He’s dehydrated. No, he’s sick. No, he’s… retiring! Holy fried Gator tail. No, he’s reconsidering. No, he’s coming back! Wait… no, he’s not coming back, he’s — well, he can’t come back because he never left, but he’s going to leave for awhile. How long? Not sure. Is he coaching the Sugar Bowl? No. Wait, yes, he is, and then he’s leaving, and the offensive coordinator will take over as head coach in the meantime, making him a head coach in waiting to be a head coach again.

Run that by me again?

It’s a fitting penultimate twist to the bottle cap of football weirdness. Yes, Florida still plays Cincinatti in the Sugar Bowl, a team whose head coach is most certainly gone in the final sense. Don’t ask me to give you a name on the Cincy coaching or player roster other than “Pike.”

In the last 24 hours, Lane Kiffin surely felt the highest of highs… only to wake up feeling the lowest of lows. No, the meanest sonofabitch in Cell Block E isn’t getting paroled, and the guards don’t give you soap on a rope in the prison showers. Nut up, Mouth.

I’m sure Mark Richt and Steve Spurrier also felt a fluttering lightness of being, but gravity being the real bitch she is, made the Flight of the Wallflowers a parabola.

In any event, if it’s not one thing this season, it’s another. Tell me that wasn’t the most joyless way to ride a 22-game win streak, hold #1 week in and week out for what seemed like an eternity, and grind out close, ugly win after close, ugly win you’ve ever endured. You can be honest, fellas. That was tense.

Flu, quarterback regression, Facemask-gate, Dunlap snoozing at the wheel, a class of juniors celebrating the NFL two games too early, chest pains, and then Meyer does his best Billy Donovan impression. Really, why do we do this at Florida? This must be rather unique — two coaches in two different high-profile sports, both with two national championship rings, depart and then cram their foot in the closing door just at the last second. Well, it’s a U of F tradition, now.

Of course, the reality is that Meyer is living a real life, not for the pundits or endless hordes of media or fans, and he did the best he could with a very difficult situation. I think Gator Nation is very understanding of the realities of what Meyer endured and this doesn’t even count as a blip on the radar in terms of our relationship with our head coach. The rest of the college football institution will probably be less forgiving, but that’s because this is all a big soap opera that plays out on TV to those folks, rather than happening to real, breathing human beings with complex thoughts, emotions and motivations. We are all imperfect, and Meyer deserves our full support and understanding.

I hope this is the right thing for the Coach and his family. His health and well-being comes first. I know it’s heresy to say it here in the south, but when you start fearing the job will kill you, it’s time for all of us to take a step back, take a deep breath and remind ourselves that this is a game played by college kids. A game.

There may be apathy in Gator Nation regarding both the venue and the opponent, but I for one think it will be fun to play a football game against a good football team with pride and a BCS bowl victory at stake. Hey, this is why we play.

And it’s worth saying: it’s great to be a Florida Gator.

Go Gators!

It was, once again, not the prettiest of wins, but it was a decisive one. Vandy played hard and picked up a few yards, but never got a shot at more than 3 points.

While the offense showed some of the same drive-killing tendencies it has all year, and the 375 combined yards Tebow & Co. put up was rather a low total against a team of Vandy’s caliber, Tebow’s stats are surprisingly good. Little Timmy completed 15 of 20 for 208 yards and 1 TD, plus ran for another 27 and a rushing TD. His rushing totals would be much higher if he hadn’t been sacked four times. Florida’s pass protection, plus Tebow’s willingness to hold onto the ball for many seconds after it should be launched downfield, were both contributing factors.

Still, UF converted only 4 of 13 3rd downs, and shot themselves in the foot with 9 penalties for a loss of 68 yards. Tebow’s lone TD pass sanguinely bounced off of Riley Cooper’s hands and into David Nelson’s open arms in the end zone — last time that occurred, the Bulldogs of Mississippi State ran it back for six. But hey, we’ll take it.

Let’s sum up the questions with which Gator Nation is tormenting itself:

1) “Why isn’t this offense playing better when we have All-World players?”

2) “Why is Tim Tebow holding on to the ball so long, and looking so hesitant in the pocket?”

3) “If Florida can’t wipe inferior squads off the map, how will they beat teams like Alabama or Texas?”

4) “Why does a 9-0 record and a 19-game school-record winning streak feel so ‘bleah’?”

Now, take the first three of those questions, scrunch them up into a tight little ball of paper, and throw that negativity blob into the trash.

Yes, the offense has issues, and yes, we’d all like to see this unit ring up pinball scores like they did in years past.

Will this offense suddenly explode at this point? Unlikely. What we see is basically what we’ve got. Offensive line play rarely shows dramatic improvement throughout a season, and that’s probably the weakest link on this unit — not the receiver corps. No, I fully expect Florida to continue grinding out close wins against good competition, and slowly pull away from weaker teams like Vandy.

So, I’ve got a suggestion for you: forget about it. Because the answer to 1-3 is: “It doesn’t matter.” Because our defense is that good. Because Caleb Sturgis is starting to fulfill the promise and potential he brought to the Gators’ kicking game. Because we still have the best player in the history of college football lining up under center. Because we have a tough, physical, grind-you-to-dust rushing attack. Because our players expect to own the 4th quarter, and have excelled each and every time the crowd stops swaying to ‘We Are the Boys’. Because we have the best coaches in the business, coaches who have already adjusted our scheme and gameplanning to accentuate Florida’s strengths and minimize its weaknesses.

Because, at the end of the day, Florida is still the best team in the country, warts and all. Which team has clearly proven that they deserve #1 instead of Florida? I’d be happy to acknowledge it if it were true. But if you think Florida’s offensive woes are troubling, it’s far worse at ‘Bama. Texas? Sure, they’re good, and Colt McCoy is a great quarterback, but the college football institution learned a lesson about the value of wins against Big 12 defenses vs. their SEC counterparts at the conclusion of the 2008 season.

Florida is undefeated in the nation’s toughest conference, has survived everything from flu, to off-field distractions, to on-field distractions, and has secured a berth in Atlanta.

There’s a lot to be happy about, folks.

We have to let this offensive ennui we’ve collectively endured reach its nadir and then disappear. This is our team. Our team is not perfect. Our team will not reach the offensive heights they did in ‘08. If you’ll recall, our ‘06 team is one of the greatest in Florida history, and that was a team that was far more troubled offensively than this one. Defense wins championships, ladies and gentlemen.

By playing tough. By playing with discipline. By squeezing the life out of our opponents. This is how our team wins games. And I fully expect them to win five more.

The answer to the fourth question? “It’s all in your mind.” So get your mind right, Gator Nation.

At least that’s what Vern Lundquist, CBS analyst, said with just over six and a half minutes remaining in this year’s Florida-Georgia game.  Georgia had so quickly fallen apart, sputtered so hard in the second half and so thoroughly self-destructed that not even the CBS announcers tried to prop up any hope of this being a competitive game after that point.

Coach Richt had removed his starting quarterback and replaced him with backup Logan Gray.  With a commanding 17 point lead Florida smelled blood and teed off for the quarterback every play with devestating results.  In Tim Tebow’s final game he combined for 250 total yards with 85 of them coming on the ground.  Two of his four touchdowns came on the ground breaking his tie with Georgia running back Herschel Walker for career touchdowns in the SEC.  On a day where everything seemed to go Florida’s way, Georgia continued their season long knack of committing penalties and turnovers to allow the Gators to turn a 3 point game (14 to 10) into a 24 point rout.

While the Gators looked more like their 2008 selves than their recent 2009 version, this IS Georgia we are talking about.  A team who has come into the season seemingly determined to make every offense they face seem like the 2007 Patriots.  The offense came out spreading the ball around but seemed to revert to the more conservative performance as the game went along.  The reshuffling of the offensive line seemed to pay early dividends but the running game seemed to sputter in the second half.  There is more work to be done but Florida’s staff has definitely taken a step in the right direction in addressing some of the lingering problems that have hampered the offense thus far.

Despite the win, here are some philosophical suggestions for the future.

1) Use Emmanuel Moody more early in the game to wear down the defense.  This should allow Demps and Rainey to have an even greater advantage as a change of pace back with their quickness.  I don’t mean that Demps, Rainey and perhaps Gilisslee shouldn’t rotate in but let Moody who is the most physical Florida back pound on the defense before trying to hit them with the little guys.

2) Limit the use of Rainey and Demps inside, especially Rainey.  Both are small backs who can only take so much punishment.  Of the two Demps is the better inside runner with better straight ahead burst.  Rainey is a guy who likes to use his shiftiness and cut backs to create big plays.  His tendency to dance in the hole combined with his diminuitive size leaves him vulnerable to injuries.  Basically he spends too much time in one plays standing straight up.  In comparison Demps tends to always be moving foward and dives forward for positive yards making him the better inside runner of the two.  Brandon James is absolutely inequipped to run inside as the blast of air from a falling defensive lineman could knock him down.

3) Once we have a big lead we need to specifically move away from calling plays that involve Tebow running the ball.  There will always be the scramble and the play where Tebow will just try to make something happen with his legs but there is absolutely no reason to risk losing him here in the stretch run.  Think of it as something similar to a pitch count limiting how many hits Tebow takes in a game.  If necessary tell Tebow to GET RID OF THE BALL rather than absorb the extra pounding.

4) Similar to the way we started the game we need to make a concerted effort to spread the ball around and throw the ball in the second half as well as the first.  Granted with a lead like we had against Georgia the smart move is to run the ball and run the clock to shorten the game.  But in the process Tebow too way to many hits against a team that would love nothing more than to end his career.  Tim needs to be protected (even from himself) as much as we need to spread the ball around to best attack opposing defenses.  In an effort to promulgate this effect Tim needs to be encourages to get the ball to the short receivers who are open and look downfield when scrambling.  Currently Tim is reluctant to throw it short believing he can do better with his legs and thus is not looking down the field where we might hit a big play.

5) End the Brandon James experiment.  I’m not saying he shouldn’t play but he shouldn’t be part of the game plan.  You would think that BJ and Rainey would be terrifying weapons in space but we rarely put Rainey in space to take advantage of his ability (running him inside as much as we try and get him on the perimeter) and James has not proven he deserves such opportunities.  Not only has his special teams play declined with his additional offensive responsibilities but he tends to dance too much on sweeps instead of bursting upfield, his hands are not good in games (catching passes and holding onto the ball) and his diminuative size makes it hard for Tebow to get him the ball and means a high throw could easily turn into an interception.

Despite the big win I think we will see continued improvement offensively.  I hope Chris Rainey can recover from his shoulder injury because I believe he could be a big factor in the open field despite being ignored in that regard for much of the year.  Nelson proved he can be an integral part of the offense.  Deonte Thompson is not getting the ball enough.  He should be getting the same attention from Tebow that Cooper gets.  Cooper is Timmy’s main guy (which is fine) but Thompson has the same big play ability and can’t become the forgotten man.  Timmy significantly improved his play from the previous three games and if he can return to the level he played at the end of last year the sky is the limit for this team.

As always, Go Gators!

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.

Walking out of Tiger Stadium with a 10-point victory — at night, no less — is a glorious thing. This fact cannot be understated. This was a fine victory and one of the more satisfying I’ve been witness to in the past few years of championship-level Gator football. No. 1 vs. No. 4… hot damn.

Statistically, the Gators were dominant; the kind of dominance that directly translates into Ws if not, in this case, tons of points. Florida’s 327 yards nearly doubled LSU’s 162; the Gators were 5-12 on 3rd down versus the Tigers’ 1-9; time of possession dramatically favored the Gators, at 36:30 to 23:30. LSU was also held to a total of 44 yards in the second half. As we have come to expect from Charlie Strong’s defense, Florida’s half-time adjustments and defensive intensity led to 3rd and 4th quarter clampdowns that kept the Tigers from even contemplating attempting another field goal.

I believe it’s safe to assume several facts in evidence:

1) Florida fields the best defense in the nation, hands down. Holding LSU to 3 points? In Death Valley? At night? YGTBFKM. The best, yes. Not only is this true in a statistical sense, but man, this is a nasty stop squad. LSU’s biggest play, a 26 yard pass from QB Jordan Jefferson to WR Brandon LaFell (the LSU stadium announcer called him ‘Jojo’, by the way) only occurred thanks to a mismatch with sub Markihe Anderson. No way that pass is completed against Joe Haden, who had an awesome outing along with the rest of the defensive starters. The DBs were hitting hard and drawing accurate beads on their targets. It was clear that LSU receivers were hearing footsteps in the second half. It had to be frustrating for Jordan Jefferson to face such a stingy defense.
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Judging by my media sources, that likely means he will play against LSU.

From Gatorsports.com:

With Thompson out Saturday, the Gators had no down-field passing game to speak of. That was partly due to Tennessee’s zone coverages and partly to conservative play-calling by UF.

Meyer said in retrospect, maybe he should have opened things up a little bit more in the offense. But he said the Vols were making no effort to win the game and there was no reason to take any unnecessary risks.

“I didn’t feel like they were going after the win,” Meyer said. “They wanted to shorten the game. I think that was the plan. There are 10 minutes to go and they’re not in a no-huddle. It’s 23-6 and no urgency (on UT’s part).

“The way we lose a game there is throw an interception. Why put yourself in that position. Let’s find a way to win the game. We’re not trying to impress the pollsters, we’re trying to win the game. A lot of it had to do with the way they were playing. It made our life a little easier.”

This is a very telling quote. Not only do we have a very savvy coaching staff, but Kiffin was coaching for the moral victory from the opening kickoff.

Think about the difference between our fanbases: even in the Zook years, Gator Nation expected to win every game. Can you remember a time you were glad just to avoid the blowout? No? Me neither. You win them all. That is the goal. There is no secondary goal. There are no warm-fuzzies in losing. Unless you’re Lane Kiffin, head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers.

Miami finds an offense with signal caller Jacory Harris. Oklahoma loses theirs, then finds it again with their backup quarterback. BYU gets a marquee win over said Sooners, but goes down to FSU in rout-like fashion. USC loses to Washington, the same team which went winless in 2008, and the same team which LSU handled with reasonable aplomb in their transcontinental season opener. Georgia drops their pants to Oklahoma State, then scores more than 41+ in two consecutive SEC games with a 5th-year senior quarterback who also sat on the bench for most of his collegiate career. Arkansas and South Carolina both go down, but do so swinging, scoring points, and showing promise at the quarterback position for the first time in recent memory. Even Chizik’s Auburn Tigers score 41 on the ‘Eers of West Virginia. ‘Bama scores in multiples of seven with their new starting QB, but they also play good defense.

And of course, the Florida Gators, the preseason alpha dog of college football, wins in workmanlike fashion over the Vols of Tennessee, who lost to UCLA on their home turf one week prior.

What does it all mean?

For starters, we have to be realistic about the fact that the win over Tennessee was uglier in appearance than it truly was. Tennessee’s defense was good enough, and well-coached enough, to force Florida into a ball-control game which was basically won by the 3rd quarter. 23-6, the Vols were reeling and Florida was moving the ball at will until…
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23-13. Didn’t see that one coming, didja? A dinged-up Gators squad played a real football game against a very determined group of Vols, and wound up victorious. Tennessee brought a defensive effort, and rushing intensity, that should certainly ratchet up our level of respect for their game. And despite losing, Lane Kiffin’s SEC coaching debut served as an announcement that he will not be quite the pushover that Phil Fulmer became in his final years.

As emotional, irrational beings (a.k.a. fans) we wanted more. Total annihilation was desired. But what we want — and what we need — are two different things. We needed the victory, and we got it. Our boys are to be commended for getting the job done. Gator Nation thanks you, fellas.

Now that we’ve gotten through the congratulatory portion of the review, it’s time for the hand-wringing that inevitably accompanies a win earned in less-than-blowout fashion. The burning questions are:

1) Have we overestimated our Gators or was the attrition/illness throughout the team wreaking havoc with our ability to get stops and score points?
2) Why was the tackling so terrible?
3) Why can’t our receivers get open?
4) How badly did we miss Deonte Thompson in this game?
5) Have you ever seen so many Vol fans deliriously happy to lose by only ten points?

More on this later, after some reflection and analysis.

… we can start the season in earnest. Tennessee Hate Week begins.

Oh, wait, you want to talk the Fightin’ Trojans? Despite a slow first quarter, the Gators exploded in the second fifteen. Tebow notched 5 TDs, the 2s got some playing time, Deonte dropped another then started catching everything, Demps is gonna be a star this year if he can stay healthy, Phillips missed the uprights once, the Trojans only managed two field goals, and yes, 56 is a multiple of 7. Thank you, Troy, here’s your paycheck.

But that outcome was written months ago; it simply had yet to be transferred from the ink blotter to paper. There was little suspense after the first 15 minutes.

The best part of Saturday? Why, that was watching Lane Kiffin’s rooster strut transformed to nervous consternation… followed by grim resignation. The Mighty Bruins of UCLA waltzed into a raucous SEC stadium and, once again, took advantage of the Vols’ offensive ineptitude. Final: 19-15. For their prize, the victors took a chunk of Big Talker’s Hollywood-tanned hide back to his native land, the Republik of California.

UCLA, people. They had to fight against San Diego State last week (33-14) and won a total of 4 games last year. Give ‘em credit, two of their last five wins have come against the Vols… for what that’s worth. Again, I’m reiterating the fact that UCLA traveled across the country and whipped Kiffin and his ultra-high-paid staff in their new backyard.

Here’s the deal: Jonathan Crompton is a terrible quarterback. Sorry, he might be the greatest guy in the world, but he couldn’t run the scout team at Florida. Crompton should consider himself lucky that he finished his day 13/26 for 93 yards, 0 TDs and 3 INTs. In reality he threw five picks; one was dropped in the endzone, the other called back for an offsides penalty. Both were criminally bad reads. To add to the misery, his was the last hand to touch the football before it was fumbled on a bad snap and recovered by UCLA.

For Tennessee, it’s not a question of if Nick Stephens starts… it’s when.

Lane Kiffin’s mouth has earned him an unsual type, and amount, of antipathy. The Vol fans themselves are decent people, the program has a storied tradition, and they’ve certainly suffered enough these past years. There’s no reason to wish them misery, at least not directly. But “Coach” Kiffin has purposefully, and without regret, stirred the emotions of Florida fans into a frenzy. Whereas this game could simply have been interesting to watch in the Swamp, it will now be a full-on assault by 92,000+ upon one man, his staff and his players. I have sent my letters in to the UF coaching staff pointing out Kiffin’s various misdeeds and that, on the face of it, no reasonable person could blame Urban Meyer for leaving his first team in for the entire game, no matter how bloody and horrific a scene ensues.

A quick run-through of what we’re dealing with in Mssr. Kiffin:

1) Intends to sing “Rocky Top” all night long in the Swamp at the conclusion of next weekend’s game.
2) Calls the best coach in college football, and one never sanctioned for any misdoing whatsoever, a “cheater”.
3) Did so while making up NCAA rules off the top of his head, earning an NCAA reprimand.
4) Tried to get witty with Steve Spurrier (never wise).
5) Believes that, starting next year, Tennessee will “always be in the pre-season top 5″ every year.
6) Says Tennessee “operates at a championship level in all that [they] do”. Could have fooled me, this afternoon.
7) Looks like a 10-year old kid that needs a paddling.

Kiffin’s arrival has brought a cheap, plastic-like feel to Tennessee football. It’s all talk, no walk. Phil Fulmer might have extended his career at Tennessee just a few seasons too long, and he was unfortunate enough to be on the backside of his coaching powers curve just when Urban Meyer arrived at the height of his own. But he was a good and decent man, who represented Tennessee with class, and earned the respect of friends and foes alike.

It seems unlikely that Kiffin will really change the true fabric of Tennessee football. That basic essence will outlast him, even if his stay in Knoxville is longer than I and many others outside of Tennessee imagine it will probably be. Maybe a humbling loss to the Vols’ arch divisional rival will help Kiffin mature into a true leader; a man with perspective, insight, and true charisma. But that can be quite a painful process for a man who possesses an ego of such massive proportions.

Remember, Coach… there are no aethiests in foxholes. Florida 62, Tennessee 6.