Random Pre-Christmas Musings

Hi, Gators. Your author finds himself at work unwilling to focus. But before I leave the office for Christmas I thought I'd say Happy Holidays to you all and offer a few random musings for your holiday weekend.

- I'm not much of a recruiting guru, but I did make it a point to watch the 4A State Championship game featuring Matt Elam from Palm Beach Dwyer and 2 of his other teammates who are headed to Florida next year. Elam had 3 touchdowns by halftime and seemingly 200 yards in the first 5 minutes. Granted, Niceville High School's defense isn't Alabama, but the kid played both ways (he had a 56 yard pick 6 return in the semi-final game) and is legit. The announcer said he's projected as a safety at the next level, but I hope he at least gets a look on offense. FYI, his teammate who committed just 10 days ago had 2 TD receptions of his own. The running back for Niceville is headed to Oklahoma. Amazing how much talent comes from Florida.

- Upon further review, beating Michigan State in hoops is not a unique feat. And we're not good.

- Texas, on the other hand, is quite good at hoops and has a very real chance to match our football/basketball title run of 2006.

- I don't ever want to hear that Gator fans are the best in the country. We're not. We're clearly better than FSU and Miami, but we can't even sell out the Sugar Bowl with a 12-1 team featuring the most renowned player and winningest senior class in school history. Remember what Spurrier said when he left Florida? Something like winning 10 games each year wasn't enough anymore. Apparently winning 12 isn't enough either.

- After Tebow broke through, we've now seen 3 sophomores in a row win the Heisman. Its gone from the award for the best upperclassman-offensive player on one of the best teams to the best offensive newcomer on one of the best teams. I think both McCoy and Tebow were penalized for over-exposure. Don't get me wrong, Ingram is a great back, but I'm not even sure he's the best in the conference. Anybody who wants to argue should go watch the Auburn game again.

- Not only has Cincy's head coach left them for Notre Dame, but their interim coach announced he's taking the Buffalo job as well. I think its anyone's guess as to whether either team shows up to play next week.

- Good luck to Charlie Strong at Louisville. With the turmoil at Cincinnati and the possibility of Syracuse or Rutgers heading to the Big 10, I like his chances to win there.

- Does anyone else really enjoy seeing Pete Carroll's program getting grilled for repeated NCAA infractions?

- Is there anything more absurd than BYU being invited to the Las Vegas Bowl?

- Speaking of NCAA infractions, poor Vandy. Even when they win they lose. They got a commitment from Aaron Rodgers' (Packers QB) younger brother only to find out that he committed during a recruiting dead period. Now there's speculation that he won't be eligible next year. If they had an athletic department instead of running everything through their Intramural Office in the student union this wouldn't happen.

Some bowl picks leading into next week-

Tonight- Poinsettia Bowl- I'll take the Utah Utes to keep the Mountain West rolling over Pac-10 competition. BYU rolled over Oregon State last night, Utes 35-Cal 23.

Tomorrow- Hawaii Bowl- Nevada plays SMU. Not even I will watch this.

Saturday- Meineke Car Care Bowl- Pitt plays UNC in Charlotte. For Cousin Johnny and my buddy Ricky I'm taking the Heels in their home state. UNC 27-Pitt 20.

Emerald Nuts Bowl- I love that USC is in the Emerald Nuts Bowl. They've got guys suspended, injured and under NCAA violation. But they've still got plenty of talent to beat BC. SC 33-BC 17.

Sunday- Music City Bowl- Our first chance for an SEC team to win. Kentucky has been tough in bowl games and with Clemson you just never know what kind of effort you'll get. I think Clemson has better players, but I'm taking the Kitties for the goof: UK 28-Clemson 24.

That's it for now, Gators. Enjoy your holiday and we'll talk Sugar Bowl next week.

Go Gators!

BS