Orange and Blue Hue » Capitol One Punishment

Capitol One Punishment

This year’s Capitol One game in Orlando, Florida showed the country one thing. Despite the overall difference between the Big 10 and SEC conferences, Michigan and Florida are two teams with comparable talent. I can understand why Wolverine fans were so outraged by the way their season began. Their belief that Michigan should have been one of the leading candidates for the BCS game was not unfounded. This game was not as much about planning and execution as it was emotion and will. Michigan played with a high level of emotion and displayed the kind of intensity they lacked against both Wisconsin and Ohio State (not to mention early losses to Appalachian State and Oregon). Buoyed by a healthy Henne and Hart, Michigan showed why preseason expectations had been set so high.

While the score depicts a close, high scoring game that most fans enjoy, this was by no means a well played game. There are three phases to every game - Offense, Defense and Special Teams. Florida won exactly NONE of these phases. Florida entered the game with the Heisman Trophy quarterback and as the nationally recognized offensive “juggernaut“. This was the one clear advantage the Gators seemed to have. Yet on offense Michigan scored 7 times to Florida’s 5. The Wolverines gained 524 yards (373 passing, 151 rushing) to Florida’s gained 399 (230 rushing, 169 passing). Had it not been for their 4 turnovers (2 interceptions, 2 fumbles), two of which were inside the 5 yard line, Michigan might have scored 62 points on Tuesday. The Florida defense had NO answer for the Wolverines.

Despite Urban Meyer’s focus on special teams the Gators made too many mistakes in this aspect of the game. After a mistake by Brandon Minor who stepped out of bounds on the Michigan seven yard line on the opening kickoff (Michigan would go on to drive 93 yards and score regardless), Michigan’s kickoff return squad started their team on the 38, the 44, the 33, the 30 and the 33 yard line. Not once did the Wolverines begin a possession inside their 30 from a kickoff return and outside the opening drive were never inside their 20. In addition Florida failed to gather possession of a pooch kick to begin the second half which allowed Michigan possession at the Florida 38 (resulting in a TD). In addition Florida missed one field goal and had another blocked later in the first half.

The only bright side for the Gator’s special teams was Brandon James who showed his value early in the game on punt returns. Unfortunately this enormous asset was wasted because after the first quarter, Florida’s defense never forced another punt. Defensively Florida was exploited by a stronger and more experienced team. The young Gators over pursued and were consistently gashed by cutbacks and runners reversing the field. Florida was also unable to get off blocks on several runs to the outside that resulted in good gains by Hart and company. When Florida blitzed it was either picked up or the Gators overran the pocket allowing Henne the time he needed to find his receivers. A young secondary consistently looked tentative against Michigan’s NFL caliber receivers and ended up a split second slow on several plays and out of position on others.

Yet the most disappointing aspect of this exhibition game (yes, outside the BCS Championship Game these are simply exhibition games) was the offense. An offensive line that prior to the game was being described in comparison with the 1984 team’s “Great Wall of Florida” looked more like the “Wall of Doom” in front of our Superman QB (Tim Tebow). Michigan pushed and abused the Gators up front. When they blitzed they were disciplined in their lanes forcing Tebow to make quick reads and throws. Even when they didn’t blitz they were still able to pressure and molest Tebow with their standard rush. All in all it was a horrific display from the big boys up front.

While I still believe Tebow was by far the most deserving Heisman candidate this year, I couldn’t help but compare him to previous Gator Heisman winner Danny Wuerfell or even Heisman runner up Vince Young. With two chances at the end of the game to lead Florida to a win how would they have performed? Those players were money when the game were on the line and despite all his will and determination, Tebow is not in the class of those players yet. Of course it’s difficult to compare the maturity and poise of a sophomore with more experienced players but Tebow has had several opportunities to increase his legend to mythical status. Against Auburn, LSU and Georgia the Gators offense had an opportunity to put UF in a position to win the game but either turned the ball over or had to punt.

When it comes to coaching there has to be a certain amount of responsibility taken by the coaching staff. Despite all the talk of a “focused” and “disciplined” team, Florida looked confused at times during the contest and compounded that with a “thuggish” stomp of the Michigan logo prior to the game. A ridiculous personal foul against Brandon Spikes, the defensive leader on the field, exemplified a team that has not yet matured to the level of its raw talent.

The Capitol One Bowl reminded me of the Georgia game. Despite scoring in the 30s Florida was dominated all game long. The defense was shredded by one of the best running backs in the nation and an NFL caliber QB. Unlike Georgia though, Michigan has perhaps one of the best wide receiver tandems in the country in Manningham and Arrington. Unlike Georgia, Florida didn’t shoot itself in the foot with turnovers but rather were pushed and tossed around by a strong and dominant defensive front. When in doubt the coaching staff seems to go EXCLUSIVELY to Tebow and Harvin even to such an extent that other players are excluded from the game.

Did anyone notice how tired Harvin was during the last two (consecutive) WR screens late in the game? Could Caldwell (who took a previous screen pass into the endzone) have been utilized on at least one of those plays? And with all the blitzing and man to man coverage I am hard pressed to believe that Ingram could be covered by a LB so effectively that many times. This was Tebow’s worst game of the year. For a quarterback that has been roundly praised for his deep ball, Tebow had exactly ZERO passes longer than 20 yards all day long. This is despite the fact that Michigan played a lot of man due to their many blitzes. How often did we really test them deep?

Michigan came into the game with a sound gameplan and a motivated team. They were plagued by untimely turnovers but were essentially unstoppable on offense all day long. Congratulations on Michigan the Capitol One Bowl Champions of 2008. I’m not sure that people will sit down in the future and reminisce about that but whatever. Florida might have a brighter future (much younger team) but on New Year’s Day Michigan proved which was the better team.

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Charlie Strong has got to go. He was a Zook hire from USC, and Meyer should have replaced him when he took over. I never understood why Zook hired this guy in the first place, as USC has never been known for outstanding defensive units. The lack of a great defense has caused us to lose too many close games. And I don’t buy that stuff about the inexperience of the players - we have great players who are being coached poorly. I don’t see the defense getting any better next year, either - just older. Strong has got to go, and the sooner, the better. And how bad are our special teams? 2 missed field goals and the fiasco on the kickoff at the start of the 2nd half. I was at the game, and you could actually hear the collective groan from the entire crowd when UM recovered the kick. We play well enough to win every game on offense, but not with this defense. With the exception of the f$u & UT games, we lost every big game we played this year - AU, LSU, UGA and now to Michigan. Frankly, our defense does not look any better than when Zook was coaching - how bad is that???

while sending ou thte defensive corrdinator…lets alos look at replacing Dan Mullen…his play calling has got to be some of the worst in college football….does he not see all the players on the feild…there are more than Tebow and Harvin…..while they are great and i mean great…there are other players….Floridas offence is too predictable if i can predict the plays coming and im just a fan that enjoys foot ball…how easy is it for some one who studies it to do

Every loss this year including Michigan came because our opponents exploited our weaknesses. The first is lack of balance in our offense, or too much reliance on only a couple of players. We are predictable and one dimensional (I’ve argued this here before). Tebow and Harvin carry the team, and opponents have learned to pressure and spy them.

Our defense is particularly weak at the corners and only recruiting will make up for that. Michigan’s taller receivers had a filed day on us. And Meyer has targeted Boone’s Jeremy Brown and Pahokee’s Janoris Jenkins, but both of these guys are small and would still be exploited by taller guys.

Bottom line: The O is not gonna improve till we see more balance. We have to stop relying so much on Tebow. Yeah, its great he scores all those TD’s but that also means nobody else is scoring. Tebow is a running type guy, unlike Chris Leak who was a true QB, and he may not be able to give us the changes we need. And I don’t see the D improving much next year other than a bit more experience, but not enough to win Championships. The recruits just are not there for us.

As a U M fan, congrats on a “fair and balanced” review of the game. You and your commenters describe the game pretty well I think. The one moment that you didn’t mention was Jake Long pancaking the Florida LB after the whistle blew in the second half. that was very telling.

Does it bother you guys at all that Urban Meyer calls his young 18-19 y-o players out while not calling himself? I’d never seen Meyer with the press before and I have to say I was not impressed. A lot of fingerpointing from the head coach.

PS — Harvin especially is amazing. Wow! But the coaching was dumb, you have to mix it up and get the ball to some of your other guys.

I’m starting to wonder also whether it is a severe lack of talent or coaching on the defensive side - we just didn’t get any better as the season wore on.

Congrats to Michigan - you seriously beat us down.

Fred -

Thank you for the comments about fair and balanced. I have to admit that I have also been a bit disillusioned of late with Urban Meyer. In my case it has been with some of the recent stories I have seen on many other sites about his borderline ethical recruiting practices.

It’s not like it was just a few years ago when a coach might get away with making false promises or slamming other programs… recruiting has come a long way and these high school guys all talk and network with each other at play off tournaments and all star games.

Once a coach gets that “used car salesman” tag, its hard to get rid of.

Its bad enough he slams our own players on national television - but his recruiting tactics, which include telling kids to lie about their commitment to other coaches and schools, are getting well known. Here is just one recent example from Notre Dame:
http://therockreport.blogspot.com/2007/12/recruiting-end-game.html

Charles Weis also has built up a terrible reputation in recruiting circles as a high pressure guy forcing kids to commit early, threatening them if they talk to other schools, etc. If Hunter goes to Florida that will be two straight years of the Gators stealing the top defensive linemen away from the Irish. That seems to have more to do with the “rumors” than anyone else.

This is despite the fact that Florida has also taken recruits from Mack Brown, Pete Carroll, etc. Last year Notre Dame and Weis was leading the charge in trying to slander Ron Zook with innuendo after they lost Arelius Benn to the Illini.

There is a lot of negative talk out there about Weis and his “recruiting promises” to the point where there is a vocal anti-Notre Dame movement among prep football officials in the Chicago area. Negative recruiting is part of the game but anything coming out of Notre Dame is extremely suspect. If Meyer really was a “used car salesman” the word would get around fast. When Meyer goes after prospects he doesn’t recruit against second tier teams Purdue or Wake Forest. He recruits against powers USC, Texas, Miami, Georgia, Penn State, Ohio State, and the SEC schools.

Against recruting forces like that the weak die quickly. Ask guys like Tolner, Coker, Cooper and Donnan how long you’ll last at a power school if you can’t effectively recruit year in and year out.

Also, Notre Dame is very aggressive in it’s recruiting style. They threaten their recruits with pulling their scholarship if they are talking to other schools or try to visit. Thus they force their commits to deal with other schools covertly. Plus by forcing kids to commit early ND benefits because those schools turn to other kids to fill those spots. So later in the process kids also have less options to choose from even if they have second thoughts. Except the really big time kids like Omar Hunter who could still probably go where he wants even this late in the game.

Keltic -

I’ve heard all that about Weis as well. But that does not make Coach Meyers indiscretions any less bad. There may be a movement against Weis in the Chicago area, we don’t want one against Coach Meyer here in Florida. I agree that recruiting will make or break a program. Just look an UM where Larry Coker managed to destroy a team in just 4 years - a team that had not lost a single game in 3 years. Coker could not recruit, but his replacement, Randy Shannon has been able to recruit great classes so far (currently ranked 4th).

Interestingly, he has done so without pressuring or threatening potential recruits. In fact, he has even lost a few guys who complained they not getting “enough love” from the coaches. Some of the commits have even publicly stated that Coach Shannon has encouraged them to take other visits before committing.

I just wish Coach Meyer could bring in classes without all that negative stuff because real character guys are turned off by negative recruiting.

It’s all hearsay. Everyone thinks that all the other coaches lie and try to steal verbal commitments. In truth, every coach tries to poach verbals.

If all this was true, it would have already been broken by some news source. Individual teams’ recruiting sites are the worst source for true information.

Every coach in the country tells every kid they are going to come in and be a star. But there are only 22 starters and only 1 football.

Its not all hearsay, and not all coaches get on National media and act like Morons:

“Well, for those guys who just put in their time and didn’t make any real contributions, it’s time for you to go. It won’t be hard to say goodbye to some of those guys who just went through the motions. Now for those kids who actually bought into the program, and who made some sacrifices and contributions - you know, like Bubba Caldwell….he’s a graduate of UF and had a great career - you’ll really miss those guys. But just because you’re a senior doesn’t mean you have any value.” (Urban Meyer)

Statements like this are moronic a Month before national signing day! Character guys are turned off and we will end up like FSU…

As a long time Michigan fan(30 years), I knew Michigan was going to give the Gators a shellacking. Michigan’s offense are just better athlete’s than Florida’s(minus Tebow and Harvin). Arrington and Super Mario Manningham along with Greg Matthews are the best receiving core in the country and the Gators had NO answer for them. This is the offense we expected all year but only got for one snap prior to the Capital One Bowl game, yes, ONE SNAP. Henne is a hybrid Manning-Brady QB and will do well in the NFL, Hart is a stellar RB also. Imagine this offense in a spread formation all yearlong? Scary.

Now to the Gators… Where were the screen plays? Simply running plays? Meyer was so one-dimensional offensively that I myself was predicting the play calls. He did not keep the Wolverine defense honest an all during the game. You need to recruit a balance of speed AND size for your lineman or you will get pushed around year in and year out against premier Big Ten and Pac 10 teams. Your SEC speed means nothing if your linebackers are flat on their backs. If Hart doesnt fumble twice and Henne intercepted once on the 1, Michigan wins by 20-30 points and that would have been devastating to the Gators for 2008.

The Gators have a proud history of football and have kept their program clean(not sure about Meyer though) throughout the years. Keep Tebow and Harvin another two years and you will win another SEC championship if the coaches correct what Michigan exposed for 2009, but dont expect an overnight fix for that defensive showing in 2008.

Don’t know if it matters at this point…Michigan began their first drive at the 7 yard line. You said that they began none from inside the 30.

Randy Shannon is in the same group as Weis, Mack Brown and Jim Tressel who pressure kids into early commitments. Basically it goes something like “We need you to commit now or you’ll lose your spot”. And this is before kids have taken official visits (seen the competition). This is also why UM is suffering some losses of prior verbals. It’s not the later commits who are jumping ship or are shaky. It’s the early commits who are having doubts.

Guys like Meyer, Carroll, Saban, Zook go right to signing day. FSU used to be a late closing team but this year took a bunch of early commits (but have lost several in the wake of the cheating scandal fallout).

Keltic Gator,

Jim Tressel is probably the highest character coach in the nation.

Saying he pressures kids is simply untrue. And at least he has ethics and doesn’t oversign like Mr. Meyer

Huh? Everyone knows Ohio State tries to get early commits from it’s recruits. Do you follow recruiting? Other than Texas, OSU is one of the biggest schools in locking up talent early. That’s their strategy, get the early verbals and then the rest of the time you are just babysitting verbals and going after the next years class.

I never said there was anything WRONG with the strategy. Mack Brown and Texas is a master of it. It works best at dominant in-state schools though.

I never attacked Tressell but since you brought it up. Wasn’t Tressell the coach of Youngstown State when they were nailed by the NCAA for recruiting violations? Wasn’t one of his first recruits Maurice Clarett who later told the media he had been paid? That isn’t just a sweatervest but a teflon sweatervest that Mr. Tressel wears. The Tressel strategy in recruiting is twofold, get early commits and turn a blind eye towards any “funny” business. As investigators would later state at Youngstown State. Tressel not only didn’t know about any problems but he told people he didn’t WANT to know what was going on.

But I’ll tell you what, when has Meyer oversigned? And in Meyer’s last two top ranked recruiting classes only ONE kid failed to qualify. So show us where Meyer ever signed more recruits than got into school (especially when his percentage of getting kids in school is one of if not the best of all the top tier programs when it comes to qualifiers). This means UF is not targetting the risky kid like some OTHER schools.

Note: the kid who was part of the 2006 class but never enrolled was Derrick Robinson who was drafted by MLB and chose to play professional baseball instead.

KELTIC,

Every coach recruits early and tried to get verbals from kids. You have to in order to know where you stand and where to recruits. What I said was that several commits to UM have publicly stated that Randy Shannon has encouraged them to take other visits and to enjoy the process even AFTER the verbally committed. They have even come out publicly and said that the UM staff in general does not pressure them at all.

This is contrary to whats been said by guys about our Urban Meyer (and other coaches) who threatens to drop kids if they even talk to other coaches or take other visits.

Meanwhile, coach Meyer lies to kids to get them to commit. Coach Meyer’s the guy who told quarterback recruit Jevon Snead not to worry about Tebow because he was recruiting Tebow as LINEBACKER. (Just one example)

C’mon, man… Stuff like this gets out. Character guys don’t like to even hear that kind of stuff.

Wonder how much “character” all those players have that DIDN’T travel with FSU to the bowl game.

Rick:

“What I said was that several commits to UM have publicly stated that Randy Shannon has encouraged them to take other visits and to enjoy the process even AFTER the verbally committed. They have even come out publicly and said that the UM staff in general does not pressure them at all.”

Not true…

Shannon just recently pulled a scolly offer from a kid who decided to visit some other schools and had began to waiver…

If that’s hardly being “encouraged” to take other visits…

Does history repeat itself? The one dimensional aspects of our offense remind me an awful lot of Galen Hall’s last days at UF, when one of the greatest college ball players of at time, Emmitt Smith, played at UF. The whole offense revolved around Emmitt, using Emmitt on almost every play, yet I seem to remember that we won no more than 7 games or less every season while Emmitt was there, 1987-89. UF was a one-man team, and I see the very same problems today, as back then. And, so does the opposition!

What amazes me the most, tho, is that no one sees our defense as being the same as when Zook was there. Who can forget the calamity in the Miami game several years ago, and we lost a 20 point lead, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

If Zook was canned because of his inability to win crucial games, why the hell are we keeping the guys on the defensive coaching staff who were responsible for those same losses???

You are talking about Patrick Johnson… A UM commit that has been nick named “The Circus” by UM insiders for his waffling in the media about where he wanted to go AFTER he verbally committed to UM. Thats a lot different than pulling scolly’s because they visited elsewhere. Besides, Shannon told him to go wherever he felt comfortable. His quote: “Coach Shannon said I have to go with my own mind and I can’t do what other people tell me to do.”
From here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/colleges/um/story/362046.html

And here’s a couple recruits who said they were given OK to visit elsewhere: “So what is UM doing to make sure it doesn’t loose a huge commitment? Jacory said he spoke to coach Randy Shannon last night, whom Harris said asked him about his trip and encouraged him to “go on more visits and see other places.”
From here, its interesting reading as it gives insight about other schools and recruiting in general: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/umiami/2007/12/key-um-recruit.html

We got sort of side tracked here talking about recruiting - if it was me - sorry. But, anyone have any ideas is Matt Patchan will go? He says he is between Canes and Gators.

Let’s not take the story of one kid as fact. If said, it was probably a joke. If he believed that UF was recruiting a top 3 five star QB recruit to play linebacker, he is too stupid to survive UF.

Let’s not get carried away here. We had a bad season. We lost 4 games, 3 of which were in the last minutes by less than a TD. You cannot expect to do but so well after losing 9 players on defense. The only concern is that the defense did not improve along the way.

Teh coaches will have to address the defensive problems in the offseason. We are only a year removed from a National Championship. Meyer is not going anywhere. The recruiting is still strong (you can’t land in the top 5 when everyone else has 10 more scholarships to offer than you do!)
We are not in the deplorable condition that FSU and Miami are in.

The Gators will be back…we will be better.

Carr outclassed and outcoached Meyer. Bottomline. UF is overrated and has a long way to go with their program to catch a top tier school like Michigan. A few decent years doesn’t make a dynasty. If Hart wouldn’t have fumbled twice at your goal line it was a score like Nebraska and Tommie Frazier hung on you years ago.

By the way, overall the Big Ten kicks the SEC’s butt in head to head match ups. Surely everyone from UF remembers the previous bowls where UF played Michigan or Michigan State? You lost them all.

Jim B

Thanks for rubbin it in, so we got our Gator asses kicked and Urban Whiner got caught on tape trashing his seniors in the locker room. Big deal at least we weren’t pathetic like that over indulged Buckeye team with their massages and pedicures in some posh Arizona 4-star hotel last year. We kicked the living crap out of those Big Ten wheezels.
I’ll give ya this… Tressel is fake compared to Carr whose a class act. Any coach who brings up academics in a locker room after a great victory is a guy to respect for the ages. We all learned something from him.

Rick,

That Snead/Tebow story is one of the funniest I’ve heard. It has to be a joke that someone took seriously. Snead and Tebow were both together at the UF junior days throwing the ball. They were both at the Elite 11 camp together. Tebow was the number one rushing/passing QB in the nation and 3rd rated QB over all. Snead was well below him in everyone’s rankings. It would be like me trying to tell you that I was recruiting Randy Moss as a safety. Could Moss play safety? Sure, he probably could but no one would realistically believe that and I am sure Snead didn’t either.

Also I think the recruit that someone is bringing up wasn’t Patrick Johnson but Lerentee McCray who was taking visits and so Shannon dropped him. PJ just went and announced he wouldn’t be going to UM. Even though Shannon knew the writing was on the wall (and reportedly was told this first) he never told PJ there wasn’t a scholly for him. You don’t tell the top rated CB in the nation that you don’t want him when you coach a 5-7 team in one of the weakest BCS conferences in the country. RS needs to land Brandon Harris now in a BIG WAY!!!

I don’t know if Meyer lies or not, I’m not with him when he recruits. But I know a lot of coaches use negative recruiting and lie to kids. Randy Shannon told Allen Bailey that he could play LB at UM. Now maybe he got a shot in spring practice but there’s no way that kid ever sees the field as anything but a DE. Everyone knew that during his recruiting. But so what . . . kids want to believe what they want to believe.

Jim B,

Is that your name or what you drink to keep warm up there in the winter? Jim Beam???

Carr outcoached and outclassed Meyer? In the Capital One Bowl maybe but overall Michigan is not a top tier program right now. They have just about hit for the cycle in losses over the last 4 years (3-5-2-4). If Michigan is one of the top 2 programs in the Big 10 it just goes to show the HUGE dropoff from number one (Ohio State under Tressel) and number two (Mich and Classy Carr). Take ole Bill Belichick. That guy has no class . . . I’m sure you’d hate to have him as your coach huh? I mean why win when you can lose with class. And Carr should know how to lose with class. He’s been practicing it a lot this century.

The SEC is soooo far and away superior as a football conference to the Big 10 that knowledgable and impartial experts won’t even debate the issue anymore. The Big 11 might have a few good teams on any given year but most of the programs and head coaches are dreadful. The SEC has 5 national championships with 4 different teams in the past 15 years. The Big 10 has 2. In fact even in basketball the SEC has 5 championships with 3 different teams while the Big 10 has . . . 1 (Michigan State). The Big 10 isn’t close to the SEC in either football OR basketball. How sad is it to be so thoroughly dominated in the two major collegiate sports? I’m guessing it’s a pretty bitter pill to swallow. No wonder there are so many suicides up there in the winter.

I love how a discussion of Michigan’s beat down of Florida turns into a Big Ten versus SEC debate. Is this how the Gator faithful make excuses for their teams weak play? Who cares what Georgia would have done to Michigan? They didn’t play. And I really could care less about basketball. The powers that be decided Michigan would play Florida IN FLORIDA’S BACKYARD. Michigan came in and beat up Florida. One game, one outcome. The result was clear. Florida put forth it’s best effort and it wasn’t good enough. Some say they weren’t into it because it wasn’t a BCS game… well Florida only has themselves to blame for that. On the biggest stages this season, they couldn’t come up with a W.

At this point I don’t believe the best team in college football is from either the Big Ten or SEC regardless of what happens on Monday.

I also love how Florida faithful turn this into a personal attack… Jim Beam? Suicide rates? What the HELL are you talking about fool? Keep it on point… and as a matter of fact I like Belicheck. At least he doesn’t run his mouth like Meyer and the rest of the Gators.

Rick-

Your actions show the state of the Michigan progam. You are still gloating nearly a week later over a 2nd tier bowl victory against the SEC’s 3rd or 4th best team, that brought your team to its stellar 9-4 finish.

Meanwhile, UF fnished 9-4 as well and we are all down in the dumps over what we beleive is an unacceptable performance even in what was known to be a rebuilding year.

Michigan 9-4 = celebration.
UF 9-4 = mourning.

You won the game. Congratulations. But let’s not start puffing out our chest about a big beatdown in our own backyard. For if you do, I will be forced to mention that little game against Appy State in your damn frontyard. How much did you guys pay them to come in and punch you in the mouth?

Take your Capital One Bowl trophy home to Michigan and put it in your trophy case. Look at it often and admire it often, for you were better than one of the elite programs this New Year’s Day. There is no need to talk about how much worse you could have beat us if your players could hold on to the football. They didn’t, and you were crapping your pants just like every other Michigan fan in the country when you were up by less than a TD and Gators got the ball back…twice.

Michigan held on and you won. Nice job. By the way, you were the one that brought up the whole Big 10 is superior to SEC thing. Apparently, your memory is very short. Maybe sometime we can teach you how to beat Ohio State.

9-4 for Michigan gets the coach fired.

9-4 for Florida gets Urban Meyer another 3-4 years to rebuild.

My previous post was meant for Jim B, not Rick….I got so used to growling at Rick, I slipped. Sorry

Nice try Prince Marko, except that Carr retired, he was not fired. He also went 7-5 in ‘05. That is 2 years ago, and wasn’t fired then. Urban’s contract was extended after going 12-1 and winning the BCS title. Not this season.

I love the fact that all the Michigan fans talk about how if not for the fumbles/interceptions, Mich. would have won by 20 or so points. Well, fact is, if not for our offense shooting themselves in the foot, the Gators TD being taken away, we’d have won by a point.

BTW, all those turnovers were forced so don’t act like you just handed the ball over.

Wow, all I have heard from the Gator nation are excuses. From long grass, to bad calls to shooting themselves in the foot??

Reality is that the Gators were not a good team this year, regardless of how much SEC hype you want to believe. Michigan had better athletes, a better gameplan, and was more motivated to play than Tebow and Co.

Florida has Tebow and Harvin, thats it. its 2 vs 11 every game this year and if you continue it next year, either Florida loses 5-6 games or Tebow goes down hurt(no player can take that punishment for long w/o injuries). Florida has TERRIBLE coaching and a worse defense. You guys can sit there and call out all of Michigan’s losses, but our offense took one snap all year healthy and we showed you what our healthy offense would do.

I would have thought that Florida would have some humility and go and take its loss like men and fix things for 08-09 season, but since you continue to make excuses and still think you should have beat michigan… You are starting to resemble Ohio State fans last year and will have a rude awakening next year when every defense you face will take Georgia’s and Michigan’s blueprint to stop Florida.

Talk about a short memory… here’s a few reminders for you. All of these are headlines from your own posts on your blog:

Score prediction: Florida 42 - Michigan 20

Oh, Hell Yes: Gators Draw Michigan in Capital One Bowl (what, you were excited about losing?)

Michigan a Top 5 Team? Will The Voters Ever Learn? (apparently the voters haven’t learned, Florida was ranked 11th, Michigan unranked in this game)

You seem to have this fascination and/or inferiority complex with Michigan, hell you posted about them this summer.

Is it just the atheletics or is the root of your insecurity the far superior academic program that Michigan offers?

I’m not puffing my chest out. I don’t need to. Michigan won, Florida lost. The score wasn’t even reflection of the game… Michigan outgained Florida by 150 yards and was -4 in turnovers and STILL WON. That alone shows how bad Florida was beaten.

Please keep talking about App State, do you really need to deflect from Florida’s loss that badly? Don’t you realize that App State defeated the very same team that handed Florida a bowl loss? Since Florida is ‘only’ the 3rd best SEC team and Michigan beat them, that must make App State the equivalent of #1 in the SEC. Sure, whatever. Stop making stupid comparisons and focus and THIS game.

If game’s were won and lost on Gator fans hot air, Florida would be undefeated. Good thing they actually play the game on the field, not on the internet.

Let’s look at Michigan’s recent record versus SEC opponents:
Michigan Vs. the SEC (since 2000) - 5 - 1

Michigan Vs. Florida - UM is undefeated

Oh, now I understand your complex with Michigan.

Michigan 9-4 = celebration.
UF 9-4 = mourning.

Hardly. Who said anything about celebrating a 9-4 record? 9-4 is not acceptable. I believe the U-M fans are celebrating the victory over Florida and the Gators are mourning their loss… of any dignity they have left after talking so much trash and assuming they would trounce Michigan.

Marko,

Why would Gator fans need to be humble? Michigan won the Capital One Bowl, they proved they have better defensive talent and as much offensive skill as any team Florida played. But we just came off of a National Championship and next year will be a top 5 team looking for another National Championship. Michigan will be a young team with a new coach, installing a new system and trying to make a bowl game. You had a senior laden team. Florida fans are optimistic about the future of both the football and basketball programs. Both are young and both will take (and have taken) their lumps in 2007. But this is a reloading process and the future is bright.

What do you want us to say? How great the Big 10 is? Do you want us to say we think the Michigan will suddenly be relevant again in the BCS Championship in the next couple years? Because . . . I don’t think anyone here really believes that it will take Rich less than the next two years to reshape the program and start competing for Championships.

By the way, I hope every team in the country can take Georgia’s and Michigan’s blueprint and hold the Gators to 30 and 35 points respectively. We know the defense will get better as it gets older, the 2006 defense was abused when they were freshmen too and turned into a DOMINANT squad that led the team to a National Championship.

The best two defenses Florida played last year were not UGA and Mich. LOL NOT EVEN CLOSE!!! They were Auburn and LSU by far. Those teams both had the kind of fast, athletic defensive players that Michigan hasn’t had since . . . hell I don’t think the Wolverines have ever had a defense of that caliber in my recollection.

I can’t imagine that Wolverine fans would come to a Gator board and expect us to drool in our constant admiration of your accomplishments. You were the better team in the bowl, no question. But now you lose your all star RB, QB, OT and probably 1 or 2 of your WRs to the NFL. You guys will almost be starting from scratch. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. The past two years were Michigans best teams in a decade and the net result was a record of 20-6 and NO CHAMPIONSHIPS. What do you guys have to brag about?

By the way, a top program would have fired Lloyd Carr long ago. Michigan gave him the deference that Penn State gives Paterno or FSU gives Bowden yet Carr did NOTHING to rate that kind of leniency. He took a top tier program and won one outright and one shared Big 10 title in the past 7 years. In contrast Ohio State has one 4. In comparison, Carr has won as many Big 10 titles since Tressel went to Columbus as IOWA has.

Michigan Vs. Florida - UM is undefeated

Jim, the schools have played two games. Ooooooooh . . . what a display of dominance. I can see why you have SOOOOO much smack to talk.

On the other hand Michigan is 0-2 versus Arizona and 0-4 versus Washington State. I guess those programs are FAR superior to the Big Blue right? I mean that’s what defines a better programs right? A couple games. I’m sure you have a bumper sticker on your car that says something like “UM - Arizona and Washington State’s Bitches since 1869″

So get over yourself with your impressive two game history of dominance. Geez, Appy State should probably put up a statue because the are undefeated versus Michigan. Sheesh!!!

I don’t get your point. Michigan was a better team this year. Those teams were close enough that it shouldn’t be surprising if either team won the game. Michigan was not as bad as they looked when racked with offensive injuries. That was proven. But what is it you Wolverine fans want to say? Next year Florida comes into the season loaded with prep All Americans at just about every position. We will still be young but, compared to this year, a much more veteran team. We don’t look at Michigan or Notre Dame in the kind of awe and deference that you must expect.

Look, I’m not here to bash Michigan. My parents are Michigan alum, much of my family is from the state of Michigan. I grew up rooting for the Maise and Blue (obviously I went to college at UF) but I’m not going to blow smoke up your arse. I’ve been to to Ann Arbor to experience the “quietest hundred grand in the land” and I’ve seen what Carr did in his last 5-7 years. He’d hung on to long and now you guys have to deal with the consequences (rebuilding). I think Rodriguez was a great hire and will turn that conference around. Good luck but this is a UF site and in Florida the Gators are king. That’s just how it is.

GATOR LOST
LOL LOL
GATOR SUCK

Florida lost to defenses in the SEC which i think are not good at all. All your overhyped SEC bs is getting kind of sickening. God did not create the SEC unlike some of you Gator fans seem to believe. The Florida Gator fans that think they are an “elite” program got a dose of reality from the winningest program in college football…

Michigan is still Michigan.

Who cares if Michigan is 5-1 in bowls this decade against the SEC? Again, when you only make the Capital One and Outback Bowl, you are either playing the 3rd or 4th best SEC team.

All you morons keep telling us how much better Michigan is than Florida, yet we both finished 9-4. Not a good season for us down here. Maybe for you guys it is great.

And enough with telling us about all our excuses while you complain about being injured all but one snap. What happened anyway? did your team all get injured on the first play from scrimmage this year?

Injuries are part of the game. Just like fumbles, turnovers, and losing to division 1-AA schools…..well, that is part of the game for some of us at least.

We gave you your congratulations for winning your bowl game. But don’t try to parlay that into some great achievement. Hell, Les Miles didn’t even want to coach you guys and he’s an alumnus. He would rather stay down in the steamy Bayou and play several meaningful games each year than to head north and play 1 big game each year. Maybe if you had better rivals you wouldn’t have to dwell on bowl games so much.

Yes, they did get hurt on the very first snap against App. State(which i think can beat 50% of the college teams in D1). Henne hurt his shoulder on the first play and it went downhill from there with arrington missing one game, Hart down with 4 1/2 games, Kraus and Matthews. Regardless of our injuries, we lost 4 games which DIGUST me. Our defense was the 2nd worst i have seen this year, with Florida’s being worse. This was a terrible year for the wolverines and when we get Pryor, we’ll see Florida in 09 for the BCS title.

You’re losing 80% of your offense. It will take a lot more than a true freshman QB to lead you to the BCS Championship Game.

I will say that UF would have fared much worse than UM did if Tebow would have missed multiple games.

Marko,

I hope you meant the BCS bowl for the 2009 season and not the 09 BCS Championship game (which of course would be for the 2008 season).

Oh yeah the SEC is overhyped. Take a look at the best (by far) program in the Big 10 getting dismantled again by the best team in the SEC. Sure, there may be a different SEC team at the top every year, it’s a tough competitive conference. The Big 10 on the other hand has a handful of top teams and the one team that has stood out above all others is once again getting smacked around as an SEC biaatch.

I hope Michigan does make it to the BCSCG someday. And I hope there is an SEC team there to show them what big time football is really like.

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