Bleacher Report - Articles by Andrew Green

A Look Back at the Greatest Team in Florida Gators History

Andrew Green — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:00:26 -0400

Every year on the Friday night before kickoff Saturday, I partake in a tradition to prepare for the upcoming Florida Gators football season.

I prepare myself a midnight snack, which is actually more like a meal, and get in my "traditional" place on the couch. I'm about to watch what is, in my opinion, the greatest football team in Gators history. It's a VHS recording of the '96 Sugar Bowl/national championship game versus the 'Noles. Ahh, sweet revenge.

Each year I sit and watch in awe as our Gators simply dominate the so-called No. 1 team in the country. Danny Wuerffel picked the FSU defense to pieces that night. The Gators defense was just as spectacular, as they completely shut down Warrick Dunn and Florida State's offense. It seemed too easy. It had been easy for the Gators nearly all year.

The Gators dominated their SEC opponent by an average of 31 points per game, including three straight wins of 40-plus points against Arkansas, LSU, and Georgia. In other words, they outscored their SEC foes by 279 points! Ridiculous, I know.

I could go on with the numbers forever. Literally. The Gators offense blew the roof off of stadiums across the South. Their high-powered passing attack was led by Wuerffel, the eventual Heisman Trophy winner. His extremely talented receivers helped him make throwing the ball downfield look easy.

The fact that this was the greatest receiving corps in UF, and maybe SEC history is obvious to anyone who watched them play. Led by All-Americans Ike Hilliard and Reidel Anthony, this group was unstoppable. Jacquez Green and Travis McGriff were pretty awesome as well. Both were future All-Americans. Green also dominated in the return game as well receiving.

Their big-play passing was complemented by an extremely balanced running attack. The load was split between Elijah Williams, Fred Taylor, Terry Jackson, and Eugene McCaslin. They combined for 1,978 yards on the ground. That's more than you would think with such a high-powered air attack. Add in the passing numbers, and that comes out to 5,985 yards on the year.

The defense was stacked that year. It was led by middle linebacker James Bates, who recorded a team-high 125 tackles. The other linebackers were two guys who weren't too bad themselves, Mike Petersen and Johnny Rutledge. This says a lot: The No. 4 guy was Jevon Kearse.

The D-line was solid. Ed Chester, Reggie McGrew, Cameron Davis, and Tim Beauchamp. The secondary doesn't disappoint, either. Just listen to the names: Shea Showers, Fred Weary, Tony George, Anthone Lott, Lawrence Wright, and Teako Brown. Ring any All-American bells? Quite a few.

The coaching staff was as good as it gets. The Run 'n' Gun offense was led by Steve Spurrier, one of the greatest offensive minds in the history of the game. The defense was coached by future national champion and current head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, Bob Stoops. Not bad at all.

All the numbers and names are great, but that Sugar Bowl seals the deal for me. Watching Ike Hilliard put on the brakes as two Seminole defenders fly past him on his way to trotting casually in the end zone is simply amazing.

Watching Wuerffel get up, cheap shot after cheap shot, and not complain. He just took care of business as usual. Tough as nails. He just delivered pass after pass right on the money just like he did all year.

These are the names and plays that I will never forget. I hope it brought back some good memories for you, as well. Go Gators.

For the Love of the Game

Andrew Green — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:31:50 -0400

There are not many activities I can think of that I enjoy more than watching college football on a Saturday afternoon.

I crawl out of bed just in time to catch the pregame show. I walk into the kitchen and there it is, the biggest breakfast I could imagine: biscuits, gravy, eggs, bacon, and grits. A meal like this topped off with a big glass of milk cannot be beat. All the while I'm enjoying the pregame.

By now, it's kickoff time. I'm lying down now because, just like last week, I told myself that a few more biscuits topped with Mom's famous sawmill gravy wouldn't hurt. The key is lying very still. Before you know it, my young stomach has recovered, and I'm back to my normal self.

I'll probably continue watching games until the end of the day. Just another typical Saturday during football season. It doesn't get much better than that.

For some reason, I don't get as excited about pro football. Sunday afternoon just doesn't appeal as much to me. Sure, I watch the games. I get excited about big plays, but it's just not the same.

Perhaps it's due to the lack of loyalty on the part of the players and team management. Issues like Brett Favre's conflict with the Packers and rookies holding out before training camp leave a sour taste in our mouths.

Sometimes it seems like they no longer play for the love of the game. They quit playing for the team and city that they represent and begin focusing on themselves and the money.

What happened to the kid who played football in the backyard on Thanksgiving Day and scored the winning touchdown? What happened to the humble Heisman finalist? Somewhere along the way, they forget the reason they play. They lose the love of the game.

If you ask them, they'll say they love the game. But it's just not the same. We can see the difference.

I love the Saturdays that I previously mentioned, but something was missing. There is only one thing that could make me leave the television on such a Saturday afternoon: playing the game itself.

What would Thanksgiving be without a game of backyard football with all your cousins? Sure there may be a game on, college or pro, but certainly this can't substitute for a winning touchdown pass on 4th-and-goal in Aunt Judy's backyard!

So next Saturday, when you're sitting in your La-Z-Boy watching a game played between two teams that you really care nothing about, get up and toss the ol' pigskin around with one of your friends, or, even better, someone from your family.

Have a barbecue and invite those cousins over. It will be a perfect chance for revenge for that Thanksgiving game 15 years ago. I mean, come on. You and I both know he pushed off on that winning touchdown catch.

Go to your local high school team's game on Friday night. You won't find much more passion or love for the game anywhere else. Experience the camaraderie between the fans and the love for your local team.

At halftime, look off to the side of the field where the young kids are playing their own game of football. That's what's missing in so many superstars' hearts. That is the love of the game.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL:The Media and Its Manipulation of the Game

Andrew Green — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:05:15 -0400

In the above photograph you see the smiling face of a beloved college football analyst that we all have come to know so well through the years, Kirk Herbstreit.

At the end of a summer-long drought that all sports fans dread when the only sports events on television are baseball, motocross and women's golf, faces such as Herbie's are the ones that greet us with the moment we have been craving for nearly eight months. That amazing moment when college football once again becomes relevant to the sports world.

It is the moment when we once again find purpose to living and these men are to thank for our awakening...or are they?

In this article we will travel behind the smile and view the extreme amounts of control that these men hold and how it is used to control our emotions and the results of our teams throughout these last five months of the year.

Each morning you wake up and grab your usual cup of joe. You turn on the TV, slowly the screen brightens, and there it is.

The same sports show you watched every morning hosted by the voices of the men who talk about what you wanna hear. College Football. These are faces you trust. Regular guys who love sports just like you and I—wrong.

The moods and biases of these "regular guys" control the college football world and teams that we love so dearly.

For instance, two years ago the Ohio State Buckeyes were the undisputed number one team in the country. The Gators had just finished winning the SEC Championship in Atlanta. Weeks before, the Buckeyes had dismantled the Michigan Wolverines in their annual rivalry game.

About an hour after the game an online poll was shown concerning the who should face the Buckeyes: the Gators or the Wolverines. The poll was nearly split but favored the Wolverines by a small margin.

As the hours went by until the new BCS rankings were released, the results of this poll started shifting. Now the Gators were on top by a convincing margin. Why the change of mind?

Constant televised discussions about how maybe the Gators do deserve a shot over the already Buckeye-conquered Wolverines. Slowly, we, the people, began to change our minds on who should go to the big game as well. Looking back we see the right choice was made.

You say that this has nothing to do with actual BCS rankings though. Wrong. The media does affect the rankings. But only one-third, right? Wrong again.

The coaches don't know who the best teams are outside of the ones that they actually play. Bob Stoops is too busy coaching or watching game film, etc. to watch Michigan or Florida play their regular season games.

So who are he and other coaches going to look to? Ding Ding Ding! You guessed it. The Media.

In the five minutes of Sportscenter they watched while drinking their usual cup of Joe before heading to the morning team meeting they see Kirk Herbstreit's top five. There you have the deciding factor in the "Coaches" Poll.

More recently you saw Georgia drop out of the number one spot in the AP and "Coaches" poll.

Why? Georgia handily defeated their in-state FCS opponent and looked good while doing it. The Bulldogs were the preseason favorite and were getting constant praise from college football analysts across the nation. Knowshon Moreno was a top-three Heisman candidate on everyone's list.

Newly elected number one USC looked good as expected while their quarterback racked up the numbers in the win. The inconsistent Mark Sanchez of last year was suddenly a Heisman favorite.

Georgia and Knowshon Moreno did nothing to lose their spots at the top of the polls. In fact they did nothing but prove that they were worhty of their rankings.

This was not the first time this happened. It happens all the time.

These men use their powers to give us joy and pain. They control our emotions and manipulate our feelings.

Now the question is, "What can we do about it?" How can we hit these sportscasters right in the mouth and make them pay for the roller coaster of emotions that causes us so much pain? How can we unveil them for what the monsters that they truly are?

I say we strike.

No more SportsCenter. No more Fox Sports. From now on when we drink our cup of Joe every morning, we watch CNN or FOXNEWS and catch up on the latest presidential polls.

Ah, the irony.

We all know that's not going to happen, so keep hoping that Lou Holtz's senility, or some blogger's new bandwagon happens to be in favor of your team. Until then, enjoy!

SEC FOOTBALL: Ohio State, The SEC, and Whats Wrong With The Rankings

Andrew Green — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:11:12 -0400

I believe I speak for all of college football fans and the sports world (minus Buckeye fans) when i say...no I scream,"Enough already!" I do not want to see Ohio State get whipped in the national championship again.

The buckeyes were pounded by fourteen this past season by the Tigers of LSU and embarrassed two years ago by the Florida Gators. A combined 41 points! That is brutal.

The national championship is supposed to be a battle between the two best teams. I must say that according to the scores from the previous two years the BCS has failed in accomplishing that goal. Can somebody say playoff?

Please do not misunderstand me for some radical "Big Ten sucks!" fan. Ohio State is undoubtedly one of the best programs in college football and their athletes "can" definitely compete with those that are on the top tier SEC teams in the regular season or bowl games.

But...they haven't.

The Buckeyes dropped to 0-9 versus the SEC in bowl games with last years' loss to the Tigers. The problem is not that they have dropped two championships in a row but the fact that they have lost by such huge margins.

We have to face the facts. The SEC is the toughest conference from top to bottom. Teams like Ohio State, Southern Cal, or Oklahoma have more "pushovers" in their conference play than teams in the SEC.

Florida, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, and Alabama have all been in the national championship picture within recent history. The SEC has more teams that can compete for the national title every year than any other conference.

SEC teams have claimed six out of the last 12 national championships while the Big 10 has only one championship which was won by the Buckeyes along with a share of the title in '98 claimed by Michigan.

These top SEC teams beat each other up every year leaving the best teams with two losses. These teams shouldn't be punished for their tough schedule. I've heard numerous sportswriters, TV analysts, and fans rank the top five in college football for this upcoming 2009 season.

I've heard the statement almost every time. Because of their tough schedule, Georgia is No. 2. Tough strength of schedule should be a bonus for teams. We have to stop awarding teams for their weak schedules and conferences.

Karl Marx said," History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce (comedy)." I beseech you fellow fans, coaches and columnists, we cannot let the national championship game end by halftime as it has in recent history.

We deserve an entire four quarters of competition.

We must kick the SEC out of the BCS because of "unsportsmanlike national championship whompings" or ban the Buckeyes from the big game for at least a year or two.

If neither of these two scenarios take place then at least we have the SEC Championship. Until then, I wish you all (including Buckeye fans) a happy 2008 college football seaon.