There's a popular saying in Gainesville, Florida:
"If you ain't a Gator, you must be Gatorbait!"
These days, nothing could be more true.
Gators Past have won four national championships in the last 11 years in the two major collegiate sports—basketball and football.
Gators Present boast a football team that's better than last year's BCS title-winners.
And Gators Future?
Next year's team looks to be even more dangerous than this year's model—and given Urban Meyer's recruiting skills, there's no reason to think UF is going anywhere but up.
There's also no reason to believe Urban will leave Florida. He has no desire to coach in the NFL—and come on, he already passed on Notre Dame once.
What makes you think he'd leave Gainesville to rebuild that mess of a program?
Speaking of Notre Dame, is there anyone in America who believes that Meyer would be 0-3 right now if he were leading the Fighting Irish?
I guess the Weis-Meyer debate has been resolved.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Tim Tebow, meanwhile, is proving that the hype was warranted—and he's only started three games. Imagine how much better he'll be once he gets some experience.
And remember that game last week against Tennessee? The one where the Gators scored 59 points and held the Tennessee offense to only 13?
Well, Florida was without their best WR, and lost their best CB early in the game to injury.
Do you believe LSU would be as dominant without Early Doucet and Chevis Jackson? Personally, I don't.
Time will tell, though, as Doucet got injured in a walk-through practice session and could possibly miss the Tigers' October 6th showdown with the Gators.
In the SEC, there's one team that can score on LSU and one team that can slow down Florida. I'm not sure which is more true, and the there's a lot of football still to be played, so I'm not going to make my official prediction yet.
One thing I am sure of, though:
It's great to be a Florida Gator.
Random Thoughts
- There are four teams who are worthy of playing in the Sugar Bowl at this point in the season: USC, Florida, LSU, and Oklahoma. West Virginia, go undefeated with some dominant defensive games and I'll change my mind.
- It's hard to say whether Virginia Tech and Nebraska are overrated or LSU and USC are just that good. I'm leaning towards overrated.
- The higher-ups at Notre Dame are beyond nervous. They flat-out made the wrong decision by firing Tyrone Willingham—and are paying the price for it.- C.J. Spiller, Noel Divine, Joe McKnight, Chris Rainey—there are going to be some good RBs playing on Sundays in a few years. We have a couple more years to watch them play with passion in college. Let's enjoy it.
- If Les Miles leaves for Michigan and Phil Fulmer is forced out at Tennessee, which school will be able to pull Steve Spurrier away from South Carolina? My bet would be LSU, if either. The talent may be too tempting for Spurrier to continue struggling at South Carolina. I don't think any of those scenarios are likely to happen, personally.
- Tim Tebow is quickly moving his way up the Heisman list.
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about 1 year ago
Chevis Jackson isn't injured. You're right about Doucet though, not sure he'll be back for the Florida game, luckily and unfortunately our teams will likely place twice...
oh and I definitely agree w/ this statement:
"When it comes to the SEC, there is one team that can score on LSU and one team that can slow down Florida. I am not sure which is more true and the there is a lot of football to be played so I am not going to make my official prediction yet. "
you're offense hasn't faced a good defense and our defense hasn't faced a good offense and won't until we face the best in Florida. Florida's offense at least gets to face a defense with good--somewhat comparable talent in Auburn the week prior to the Oct 6 match-up (its not Auburn's defense losing those games). Though that might not be a positive thing considering that Auburn's defense if physical and Florida's offense could potentially lose a player or two to injury.
It should be a game for the ages, #2 vs. #3, first time two teams that highly ranked played in Tiger Stadium since 1959 LSU-Ole Miss.
about 1 year ago
I didn't say Chevis Jackson was injured. I was saying because Florida beat Tennessee without their best WR and lost their best CB early, that it is interesting to wonder if LSU could do the same if they happened to lose their best WR and best CB. It was a hypothetical statement.
I really hope both teams are as healthy as possible for that game and that neither team gets upset in the next two weeks.
about 1 year ago
The Irish definitely dropped the ball by firing Willingham. Just look at Weis's first two seasons coaching Willingham's players. Brady Quinn, Tom Z., Darius Walker were all Willingham's He's starting to bring in some talented recruits to Huskie country now (see: Jake Locker), while Weis hasn't yet realized that while an offensive scheme and quarterback can be superior, it won't work if he doesn't learn to recruit offensive linemen. I hope they've been enjoying their -3.0 rushing yards per game!
about 1 year ago
"If Les Miles leaves for Michigan and Phil Fulmer is forced out at Tennessee, which school will be able to pull Steve Spurrier away from South Carolina? My bet would be LSU, if either. The talent may be too tempting for Spurrier to continue struggling at South Carolina. I don't think any of those scenarios are likely to happen, personally."
Your article was good, but I didn't like this thought. Personally, I HIGHLY doubt Spurrier would leave Carolina for another SEC school. I would not by a long shot say that Spurrier is struggling at Carolina. He's bringing that program to a Nationally Recognized level quicker than people realize. Carolina WILL turn heads this year, and will only get better. There's no reason for Spurrier to leave, and I think he knows this. He's not going anywhere.
I also would like to add that Michigan hiring Les Miles would be a dumb move on their part. Miles isn't a great coach. Not terrible, but Michigan needs an outstanding coach right now, or a coach with a lot of potential... Miles isn't exacly either. Keep in mind, this is my opinion.
about 1 year ago
Nathan, your opinion is pretty much exactly mine. If you notice my last sentence in your quote, I say that don't believe any of the above scenarios to be true, meaning I don't expect Miles to go to Michigan and I certainly don't expect Spurrier to leave South Carolina. In one of my past articles, I wrote about Miles being a slightly better Zook and that the Tigers will lose this year because of him.
You better believe that if either team does lose their coach, they will be going after Spurrier. And if Spurrier looks at UF and realizes their talent isn't dropping anytime soon, he may want to jump to greener pastures to compete for the SEC and BCS titles. It is an extremely unlikely situation, but it wouldn't shock me.
about 1 year ago
Kevin, any concerns about this Florida group going on the road for the first time?
This isn't the forum, but you're completely wrong about the Willingham firing. Whether or not Weis is a worthy replacement remains to be seen... but there is about a 98% consensus among devoted Irish fans that Ty was running the program even further into the ground from a recruiting perspective. And his assistant coaches were not developing players. Brady Quinn said as much after the regime change. Who else do you need to hear from re: Ty vs Weis?
about 1 year ago
Going to Ole Miss doesn't scare me. Florida has lost the last 3 games to Mississippi schools, but those were all with the Zooker. Urban will have these guys in line and Tebow will be ready to play. The early start game could be a concern but it affects both teams and shouldn't be a factor in the overall start of the game.
I have heard that about Quinn but sometimes, certain players click with certain coaches. That doesn't necessarily mean it was the right move for the program. Weis won with the players Ty recruited. He is losing, and losing bad with his players (well, still Ty's but a least a mixture of both now). It was obvious that ND fired Willingham because they thought they had Urban Meyer locked up. When he turned them down, they were shocked. They then hired Weis who appeared to be just as suitable a candidate but has been demolished in the head-to-head comparison with Urban. Year 3 with Willingham got them 6 losses. I don't see anyway Weis get's to that number. Will he be fired? Of course not. The reason? I have no idea.
from about 1 year ago
The reason couldn't be clearer: recruiting. Ty's best class (his first) couldn't hold a candle to any of Weis'. And Ty's last two are currently ND's juniors and seniors. Watch how many of those players go on the first day of the NFL draft...
Now, I don't excuse Weis' inability to "coach 'em up." There are freshman and sophomore stars all over college football.
However, if we could reverse time and go back to November 2004... I still fire Willingham just to have the opportunity to offer Meyer a contract.
about 1 year ago
Although Florida looked impressive against Tennessee, I'm not so sure that it was Florida's doing or Tennessee's undoing that led to that rout. Tennessee is far and away, the most overrated team in the SEC. The beating Cal put on them should have told us all that. So the fact that this multi-dimensional Urban Meyer offense put up the points it did, shouldn't surprise anyone. The huge issue with this argument is the fact that Urban Meyer won a national title with Ron Zook's players. And I'm not taking anything away from Urban's recruiting ability but all of those defensive standouts were "Zook's" kids. Point being, we know he can recruit offensively (Tebow, Percy Harvin)---but can he recruit defensively? Can he get the defensive recruits neccesary to continue winning in the SEC like he has the past 3 years? I don't see Auburn giving Florida any competition mainly due to their Tennessee-like ability to shoot themselves in the foot and take themselves out of a game. LSU will be the measuring stick to which Florida should be viewed. The entire nation saw what they did to a top 10 team when they played Va Tech. I just can't see that defense allowing Tebow to come into Death Valley and embarass them. At The Swamp maybe---definitely not in Baton Rouge.
Make no mistake about it though. Should LSU win it all this year, Les Miles will go to Michigan. And Michigan will gladly pay his 1.75 million dollar buyout, considering they're not only getting a former son but they also get his southern recruiting connections as well.
from about 1 year ago
The recruits Meyer has brought in are better talents than Zook's. Urban has had a top 3 class the last two years. All off the freshman and sophomores are starting for a reason. They are good. And Meyer recruited them.
Meyer won a championship with players who did not fit his system.
Weis won some games with Ty's players but is losing even more with his own.
about 1 year ago
I really have a problem with this quote, kevin. - "And remember that game last week against Tennessee? The one where the Gators scored 59 points and held the Tennessee offense to only 13?"
If you want to be a better writer, I think you need to be more objective and unbiased. i almost cant watch brent musberger cause of his biases, and its a shame. im not saying youre even remotely close to that bad, but regardless of who is reading, everyone can get turned off by a biased writer.
the gators only scored 45 points on offense, right? one punt returned and one fumle returned. you subtracted eric berry's int return in order to make the gator's win look even more impressive, by simply stating that the UT offense was held to a mere 13. if youre gonna do that, you need to do the same with the gators fumle return by Dustin Doe, and subtract it from your stats. It just isnt good to be that biased towards any team. Because the final score wasnt 59-13. That's the message you sent.
I know you love your gators...and i love my vols. but for writing's sake i think its smart to attempt to forget about that love. its okay to write a lot about your Florida teams, cause thats what you know a lot about, but dont just spoon feed to us all how you think florida is number 1 and twist stats to back your arguments. thats boring and should be posted on your facebook profile rather than this site. thats all from me.
congrats on the win, and see yall next year up in knox-vegas.
from about 1 year ago
That is a very good point and I will try to remember to do that from here on out. The reason I made a point to say 13 points is because everyone in the nation has been knocking Florida's defense. And then they hold a Tennessee team with a senior starting QB, two very good RB's and a strong offensive line plus the supposed great playcalling of Cutcliffe to only 13 offensive points. That is a very important thing for people to realize when judging this Florida team. The defense is not nearly as bad as everyone in the country wants to believe.
Also, if you notice, I said the Gators scored 59, which they did. I then said the Tennessee offense scored 13, which they did. So I didn't twist the facts. I just twisted my words, ha. But I completely understand where you're coming from and I will do a better job of not sounding so biased in the future.
from about 1 year ago
true, good point. twisted words instead of facts. and i gotta give yall credit. yall can put up points, and apparently stop people from doing the same. that being said, i hope yall lose 2 sec games and we win out. hah. thats probably not going to happen, but i can wish cant i?
about 1 year ago
Justin, I understand your concern that Urban Meyer presents a more convincing recruiting speech to offensive players, but I don't see why defensive players wouldn't want to come play for Charlie Strong. He has been coaching every defensive player on this team throughout their entire college career. I really hope that people won't forget that he stayed with Florida when Zook was fired. He coached the Gators in their bowl appearance that year. Also, all Meyer has to do now is point out the recent National championships at Florida. Defense wins championships.
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