One’s first inclination is to breathe a massive sigh of relief after Caleb Sturgis’ 27-yarder sailed true through the uprights. Fact: Arkansas is pretty good. Fact: Florida had no right to win with a -4 turnover margin. Fact: The Gators’ final drive of the game was an example of what a championship-caliber teams do. Florida owns the 4th quarter. Tonight was no exception. Go ahead, breathe. This is another good win — even if our boys made it far more exciting than it needed to be.

It’s the equivalent of last year’s loss to Ole Miss, with a better outcome.

Clearly, Florida’s offense is still findings its identity. While two of the Gators’ 4 turnovers came in somewhat fluky fashion, the bottom line is the ball kept hitting the ground and white jerseys were routinely coming up with the leather. The difficult question is this: is this all we can expect out of the offense, which is generally competent when not turning over the ball, but hardly dominant? Or are we a play or two away from firing on all cylinders?

The corollary question begs asking… can this team win a championship in the same fashion as its 2006 counterpart? Maybe. But the season is played one game at a time.

Congratulations to the Arkansas Razorbacks for playing at a very high level and giving the Gators everything they could handle.

Let’s get one thing out of the way right up front. Florida won the game, survived, and advanced — after a fashion. They won the game. Beating SEC opponents, ladies and gentlemen. That is the goal. We are not going to engage in the endless self-flagellation and agonized second-guessing which accompanies “winning with issues”.

Wait a minute. This is O&B Hue. Of course we are! Congrats to the boys for winning a game they were supposed to win, but yeah, we’ve got some ground to cover.

Lest there be any doubt, this was not a blowout. I don’t care that the final score was 38-7. I don’t care that the O generated 513 yards of total offense. Arkansas moved the ball between the 20s on our defense with relative impunity for most of three quarters while Florida moved in fits and starts, and frankly caught Lady Luck on a good day. Without 21 points scored largely in garbage time, this game could easily have looked much different. Arkansas turned the ball over twice on fourth down in the first half, and Casey Dick’s ill-conceived attempt at a touchdown pass in the final seconds of 2Q was a gift-wrapped interception for Joe Haden.
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Well, let’s hope the boys are motivated to play well today. Go Gators.

With two years like these, it’s bound to happen.

After Florida fans (and LSU, Georgia et al.) watched the pastings that the Gators and Tigers gave Ohio State, they saw the reputation of the Southeastern Conference validated on the BCS stage.

However, I want to look at some basic assumptions that fans of SEC schools have as a whole. Mark my words, this probably isn’t going to be the last post that I do on the subject.

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80-61, Arkansas spanks the Baby Gators. One word: Ouch.

I’m not particularly inclined to be upset over this loss. It was frustrating to watch, but there was no lack of effort and the Gators ran plenty of nice offensive sets; the shots simply wouldn’t fall. The Gators couldn’t hit a 3 to save their lives and went well into the second half before ending the drought.

At one point I believe we were 0-15.

It was disappointing to see the Gators start to give up more and more easy baskets as the second half wore on, but see how enthusiastic you can manage to be when you’re down by almost thirty points. Considering the lead the Razorbacks had at times, losing by less than 20 was a small moral victory.

When the shots don’t drop, this team will lose. When young teams get behind, things can occasionally snowball. That is what happened for this group today. Arkansas starts three seniors and have lights-out sophomore guard in Patrick Beverly. They showed why they were a pre-season SEC contender and they were in top form today. With the two-time defending national champs in the building, the crowd was loud and wanted blood.

They got it. (more…)

Here we go, fellas and ladies. The Gators are 4-point dogs in Fayetteville today and it’s hard to argue the point.

The Razorbacks have a strong post presence with 7-foot senior shot-blocker Steven Hill, and two outstanding senior forwards in Darian Townes (6′ 10″) and 6′ 8″ Charles Thomas, who’s back after a one game suspension.

6′ 6″ senior swingman Sonny Weems has been averaging 14 points and 5 rebounds per game and sophomore Patrick Beverly made a splash in his freshman year as one of the SEC’s most talented point guards. Both can hurt the Gators from beyond the arc.

This is a veteran team with all the pieces needed to compete at the highest level in the SEC, which is probably why the Hogs were a trendy preseason pick to win the SEC West. Florida has a real challenge on their hands today.
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All the cool kids are doing it, so why not O&B Hue? Thanks to Statspack.com we’ve got all the stats you’d ever care to see for Florida’s upcoming matchup with the Hogs in Fayetteville. Commentary follows.

So: the long and short of it is that we shoot the ball a little better from inside and outside the arc, are a hair better at free throws and most importantly, we average 7.5 more points per game than these gomers. There’s an old saying that you need to be at least 10 points better than a team you want to beat on the road, and we’re not quite there, but close.

The Gators and Hogs seem to be tied in the rebounding category, but Florida is clearly better in assists (18 vs. 14.7 per game for the Hogs). Meanwhile, thanks to 7-footer Steven Hill, Arkansas logs 5.5 blocks per game to Florida’s 3.5.

One category that could be the game decider is turnovers per game. Florida’s pretty decent at 12.4 per game while the Hogs are averaging 16.6. In a close game, that could be the difference.

The Razorbacks looked very good earlier in the week against 25th-ranked Mississippi State, blowing out the Bulldogs by 20 points. That’ll undoubtedly imbue the Hogs with a great deal of confidence. It’ll be the first head-to-head SEC matchup between Billy Donovan and his former pupil, John Pelphrey. Both coaches will know the other’s tendencies and systems inside and out. It would seem that the odds would favor Billy Donovan getting the better end of that deal.

I have to go with the Gators here but we’re taking on a team that’s hot right now, and we’re playing in one of the SEC’s tougher venues in Bud Walton Arena. We win this game with perimeter shooting and enough of an inside game to keep Arkansas’s defense honest. And with a full week’s worth of rest, I expect the original brand of BillyBall to be played. The Gators will run the Razorbacks into the ground, holding a small lead late in the game, and this time Jai Lucas will sink the game-preserving free throws. Gators 80, Hogs 76.

The last time the baby Gators had a national ranking, things didn’t go so well. Fittingly enough, #25 Florida got chopped down to size by the Seminoles. Now, the Gators are #20 and heading to Fayetteville to take on John Pelphrey’s Arkansas Razorbacks - a Hogfight in the making.

At its core, this game is between mentor and pupil; Pelphrey was one of Donovan’s star coaching students. Business-wise, Pelphrey is also out for revenge, as his South Alabama Jaguars lost to Florida in the good guys’ first national championship run. To top it off, Donovan expressed concern that his team would become complacent because they’ve started attracting national attention after the Vanderbilt rout. There’s high potential for a letdown game. But if this team really has matured over the season like people make them out to be, they should cope with all of the distractions and do just fine.

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YOU’RE A FREE MAN NOW FREEMAN
 
Rumor has it that Miami Hurricane quarterback Kirby Freeman has been kicked off . . . errr . . . asked to give up his scholarship . . . errr . . . is seeking a transfer from the team.  For those following the soap opera that is the Miami program this was mentioned a month ago but is just now leaking to the press.  According to the Miami Herald neither Freeman nor his father would comment on the report.  The bottom line is that Freeman was the only Miami quarterback with any game experience.  Next year we can expect either redshirt Robert Marve or true freshman Jacory Harris to start for the Hurricanes in the Swamp.  Barring injury (say another preseason car accident) I expect Marve to be the sacrificial lamb in Gainesville.
 
The sad part is that the return game (well . . . it will be played in Orlando since it will be mostly Gator fans no matter where the game is played and UM doesn’t actually HAVE a home stadium) is in 2013 so Marve’s only opportunity to play the game will be on the receiving side of a road blowout.  The second game could have been played BEFORE 2013 but apparently the Canes already have Oklahoma in 2009 and Ohio State slated for 2010 and 2011 (don’t ask me why 2012 couldn’t happen) and felt their schedule was tough enough those years.  Shannon is jettisoning players by the bucketful in order to sign a HUGE class for this year.  The strategy makes sense, he needs to clean house and start from scratch.  Unfortunately this is a long term strategy and Miami probably won’t give Shannon the chance to see it through unless they have no choice (financial issues).  My guess is that whomever replaces Shannon as the next UM coach will find the cupboard stocked with talent.
 
MCFADDEN IS NFL READY
 
Apparently Arkansas fans were DEAD ON with their description of Darren McFadden being an NFL caliber player.  Apparently he’s already acting and spending money like an NFL player.  DMac was recently spotted cruising in his new Cadillac Escalade except . . . . ummm . . . how does a struggling college student afford a brand new Cadillac Escalade???  Apparently agent Mike Conley arranged the purchase in McFadden’s mother’s name at a local dealership.  Darren was reportedly at the dealership during the purchase.  I guess DMac couldn’t wait another couple of weeks to start spending the money he doesn’t have yet?  Maybe he didn’t realize that having your agent buy you a car is sort of against NCAA rules.
 
If McFadden is ruled ineligible for the Cotton Bowl then what looked to be a matchup that favored the Missouri Tigers looks to be an absolute mismatch.  The Arkansas offense depends on and runs through McFadden.  He will have let his team down in the biggest conceivable way in his last game.  For someone who had been promoted by the Arkansas media as a poster boy for everything that is right about college athletics prior to the Heisman Ceremony he sure seems to be reshaping his image into the typical greedy, self-indulgent modern athlete we all know and hate.  Thank goodness DMac didn’t win the Heisman, the last thing we needed was 2 out of the last 3 Heisman winners to be involved in a scandal that questions their eligibility (Reggie Bush in 2005 being the other scandalized winner).
 
PATRIOTIC HISTORY
 
Much has been made this year about New England and their attempt to become only the second team to go undefeated in an NFL season and the first team to do it since the season expanded to 16 games.  I’ve heard a number of media pundits (many of whom have a very over-inflated value of themselves) declare that the Pats should rest their players for the Super Bowl because the only thing that matter is, of course, winning the Super Bowl.  Uh oh –**RETARD ALERT**– something set off our dumb*ss alarm!!!  Goodness gracious, what could it be?  Maybe that . . . oh yeah, Bill Belichick and the Patriots have won THREE Super Bowls in the past 5 years.  Clearly the pinnacle of all sports achievement would be measured by winning 4 out of 6 years???   Arrrrrgghhhh!!!  The ignorance here is SUFFOCATING!!!
 
The Patriots have a chance to go down in history as one of the greatest teams EVER and accomplish something that has never been done before (winning 19 games in a season).  Go ask Ben Roethlisberger how that Super Bowl win two years ago makes him giddy like a school girl after ever loss this year.  Super Bowl wins are a great way to finish the season but . . . if they are so important then why do we play a new one every year???  This isn’t like when the Buccaneers, a perennial loser, made it to the Super Bowl for the first time.  These are the Patriots - the most dominant NFL franchise this decade.  Whether they win a Super Bowl this year or next year or the year after, their place as the dominant team of the decade is safe.  Only if the Colts were to win the next two Super Bowls could they make a strong claim to that position. (more…)

Is it just me or is anyone else getting a little tired of hearing all the constant denigration of Bobby Petrino for leaving the Atlanta Falcons for the University of Arkansas job?  The bottom line is that, no matter the manner in which it was accomplished, Bobby Petrino simply left one job for another.  Where are all the media pundits getting their self-righteous indignation from?  Simple, how DARE a coach leave a great job in the NFL for what all these NFL biased commentators declare to be a “second tier” college coaching position.  Why the sheer impudence of it all!!!
 
The NFL is the most powerful and successful sport in the United States.  Since most of the sport shows originate from the Northeast and are populated by people who graduate from schools that don’t even have legitimate football programs, they are NFL cronies.  The overall knowledge of NCAA sports (football, basketball, etc) is so slight that anything unrelated to the NFL, MLB or perhaps the NBA is considered rural and off the mainstream.  Thus how could they possibly understand someone leaving a sport they know for a sport they don’t understand?  And essentially they are so removed from college football that it’s virtually another sport to them.
 
Bobby Petrino left with 3 games remaining . . . and your point is???  What exactly would waiting three more games on a team that was 3-10 effectively accomplish???  What is the difference between going on a three game roll and finishing 6-10 compared to ending up 3-13?  Worse draft picks for the franchise next year?  What friggin difference does it make?  It’s more important for a college coach to be in place now because of the recruiting impact.  And maybe . . . just maybe . . . based on all the people jettisoning from the NFL coaching ranks these days that the life of an NFL coach might . . . perhaps . . . umm . . . SUCK???? (more…)