One of the more interesting debates on the Gator roundtable is whether Tim Tebow can join Ohio State legend Archie Griffin in the Multiple Heisman club.

(more…)

With the NFL draft just nine days away, it’s time to pay homage to the junior DE’s career.

As one of the last recruits of the Ron Zook era, Harvey was one of the most highly touted prospects at the front four in ‘04. Four years later, not much has changed. With one redshirt season, SEC title, national championship, and defensive MVP on his belt, he’s projected to go high in the first round.

(more…)

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 miss them so much…

At least this time, the game had no real meaning. But that win had to feel good for the Buckeyes, who lost the last three matchups to UF in both hoops and football, twice with national titles on the line. Gators 3, Buckeyes 1.

I didn’t expect UF to win this game and I said prior to tip that I’d be happy with a competitive, physical performance from our boys.

I’m not sure we really got that from them.

The final: 62-49. It was a nightmarish outing for the Gators, going 4-23 from beyond the arc and shooting only 33.3% from the field. The Gators didn’t get to the free throw line terribly often, but they were often terrible there, managing a horrible 53.8%. That’s not going to cut it, folks.
(more…)

Great memories, eh? Disclaimer: I am totally ripping this off from Alligator Army, the SB Nation Gators blog tended to by occasional commenter mlmintampa.

Has it really been a year since that December matchup against Ohio State? That was one of my favorite games I witnessed personally in the O’Connell Center: the excitement of an Oden vs. Horf/Noah matchup, a Top 5 hoops game in December telecast by CBS, and, oh yeah, TOTAL GATOR DOMINATION. It led to a rematch for all the marbles, a game Florida won — again — on the strength of a beautiful gameplan by Billy Donovan, amazing aerobatics by Corey Brewer and yet another unconscious performance by our baby-faced assassin, Lee Humphrey. The Horf shimmy! Legend.

Anyway… it’s not going to look that way this year. We’ll look back fondly on those great ‘06 and ‘07 teams for as long as we live and breathe, but the ‘08 season brings us a new group of Gators. They’re raw, they’re young, and they’re not fully grown yet. But they’re amazingly talented and I expect them to do great things in the coming years.

Let me be honest: winning this game is going to be tough. Yes, Ohio State is 7-3 and Florida is 11-1, but let’s face the facts: the Gators have played no one except FSU, and they lost badly in that game. Ohio State, meanwhile, has played some pretty tough dudes: a close loss to #1 North Carolina and a win over Syracuse, who despite not being all that great in ‘08 are without a doubt better than anyone our kids have played.

A win would be great, but I’m looking for a tough, physical performance from our young Gators. Winning 4 in a row would be… heavenly. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that this team is still learning how to play college ball.

Tip is at 4:00PM ET in Columbus. Go Gators.

When confronted with the season schedule of the Ohio State Buckeyes on The Colin Cowherd Show, Chris Spielman asked “What is the purpose of college football?“ Spielman, an Ohio State graduate, defended his alma mater’s place at number one in the polls despite having a current strength of schedule 49 spots below second ranked South Florida. His reasoning is that it’s not the job of programs to play in compelling matchups and entertain the fans, it’s to win championships - Big 10, Pac 10, Big East and National Championships. Therefore he is not at all embarrassed by Ohio State’s pathetic schedule as long as it helps his school attain a shot at a title.

But when we examine Ohio State’s schedule we see some very disturbing trends. First we look at the Buckeyes Out Of Conference (OOC) opponents - Youngstown State (a Division 1-AA school), Akron, Kent State and Washington. Since these schedules are made years in advance (but not really that far in advance when scheduling the mid-major schools like Akron, Kent State, etc) we shouldn’t just focus on their current record but their state as a PROGRAM, aka recent success. So what were the Ohio State Athletic Director and Head Coach Jim Tressell looking for in an opponent?

First we will dismiss Youngstown State as a credible opponent since it is Division 1-AA school. Sure, everyone knows about Appalachian State’s upset of Michigan. But the percentage of wins of a 1-AA school against a 1-A school are EXTREMELY low. This is what made Appy State’s win so incredible. But Youngstown St. was scheduled before the upset so even if the Buckeyes had second thoughts it was too late. This is a win is a win is a win of a game that is regularly referred to as a “paycheck game“. YSU picked up their big paycheck, got pounded 38-6 and left town bloodied but richer.

Next Ohio State turned their attention to mighty Akron. Akron is nicknamed the Zips and that’s the same chance they stood against the Buckeyes . . . ZIP! (more…)

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?

(more…)

History has been made by Florida’s twin teams of destiny: 3 national championships in 12 months. It is the greatest 12 month period in the history of Gator athletics.

Another reason it’s great to be a Florida Gator: that’s 2 straight championships won at the expense of Ohio State, a school upon whom Florida can now buckle up the collar, attach the leash, and take for walks whenever they like.

In victory, let us sign off with:

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.

Now if I were Rob G — and I’m not — this would appear in the Church of Albert. On second thought, maybe it wouldn’t, because Albert isn’t treated so well in this video.

But then again, how could you expect him to be? He just dominated Ohio State in basketball, football, and… running.

Enjoy.