Thank heavens for good 3-point shooting and great guard play. Overall, this was one of the Gators’ better efforts this season as the Georgia Bulldogs went down 77-64. Incidentally, it was the 10th straight win over UGA… basketball imitates football (this past season’s football loss notwithstanding), it would seem.

Florida won thanks to 43% shooting from behind the arc, smothering defense of Sundiata Gaines and Georgia’s utter failure (2-15) to get the trey to drop. I’d poke a little fun, but hey, the Gators have had a few bad shooting nights this year too (cough). Glass houses…

What I liked most about this game is the fact that Florida controlled the contest from the tip and never relinquished their grip, even in the game’s closing moments when the Dawgs were down big with little hope of making a comeback. Hopefully, Donovan’s kids remembered what happened in the South Carolina game, which was a cardiac experience for fans as a big lead dwindled down to a deuce in the final seconds. That didn’t happen this evening, however. Georgia wasn’t given any chance to make it a game in the second half and trailed by double digits for all but a couple of possessions in 2H.
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In looking back at the season I noticed one game that stood out, the Georgia game.  Not so much that we lost to Georgia, as I looked back at the details I’m actually surprised it was even that close, but the effect of that game overall.  Had Florida won the Georgia game we would have won the SEC East (assuming all other events stayed the same) and the Gators would probably be playing for the National Title right now.
 
Florida would have ended the season at 10-2 and have participated in the SEC Championship Game.  Since Florida’s last loss would have been to LSU it would mean that UF would have won 6 games in a row.  In that span of time the following teams ahead of us would have lost - Oklahoma, USC, Oregon, Ohio State, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Missouri, West Virginia, Souch Carolina, South Florida, California and LSU.  The result?  Going into the SECCG Florida would have been ranked in the top 4.  Also going into Florida’s favor is that facing Florida in the SECCG would be a LSU team that was a shell of its former self, racked with injuries.  A win would have put probably put Florida in the BCS game - possibly the second straight OSU-UF BCS Title game matchup.
 
That’s interesting to think about but not the point of this post.  I don’t think Florida would win a rematch against Ohio State this year (although they might) because of the makeup of this year’s team.  The offense is much more formidable than last year’s version but the defense is much to porous and depleted to pressure the Buckeyes the way we did last year.  And that’s a key to this look back.  The Georgia game turned out to be the key game of this season.  The Auburn and LSU losses, while disappointing, did not preclude the Gators from reaching their season goals.  The Georgia game did.
 
This year’s Florida-Georgia game did several things to the series.  For one thing it made the game a rivalry again.  Georgia’s coach Mark Richt also turned the game into a much more personal event with the celebration display after Georgia’s first touchdown.  This will long be remembered by Gator fans and coaches, coaches who hail from the midwest and never had any vested animosity in this game prior to this year.  While I’m convinced the Bulldogs would have won the game regardless of that celebratory display, the result of that event will be measured on its effect on Georgia’s psyche the rest of the season and in the emotional intensity of future games in the series.
 
It was the Georgia game that Moreno made his splash onto the national stage.  People knew Moreno was a good back and had success but in this game Knowshon showed exactly what kind of player he could be in a spotlight game.  Moreno beat the Gators in 2007, he was the biggest factor in this game.  No . . . . I take that back.  Moreno wasn’t the biggest factor in who won the Florida-Georgia game . . . injuries were the biggest factor in this game.  And in reviewing the write-ups and statistics of the contest it becomes clear the affect of injuries leading up and during this game is truly STAGGERING!!! (more…)

I managed to watch about half of the telecast (I was in Jacksonville for that… abomination). I came away feeling that our outlook is even bleaker and more depressing than I originally thought.

Kestahn Moore was a walking catastrophe in this game. He played a pivotal role in every one of our most disastrous plays.

His first fumble, on Florida’s first drive, came as a result of lousy ball security. He took a hit from the opposite side he was carrying the ball, the Georgia tackler just brushed the ball with his forearm, and the ball popped out. He might have dropped this ball even if it wasn’t touched. 9 plays later, Georgia’s entire bench was celebrating in the endzone. That’s a 14-point swing.

I blame the coaches for the next call — putting Moore in the shotgun for a direct snap. This was one of a number of trick plays in which Tebow was motioned out from under center. Stupid. The snap was high but it was catchable; Moore made a half-hearted attempt to snag it, but it looked like he was distracted or unready for the hup when it came. Moore recovered his fumble but it drove the Gators out of scoring range.

That dumb 4th-and-2 call by Mullen? You know, the one where we absolutely had to have a first down so we could keep scoring and stay in the game? Even though we were running lights out with Harvin and James on perimeter and stretch running plays, he called a reverse. Kestahn Moore was a key blocker on that play and was pushed back off the line of scrimmage so far that he picked off Harvin’s route, forcing Caldwell to hold onto the pigskin in an attempt to make some kind of miracle happen when he cut upfield. This play never had a chance. Again, the coaches share a lot of blame for this one.

The fumble with under 2:00 to go, when Florida was driving inside of Georgia’s 10-yard line? Again, Kestahn Moore was the guy late to get up to the line. Drew Miller was watching the play clock wind down and when it hit :01, he just snapped the ball. Of course, it bounced off of Kestahn Moore and killed whatever slim hopes the Gators had to recover an onside kick.

4 scoring opportunities. I believe we would’ve scored on all of those drives had we held onto the ball or converted. We ended up with zero points instead.

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I’d like to point out a few things about the 2007 Florida-Georgia game. And then we’ll call it a night.

1) Ain’t no question about it, Georgia deserved to win this one. Which is horseshit.

2) Kestahn Moore’s first fumble was horseshit.

3) Kestahn Moore’s second fumble was horseshit.

4) Meyer’s decision to kill the clock with 1:48 to go, down by 4 in the first half, was horseshit.

5) The 4th down and 2 call — a busted reverse play — was horseshit.

6) Our offensive line play was horseshit.

7) Our “run-stoppers” allowed a freshman running back — who started the year what, 9th string or 11th string or some shit like that? — to gain 180 yards on the ground, including that final back-breaking touchdown. Which is horseshit.

8) Our defense made Stafford look like an All-American, a week after he looked like shit against Tennessee. Again, horseshit.

9) The streak is dead. Or maybe it’s just on life support. Georgia’s won 3 of the last 18… or if you want to look at it through a Bulldog fan’s eyes, 2 of the last 4. Which way will the media swing… ? You guessed it: horseshit.

10) The bad snap/fumble which Tebow couldn’t recover when the game was still in the balance? Horseshit.

11) The brown stuff smeared all over Talleyrand and Gator Bowl Ave. on the west and north side of the stadium? Horseshit. (Yes, and I stepped in it. Do traffic control cops really need to do it on horseback?)

Overall verdict on this 42-30 game? Horseshit.

Congrats to Georgia, the better team on this night. May God have mercy on the souls of Gator Nation. This is the kind of loss that makes a Gator fan’s heart explode.

Tonight I dream dark, cloudy, troubled dreams… and I’ll wake up screaming on 3rd and short every time.

Which is horseshit.

This is wrong on so many levels.

Roughly 800-1000 people per day visit this site (the sitemeter traffic gauge is about 50% off if you’ve been keeping track; server logs are counting true uniques.)

Is that enough to support a gameday thread? We’ve never tried it here at O&B Hue. The fear: no one posts a goddamn thing. The hope: people do actually post some goddamn thing.

One of my favorite blogs out there, A Sea of Blue (yeah, it’s a Kentucky blog; yes, it’s a complicated love affair) runs gameday threads to great effect. So we’re going to give it a shot here. If you love the Gators, O&B Hue and everything they both stand for… let it show. If you hate our guts… let that show too.

We’re turning off the user registration thang today. You can post whatever the hell you want, including spam, without having to be verified. That’d make everyone at the Hue sad and forlorn, though, so please don’t. General notes of antipathy directed toward the Georgia Bulldogs are, however, welcome.
Gameday thread experiment starts: now. Go Gators.

(click here for Pt. I)

1986: My first Florida/Georgia game. My breath was taken away when I saw the inside of the stadium for the first time. I thought to myself, I’ve died and gone to college football heaven. I also remember talking to some guy outside of the stadium before the game started. He was complaining about the room he stayed in the previous night. I asked him which hotel he was talking about. “Hotel?” he answered, “I wasn’t in no hotel, I was in the Jacksonville Jail.”

1987: The coldest Cocktail party I ever attended. It was also the first time that I sat in the upper deck. I was so far away I felt like I wasn’t really a part of the game, and that’s just as well. The Gators scored a field goal early to go up 3-0 and scored a TD late. Besides that, there wasn’t much else for us that day. I awoke the next morning with a hangover that could’ve killed a mule.

1988: I’d graduated and moved to Maryland. I had to watch the game via some PBS station probably about 50 miles away. The reception was horrible. It looked like there were six teams on my screen. I’m sure the Gators thought there were six Georgia teams on the field that day as we lost 26-3.

1989: We had Emmitt and little else. Somehow we managed to hold the lead at the half (Even more shockingly, it was a TD pass that put us up). As the second half wore on I could feel things starting to slip away. I turned to my friend and said, “We need a spark. Something has got to happen!” Right then something did happen. The girl two seats over from me threw-up all over herself. That’s wasn’t the sign from the heavens that I was looking for. I awoke the next morning with a hangover that could’ve killed a mule.

1990: It was much colder this day than the 1987 game. But I didn’t feel a single chill. After three straight losses to the Dawgs, we crushed them 38-7. It was a great day to be a Gator and I’m not exaggerating when I say if we had taken advantage of all of our scoring opportunities, we’d have scored 70. Not only did I not want the game to end, I didn’t want to leave. I honestly think I was the last person to leave the Gator Bowl that day. I actually walked around on the field once all the cops and their dogs left. The next day I realized that hangovers hurt less when you win.

1991: Two days before the game a girl I knew asked me out to a concert. Michael Crawford, of Phantom of the Opera fame, was singing at the Kennedy Center that afternoon and she wanted to know if I would come with her. I told her that I didn’t care if the Beatles were reuniting and they wanted me to sing all of John’s parts, I wasn’t going to miss the Florida/Georgia game. I never saw that girl again. I did see UF wallop the Dawgs 45-13.
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Thanks to O&B Hue reader Jeff Brown for penning this manifesto. It’s a two-parter, but well worth the read. Enjoy.

The game is still days away, but I’ve already got that feeling in my gut… and my liver.

It’s a sensation that’s equal parts anxiety, nervousness and anticipation. Games against Troy or Middle Tennessee State don’t give me this feeling. Neither do games against Vandy or Mississippi State. What puts this damn sensation in my stomach is knowing that in just a few days my Alma Mater, The University of Florida will once again meet the University of Georgia on a football field in Jacksonville. Yes, once again it’s time for the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party and like so many others before; this game will have major implications in regards to who will win the Southeastern Conference championship.

This year’s game has me worked-up more than usual. The 2007 Gators are an incredibly young squad and with inexperience comes unpredictability. True we are literally seconds away from being undefeated and possibly the number one team in the country, but this squad still scares the hell out of me. Maybe it is the fact that Gator losses the past four years have been excruciatingly painful. It’s not so much the gut-wrenching defeats in the game’s waning seconds that are killing me (they are giving me ulcers, loss of sleep, blood in my urine and heartburn, but not necessarily killing me). It’s the media that’s driving me nuts because they can’t seem to put a Gator loss to rest. Just when I feel like climbing out of my bunker after a tough loss I’m subjected to Pontiac Game Changing Moments, ESPN Instant Classics and Lou Holtz pep talks (Lou, if you really want to help, just buy me a drink and stop spitting on me). Hell, even when we get clobbered like we did a few years ago against Alabama; it makes the cover of Sports Illustrated.

For what seems like forever I’ve heard a lot of complaining coming out of Athens about the Gators having an open date the week prior to the WLOCP. I heard one guy, in all seriousness go so far as to say that the SEC should step-in and make it illegal for the Gators to have a bye before we play the Bulldogs. I wanted to tell the fellow that the conference is much too busy recruiting at the Jose Feliciano School of Instant Replay Officials to concern themselves with the Gators schedule. When they’re not barking like mental patients Georgia folks seem to have the market cornered when it comes to complaining about the annual game in Jacksonville.

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Georgia.

Always a fun week leading up to this rivalry. At the same time, it’s not without tension.

The Gators obviously own the Bulldogs. It’s not an argument. Even Georgia fans accept it.

Florida has won 15 of the last 17. I don’t think we’ve adequately expressed our rage and irritation at losing in ‘97 and ‘04. Consider a victory in 2007 to be yet another small payment towards assuaging the pain of those losses.

But yeah: there’s tension. Why? Unlike Kentucky, against whom I felt totally confident predicting a win, I never feel that way about the ‘Dawgs.

On the surface, that makes no sense. Kentucky is far superior to Georgia this year, and we played the Wildcats on their home turf rather than Jacksonville.

On paper, it ought to be a blowout. Odds aren’t out yet, but everyone will favor the Gators.

But It’s Rarely That Easy

However, this game always carries with it the horrible possibility of breaking ‘the streak.’ I know that the streak’s been broken twice in seventeen years, but 2004 felt like an off year due to the fact that Ron Zook had just been fired a few days prior to the game. I’m glad Zook was given his walking papers after the Mississippi State loss, but it seems pretty obvious that it played a major role in Florida’s defeat that year. Plus, it was a strong Georgia team: Davids Greene and Pollack contributed to a fairly complete offensive and defensive effort. Florida fell behind early and then rallied, almost pulling out the win, but in the end they were just too emotionally shot to make it happen.

Still, by coming right back and winning two straight thereafter, the “streak” was alive. When reporting on the game, the media never says that Florida has won 2 of the last 3 or 4 of the last 5. They always bring up the big, bad mofo: 15 of the last 17. That’s a streak.

And make no mistake about it, the Gators are in Georgia’s heads. As Gator fans, it’s impossible to imagine our team being owned by anyone. We expect our boys to win any game, anywhere, any time, regardless of the circumstances. (Go ahead and make the Auburn jokes here, Tiger fans, but remember that since 1995 we’ve beaten you 4 out of 7 games… so forget any flights of fancy regarding ownership.) Just try to imagine what this streak has been like for Georgia fans.

Every year, their hopes rise slightly; then their dreams are dashed with another loss to the mighty Gators.

That’s inconceivable to us. It’s a reality for Georgia fans.

2007 should be no different. Florida’s team is weaker defensively than it was in ‘06, but is very powerful when it lines up behind the ball. Georgia’s team is just flat out weak across the board. It’s the same old story: their receivers can’t catch, their O-line can’t block, their defense can’t stop anyone and their quarterback is inconsistent. Put it this way: the Dawgs are so bad they made the Vols look good. (Tennessee beat the Georgia 35-14 earlier in the month.)

However, this year, there is a difference.

Bye Bye… Bye

Traditionally, Florida has reserved a bye week prior to the Georgia game. This year, that bye came before the Gators played Kentucky.

This year, Georgia pulled a bye… the week before they drew the Gators.

Therefore, it is more important than ever to keep the streak alive. Yes, there’s the obvious #1 reason: to win the SEC. That remains goal numero uno. But if you want to hear the world’s biggest excuse machine, listen to Georgia fans after yet another loss to Florida. Popular excuse #1: Jacksonville is in the state of Florida. (Never mind that they won there plenty in the eighties.) Popular excuse #2: Florida’s bye week prior to the game.

Excuse #1 is simply insipid and deserves no response. It is a pathetic excuse, one that I truly believe Georgia fans are ashamed of in their more rational moments, but they have to hold on to something. Excuse #2 can be shot down with another powerful victory by the Good Guys on October 27.

But I always rate the odds of winning somewhere around 60/40. No matter how good we are, no matter how poor Georgia is, this game is usually very close. The contest has been decided by 3, 4, or 7 points in every one of the last five games. Why that is, I couldn’t say. But both of the last two victories were a lot closer than they should have been given the difference in talent on both sides of the ball.
Therefore, I’m calling for more of the same in ‘07. Gators 31, Georgia 24. Shouldn’t be that way, but it probably will anyway.

Go Gators. Beat the crap outta the Dawgs. Remember why it’s still important to hate Georgia. Keep the streak alive. Keep the dreams of another SEC title and a BCS bowl alive. And put our golden boy up in lights in New York City, to win the prestigious award we all know he should win.

HOUSE OF CARDS

Well the second biggest upset of the year occurred Saturday when a preseason top 10 team in Louisville fell at home and gave up 38 points to arguably the worst offensive team in the country, save Notre Dame. A team in Syracuse that had lost it’s three previous games by at least 30 points. It takes a little luster off the Wildcats win of a week before. Perhaps the Cardinals were so crushed in the loss to their in-state rivals that they never came to play but still . . . talk about overranked. Between Louisville and Michigan the anti-preseason poll folks have garnered considerable momentum in their cause. Memo to Kragthorpe: Sometimes a little defense can go a long way.

I’d say either the heat on Steve Kragthorpe is approaching that required to split atoms or Bobby Petrino took all the fans mojo with him when he left the program. Given the loud chorus of boos that were heard Saturday coming from Papa Johns stadium I believe it’s the former. Luckily UK didn’t get so wrapped up in their last second win to lose focus the way the Cards did. Kentucky continues to play well beating Arkansas on the road. Could it be any worse to be a Cardinal right now? The Wildcats punched you in the stomach so hard you lost TWO games. Last week there was some discussion questioning how Louisville could be ranked ahead of Kentucky. That injustice has now been rectified.

THAT’S A BUNCH OF BULL

Moving up on the old impressameter is the South Florida Bulls. As I speculated two weeks ago, South Florida now meets with West Virginia in a nationally televised Friday night game of two ranked and undefeated teams. USF manhandled ACC also ran North Carolina in Chapel Hill and now has a chance to jump another 4 or 5 spots in the polls with a win. Could South Florida be on the way to its first ever top 10 ranking? This would be the first step. How impressive is what Jim Leavitt has done in Tampa with this program? Should the Bulls keep winning will he be long for the school? I realize he has been approached for jobs previously but now he will be targeted by big name programs rather than for mid-level positions.

BEWARE OF DAWG
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We’re going to be putting college football in general, and usually the SEC in particular, on notice Colbert-style weekly. or barring that, semi-weekly, throughout the season. Without further ado:

Galoshes McGillicuddy Says…

There’s no doubt in my mind that this fun-loving little dude belongs on a sideline somewhere. Just imagine the fun he (and we) would have. Orson mind-melded with Galoshes to rat out Notre Dame’s starting quarterback, and I’m pretty sure he’s behind this nonsense over at the Ramblin’ Racket:

So, it seems Notre Dame’s starting quarterback is none other than Demetrius Jones. This was posted by Notre Dame blog Robot Charlie, with the text:

One of the best things about being on campus.Yes, that’s guaranteed.

Obviously, this is not from a source which I would call perfect or reliable. When Robot Charlie posted this, they were of course asked “why [they’d] post it if Charlie Weis wanted it kept a secret.” (Apparently for credibility.) He then took down the post in order to maintain secrecy, but didn’t count on RSS readers maintaining the post. Does me posting this break some sort of bloggers’ code of ethics? Haha no such thing; if it means I’m a jerk, so be it.It will most likely mean nothing that I posted this, since blogs indeed DO have no credibility, and this will no doubt not affect GT’s preparation. But all the same, I do hope someone with GT football reads this. I repeat:

Notre Dame’s starting quarterback September 1st against Georgia Tech will be Demetrius Jones.

Notre Dame’s starting QB will be Demetrius Jones.

Demetrius Jones will start for Notre Dame on September 1st.

Then, just for fun, he adds:

Notre Dame is the most overrated team in college football, and if it weren’t for Ralph Friedgen and Mark Mangino, Charlie Weis would also be the fattest coach in the NCAA. Go Jackets! Kick some Irish ass!

I’m down with that, but I’m picking Notre Dame to win. Since they invariably let me down last year whenever I picked them, I expect them to do the same again in ‘07.

I also invoked the spirit of Galoshes when I asked (rhetorically) at FanHouse:

But riddle me this, Galoshes McGillicuddy, how is it that the #2 team in the country only manages 17 first half points on an MSU offense which went 3-and-out (punt), 3 plays for 3 yards (INT), 9 plays for a turnover on downs, 4 plays and punt, 2 plays and INT, 4 plays for 16 yards (INT), and 1 play and INT? You read that correctly. The Dogs punted twice and turned the ball over 5 times in the first half for 60 total yards of offense. The Tigers had seven possessions with which to work, most of them starting with excellent field position, and it still took a 4th and 1 effort at the goal line with 4 seconds remaining to make it 17-0 going into halftime.

And that leads us right into…
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