I’ll bet Georgia and Oklahoma fans wouldn’t mind a retroactive swap between Charleston Southern and their relatively stout opponents, eh?

Look, we all know the first game of the season is tough. It’s a time when details both miniscule and gargantuan wreak havoc on the best laid schemes, countless hours of off-season conditioning, and productive fall practices. All that effort, all the blood, sweat and tears spent preparing for a successful season can be wiped out in sixty minutes.

Remember Tennessee’s spectacular implosion of 2008? While the final result may have been pre-destined, you can trace the “beginning of the end” to the staff passing out non-matching wristboards to their players in the Rose Bowl, against lowly UCLA. Georgia will remember that Joe Cox, the “Ginger Ninja” so named by Orson, was suffering from flu-like symptoms and had several chances to connect with receivers — off only by a hair, but still off. And of course, hindsight being 20/20, Oklahoma may have preferred a less… intense… introduction for their new offensive line, which clearly had a hard time finding the same page against BYU.

First game. It’s tough. So many things can go sideways — or if not “wrong”, at least “not right”.

So, Florida started their season in somewhat typical fashion, against a so-called “cream-puff” opponent in Charleston Southern. Well, sure. I guess C.S. indeed does fit that description. But they fought hard, with honor and pride, and managed to get some yards and score 3 against the Mighty Gators. Good for them. They played a clean game and I’m glad they dropped by.

The Gator Haters love to talk about these opponents, but last year UF’s Out-of-Conference schedule included both Florida State and Miami, in the same year. That’s certifiably insane by most OOC-scheduling standards, plus the Gators beat #1 Alabama after the regular season, and still won their third national championship.

Out of conference… sigh. Every year we have FSU. Yes, they’re in a down cycle right now, but part of that is thanks to Florida’s supremacy in the rivalry. No one schedules FSU expecting an easy win. The ‘Noles may suck out loud, but they always have the athletes. Add in a difficult opponent in the SEC Championship game (these are never easy) and we should all be perfectly satisfied that if the Gators make it to Pasadena, they’ll have earned their ticket.

It was great to watch Bama vs. Va Tech on the opening weekend. LSU also played in a great environment out in the rainy northwest. Thanks, but no thanks. We simply don’t need to schedule those kinds of games.

Quick recap of Saturday night’s game: all looks well. Tebow looked great, as expected. The running game looks to be powerful, and will be fun to watch. Deonte Thompson and Brandon James have to reel those passes in. Maybe Moody will get more carries this year? Riley Cooper was reliable, which is always nice — and somewhat surprising — to see. Aaron Hernandez is a beast. Defense played vanilla, but that was on purpose. Not did the offense unveil much, also by design.

Most importantly, the first game is over and done with, there’s no damage done, no injuries, and the team’s confidence has grown.

‘09 can be a great year for the Florida Gators, and this was the right way to start it.