FLORIDA FOOTBALL: FOOD FOR A MAN'S SOUL
Oh, Hell Yes: Gators Draw Michigan in Capital One Bowl
I admit it, I hate this team. Despise them, even.
You want to talk about entitlement culture? It’s alive and well in Ann Arbor.
Michigan, much like Ohio State, has skated by in the Big 10 conference for years. Consistently, they’ve garnered undeserved pre-season accolades. Since 2004, they’ve finished their season with two straight losses, but like a bad apple bobbing to the top, find themselves ranked in the Top 25 — sometimes in the Top 5! — each and every year thereafter.
If there’s one thing I absolutely can’t stand about college football, it’s top rankings for weak legacy teams who also play weak schedules. Getting blown out of their 2006 Rose Bowl appearance by USC should have been evidence enough for voters that Michigan can’t hang, will not hang, and hasn’t hung with top-flight competition for years. Despite that, they were still a pre-season Top 5 team in ‘07. Their defensive unit was even lauded as a strength; there were positive murmurs about the large number of returning starters, never mind that none of them were any good.
It was a year ago that Michigan fans made the same argument which Georgia fans and their head coach, Mark Richt, used unsuccessfully tonight in a bid to make it to the BCS title game; that despite failing to win a conference title, they deserved a chance to knock off #1 Ohio State for all the marbles.
Michigan fans ranted and raved that their 1-loss team was better than ours. Florida? Our Gators were written off as a weak, undeserving team despite winning the SEC and possessing a better winning percentage. I’m sure we all remember Ohio State fans trash-talking the Gators after the BCS Selection Committee went with Florida, but don’t forget that shorter period in which Michigan fans were doing the same thing. They were convinced that their team was the only one in the country capable of beating the Bucks… despite the fact they had just lost to them one game prior! The nerve!
Fortunately, voters didn’t buy it then and they didn’t buy the southern flavor in 2007, either. LSU will play Ohio State, and may God have mercy on the Buckeyes in that game. Georgia draws the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in the Sugar Bowl.
And now, we get Michigan.
I consider it a fine opportunity for some payback.
It’s the second meeting ever for the two programs. The last didn’t go so well for our Zookian Gators; it ended up being a 38-30 loss to Michigan in 2002. Incidentally, that’s the last year that Michigan finished their season with a win, and the last bowl victory as well.
I don’t miss Zook. I think it’s great for him and the Illini that they get a chance to play in the Rose Bowl. I like the coaching staff we’ve got now. I like ‘em a lot better.
This sets up very well for the Gators; it’s a mismatch in every category I can think of. Tim Tebow, ideally coming into the game as college football’s only active player to win the Heisman Trophy, should be able to easily carve up Michigan’s porous secondary for gobs of passing yards. Similarly, Florida should be able to run the ball on the Wolvies all day long, whether it’s the Baby Rhino attack or relentless Percycution.
You know Michigan fans have to be dreading this. Remember what Oregon did to them when they ran the spread? What Appalachian State did?
This is their worst nightmare. An acid-trip, purple-drank cocktail hallucination. A football portrait painted by Salvador Dali.
This could be a game in which the Gators don’t punt.
And we get ‘em in Orlando.
Obviously, despite all the things going for Florida, the game carries with it the potentially devastating penalty of endless humiliation should the Good Guys lose. Yeah, it’d be embarassing to drop our pants to these guys in our home state. Luckily, Urban Meyer is not one to let his squad walk in with inflated heads; they’ll be ready to play, hungry, aggressive, and they’ll give Michigan far more respect than I am right now.
We will not lose.
I think of this game and I literally salivate.
We’ll have lots of opportunities to break this game down over the next 30 days and change; but my knee-jerk, way-too-early score prediction?
Florida 49, Michigan 23
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21 Comments so far
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This is going to feel sooo good. Is it January 1st yet?
By daygator on 12.02.07 10:06 pm
Yeah, if Michigan can get Hart and Henne healthy they might score some points on our inexperienced defense but I can’t see Michigan keeping up with us on the scoreboard.
By Keltic Gator on 12.02.07 10:56 pm
They’re not all that inexperienced anymore. The worst was the Georgia game; they improved consistently from that point despite being dinged up and young. The defense at the end of the year is a respectable SEC defense that did not allow a blood rival to score a single TD.
By GatorPilot on 12.02.07 11:04 pm
Remember Rex was open.
By Henry Gomez on 12.02.07 11:27 pm
I love it … “Percycution”! I think they’ll really feel perycuted after this one. Maybe Mike Hart can give us one of those bug eyed guarantees for a Michigan win.
By r_gator on 12.02.07 11:42 pm
This game has all the makings of being one of the worst ever defeats for Michigan, and one where the UM fans will be glad to see the last of Lloyd Carr.
By G8RB8R on 12.03.07 1:30 am
I wonder if Michigan is going to complain about the layoff this year like OSU did last year. We all heard “they had too many days off in between games”. Same delay, albeit 6 more days for the Bucs, for Michigan. I’m just getting ready for the excuse machine to get cranked up early this year.
Face it LLoyd, if you can’t beat OSU, you’ll NEVER beat UF.
Good Guys 52
Bad Helmets 20
By urbanisagod on 12.03.07 10:46 am
“If there’s one thing I absolutely can’t stand about college football, it’s top rankings for weak legacy teams who also play weak schedules.”
Amen to that, brother! x 10 in fact! I am soooo looking forward to this years bowl games. LSU will put it on tOSU and FL will put it on Meechigan. Will seeing a recurring theme two years in a row start to change the voters minds? Actually I hope it doesn’t. Keep voting them up there, I would rather be playing as a dog than a favorite anyway. I know I have a chip on my shoulder about it and I am just a fan, I can imagine how the players feel.
Not entitlement, but on a related note, I am also looking forward to GA taking care of business with out-of-their-depth Hawaii.
By ClwFlGator on 12.03.07 3:20 pm
And Pitt didn’t have a chance against WVU…
I feel pretty good about this game, for UF…I don’t think UMich can keep scoring and keep up with the Gator offense, even if the Gator D doesn’t even show up…but I can’t help but think of the potential horror of a defeat to toothless Michigan. Frightening.
By UFGatorDMD on 12.03.07 8:36 pm
Enjoy your heaping helping of sloppy seconds courtesy of the Buckeyes!
By Tresselrocks on 12.04.07 10:59 pm
Enjoy your third national championship loss in two years!
Who said you could speak anyway? As far as I’m concerned, you’re still the property of the University of Florida.
Let me put it too you a little more clear. Buckeyes=Our B*tches
By swampchomp07 on 12.05.07 2:48 am
I’m just a little concerned how Michigan seems to own the SEC with a 19-5 record. I’m scared they will just continue to dominate the SEC as they have. Maybe Tim can stop the bleeding..lets hope we get some revenge.
By gilles on 12.11.07 11:01 pm
Gilles,
I understand your concern regarding Michigan’s domination of the SEC but I think we have a better chance since the Wolverines are distracted with the coaching situation. Also I think LSU can crush OSU as long as some key Tiger players can manage to keep from getting arrested before the game. May sound funny but with the Tiger’s as well as the Gator’s track record this year you never can be sure.
By carl on 12.11.07 11:13 pm
[…] For one, I have to admit I’m disappointed we didn’t draw a better team, despite my initial “Oh, Hell Yes” reaction. Michigan didn’t even finish the year inside the Top 25, yet here the 9th-ranked (AP) Florida Gators have drawn them for the Capital One bowl. […]
By Orange and Blue Hue » MeatChicken Musings on 12.14.07 6:27 pm
wow
By Brian on 01.01.08 5:10 pm
Looking back on this post is high-larious
Michigan 41
Florida 35
Go Blue!
By Bucky on 01.02.08 12:36 am
HAHAHAA Good game… We kicked your ### go blue
By Geordie on 01.08.08 12:17 pm
“undeserved accolades”, “weak legacy team”,
“mismatch in every category” - on the gator side.
“bad helmets” in your dreams & nightmares foverer!!!
By A2Blue on 01.09.08 11:11 pm
Yeah, we won’t forget that loss for awhile. Congratulations.
By GatorPilot on 01.10.08 12:47 am
I gotta say I came across this and this is too damn funny. This is one big joke. Bitching about a team that ends up beating you. How’s the 0-2 against the overrated Wolverines… lookin nice on this side boys. ha ha ha ha idiots
By Jokenationdownsouth on 04.29.08 10:05 pm
You talked all this shit and still lost fuck Tim Tebow and Fuck The gaters. HAIL TO THE VICTORS BIATCH
By M GO BLUE on 09.26.09 7:06 pm
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