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.

Above: Appalachian State students in Boone, North Carolina, posing with the goalposts they ripped out of the turf at ASU Stadium, dragged down the street, and deposited in the University Chancellor’s driveway after the Mountaineers defeated Michigan in the “Big House” on September 1st, 2007.

From NWI.com:

Speed versus speed: When Florida defeated Ohio State last January in the Fiesta Bowl to win the national title, a popular theory was that the Gators triumphed because of superior speed.

But according to Illinois coach Ron Zook, who coached in Gainesville before arriving in Champaign in 2005, the perception of Southeastern Conference teams being faster than those in the Big Ten is misguided.

“In my mind, there’s not any difference,” Zook said. “We have every bit the speed they have in the South. There’s no question in my mind this league can compete with anyone in the country (in that regard).”

Er, excuse me?  Ron Zook?

You’d think the Zooker would have credibility in this department.  After all, he did coach in the SEC for a number of years (and not just as a head coach) before heading up to Big Ten country.

Unfortunately, the SEC team he coached was our Gators.  And he succeeded only in the “less with more” department for three seasons at Florida, while irritating Gator Nation with his incomprehensible statements and useless thoughts on college football.

And this is another one of them.  I’ll agree with one thing: “SEC Speed” is an overrated concept. While our conference is definitely the fastest top to bottom, there are fast teams outside of the SEC: Southern Cal, Texas, and Oklahoma come to mind.  But “Big Ten Slowness” is not overrated.  It was dramatically featured in last year’s BCS National Championship game as well as the Rose Bowl matchup between USC and Michigan.

Ron, the fact that in your ‘mind’ you have no doubt about the Big Ten’s ability to compete speed-wise is nothing less than another validation that the Big Ten IS slow.  Because you almost always get it wrong, buddy.  You have for the last five years.  And this is one’s no exception.

Remember Trev? He jumped ship from ESPN to greener pastures (okay, CSTV.) Actually, I really like CSTV — they’re gritty and real when it comes to college sports.

Anywho, ol’ Trevvie Trev Trev has been released from solitary to join with the rest of the general (unbiased) college sportscasting inmate population when it comes to the superiority of the SEC.

Trev writes:

I’m only looking at the top of each conference and I think it’s pretty fair to say that the top of the SEC is dominant and would dominate the Big Ten. That’s not to say the Big Ten in certain games wouldn’t be able to get a win.

It’s pretty easy to find some sort of statistic you want to validate whatever it is you believe in. The reality is the SEC is a far superior conference than the Big Ten. It hasn’t been forever, but it’s especially been lately. And I think it’s only going to get worse. We’re just starting to scratch the surface of domination.

Do you think he could have gotten away with saying that on ESPN? Methinks not. But I’ll tell you one thing: he’s absolutely right on the money.

I’m an unabashed SEC homer, but I know the best college football when I see it, and it ain’t being played in Ann Arbor or Columbus.

Trev, we now add you to our list of non-brainwashed sports commentators.

Much has been made of the recent dominance of Florida over Ohio State. What is being lost in this cavalcade of gloating and smack talking (some friendly, some obnoxious) is a peculiar development in college athletics. Which has the less statistical probability: that one school would win both the football and basketball championships in the same year, or that the same two schools would play for both the football and basketball championships in the same year? I’d have to guess that the latter is the far more unlikely.

For one school to dominate the landscape of major college sports in a year is surely a remarkable achievement; but the two-year run of both schools is quite startling. What happens if we look at these schools together? In basketball the two schools have a combined record of 129 wins to 11 losses, 3 regular season conference Championships, 3 conference tournament championships, 3 Final Four appearances and two national championships. In football they combine for a record of 45 wins to 7 losses, 3 conference championships, 3 BCS bowl appearances, 2 BCS Bowl wins and a National Championship.

The accepted belief is that in the modern era it is much more difficult for a program to exist at the highest level and that any dynasty will be short lived. The University of Miami and University of Southern California both had a great three year run with a BCS championship sandwiched between being just left out of the game the year before and losing the game the year after. With approximately twice as many basketball programs as football the closest to a mini dynasty seems to be making two Final Fours in a row (Michigan State in 1999, 2000, Kansas in 2002, 2003, Florida and UCLA in 2006, 2007). Given the cyclical nature of even the top athletic programs can there be a reversal to this trend? Can a handful of mega-programs begin dominate across the athletic spectrum?

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Does the dream ever end?

Florida advances to the championship game in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in two years. The Gators are on a 17-game post-season winning streak over the past two seasons. The Gators are the only team in the Final Four which never trailed by double digits in any of their games, and Florida again owns the largest victory margin in the NCAA Tournament.

Better yet? Florida gets to face Ohio State for all the marbles… again.

As strange as it sounds, it still feels like we have unfinished business with the Buckeyes, doesn’t it, Gator Nation? Even after whipping them in basketball last December, 86-60, and then demolishing them in the BCS National Championship in football, our lust for revenge for simply doubting the Gators still runs red hot.

Perhaps I’m only speaking for myself here, but my interaction with Ohio State’s fanbase was the most negative, by far, of any inter-fan discourse I’ve ever had. I wrote for AOL’s NCAA FanHouse covering the Gators, and leading up to the game, it seemed like I was the only person in the universe picking the Gators to win. I wrote a long, relatively well researched (for me, anyway) article called “The Gators Can and Will Beat Ohio State.” The full power of AOL’s readership bore down on me as the article generated 321 comments and hundreds of thousands of page views. The majority of those comments were from Ohio State fans, who were convinced that we Gators would be watching the championship game with the doors closed and the blinds drawn. They didn’t believe we even belonged to be in the game.

Well, no one’s doubting now, are they?

I’ll be brutally honest: I despise Ohio State. I believe 90%+ of their fans are total douchebags. I am still pissed at the treatment the Gator Nation received at the hands of Ohio State fans in Glendale, as well as the media. In my view 41-14 was simply a good start. If Meyer wasn’t such a classy guy, I’d have beseeched him to score on those last two possessions, something Florida could easily have done.

So in my view, this chance to beat Ohio State a third time will be a chance to help salve some old wounds. It will be almost as joyful to inflict some additional pain to the embarassed Buckeye nation as it will to win a second national championship in basketball, back-to-back, sandwiching a football championship.

Pride goeth before a fall, so far be it from me to predict an easy victory. No, the Bucks are an improved team from the version we saw in December. They’re a legitimate title contender. But by the same token, so is Florida. Will it be easy? Unless Florida locks down Conley and Cook on the perimeter, it will be a tough match. I think Horford and Noah can handle Oden, so it might come down to a guard-vs.-guard contest.

Keep the dream alive, Gators. Beat Ohio State. I’m grinning ear to ear in anticipation.

The “Holy God Yes YES YES!!!!11one” Award

To all Gators everywhere. National champions. Joy.

Also, put Chris Leak in the Ring of Honor, he has earned it.
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In true blog style, I present an article with no real structure!

Lesson one: anything can happen.  Kentucky beat Clemson, the Big East went undefeated in Bowl Play, Georgia Tech fielded an actual Quarterback, Randy Moss left Oakland and now wears a number 8 for USC (attitude and skills, but sadly not the hair), Adrian Peterson’s dad jinxed another game,  Bobby Bowden and JoePa both improved their coaching records without actually doing any coaching, and Boise State created a real life, super-awesome Disney movie in Arizona (complete with a Ginger Quarterback).

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The Big Ten has already won this years competition by winning the first two out of three bowl matchups with the SEC.  In fact since 2000 the SEC versus Big Ten record is now even at 8 wins apiece with one game remaining this year.  Of course for Florida fans the only SEC versus Big Ten game that matters will come in exactly one week.

PENN STATE 20, TENNESSEE 10

It was billed as a matchup of strength versus strength as a high powered Tennessee offense faced off against a stingy and opportunistic defense.  Tennessee entered the game as a 4 1/2 point favorite against the Nittany Lions.  Eric Ainge who had turned his career around thanks to the addition of David Cutcliffe had a solid game passing for 267 yards, hitting on 25 of 37 attempts.  However an interception in the second half and 2 other fumbles (one returned for a TD) proved the difference as PSU won the turnover battle and PSU QB Anthony Morelli looked unusually poised and efficient in his first bowl game.

The key factor in this game was the physical play of PSU.  Tennessee never looked comfortable offensively and seemed to grow more tentative as the game progressed.  Though they had a few opportunities, the story was one of dropped passes, fumbles and negative plays on offense for the Vols.  These teams were fairly even with Penn State getting the edge for mental toughness.  Although it was a fairly boring game offensively, it was close throughout.  The fumble return with 10 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter seemed to sap what energy remained from the Tennessee team and shifted momentum to Penn State’s favor for the remainder of the game.

WISCONSIN 17, ARKANSAS 14

Arkansas faced off versus Wisconsin a 2 point favorite and having one of the best running games in the country.  In what started out as an offensive show quickly bogged down into a defensive struggle.  Despite rushing for 232 yards (153 for Jones and 91 for McFadden) Arkansas could not maintain any kind of offensive consistency.  The Arkansas coaching staff made several questionable calls during the game and the Hogs racked up over 120 yards in penalties.

A late score by Arkansas brought the Hogs within a field goal but that’s where the scoring ended.  People questioned both these schools coming into the game.  Arkansas for being so one dimensional on offense (having no real passing game) and Wisconsin having played a weak schedule.  In the end both of these factors seemed to hold true.  Arkansas could not create enough of a passing threat to keep the Badgers from stacking the box and the Wisconsin offense staggered to the finish after a quick start; giving up 5 sacks to the Razorback defense.

Again this seems to be a game of two evenly matched teams.  Either Wisconsin deserves to be in the top 25 or Arkansas doesn’t.  Despite losing their last 3 games Arkansas has proven to be a top 25 caliber team and Wisconsin was able to win a defensive slugfest on a neutral field.  The question is whether these teams can repeat their success NEXT year with both schools losing so many seniors.

FOLLOW UP

Personally I hope the last SEC - Big 10 game isn’t as boring as the two today were.  Wow . . . those were hard games to watch.  I can’t imagine anyone who stayed up late last night was able to stay awake through these games.  Ouch!!!