It’s officially ended, men. The championship season that wasn’t and the era of the hyped QB that was all came to an end. Some reflections on the Tebow/(Meyer?) Era:

*Florida is the first FBS/Division-1 school in history to post back-to-back 13 win seasons, and thus, the first to have three in four seasons. I’d say two out of three, while not ideal, certainly isn’t bad.

*Tim Tebow never missed a game in four years. Wow.

*Tebow ends with 145 total touchdowns, by far a school record, is fourth all-time in passing yardage with 9,285 (just three yards shy of beating Shane Matthews for third place), sixth all-time in rushing yardage with 2947, and tied for second (with his predecessor, Chris Leak) with 88 touchdown passes.

*Tebow had a career high in rushing yardage this season (yes, including ‘07)

*Coach, however you decide upon your future, for your sake and for our team’s, please, please, please do it as soon as reasonably possible. And I’m not just saying this because the coaching situation will hurt us in recruiting. We’ll still do fine.

Now it’s looking like Meyer may take an ‘indefinite leave of absence’ as opposed to retiring. Press conference in 15 minutes.

I have just received word from Yahoo! Sports that Coach Meyer is stepping down after the Sugar Bowl for health-related concerns.

This, this is…well…um

I need the shock to wear off.

…as I previously stated, I do not believe Brandon Spikes is inherently mean-spirited.

I’m sorry if anything I said painted him as such. I’ve since taken off the post, and want to move on.

I’m happy that nobody was hurt in the game.

Welcome to offense vs. defense. Featuring offensive displays of defense, the best offense being a good defense, playing off the defense, defending the offense, and defensive players acting offensively when the offending offenders talk more offensively about defense than offense.

Okay, no more tongue twisters. But Arkansas has an offense, and a running back that gashed Florida’s defense. However, the defense that made its name on big plays at the right times a year earlier has grown up and done the unthinkable, taking a good bit of press(ure) from Tim Tebow and Florida’s spread option offense. But surely Arkansas’ defense looks equally as promising as their offensive counterparts and can give Florida a game. Am I right, Jerry? Jerry?

Yeah, I couldn’t blame you if your smile is starting to fade a bit. Allowing the Matt Stafford and Knowshon Moreno-less Georgia Bulldogs to ring up one point for every week in a year and letting Alabama (which is playing like Alabama, but still…) put up almost as many points as Mallet’s and Michael Smith’s jersey numbers combined is not a good sign. And so far, Florida’s approach, which is a third cousin twice removed from Woody Hayes’ ways, hasn’t had the balance most fans are looking for. But the offense could open up. Maybe.

It’s certainly a positive sign that Florida is favored from every regular-season game on. And if we indeed meet up with Alabama, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Even in spite of my offensive use of a cliche.

Stay tuned as we get updates for LSU.

With Tebow in our thoughts and minds, most of us would be terrified about John Brantley starting in a week and a half, and rightfully so. I think Tebow will end up as a game-time decision, but that’s just my own opinion.

Given the choice, I highly doubt that any college coach would want his QB’s first start against a top-5 team on the road. But if it comes down to J.B. starting on that fateful day, he has intangibles that most others in his position would not.

He has a pedigree, with ancestors and a high school coach who played in the program. He’s gotten to learn under Tebow for the last two and a half seasons. And, of course, all that talent.

But most importantly, Brantley would bring in the element of surprise. All of his tape is mop up duty (And yes, I consider last week mop-up duty). Which means that there isn’t really a lot to prepare on, outside of the knowledge that he is more of a passer.

Expect to see lots of shotgun and some I if this happens. Oh, and don’t be surprised to see a more conservative approach.

88-86. I don’t need to say anything more, do I?

One of the faces on Florida’s Mount Rushmore of College Basketball Success has wasted no time in making an NBA impact.

For nearly the entire season, Horford has had to take a backseat in press coverage to vets Joe Johnson and Josh Smith. At 6-10, he’s had to play as a somewhat undersized center while Smith has excelled at power forward. And then there was Bibby.

(more…)

Colin Cowherd, previously known for plagarazing the M Zone, has struck again. In short: he has attacked The Big Lead. Don’t bother clicking the link, it’s still down. He encouraged his listeners (hard to believe the idiot blowhard even has listeners) to access The Big Lead until it crashed. It has now been over a day, and the site is still down.

I contacted ESPN’s new Ombudsman here, and left her a polite but strongly worded complaint about the situation.
I emailed the FCC at fccinfo@fcc.gov (which probably is not the correct address for complaints, but it is better than nothing). I encourage all of you to do the same. It is not acceptable for ESPN “personalities” to bully the blogospehere.

HT: Deadspin, MZone, EDSBS