Hello, Gators. I hope everyone had a great holiday season. The Report family ventured to Montana where Timmy and Percy had their first encounter with snow. I'm happy to report that we all survived and they did great, for Florida girls. Thanks again to Stumpy Harris, who has a PhD in Gator, for allowing us to enjoy Big Sky.
This is the last report on the season and I intentionally took some time between the bowl games before I wrote this because I didn't want to overreact to any of results. I know you all look to me as your voice of reason and overall moral compass, and that is a weighty responsibility I take very seriously. So, here goes-
- We sucked ass on the field of the Super Dome. Gainesville High School might have given the Ville a better game. I'm not sure why we didn't want to be there, but clearly we were more interested in getting back to Bourbon Street than finishing the year strong. I knew we were in trouble when I started reading all the quotes about the players spending their nights bonding in the hotel. That was clearly bullshit as anyone has ever been to the Big Easy can attest. So either they were sneaking out, or the coaches were just lying. You pick. The offense's woes weren't surprising. We haven't been good all year. I thought we got away from the run way to early and didn't let our best offensive players (Gilly and Driskel) do what they do best: run. Sure it would have been predictable to start the game off with 2 runs, but predictable won us 11 games. Instead, we threw a bad pass after 4 weeks of downtime to a receiver who hadn't played in months, and found ourselves down 7-0. We'd been down before so I wasn't worried, but when Teddy Bridgewater did his best Charlie Ward impression and it was 14-0 I knew it was bedtime. Our secondary, who had blanketed better receivers all year, suddenly couldn't cover for more than 2 seconds. Our linemen and linebackers would stuff a run and then repeatedly give up a long second or third down. Defense, in its most elementary form, is a combination of talent and effort. We had the talent, but the effort was absent. I think Coach Boom knew it, which was why he was willing to gamble with the fake field goal to end the first half and the onsides kick to start the second. But when just one player stayed to sing the traditional fight song at the end of the game, you knew that the coaches had checked out sometime during the second half as well. All in all, a putrid effort.
- Note to the Florida defense- If we're down 14 and you make a tackle for a loss, its not ok to celebrate like you're auditioning for Dancing With the Stars. How about instead trying to stop the other team from getting a first down when its 2nd and 17.
- That being said, this will give strength coach Jeff Dillman plenty in terms of off season motivation, and at the end of the day, this game didn't matter much in terms of 2013. Sure, Louisville will get an unreasonable bump in the polls and Bridgewater's Heisman chances went way up. But for the upcoming year, I'd rather see us not start out in the Top 5 as I'm not sure we can handle the expectations and hype that would come with a 12-1 season. More on that later.
- The Championship game was a predictable laugher. ESPN spent a month hyping the chances of the Domers simply to sell commercial spots. They couldn't have honestly believed that Notre Dame had a chance against the SEC Champ. If ND played in the SEC, they probably would end up 6th or 7th in the league, if not worse. ND's biggest win was at Oklahoma, but after the Sooners were waxed by Johnny Football and the Aggies, it was clear that Okie simply lost to every single decent team on their schedule.
- Everyone is going bonkers over Musberger's remarks about AJ McCarron's girlfriend, but for me his best quote was in the second quarter: "Folks, if this was a prize fight they'd call it off." Preach on, Brother.
- Bama has obviously earned the status of being a modern day dynasty. 3 titles in 4 years in this day and age is simply unbelievable. Their facilities are unmatched and Saban is a pure winning machine. As long as he's there and they stay out of trouble with the NCAA, there is no end in sight to what they can accomplish. I think the quintessential moment of that game was when Barrett Jones almost got into a slugfest with QB AJ McCarron in the fourth quarter. The game was over and yet they're so focused on perfection they almost came to blows over a delay of game penalty. Meanwhile, their coach is about to kill a ref on the sideline for not granting a timeout. That's hunger, folks. And I frankly don't see it at that level anywhere else including Gainesville.
- Here's a scary thought- If Ohio State hadn't been on probation, they would have played Notre Dame for the National Championship. Sure, maybe some AP voters would have given Bama the title after crushing Louisville in the Sugar Bowl, but it is absurd that one of those teams could have been given the BCS title when neither would stand a chance against the Tide (or Georgia or maybe even more SEC teams). Thus is the state of college football for at least one more season until we get to the 4 game playoff. If there was any sanity in the world, next year's SEC Champ would be granted automatic status in the BCS Title game. Instead, as it stands now, the only thing that could prevent an 8th straight conference national title is a loss inside our own conference, which is widely recognized as significantly better than everyone else. Goofy.
- The only non-SEC team that could have given Bama a game in Miami was Oregon. They lost a heartbreaker to a good Stanford team but would have beaten Notre Dame by 3 touchdowns. I'm not saying they would have beaten the Tide, but it would have been more entertaining.
- The National Championship hasn't resided outside the state of Alabama since Tim Tebow and the Gators beat Oklahoma in January of 2009.
- Te'o is Hawaiian for overrated. Look it up.
- The best play of the postseason was undoubtedly Clowney's hit on the Michigan running back. If I was a running back facing South Carolina next year, I'd have some sleepless nights in the next 8 months. If Clowney sustains a career ending injury in his mandatory last year in college, I think he'd be set up well for a great lawsuit against the NFL. If the rules weren't against it, he'd be the unquestioned top pick in the draft in a few months. Truly a generational talent at D-End.
- My favorite blogger is "Outkick the Coverage" founder, Clay Travis. Travis is an unabashed Tennessee fan and had my favorite quote on the debacle that was the Tennessee coaching search- "Dave Hart (UT Athletic Director) couldn't get laid in a whorehouse with a fist full of hundreds". Classic, and dead on. The Vols ended up with Cincy's Butch Jones, who was an underwhelming 23-14 at Cincinnati. Their QB and best skill players have declared they're leaving early for the NFL draft. I predict that the long winter in Knoxville continues for a few more years.
- Charlie Strong's team looked great against the Gators and should be a heavy favorite to win the Big East next year. Seminole fans may want to enjoy this year, because if Charlie stays at Louisville he's going to be a force to be reckoned with in the ACC starting in 2014.
- The Jacksonville Jaguars decided to fire their head coach after one season and just brought on a new GM whose first act after firing his coach was to declare that they don't want Tim Tebow. Look, I know that Tebow isn't ever going to be an elite NFL quarterback and even though he won a playoff game at Denver whereas Peyton Manning could not, I know he's not in Peyton's league. That being said, one problem with living in God's Country is that we are subjected to watching Jacksonville on every. single. Sunday. Adding Tebow wouldn't make them an automatic Super Bowl contender, but it sure would have made the Jags more interesting to those of us who might become fans if he was there. Now I couldn't care less if they pick up and move.
In the first Report of the season I said I wanted to see one thing this year- Improvement. Against any measure we clearly achieved that goal. My goal for next year is escalated, I want to see us win the East. To do it, we'll have to beat Georgia. The Dawgs lose a good chunk of their defense as well as their long time D-line coach but returns almost everyone on offense save their top two receivers. They start the year at Clemson and then host South Carolina and LSU in September, so we'll know all there is to know about the Dawgs very early. We'll have to beat South Carolina again as well, who also loses a good bit on defense in addition to Marcus Lattimore, but we have to visit Columbia while they'll have a bye week before our arrival. They also have the luxury of avoiding Bama, LSU and A&M on their schedule. The rest of the East shouldn't be tough assuming we handle Vandy at home.
On offense, our line should be nasty next year with an infusion of new talent. Driskel has to stop staring down his primary receiver and has to find a new top target with the loss of Jordan Reed. One of the younger running backs has to fill the huge shoes of Mike Gillislee. Most importantly, as I've said all season, we have to have a big play threat at receiver. I didn't see one on campus this year, but maybe one of the freshmen from our top rated recruiting class will fill the void. Further, I'm hopeful that the addition of Joker Phillips at receivers coach will provide a much needed shot in the arm. Without it, we're not beating UGA next year as we won't be able to score with them.
On defense, our front 7 is being decimated by graduation and early departures. I'm very happy with our young D-ends who played this year and hopefully Ro-Po can return and be the player that we've always thought he could be. I'm very comfortable with Antonio Morrison replacing Jelani Jenkins, but question marks remain at the other two linebacker spots. We also have to replace the best player on this year's defense, Matt Elam. We've recruited very well in the secondary, but All Americans are tough to replace.
On special teams, Caleb Sturgis might be the best kicker we've ever had, and certainly was from long distance. Finding his replacement is crucial. I go back to playmakers as we haven't had a consistent threat on punt returns and kickoffs in a long time. And no, I don't count Debose. Again, we'll have a great recruiting class that should add talent to the special teams units.
Early on, I'm setting the bar at 10-2 next year but we can't lose a third year in a row to Georgia. I'd caution against setting expectations higher as we don't have elite skill players and our QB isn't accurate enough to be great without some help at receiver.
Enjoy the time off, Gators. It was a very good year and next year is going to be a fun schedule. I'll be back in late August to kick off 2013 but until then, thanks for reading and Go Gators!
BS
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Friday, December 21, 2012
Happy Holidays
Happy Holidays, Gators. With just 3 hours left in the work week before Christmas, I find myself in need of a distraction. Its not that I'm not terribly busy, its just that I'm terribly disinterested and that makes for sloppy work. So that means I'm in a perfect mindset to make my bowl predictions! Here we go-
Sugar Bowl- Your 11-1 Gators will face Coach Strong and the Big East Champs from Louisville. I only have watched the Ville in bits and pieces this year but they're definitely athletic and their roster is full of talent from Florida. You know that they're fired up to have their coach staying with them and will put out a great effort to topple the Mighty Gators from the SEC. With that said, I love everything I'm hearing out of our camp. Players and coaches sound focused and determined to get 2013 off to a great start. There's no question that you can build momentum into the offseason with a bowl win (see last year's Gator Bowl), and barring turnovers I think we should win this one comfortably, which by this year's standards means by more then 3. Gators 27-Cards 16.
Music City Bowl- It really sucks when Vandy manages to win 8 games and is only rewarded with a bowl trip that consists of a 7 minute bus ride. They'll be taking on NC State who fired their coach at the end of the season. This will be a home game for the Dores which means they'll have 20,000 rabid fans murmuring "Anchor Down". We'll see if the Pack can endure that kind of pressure. Dores 24-Pack 20.
Chick Fil A Bowl- I'm always going to think of this as the Peach Bowl, homophobic chicken sandwich sponsor be damned. Talk about a kick in the shorts, LSU won 10 games and was a minute away from a possible shot at the national title and now doesn't even get a New Year's Day bowl. LSU has suspended its Aussie punter, Brad Wing, but his backup is also an Aussie so that's pretty cool. Clemson was last seen getting hammered by USC. Prepare for something similar here. LSU 35-Clemson 17.
Gator Bowl- The Dirty Dawgs from Mississippi State don't really have a signature win to speak of and it will be tough for them, I'd imagine, to get too fired up to play Northwestern. I'm guessing that the rest of the country will be like me and only watch this game if the other games at the same time are in a commercial break. Purple Cats 24-Dirty Dawgs 20.
Outback Bowl- Spurrier has to be sick over the fact that he had a once in a generation running back at USC and never could win a conference title. Beating Michigan will be fun though. Clowney says his goal next year is to win the Heisman. I think his goal should be not to get hurt so he gets drafted with the first pick of 2014. Cocks 28-Wolverines 16.
Capitol One Bowl- Again, this will always be the Citrus Bowl. Remember when Tennessee was pissed when they had to go to the Citrus Bowl? Bet they'd kill to be in Orlando now. Georgia ended the season as one of the best teams in the country while Nebraska got creamed in the Big 10 title game. Georgia rolls in this one. UGA 42-Nebraksa 13.
Orange Bowl- FSU won the ACC and yet still has to feel like the fat girl without a date on prom night. This may be the most unwatchable bowl game since, well, last year's Orange Bowl. FSU 35-Northern Illinois 10.
Cotton Bowl- Johnny Football and his 10 win Aggie team gets to face an Oklahoma squad that felt hosed by not being included in a BCS game. Too bad Sooners. Next time beat one of the two good teams on your schedule. I think the most interesting thing about Manziel winning the Heisman is how he'll handle all of the accolades and scrutiny which will follow him in the coming years. I'm sure Tim Tebow could tell him that its a whole lot different after you win than before. I still say Muschamp got hosed in not winning the SEC Coach of the Year. Sure Sumlin had a great first year in the conference, but an argument could be made that it would have been hard not to win 10 games with the year that Manziel had. But I digress, this is the second best bowl game on the schedule. I'll take Johnny Football in a close one. Aggies 30-Sooners 24.
BBVA Compass Bowl- I know, but I picked all the other SEC games so I pretty much had to do this one even though it matches up two .500 teams. Ole Miss 24-Pitt 21.
BCS Title Game- I've gone back and forth on who I'm rooting for in this one. On the one hand, I'd love to see the SEC streak of national titles remain alive. On the other, if you spend 3 minutes listening to the Paul Finebaum radio show you'll come to hate the Bama fanbase with a passion. With that said, the Notre Dame fanbase is only slightly less loathed right now because they've been irrelevant for two decades. So I'll be saying Roll Tide that night. As the SEC title game proved, Bama's defense is not what its been the last few years. I think Brian Kelly is an elite coach, but I'm not sure he's got the checkers on offense to score like Georgia did. On the other side, while the Notre Dame front 7 is no joke, withstanding the Bama offensive line for 4 quarters is essentially impossible. In their one loss, A&M had to build a huge lead and hold on at the end and I just don't see the Domers being able to create enough offense to be in a position to hang on at the end. I think the Domers will come out motivated after hearing nothing but tales of SEC dominance for 6 weeks, but in the end this Alabama O line is just too good. Bama 27-Domers 20.
Enjoy your holiday, Gators. I'll be back sometime after the bowls are over to put a bow on this year.
BS
Sugar Bowl- Your 11-1 Gators will face Coach Strong and the Big East Champs from Louisville. I only have watched the Ville in bits and pieces this year but they're definitely athletic and their roster is full of talent from Florida. You know that they're fired up to have their coach staying with them and will put out a great effort to topple the Mighty Gators from the SEC. With that said, I love everything I'm hearing out of our camp. Players and coaches sound focused and determined to get 2013 off to a great start. There's no question that you can build momentum into the offseason with a bowl win (see last year's Gator Bowl), and barring turnovers I think we should win this one comfortably, which by this year's standards means by more then 3. Gators 27-Cards 16.
Music City Bowl- It really sucks when Vandy manages to win 8 games and is only rewarded with a bowl trip that consists of a 7 minute bus ride. They'll be taking on NC State who fired their coach at the end of the season. This will be a home game for the Dores which means they'll have 20,000 rabid fans murmuring "Anchor Down". We'll see if the Pack can endure that kind of pressure. Dores 24-Pack 20.
Chick Fil A Bowl- I'm always going to think of this as the Peach Bowl, homophobic chicken sandwich sponsor be damned. Talk about a kick in the shorts, LSU won 10 games and was a minute away from a possible shot at the national title and now doesn't even get a New Year's Day bowl. LSU has suspended its Aussie punter, Brad Wing, but his backup is also an Aussie so that's pretty cool. Clemson was last seen getting hammered by USC. Prepare for something similar here. LSU 35-Clemson 17.
Gator Bowl- The Dirty Dawgs from Mississippi State don't really have a signature win to speak of and it will be tough for them, I'd imagine, to get too fired up to play Northwestern. I'm guessing that the rest of the country will be like me and only watch this game if the other games at the same time are in a commercial break. Purple Cats 24-Dirty Dawgs 20.
Outback Bowl- Spurrier has to be sick over the fact that he had a once in a generation running back at USC and never could win a conference title. Beating Michigan will be fun though. Clowney says his goal next year is to win the Heisman. I think his goal should be not to get hurt so he gets drafted with the first pick of 2014. Cocks 28-Wolverines 16.
Capitol One Bowl- Again, this will always be the Citrus Bowl. Remember when Tennessee was pissed when they had to go to the Citrus Bowl? Bet they'd kill to be in Orlando now. Georgia ended the season as one of the best teams in the country while Nebraska got creamed in the Big 10 title game. Georgia rolls in this one. UGA 42-Nebraksa 13.
Orange Bowl- FSU won the ACC and yet still has to feel like the fat girl without a date on prom night. This may be the most unwatchable bowl game since, well, last year's Orange Bowl. FSU 35-Northern Illinois 10.
Cotton Bowl- Johnny Football and his 10 win Aggie team gets to face an Oklahoma squad that felt hosed by not being included in a BCS game. Too bad Sooners. Next time beat one of the two good teams on your schedule. I think the most interesting thing about Manziel winning the Heisman is how he'll handle all of the accolades and scrutiny which will follow him in the coming years. I'm sure Tim Tebow could tell him that its a whole lot different after you win than before. I still say Muschamp got hosed in not winning the SEC Coach of the Year. Sure Sumlin had a great first year in the conference, but an argument could be made that it would have been hard not to win 10 games with the year that Manziel had. But I digress, this is the second best bowl game on the schedule. I'll take Johnny Football in a close one. Aggies 30-Sooners 24.
BBVA Compass Bowl- I know, but I picked all the other SEC games so I pretty much had to do this one even though it matches up two .500 teams. Ole Miss 24-Pitt 21.
BCS Title Game- I've gone back and forth on who I'm rooting for in this one. On the one hand, I'd love to see the SEC streak of national titles remain alive. On the other, if you spend 3 minutes listening to the Paul Finebaum radio show you'll come to hate the Bama fanbase with a passion. With that said, the Notre Dame fanbase is only slightly less loathed right now because they've been irrelevant for two decades. So I'll be saying Roll Tide that night. As the SEC title game proved, Bama's defense is not what its been the last few years. I think Brian Kelly is an elite coach, but I'm not sure he's got the checkers on offense to score like Georgia did. On the other side, while the Notre Dame front 7 is no joke, withstanding the Bama offensive line for 4 quarters is essentially impossible. In their one loss, A&M had to build a huge lead and hold on at the end and I just don't see the Domers being able to create enough offense to be in a position to hang on at the end. I think the Domers will come out motivated after hearing nothing but tales of SEC dominance for 6 weeks, but in the end this Alabama O line is just too good. Bama 27-Domers 20.
Enjoy your holiday, Gators. I'll be back sometime after the bowls are over to put a bow on this year.
BS
Sunday, November 25, 2012
End of the Regular Season Report: Boom's Bringing Sexy Back
What a season, Gators. Last year's 7-6 seems a distant memory now that we just completed an amazing 11-1 season against the country's hardest schedule. We won't get to play for a national title, but our four wins over 10-win ball clubs is more than Alabama, Georgia and Notre Dame's total combined. You can't say enough about the speed of the turnaround accomplished by Will Muschamp and his staff. It was a great day for a road trip, and your author is now 4-1 at Doak. Suck on that, Spurrier. My notes on the huge win-
- We owned both lines of scrimmage from the start. I said last week that I wasn't sure how we'd score without help, but that EJ Manuel was capable of having off days. Well, he had one and we took advantage. But even without the turnovers, I think we'd have won this game due to the dominance up front by both lines. Those two early stops on 3rd and 1 in the first half by our defense set the tone.
- Hats off to Mike Gillislee, our first 1,000 yard rusher since C-4 in 2004. Who knows what kind of numbers he could have put up if he hadn't been behind Rainey and Demps, but it was a great way for the senior to end his last regular season as a Gator.
- The best player on the football field was Matt Elam. He brings it on every tackle and is a menace both in coverage and on blitzes. If, by some miracle, he returns for a senior year along with guys like Floyd and Easley, this defense could be the best Florida has ever fielded.
- I got into the stadium early to watch Driskel warm up and he was obviously gimpy. But when that ball was kicked off it was like he just forgot about the pain. Other than the fumble between he and Gilly when JD tried to pull the hand off back, he played flawless. He may be a better passer on the run than in the pocket, and if we could just get him a single elite receiver and keep continuity with our offensive staff, his numbers are going to be significantly improved next year.
- The play of the game was Morrison's huge hit on EJ Manuel. I told you at the beginning of the year that this kid was going to be a future star. The impact that he hits with reminds me of Channing Crowder. You could almost see the Seminole sideline cringe and I think they were still shocked when Gilly hit the big run on the next play to put us ahead. If there's one word to describe this game I'd pick "violent". This was not a game for arm tackles on either side and the tougher team won.
- In picking FSU last week I clearly bought into the ranking of their defense and the fact that they were only giving up 70 yards a game rushing the ball. I mentioned that I wondered about their strength of schedule, but Muschamp said it best after the game- "We've run it well against everybody. We've run it well versus better defenses. They don't face many two back power running teams in their league. There's a lot of that one back stuff. So you better learn how to defend the power and the counter when you play Florida". Damn right.
- After wondering what happened to Brent Pease's offensive ingenuity demonstrated in the first half of the season, I thought he called his best game Saturday. We didn't connect on the early deep ball to Hammond, but it stretched the FSU defense anyway. I thought his call in the third quarter on 3rd and 14 with the inside screen to Jordan Reed that went for 21 was brilliant. But by the same token, what the hell was Stoops thinking on that play? If I'm going to cover ANYBODY in an obvious passing down it has to start with Reed. I give Pease credit for bringing Purifoy over to offense on a few plays, although its sad that our most dangerous wideout might very well be a defensive back.
- I was sitting with mostly FSU fans, and even they were joking at the home cooking that the refs were dealing out. That reversal of the third down catch in the second quarter where Jordan Reed was stripped of the ball 3 yards out of bounds was horrific. Was this the same crew that worked the Swindle in the Swamp back in the Zooker era? At one point we had 10 penalties to FSU's zero. Garbage.
- Two years ago I described the FSU fan base as polite and somewhat passive before the game. They were like an abused dog that just expected to get beat. But this pregame they were back in full force talking trash. My favorite was this twenty-something FSU undergrad who was walking by a UF tailgate of 60-somethings and got into a lady's face and yelled "BOOOO! I hate the fucking Gators. They're all fat and broke." Incidentally, he was carrying 3 beers stacked on top of each other and probably weighed 260 pounds. So he was fat, but apparently not broke. I know we have our asshole fans too, everyone does, but I'll never understand that kind of behavior.
- I get a kick out of Muschamp's take on our not winning "sexy". Earlier in the week he had a great line about "my wife says I'm sexy, so that's a positive". Saturday night in his postgame interview he went out of his way to point out that he's bringing sexy back. "This is a really sexy win. In fact I was going to come in here with my shirt off." Its great to see him having some fun. He's got to win coach of the year in the SEC, right?
In the 100+ years of Florida football this is just the 5th team to win 11 games. My only regret is we have to wait another 10 months to crank it up for next season.
My other notes on the weekend-
- So Maryland and Rutgers are moving to the Big 10 which means they will have 14 teams in 2014. At what point do they change the name of the conference? Do they think you have to round to the nearest 10 before you change the name and, if so, will they call themselves the Big 20 once they add one more? This is clearly a TV revenue play, and you'll see the emergence of the SEC network very soon so we cash in as well. But I think its ironic that the two top teams in the "Leaders" division of the Big 10 are ineligible for postseason play (Ohio State and Penn State). Some leaders...
- The SEC absolutely donkey-stomped the ACC on Saturday which included my boys from Vandy hanging 55 on poor Wake Forest. I think Mike Bianchi said it best: "The ACC is a league full of wusscakes."
- With the huge disparity in conference strengths, I think we should move to the European Soccer League model. Lousy teams in the best conferences (SEC, PAC 12, Big 12), should be demoted to the crappy conferences like the ACC, Big 10 (soon to be 20) and Big East. Rather than awarding the winners of those leagues with the chance to play in huge-payout bowls, they should be required to move up to the Big Boy leagues and prove themselves first. But in all seriousness, the 4 team playoff just can't get here soon enough.
- You have to wonder how long Mack Brown is going to last at Texas. They replaced their usual Thanksgiving rivalry game against A&M with TCU and still managed to lose on their home field. Its amazing how quickly they've dropped off the map after losing to Bama in the title game 3 years ago. A case can easily made that the Horns are now the 3rd or 4th best team in their STATE.
- I was listening to the Notre Dame game on my way home from Tallahassee. I had very little hope that Kiffie could do us a solid, but when they couldn't score from the 2 yard line in four tries with 3 minutes left it was re-affirmed that that team is S-O-F-T.
In terms of this coming weekend, I know there are several conference championship games but really, there's only one ballgame. Who is excited about Nebraska playing a 5 loss Wisconsin team or watching FSU play a 6-6 Georgia Tech team, both of which just got embarrassed by their SEC in-state big brother? The worst might be the rematch of Stanford/UCLA after just having watched the Cardinal handle the Bruins this past Saturday.
So I'll make just one pick this week, and that's the de facto national semi-final game of Georgia vs. Alabama. Both teams have been in this contest in the last two years so they're familiar with the setting, but they haven't faced each other since 2008. Georgia might be the hottest offense in the country and is loaded with future NFL talent on defense. Bama is coming off the largest Iron Bowl win in the history of the series. I think the two matchups to watch are Bama's O-line against UGA's D-line and Bama's secondary against Georgia's receivers. Georgia lives and dies by the big play through the air, and I don't see them making much on the ground against Bama's front 7. This will be the best offense that Alabama's seen all year, however, so it will come down to turn overs in my opinion. If Bama doesn't turn it over, I think their talented O-line will eventually wear down the Dawgs. But, if Georgia can make this a shoot out and get a few turnovers I like the Dawgs to win.
The thought of Georgia making it to the national title game is horrific even to comprehend, so I'm going to be rooting hard for the Tide on Saturday (and, subsequently, for the Domers if Georgia does get by Bama). I'm picking Bama purely on my perception that Nick Saban is an infinitely better coach than Mark Richt. Bama 27-UGA 20. Did I mention that I hate Georgia?
No matter what happens Saturday, I'm an elated Gator fan over the progress we've made this year. Sexy or not, I love the tenacity of this ballclub and just hope we can return the majority of our juniors, keep our coaching staff intact, and go find a freshman wideout or two for next year. The immediate future is very bright if we go 3 for 3.
Go Gators!
BS
- We owned both lines of scrimmage from the start. I said last week that I wasn't sure how we'd score without help, but that EJ Manuel was capable of having off days. Well, he had one and we took advantage. But even without the turnovers, I think we'd have won this game due to the dominance up front by both lines. Those two early stops on 3rd and 1 in the first half by our defense set the tone.
- Hats off to Mike Gillislee, our first 1,000 yard rusher since C-4 in 2004. Who knows what kind of numbers he could have put up if he hadn't been behind Rainey and Demps, but it was a great way for the senior to end his last regular season as a Gator.
- The best player on the football field was Matt Elam. He brings it on every tackle and is a menace both in coverage and on blitzes. If, by some miracle, he returns for a senior year along with guys like Floyd and Easley, this defense could be the best Florida has ever fielded.
- I got into the stadium early to watch Driskel warm up and he was obviously gimpy. But when that ball was kicked off it was like he just forgot about the pain. Other than the fumble between he and Gilly when JD tried to pull the hand off back, he played flawless. He may be a better passer on the run than in the pocket, and if we could just get him a single elite receiver and keep continuity with our offensive staff, his numbers are going to be significantly improved next year.
- The play of the game was Morrison's huge hit on EJ Manuel. I told you at the beginning of the year that this kid was going to be a future star. The impact that he hits with reminds me of Channing Crowder. You could almost see the Seminole sideline cringe and I think they were still shocked when Gilly hit the big run on the next play to put us ahead. If there's one word to describe this game I'd pick "violent". This was not a game for arm tackles on either side and the tougher team won.
- In picking FSU last week I clearly bought into the ranking of their defense and the fact that they were only giving up 70 yards a game rushing the ball. I mentioned that I wondered about their strength of schedule, but Muschamp said it best after the game- "We've run it well against everybody. We've run it well versus better defenses. They don't face many two back power running teams in their league. There's a lot of that one back stuff. So you better learn how to defend the power and the counter when you play Florida". Damn right.
- After wondering what happened to Brent Pease's offensive ingenuity demonstrated in the first half of the season, I thought he called his best game Saturday. We didn't connect on the early deep ball to Hammond, but it stretched the FSU defense anyway. I thought his call in the third quarter on 3rd and 14 with the inside screen to Jordan Reed that went for 21 was brilliant. But by the same token, what the hell was Stoops thinking on that play? If I'm going to cover ANYBODY in an obvious passing down it has to start with Reed. I give Pease credit for bringing Purifoy over to offense on a few plays, although its sad that our most dangerous wideout might very well be a defensive back.
- I was sitting with mostly FSU fans, and even they were joking at the home cooking that the refs were dealing out. That reversal of the third down catch in the second quarter where Jordan Reed was stripped of the ball 3 yards out of bounds was horrific. Was this the same crew that worked the Swindle in the Swamp back in the Zooker era? At one point we had 10 penalties to FSU's zero. Garbage.
- Two years ago I described the FSU fan base as polite and somewhat passive before the game. They were like an abused dog that just expected to get beat. But this pregame they were back in full force talking trash. My favorite was this twenty-something FSU undergrad who was walking by a UF tailgate of 60-somethings and got into a lady's face and yelled "BOOOO! I hate the fucking Gators. They're all fat and broke." Incidentally, he was carrying 3 beers stacked on top of each other and probably weighed 260 pounds. So he was fat, but apparently not broke. I know we have our asshole fans too, everyone does, but I'll never understand that kind of behavior.
- I get a kick out of Muschamp's take on our not winning "sexy". Earlier in the week he had a great line about "my wife says I'm sexy, so that's a positive". Saturday night in his postgame interview he went out of his way to point out that he's bringing sexy back. "This is a really sexy win. In fact I was going to come in here with my shirt off." Its great to see him having some fun. He's got to win coach of the year in the SEC, right?
In the 100+ years of Florida football this is just the 5th team to win 11 games. My only regret is we have to wait another 10 months to crank it up for next season.
My other notes on the weekend-
- So Maryland and Rutgers are moving to the Big 10 which means they will have 14 teams in 2014. At what point do they change the name of the conference? Do they think you have to round to the nearest 10 before you change the name and, if so, will they call themselves the Big 20 once they add one more? This is clearly a TV revenue play, and you'll see the emergence of the SEC network very soon so we cash in as well. But I think its ironic that the two top teams in the "Leaders" division of the Big 10 are ineligible for postseason play (Ohio State and Penn State). Some leaders...
- The SEC absolutely donkey-stomped the ACC on Saturday which included my boys from Vandy hanging 55 on poor Wake Forest. I think Mike Bianchi said it best: "The ACC is a league full of wusscakes."
- With the huge disparity in conference strengths, I think we should move to the European Soccer League model. Lousy teams in the best conferences (SEC, PAC 12, Big 12), should be demoted to the crappy conferences like the ACC, Big 10 (soon to be 20) and Big East. Rather than awarding the winners of those leagues with the chance to play in huge-payout bowls, they should be required to move up to the Big Boy leagues and prove themselves first. But in all seriousness, the 4 team playoff just can't get here soon enough.
- You have to wonder how long Mack Brown is going to last at Texas. They replaced their usual Thanksgiving rivalry game against A&M with TCU and still managed to lose on their home field. Its amazing how quickly they've dropped off the map after losing to Bama in the title game 3 years ago. A case can easily made that the Horns are now the 3rd or 4th best team in their STATE.
- I was listening to the Notre Dame game on my way home from Tallahassee. I had very little hope that Kiffie could do us a solid, but when they couldn't score from the 2 yard line in four tries with 3 minutes left it was re-affirmed that that team is S-O-F-T.
In terms of this coming weekend, I know there are several conference championship games but really, there's only one ballgame. Who is excited about Nebraska playing a 5 loss Wisconsin team or watching FSU play a 6-6 Georgia Tech team, both of which just got embarrassed by their SEC in-state big brother? The worst might be the rematch of Stanford/UCLA after just having watched the Cardinal handle the Bruins this past Saturday.
So I'll make just one pick this week, and that's the de facto national semi-final game of Georgia vs. Alabama. Both teams have been in this contest in the last two years so they're familiar with the setting, but they haven't faced each other since 2008. Georgia might be the hottest offense in the country and is loaded with future NFL talent on defense. Bama is coming off the largest Iron Bowl win in the history of the series. I think the two matchups to watch are Bama's O-line against UGA's D-line and Bama's secondary against Georgia's receivers. Georgia lives and dies by the big play through the air, and I don't see them making much on the ground against Bama's front 7. This will be the best offense that Alabama's seen all year, however, so it will come down to turn overs in my opinion. If Bama doesn't turn it over, I think their talented O-line will eventually wear down the Dawgs. But, if Georgia can make this a shoot out and get a few turnovers I like the Dawgs to win.
The thought of Georgia making it to the national title game is horrific even to comprehend, so I'm going to be rooting hard for the Tide on Saturday (and, subsequently, for the Domers if Georgia does get by Bama). I'm picking Bama purely on my perception that Nick Saban is an infinitely better coach than Mark Richt. Bama 27-UGA 20. Did I mention that I hate Georgia?
No matter what happens Saturday, I'm an elated Gator fan over the progress we've made this year. Sexy or not, I love the tenacity of this ballclub and just hope we can return the majority of our juniors, keep our coaching staff intact, and go find a freshman wideout or two for next year. The immediate future is very bright if we go 3 for 3.
Go Gators!
BS
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