Fine job, men. Fine job indeed.

Wish you hadn’t allowed that garbage TD to make it a semi-respectable score there at the end, but thank you for defending SEC pride.

SEC bowl record: 7-2. (Can’t believe Florida made up 50% of the ‘2′. Horrifying. But at least the crystal football came back to the right conference.)

I do take some small measure of satisfaction in the fact that Ohio State is now 0-9 against SEC teams in bowl games. Ouch!

I wasn’t sure what to do after I first heard June Jones comments about Tim Tebow being a “system” quarterback. Should I be angry, or laughing?

For those who aren’t aware, June Jones is the head coach of Hawaii. On the Sunday ESPN BCS Bowl show he proclaimed that Colt Brennen should win the Heisman because Tim Tebow was a “system” quarterback. He stated that Colt Brennan could run the spread but Tebow couldn’t master the “Run and Shoot”. Therefore, Colt would be a big time NFL quarterback while Tebow wouldn’t succeed in the NFL.

This is both hilarious and disturbing on many levels. The fact is that according to NFL draftniks Brennan — a senior — looks more like a 3rd round draft pick. Meanwhile, Tebow would more than likely be picked ahead of Brennan if he went out this year as a true SOPHOMORE!

Brennan has a lot of baggage to take into the pros, and according to his myspace page, his three favorite pastimes are 1) Throwing touchdowns, 2) Throwing interceptions and 3) Sexually Molesting women in Colorado Dorm rooms. Sure, he throws the ball hard and accurately, but so does Graham Harrell of Texas Tech. And nobody is touting Harrell for Heisman (oh yeah, because he is forced to play against some big time defenses and thus has some off games).

Tebow is definitely a system quarterback; he plays in the spread, as does Dennis Dixon, Pat White, Chase Daniel and Andre Woodson. Some are run-oriented and some are pass-oriented, but all are “spread” offenses. Notice the wave of the future Juney (Brady does pretty good in the spread for the Patriots)? All of the top college quarterbacks except Matt Ryan and Brian Brohm (and UL DOES run some spread formations) play in a spread offense.

If you want to talk gimmicky offense . . . you are talking the high school oriented offensive system you see run at Hawaii. The Run and Shoot offense made famous by Mouse Davis and June Jones is nothing but a “junk” offense that at the higher levels lead to a severe amount of punishment for your quarterback (only 5 blockers on the line of scrimmage) and slot receivers (who are allowed to catch short passes and are then unloaded on by the defense, often causing incompletions, fumbles or injuries).

Let’s take a look at some of the famous Run and Shoot college quarterbacks and its translation to NFL success.

Andre Ware, David Klingler, Timmy Chang, Kliff Kingsbury, etc, all proved that slinging the ball around the field 50+ times a game leads to great statistics, but doesn’t mean anything at the next level. Brennan has all the physical tools to be successful in the league, but will need several years of adjustment before he can run a conventional offense. In the meantime, I hope whatever team takes him can make sure he doesn’t have too many drinks around the women’s dorms! By the way, as for accepting the Juner’s expertise on quarterback evaluations, just remember that June Jones’ most famous evaluation was as the offensive coordinator with the Atlanta Falcons. That’s where he stated that Brett Favre would never amount to anything in the NFL and was a strong force in Favre being traded to Green Bay.

Smooth move Juney, you have a real eye for talent!

ARKANSAS IS GOING HOGWILD OVER NOTHING

It was time for Arkansas and Houston Nutt to part ways. That much is clear. The fan base was split and Athletic Director Frank Broyles, who had protected and stood by Nutt through his on and off the field transgressions, had retired. Ole Miss upgraded their program by hiring Nutt who will be a major improvement over Ed Orgeron and might actually have the Rebels bowl eligible after a short period of time.

Also, while you might have a better chance at winning a National Title at the University of Arkansas than at the University of Mississippi . . . it’s still not very likely at either place.

I found the Tommy Tuberville to Arkansas rumors to make very little sense. Tuberville would best fit in at a high level program in a lesser conference (Big 12, ACC, Big 10) where he would have an easier path to building an elite team.

Becoming a consistent top 10 caliber program at Arkansas would be even more difficult than at Auburn. Sure, it would have been a coaching upgrade for the Hogs but a downgrade for Tuberville who, while not having any national titles, has a very good resume as a coach. I know Tommy is one of the best coaches in the country but, unfortunately for him, that only puts him in the middle of the pack in the SEC (who has stockpiled a lot of coaching talent in the past half decade).

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After every loss people try and grasp onto something to explain why it happened, to find the big glaring error or mistake that which caused the loss.  Some have complained about the calls from the ref, ball spots, penalties, etc, but most seem to be focusing on the timeout called right before LSU’s last touchdown.  Perhaps because this was constantly harped upon (aka beaten to death) by color analyst Gary Danielson during the game.  Florida called a timeout before 3rd down after 29 seconds had run off the clock.  This left 1:09 on the clock instead of 1:38 for the Gators to try and respond.
 
I’ll admit that this was a minor tactical error that did cost the Gators another 30 seconds to on their final possession.  But for anyone criticizing the Florida coaching staff for calling the timeout late and pointing to that as the biggest turning point of the game . . . what have you been drinking?  Somehow the assumption is that if Tim Tebow had another 30 seconds to work with Florida would have scored a touchdown?  In two, maybe three more plays the Gators were going to drive down the field and score a last second touchdown against the Tigers a la Stanford against USC.  I think some people were watching a different game or maybe mixing in some X-Box fantasy with the on-field reality of Saturday’s game.
 
Those thirty seconds did NOT affect the outcome of the game.  If Florida had another 3 minutes on the clock I could see a different outcome but a half minute???  Florida had thrown for 151 yards all game long against LSU.  37 of those coming on one play to Ingram on a blown coverage.  Florida had proven the ability to move the ball against LSU by RUNNING THE BALL at the heart of the Tiger defense!!!  Florida averaged just under 5 yards per carry on its rushing attempts.  With less than two minutes in the game Florida was forced to become a one dimensional passing team.  That one dimensionality resulted in 4 incompletions and an intentional grounding penalty (not including the incompletion that resulted in a pass interference penalty on LSU).
 
The biggest gain on Florida’s last drive was (go figure) a RUN by Tim Tebow.  LSU has the best secondary and defensive line in the SEC and it’s not even close.  The factors that affected this game included a costly fumble by Moore that halted an effective Florida drive and an interception by Tim Tebow on the next possession that gave LSU the ball at the 27.  There were three turnovers in the game and the only one that resulted in points for the other team was the interception.  Tebow’s errant pass to Caldwell (which ricocheted off of Cornelius Ingram’s helmet) was the SINGLE biggest factor in the game.  LSU had a first down inside the Florida 30 yard line and 5 plays later in less than 2 minutes time LSU was within a score of tying or taking the lead. (more…)

I found it interesting that over at LSUFootball analyst did a quite preview of the UF-LSU game on Saturday and predicted the score to be . . . . LSU 28, UF 24.  Click here for complete post.

Some of his other predictions

1) Florida’s lack of a running game (besides tebow) will become exposed.

Actually, Florida’s starting running back had one of his best games ever gaining 79 yards in the game.  Many of them hard earned in the center of that vaunted LSU defense.  Florida rushed for 156 yards which isn’t a great total but more than 3 times what LSU averages per game and close to what LSU had allowed in TOTAL yardage per game.

2) Our secondary will get tested, but will do okay despite.

Tebow threw for 158 yards and 2 touchdowns which is about 100 below his season average.  All in all their secondary DID get tested and gave up a couple big plays but did rather well and proved themselves one of the best in the nation.

3) Matt Flynn and our four headed running back beast will expose Florida’s  defense as a team that scheduled a bunch of all-girls schools for the deaf and blind this year.

LSU did run for over 250 yards and three touchdowns averaging almost 5 yards per carry.  That’s the best rushing effort against the Gators this year.  As for the scheduling statement . . . no comment.

4) Tebow turns the ball over at least 2 times.

Actually Tebow only had ONE turnover on an interception in the 4th quarter but Florida did have two turnovers as Kestahn Moore fumbled at the end of the 3rd Quarter.

And of course the clincher “I think LSU wins this one 28-24.”

Pretty good pregame assessment if you ask me.

Although Florida lost in the last moments of the game — just like last week — I just can’t wake up feeling terrible about this loss.

It sucks, sure. There’s no doubt about that. And this is not a moral victory. Florida doesn’t play for those.

The Gators had so many chances to stop LSU. Chances in the 4th quarter to close out the game on offense. Chances on 4th down (5 of them!) to stop LSU’s relentless rushing attack. There were some unusual things that happened in the final seconds, such as Urban Meyer’s decision not to call a time-out until most of the play clock had wound down.

But here’s what sticks out to me: LSU, now the unanimous #1 team in the country, trailed for 58 minutes and change in Baton Rouge, at night. Versus a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. And the difference in the game was a single turnover.

Florida pounded the ball straight ahead, against the nation’s #1 defense, and picked up huge chunks of yards. Not just with the Baby Rhino attack, but with Kestahn Moore. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a top-quality SEC caliber running back.

The offensive line offered awesome protection to Tim Tebow. As a result, much ballyhooed Glenn Dorsey had a quiet night. They opened up big holes for Moore and Tebow to run through through. They were outstanding in every way, against a defensive line that should have gored them according to the stats and pundits.

They played like champions.

I give high grades to this entire team. Can you even imagine how good they’re going to be? How good they already are?

An SEC championship is still in the cards. A rematch with LSU would, in my opinion, favor Florida. They made LSU’s life hell when they played ‘em on the road. Imagine what it would be like in Gatlanta.

This can still be a great year for Florida. Rivalry games remain. We still have Georgia and FSU to look forward to. A BCS bowl is very possible, even with two losses, if LSU goes on to the BCS title game.

It’s perfectly obvious that Urban Meyer feels the same way. Here’s one of his post-game quotes:

“I don’t make guarantees,” said Meyer after Florida gave up two fourth quarter touchdowns to lose a game when victory seemed well within the grasp of the Gators. “I don’t know if I’ve ever done it but the Florida Gators will be back. Smoking. I don’t know when. I can’t make that one yet. I have to see how everybody responds but we’ll come back.

“I made a comment about the soul of the man and you found out we have some pretty good men on this football team with strong souls,” he said. “That’s what I found out and I’m glad I did find that out because the future of Florida football is terrific.”

That makes my heart glow with pride. Damn if he isn’t right. This is one of the weakest teams Florida will field for Meyer’s tenure as head coach.

And they still came within a whisker of knocking off #1 on the road. Total credit goes to the Tigers: they were the better team on this night. But just barely.

The future is blindingly bright. I’m not going to relish this loss, but I’m going to accept it for what it truly is; a bookmark to flip back to in future years, and say, “Remember this?”

Ain’t no shame today. Ain’t no tears. Better not be.

We have a team full of champions. Champion players. Champion coaches. When Meyer’s reign is finally done — some day in the distant future, hopefully — the SEC will rue the day he arrived. Because Hell is trucking through, and Meyer’s at the wheel. And one day very soon, nobody, and I mean nobody, will be stopping this rig.

I’m not going to lie, Gator fans. I don’t feel good about this game at all.

But: since our team is the Florida Gators, we always have a realistic chance to win any game we play. That’s something we’ll always enjoy as long as Urban and co. keep us in Top 10 territory. Year in and year out, I think he will. This will probably be one of our youngest teams that we’ll ever have in the Meyer era, so this problem should go away for good after this year. But for now, they’re fuzzy-faced, they’re inexperienced, and they are going to play in a seething cauldron of hell.

So today, going in to Baton Rouge, I don’t like our chances of defeating LSU too well. But at the same time, winning the game wouldn’t be a total shock. I’d be surprised, but it’s not like the hapless Fightin’ Irish knocking off Southern Cal or sum’n like that. We can win this game.

Here are the keys to doing so:

1. Protect Tim Tebow!

Since Tebow’s likely to pick up the majority of total offensive yards yet again, protecting the Big Fella is paramount. This is obvious. Against Auburn, Florida did not control the line of scrimmage, for the first time I can remember since, well, the Auburn loss of ‘06. The offensive line must be ready to mix up their protections and make their assignments based on a shifty, fast, and athletic LSU defense. This might be a good game to leave an H-back and a tight-end in a little more often, and perhaps limit ourselves to two or three wide on most 3rd-and medium and 3rd-and-long situations. When Meyer did this with Leak in the backfield last year, the results were very positive.

2. Establish a ‘real’ running game.

The common observation from armchair quarterbacks everywhere seems to be that Tim Tebow is getting too many carries. Generally speaking, I agree with this. Tebow is getting a little too predictable back there and perhaps he’s starting to give some tells that he is running the ball. Or perhaps he’s just deciding to run on too many pass plays. Either way, Kestahn Moore has been effective. Let’s use him. Brandon James and Percy Harvin have been terrific on perimeter runs. With Bubba Caldwell and Riley Cooper both healthy, we can stretch the field to open up more of the running game. Let’s pound it more.

3. Throw the ball downfield!

Some of Tebow’s snaps against Auburn reminded me of Chris Leak from 2005: checking down way too often to Chad Jackson for that little 5-yard curl-and-die route, hanging him out to dry when a 230 lb. linebacker would come smashing into him at warp speed. I’m still amazed Jackson survived that season and can’t blame him for going pro as a junior. Who’d want to come back to that? Tebow has been doing the same thing with Percy Harvin. Tebow needs to expand his generally good QB vision and find deeper opportunities. Tebow is an excellent deep passer and this is a key component of Florida’s offense. We need to connect on a few big plays to stretch the field out. Don’t connect, and the field compresses, the running opportunities dwindle and we get into a dink and dunk game which we can’t win if we lose the lead.

4. On defense, don’t allow big plays.

I actually think the Tigers’ offense is a decent fit for our young defense. I’m not sure we’re going to stop them as often as we want to, but with Matt Flynn being a scrambler and LSU’s running game being the true staple of their offense, I think our run-stoppers can be effective here, particularly our defensive ends and linebackers, all of whom have good speed and flow to the ball very well. Matt Flynn hasn’t been a big play quarterback so far this year. Let’s take away the deep pass, allow the beneath-the-coverage passing game, and wait for errors to occur. In reality, this is no different from what the Gators generally want to do anyway. We’re not a lights out, 3-and-out defense like we were in 2006. If we can keep it close or even gain a lead in this game, LSU will start feeling the pressure. Make them play well.

5. Be net positive on turnover margin.

Duh. Obviously, this is always the goal in any game. But somehow, the Tigers, with Les Miles running the show, always seem like a ripe candidate for turning the ball over when they play Florida. In their last two games against LSU, the Gators have been the recipient of ten gift-wrapped turnovers (five in 2005, five in 2006.) Meanwhile they’ve turned the ball over to the Tigers only twice in those two games, making the net margin +8. If Florida can be opportunistic yet again and win the turnover battle, they can win the game. I’d go so far as to say that if they’re +2 or +3 in this game, they’ll win it.

6. Focus!

We need mistake-free football to win. Riley Cooper: know your routes before you run them. Offensive line: know your assignments. Run blockers (including wide-outs): hold your block and let our speedy players run untouched out of the backfield. Linebackers: always run to the ball. Defensive line: find a way to put some pressure on the quarterback! Secondary: you don’t need to be heroes today. LSU’s offensive is not explosive, they’re methodical. DO NOT allow receivers to get on top of you. Umbrella mode, gentlemen, please.

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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Anyone can analyze a football (or basketball — Ed.) game based on statistics or players. Here at the Church of Albert, we take a different approach. This is a three part preview, comparing Mike the Tiger and Albert the Alligator to each other directly using science, the power of fiction, and sorcery. A lesser blog would split each of the three segments into individual articles, but here at the Church of Albert we throw the entire bloated thing at you at once.

Part 1: Science

First I turned to the ultimate determiner of fact: Wikipedia. Alligators appear to have an advantage in size, as an adult male can weigh over a ton and a Bengal tiger is less than half that size. Wikipedia also says that alligators sometimes take down Florida Panthers, and that tigers occasionally take down crocodiles…so Wikipedia is not very helpful.

According to Zoobooks, a respected source of scientific data, Nile Crocodiles often feed on Lions. I once read that male lions are more than capable of handling tigers in a fight (due to their mane protecting the neck and more experience fighting one on one). This tenuous A=B=C Zoobook based logic gives an alligator the edge over a tiger.

As you can see, my exhaustive research is inconclusive. So I have turned to an expert to analyze this problem.

Dr. Reed is the curator of mammals at the Florida Museum of Natural History and he got his PHD from LSU. He is both an actual scientific figure and involved on both sides of the game. Thus he is the perfect person to analyze this conundrum. His words, mostly unedited, follow.

“Similarities:

Both the American Alligator and Bengal Tiger have been listed as endangered species (we’ve all had bad football years), but the alligator is no longer listed as endangered and is seeing a return to prominence.

Both are top-level carnivores, they are at the very, very top of their food chain. That means that rarely is an adult tiger or alligator going to be taken down by some other animal.

Both have amazing defenses:

Tigers have incredibly strong jaws and sharp claws.

Alligators have strong jaws and sharp teeth, but they also have a wicked tail (a defensive secondary) that can knock you off your feet.

On offense:

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What a wild ride 2006 has been this year for Gator Athletics. It’s never been a better time to say It’s Great-to-be-a-Florida-Gator! Just last year everyone was in awe of the Texas Longhorns who won titles in both baseball and football. The Gators are in the midst of doing one better. After capturing the top prize in all of college basketball with the Super Sophomores, we are in a position to surprise everyone and take home the ADT trophy in College Football. Being in the the position of winning a second National Championship all within the same year with the two big money sports of NCAA athletics will put Gator Nation in some exclusive company. With that thought in mind, I bring you the Top 10 Gator Moments of 2006.

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… UM fans watched Greg Schiano and Rutgers move to 8-0 Sunday night on ESPN. The Canes fans have fallen back in love with Butch Davis, but if Butch hadn’t betrayed the UM program by keeping his negotiations with the Browns a secret, Schiano would be the Canes coach. And Coker would likely still be the offensive coordinator. And it could have been Miami going 8-0 this weekend. Then again, a lot of anger directed towards Butch has been diffused by the Canes’ descent to “awful and getting worse” status his absence. But everything may hinge on how Athletic Director Paul Dee views Davis’ last minute divorce back in 2001.

… The buzz is that FSU fans are finally getting excited. No, Bobby Bowden didn’t have a stroke yesterday, and Jeff Bowden wasn’t kidnapped by terrorists. Instead, Nole fans have taken heart due to the performance of Xavier Lee in his first start this year. How far has the FSU football program fallen when fans get excited about the offensive display of a sophomore QB, in a loss to an unranked Maryland team that hasn’t beaten a winning program all year (other than FSU)? To me… pretty far. (more…)