Orange and Blue Hue » The Unthinkable Happens… Again

The Unthinkable Happens… Again

OMG!

Losing to Georgia was bad. Losing to Michigan… far worse.

This is the team that lost to Appalachian State. The team I’ve picked on mercilessly. Karma’s a bitch.

Florida just embarrassed the SEC, and the ‘mo’ for the Big 10 vs. Southeastern Conference wars has swung decidedly back to the north.

Hell, Tennessee was able to beat Wisconsin, for crying out loud.

I’m having a hard time understanding how we lost this game. How our offensive line was manhandled. How we lost despite being +4 in turnover margin. How our players looked unprepared. How Michigan seemed to want it more.

How we went 4-and-out two consecutive freaking times to end the game.

One can always play the youth card, but jeez, we played horribly on both sides of the ball. I guess the Heisman Curse lives on.

Michigan commenters, and I’m sure we’ll see plenty of you guys, enjoy. Your team deserved to win and Coach Carr was able to go out in style. No excuses, Michigan is the superior team. (I just vomited in my mouth when I wrote that.) Commenting has been opened up so you can wag it in our faces all you like. We deserve it, I s’pose.

I’m probably going to take a break from blogging for awhile. Dive back into work. Spend more time with the family. I can’t really think about what just occurred because my frame of mind is… dangerous. Unstable.

I want to blame the coaches. I want to say Florida and the SEC is way overrated. I want to say that our defense is the worst I can remember seeing, and they were playing against a team that could only score a field goal against Ohio State. I’m wondering if LSU can restore some vestige of SEC pride in the championship game, or if Ohio State is licking their chops in wait for them there, too.

All that was assured is now suspect. Where once we stood on steady ground, we now find an undulating sea of uncertainty beneath us. Ugly speculation. Painful introspection.

And we get to do this for anther 9 months? Oh, joy.

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I’m not a Michigan fan (I’m an Auburn fan) but I just want to say that it’s about time you Gators learned some humility.

I also think it’s interesting that every single Florida college football team lost their bowl games this year except the one nobody thought would be in one — FAU.

Granted, FAU played against Memphis and Memphis is garbage but you have to admit… that’s a pretty strange turn of events.

Better luck next year.

Guess you need to remove that comment below your website title. The curse of the Heisman winner strikes again. I have to admit I was amazed at all your speed and your strong defense.

Early season non-conference losses,and late season losses with Henne and Hart injured…were how FL defined the Mich team…thought they would win just by showing up.
When a full-force, fully seasoned Mich team showed up, Fl was bewildered

What an embarassment to the SEC…Go Big Blue!

Michigan is our out-of-conference Auburn. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

Florida and the SEC are overrated? What are you smoking? At the time of my writing this, every SEC team but Florida has won its bowl game. The rest of the conference has done its part.

You have a point there, Lawdog.

um…….you’re not going to claim Arkansas as an SEC team now????

Every SEC team but Florida has won their bowl game so far. The “but Florida” part is what interests me. Great season, Gators…9-4!

Any time any where. The Sec will play anyone from the big ten. SO what Michigan beat florida, Tennessee beat wisconsin, ALabama beat colorado…Oh by the way,, LSU is going to beat OSU.. SO really go back to your big ten conference and get your crying towel

THE MOST STORIED PROGRAM IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL ALONG WITH N.D…..AND YOU
SNEER BECCAUSE OF APP. ST.? THEY WON BECAUSE THEIR MICHIGAN THATS WHY PLZ REPEAT THAT OVER AND OVER….

SEC overrated? Just because the Gates have no defense? C’mon, the SEC is is 6-2, with you guys and Arkansas the only slackers so far.

Of the two, the only upset was … the Gators!

Michigan’s defensive and offensive lines simply owned the Gates yesterday. And they absolutely denied Harvin the ball most of the 4th.

Florida needs help on defense, period. But this seems like a case of Michigan just wanting it more, and Henne looking like he aught to be the guy with the statue. For this game anyway.

Tough luck. The Gators tried hard, but just didn’t have it this game. Too much beef in that Midwestern diet.

You are the most arrogant homer I’ve ever seen run a blog. Take that Blue and Yellow d1ldo out of your @$$ that Michigan just buttfuhked you with and go home. Here’s to Percy Harvin getting out and heading to the NFL while he still can. Go Wolvies!

Does that dildo you refer to run on 1-AA?

Gatorpilot,

I found myself rooting for all the SEC schools (even Tennessee) to win. However, once the Michigan game was over, I was curiously undissappointed.

Yeah, you Florida fans need to learn a little humility. In everything. Sure, it’s great to be a Gator…but it shouldn’t be disproportionate to everyone else in the league.

C. A. T. S.

“Any time any where. The Sec will play anyone from the big ten. SO what Michigan beat florida, Tennessee beat wisconsin, ALabama beat colorado…Oh by the way,, LSU is going to beat OSU.. SO really go back to your big ten conference and get your crying towel”

Not every college football fan is a “conference” fan. That seems like an SEC thing. A tactic used to still be proud of something when your team isn’t doing so well. I’m a fan of a team. I also dislike several teams, such as Florida. They lost. I’m happy. I could care less who else in the SEC won or lost, as many Michigan fans feel the same way I’m sure. BTW, I’m not a Michigan fan.

We suck… Its the Tebow show all over again - One dimensional football with absolutely zero defense. Earth to Urban - You can’t hope to outscore every opponent! Get some defense and spread the ball around. here is a great article to suck on that casts a shadow on our future: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/college/gators/sfl-flspmikec02sbjan02,0,1866441.column

Well, let’s pile on now. We suck. We won 9 games and could have won 10 if not for a team giving EVERYTHING they have to send their coach out with a win. We knew our secondary was suspect, and it got exposed. Be mindful that the same thing was said in 05 when we were exposed via the pass. The next year we seemed to do a bit better. As far as the rushing game is concerned, don’t forget that we have USC’s leading rusher from 2 years ago now available for next year.

When your first line is young, the 2nd line is even younger. We were exposed by seniors going after underclassmen. That happens. However, these guys will only get better (can’t get much worse) with time. And the way I see it, we have 2 more years of the Heisman winner leading the charge.

Take your shots now, it may be your last chance for quite some time.

I hope I’m wrong but I see Meyer leaving after this next year. Especially if we have a good year. And while I see our younger players getting better, I also see us loosing some experienced seniors and I also see our incoming talent level beginning to drop off. I have always thought that Urban Meyer was only here as a stepping stone and never intended to stay with UF long enough to build anything close to a dynasty. I guess we should just enjoy our time.

And as far as the Michigan game - they did the same thing as every other loss. Its no longer any secret how to beat UF. Take Tebow out of the game with a spy, pressure and man up on the receivers, not much to it. And run the ball, with play action on our weak and undersized DB’s. (No Defense.)

Hey Moron:

Where exactly is Meyer using UF as a stepping stone to? He already turned down Notre Dame which was supposedly his lifetime dream job.

Michigan manhandled Florida yesterday. Simple - it was won in the trenches. Michigan didn’t exactly shut down Tebow who did his part with 4 TDs. Harvin also looked stellar.

The problem was on the other side of the ball. Henne played an outstanding game and carved up the UF defense. Our D cannot tackle. Period. I hope that they will get better next year, but they have not appeared to get any better as this season wore on.

I am glad that we are this upset over 9-4. It feels miserable. That is a good thing.

The good news is that Meyer is not leaving. Harvin is a true sophomore so he can’t leave (more idiot comments). They will both be back next season and Emmanuel Moody will join the offense giving the Gators a real running threat so that Harvin can play slot and wideout. Trautwine will be back as a 6th year senior to lead the young o-line. The offense will be fine.

Charlie Strong needs to teach this defense how to tackle so we can compete next season. It’s not like we play a Big 10 schedule and only have to gear up for 2 games a year!

Go Gators

Way too much over reaction in your blog.
So the Gators took a beating in a second tier bowl game! Michigan had tremendous motivation to win this game. Their seniors (12+ of them on Off and Def) had never won a bowl game, never beaten OSU and it was their hbc’s last game. It’s not like the Wolverine players weren’t talented all along. For the past ten years, the Michigan recruiting classes have consistently ranked top 10 every year!
Give it a rest …. they were a group of talented players who underachieved early in the season and got very fired up for their bowl game. We were an over confident, young team who believed the pre-game hype and got our butts kicked. IT HAPPENS!

Yeah Michigan May Have Lost To Appalachian State But What Is The Team Florida Just Lost To In The Capitol One Bowl? Oh Yeah I Belive It Was The Same Team That Lost To Appalachian State, Those Same Michigan Wolverines.

Funny to see an Auburn fan and a Kentucky fan saying that Gator fans need humility. We have done what NO OTHER school in the history of college athletics had ever done in 2006-07. It’s something to be proud of. You would be too. So next time you tell us we need humility, look in the mirror KY Fan when you’re referencing all your NCAA titles. Look in the mirror, Auburn fan, when they keep showing your kicker running down the field doing the Gator chomp after his game winning field goal.

It’s college sports. EVERYONE takes pride in their school. Including you.

I want the names of those players involved in the pre-game taunting that was so embarrassing to us. We have to preform a little house cleaning to do at Gator Nation before putting this debactal behind us. FSU has their scandal we have ours.

Yeah, right we need to open a can of Whipass on our taunters. Good idea.

It pained me to pull for UF yesterday, but I did. I honestly thought UF would pull it out.
It’s funny to see the comments on this blog.

Michigan fan here. Look, this Michigan team had a loaded offense that was finally healthy after being beset by injuries all season (remember, Michigan had no Henne and less than one half of a gimpy Hart against OSU and Wisconsin), they had a chip on their collective shoulder (10-1/2 pt underdogs after all) and it was Lloyd’s last game. Oh, and by the way, Lloyd’s a pretty good coach.

UF has a young, talented team and a very good (though kind of whiny) coach. The sky isn’t falling, you just need to temper your expectations. Good luck next year.

UF was outcoached and outmotivated.

Michigan’s seniors stepped up and made some great plays…

UF’s coaches couldn’t come up with any way to get pressure on Henne, couldn’t devise any way to slow down Mich blitzers…

The effort was there on both sides, but Michigan coaches proved their mettle when the UF coaches choked.

That sums it up for me.

Congrats to Michigan, because those seniors deserved to get a bowl win in thier college careers, and congrats to Carr for going out in his last game and getting the job done! If Michigan had played like that all year long, they’d be playing LSU instead of their rival playing them.

Hey moron, Colorado isn’t in the Big Ten. FYI, Michigan’s record against the SEC is 7-3, including 2 wins over Florida in the last five years.

Hey SKIGATOR -

Urban Meyer turned down the Notre Dame job because he does not want to stay in college and that would take too much time to rebuild there. He walked into the perfect situation at UF with all of Zooks recruits and won a championship.

May have won another this year if we still had a true QB like Chris Leak. We could have used Tebow as a fullback which is more his style.

Back on point… Urban Meyer is off to the NFL as soon as the right opportunity comes along. That will be next year after a better season… and before he looses Tebow and Harvin to the NFL, who may both leave early. The recruiting is already dropping off and he has already stated he wants to try his version of the spread in the NFL. The timing will be right if we have a good season next year.

Of course, just like Spurrier, he will fail and be back in college ranks shortly thereafter.

And by the way - Michigan almost put up 14 more points. It was not even close.

I think Tebow deserved the Heisman - he is a great college football athlete. Problem is we need a great college QB.

Why do you think Urban wants to coach in the NFL? What makes you think any NFL team would hire Urban? Urban’s strength is recruiting - which has no place in the NFL. The NFL is all about Xs and Os - Urban’s weakness.

Urban is a terrible fit for the NFL and nobody will offer him a job. I think after SOS, Petrino, and all the other college failures - the NFL has had enough of college guys. Meyer isn’t going anywhere. Plus, where do you get that our reccruiting is falling off? Last year we had the consensus #1 class. If that is “falling off” grest for us. UF has very few scholarships to offer next season. For that reason alone, we will not be in the top 5. Urban has plenty of faults - #1 being he has no control of his team. He has the opportunity to enforse his claim as a disciplinarian after the Joyner debacle and failed by slapping TOny’s wrist. Now the team respond with the Miami/FSU style pre-game fight. Wonderful. But recruiting is his forte’ so don’t worry about that aspect.

Tebow is the perfect college spread QB. That does not translate to the NFL. I think he will play at the next level - just not as a QB. I don’t see him leaving early. I agree with you on Harvin - he’s here one more year the out.

He (Urban Meyer) has previously recruited well, yes. But this year he has not done as well. Currently ranked 19 by Scout and 15 by Rivals. I’d say that is a drop off from last years #1 class. So, thats my point of falling off…

Also - I never said teams would want Meyer in the NFL, only that he want to go. And that if he gets there he will fail as Spurrier did.

I completely agree with everything else including Tebow being perfect for the college spread. I just think he would make a better fullback - and we would do better with a true QB.

Easy there Chicken Little, the sky ain’t falling. The biggest reason for where we end up in our recruiting class is how few scholarships we have to recruit for.

Leaving aside of course, just how jive those recruit class rankings are anyway.

If you look at all the top recruits who have yet to verbally commit - UF is on almost everyone’s list. Too bad we don’t have any scholarships to give them!

Hopefully Will Hill we be the second coming of Reggie Nelson.

Listen Gator fans…
You have a young team and your perceptions of Florida was skewed because the SEC is not as good as it was last year. Michigan has far better athletes and was only stymied by Lloyd Carr’s overly conservative play calling throughout the years. It doesnt help Florida’s preparation for Michigan being that Michigan had taken one snap all year with its offense healthy. Gators need a running game, bigger lineman and better offensive playcalling. You got bullied around all game, outplayed and outcoached. Take what you can from the game and correct them in the off-season.

Dont get me wrong in my previous post, the Gators have a fantastic opportunity for 2008 to regroup, win the SEC and go on to the National Championship, but address the problems exposed by Michigan.

Go Blue!

Wow! Such random comments on the usually sensible orange and blue hue. Did we all forget how many seasoned players we lost this year (like most of our defense). While I was sad to see my Gators lose the whatever bowl, I know that we were re-building. As for the Charlie Strong comment stating he needs to go, let’s remember who built the defense that beat the crap out of OSU for the National Championship!!

Ha ha GatorPilot, get used to loosing to Georgia. as long Knowshon is playing we wont loose to shitty defenses. Oh how the once mighty fall.

“Oh how the once mighty fall”…

Yeah, Dawghunt, they have…

Kinda like when teams go 5-15 against a team in the last twenty years after posting a 14-5-1 record against the same the previous twenty years…

I’m not going to mention any names or anything, my dear Dawg fan…

But you could surely agree though that would indicate a situation in which the “once mighty” had fallen…

Right?

Cat fan, here. Sometimes the chips fall in your favor, sometimes they don’t. I didn’t have a horse in that race, but I was actually kinda’ sorta’ rooting for the Gators (relish in that line for you won’t hear it again unless it’s somehow benefiting my Cats). Calm down, take a deep breath, and let it go. I’ve found myself doing a lot of that lately and I think you know what I’m referring to (I won’t dare speak of it any more than I have to).

Now that I’ve had a few days to try to calm down and look at this game objectively I have to say that I still feel the same way. The entire coaching staff should be taken to the wood shed and have their asses beaten. Offense? Dan Mullen you do realize that we have four wide receivers that could one day play in the NFL right? How about freakin’ using them! Defense? We have two defensive coordinators so shouldn’t are defense be twice as good as everyone else’s instead of twice as bad? Dear Santa… Can we please get some DB’s that have some speed for next year because Rickerson has been beat more times than my cock in an asian whore house. And how about getting the Strenght & Condition coach to tighten up. Where’s the beef? For Christ Sake can we get some size on the D-Line so we can get some pressure on somebody? We have gotten zero pressure all year! And how about those Special Teams? There sure were special alright… Special Teams 101, when the other team kicks to us we are supposed to catch it. Oh I know, I should be happy about 9-4 in a rebuilding year and if the effort was there in the 4 losses I would be, but there was a common pattern in all 4 losses. With some consistent coaching and a bit more motivation our record could have been much better in this so called re-building year. Urban Meyer said it himself, in the SEC you better win!

Face it, Florida is overrated. All this hype about the speed, strength of conference, revolutionary offense, blah, blah, blah. For what? You got whooped by an old school team that just flat outplayed and outclassed you.

The score should have been 55 - 35 in Michigan’s favor. Hart took pity on your loser team and fumbled TWICE at your goal line, something he hadn’t done in over 900 carries. Be thankful.

Sure UMich lost to App State. But the Gators were outmatched by UMich. Where does that put you?

God, you act like Florida is a top tier team. They’ve had two decent years and they’re unbeatable? Hardly, saw that a few days back. Sure Michigan has had a few down years, but they are twice the program that UF is.

Uh Jim, you realize Florida won the NC last year right? Florida is every bit a top tier team that Michigan is.

That being said, Michigan destroyed Florida and any idea that the SEC is somehow inherently superior to the Big10. Michigan’s defense held Florida to some of their lowest offensive totals of the year, yes, that Michigan defense that supposedly couldnt stop anyone.

I have alot of respect for Tebow, but in the passing arena, he cant hold Henne’s jockstrap. Henne is one of the, if not the best deep ball passer in CFB when he is healthy. Same with Michigan’s WRs, they are in a completely different league from Florida’s.

Its not so much that Florida was a bad team, its just that Michigan was so much better, they just hadnt had a chance to fully showcase it until the end of the season when everyone was healthy.

Okay, let’s hold on for a minute here. Michigan was the better team for that bowl game… but 41-35 is not “destroying” Florida. Major Wright had a lot to do with Mike Hart’s fumbles as well.

Florida was physically dominated the entire game, that score is not an accurate reflection of the manhandling Florida recieved. Michigan gave you guys the ball 4 times, twice at the goal line and still managed to hang 41 on you.

Michigan was not only the better team during the bowl game, it was the better team all year, they just werent healthy enough to show it. I would have liked to have seen what Florida looked like without Tebow and Harvin for 7 games. Because thats what Michigan was dealing with all year. I dont view this game as an upset, Florida was just over rated, just like the SEC is over rated.

Michigan certainly was not the better team all year. They played at their absolute limit against Florida and our boys did not.

If you’re looking for us to try to make excuses for a poor game, look somewhere else… we man up and take it as well as we dish it. Michigan won, we lost. End of story.

Still, it took a terrible game by Florida and a nearly perfect one by Michigan to achieve the win. Don’t forget the touchdown called back which eventually led to a blocked field goal, that Florida led late in the 4th quarter, and had two chances to win the game outright at the end. Michigan had a free possession to start the half thanks to that (brilliant) pooch kick.

If the teams that UF and Michigan fielded on that day were to play ten times, each would win approximately 5.

Let’s wait until the end of bowl season to see if the SEC is overrated. I don’t think I need to remind you that we’re 6-2 right now with a chance to go 7-2 if LSU beats the Bucks in few days.

“Still, it took a terrible game by Florida and a nearly perfect one by Michigan to achieve the win.”

Isnt that how the good teams win? By making the other guy have a terrible game? Or did all the teams Florida beat this year just have a “terrible game”?

…and by a “nearly perfect game by Michigan” you certainly cant be talking about the fact that they turned the ball over 4 TIMES and allowed Tebow to score 4 TOUCHDOWNS? Without the 4 turnovers the score would have been in the 60s easily.

yeah, and without all those missed tackles and blown coverages, UF would have won by 4 TDs. Enough with the turnovers and how bad you would have beat us. Turnovers are part of the game - maybe you should learn how to hold on to the damn ball?

I agree Skigator they are part of the game, thats what I’m trying so say. Good teams overcome that sort of thing, bad teams get sunk by it.

Now I know why Ohio State hates you guys so much - you are pretty obnoxious. I guess since it has been so many years since you could say anything to Ohio State, you feel obligated to run your mouth when you beat UF.

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