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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We’ve accepted the gracious invite of SBNation’s Crimson and Cream Machine to exchange some inside info on our respective teams during the Holiday lull. C&C’s interview with us can be found here.

Orange and Blue Hue: Let’s start with injuries. For some reason, guys whose name starts with “Demarc” are getting injured left and right on your team. Talk about the loss of Murray and Granger and how it will impact this game.

Crimson and Cream Machine: The loss of DeMarco Murray will hurt the team a lot worse than DeMarcus Granger. Oklahoma is fairly deep along the defensive line and rotates all of their linemen. Grander was in the second wave of defensive tackles to come into the game. He’s good but not one of the best two on the team and the Sooners will just break into their depth to replace him. His loss will be significant but not nearly as significant as DeMarco Murray.

Murray is the team leader in all-purpose yards. He is a lightning fast runner, a dangerous kick returner and an excellent safety valve for Sam Bradford on passing downs. He is irreplaceable but Mossis Madu will do his best. He had an excellent Big 12 Championship Game but still has me worried just based on experience or lack of.
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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.

Lindy’s…. Athlon… Phil Steele.

You college football junkies out there have a stack of the pre-season CFB rags just like I do. Don’t try to hide it: embrace your affliction. In case you don’t, though, read on.

The Gators are getting a ton of pre-season love, and from my perspective, it might be a bit much. Here are Athlon, Lindy’s, and Phil Steele’s Top 10:


Average ranking, Ohio State: 2.3
Average ranking, Florida: 2.6
Average ranking, Georgia: 5.0

So… how does that shake out? Florida gets ranked #1 by two of the three rags, but doesn’t even get a Top 5 nod by Lindy’s. Georgia pulls the #1 pick in that same rag but is ranked #5 and #9 by the others.
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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.

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In true blog style, I present an article with no real structure!

Lesson one: anything can happen.  Kentucky beat Clemson, the Big East went undefeated in Bowl Play, Georgia Tech fielded an actual Quarterback, Randy Moss left Oakland and now wears a number 8 for USC (attitude and skills, but sadly not the hair), Adrian Peterson’s dad jinxed another game,  Bobby Bowden and JoePa both improved their coaching records without actually doing any coaching, and Boise State created a real life, super-awesome Disney movie in Arizona (complete with a Ginger Quarterback).

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In debt: Houston Nutt

Why: Let us count the ways (on the toes of our clubfoot.) His victory over ‘Bama came thanks to the Tide’s backup kicker — nicknamed “Tiffin the Terrible” — and his noodle-like aim. And the Commies, er, Commodores, were held off on a kick, too; their game-winning attempt flew wide. Such is the inevitable repetitive fate for Vandy. Nutt and co. earned Ws on the wings of… kickers. Plus his starting quarterback, Casey Dick, is under 30% passing in his last three games, yet the Hogs lost only to LSU after clinching the SEC West. (And it was close, 31-26.)

Status: Living on borrowed time

In surplus: Reggie Ball

Reggie Ball as Agrajag has been explored by EDSBS but it deserves another look as Georgia Tech links bee antennae with the branches of Wake Forest for the ACC Championship. After bombing for the fourth and final time against the late-to-bloom UGA Bulldogs, a quick review shows that Ball’s career has been characterized by big meltdowns, mental shutdowns (throwing it away on 4th down for the game-winner — remember that?) and total lack ‘o crowns. Reggie Ball has athletic ability but the football insanity which replaces his quarterback intelligence has been the bane of his existence as a Yellowjacket. Today, against Wake Forest, its’s Reggie Ball’s time. Karmicly speaking.

Status: Only karma can save him now

In debt/surplus: Bob Stoops

Why: The. worst. call. in. officiating. history. It cost the Sooners the game against the Oregon Ducks. And don’t forget Rhett Bomar, dismissed in the pre-season by Stoops for coasting through the car wash for cash. Then you’ve got Adrian Peterson going down on an innocent looking endzone dive, likely ending his year before bowl season. Despite endless setbacks, Oklahoma’s head coach flipped the proverbial bird to the football gods, going 10-2 to date. Should be 11-1.

Status: Neutral. Dude takes matters into his own hands.

In debt: Pete Carroll

God, does this guy ever lose? Oh, yeah, he did… against Oregon State. How you lose to OSU2 and still show up in Glendale is still beyond me. This guy is so in debt that it’d take 20 years of losing in Div. III football to make up the difference. Booty can’t miss, his receivers are fast, his DBs hit hard. Because of that, they’re destined to lose today to the giant forehead of Karl Dorell. Maybe via head-butt. We called it here first! (But we will erase this entry if UCLA loses.)

Status: Owes the entire Pac-10 a mulligan

In debt: Greg Schiano

Why: Okay, seriously, how many times do you have a chance to win a home game down by 1 point against a Top 5 opponent… then your kicker misses… and the bad guys are called for offsides, giving you a second chance to put it away? That just doesn’t happen! Schiano paid a big portion of his debt to the Cincinatti Bearcats the following week, but he still has a ways to go to get even. At 7:45 Saturday night, he’ll tip his hat to “Coach Rod” (who definitely, absolutely, maybe won’t ever leave WVU) and give up a courtesy L due to his deep and thorough understanding of karmic balance.

Status: Equilibrium lies in losing