’d be awesome if they did. It would start one of the all-time great discussions/arguments/flame wars in Gator football history. The biggest name for 1996 obviously would be Danny Wuerffel, but for 2006 I’d put Reggie Nelson’s name as the biggest, followed closely by Jarvis Moss.

Never underestimate the importance of Jarvis Moss to the 2006 team.

If you can’t make it to Gainesville, you can watch it on ESPN at 1pm. GameDay will be there, and the first hour will be on from 11-noon on ESPN2 and the second hour is from 12 -1 pm on ESPN.

I’m looking forward to the Race for a Scholarship; it’s not that I think some random kid will beat Louis Murphy, Chris Rainey, or Deonte Thompson in a footrace, but to see just how badly three highly motivated speedsters smoke 15 regular college students. It’s too bad Percy is hurt, but the tradeoff is we get to see Rainey or Thompson go (who we otherwise wouldn’t) after not getting to see much of anything from them last year.

Capital One Bowl Wrapup

The Capital One Bowl - What’s left in your wallet?

After last year’s national title game, many people attributed Florida’s win to the Gators having “SEC speed.” While that was true to a degree, Florida was the more physical and aggressive team. I just watched most of the game DVD last week, and that fact was easy to see.

I bring this point up because Michigan dominated Florida on both sides of the ball today. Florida’s defensive line, which punished Ohio State last year, looked like a collection of linebackers going up against the Wolverine offensive line. Florida’s offense couldn’t figure out a way to pick up the blitz. The secondary played terribly as usual, but you knew that was coming. The physicality of Michigan won them this game. It’s rare to see a team completely push the other around and lose.

Urban Meyer gave some very accurate analysis in the postgame press conference. According to the AP, he covered the basics: “Florida didn’t give Tebow much time to throw, couldn’t get pressure on Henne and failed to cover Michigan’s receivers.” It’s just what I was mentioning - Florida couldn’t pick up blitzes all year, Florida never got any push up the middle all year on defense, and the defensive secodary was a sieve all year.

He was quoted as saying, “I don’t think we coached very well in certain areas,” and that’s for sure. The answer to the blitz on offense was to have usually Louis Murphy (who’s a twig compared to most linebackers) come back and block and still run slow-developing pass plays. Kestahn Moore is a much better blocker, but more often then not he was lined up way out by the sideline when he was in the game.

We also saw a return to the Tebow-Harvin tunnel vision offense. Only two rushes in the game were by someone other than those two guys (Moore, 2 rushes for 9 yards). Harvin also had as many receptions as the rest of the receiving corps combined, and more if you throw out Chas Henry’s completion to Aaron Hernandez. I realize that those guys are the two best players on the offense, but there’s more than enough talent on the offense for the ball to get spread around more than that. On defense, we constantly saw a linebacker on the slot receiver, which makes no sense in any situation.

Michigan for its part appeared to go with Auburn’s game plan. Florida’s defense this year was one of the worst open-field tackling squads in the country, so Chad Henne spent most of the game throwing slants and screens. When you know that the first guy is going to miss and the second guy might not arrive until 20 yards later, there’s no reason to try anything riskier. On defense, it was blitz on any 4 or 5 wide receiver set on second or third down. With the Gators never doing anything to make them pay for sending an extra guy or two, it made for a great strategy.

In some ways, Florida was fortunate that it was such a close game. After all, Mike Hart lost two fumbles just short of the goal line, and he had lost only one fumble in the rest of his four year career. Those would have been touchdowns in any other game. Now, some Florida fans might counter with complaints about questionable officiating, but that’s a red herring. The Gators had a four point lead with 5:36 to go. In those final five and a half minutes, Michigan outscored Florida 10-0, and the Gators could only muster 4 yards on 8 downs.

In the end a senior-laden, hugely physical team beat a very young, smaller team. Last season, Urban Meyer preached that he wanted to have the most physical team in college football, and he just may have had it based on the national title game. That toughness was missing this year for a lot of reasons. It’s now time for everyone to learn some lessons, have the young players to get some bulk and technique in the offseason, and get ready to come back ready to blow the doors off Hawaii on Labor Day weekend.

June Jones’ Comments about Tim Tebow

First, a video:

Jones went on to clarify his remarks here.

This is my interpretation of what happened:

June Jones finally got a chance to do a live interview on ESPN during a time when people on the East Coast are still awake and watching. He wanted to make the best case he could for his guy, Colt Brennan, to win the Heisman Trophy, so he did what everyone else has done in 2007: put Brennan in terms of Tim Tebow. He compared his guy to the front runner for the award and said Brennan is better. How he made that case was from the start bound to cause confusion.

You see, in the college football world, the spread offense is commonplace and there’s nothing unusual about it. It is considered to be a normal part of the landscape. June Jones however is first and foremost an NFL guy, so when he evaluates football he looks at both the NFL and college. The spread has not been tried in the NFL, so for him it goes alongside the triple option, the Nebraska power option, and other college-only systems. For an NFL guy, an offense has to work in both college and the NFL to be a valid offense and not a “system” that manufactures good stats due to scheme rather than talent and technique of the quarterback. Because of this mindset, Tim Tebow is a “system quarterback” for running the spread.

Now, June Jones implemented the Run & Shoot offense at Hawaii, which he also ran in the NFL while coaching the Atlanta Falcons from 1994 - 1996. His argument is that because Colt Brennan has proven himself in Jones’ NFL offense, then Brennan could run any offense and therefore is a better pro prospect than Tebow is. Also, because Brennan is the better pro prospect, he is plain and simple a better quarterback and should win the Heisman Trophy. Remember: in an NFL guy’s mind, anything that is NFL-related is automatically better than anything solely college-related. Tebow runs a college-only scheme, so he is not as good as the pro-offense running Brennan.

There are two glaring problems with Jones’ statements, though. First, he says Tebow is not a natural passer due to a lack of accuracy and not being able “to make all the throws” required by his offense. I find it overwhelmingly unlikely that Jones has had time to break down tape on Tebow, and due to time zone differences and just plain being busy because he’s a coach, its just as unlikely that he’s seen Florida play a full game. He’s probably only seen highlights of Tim’s play. That’s unfortunate because the majority of his highlights this year are of his runs, not his throws, because it’s his running style that makes him unique from any other QB. If Jones had seen Tebow play all year, he’d know that Tebow has made every throw in the book, from screen passes all the way up to 50-yard bombs. He’s stuck on the old “Tebow can’t throw” theme, and he hasn’t had the chance to see enough of Florida to know it’s not true.

The “inaccurate” comment is completely inexcusable when it’s easy to look up that Tim Tebow has a better passer rating than Colt Brennan himself does. Plus, Tebow faces much more difficult defenses week in and week out. Boise State and Hawaii going to a BCS game in consecutive seasons does a great job at disguising the fact that the rest of the WAC is really, very, extremely, deplorably bad. Take out the top two and you’ve got the Sun Belt west.

The second glaring weakness is his implied assertion that the Run & Shoot is a legit NFL offense. As far as I can tell, only two teams actually ran it in the NFL: the early 1990s Houston Oilers and Jones’ Atlanta teams. Other franchises have done no-huddle or other fast-paced schemes, but those two teams are it for the actual Run & Shoot. Those teams never made it to even a conference title game much less the Super Bowl, and the offense hasn’t been used again since Jones’ firing by Atlanta due to it not employing the running back enough. Jones’ final NFL record was 19-29. At best, the Run & Shoot was an experiment run by two head coaches (Jerry Glanville and Jones) that was discredited for a lacking a sufficient running game and not having enough blocking. In other words it’s no West Coast Offense, something that has been employed in the NFL consistently for more than 20 years.

Jones did backtrack from his initial comments some, saying that Tebow is a great QB who will likely win the Heisman and probably a national title as well. However, he continued, Tebow is productive by doing things that can’t be done in the NFL, whereas his guy Colt Brennan is the “best passer in college history.” While that’s true if you look at the record book, Jones should also look at the guys Brennan has been passing up: Andre Ware, David Klingler, Kliff Kingsbury, B.J. Symons, and the like. Owning records in college is an awful predictor of NFL success, especially when you consider that Jones’ and Brennan’s Run & Shoot is what Ware, Klingler and (more or less) Mike Leach’s Texas Tech guys (Kingsbury and Symons) ran in college. You should also note that when pressed on the issue, Jones bases his evaluation of Tebow more on how Alex Smith is performing with the 49ers than anything Tebow has actually done at Florida.

In the end what we have here is someone seeking to promote his player by denigrating another. We also have an NFL supremacist taking a shot at the spread offense, despite the fact that his own “pro-style” offense hasn’t been run in the NFL for over a decade. We also have someone asking for 70+ points to be scored on him come August 30, 2008. Perhaps when Tebow levels his linebackers, June Jones will understand why Tebow is such a special player as a runner. And maybe, just maybe, as he watches Tebow connect with Percy Harvin on a 70 yard touchdown pass he’ll realize a year behind the rest of the country that hey, this kid can throw after all.

UPDATE: Tebow responds with humor, Jones backtracks, and Bob Griese talks some sense.

Gators Pregame: Georgia

Pregame Jaws

Florida is 18-9 in the eighth game of the season, though that is mostly because of the 1980s. From 1990 on, Florida played Georgia nearly every year in the eighth game, and being aware of the streak as we all are, that means the losses were 37-17 in 1997 and 31-24 in 2004 at the hands of Georgia.

In the ‘80s, though, UGA and Auburn took turns beating up on the good guys. In 1980 is was UGA 26-21; in 1981 it was Auburn 14-12; in 1982 it was UGA 44-0; in 1983 it was Auburn 28-21; in 1987-89 it was Auburn again 29-6, 16-0, and 10-7. Fortunately, we got our revenge in 1990 to the tune of 48-7.

Urban Meyer Fanfare

Urban Meyer is 4-2 in the eighth game of the year. At Bowling Green, he lost to Miami (Ohio) 24-21 in 2001 and beat Kent State 45-14 in 2002. At Utah, he lost to New Mexico 47-35 in 2003 and beat San Diego State 51-28 in 2004. At Florida, he’s defeated Georgia twice, 14-10 and 21-14.

Orange and Blue

Colors are very important in this game due to the split stands. It is always a cool atmosphere when half the stadium is orange and blue and the other half is red and teal. Teal? Yeah, you know, the color of the empty seats after Georgia fans have already started leaving early again.

Men of Florida

I’m going to say that the Men of Florida for this game need to be Kestahn Moore, Percy Harvin, Jarred Fayson, and Brandon James. Those four guys need to step up and give the Gators a running game other than Tim Tebow. Tebow will still get his carries, but they need to be effective when called upon to lighten his load and get positive yardage. Georgia’s defense can be somewhat suspect at times, so a balanced and unpredictable attack will help Florida out tremendously.

Chimes/Alma Mater

The tradition of having this game in Jacksonville goes back many, many years. Long before I or my parents were even around. It is a unique atmosphere to have a regular season rivalry game at a neutral site, and only three such games exist – Florida/Georgia, Oklahoma/Texas in Dallas, and Army/Navy in Baltimore. If you have never been, it’s something you need to see at some point.

It’s a shame more schools don’t do it, because of what a tremendous weekend it is. FSU and Miami fans show up every year because of how great the experience is. It’s something every school should do, even if temporary, because it makes the game a lot more fun. I wouldn’t want to do a neutral site for every game, of course, but once a year it makes for an incredible weekend.

Boys March

The Gators had better be marching up and down the field on offense tomorrow. Georgia has almost nothing left at tailback besides Knowshown Moreno thanks to injuries, so that means the passing game will be important. As in consistent as Matt Stafford has been in the deep passing game, he is very good at the intermediate passing game and that’s precisely what the Florida secondary gives up willingly in its frustrating soft zone scheme. I expect to see a lot of blitzing from Florida to try to make Stafford throw it before he has a chance to get comfortable and find his intermediate routes.

Gators Spell Out

G: Georgia Fans

There are precious few things funnier in this life than Georgia fans on Florida-Georgia weekend. Before the game, you can see the young men in their atrocious red polyester pants and dated moptop haircuts and the older fans barking at anything orange and/or blue and saying things like “Hunker down Daaaaawgs!!” which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense as a cheer. After the game – after yet another loss – they can’t make eye contact with anything orange and/or blue and have even been known to ask in a taunting voice “Why didn’t you beat us by more?” Priceless, I tell you.

A: Andre Caldwell

I know I’ve used him before in this spot, but his reemergence last week was a huge even for the offense. When he’s fully healthy, it’s like having another Percy Harvin on the field. He was a revelation in Lexington. It’s hard to stop either Andre or Percy, but having them both borders on unfair. If he can stay healthy the rest of the year, Florida will be in excellent shape on offense.

T: Tim Tebow

This is his chance to shine. After Matt Ryan lucked out last night by getting to play against the worst prevent defense ever seen, Tebow needs to answer in a big way to preserve his lead in the Heisman race. Florida is the featured 3:30 CBS game, and people naturally watch this game because it’s Florida-Georgia and everyone likes the wide shots of the split stands and all that stuff. It’s time to lay a historic smackdown to put Ryan in his place, and also because it’s Georgia, and they deserve it for being Georgia and having 50+ year old people barking at children in the parking lot.

O: Offensive Coordinators

Florida fans have been up and down on Dan Mullen throughout this season, and Mike Bobo has been very hit or miss with his play calling in this his first full season of calling plays. Bobo is one of the few Bulldog quarterbacks not yet over the hill who has known what it’s like to beat Florida as he did the trick in his senior season in 1997. Mullen has yet to lose to UGA in two tries, and his game against Kentucky showed a lot more diversity in play calling; he’s definitely more comfortable with Caldwell out there. No doubt that whichever team loses, its offensive coordinator will be second-guessed for weeks.

R: Running Backs

Georgia has one good one left (Moreno), and there’s talk that Mark Richt might burn the redshirt off the back of prized freshman Caleb King since he’ll be dressing out for the first time this season. Florida has only one medium-sized or larger back (Moore) and behind him are three small speed backs (James, Chevon Walker, Chris Rainey). If any of these guys can get something going it will be a big coup for his team so it won’t have to rely on only passing/QB rushes the whole game.

S: Stafford, Matt

Which Matt Stafford will show up? The one who lit up Oklahoma State, or the one who couldn’t move the ball on Tennessee’s awful defense? Florida has been reasonably good at stopping the run this year, so Georgia’s big chance to move the ball is housed in Stafford’s unusually large right arm.

Suwannee

It is actually the St. Mary’s River that separates the two states participating in the contest tomorrow. It’s brackish, tea-colored water is something I know well since I have an aunt and uncle who have a house close to it. That house is where I will be staying this weekend, as with most Florida-Georgia weekends. So, after around noon today when I leave to head up there with my family I will be without Internet and even cell phone signal for much of the weekend. Nothing further will be posted until Sunday afternoon at the earliest.

Tunnels

Florida has the obvious advantage among the offenses, but Georgia’s defense is much better statistically. Statistically good defenses haven’t prevented Florida from being in every game this year, and Georgia has yet to face an offense quite like Florida’s. Florida’s defense has been suspect at best for most of the year, but as long as Georgia doesn’t run quick slants all game then the D should be fine. It will probably end up close, as Meyer’s first two UGA games have been, but I will be surprised if Florida loses. Georgia just doesn’t have the talent that Florida does.

Yes, I really will be without Internet all weekend. If you leave  a comment, it won’t show up until Sunday because I manually approve all comments since too much spam makes it past the filter. Don’t let that stop you from leaving a comment though. Stay safe, and Go Gators!

Gators Pregame: LSU

Pregame Jaws
Florida is 22-5 since 1980 in the 7th game of the season. In 1988, Florida lost to Vanderbilt 24-9, the last time that’s happened. In 2002, Florida lost to LSU 36-7; in 2004 it lost to Mississippi State 38-31 in the game that cost Zook his job; in 2005 it lost to LSU 21-17; and in 2006 it lost for the only time to Auburn 27-17.

Urban Meyer Fanfare
Urban Meyer is 4-2 in the 7th game of the season as a head coach. At Bowling Green, he beat Akron 16-11 in 2001 and Ball State 38-20 in 2002. At Utah, he defeated UNLV 28-10 in 2003 and 63-28 in 2004. At Florida, he has yet to win the 7th game of the season, falling to LSU 21-17 in 2005 and to Auburn 27-17 in 2006. In both of those cases, it was the last game before a bye week; this year it’s the first game after the bye week. Urban Meyer is 22-2 as a head coach when he has more than one week to prepare for a game.

Orange and Blue
This game would be one of the few times where it is not just acceptable but recommended for Florida fans to wear orange to the game since they are in Big Blue country. I doubt it’d ever happen, but it would be pretty cool if a bunch of Gators invaded Lexington wearing orange to create a nice orange and blue effect in Commonwealth Stadium.

Men of Florida
We haven’t had to see the Men of Florida deal with back-to-back losses in a while, and the bulk of this team has not dealt with it yet in college. Urban Meyer promised the team would come out smokin’, but will that happen? The Wildcats’ 99th ranked pass defense should be accommodating, but the 27th ranked pass defense will have something to say about that.

Chimes/Alma Mater
Florida will be playing with a heavy hear following the deaths of Michael Guilford and Joe Haden’s girlfriend in the unfortunate motorcycle crash. I’m sure it will be good for the team to get out of Florida for a bit and get back to playing to help get their minds off of it. It will be an emotional game for the team, and it will be emotional for them the next time they play at the Swamp where there will undoubtedly be a tribute.

Boys March
For the first time in a while all of Florida’s receivers are healthy. That would generally indicate the chance to throw the ball down the field, but Kentucky will probably play zone to prevent those from working. That means a steady diet of Moore and Tebow rushing with Harvin and Ingram over the middle should work well. Then, if the Cats adjust to that, the longball should be wide open.

Gators Spell Out
G: GameDay
Today is the first time College GameDay has ever visited Lexington, and the fans are out in full force. Kentucky is not your standard nouveau riche football program like USF where the fans are just trying to imitate the big boys. Kentucky has the craziest basketball fans in the world, and they can just move over to the football stadium and be some of the craziest football fans in the world. Especially since UK could sell out the football stadium if they put some hardwood down and played the Wildcats’ SEC schedule there.

A: Andre Woodson
One of two Heisman trophy candidates in the game, Woodson must have a great game from the QB spot to win. He must be able to avoid pressure, should it get to him, and avoid costly interceptions and bad plays like what hurt his team in the last loss. If Woodson makes big plays and leads his team to victory, not only will his team move up in the polls, but he’ll become a permanent fixture in the Heisman race for the remainder of the season.

T: Tim Tebow
One of two Heisman trophy candidates in the game, Tebow must have a great game from the QB spot to win. He must be able to avoid pressure, should it get to him, and avoid costly interceptions and bad plays like what hurt his team in the last loss. If Tebow makes big plays and leads his team to victory, not only will his team move up in the polls, but he’ll become a permanent fixture in the Heisman race for the remainder of the season.

O: Offense
As in, you’ll see plenty of it. It’s the SEC’s best drop back passer against one of its most suspect defenses. It’s the SEC’s best running quarterback against a defense that has no idea how to stop a running quarterback. It should be a shootout for sure. First to 40 wins.

R: Rich Brooks
He looked like a dead coach walking to a lot of people just 14 games ago, but those people forgot about the sanctions Kentucky was dealing with at the time. After going 11-2 in the last 13 games, he looks like the new King of Lexington, at least until Billy Gillespie gets to playing games. Believe it or not, up at Autzen Stadium they call the playing surface Rich Brooks Field since he brought them from nothing to the Rose Bowl and built the foundation that Mike Bellotti has enjoyed during his tenure there.

S: Soreness
Kentucky has it, Florida doesn’t. While the Cats were getting beat up playing essentially 5 quarters against the brutal LSU Tigers, the Gators were chillin’ in Gainesville, sipping delicious cool drinks, and perhaps even cranking that soulja boy. LSU wore down at the end, probably as a result of getting beat up by LSU, just like Florida wore down at the end versus LSU after getting beat up by 7 consecutive quarters against Auburn and LSU. Now it’s Kentucky’s turn, and so hopefully Florida’s defensive line will be able to flush Woodson out of the pocket at least once today.

Suwannee
Derrick Locke can really run, being a track star and all, but he did everything you’d want a running back to do. He picked up tough yards, was a decent blocker, and overall didn’t look like a 4th string track guy trying to play running back. With Rafael Little still out, Kentucky will need Locke to flow through the UF defense like a river to free up Woodson and the passing game.

Tunnels
Kentucky had a great game last week, and is definitely tougher at home than on the road. However, the Wildcats are beat up, and they can’t stop a running quarterback like Tebow. Florida is hungry, looking to avoid a three game losing streak, and looking to stay alive in the SEC East race. Urban Meyer will have them ready, and Florida should win this game.

Some Kentucky Talk

It’s been over a week since I did a post directed solely about the Gators, and that’s too long.

The opponent of this week is Kentucky, whose position in the polls has been more up and down than the Reitz Union elevator. The Cats started unranked, jumped into the polls at 21 after beating Louisville, jumped up to 14 after beating Arkansas, got as high as 8 before losing to South Carolina knocked them down to 17, but defeating LSU got them back up to 8.

By reasonable standards, Kentucky has played three games against decent or better opponents: Louisville, South Carolina, and LSU. You can argue Arkansas if you want, but the Pigs have no defense at all this year. Kentucky had the advantage of facing Louisville and LSU at home, and it won those games; Kentucky had to travel to South Carolina and lost. Clearly, Kentucky is a better team at home, as most teams are.

Well, if you look at it, Kentucky executed two exciting and memorable escapes to beat Louisville and LSU. If Louisville had any secondary at all, UK probably doesn’t win that game. If Matt Flynn played a decent game at all, LSU probably wins that game in regulation. Kentucky’s success is built on what ifs.

Now, some are saying that Kentucky has a physical defense this year. The Wildcats defense is certainly improved, clocking in at 60th and 64th in total and scoring defense. But is it a balanced defense? Stats say no - Kentucky is 27th in pass defense but 99th in run defense. That means the rushing attack that Florida abandoned in the second half against LSU is the very ticket to success on Saturday.

You can believe that Urban Meyer and his staff have figured this out. We should see a steady diet of Kestahn Moore, Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin, and Jarred Fayson carrying the ball with just enough passing to keep Kentucky honest and prevent it from just stacking the box. Rich Brooks has done a lot to improve that defense, but there’s only so much you can do in one year. For Florida to win, rushing is the way to go.

Ole Miss Wrapup

This was a classic trap game. Sandwiched between the big rival of Tennessee and the revenge game of Auburn was the worst road game of the year and it looked it. By worst, I don’t mean in terms of competition but in terms of quality. It’s a horrible trip because it’s a long bus ride from Tupelo to Oxford from the game, the stadium is small so that won’t get you amped up, and it’s hard to get excited when playing a bad team like Ole Miss. Urban Meyer was concerned about players not being ready to play, and he was justified.

Rece Davis of ESPN called it “Hangover Saturday,” and that’s what we saw. There were 14 penalties, some defensive lapses, and overall uneven play. We had receivers dropping balls and running wrong routes. The play calling was conservative, perhaps not to give much away for later, and so screens and runs up the middle ruled the day.

Now, it’s hard to find fault with Tim Tebow’s performance from a statistical standpoint, especially since he, Percy Harvin, and Kestahn Moore were the only offensive players who showed up fully ready to play (Derrick Harvey was the only one on defense, by the way). However, Ole Miss dropped 8 in coverage and Tebow took off running a lot of times when his first or second option wasn’t open. For a young player in his first year starting, that’s perfectly normal. However, it could be a concern against future secondaries, especially LSU’s.

In the end, I think everyone is just happy to get out with a win. We’ve got one more home game before the big test in Louisiana to get some things straightened out. I’m not dismissing Auburn, but those Tigers are looking a lot more tame after losing at home to USF and Mississippi State. Hopefully, with future road contests being later in the day we won’t be showing up sluggish. It’s best to put this one behind us.

Gator Pregame: Ole Miss

Pregame Jaws

Florida is 22-5 in the fourth game of the season since 1980. The Gators had a rough go of it in the ‘80s, losing to LSU 24-7 in 1980, at Mississippi State 28-7 in 1981, LSU again 24-13 in 1982, and at Mississippi State again 16-10 in 1986. The final loss was to Tennessee 24-10 in 2003.

Florida had generally played an SEC West team in the fourth game, especially LSU and Mississippi State, but in 1996 the Gators began scheduling Kentucky right after Tennessee. Perhaps they wanted to have a soft landing and avoid any post-UT letdowns. This year is the first year since 1995 that Florida has someone other than Kentucky scheduled after Tennessee.

Urban Meyer Fanfare

Urban Meyer is 5-1 in the fourth game of the year. He lost to Marshall 37-31 and defeated Ohio 72-21 while at Bowling Green in 2001 and 2002; he defeated Colorado State 28-21 and Air Force 49-35 in 2003 and 2004 while at Utah; and he has defeated Kentucky twice while at Florida by scores of 49-28 and 26-7 in 2005 and 2006.

Orange and Blue

After a really nice orange and blue effect in the Swamp last week, Florida now goes on the road to Oxford, Mississippi where it’s all red and blue everywhere. Vaught-Hemingway Stadium is where Ole Miss plays, and with a capacity of 60,850 it’s one of the smaller stadiums in the conference. Florida has had trouble in the past getting awake and ready for games here, leading to struggles and even losses, so Urban Meyer is going to make a point of getting everyone to bed early tonight and up and ready to go on Saturday morning.

The blue really did make a difference. The students went all out and it made this nice effect.

Men of Florida

Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin were the Men of Florida last week, combining early and often to torch the Vols and deliver their worst loss since Tennessee lost 44-0 to Georgia and Herschel Walker to open the 1981 season. These two will need to be instrumental in getting the offensive machine awake and rolling because as I said above, that can be difficult to do at 11:30 am local time in Oxford after getting up early and busing up for 45 minutes from Tupelo where the team stays in Mississippi.

Chimes/Alma Mater

In the middle of pregame, the Florida band always chimes the hour then plays the Alma Mater. Now, for years the band had played the Westminster chimes (think doorbell chime in a fancy house), but a few years back they decided to switch to playing Century Tower’s chimes which makes a lot more sense. Apparently, as recently as 2005 some people were still complaining that the band had switched and wanted it to go back to the Westminster chimes. If you needed any further proof that people are resistant to change…

Boys March

Tebow and Harvin will likely lead the march up and down the field again, and Ole Miss head coach Ed Orgeron had some interesting comparisons. He was an assistant at USC before being hired at Ole Miss, which is relevant because he compared Harvin to Reggie Bush. People on the Internet have been doing that since he first came here, but it’s high praise from someone who actually coached Bush. He also compared Tebow to Donovan McNabb in his prime with the way he runs and throws the deep ball.

Gators Spell Out

G: Genius

There have been a lot of theories lately about different kinds of intelligence, and if there really is an intelligence for physical activity, then Florida has a team full of geniuses. Of course, the coaching staff if highly gifted as well. Chuck Heater especially has done an amazing job with the young secondary, which is not surprising give then job he’s done since he got here. This is a very special group of Gators we have, and they’re going to be even more incredible next year.

A: Attack, Attack, Attack

There is no reason for Florida to try to do anything cutesy on offense or putter around trying to do fancy things that just stall out drives. The offense needs to attack all areas of the field and be merciless when it finds a weakness. A lot of people are feeling a letdown coming after the big Tennessee win, and with Florida’s struggles in the state of Mississippi in recent years combined with the youth of the team, that’s a legit concern. Hence: attack, attack, attack on offense, get into a rhythm, and put the game away early. Ole Miss is 104 in total defense right now so there’s no excuse for not lighting up the scoreboard.

T: Tackling

After some shaky tackling in the first two games, the Florida defense shored itself up and made tackles the first time a lot more often against Tennessee. Joe Haden especially stood out for making good open field tackles. Ole Miss only has one real offensive threat, RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis, so there shouldn’t be too many Rebels getting free in space. Florida’s defenders just need to stay at home and not overpursue, and if the tackling is where it was last week, Ole Miss will struggle to get the 17 points it scored against Vandy last week.

O: Orgeron

Ed Orgeron is the fiery head coach of the Rebels, famous around the Internet for his deep voice and southern Louisiana accent. He has been struggling to turn the Rebels program around after Ole Miss decided to fire David Cutcliffe despite him having only one losing record. Orgeron has had some recruiting success, and managed to convince prized QB Jevan Snead to transfer last year from Texas after he couldn’t beat out Colt McCoy. Some wonder whether he will even get to coach Snead next year, what with his generally poor records, but firing Orgeron would probably be unfair to him, the players, the program, and everyone on the Internet who likes to parody him.

R: Respect

Everyone talks about respect in sports, and how they don’t get any, and so on and so forth. Well, Florida had better respect this game because it’s not easy to get up for a 12:30 Eastern Time kick against a bad team on the road in a stadium that’s not intimidating at all. Rex Grossman didn’t respect it in 2002, tried to play the game while fighting a hangover, and he went 19-44 and threw some crippling interceptions to aid Ole Miss in winning. We won’t have to worry about Tim Tebow having a hangover, and Ole Miss doesn’t have Eli Manning or David Cutcliffe anymore, but still, Orgeron’s a crazy son of a gun, and I don’t put anything past him.

Things just haven’t been the same at Ole Miss since Eli left to become the all-pro quarterback with San Diego we all knew he’d be.

S: Seth Adams

After the Brent Schaeffer debacle last year, Ed Orgeron opened up the QB competition and Seth Adams won it. A former walk-on, Adams has been solid but unspectacular in completing 59.1% of his passes for 660 yards with 5 TDs and 2 INTs. Adams was knocked out of last week’s game against Vanderbilt with a sprained shoulder, and some reports earlier this week pointed to Schaeffer being the starter. With Florida likely keying on stopping BenJarvus Green-Ellis and the Rebels’ running attack, Adams will need a big game if Ole Miss is going to challenge for the win.

Suwannee

The offense against Tennessee had an amazing flow to it last week, especially the first touchdown drive where Florida went 65 yards in just three plays. It’s very refreshing after the sputtering and inconsistencies from last year’s offense. It should continue to flow smoothly this week against a punchless Ole Miss defense.

Tunnels

Ole Miss has nowhere near the talent or coaching that Florida has. The Rebels have significant weaknesses on both sides of the ball and were handled with comfort by Vanderbilt last week. There is no reason this game should be close, regardless of where it’s played. Florida should continue rolling along, putting up PlayStation numbers on the Vaught-Hemingway scoreboard. This one’s about as fair as a fight between Mario and a goomba.

A before-and-after shot of what Florida will do to Ole Miss. Note that the 100 points that Mario earned may not be that far off from what we see tomorrow.