Bleacher Report - Articles by brandon neal

Hey, Who Took The Sugar Out of the Tennessee Vols' Kool-Aid?

brandon neal — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:25:09 -0400

Attention all Vols. The honey moon is officially over.

Now, as a Gator fan, I'll be the first to admit I hate Lane Kiffen. Well, maybe I shouldn't say I hate him, as I don't hate anybody. Let's just say, I don't like the person he seems to be.

I don't hate Tennessee. I love the SEC and all the teams that represent the SEC.

It all started with his first press conference. He was talking about embracing tradition of UT football. It started off like you would expect. You know, the kind of stuff you normally would say.

Then he throws a poke at UF, which by the way, I watched that press conference, it seemed very innocent. In fact, I even said on Gatorcountry that the Gators fans who were up in arms over that statement were blowing it out of proportion.

Not that it hasn't been talked about enough. Lord knows it's going to be getting crammed down our throats up until the game. But I'll tell the story one more time.

Not long after taking the job at Tennessee, Lane started showing his true colors. Now, unless you were living under a rock, you know about the "Urban Meyer had to cheat and still lost the recruit" comment he made.

Lane was talking at some breakfast with boosters, here he then goes on to accuse Urban Meyer of cheating. This rubs me the wrong way for multiple reasons. First and foremost, when you incorrectly call somebody out, it's offensive. For some people, being called a cheater is the same as being called a liar.

Lane was then when forced to say sorry. However, his apology was an obvious joke and if anything, it made him even more hated by the way he did it. Basically, he said "Sorry if I offended anybody at UF. It wasn't my intention."

So he insults the Gator Nation by calling their leader a cheater, and then lies to them. I say this because if you call somebody a cheater, you're either trying to insult that person, or you're just stupid.

I'll go with the second option.

Now had he said, "Look, I'm sorry for what I said. I was trying to pump up my fans. But I guess I need to learn the rule book before I start accusing people of cheating. Now I look kind of stupid," I would have been able to forgive and forget.

Then, not long afterward, he goes on to insult the dot on the map town of Pahokee, saying they were in the Stone Age and he was worried if they knew how to operate a fax machine.

And again his apology is insulting. His excuse is that he didn't know cameras were rolling. That's his apology. That's like saying "Yeah, just relax, man. I didn't know you would ever hear what I had to say. So it's okay."

Again, it's just his brash personality that rubs many the wrong way. Given his head coaching record, you would expect him to be a little humble or something, but no. He acts as if he is the next big thing.

Lane is kind of like that rich punk kid that got everything he ever wanted handed to him and never had to work at anything. He's the guy that just knows he is better than everybody because of his daddy.

Fast forward to September 5th.

The Tennessee Vols and their fan base are riding high after the drumming of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. Now, was it just me or did anybody think the UT fan base was acting if they just bumped off the #1 team in the land? Well, they hadn't.

It was Western Kentucky. But don't tell them that.

After that, the propaganda was on. You saw all kinds of articles about Kiffen and the Vols. For example, I believe it was "Lane Has the Haters Hook Line and Sinker," that really was a funny read.

It was an article that described in detail how brilliant Lane was with his strategy. The fans were drunk with happiness and you could see it in their responses.

But then a week later, the honeymoon ends. You have one hundred thousand plus UT fans stumbling out of Neiland Stadium like zombies. People were crying. It was really sad. Even I felt a little sympathy for you guys.

But the truth is now known. UT will not be back as soon as hoped. I know a lot of people after that first game were thinking, "What if?"

Well, I'm asking the same question.

"What if?"

What if Lane would have not stepped on as many toes as he could? What if Lane treated his fellow SEC teams with the respect the SEC deserves? What if Lane Kiffen didn't believe that even bad publicity is a good thing?

What if Lane knew the rules before making a fool out of himself? What if Lane was just a little bit more humble? What if Lane didn't feel respect is given, rather than earned?

Well, for one thing, if Lane would have acted like a normal coach, UT wouldn't be the most wanted team in the SEC.

Again, I know what you Vols think. He isn't arrogant, he just has balls the size of water melons. Not to mention that he doesn't care what people think about him.

He's your rock star, right guys?

Let me ask you this: Vols, what has he done to deserve the swagger he seems to think he has?

No, he isn't brilliant like so many of you Vols were thinking. He just reminds me of a big kid.

In fact, his introduction was very similar to mine when I moved into a new neighborhood. I believe I was about 13 or 14 years old at the time. I was standing on my front porch when I saw a gang of kids ride by on skate boards and bikes.

I had to say something clever. I believe I called the biggest one a name.

A week later, I was riding my bike home from school when I turned a corner. Before I knew what was going on, I was yanked off by that kid I talked trash to and his friends.

Needless to say, I got what I deserved.

Needless to say, Lane Kiffen will get what he deserves as well.

Florida and USC: The Numbers

brandon neal — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:58:25 -0400

Now, for some reason, things are starting to heat up between the Florida Gators' and USC Trojans' fanbases. I guess going 5-0 in the bowl season has really got the Pac-10 fanbase thumping its collective chest and fired up.

I can't tell you how many times I read comments from USC—oops, I mean Pac-10—fans proclaiming they're back. This is surprising, because three of the five bowl games the Pac-10 played in were against unranked teams.

But that's beside the point.

Now, this bragging is usually followed up by trashing the SEC and the teams it schedules. Actually, overall strength of schedule and, in particular, out-of-conference schedules are their favorite bones to pick with SEC fans.

I guess it's all in how you look at toughness. Some fans (in particular, Pac-10 fans) want to base a schedule's strength and toughness on opposing team's previous records: how many wins those teams had, how many wins those teams' opponents had, etc. They do not care if a team played ranked teams.

Now, according to these people, I'm just a stupid, simple-minded, southern confederate who doesn't know how to do anything but try and make relations with my sister.

Obviously, I disagree. To me, it's as simple as this: The system that determines strength of schedule has teams like Miami of Ohio ranked way up there because of the FBS BS.

To me, it's way simpler than that. Teams who don't play ranked teams shouldn't be ranked high in regard to strength of schedule and teams that face top 25 teams have harder schedules. Makes sense, right?

Well, I did some digging and I must admit, I was surprised at what I found. Here are some numbers for people from both sides to chew on. It's from Phil Steele's College Football Preview.

Let's go by the last four seasons:

In 2005, UF played six teams in the top 25 and two teams in the top five.

In 2005, USC also played five top 25 teams and one top-five team.

In 2006, UF played four teams in the top 25 and two in the top 10.

In 2006, USC also played four teams in the top 25 and one in the top 10.

In 2007, UF played four teams in the top 25, one in the top 10, and the No. 1 team in the land.

In 2007, USC played four teams in the top 25 and two in the top 10.

In 2008, UF played six teams in the top 25, one in the top 10, one in the top five, and two No. 1-ranked teams.

In 2008, USC played three ranked teams, one of which from the top five.

All in all, in the last four years, UF has played 25 top-25 teams. They've played four top-10 teams, three top-five teams, and three different teams who were ranked No. 1 at the time of play.

USC played a total of 16 teams in the top 25. They played three teams in the top 10 and two teams who cracked the top five. Both were ranked No. 5.

Side by Side

Top-25 ranked teams: UF 25, USC 16.

Top-10 teams: UF 4, USC 3.

Top-Five teams: UF 3, USC 2.

The No. 1 ranked team in the land: UF 3, USC 0.

So, UF played nine more teams in the top 25 in the last four seasons, and one more team ranked in the top 10 than USC. UF played one more team in the top five than USC, and UF played the No. 1 team in the land three times—USC: zero.

You know, all in all, I knew we played a far tougher schedule than USC, but I didn't know that USC played as many teams as they did. I was surprised. I must admit I have been selling USC a little bit short. Again, to me, this speaks volumes.

USC doesn't have the cake walk we seem to think they have. And again, these four years are a big turnaround compared to the previous four years for USC in the Pac-10. At that time, USC was the only ranked team in the Pac-10.

With that being said, I'll say this: Shut the hell up, Pac-10 fans. The SEC is still the premier conference in college football. Just ask ESPN, "The Worldwide Leader in Sports."

The Pac-10 has taken some steps in the right direction. I mean, it's no longer the Pac-1. You now have a couple other ranked teams.

However, half of your conference's teams had losing records last season.

There's a reason people want to jump off the side of their home team stadiums when we lose games down here in the South. It's because football is life down here.

There's a reason almost 40 percent of the top 150 high school football players come to the SEC. There's a reason we have the loudest, biggest stadiums on Earth. There's a reason we have been selling out games for decades.

That reason is the SEC is the best and will be the best for some time.

Is The SEC Being Singled Out Unfairly For Its Out of Conference Schedule

brandon neal — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:01:06 -0400

With all the sucess of the SEC it's to be expected that the league will have a target on its backs.

One of the most common beefs about the SEC is the schedule of some of its teams. Or at least the out of conferene part of it. Now the people who are blind to truth completely disregard the meat of these SEC teams' schedule and just focus on who we play outside of the SEC. On any given year just nto mention a couple top ten match ups.

Right now there are five SEC teams in the top 13. Four of those teams are in the top 10. Thats 40 percent of the country's top 10 teams hailing from the SEC. So to the SEC fan its very logical to say why should we? Is it not?

Lets not forget with our present BCS system, strength of schedule is very important. If you are from a conference that plays not many teams of quality you might have to go looking for some quality match ups.

Anyways back to the subject at hand. People bash UF for playing the Citidel, and Western Kentucky. It's often said "Why is UF playing teams like western Kentucky"? I also hear people say UF should follow USCs approach. Anybody anywhere. Well again I say that sounds great. But I'm not sure USC would be playing Ohio State if the PAC10 was stronger. And by the way I'll be the first to say the Pac 10 has improved as they now have more than just USC ranked.

Also I know that schedules are made years in advance so some people will argue that the whole point of this article is incorrect. To that I say that schedules can be changed as close as a year before a game gets scheduled. These changes happen all the time in college football.

This all got me thinking. Does the SEC dodge big-named teams? Unfortunately I must say some do and some don't. And I'll be the first to say my Gators fall into the category of teams that don't. Bama, Georgia, and Tennessee get props for playing in the same conference as UF but abandoning the whole "We got it tough enough attitude" That, the Gators have taken.

Again I'm not saying UF is wrong. I believe UF has a leg to stand on with its stance. I mean not many other teams play as many top 25 ranked teams as we do. So I don't feel UF has no moral obligation to play harder teams. I do feel we have the right to take it easy since we got it so hard. But I do respect Bama for scheduling Virginia Tech and Georgia scheduling ASU and Tennessee scheduling UCLA.

As I did a little bit of digging I found out very quickly that most teams schedule cup cakes on there schedule. Here are some examples of Big named teams from conference by conference.

BIG 10

Penn State plays Akron, Temple, Eastern Illinois, Ohio State plays Navy, and New Mexico State.

ACC FSU plays Jacksonville State Boston College plays North eastern and Kent State

PAC10 USC plays San Jose State Cal plays Eastern Washington. And lets not forget people that the PAC10 has 5 teams that had losing seasons last year. Washington and WSU won a combined total of 2 games.

Big 12 Texas plays Louisiana Monroe Oklahoma plays UTEP and Idaho state Texas Tech plays North Dakota, Rice, and Houston

Big Easy/east Cincinnati Bearcats play South East Missouri State and Miami of Ohio Connecticut plays Rhode island and Ohio.

Mountain West Utah plays San Jose State and Wyoming BYU plays Utah State.

Now to me these are all better teams of therir confereces and they are all play lack luster competition. So why is it any different? The only differece this ole southern boy sees is those other teams aren't playing nearly as many ranked teams as the SEC teams play. But that's just biased me.

Is 09 The Year The Gators Go Down As The Biggest Winners or Losers?

brandon neal — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:25:35 -0400

Ladies and Gentleman I hate to be the one to tell you this. Its that time again. It's that time of year when the two most common phrases one hears are "Is it hot enough for ya?" and "Man I cant wait for football." Right now you have baseball and you have..... Baseball! Did i mention I hate baseball?

Most of the student athletes have all gone home for the summer. Recruiting slows down. Really everything comes to a grinding halt. However fortunately its the calm before the storm. The only good thing about this time of year is we know that the wait is almost over. The basketball playoffs are over so we have nothing to do but pretend we are sports writers and pretend that people give a crap about what we say. And That's just what I'm gonna do.

2009 could be the year that the Gators go down as one of the greatest teams of all time. It could be the year we win back to back National Championships and 3 out of 4 National Championships. I no that's why Tim and Brandon Spikes are here again. I know that Timmy wants more than ever to have that spot free streaky clean undefeated dream season. I also know that Tim Tebow gets what Tim Tebow wants.

Or this could be the year that the gators pull a New England Patriots choke. It could be the year the gators were almost in the company of the greatest teams in college football. This could be the year UF almost made it to dynasty level. This could be the year that I have to replace another TV.

What ever year it will be is yet to be seen. But what can be seen is a buzz around UF that I've never seen in my 20 plus years of watching Gator football.

Now with everybody and there mother gunnin for UF it wont be easy. But its still very very possible to run the table in the gauntlet of the SEC. In fact our schedule on paper is softer than its been in a while.

Date
Sep. 5	Charleston Southern	TBA
Sep. 12	Troy	TBA
Sep. 19	Tennessee	3:30pm
Sep. 26	at Kentucky	TBA
Oct. 10	at LSU	8:00pm
Oct. 17	Arkansas	TBA
Oct. 24	at Miss. State	TBA
Oct. 31	Georgia	TBA
Nov. 7	Vanderbilt	TBA
Nov. 14	at South Carolina	TBA
Nov. 21	Florida Int'l	TBA
Nov. 28	Florida State	TBA

Lets look at the schedule

Charleston Southern. Blow out 56-10

Troy Blow out 63-7

Tennessee Ill say it I predict the biggest BLOW OUT of the season! Lame Kitten wont like the welcoming to the SEC that Urban and them gator boys have waiting for them. 56-3

KentuckyNow kentucky will be played in Kentucky but I see UF winning comfortably 42 to 17 LSU Now LSU is the biggest regular season game for UF. Plus its in Death Valley and it will be played at night. Alot depends on how much LSU will shape up from last year. But I see UF as a better team than the last time we were in Death Valley and LSU is far less of a team than the last time they played us in their own back yard. (plus we should've won that game) So I believe that UF will prevail in a hard fought game that UF pulls away from in the fourth quarter UF38-LSU 21 ArkansasI see Arkansas as a potential spoiler for UF. However I don't see Tim Tebow letting Ole Miss happen again. UF 42 Arkansas 14 Mississippi State Now the state of Mississippi is a nightmare for UF. I believe that on 07 was the first time we won in Mississippi in along time. MSU is in reconstructive stages. But Dan Mullen knows us all to well and should make it interesting. But I just don't see them having the talent to pull it off. UF 35 MSU 17 Georgia one word " Depleted." To much to replace. Georgia will be down this year. All though UF wont destroy them like they did last year. UF isn't made at them this time. 35 17 UF Vandywe will win easily 49 14 UF South CarolinaYou just never know with South Carolina. Id like to call it a gimme. But again you just never know. I say UF 38 USCe 17 Florida IntJohn Brantley and UF will destroy them. UF 56 to 3 FSWHO Tim Tebows last game at the swamp! Folks its gonna get ugly! UF will be FSU 56 to 3 SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.UF will play Ole Miss and win. Ole miss has LSU at home and Bama at home early. Tim will relish the chance to get back at Ole Miss UF 42 Ole Miss 28 BCS National Championship gameUF will win a thriller with Texas UF 28 Texas 24. Now with UF having a big target on its back this wont be easy. In spite of what my score predictions indicate. It will take even greater focus and dedication. It will take the same tensity that UF has shown all year in 2008. The Offense. Once again we have imo the greatest leader of all time under center Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow is the heart and soul of Florida football. Tim Tebow is the most important player to UF and Tim will be the biggest factor in getting us to the rose bowl. However UF has another player in to replace. That player is Percy Harvin. to me it's rather unrealistic to think that Andre Debose will be able to step into Percy Harvin's shoes and not miss a beat. But can Debose be as good as Percy during his freshman season? I've watched this kids tapes and I gotta say yes he can. But well have to wait to see. Other than Percy leaving we don't have to many big time player roles to fill. We are all waiting to see who will emerge at wide receiver. D. Thompson should do big things for UF this year. I'm also excited about Hines. Lots of positives and few negatives IMO The Defense is as big, bad, fast, and nasty as there's ever been in college football. I cant begin to tell you how many will be all SEC and All Americans this years defense will produce. Lets start with the heart and soul of the defense. Brandon Spikes. Would you want anybody else in his place? Then you got Carlos Dunlap, Major Wright, A. Black, Joe Haden, and Jenkins. Really there are two many to count. The defense will be the strength of this team. I know there's a lot of haters out there which will make this years victories so much sweeter. Its great to be a Florida gator.

Florida Gators and Overall Strength of Schedule

brandon neal — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:56:22 -0400

Now I'm from Gainesville, FL and grew up on UF football. In fact, I bleed orange and blue. So because of me being a gator fan, this issue is more sensitive for me than the average fan. It's sensitive because you always see my guys getting bashed for who they play. Which is unfair as ill try and explain to you readers

In fact, someone just wrote a article about the five worse out of conference schedules in college football. Who do you think topped of the list? My mighty gators. This happens a lot unfortunately.

Now I agree that UF has a lack luster out of conference schedule with the exception of FSU, who is some what on the way back. However, UF also plays usually a Citadel and a Georgia Southern. Maybe even a Troy or Eastern Carolina.

Now, not all SEC teams are guilty of playing such crap teams. All though most do play some garbage teams. Georgia played ASU. Tennessee played UCLA. Bama played Virginia Tech. Again UF plays FSU but since its annual it doesn't get the same props.

Now what chaps my ass is this. People Bash UF for playing troy. These people who are anti UF focus on Troy. That's all they wanna talk about. Is Troy. They forget about Tennessee. They forget about LSU. They forget about BAMA. They forget about Georgia.

They forget about Ole Miss. They forget about FSU who is OOC. They forget about the SEC championship game. They conveniently forget about the games that gives us the No. 1 OVERALL STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE.

Now the Pac 10 is statistically stronger this year because of multiple over rated teams who managed to crack the top 25 this year, imo. But most years their OVER ALL STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE is low because of the weak conference they play in. Same with the Big10 and OSU. Which is why USC and OSU are playing in the first place.

So could UF schedule a North Carolina, or a Texas Tech? Yeah. Should they? Maybe. I know it would be fun to watch. Do they need to? Absolutely not! Good for Tennessee. Good for Alabama. But at the end of the day UF still plays a very very difficult schedule. In fact far more difficult than Ohio State and USC. Yet these fans will continue to bash UF.

I ask you this. Whats more important? The three or four out-of-conference games we play? Or the entire schedule we play? The overall strength of the schedule is whats important. People look rather foolish when they pick OOC as the one way to measure Overall Strength of a schedule.

So if the gators played what was considered to be the toughest schedule in the nation last year why are people bashing them for there schedule? Is it simple hating. Or is it just ignorance?

Is the Florida Gator Defense Vastly Underrated?

brandon neal — Sat, 23 May 2009 17:01:39 -0400

First and for most the play in the picture above is one of my all time favriot plays in UF history. It was a tone setter. When it happend, the Gator nation and I, who were packed inside the O dome to watch the game live went nuts. We all jumped up screaming "Welcome to the SEC baby etc!!" Ahh good times were those.

When people around the country hear the words Florida football. The thing that first pops into there heads is probabally Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin and that fast and furious spread that UF runs down in the swamp.

Maybe i am wrong. But In my opinion it seemed to me that the defense never gotten its due praise. Which is crazy considering the turn around from the year before. The previous year we couldn't stop the rush or the pass. I remember that night mare of a season very well.

Last year was a different story. UF faced all kinds of offensive systems. We played the lightning of College football aka Oklahoma. Then we played the power and thunder game of Bama. Which is the best of both offensive worlds. Besides Ole Miss UF shut down any and all that stood opposite the defense.

I did a little research and dug through the numbers and found out thanks to USA today sports some suprising information.

UF Pass Defense No. 3 in the nation

UF Run Defense No. 15

UF Scoring Defense No. 4

UF Turn Over Margin No. 2

UF Overall Defense No. 9

These are all drastic turn arounds from the previous season. Last season UF was literally run over by running backs and was burned deep by the Wide Receiver's play after play. I remember very vividly that little midget Mike Hart talking all that smack in the Outback Bowl.

This year UF is returning 10 or its 11 starters. One can only wonder how many Parade All Americans UF will be fielding by the end of this season.

You have Brandon Spikes, Joe Haden, Amahd Black, Major Wright, Janoris Jenkins, Carlos Dunlap, Brandon Hicks, Justin Doe, Ryan Stamper. Not to mention all the five star talent waiting in the wings. Will Hill, Omar Hunter, and Jelani Jenkins. I know I'm leaving out a few names as well.

The biggest example of how awesome UF's Defense is was the National Championship game. Oklahoma was a team that was thought to possibly be the best in the history of college football. That's until they played the Gators.

The Sooners came in riding a five game streak of 60 or more points. This was a team that threw for over 14,673 feet. that's damn near three miles of passing. UF devoured them.

When it was all said and done UF made Sam look very average when playing against a defense that at the very least has a clue when it comes to defending the pass. Not only did UF proved that the big 12 is soft. UF proved that Defense wins championships.

Is Lane Kiffin Good For Tennessee?

brandon neal — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:27:37 -0400

Lame Kiffin! The biggest thing since sliced bread if your from Knoxville. Yet the dumbest thing since the movie Dumb And Dumber if your from most other places. If anybody has made more waves in college football than Lane Kiffin, please tell me who.

Now Lame has been in the headlines of many stories. Top many stories for that matter. This got me wondering—is Lame good for UT football? I believe change can be good or bad. I believe Lane Kiffin is a bad change.

Lets examine what I think are positive things he has done for the University. Well I'll say he has generated a lot of talk and excitement around the program. I'll also say he and his staff has done well in recruiting. To me that's about it.

Things he has done to hurt UT. Well for one thing he has made all teams from the SEC circle the UT game on there calenders. In other words he stacked the chips against his very thin and young team by putting a gigantic targets on there back. That's not a good thing in my opinion.

His condescending attitude towards other SEC teams and high-schools that he recruits from. Telling a kid if he goes to South Carolina he will pump gas for the rest of your life. Or his bashing of a community that he just landed a big recruit from (Pahokee) by basically saying they are two stupid to use a fax machine. And by the way (Pahokee) kicked Lanes staff out of their high-school not to long ago. That will help recruiting

Then you have the stupid comments he makes every other day. One of his classics was, "even bad press is a good thing."

What? Who actually thinks that? Then he makes himself look even more stupid by publicly calling two-time SEC Champion and defending National Championship, king of the SEC, coach Urban Meyer, a cheater. Which was very incorrect as he did not cheat.

He then is spanked and ordered to say he is sorry. He comes out with the ridiculous, "If I offended anybody at UF I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention." If he offended anybody?!? How did he not mean to offend anybody? He just called Urban Meyer a cheater! He didn't think that would offend anybody? No that's exactly what he tried to do.

He is a very unproven coach with a very young and unproven football team who now is one of the most hated teams in the SEC.

So back to my question. Is he good or bad for Tennessee?

UF Will Win the National Championship Three out of Four Years

brandon neal — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:21:44 -0400

Charleston South: UF 63 CSU 10 (Cake walk)

Troy: UF 56 Troy 10 (Cake walk)

Tennessee: UF 56 UT 14 (UF welcomes Lame Kitten to the SEC)

Kentucky: UF 42 Kentucky 17 (Cat walk)

LSU: UF 35 LSU 17 (Night Game at death valley, don't expect blowout)

Arkansas: UF 49 Arky 10 (Homecoming equals beat down)

MSU: UF 35 MSU 24 (D.M.+We always struggle with team from MISS)

Georgia: UF 45 UGA 17 (No Staff or Knowsho means No Offense)

Vandy: UF 56 Vandy 10 (Vandy will sneak up on nobody this year)

South Carolina: UF 38 Cocks 24 (Steve S will have the cocks somewhat ready)

FIU: UF 56 FIU 7 (Cake walk, Brantley plays most the game)

FSU: UF 56 FSU 21 (Tebow's last game in swamp = A lot of emotion)

SEC Championship Game against Ole Miss: UF 42 Ole Miss 14

I believe Ole Miss will be in first place in the west because they have both Bama and LSU at home this year. Bama has to start a new QB and a lot of other positions. Yes, they will simply reload, but expect a shaky start. LSU is pretty much in the same situation.

National Championship game
Rematch: Oklahoma

UF 28 OU 17 Let the party begin in title town.

Oklahoma will again play a bunch of ranked teams that don't play any defense. Sam Bradford is a good QB, so I would think that it might be a rematch. The second best chance for our opponent is Texas. Third vote goes to USC.

UF 14-0

Why Should the SEC Play Tough Out of Conference Games?

brandon neal — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:32:15 -0400

I challenge anybody to tell me what incentive there would be for the SEC play stronger out of conference games?

I have read threads on this site and others which bash big schools and, in particular, schools from the SEC for not traveling out of conference for big games and for scheduling Division IIA teams.

To me this makes no sense because at the end of the day you would be hard pressed to find any other teams that play more teams ranked in the top 25 than SEC teams.

Now I don't have the time or energy to dig up statistical data in regards to who was ranked what and what not, but I can tell you on most years UF will play two or three top 10 teams and another two or three top 25 teams. Example UF usually plays teams like Bama, Georgia, LSU, and Tenn we also play up and comers from the SEC like Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Vandy.

Remember, it's not the teams like UF's fault that we don't have to make up for a weak conference schedule. Having to play tough out of conference games is something the USC has to do because they play nobody year in and year out.