Tim Tebow will return. Told ya so! Check FanHouse for details.

YESSSSS.

Initial thoughts:

1) This means pre-season #1 for Florida.
2) Maybe Spikes will come back?
3) Georgia is down a QB and RB. Guaranteed W next November for Florida, continuing (essentially) the ’streak’.
4) FSU returns Bobby Bowden. Oh, joy.
5) The nucleus of a great offensive line returns.
6) Almost the entire defense returns.
7) At minimum we get Demps, Rainey, Moody, Nelson, Cooper, Thompson, James, and Hernandez back… just an embarrassment of riches on offense.
8) Tell me why we shouldn’t expect to win back-to-back BCS national championships?

To summarize, “HELLLLL YEAH!”

From political stumping for your own team a popular new trend has emerged: claiming your team is deserves to be post-season No. 1.

Pete Carroll, Mack Brown and Kyle Whittingham, all victors of BCS bowl games, say they intend to vote their respective teams to the top of the AP rankings. The goal, of course, is to perhaps claim a ’share’ of the national championship, ala Southern Cal and LSU in 2003.

This is unusual and disturbing for several reasons, but the one most overlooked so far is the level of disrespect it has shown to the two teams which did successfully navigate the BCS maze and found their way to Miami. It’s also hard to enter a discussion about ‘deserving national champions’ without becoming quagmired in playoff vs. BCS talk or to start debating the finer nuances of whether there really is such a thing as a ‘national championship.’

I will not be going in that direction, particularly the latter. This is college football, not a courtroom, and I posit that anyone who gets worked up over those issues isn’t drinking nearly enough beer during the games.

Let’s look at their claims.
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Give it up for the Utes of Utah, who stormed the Superdome and whipped Alabama, 31-17. It was an amazing performance from a double-digit ‘dog, playing the games of their lives.

The Utes looked faster, better prepared, and more physical. They were also sky-high for a game that the Crimson Tide viewed as meager consolation for the big prize.

The anti-SEC proponents are using the loss as ammunition for their relentless case against college football’s finest conference. A Mountain West team beat one of the SEC’s elite, they say. And via the transitive property, Florida — who beat the Tide by a similar-but-not-quite-as-impressive tally of 31-20 — must be overrated as well.

It’s just the familiar drumbeat of fans who are jealous and envious of the brand of football which is played perenially in the Southeastern Conference. Make no mistake about it, the loss was embarrassing. As good as Utah looked, a 12-1 SEC squad — even in a down year for the conference — should have found a way to win. And how can a squad which barely posted a winning season in ‘07 find themselves unmotivated to win a BCS bowl?

But if you’re going to tell me that Utah really is that good, and that Bama really was that bad, I’m going to fight you. Hard. Some facts:
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South Carolina players say the 2008 Gators are better than their ‘06 championship counterparts.

WR Kenny McKinley believes the current Gators would beat the ‘06 team that routed Ohio State 41-14 for the title.

“This Florida team is a lot better than that team, honestly,” McKinley said. “They’ve got a lot of speed. Their quarterback starter Chris Leak was pretty good then, but Tim Tebow is a monster. Their defense, to me, is a lot better now.”

LB Eric Norwood said, “It’s kind of crazy, but this Florida team is a lot faster” than the ‘06 Gators. “I don’t how much faster you can get.”

C Garrett Anderson agreed and added, “They’re a bigger team and they’re very knowledgeable about what they do. They don’t mess up a lot.

“You watch most teams on film and try to scheme against their defense, and you’ll see a play where something went wrong, like two guys ran into each other. You watch Florida, they don’t do that.”

It’s easy to see why the Gamecock players favor the 2008 Gators. They nearly beat the 2006 team, falling 17-16 at The Swamp after having two field goals and an extra point blocked. This year in Gainesville, Florida thrashed Carolina 56-6.

True that. It was South Carolina’s second ‘old school’ style thrashing at the hands of the Gators in as many years.

What’s most interesting about the comparison is that the ‘Cocks lauded the ‘08 defense as better than ‘06.
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Gator Nation took it somewhat personally when Tebow was snubbed for the second Heisman Trophy he deserved. The full ramifications of how and why Tebow lost weren’t understood until sometime after the presentation, when it was revealed that 194 of the Heisman Trust’s 530 voters left Tebow off their ballots entirely. Words don’t do justice to the sheer disgust felt by many Gator fans. Even Urban Meyer was quoted as saying, “If Tim Tebow was left off of 194 ballots, there are 194 too many ballots out there.” Word, Coach. Even if all of those losers had placed Tebow at 3rd, which is still hard to fathom but at least isn’t entirely out in left field, college football’s greatest player of our era (Blutarsky calls him GPOOE^TM, which I dig) would have become just the second two-time Heisman Trophy winner in history. By leaving him off, they guaranteed that he would not win.

Denied. Robbed. Jobbed. That’s what happened. Call me a sore loser about this — sure. Call me a sore loser anytime the Gators get worked. That is clearly what happened here. Not to take anything away from Sam Bradford, who is a great quarterback and a gracious winner, but the way Tebow lost speaks volumes about how politicized this voting process has really become.

The argument of those who defend this travesty revolves around the notion that Big 12 voters left Tebow off because they had three great Big 12 quarterbacks to place: Bradford, McCoy, and Harrell. Just one problem with that: Harrell appeared on hardly any ballots, in any capacity. So bogus.

And yes, I’m driving at a point here: this team has a rallying cry, a reason to come into the championship game mad and ready show the world that their leader eats Sam Bradfords for lunch. Hell, Tim Tebow could throw Bradford to McCoy. That’s what I think.

A crystal football is worth a dozen Heisman Trophies, if not more. The real prize is earned on the field, which is as it should be. And we will see just how good Bradford is when facing a real, competent defense — something he has not yet done this season.

DeMarco Murray won’t play in the BCS Title Game. Surgery. Hamstring tendon. Boo-yah.

Our official stance is that we never want to see a player hurt, we always want our opponent at full strength, yadda-yadda. But truth be told, this is actually pretty good news for the Gators, because Murray’s greatest strength is his ability to start the Sooners at their own 40. And if the Gators have one weakness this season, it’s kickoff coverage. So, yeah, this is good, insofar as “surgery” and “good” can go together. Hey, it’s not like he was injured in our game.

The Sooners have two other backs which should be able to pound out the tough yardage. Despite being his team’s second-leading rusher, Murray has been described as the ‘big play’ back, the guy who explodes for big gains on a regular basis. However, Florida certainly can’t count out Chris Brown and Mossis Madu, who have combined for 1600 yards and 26 touchdowns.

The other news — is it good or bad? — is that Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen will take time out of his busy schedule to call the plays in the title game.

“I think he’s going to coach. I talked to him yesterday and right now the plan is he’s going to come back right after Christmas,” Meyer said after practice Tuesday. “We’ve talked about it. And the goal is to win the game. I think right now, unless something changes, that’s what’s going to happen. He’s going to coach.”

Asked if Mullen should be able to do all the preparation for the national title contest, Meyer said if he wasn’t he wouldn’t be coaching in the game.

Mullen, we know you can’t wait to start ringing some cowbells, but don’t screw this up.

It will be Florida versus Oklahoma in Miami.

Competing for a national championship twice in three years represents a new level of elite at the University of Florida. Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin make this stuff look easy — but it’s not. Florida has surpassed “top 1% of the 1%” and have achieved Dynasty status.

It seems so long ago now, but during the Zook years, Gator Nation pined for the heady Spurrier glory days. But Urban Meyer is writing a new championship legacy which will relegate the Spurrier years to the opening act for the Big Show.

This is not the last time Florida will play for the title under Urban Meyer. Congratulations to the players, the coaching staff, the University Athletic Association and everyone associated with Florida football for writing new chapters in the fantastic history of the Gators.

Some notes:

1) Texas has absolutely no right to complain about missing the boat. The Big 12 conference tie-breaker rules, like them or not, clearly identified Oklahoma as the Big 12 South champ, and the Sooners went on to win the Big 12 title. Texas failed to win their division, much less their conference. It’s a shame that a one-loss team can lose so much, being literally seconds away from a BCS title bid — but that’s Big Boy college football for you. Alabama is in a similar position, having played a near perfect season at an extremely high level, to be left with little more than a SEC division ‘title’ and a chance to smash Utah in the Sugar Bowl. This is how the system works. Don’t go the sour grapes route, Horn fans — it is entirely unbefitting of you.

2) USC vs. Penn State? Ought to be a USC victory, but I don’t expect to see a beat-down. Southern Cal has to be tired of playing in the Rose Bowl, which is just a regular venue for them at this point. I’ll be pulling for Joe Pa, but the Big 10 sucks and I have no confidence that any team from that conference can beat a BCS opponent.

3) Fedex has to be rethinking their Orange Bowl sponsorship now that Virginia Tech has been slated to play Cincinnati. Cue the empty stands and screaming local merchants. Boooorrrring. Did you happen to catch the ACC championship game? Did you know that Virginia Tech beat BC in that game? Did you care? Me neither.

4) Texas vs. Ohio State is an interesting matchup, but Texas is a significantly better team than the Bucks and we’ll probably get another blowout victory for our trouble. I encourage Texas to take their frustration out on the Buckeyes, who really deserve the full hell-bent fury of a great football team.

5) Overall, the BCS has managed, by the skin of its teeth, to get the best two teams in the country matched up for the national championship. That being said, it also set up a pretty dull slate of bowl games leading up to the Big One. Sure, it might be interesting if Utah can compete with Bama, but I fully expect to see a 28-3 style victory for the Tide in that game. And as mentioned above, it’ll be fun to watch Texas pound the Buckeyes again. Other than that — 2 thumbs down. These conference tie-ins are making for uncompelling matchups. How about USC vs. Alabama? How about Texas Tech vs. Penn State? How about Ohio State vs. Utah? These are games I’d much rather see as the matchups are more unique and compelling. But it’s just not going to happen.

6) Tim Tebow is 60 minutes of football away from becoming the Greatest Gator in Florida football History. And he fully deserves the Heisman. Sorry, Sam Bradford, you’re a great player…. but you are no Tim Tebow.

From BCS Guru:

“With the release of the USA Today Coaches Poll, it’s become a near certainty that Florida will be in the BCS title game, against Oklahoma, whose place was never in doubt.

The latest poll, with the No. 2-ranked Gators earning 26 first-place votes, puts them 73 points ahead of No. 3 Texas. That was more than the 50-point lead that the Guru forecast the Gators would need. Since Florida was already No. 2 in the Harris poll last week and poised to assume the top ranking, its advantages in the human polls should be insurmountable for Texas to overcome.”

Ladies and gentlemen, we’re in.

This is the year that Georgia will play for it all.  The 27 year old drought will finally come to an end for the Bulldogs as they collect their 2nd National Championship.  This is the best Georgia team in 3 decades.
 
Or at least that’s what some pundits and Georgia fans will have you believe!  Unfortunately for the pups, this is NOT the year that Georgia will win or even play for a National Title.  I do concur on the third point however, it may be the best squad the Dawgs have put together in a very long time.  It’s not Coach Richt’s fault of course, it’s not that Georgia is going to slip up because of uninspired play or looking ahead (not in my opinion anyways).  It’s quite simply because they are playing a brutal schedule that will cost them at least two games this season and thereby deny them the chance for a title.
 
Georgia does not have to go undefeated to play for a National Title, far from it.  Florida won theirs in 2006 with one loss while LSU won theirs in 2007 with TWO losses.  But playing for a BCS Championship with two losses is a feat still only accomplished once . . . last year!  Georgia would definitely have to win the SEC East and SEC Championship to do that.  I could see a one loss team getting to the BCS Championship game should the cards fall right but it’s hard to envision a scenario where Georgia could accomplish that scenario.  In the loaded SEC East even a single loss could cost the Bulldogs a trip to the SEC Championship Game.  It would preferably be an early season loss to be safe (aka not Florida in November) which would likely mean either South Carolina or Tennessee.  And although it COULD be done quite easily in theory I’m not going to get drowned in the details because I am warning you. . . it won’t happen.
 
I’m sure a number of people out there will accuse me of being a Georgia basher because of the Florida-Georgia rivalry.  Let me assure you that I am not a “Bulldog Hater“.  I didn’t arrive to Gainesville (from out of state) until 1990 which was Steve Spurrier’s first year.  Although there was a lot of hatred of Georgia on the campus, my personal experience with the Dawgs was somewhat one-sided (15-3).  Thus I don’t bear as much animosity towards Georgia that the typical Gator fan might.  In fact this year might be the first where the Georgia game transcends being just another big SEC game for Florida.  And even then a Florida win, while personally fulfilling, would once again relegate the series to a discussion of “what used to be” between the programs.  A Georgia win would be better for the series and much better for the Bulldogs National Title aspirations. (more…)

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I love EA’s NCAA Football series. So help me sweet baby Jesus, I love it.

My first encounter was NCAA 2004. Didn’t play it much. Got NCAA 05 and via random button mashing and playcalling, learned that Chris Leak threw a fantastic bomb to Chad Jackson on play-action out of the Ace formation. Discovered the direct HB snap, slot outs, and the speed option. Addiction set in.

Now it’s gotten to the point that I eagerly anticipate EA’s July launch of their college football franchise. Hell, I even look forward to the unveiling of the cover athlete. I was a little annoyed when Jared Zabransky (are you kidding me?) made the cover — instead of national championship MVP Chris Leak! — for NCAA ‘08.

Now NCAA ‘09 is soon to be upon us and the requisite team ratings are starting to leak out. A screenshot of Florida’s team ratings appear above. Not surprisingly, “QB #15″ is atop the list, followed by “WR #1″.
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