“Temporary Cranial Flatulence” Infects the LSU Defense

There have been times when I think the sports media has over-hyped him, but that’s another story.  The bottom line is that he was raised right, he is respectful, and he is a class act.

Last year, in the week leading up to the LSU game, someone posted Tebow’s cell phone number on the internet, sparking a barrage of phone calls and voice mails from the LSU die-hards.  When Tebow scored a touchdown right in front of the student section, he playfully put his thumb and pinky up to his ear signifying a phone as if to say, “Call me.”

After hearing about the context of some of the messages left for Tebow that week, I thought that was a good-natured way of handling it.  Unfortunately for Tim Tebow and his Gators, though, it wasn’t enough to get the win.

Which now brings me to this weekend’s matchup between LSU and Florida.  Being in different divisions, this game was initially seen as part one of a possible two-part series between the teams—one in Gainesville and one in Atlanta.

Now that Florida has an unexpected conference loss at the hands of Ole Miss, this is a must-win situation for the Gators.

But even with the Heisman Trophy winner under center and a home crowd to cheer them on, this will be an uphill battle for Florida.

Let’s start with the crowd in “The Swamp.”  Sure, it gets loud in there, and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium can be an intimidating venue for an opposing team.  But let’s be honest—when your home field is Tiger Stadium, your team tends to be virtually immune from environmental factors.

Since their own stadium is universally accepted as the loudest college football stadium in America, don’t expect the Tigers to get rattled by the crowd.

Next are the X’s and O’s.  As I stated in the preseason, Tim Tebow is not a pocket passer.  When Urban Meyer announced that he would seek to keep Tebow in the pocket more rather than running with the ball, I said that was a mistake.  We all saw how well that strategy worked against Michigan and Ole Miss.

If Meyer doesn’t let Tebow do what Tebow does best, the Gators will almost always lose on third and short situations.

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