My latest appearance on Pigskin Podcast. Counterpoint comes from Matt from Crimson & Cream Machine. Enjoy.

P.S. Florida will win the game.

The audience has spoken. Amidst the most dominating tear in the football team’s 102-year history, the hoops squad has been quiet, practically unnoticed.

At first glance, it doesn’t look as if the 08’s have made any progression toward Big Dance form, if anything, taking a step back with nonstop attrition.

As before, Florida finished a somewhat wanting pre-SEC slate with two losses. Highly promising big man Mo Speights spurned Hogtown for the City of Brotherly Love (For those wondering, he’s averaging 7.6 and 3.6 in 15 minutes of NBA action per game.)

Jai Lucas, unhappy with playing time, transferred to Texas.

Eloy Vargas and Kenny Kadjii? Hampered by injuries and conditioning issues.

But deep within the exterior of a team that, to some, seems doomed to repeat its NIT history, bright spots await. And they begin with the team’s star point guard.
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Give it up for the Utes of Utah, who stormed the Superdome and whipped Alabama, 31-17. It was an amazing performance from a double-digit ‘dog, playing the games of their lives.

The Utes looked faster, better prepared, and more physical. They were also sky-high for a game that the Crimson Tide viewed as meager consolation for the big prize.

The anti-SEC proponents are using the loss as ammunition for their relentless case against college football’s finest conference. A Mountain West team beat one of the SEC’s elite, they say. And via the transitive property, Florida — who beat the Tide by a similar-but-not-quite-as-impressive tally of 31-20 — must be overrated as well.

It’s just the familiar drumbeat of fans who are jealous and envious of the brand of football which is played perenially in the Southeastern Conference. Make no mistake about it, the loss was embarrassing. As good as Utah looked, a 12-1 SEC squad — even in a down year for the conference — should have found a way to win. And how can a squad which barely posted a winning season in ‘07 find themselves unmotivated to win a BCS bowl?

But if you’re going to tell me that Utah really is that good, and that Bama really was that bad, I’m going to fight you. Hard. Some facts:
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A marginal Big 10 team smacked the crap out of a marginal — okay, I’m being generous here — SEC team.

The victor: Iowa. 8-4 coming into the Outback Bowl, a venue which must surely favor the Gamecocks.

It was a painful 31-10 loss for South Carolina. You want to see a haunted man, who bears the weight of failure like a thousand pounds on his shoulders? Watch Steve Spurrier’s post-game press conference. And watch his eyes closely.

They contain rage, pain, misery, confusion, and the melted veneer of countless sleepless nights. The eyes of a former champion, an unbeaten spirit, and a powerful competitor… reduced to a man wandering the halls with no answers for the evils that ail him.

“I don’t know.” Count how many times Spurrier admits to being lost. He’s a head coach who doesn’t understand why his team won’t respond to his coaching, why his gameplans don’t work, why his hires don’t pan out.

The backdrop to this horror: the jarring laughter of people who will never understand Spurrier. The entire press conference felt like a freak show, with Spurrier in the center cage, taking jeers and laughs alike in exchange for his pain.

Spurrier’s answers were, at times, as awkward as Steve Ericson’s introduction.

Spurrier’s legend dies a little more every day.

I can’t hate this man. This is not the Steve Spurrier who once led the mighty Gators. This man is a shell of his former self.

Losing is eating him up, bit by bit, piece by piece.

Coach… it’s time.

In the name of all that is holy, end this tragic comedy which is your South Carolina coaching career.

South Carolina players say the 2008 Gators are better than their ‘06 championship counterparts.

WR Kenny McKinley believes the current Gators would beat the ‘06 team that routed Ohio State 41-14 for the title.

“This Florida team is a lot better than that team, honestly,” McKinley said. “They’ve got a lot of speed. Their quarterback starter Chris Leak was pretty good then, but Tim Tebow is a monster. Their defense, to me, is a lot better now.”

LB Eric Norwood said, “It’s kind of crazy, but this Florida team is a lot faster” than the ‘06 Gators. “I don’t how much faster you can get.”

C Garrett Anderson agreed and added, “They’re a bigger team and they’re very knowledgeable about what they do. They don’t mess up a lot.

“You watch most teams on film and try to scheme against their defense, and you’ll see a play where something went wrong, like two guys ran into each other. You watch Florida, they don’t do that.”

It’s easy to see why the Gamecock players favor the 2008 Gators. They nearly beat the 2006 team, falling 17-16 at The Swamp after having two field goals and an extra point blocked. This year in Gainesville, Florida thrashed Carolina 56-6.

True that. It was South Carolina’s second ‘old school’ style thrashing at the hands of the Gators in as many years.

What’s most interesting about the comparison is that the ‘Cocks lauded the ‘08 defense as better than ‘06.
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Gator Nation took it somewhat personally when Tebow was snubbed for the second Heisman Trophy he deserved. The full ramifications of how and why Tebow lost weren’t understood until sometime after the presentation, when it was revealed that 194 of the Heisman Trust’s 530 voters left Tebow off their ballots entirely. Words don’t do justice to the sheer disgust felt by many Gator fans. Even Urban Meyer was quoted as saying, “If Tim Tebow was left off of 194 ballots, there are 194 too many ballots out there.” Word, Coach. Even if all of those losers had placed Tebow at 3rd, which is still hard to fathom but at least isn’t entirely out in left field, college football’s greatest player of our era (Blutarsky calls him GPOOE^TM, which I dig) would have become just the second two-time Heisman Trophy winner in history. By leaving him off, they guaranteed that he would not win.

Denied. Robbed. Jobbed. That’s what happened. Call me a sore loser about this — sure. Call me a sore loser anytime the Gators get worked. That is clearly what happened here. Not to take anything away from Sam Bradford, who is a great quarterback and a gracious winner, but the way Tebow lost speaks volumes about how politicized this voting process has really become.

The argument of those who defend this travesty revolves around the notion that Big 12 voters left Tebow off because they had three great Big 12 quarterbacks to place: Bradford, McCoy, and Harrell. Just one problem with that: Harrell appeared on hardly any ballots, in any capacity. So bogus.

And yes, I’m driving at a point here: this team has a rallying cry, a reason to come into the championship game mad and ready show the world that their leader eats Sam Bradfords for lunch. Hell, Tim Tebow could throw Bradford to McCoy. That’s what I think.

A crystal football is worth a dozen Heisman Trophies, if not more. The real prize is earned on the field, which is as it should be. And we will see just how good Bradford is when facing a real, competent defense — something he has not yet done this season.

C/o Gatorsports.com.

We’ve accepted the gracious invite of SBNation’s Crimson and Cream Machine to exchange some inside info on our respective teams during the Holiday lull. C&C’s interview with us can be found here.

Orange and Blue Hue: Let’s start with injuries. For some reason, guys whose name starts with “Demarc” are getting injured left and right on your team. Talk about the loss of Murray and Granger and how it will impact this game.

Crimson and Cream Machine: The loss of DeMarco Murray will hurt the team a lot worse than DeMarcus Granger. Oklahoma is fairly deep along the defensive line and rotates all of their linemen. Grander was in the second wave of defensive tackles to come into the game. He’s good but not one of the best two on the team and the Sooners will just break into their depth to replace him. His loss will be significant but not nearly as significant as DeMarco Murray.

Murray is the team leader in all-purpose yards. He is a lightning fast runner, a dangerous kick returner and an excellent safety valve for Sam Bradford on passing downs. He is irreplaceable but Mossis Madu will do his best. He had an excellent Big 12 Championship Game but still has me worried just based on experience or lack of.
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Dear Urb,

Far be it from us to think ahead to the future. You know, the one that exists at some point in time after the BCS National Championship game. We know you’re dreaming of nothing other than new special teams wrinkles, offensive plays and schemes to whip our team into a frothing frenzy when they play the Sooners. Thanks for that.

But we can’t help but think about our boy, and the incredible significance of keeping him for another year. We’re talking about the best player in college football, hands down, and 25% of his career is on the line. Even more if you don’t count his freshman year, when he backed up Chris Leak.

And let’s be clear about something, Urb. We know that if the right opportunity is there, Timmy could and should take it. If he brings home a crystal football on January 8th, his job is complete. We, Gator Nation, release our favorite son to wherever his dreams may take him next. And we will support him wholeheartedly.

There’s just one thing, Urb. You know, and we know, that Timmy’s not ready to take that next leap. Not yet. And the opportunity isn’t right; not now, anyway. Despite being the greatest college quarterback in the last quarter century — and arguably among the greatest of all time — his skills don’t translate well to the NFL. He needs another year of prep so that he can get what he richly deserves: a first-round draft selection.
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