SEC Championship Edition

Good morning, Gators. Screw you, Seminoles. Having spent the better part of Saturday in the rain in Tallahassee, I feel like I can deliver a first hand account of what went down at Bobby Bowden Field (where Coach Bowden is 0-3 against the Gators). First off, let me say that in spite of the renovations, Doak Campbell Stadium remains an unmitigated shitbox. I don't know which grad of the Circus College engineered this place, but you had to walk through 2 inches of standing water just to get into the stadium. And once inside this Erector-Set from Hell, we had the pleasure of wading through several other pools of water on our way to our seats which happened to be on a level where there were no bathrooms or concessions. Vandy, let me offer my sincere apologies for criticizing your stadium earlier this year. It is a veritable Ritz Carlton compared to Doak. But I digress-

While we were surrounded with nothing but hospitable Seminole fans at our tailgate, once inside it was another matter altogether. I'm referring, of course, to the full cheer that erupted when Percy Harvin went down with an injury. Stay classy, Semi fans. Of course, all that got them was a beating at the hands of Tebow and our defense. And let me say this: The Semis got lucky. We rolled up over 500 yards of offense in an absolute quagmire. If we had a dry field I think we could have scored 60 easy.

That's 5 in a row against our once feared rivals. Legendary Coach Bowden is now 17-17-1 against the Gators and 0-4 against Urban Meyer, the first UF coach ever to beat Bowden 4 in a row. Bad news, Semis, based on what I saw Saturday you have zero, count it again, ZERO shot of breaking that streak in Gainesville next year. The FSU defense is mean, but they're slow. With a dry ball the FSU QB's would have combined for 5+ picks and their O line can't expect to run block their way to the endzone against UF. And as far as coaching goes, it isn't even close. Want proof? Go check out that fake field goal call at the end of the first half. Beauty.

But it was on the way out of the stadium that we were treated to the biggest sign of how far the once mighty have fallen. The Nole fans were chanting "Roll Tide". Unconquered my ass.

There was obviously one major negative from our game against the Noles: Injuries. Percy may be out for Bama and we have another banged up D-tackle heading into a matchup with what could be the best downhill rushing offense in the country. But before I address the Tide, let's close out the weekend first-

1. Way to go Georgia. From preseason #1 to #2 in the state of Georgia. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Mark Richt is a great coach when he's the underdog, he's clueless when the bullseye is on him. The SEC went 1-3 against the ACC on Saturday so I think its time to face facts. We've had the undisputed best conference the last several years but that title belongs to the Big 12 this year.

2. The University of Tennessee hired a guy younger than me to be their head coach which clearly signals what a failure my life has been. But if Lane Kiffin doesn't talk his dad into coming with him to coach his defense this is going to be a short term engagement. How exactly is this guy qualified again? He was the O-coordinator for USC for two years, the same 2 years where he had Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart in the same backfield. I could have coordinated that offense blindfolded using a dart board to pick plays. Does anyone actually think this kid can recruit/coach against Urban, Spurrier, Saban or Richt and win consistently? I just don't think the SEC is the place for first time college coaches.

Interestingly enough, Lane is married to John Reaves' daughter, thereby furthering the inbred relationship between UF and UT.

3. Texas is getting screwed. They beat OU on a neutral site and yet are getting passed over. Isn't this like if we beat Bama this weekend on a neutral field yet they still go to the BCS Championship game because they beat Ole Miss and we lost to them? Absurd.

4. When the ACC went to 12 teams they purposely put FSU and Miami in separate divisions under the assumption that the two would often meet in the championship game. The City of Jacksonville lost their ass on the fact that this never happened and Tampa can't be too excited that their first ACC Championship game will feature Va Tech and Boston College. Not exactly must see TV. With Florida playing at 4, it isn't like you'll get a bunch of casual college football fans there either. Maybe the Noles and Canes teams should go just to see what the game looks like, I'm sure there are plenty of tickets available.

Moving onto this weekend's game, I'm too excited to put together coherent, contiguous sentences, so here's a few random thoughts before I get to my pick-

- We've met Alabama in the SEC Championship game on 5 prior occasions. We are 3-2. We've also played Arkansas twice and Auburn once and are 6-2 overall. Bama has never played anyone but Florida. We last faced Bama in the 2006 regular season in Gainesville where we won 28-13.

- I know we went to Atlanta in 2006 and some of our players will remember what its like, but Bama played Clemson there in September, so ALL of their guys will be familiar with the stadium and the playing surface.

- Alabama scores an average of 32 points per game, we average 46. They allow an average of 11.5 points per game, we average 12.2. We've shared 5 common opponents this year. Both of us hosted Ole Miss, they won 24-20, we lost 31-30. They beat Georgia in Athens 41-30, we won 49-10 on a neutral field. We both won at Tennessee (them 29-9, us 30-6) and at Arkansas (them 49-14, us 38-7). They won at LSU in OT 27-21, we pasted them in Gainesville 51-21.

- We are the #1 ranked scoring offense in the SEC, they're #2. They're the #1 ranked D, we're #2.

- Alabama has a great kick returner in Javier Arenas, we've got one in Brandon James. Both are game changers.

- Both teams had a bye week prior to this last weekend's rivalry matchups. We played Citadel, Bama actually played nobody. You can rest assured that both teams used that time to prepare for one another.

I don't think it is going to take long to figure out how this one is going to go. Bama wins if they can move the chains by running first and opening up the deep ball second. If we give them a short field to work with by virtue of turnovers or bad kick coverage (see Tallahassee Saturday) we are in deep shit. We are further in said shit if we can't find a way to run the ball. Bama's defense is nasty. The line is anchored by 365 pound nose tackle Terrence Cody. Terrence is not easily moved. Their secondary is superb and very physical. Tebow won't get away with errant throws like he has in the past and our receivers are going to have to deal with getting knocked around on a regular basis. On offense, their tailback Glen Coffee is the real deal and his backup, Mark Ingram, is high quality as well. Both have more total yards than our leading rusher. John Parker Wilson is a senior QB who is a Jay Barker-type. Not flashy, not hyper talented, but smart. Their best skill player is true freshman Julio Jones who is the next T.O. They have a sound kicking game although their placekicker tends to kick it fairly low so I think we have a chance at a block or two, I've already mentioned their great kick returner. The stadium will be dominated by Bama fans, I'll be surprised if we have 30% of the seats. Oh, and by the way, their coach is getting close to $5M per year for a reason: He's pretty fucking good. I bet Saban will spend a lot of time pointing out that most of the talking heads on TV refer to us as the hottest team in the country and project us to play in the BCS Championship game in spite of the obvious fact that Bama is the #1 team in the country and undefeated.

In terms of our side, Percy Harvin has accounted for over 1100 all purpose yards and 16 TD's this year alone. He is "The Eraser" on offense in that he's good for over 9 yards a play and therefore covers up some of our bad plays. We have no true replacement for him and if he can't go that is a major blow to our chances. With that said, we've got the best QB in the country (seriously, after Saturday in the rain you can have all the rest, I'll take Tebow) and a clear edge in speed on both sides of the ball on what should be a fast track. I think it is imperative that we play from ahead rather than trying to play catch up and allowing Bama to drain the clock with their running game. I think the key to this game is our front 7. If they can keep Bama's running game in check I think we win, maybe comfortably. We'll probably have to cheat our safeties up to help, but that means that Haden and Jenkins are going to have to play really well on the outside. Our defense has done a great job of keeping teams out of the endzone. I expect Bama to move the ball, but if we can keep them attempting field goals rather than extra points we're fine.

With all of that said, we're winning this game. I think Bama is very good and they're capable of winning, but they don't strike me as a "special" team. Florida does. And I go back to the teams we've played in common, I think with 5 you really can start to make some valid comparisons, and I think that if we don't help them (i.e. turnovers and giving up big returns in the kicking game), this Bama O can't score enough points to get the win. I don't think an average QB and a freshman wideout can beat this D.

UF 31, Bama 20 (No Percy)
UF 42, Bama 20 (With Percy)

Other picks-

Big 12 Title Game- OU over Mizzou: 62-23, although if it snows in Kansas City this could be a lower scoring game.

ACC Title Game- BC over Va Tech: Who gives a shit, everyone will turn this off in the fourth quarter to watch the SEC game anyway.

Navy over Army: 24-21.

USC over UCLA: 45-7.

Enjoy this one Gators, it is going to be a great game. They just don't get any better than playing an undefeated #1 ranked Alabama in Atlanta for a chance to play for the national title. Go Gators!

BS