Pregame Jaws
Since 1980, Florida is 19-5-3 in the second game of the season. Three of the losses came to Miami in 1986, 2002 and 2003. The other two losses came to Tennessee in 1992 and 2004. The 2004 Tennessee game was originally scheduled as the third game, but that year’s first scheduled game, against Middle Tennessee State, was postponed due to Hurricane Francis. The three ties came in consecutive years from 1983-85, coming at USC, against LSU, and against Rutgers.
Urban Meyer Fanfare
Urban Meyer is 5-1 in second games of the year. He defeated Buffalo 35-0 in 2001 and Missouri 51-28 in 2002 while at Bowling Green. He lost to Texas A&M 28-26 in 2003 and defeated Arizona 23-6 in 2004. While at Florida, he defeated Louisiana Tech 41-3 in 2005 and UCF 42-0 in 2006.
Orange and Blue
The “Orange and Blue” you hear played by the Gator Band now is actually just the chorus to a longer version of the song that has a verse. At some point I’ll probably post the lyrics to that verse. If you take the chorus part (today’s “Orange and Blue”) literally, it is simply a song dedicated to an orange and blue flag.
Men of Florida
Last week, Tim Tebow and Riley Cooper were real men of Florida, with Kestahn Moore not too far behind. On defense, it was Derrick Harvey, Brandon Spikes, and Dustin Doe being the real men of Florida. Harvey is so far above the rest of the defense it’s startling, and Spikes and Doe could be the best linebacker tandem in some time.
Chimes/Alma Mater
In its 120 years of existence, Troy University has had six different names. It opened as the Troy Normal School, but was the Troy State Normal School when chartered by the Alabama legislature. In 1929, it was renamed Troy State Teachers College, which was switched to Troy State College in 1957. It expanded in the 1960s and was thus renamed Troy State University, and in 2004 it was shortened to Troy University. Troy has been a Division I-A school since 2001, and in the time since has appeared in bowls in 2004 and 2006. Thanks, Wikipedia.
Boys March
The Gators offense marched up and down the field last week, finishing second in yards per play with 9.44 and fifth in plays per touchdown, finding the endzone every 7.71 plays. Troy surrendered 507 yards and 46 points to Arkansas last week, and the Hogs don’t even pretend to have a real passing game. Florida’s offense should be freely flowing all over the field on Saturday.
Gators Spell Out
G: Generous
The defense last week didn’t give up many points, but it did miss some tackles and assignments. They had better not be too generous this week against Troy’s pass-happy attack.
A: Air it Out
For the first time in years, we got to see a Florida quarterback fling the ball deep whenever he felt like it, and that felt good. Urban may have been trying to prove a point about Tim Tebow’s ability to pass and knew that WKU was not going to pick those balls off, but hopefully that’s here to stay. Speaking of…
T: Tim Tebow
He didn’t get challenged at all last week, and may not be challenged that much this week either, but he’s got great touch on his longball and seems to be able to run the offense efficiently.
O: Option
Florida ran the option to some mixed results last week, and that is still jarring to see. I never thought I’d see UF run the option on a regular basis after the 1996 Fiesta Bowl, but here we are. At some point, Tebow will need to take an option himself or else defenses will just put a spy on the pitch man to negate the play. The coaches not wanting him to get hit is a nice sentiment, but he will need to run the ball through areas with defenders to maximize his potential. Maybe in conference play.
R: Returns
Brandon James is back from suspension, which should help tremendously on punt and kickoff returns. Urban said he will get some carries too. Markihe Anderson will return from a sprained MCL and will see some time, bolstering the defense. He grades out as Florida’s best corner according to the coaches.
S: Suspension
While Florida gets Brandon James back for this week, one of Troy’s starting defensive ends was suspended indefinitely. Kenny Mainor was Troy’s leading sack collector last year with 6.5 sacks. As if Florida’s offense needed any help.
Suwannee
At times, the secondary looked like a disorganized mess, similar to a saturated river overflowing its banks. It was even chaotic from time to time, and that won’t get it done in the SEC. Some of it was young players getting their first chances to play defense in the Swamp, so ideally some of that will go away now that it’s the second game. Troy will provide a challenge but shouldn’t be in contention for the game. The real test is Erik Ainge coming next week.
Tunnels
Troy likes to get up for games like this and make a statement, but Florida has too much size, talent, and coaching to lose this one. It may stay close for a while, but it will be out of hand by the end. Tim Tebow can’t possibly have as good of a game as he had last week, but if he can stay consistent despite the temptation of looking ahead to UT, that’ll be a great sign. Florida should roll and win by a score similar to the 46-26 final that Arkansas beat Troy by last week.
Year 2 