Bleacher Report - Articles by Scotty Franchise

Why Tim Tebow Was Still In The Game: Style Points in The BCS Era

Scotty Franchise — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:29:09 -0400

Just like that... his life flashed before my eyes.

You might have noticed a huge change in atmospheric pressure on Planet Earth Saturday night. It's possible that the Earth may have even shifted off of it's axis a bit.

Do not be alarmed; there are no meteors approaching and the planet's core is plenty stable.

What you felt was the collective GASP of the Gator Nation, followed by the proverbial shift of the Earth as "The Man of Steel" came crashing to the ground.

I tend to stay away from the "Superman" references when talking about Tim Tebow, as he is just a college kid who happens to run the spread offense differently than anybody we've ever seen. However, the more I know of him and what he represents, the more I understand the reference.

I didn't care much for it until I started seeing young children's reactions when seeing him or talking about him. For those of you who don't care about Florida football or care FOR it, you may not understand or even want to, but this young man means so much more to this community than a National Championship or two.

He truly is what we would want our sons to grow up to be and what we'd want our daughters to bring home to have dinner.

He is what we'd ask from a STUDENT-Athlete.

He is the kind of person we want our children to grow up admiring.

He is an unapologetic-ally true to his faith.

He is the face of college football this decade.

He is lying on his back... and he is not moving.

I'd be completely fooling myself if the thought of where Florida's season was going didn't flash through my mind, but that only happened once he sat up. At that moment, when the camera panned in on Tim laying on his back, chest rising up and down at an alarming rate, with his hands briefly at his sides in the air with his fingers spread out as if he still had the ball, my first thought was, "Timmy, just let me see you shake your legs".

I feel guilty for just hoping that he would lay on the ground and writhe around in pain, just to let us know that he could move his arms and legs.

His offensive lineman reached down to grab his hand to help him up. He pulled Timmy's hand from the ground and as it slipped through his teammates grip, it fell to the ground , showing as much life as anvil.

When the smoke cleared (and literally, Taylor Wyndam's hit on Tebow may have left a vapor trail), Tebow was helped up and to the sideline. Rumor has is it that when he came to, the first words out of his mouth were, "Did I hold onto the ball?".

The rumors that his next words were, "Man these guys from Troy sure do hit hard" are unfounded.

As we were discovering that he would likely be OK, and that at least he could walk and support his own weight on his own (although, now that I think of it, I never saw him standing afterwards), we began to look for someone to blame for this.

The prime suspects were:

Whoever was supposed to block the right defensive end. The right side D-End came in completely unabated, giving Tebow only about 1.2 seconds to find his target.

Taylor Wyndham- The aformentioned Kentucky defensive end who laid the hit of a lifetime on Tebow. After the first replay, we started screaming that he led with his helmet (his helmet was at Tebow's chest and actually had nothing to do with the head injury).

Marcus Gilbert's left knee- The Florida right tackle was coming over while blocking his assignment and as Tebow was falling, his knee hit the QB square on the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

The left sideline side judge- I'm not kidding about this one either. Two plays prior, the side judge called a bogus holding penalty on Gator TE Aaron Hernandez, which backed up the offense, leading to the passing play where Tebow was hit.

Urban Meyer- The cry heard all over was, "Why was he still in the game?! It's 31-7!!"

Ladies and Gentlemen, you show me a coach who pulls his starting QB out of the 3rd quarter of a conference game with a 23 point lead, and I'll show you a head coach that will be traveling with his team to the Independence Bowl, Meineke Car Care Bowl, magic-jack.com Bowl, or something cut from that cloth.

I can list for you some coaches who wouldn't pull their QB with that lead: Bob Stoops, Phil Fulmer, Mack Brown, Pete Carroll, Butch Davis, Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, and Ron Zook.

I threw two coaches in there that I don't particularly like, just to show I'm not biased. You can guess which two.

The fact of the matter is, if we rewind one week ago today, what was the topic of conversation around the Gators? They "struggled" with Tennessee. Or that Tennessee gave Florida a good close game. Florida won that game by 10 points and anyone who watched it would tell you that it was not nearly that close. The problem is, most Heisman and BCS voters and pollsters don't watch the games, they look at the final score and the final stats and make a judgement from there.

Let's hypothetically say Florida pulled Tebow out after the first quarter (which they led 31-0). John Brantley, the more than capable backup and heir apparent to Tebow's throne, surely could have scored zero points through the third quarter just as Tebow and the offense had. Lest we forget, this is the SEC, and while Kentucky would never be mistaken for a powerhouse, Florida has some WR issues, and Kentucky's kids are on scholarship, too.

Let's say Kentucky puts together one more good offensive drive than they did and scores a TD, and Brantley miscommunicates with Brandon James and throws a pick that Trevard Lindley takes the other way for a TD. Florida grinds it out and wins by a final of 34-24. The next day's headlines would read:

"No. 1 Florida eeks out another one on the road at Kentucky 34-24"

"What's wrong with the Gators?"

"Disinterested Gators sleepwalk through Lexington"

"Cocky Urban Meyer plays backups, still wins by 10 on road"

The first paragraph to read: Florida lets another unranked opponent hang around, yadda-yadda-yadda...

In the BCS era, style points matter. Plain and simple. Especially with the crap-ola schedule Florida has this year. Where they could normally not have to worry about style because just beating some of the teams on their schedule was enough (the 2006 team's schedule was evidence of this).

The Heisman race keeps score in the same manner. Tebow was sick (though we'll never know how sick) and had his best rushing performance that I can remember. He moved the offense down the field and was again, probably the best offensive weapon on the field. Had we pulled him after the first quarter or halftime, voters would just see numbers, not the total affect he had on the team that day.

Before you start criticizing Meyer or Tebow for "trying" to win a Heisman, on that same day Colt McCoy, up 47-7 in the 3rd quarter, was a.) Still playing, and b.) throwing into the end zone from the UTEP four-yard line. The facts are non disputable. This is just what teams do nowadays.

So yes, Tebow was playing in a 23-point game midway through the third quarter. I'm not sure what Urban Meyer is guilty of for that. He's trying to win and playing the game within his game plan. For the record, Meyer has alot of respect for Kentucky coach Rich Brooks and he is certainly not on his "run it up" list.

Football is just as much a mental game and physical game. At what point, and what score, and how much time remaining should a coach pull their starters? Should they pull all the starters or just the QB? Is it 21 points? Really? Cause I've never seen anyone pull their starters after a three touchdown lead. I'm confused and I don't know the rules for when to throw up the white flag and stop playing my best players.

Here's an idea... Florida could take the opening kickoff and score, then put all their backups in until their opponent ties the score, then put the starters back in until they get a lead, then put the subs back in.

Maybe, the Gators could just use Tebow like Mariano Rivera and only let him play in the fourth quarter. Would that be OK?

Tebow was hurt in the normal course of a normal game; no more, no less.

While he was supposedly under the weather (respiratory illness or flu), none of us know how sick he may have been; but from watching him play, he looked better than Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead did on Thursday, and he was perfectly healthy.

I know those of us who know and appreciate Tim Tebow hated to see him laying on the turf in the manner that he was, but let's make sure we lay the blame where it belongs and not with the head coach doing what 99.4% of all coaches would do in that situation: let a player play.

Now, can someone please check Colt McCoy's apartment for Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, and Javid Best voodoo dolls?!

Gators-Volunteers: Recap, It's Always Sunny in Gainesville

Scotty Franchise — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:03:45 -0400

We’ve all been there before, right?

Think back and insert the “big day” that you spent months preparing and planning for.

Classic examples include: New Year’s Eve, your 21st birthday, most surprise parties, St. Pattie’s Day, and events like that.

You have everything mapped out and planned to the minute, you can visualize what it will be like and how much fun it will be and once the day comes, the following scenario ensues:

Your night is going as planned. The girl/guy you wanted to spend quality time with is there, having fun and paying attention to you and you're buzzing on a very reasonable scale.

All of a sudden, the wheels come off and someone buys you a shot, you argue with your buddies over something silly, the special girl/guy is all of a sudden gone cold, and someone inspires you toward some kind of “shot for shot” type drinking contest.

Before you know it, the evening is over. Your special girl/guy is nowhere to be found so you settle for going home with the “loose change” that you can find at your establishment. They’re not the caliber of your No. 1 seed that has disappeared, but they’re a solid No. 5 type.

The rest of the night is fine and you wake up the next morning and offer your new friend a cup of coffee or orange juice and a banana as you kindly, but firmly, let them know they need to go since you have “stuff to do”. They leave and on your way to the shower you look in the mirror and think to yourself, “THAT was not what I had planned.”

Such is the case with last Saturday’s Florida vs. Tennessee game.

A 10 point win vs. Tennessee used to be enough to have Gator fans dancing in the streets all night long. Instead, 90,000-plus fans filed out of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with the, “THAT was not what I had planned” face.

There are a million theories about how this happened.

Everything from "Tennessee is on scholarship too and they’re not going to just stand around and get blown out by 30 points," to "Florida’s WRs are sub-par," to "Florida was stricken with the flu," on down to "Tennessee wasn’t playing to win."

(They weren't. Herm Edwards would be very unhappy.)

It was frustrating beyond belief to listen to the talking heads on the four-letter network say things like, "Florida struggled a bit with Tennessee," and "Tennessee kept it close in the Swamp," and my favorite was something to the effect of "Casey and Rick Clausen both quarterbacked for Tennessee while younger brother Jimmy chose Notre Dame. Had Jimmy been playing for Tennessee, we might be talking about a very interesting game down in Gainesville today."

Anyone who watched the game knows that while Tennessee played hard and the defense played the Gators very tough, Florida didn’t necessarily struggle and the game was never really in doubt.

The Gators had a 23-6 lead with about 10 minutes left to play when Chris Rainey broke off a 12-yard run, followed by another 11-yard run and Florida moving the ball at will against a Tennessee defense that looked tired, hot, and defeated.

A funny thing happened on the way to a 30-6 lead though...

Superman blinked.

Tebow fumbled inside the Volunteer 10 yard line and it was picked up for a big return by the defense. An uninspired defensive series by Florida led to Tennessee scoring the first TD of the season vs. Florida.

The Gators put the offense into "neutral" the rest of the way and the defense shut down the Vols offense that would have made even Phil Fulmer say, “Man they're conservative”.

Those who didn’t watch saw a close game. Those who saw it all, even from Row 89, saw two hard-nosed teams grinding it out. I see why teams run up the score now though…

If the voters don’t watch, and all they notice is the score and the stats, teams need to give them something to talk about.

The fact of the matter is, Florida and Tennessee have played some exceptional and classic games in the past 10 years. In the Urban Meyer era, Tennessee has scored only five offensive touchdowns in five years. Florida’s offense has not been exceptional vs. the Vols either.

Since 2005, Florida has scored 16, 21, 59, 30, and 23 points. The 59 point game was close before the wheels came off for the Vols and a tipped ball here and there made all the difference. It was also Tebow’s “magical” season. The 30 points in 2008 came thanks to the defense and special teams.

Generally both teams play it very close to the vest against each other. It also deserves to be mentioned, Eric Berry flat out has Tim Tebow's number.

I’m not sure what we can take away about either team from this game other than this:

Tennessee needs a QB in the most serious way. Florida needs wide receivers to step up, especially a slot receiver. Both teams are for real on defense.

All of that being said—fans are just glad that the Gators got a win in conference, especially against the Vols.

It could be worse, just ask USC, Oklahoma State, or BYU. After all, going home with a “No. 5 seed” is always better than going home alone. Beating Tennessee always trumps beating Tennessee (-29.5). In this case, I think some of the players and fans just wanted to beat Tennessee by 100 points so badly that a 10 point win was just…OK.

But that’s the “View from the Top”.

Just for the record…the Gators will likely be abysmal vs. the spread this year. Luckily no games are "actually" played in Vegas. Adjust accordingly.

Perfect TIMing?—Part III: 15 Questions Facing The 2009 Florida Gators

Scotty Franchise — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:55:51 -0400

Can you believe that games kickoff THIS WEEK?!?! Including our first big bowl game of the year with Virginia Tech vs. Alabama. Seriously, we may not get a matchup that good in the Orange Bowl this year.

I don’t think any season will be as strange or captivating as the 2007 season where we had our first two-loss BCS champion raise the crystal ball above their heads.

As promised (kind of), here are the last five of the series of 15 Questions facing the 2009 Florida Gators. If you missed Part I, you can find it here, and Part II here.

Question No. 5: Good or Bad Mood

Will Emmanuel Moody ever be an impact player at Florida?

I once held out high hopes for Moody. At one point in time, I thought he just needed to get used to the system and learn the plays. Then I thought, “well, he’s probably like D.Wynn and needs a fullback and an I-formation."

I eventually settled into, “he’ll be huge against Tennessee, Georgia, and LSU when we need to be tough between the tackles”…didn’t happen. As time has progressed, it seems that Coach Meyer has sent about 100 different messages about how he really feels about Moody.

In the Orange and Blue pre-season game, Moody touched the ball the same amount of times as I did. Zero. We actually may have been wearing the same outfit…shorts and a t-shirt.

He is constantly hurt, but if you read between the lines of what coaches are saying, it would appear that Moody is either refusing to practice with small injuries or practicing poorly. Coaches say things like, “well, he needs to learn to practice and play a little bit nicked up."

Moody left a crowded USC backfield to come to Florida, where at the time we had “average” speed backs like DeShawn Wynn and Kestahn Moore as our primary ball carriers.

Then Demps and Rainey showed up on campus when Harvin was already here, and they all picked up the playbook quicker than Moody.

I hate to say it (any my brother is going to flip when he sees this), but with freshman stud Mike Gilleslee on deck, Demps and Rainey each with another year, I have a feeling that Emmanuel Moody will be leading Furman, Appalachian State, or Delaware to a National title in 2010.

I hope that he at least enjoyed his education here. I hope I’m wrong, but he just doesn’t seem like he’s ever going to get on the field for any significant time.

Question No. 4: Over/Under: 1.5

What’s the over under on the amount of shutouts the Gators will have this year?

I set the number at one-and-a-half, meaning they’d have to pitch two shutouts to win that bet. In this day and age, it is a pretty special feat to shut a team out.

Not only does your defense have to be lights out, but your offense has to get 4-5 first downs every possession as well to keep the other team out of field goal range.

Just a quick glance at the schedule, there’s a chance against Charleston Southern (but lots of young guys will play in that one), Tennessee (you laugh, but they scored 6 points against Florida last year—at home), Kentucky (I have no idea who their QB is this year), and Vandy (always a shutout threat).

Word on the street is that Florida’s defensive players are desperately trying to shed the reputation as a “bend but don’t break” defense to a shutdown defense. That could mean more gambles and big plays for the other team, or it could mean trouble for other teams.

I personally don’t think Florida will get one shutout. College Football just doesn’t work like that anymore.

Speaking of over/under…have you seen the point spreads being set for Florida games?!?! I’ve heard 73 points vs. Charleston Southern. I’ve heard anywhere between 30 and 40 for Tennessee.

I don’t think there’s a number the wise guys won’t put up there for the Gators this year. I also think they will likely be 1-11 vs. the spread because of the crazy numbers that might be set.

Although, if Florida gets big leads and takes out their starters…you’ve got John Brantley waiting on deck (Gatorade High School Player of the Year, 2006), along with Gillislee, Moody if he’s healthy that week, and an array of guys trying to make their mark. Gators vs. the number may be more intriguing than some of their games.

Question No. 3: Who is Tebow Throwing to On Third and Seven This Year?

Who will step up as Florida’s No. 1 receiver and who ARE the receivers this year?

It looks as though Deonte Thompson will be looked to to step into the No. 1 receiver role this year. Urban Meyer has stated that is his goal for Thompson.

Aaron Hernandez will get a lot of work his way, but looks like he’ll be the only tight end Florida carries on their roster this year (Desmond Parks is “not ready to play this year” according to Coach Meyer).

Then there’s Riley Cooper, who in my opinion, made the biggest catch of the game by a receiver on third and 12 late in the game. Cooper has signed a contract with the Texas Rangers to play baseball once this season is over.

He was drafted in the 25th round by the Rangers this past Spring. I don’t understand that…I watched about 33 percent of Cooper’s at-bats in 2009 and he struck out A LOT!

Imagine Pedro Cerrano from the movie Major League…that was Riley Cooper…“straight ball I hit very good. Curve ball, not so much." Cooper will provide a good target, however, word on the street is that he came into training camp with a “baseball body” (read: scrawny), and Mickey Marotti needed to get his hands on him.

Otherwise, there is a lot of unproven talent lying out there. Carl Moore made two huge catches last year, but would be classified as less than dependable. He played big in the SEC title game, but then didn’t play against Oklahoma.

Andre DeBose was the source of much excitement early on; however, the latest news is that DeBose may need surgery on his hamstring. He’d been nursing it for some time, but now it appears that it may be a torn tendon and not just a tight or strained hammy. Maybe the Percy Harvin comparisons are right on point…

The receiving corp. will be different, but remember this Florida team and offense is a physical, run first offense. Don’t let the phrase “spread offense” fool you into thinking “finesse” offense.

They’ll throw it around a bit, but Florida’s best games are when Tebow throws about 14-20 passes and has 7-9 carries. They beat No. 1 Alabama last year and Cooper, Moore, and David Nelson all caught TD passes.

They’ll be fine, but it will be interesting to see who Tebow goes to on third and seven or more situations. They may take a Florida Basketball philosophy to that scenario.

If you ask Billy Donovan, or any of his players from the 2006 and 2007 title teams, who gets to take the last shot with the clock ticking down and you need a basket, to a man, they would all say, “the open man”, or “whoever has the best shot dictated by what the defense is doing." Now that’s a team.

Question No. 2: Who’s Calling the Plays?

Will the departure of Dan Mullen cause the UF offense to slow down at all?

I think any time you transition to a new coach of any sort there will be a learning curve of some sort, however, Steve Addazio has been with Coach Meyer for some time and worked as offensive line coach under Meyer and Mullen since their arrival in Florida.

Mullen and Tebow probably knew what the other was thinking before they could speak after three years together. How quickly with Addazio and Tebow get on the same page? There’s no telling.

I don’t think it will be a completely seamless transition (more timeouts with play clock running down, more on-field personnel/package issues early in the season), but again, with Florida’s schedule this year, they can work around some of that at certain times. Just don’t call audibles at LSU. Case closed.

Question No. 1: Can You Be Perfect?

Can the 2009 Florida Gators go undefeated and win a National Championship?

As I’ve said, I’m worried about whether Florida can get back into the top two in the BCS ranking if they lose a game. Here’s the thing…they’ll be favored in every game…but so is every team in the top five and top 10 (unless they’re playing another higher ranked team), and yet going undefeated is a rarity in today’s college football landscape.

Someone always jumps up and gets you…Iowa got Penn State last year. Ole Miss got Florida (can this PLEASE be the last time we mention this…?). Oregon State got USC.

They will have huge targets on their backs this year and on any Saturday, someone can jump up and steal one from you. It’s almost an unfair expectation, but one that Florida, and more specifically, Tim Tebow kind of put out there (after the game we will no longer speak of) as a goal.

I think this team is supremely talented and has EVERYTHING it needs to win all their games this year. I fear facing an angry Texas team in the BCS championship game (they got snubbed last year).

What I fear most for the Gators season dawned on me as I was writing this article though. I’m finishing this on a Monday afternoon/evening. I had promised this to be done by Sunday.

I’m a full day late because my Saturday and Sunday were completely absorbed by getting my home and tailgating equipment ready and set to go for the season. I attended a UF soccer game, shopped, cleaned, began un-off seasoning grills, chairs, tables, etc…and then some things came up for work that I needed to take care of.

Then the wife came home from a weekend away and wanted to share how her weekend went. I had a meeting, then my brother came over for dinner with us. Before I knew it, it was 11:00. I missed Mad Men, hadn’t written my article, and was exhausted. Deadline missed.

My point is…“things” happen. They happen all the time, to all of us. You forget your Lowe’s coupon at home and have to circle back. You can’t find a parking spot near the mall. You forget to switch clothes from the washer to dryer.

You cause a fumble that the other team ends up picking up and scoring with. You hit the goal post and it goes wide. They hit the goal post and it goes in. You run out of toilet paper. Your headset stops working. You didn’t plan on stopping for gas. Your QB’s nose won’t stop bleeding and he can’t go into the game.

“Things” happen and sometimes for no good reason. They happen and you must adjust your game plan or scrap it altogether. The promises and commitments you make become subject to the alignment of the stars, traffic, and where the ball bounces.

This Florida team is no different. How will they react when they are faced with the real life, “no way in hell game” (those of you who read Bill Simmons or have played any version of Madden or NCAA football…you know what I’m talking about)?

We tend to think that Tim Tebow and the Gators are impervious to that game…but they’re not. They had four of those games in 2007 and one last year.

Can Florida be “perfect” this year? I think so. The only guaranteed thing that I can promise you is this: you will never see…a team play as hard as this team. You will never see…a player push his team as hard as…well, you know the rest.

Have a great season. Thanks for reading. Keep an eye out for my “View from the Top” series this season. I’ll follow the tailgating scene in Gainesville, the game from my seats in the 89th row in the south end zone, and my favorite part “Heard/Overheard”…quotes that I hear people saying in and around the Swamp on game day.

Go Gators!

Perfect TIMing: Part:II 15 Questions Facing The 2009 Florida Gators

Scotty Franchise — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:06:44 -0400

Welcome to the second part of three articles highlighting an otherwise drab preseason for the no. 1 ranked Florida Gators. You can see Part I here. Here are questions 10-6 (no particular order) facing the returning BCS champs. Enjoy.

Question #10: Wake up the echoes

If Notre Dame wins less than 8 games this year, will Charlie Weis be fired and Urban Meyer take the Notre Dame job?

I hate this question and it makes me realize how hurt Ole Miss fans were when Tommy Tuberville said, “The only way I’m leaving this job is in a pine box” and in a heartbeat he was Auburn’s head coach. In Meyer’s book, “Urban’s Way”, he talks about him and his wife’s affinity for Notre Dame and all of the great friends they met there. However, Coach Meyer needs to remember that being the wide receivers coach for Notre Dame is a million light years away from being the Head Coach in South Bend. For example, I was able to sit and have a brief conversation with Gators WR coach Billy Gonzales this summer at a local restaurant. Nobody bothered him (except me, most likely), he showed me his new championship ring… even let me put it on. He and his wife finished dinner, said goodbye and moved on. Urban Meyer could never do that in Gainesville and he certainly couldn’t do it in South Bend, Indiana. Those memories of good times were in a totally different life than he has now.

From a practical standpoint, and the reason he chose UF in the first place; Recruiting at UF is much easier than it is at Notre Dame. It’s just a better deal from every angle, including lifestyle. Florida primarily recruits in state, while Notre Dame recruits very heavy nationally. Meyer can recruit better athletes, more suited to his system, and more likely to want to play for his school in Florida and be home to spend time with his family by that night, no planes and less overnights. Any man worth is salt will tell you: Happy wife, happy life. Two titles in three years helps too.

Meyer is not going anywhere. When his prototype quarterback Tebow leaves, he’s got former Gatorade High School player of the year John Brantley waiting in the wings. In case you’ve forgotten, Meyer won a title with a less physical drop back passer at quarterback in 2006.

Question #9: An embarrassment of riches

How will the Gators coaching staff get all the defensive talent on the field?

How obnoxious is this?: The starting Strong Safety going into camp in 2008 was Dorian Munroe. He got injured and freshman Ahmad Black took his place and ended the season tied for first in the nation in interceptions (including a HUGE and spectacular one in the BCS title game). Munroe returns this year knowing that he’ll have to fight for playing time and his surgically repaired knee is not responding well, Ahmad Black is also nursing an injury and now sophomore Will Hill may step into that starting position and just about everyone you ask is saying, “Will is one of the best athletes on this team. We won’t miss a step and will be better in some aspects”. Really?! Really?!?!? Your starter goes down, the backup leads the country in interceptions, he goes down, and HIS backup may be better than him?!? Ladies and gentlemen, your 2009 Florida Gators.

In earnest, coaches are having a difficult time getting talented players on the field for enough reps. There is a huge logjam at linebacker. Brandon Spikes and Ryan Stamper are written in stone, however rotating in the likes of AJ Jones, Brandon Hicks, Dustin Doe, Jon Bostic and Jelani Jenkins (wait til you see those two full time as sophomores!), will be difficult. It’s also a crowded secondary with Joe Haden and Janoris Jenkins anchoring the corner positions, and Jeremy Brown, Wondy Pierre-Louis, and Markiehe Anderson all vying for nickel positions. Major Wright, Will Hill, Ahmad Black, Dorian Munroe (if healthy), Dee Finley, and Josh Evans are all trying to stay on the field. While the so-called skill position battles get most of the attention, like the quarterback battle at Southern Cal, Florida has their own battle for PT going on at several positions on the defensive side of the ball.

Question #8: Don’t taze me bro

Can the Gators stop getting arrested long enough to take care of business?

Let me say this first… an arrest is an arrest and if you have to go home and tell you parents, wife, boss, etc… that you were arrested, it’s embarrassing, it’s a pain in the neck, and it’s just not acceptable. That being said; MUCH is being made of the 25 arrests since Urban Meyer took over the program in 2005 and it’s the silliest non-story ever. As someone who lived and worked on campus for several years prior to Meyer’s arrival, the mood and culture is not any different than before, if anything the players are more respectful, visible, and all around nicer to be around. They are just being held accountable now. That’s no knock on Zook… it’s been five years now, Gator fans need to get off him. While some arrests are for more major incidents like Ronnie Wilson several years ago, Jamar Hornsby’s despicable incident, and some others… many of them are very small issues. I’ve vowed not to talk about much player off the field stuff, but you can look it up on your own to see what’s been dropped, found not guilty, or never adjudicated.

It’s difficult. Some of the traits that make someone a phenomenal football player and competitor can also make you a difficult person to deal with in the “regular world”, and one must be balanced with the other.

All that being said… I’d appreciate it if Florida would stay out of the police blotters for a while.

Question #7: Was the Citadel not available this year?

Could Florida have gotten an easier schedule?

As I called the first article in this series, “Perfect Timing”. Tennessee is down. Arkansas played for the SEC title three seasons ago… they’re rebuilding. LSU and Georgia, perennial SEC powerhouses both have major questions at QB. Kentucky and Vandy are what they are, they’re pretty good just about every election year or so. And Florida State? Well… let’s just say that the 14 wins they are fighting over keeping for ol’ Bobby? Took two years to get… that used to be a 12-13 win per season program. Florida always schedules a cupcake and a non-BCS bowl caliber team in their first two games (although last year they played the Sugar Bowl champs- Hawaii, a layup, and the Miami Hurricanes). When the 12th game was added, they decided that the SEC schedule was tough enough and they didn’t need to do a home and home vs. Texas, or Utah, or Cal. It’s not necessary for their SOS… the timing of this year’s schedule is remarkable, however, if they should happen to drop a game (see the SEC West manifesto in my previous post), I’m not sure they can pull back into the top two with that schedule unless Ole Miss or Bama lives up to their hype and Florida beats them in the SEC title game.

Question #6: Strong like Bull

When will Defensive Coordinator Charlie Strong get a head coaching job?

Seriously? I don’t have an answer… but c’mon. What’s a brotha got to do? In his one game head coaching stint, an unmotivated Florida team got routed by Devin Hester and the Hurricanes in the Peach Bowl (mostly by Hester though), but give the guy a break. Zook was fired in midseason and played out the regular season. Florida looked like it was more interested in getting to Buckhead and downtown Atlanta before midnight than playing Miami on that New Year’s Eve. That may have hurt him, but he’s been part of the culture change that Meyer has taken on and deserves a shot.

Some say he’s holding out for the “right” job (not saaaaay…. Mississippi State- oops did I say that!?) that he has a chance to succeed in, rather than just taking a head coaching gig. If that’s the case… good for you Charlie. We’ll take you for as long as we can.

A quick revision from part I. A reader Matt commented and asked why give Tim Tebow credit for only half of the 2006 title, just because he wasn't the starter. You wouldn't do that with a running back or receiver. He's got me on that! Tebow did A LOT that season to help Florida to that title... including a great title game. Just cause he didn't take 80 snaps doesn't mean he shouldn't get credit for it. I just don't want history to forget that Chris Leak was the starter on that team and made a lot of "marginal" Gator teams look better than they were in his early years. I hope history doesn't wash him away in the gigantic wave of awesome that is Tim Tebow.

It made me think of the late Senator Ted Kennedy who passed away early this morning. While a younger generation (myself included) may remember him, or only know him because of scandal or as the butt of some (pretty funny) jokes. Yes he comes from "THE" Family name in politics in the United States, but back in the day ol' Ted stood up for what he thought was right, even when not many others would. I don't pretend to know much about politics (nor care), and this is not the site for that, but I thought I would give a small shout out to Senator Kennedy, a huge sports fan, for without him and people like him, we wouldn't be able to enjoy many of the sports that we do in the way we NOW know them. I hope history remembers him kindly and that he's not washed away in the wave of awesomeness that is "Kennedy". We salute you.

That’s it for today… the Final five questions are coming on Sunday. Just over a week til kickoff!!!!

Perfect TIMing?: 15 Questions Facing The 2009 Florida Gators

Scotty Franchise — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:51:38 -0400

The 2009 College Football season is just two weeks away, and boy do we need it.

Granted, I live in SEC country, where we all live and die by our college football teams and your particular school’s fight song ranks second only to the National Anthem, but it’s time to kick this pigskin off.

I have had my fill the past few weeks about NFL players going to jail, getting out of jail, draft picks STILL holding out, and Brett Favre (my all-time favorite NFL player by the way). This football season could not come at a better moment.

As we look at our often wrong crystal balls into the future and try to predict a National Champion (in August), the national attention and hands down favorite this year are the Florida Gators.

They are the defending champs, however, unlike many championship teams, they’re not losing a senior quarterback, or a stud running back, or large pieces of their secondary.

Nope; Florida (stop me if you’ve heard this already…) is returning 18 of 22 starters for their championship team, and defensively they are returning 21 of 22 players from their “two-deep” lineup (they lost Louis Murphy, Phil Trautwein, Jason Watkins, and Percy Harvin to graduation or the NFL draft, and Torrey Davis, a second string defensive lineman to transfer).

The training camp and lead up to this season has been a bit boring by normal standards. The days of Coach Spurrier prodding opponents verbally are long gone, and Coach Zook hemming and hawing his way through interviews is a long forgotten memory (for most).

Coach Meyer, despite being figuratively “challenged to a duel” by Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, has been quiet on the topic. He remains quiet on the topic of Spurrier leaving Tebow off his original All-SEC ballot. You would mistake him for someone who didn’t care about all that stuff…and if you think so, you don’t know Urban Meyer.

Truth be told…with so many players returning, potentially the easiest SEC schedule any team has had to play in the BCS era (which is nice for a change), the biggest off season story in Gainesville this summer was a so-called feud between Urban Meyer and former Gator QB turned local sports radio host, Shane Matthews (caused by Matthews questioning the game plan vs. Ole Miss last year).

Not much to talk about here in Hoggetown. But I’m here to bring up the Top 15 stories of interest for the 2009 Florida Gators before we go crowning them National Champions. We’ll cover No.'s 15-11 today, 10-6 on Wednesday, and 5-1 on Sunday.

Here’s the Top 15 Questions facing the 2009 Florida Gators (in no particular order until the Top 5):

No. 15: No. 15

Will Tim Tebow go down as one of the top five (if not the best) football player(s) of all time?

OK, this is tricky for me. I think anecdotal, and when you just go by “the naked eye”, he’s already considered the best player of the current BCS era and in the conversation of the "modern era" of college football.

However, before we go crowning him the king of college football, let’s do a tale of the tape.

Not long ago, we were looking at a left handed QB going to a school near where he grew up that was entering his senior season with a Heisman trophy to his credit and two National Championships (I say one and a half, but that’s just me…).

That player in question is Matt Leinart from Southern Cal. The similarities are eerie, right down to the only needing one class to graduate in the last season they were playing. Let’s look at the numbers going into their final college seasons:

Matt Leinart, USC: 64.3% completion percentage, 6,878 yds passing, 71TDs, 15INTs, 106 rushing yds, three rushing TDs

Tim Tebow, FLA: 65.7% completion percentage, 6,390 yds passing, 67 TDs, 11INTs, 2,037 rushing yds(!!!), 43 rushing TDs

The funny thing about it all is, Leinart is widely thought of as one of the best QBs of our era, while Tebow is not. However, the rushing stats tell the story of why Tebow is considered one of the best FOOTBALL PLAYERS of that same era.

Tebow also goes into this year with a Heisman trophy to his name, two National Championships (again, one and a half if you ask me), and one class to take this season. The similarities end there as the off-field lives of both men couldn’t be more different. Not that one is better than the other… just very different.

Tebow and the Gators have the benefit of not having to chase 2005 Vince Young around the field in January, where Leinart and the Trojans didn’t have that luxury. If USC could have made a couple tackles in that last minute, we might be comparing these two a lot more closely.

No. 14: Oh Mercy, Percy!

Who will play the role of Percy Harvin for the Gators this year?

Unlike the last question, I have an answer for this one: nobody.

I will say this until I’m blue in the face—Percy Harvin was a special, unique and unbelievably gifted athlete, the likes of which we don’t see very often.

In my lifetime, I can only remember a handful—Reggie Bush, VY, Devin Hester, Raghib Ismail, to name a few. Florida will not be able to run the same plays, plug somebody else into Percy’s spot, and do what they did last year.

Urban Meyer’s offense however, is flexible and is run on the premise of getting play makers the ball in space. The word is that Florida will be running three receiver sets with Brandon James at slot WR.

Freshman Andre DeBose is rumored to have Percy Harvin-like skills (a comparison DeBose has denounced repeatedly), and both Jeff Demps and Rainey are going to be back with Rainey the better pass catcher of the two.

Nobody will fit that role exactly as it looked the last three seasons, but let’s not forget, Florida defeated the No. 1 team in the country on a neutral site last year with Percy in street clothes.

No. 13: How mad are the Gators at this whole Lane Kiffin thing, REALLY?

Lane Kiffin made a HUGE mistake by accusing Urban Meyer of cheating. I know ultimately his point was to get attention and get people interviewing him and saying “Tennessee” on TV and radio.

It’s a good thought, knowing that his team is in a “down period." However, Coach Meyer didn’t fall for it and chose to really say nothing.

The Gators have their sights set on much bigger things this year, however, I wouldn’t be surprised if the moment they get in the locker room after they dispose of Troy in Week two, Coach Meyer gathers the team and has an assistant start blaring “Rocky Top” throughout the complex.

Players not performing well in practice that week may have to wear Tennessee orange pennys. The Gators already disliked Tennessee, and Meyer is 4-0 against them.

I’m sure Meyer doesn’t want to be Lane Kiffin’s signature win of his coaching career (the same way Ole Miss’ win is for Houston Nutt). They’re not really that mad about it now, but they will be.

No. 12: Through all kinds of weather, we all stick together…

Will playing in the Swamp even be a home-field advantage this season?

This seems like a stupid question, I know how it looks. However, in my six football seasons here, I missed exactly one game (Zook’s first vs. UAB) and I know what the fan culture is even when we're just pretty good, or even just OK.

What will the stadium look like when we’re VERY good and playing Troy at 12:20pm or FIU. Granted, those are two games we SHOULDN’T have to worry about actually losing, but what about Arkansas (homecoming)?

Will Gator fans be able to rise themselves out of bed the day after having a good time with old friends? I know it’s irrational…I just hate when the team and the fans sleepwalk through a half and then when things get interesting, start to work harder (see Auburn 2007, Ole Miss 2003, and 2008 for details).

No. 11: Lucky Year Eleven

Can the Gators go undefeated against the SEC West?

This decade (2000-present and as far back as 1998), despite being favored in almost every game vs. an SEC West counterpart, Florida manages to drop a game to one of them.

This usually results in the scoreboard watching phenomenon during the South Carolina game in mid-November as fans try to keep tabs on what’s happening with the Georgia-Auburn game.

Gator fans are sick of rooting for Auburn in November so they can win the SEC East. Since the year 2000, these are the L’s Florida has taken vs. the West (yes, there’s a nickname for them all to help remember how brutal it felt):

2008 Ole Miss (get used to this…the “speech” game)

2007 Auburn (Will Bynum Gator chomps the crowd), LSU (Five 4th-down game)

2006 Auburn (the “that wasn’t a forward pass?!?!?!?!?” game)

2005 Alabama (the Jerome Prothro game)

2004 LSU (worst home game of my life), Miss. St (Sly Croom’s first casualty)

2003 Ole Miss (Eli Manning does next to nothing, but wins)

2002 Ole Miss (game starts at 11am EST, team waits until 1pm to wake up)

2001 Auburn (field goal at end of regulation in the rain)

2000 Miss St. (Florida had a 3rd-and-53 in this game)

1999 Alabama (Shawn Alexander game)

It never seems to matter how good we are or how bad the other team was…Florida loses to an SEC West squad pretty consistently. This year they’re looking at: LSU, Arkansas, and Miss. St. We’ll see if the Gators can break the 10 year itch.

I’ll be back on Wednesday with questions 10-6 facing the perfection seeking Gators this year.

Week Six College Football Picks

Scotty Franchise — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:20:33 -0400

After all the hubbub about the greatest comeback of all time and making my triumphant return to being above .500 in my picks, we've had what they call in the business "a setback."

Strangely, I went 4-6 last week and the ones I picked correctly were: Oregon State over USC, Mississippi State over LSU, Ole Miss over Florida (this is where I hate being right!), and Alabama over Georgia.

I didn't know Ole Miss would win outright, although I had a hunch and I had NO idea Alabama would manhandle Georgia the way they did. Crazy week.

No hyperbole this week about Jesse Palmer. No trash talk about great comebacks. Just picks and one piece of advice.

Memo to coaches of BCS conference schools: If you have ANY chance at a championship any season, DO NOT SCHEDULE THURSDAY GAMES. It's just not worth it at this point. On to the picks...

Boston College (-8.5) at NC State

NC State is fairly dreadful this year and very difficult to watch. Phillip Rivers and Mario Williams must be losing sleep in their enormous mansions trying to watch them.

Boston College may be the most consistent team I’ve ever seen. They’re never really THAT great (I know…I know…they were ranked No. 2 last year), but they’re never really all the way in the tank. 8.5 is a lot of points, but NC State is really bad.

No. 6 Penn State (-13) at Purdue

I’m breaking one of my unofficial picking rules with this one. Penn State plays at Wisconsin next week and can easily overlook this Purdue squad and come out flat. Purdue seems to have a skill of keeping games close and losing them late. They’re at home and they are just frisky enough to make a game of this.

In the end, I think the Nittany Lions pull away late on their way to a possible title game bid. (What? We don’t all want to see Oklahoma vs. Penn State in the BCS Championship game??)

Duke (+14) at Georgia Tech

David Cutcliffe continues on his quest to make each and every Tennessee Volunteer fan throw themselves over the top of Neyland Stadium. Great offensive coach. Pedestrian Tech team. They may win outright, but they’re not losing by two TDs. (Did I just write that about Duke?!?!)

#12 Florida at Arkansas (+24.5)

Two developing trends here. This is Arkansas’ third consecutive 20+ point spread as the underdog. This is the first time I’m picking the opponent to cover against the Gators two consecutive weeks.

Arkansas is pretty terrible this year, but for goodness' sakes…they're a Division I team! Lee Corso had it right on the button. Florida’s offense does not have an identity, and they won’t beat good teams on the road like that.

That being said, what the heck happened last week?!?!? Let me get this right…Florida spent four weeks focusing on the run and getting their new stable of running backs (Moody, Rainey, Demps) involved and used to the offense.

Then in a pinch, we get Percy Harvin 756 touches and start running the same exact offense we ran against Michigan last year in the Capital One Bowl. Receivers are going to start transferring…very soon.

South Carolina (+2.5) at Ole Miss

This just in. Ole Miss is very good. They had two close ones with ranked teams (Vandy and Wake Forest) before finally winning a close one, at the Swamp no less.

However, Spurrier will have his team ready this week. This is a textbook letdown week for Ole Miss, as they play No. 2 Alabama next week. Spurrier will avenge his alma mater’s loss and get by Ole Miss in Oxford.

Stanford at Notre Dame (-7.5)

The “Ty Willingham” Bowl! I don’t know what to make of this one. Stanford beat the team that beat USC (Oregon State). Notre Dame beat the team that beat Wisconsin (Michigan).

As much as I don’t want to admit it, the Irish may really be better: at least good enough to beat teams that they should beat, like Stanford. I give them the nod for being at home.

Florida State at Miami (-2.5)

Here’s the short list of who is NOT playing in this game: Charlie Ward, Warrick Dunn, Michael Irvin, Warren Sapp, Willis McGahee, Derrick Brooks, Deion Sanders, Clinton Portis, Kellen Winslow Jr., Marvis Jones, Jonathan Vilma, Bryant McKinnie, Peter Warrick, Laverneaus Coles, Santana Moss, Steve Walsh, Casey Weldon, Jim Kelly, Vinny Testaverde, Bernie Kosar, Lee Corso, Fred Bilitnekoff, and Burt Reynolds. All former Noles and ‘Canes players. Now we’ve got Robert Marve vs. Christian Ponder. Please refer back to this list in the middle of watching this game if it will help hold your interest.

ABC should just show clips and replays of this game from the past 20 years and intersperse them to cross over years. So in the first quarter you get Steve Walsh throwing to Michael Irvin and Charlie Ward running sprint draws.

By the third quarter, you’ll have Chris Weinke throwing deep to Snoop Minnis and Ken Dorsey hitting Kellen Winslow for a TD. Then televise the real fourth quarter. The tradition continues…Miami by 3 as FSU misses a field goal as time expires.

Kentucky at No. 2 Alabama (-16.5)

The ONLY reason this isn’t a 20-point spread is the fear that Bama will start reading their own press clippings now that they’re ranked #2 and maybe go through the motions a little bit.

I think Saban is too much of a stubborn SOB to let that happen and challenges his players to dominate this one. They win by three TDs or more.

No. 13 Auburn (-4) at No. 19 Vanderbilt

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the ESPN board room as they were deciding where to have College GameDay this week. I wonder if somebody jumped up and down on the table imploring them to go to Columbus for OSU vs. Wisconsin.

It probably became a Big Ten vs. SEC debate until somebody said, “Everyone! This is absolutely, positively, the last time Vandy will ever be remotely relevant enough to host this show. We can go to Columbus anytime.”

S/he would be right! It’s a perfect time with Jay Cutler’s NFL success at center stage. Good for Vandy…the best intramural team in the country!

That being said…they’re not beating Auburn. The Tigers' offense is pretty bad, but it’s coming around. They should get enough to beat Vandy by a TD.

No. 14 Ohio State (-2) at No. 18 Wisconsin

I don’t know what to make of this one. How will Terrelle Pryor handle a night game on the road with what will be a heavily ginned-up crowd? Can Wisconsin bounce back from a game they had in hand against a brutal Michigan offense?

I think Ohio State gets a bad rap for getting pummeled on national TV by the Trojans. They are playing another Big Ten team, so they should be OK. Don’t adjust your TV if it looks like they’re running in slow motion…that’s just how they run.

That’s it for the picks.

Last week: 4-6

Season: 19-21

On a side note, I feel like I should mention former USC running back and Heisman Trophy winner OJ Simpson was found guilty of all charges against him in the armed robbery debacle. It was 13 years to the exact date that he was acquitted on a double-murder charge. He faces 15 years to life in prison…OJ is 61 years old.

I mention that because I clearly remember where I was 13 years ago when the verdict was announced, I remember people being gathered around TVs, I remember the air leaving the room when the verdict was announced, and I remember the feeling of division between races after it happened.

The OJ verdict was one of the most polarizing events of my lifetime (aside from the LA police officer trial/Rodney King thing) and now, 13 years later, it’s the fourthstory on Sportscenter.

I’m guessing the public has said, “Fool me once, shame on you. I won’t be fooled twice.” The OJ Simpson story is just an unbelievable series of events, and now he is almost like the “anti-Forrest Gump” in what his life has become. But that’s for another article…

Thanks, America, for getting smarter in the past 13 years.

The Greatest Comeback in Sports History, and the Weekly College Picks

Scotty Franchise — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:10:10 -0400

I’ve done some thinking about this since LAST college football season and I think I’ve finally come to a decision.

I have now seen THE greatest comeback in sports history.

I don’t mean the ’86 Mets in the World Series, or the Frank Reich-led Buffalo Bills in ’93. Not the 2004 Red Sox, and certainly not the Nov. 26, 1994, Florida at Florida State game (barf). I’m not even talking SMU vs. BYU.

As a matter of fact, this comeback has taken place without a ball being picked up, or a player lacing up his cleats. It has been led by a former Florida QB who has risen above adversity and an all-time disgraceful performance to be at the top of his field.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m talking about Jesse Palmer.

Think for a minute. When he was a backup with the New York Giants and he appeared on ABC’s The Bachelor and was shakier and twitchier in that than he was in the NFL, I thought the young man was done for! In the first episode, he even got one of the women’s names wrong and picked her to make the cut by mistake.

Now he is a respected ESPN College football analyst and does a little play by play as well. Kirk Herbstreit is the reigning prince of College football, but Jesse is waiting in the wings and holding his own. To come back and succeed after his stint on the Bachelor, ESPECIALLY in this field is remarkable.

The fact that he’s at all taken seriously and that Chris Fowler is the only one who gets away with teasing him on air about his “rose ceremony” is a testament to his hard work. Unless McCain or Obama selects OJ Simpson as the Speaker of the House, this may be the best comeback in sports history.

I tell you that to tell you that I’m on the verge of cracking the top 5 comebacks in fantasy/pick ‘em history. I started off Week 1 with a discouraging 5-10 record, followed by getting my picks in late for Weeks 2 and 3 (damn these Thursday games!!). In Week 4, I bounced back in Jesse Palmer-like fashion with a 10-5 record and am ready to take the world by storm.

NOTE: These picks that I’m mentioning are all unpublished, so you’ll just to take my word for it. After all, this is the B/R… who would I really be fooling!

Jesse has inspired me to “put myself out there” and let the world see what I’ve got. Thanks, Jesse! On to the for entertainment purposes only picks:

#1 USC at Oregon State (+24)

Southern Cal really should be challenging Seattle and Arizona for the NFC West this year, but since we can’t orchestrate that, they’ll play out their Pac-10 schedule. They play a solid Oregon team the following week and this is Oregon State’s chance to make their mark. USC sleepwalks to a 20-point win at Corvallis, but the Beavers cover.

North Carolina at Miami (-7.5)

I would pick UNC to win this one outright before they lost their starting QB Yates to a broken ankle. UNC is really brewing something in Chapel Hill, and for Butch Davis this is a rivalry game. I’m not sure if the rest of his team really cares more than it being an ACC game. Not sure if Miami is capable of more than a 7-point win over a quality opponent, but I’ll give them the nod since they’re at home (cause of the heat… NOT the crowd!)

Minnesota at #14 Ohio State (-17.5)

Ohio State has #9 Wisconsin the following week and normally I would pick an in conference team to cover such a large spread with that type of game looming, but I think Beanie Wells’ return, as well as the youthful exuberance of Terrelle Pryor trying to make his mark should carry them. Couple that with the near disaster they had against Ohio a few weeks ago and they should win by four TDs or so. Marion Barber and Laurence Maroney are out of eligibility, right?

Purdue (+1.5) at Notre Dame

Remember the late 90’s, when Purdue’s offense was called, “Basketball on grass” and Joe Tiller was considered a coaching genius?? Seems like a long time ago. Either way, Purdue almost knocked off Oregon and while the Domers beat Michigan, Mich State exposed them a bit. It may be that this year, Michigan IS that bad.

Tennessee at #15 Auburn (-6.5)

I wasn’t sure if 6.5 was the spread, or the over/under ::giggle:: Both teams are coming off of a loss last week. One angry. The other, embarrassed. Ideally, I think Tennessee would have liked to had a Kentucky or either of the Mississippi schools this week to “get well” against. Instead, they get angry hungry Tigers. This one could be ugly with long ranging effects for the Big Orange.

Colorado (+6) at Florida State

Game being played at Jacksonville. Can we call this one, “The World’s largest outdoor mocktail party”? Honestly, I don’t know what to make of this one. Colorado pulled a rabbit out of it’s hat last week against West Virginia and will probably be pretty jacked up for this one.

If they win, they go to Austin at 4-0 for a showdown with the Longhorns. FSU is preparing for the annual “Remember when this game used to be so good” festival against Miami. I just don’t think the Noles can beat any quality team by a full TD just yet.

Arkansas (+27) at Texas

What is happening to Arkansas this year should be criminal. Their four consecutive games, starting last week are: #8 Alabama, at #7 Texas (due to hurricane reschedule), #4 Florida, and at #15 Auburn. They got it put on them pretty bad last week, but I think they’ll take care of the ball a little bit better and for goodness sakes, they should be able to cover a 4 TD spread.

Mississippi State (+24) at #5 LSU

MORTGAGE ALERT! MORTGAGE ALERT!

LSU is coming off an emotional and hard fought win at Auburn. They are in the comfort of home. Everyone is telling them how good they are again and they have a BYE week next week, then they're at Florida. Miss. State won’t win this one outright, but I think they’ll keep it within a couple TDs.

Ole Miss (+23) at #4 Florida

PARLAY ALERT!!

If I’ve seen it once, I’ve seen it a million times. Florida gets past Tennessee then takes it’s foot off of the gas until the “important game” vs. LSU. Gator fans don’t need a reminder that Eli Manning beat us twice in these games. This game and the Arkansas game next week are very dangerous for Florida. It’s a 12:30 start in front of a sober, semi-interested crowd and Ole Miss QB and Texas transfer; Jevan Snead is not a bad player. This is an upset alert game, but I think Ole Miss will certainly cover… I think they actually keep it in the single digits.

#8 Alabama (+6.5) at #3 Georgia (Seriously SEC… seriously… c’mon… #3, 4, 5, & 8??)

The game of the week! I’m not sure who created this point spread, but if this is the #8 team visiting the #3 team in the country and the home team is favored by 6.5, are they saying that Georgia is 6.5 points better than Alabama in the same way they are saying Auburn is 6.5 points better than Tennessee?? Is playing in Athens THAT much more difficult than playing at Jordan-Hare? I don’t get it. I’m picking UGA to kick a field goal late to stretch the lead to 6, but nothing further than that. Georgia wins a good game close and keeps the SEC West interesting.

That’s all for this week. Let the comeback begin!!

Enjoy the football everyone!!

Scott Francis is 15-15-0 on the season.

Florida Discovers a New Way to Win: Urban Meyer's 52-Minute Offense

Scotty Franchise — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:26:15 -0400

This past weekend I made my biannual journey down to Knoxville, Tennessee for the Florida-Tennessee game. Many of my fondest and memories of football come from this game.

This year was no different, for a different reason. It was my younger brother's first exposure to SEC football in person. I wanted to show him the sights and sounds of Big Time football in the South, and this is the closest Gator game to us since we moved to Virginia.

Every time I attend the game in Knoxville, there are some great memories and some fantastic games.

From Chris Leak leading a late TD drive for a 21-20 victory in 2006, to the 2002 “Rain game” where Rex Grossman went crazy and Casey Clausen couldn’t receive a snap from center, to the 2000 game where Jabar Gaffney and Jesse Palmer hooked up late in the game for what has become known as “The Ca---“ (it would be “The Catch,” but I don’t think Gaffney had it long enough to call it that).

(Yes, I left out 2004 because it never happened. Poor Dallas Baker almost never lived down that “penalty” late in the game, and I still can't even discuss the "Travis-ty" of the 2001 game.)

Conversely, Tennessee fans must have miserable memories and probably can’t stand us Gator fans.

I’m sure they hate Danny Wuerffel for never letting Peyton Manning win one, and Lawrence Wright for what he did to Joey Kent, and Ron Zook for losing to the Grim Reaper, Sylvester Croom (we’ve nicknamed him the Grim Reaper, since if you lose to Croom, you’re updating your job searching) and getting himself fired.

Now they can add another name to the list: Brandon James.

I don’t have any official numbers on this, but in James' 2.25-year career at Florida, I’d say he’s returned about 12 punts/kickoffs vs. Tennessee, and he’s brought six of them back over 35 yards and four for touchdowns—several called back due to penalty, but several not.

Tennessee fans have to be begging Coach Fulmer, “Coach, please stop making us kick to him.” I think he’s caught on...Tennessee punted it out of bounds eventually. Too bad it was 30-6 midway through the fourth quarter.

Speaking of coaches, as difficult as the SEC can be sometime, I credit Urban Meyer and Dan Mullen for pulling the plug on their game plan eight minutes into the game at Knoxville.

Up 17-0 after an opening drive TD, a quick Tennessee turnover and field goal, followed by James’ electrifying punt return TD, the Florida coaching staff put away the game plan and went into the first version of the 52-minute offense I’ve ever seen.

You know how each team has a “four-minute offense” that they run when they have a lead and don’t want to give the ball back to the other team late in the game, just to get the game over with and in the books? Florida did this for 52 minutes.

Of course, Fulmer and the Vols helped by running up the gut and off tackle on first and second down when they were down 20-0 and turning the ball over inside the Gators’ three-yard line...twice.

But Meyer and Mullen really put a lid on the game plan early and didn’t give LSU, Georgia, or Vandy (that just doesn’t look right, but they’re 4-0!) anything to really work with from this week's film.

I mean, anyone watching could see that Meyer and Mullen were using the original Tecmo Bowl playbook. Four plays for the entire game, and if you pick the right one, you stop us—good for you.

Harvin, Murphy, and Rainey were fairly pedestrian. Emmanuel Moody finally got some carries and produced, but nothing spectacular. Tim Tebow continued on his “Seriously...I don’t care about the Heisman” Campaign by going 8-15 passing for 96 yards and a TD and 12 carries for 26 yards rushing.

Normally, if you showed me those numbers from him I’d say, “Holy cow! Tennessee must have kicked our tails!” but they won by 24 without Tebow breaking a sweat. Scary!

Don’t get too excited Gator Fans! We kicked Big Orange’s teeth in last year and finished the season in a less than fantastic fashion, so let’s take it in stride.

A special thanks to all the Tennessee fans inside and outside of Neyland Stadium who struck up conversation, shared their tailgate food (great Ribs and Jambalaya), and talked football with me and my family and friends while we were in town.

We were treated for the most part with respect and class by many of you, and I’ll always speak well of my past few trips to Tennessee. I’m certain Gator fans will do the same when Ole Miss comes to the Swamp this weekend.

Five Reasons Tim Tebow Is No Longer "Defending" His Heisman

Scotty Franchise — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:41:39 -0400

I hesitate to even broach this topic.

However, when the reigning Heisman trophy winner is returning for his JUNIOR season and has pretty much become the face of college football, it's hard to avoid.

His picture is everywhere, and we all know about his love of Jesus Christ and have heard about the missionary trips he makes to the Phillippines while most of his classmates from the No. 1 party school in the country are on Spring Break, making a mess out of Daytona Beach, Panama City, and Cozumel.

Combine this with the fact that he already has a National Championship and a Heisman Trophy, eats his vegetables, and answers "yes ma'am, no ma'am" to Erin Andrews during interviews...and truth be told, Tim Tebow is a little bit boring.

The real drama lies in the question, "Can he become the first player since Archie Griffin to win the Heisman trophy twice?" After watching all that I could stomach of the UF vs. Hawai'i game, the drama is gone from that as well.

Seeing the style of football that it looks like Florida is going to play, as well as some changes in attitude and skill on the defensive side of the ball, Tebow's drive for 55 (the amount of touchdowns he scored last year) will fall well short, probably by about 25 TDs.

We all knew some things were going to change this year, but after watching that game and thinking about it for a bit, it may be a fairly dramatic change—and some of it unintentional.

Here's why Tebow's numbers and Heisman drive died a quiet death in a rain-drenched Swamp on Saturday.

1. 264

That's the number of "hits" Tim Tebow took last year on rushes, option pitches, sacks, and knockdowns when he threw. This one is obvious: Coach Urban Meyer wants to reduce some of the wear and tear on his young QB. If you're keeping score at home, that's about 20 hits per game.

Tebow is a large hulk of a kid, but one season as a battering ram and two more as a battering ram that can throw is a bit much to take.

One second-quarter play from Saturday's game made it very evident that his hits will be reduced. Florida had the ball on the Hawai'i two-centimeter line, and Tebow lined up under center (very rare) and handed off to Brandon James for an untouched TD run.

2. Emmanuel Moody, Brandon James, Chris Rainey, and Jeff Demps

The stable of running backs Florida trotted out there against Hawai'i is exactly what Urban Meyer has been looking for and was unable to find in previous backs Kestahn Moore, Mon Williams, and poor Markus Manson, who was relegated to defensive back last spring.

This is why Percy Harvin took so many handoffs between the tackles and Tebow ran an inhumane amount of sprint-draws in 2007.

Moody didn't look great on Saturday, but he'll be useful when we get in a real fistfight with someone (think: LSU, Arkansas, Georgia) down the road. Rainey and James seem to have the playbook down and are ready to make a difference.

If you wondered what it would be like if Usain Bolt were to play football...look no further than "Mr. 4.25," Jeff Demps. I'm not sure if he can take a hit yet, but he may not have to. I'll curb my enthusiasm, as most Gator fans can remember how the "John Capel project" worked out.

3. Percy Harvin

I hesitate to put him in here since his surgically repaired heel hasn't healed (no pun intended) like the Gators had hoped. If the running backs mentioned pull their weight, Harvin's carries will be reduced but more effective.

He'll have the opportunity to focus on being a receiver, a position where the Gators are a little thin, young, and unproven with the loss of Cornelius Ingram to an ACL tear this spring.

4. The defense

I don't want to jump the gun too early. After all, it was Hawai'i with June Jones in Texas and Colt Brennan holding Jason Campbell's clipboard here in DC. It's NOT the same team that went to the Sugar Bowl last season.

That being said, the defense had a different feel to it. They ran to the ball. They tackled as a team. Most importantly, they made in-game adjustments.

Hawai'i limited Tebow to five snaps in the first quarter and moved the ball pretty well their first two drives. Florida's defense adapted and began causing turnovers and pressuring the opposing QB.

The turnovers, short fields, and defensive scores will limit Tebow's yardage this year. He typically had some fairly long fields to traverse in 2007. I suspect he'll get the ball inside the opponent's territory much more this year. If it's not because of a turnover, it will be because of the...

5. Special Teams

Again, I know it's against Hawai'i, but Brandon James' two years and one game as a body of work have proven him to be an EXTREMELY dangerous weapon in the punt game. If he ends up getting the bulk of the work in the backfield, maybe Rainey or Demps takes over. I'm not sure how they will be, but Demps runs in a straight line faster than any high schooler ever has.

The alternative is for teams to start punting the ball out of bounds to avoid a return, which rarely works in the NFL and has even more spectacularly dreadful results in college.

This combination of factors leads me to the conclusion that Tim Tebow will likely not even sniff the Playstation-like numbers that he put up last year (32 TD passes, 23 TD runs), but instead will focus on the number that he and everyone on his team was holding up at the end of the 2006 season...Number One.

Tebow will gladly sacrifice his individual awards and trophies for the opportunity to lead his team to another national title. My early prediction is that he throws at about a 65 percent completion rate and has 2,900 yards passing, 550 rushing, 10 rushing TDs, and 27 passing TDs.

Compared to 2007's 67 percent-3,286-895-23-32, it's a down year. However, if Florida goes into December with one loss or fewer, Tebow will certainly be in the running.

He'll smile and nod and congratulate Chase Daniel on winning the trophy, and he'll say and do all the right things. Make no mistake about it: He means it all. But deep down in Tim Tebow's heart, he is a giver. He gets the most out of life when he's giving to others and making them happier and better off.

Deep down, Tim Tebow would rather bring back one glass football for all 51,000 students in Gainesville than a bronze statue for himself. On second thought, maybe he's not boring. Maybe he's just economical and believes in getting the most bang for his buck.

Let's hope the Gators do the same.

The Denver Chronicles Part III: The Weekend Awards

Scotty Franchise — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:52:12 -0400

We should have gone to Tampa.

A phrase uttered several times by myself and the crew during our stay in Boulder and Denver this weekend.

Last year when we discussed where to attend games this year it was between, Washington, D.C., Tampa, and Denver. We chose Denver since it was actually closer for most of us and many of us had never been there before.

We got four first-day games decided by a total of 511 points, a second-round blowout, and a run-of-the-mill competitive game ending in an 11-point win.

Tampa has been dubbed “Upset City” since both No. 12 and both No. 13 seeds won in every fashion possible. A buzzer-beater from 40 feet while falling out of bounds, an overtime game, a double overtime game, and a blowout.

The best bet of the weekend would have been to see how many times someone in our group uttered the phrase: “Where is that game?” Every time, the answer was Tampa.

We should have gone to Tampa. I won’t bore you with the details of the two Saturday games. Michigan State and Pitt played a competitive game, but in the end, it was another 11-point win.

Washington State did terrible things to Notre Dame that are still illegal in most southern states and in Utah. So, we’ll move right to the awards portion of the show.

Best Band

The Michigan State Spartans’ pep band was both entertaining and appropriate. While some school’s bands played entirely too long and too often, some had very limited playlists (how many times can you play your fight song?)

MSU’s band seemed like they were enjoying themselves and did a great job of getting the crowd involved, with everything from fight song, to facilitating the “Go Green! Go White!” chant.

Job well done all around by them. Honorable mention: George Mason University’s band leader, Doc Nix was incredible!

He was running around and going crazy for the entire game, even as it spiraled out of control for Mason. Nix and the Green Machine did a great job of keeping the fans interested. After the game, I shook his hand and he was sweating as if he had played 40 minutes himself.

Best Dance team/Cheerleaders

Washington State University. Nobody else was second. Not even close.

I’m getting married in 61 days, so I need to proceed with caution here, but they were impressive on all accounts. Usually there is a major gap in uhhh… talent between the cheer squad and the dance team. Not with Wazzu. They have all-around game.

Last year in Memphis, we had the Memphis dance and cheer team. They are the gold standard. They are the 1972 Dolphins. If someone can manage to knock them off, they are welcome in the neighborhood, but nobody is on their block yet.

If Memphis is the ’72 Dolphins, this year’s Washington State cheer/dance squad is the ’89 Niners. They’re good and they belong in the conversation, but have some work to do to top them.

Best Mascot

The Oral Roberts Eagle did his thing. I know… I know… Notre Dame fans would have you believe that their Leprechaun was the best, but there is one fundamental issue. He’s not a mascot. He’s a guy dressed as a leprechaun. He is extremely athletic and does handstands and pushups out of a handstand position.

He even walked the length of the court on his hands. Impressive, but he should just join the gymnastics’ team if that’s what he likes. If you don’t have to put the headgear on, you’re not really a mascot.

I’m sorry to be a mascot snob, but I was one for two years and it’s not the same unless you’re wearing that sweaty costume with the limited vision of the headgear. So the Eagle gets the nod. Besides, Oral Roberts needs something to confirm that they participated.

Best Fans

This one was tough. Several of the fanbases had their own areas of excellence.

Wazzu’s fans were most visible. Michigan State’s were the loudest. Mason fans were the most die-hard. Notre Dame had the most alarming amount of people present as it negatively relates to how quiet they were.

Final answer: Wazzu.

Sparty’s fans were very loud and they were very well represented, however Wazzu gets the nod for best fans since they were so unbelievably friendly.

The Spartans’ fans seemed to have this entitlement to be in the Sweet 16 thing going on. Wazzu seemed happy to be there, but were quick to tell you how good they really are and what it means for them to make it to the Sweet 16.

Best Coach

Personally, I think Jim Larranaga was the best coach in the building over the weekend.

Imagine if Coach L were given the players and talent that any BCS-conference school gets. He’s an outstanding coach, but this isn’t a lifetime achievement award. The best coaching job over the weekend goes to Coach Tom Izzo.

He pushed all the right buttons at the right times. From his team scoring on five consecutive possessions out of timeouts against Temple, to whatever he told Drew Neitzel in-between Game one and Game two to get him back on track.

After a dismal game vs. Temple, Neitzel rebounded with a 21-point effort against Pitt. Izzo made all the right decisions at the right time against both opponents over the weekend. He’s done this before, but seeing it in person was really quite impressive.

Best Sign

The best sign of the weekend actually wasn’t in the Pepsi Center. It belonged to a homeless man we encountered in Boulder during the off day.

The sign said, “Homeless old Fart- Please help!! Too young for Medicare! Too old for any woman to care! Anything you can give is appreciated!”

That wraps up the awards for the weekend in regards to the on-court play.

As for Denver, I enjoyed it. The weather is great if you can orchestrate being in the sun all the time. The people are really, really nice.

Here’s the thing about Denver having never been there—if you ever wanted to open an outdoor apparel company, an Ugg boots outlet store, or a Subaru dealership, Colorado is where you want to go.

If you have any plans or desire to meet a black woman for any reason at all, this is not the place for you (I didn’t see one single black woman who reasonably might have been a local).

If you have any plans or desire to meet a black man, go to lot of Nuggets and Broncos games, they are the ones wearing the jerseys with numbers on them.

If you’re out of shape and run out of breath quickly, be careful. I thought the altitude thing was overblown until I had two adult beverages and walked two flights of stairs. Good golly!

Overall, the weekend was exceptionally fun. Pedro was a fantastic host and his party on Friday night was excellent. It should be noted, after the party ended and it was just the guys from the March Madness trip left at the house.

We took a two oz. drink from small glasses to celebrate another weekend together. Within five minutes, six grown men conducted the most ridiculous dance party ever seen. The altitude got the best of us and it only lasted a couple of minutes, but in those 150 seconds, six men ranging from late twenties to late thirties lost all inhibitions and became children again.

Laughing, smiling, and cheering each other on. For two and one half minutes, we forgot about what our jobs would demand of us come Monday. We ignored any concerns about bills, mortgages or 401k growth.

We disregarded our reputations and what others would have thought of us if they saw us dancing (including wives and girlfriends).

We were absolutely in the moment and all that mattered was being with your good friends and having a good time. We all went back to a place that we wish we could visit more often, but life just doesn’t let you. This is why we do this to begin with.

This weekend was a bust as it relates to the games. But as I said before, it’s not about the basketball, it’s about my boys. After that show on Friday night, we eventually simmered down. I turned to my buddy Dusty and all I could say was:

“I’m so glad we didn’t go to Tampa.”

The Over/under on Derek Jeter

Scotty Franchise — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:04:33 -0400

This is such an exciting time of year! March Madness is here, Major League Baseball Spring Training has started, and Spring practice has begun for College Football. The end of March just keeps you on the edge of your seat. With everything going on right now, I figured that I should get this column out of the way now. My first baseball related column of the year.

The concept of the over/under usually relates directly to gambling and point spreads, however, in the context of this article and future over/under articles that I write, Over/Under relates to whether an athlete, organization, coach, etc… is OVER rated or UNDER rated. It’s rare that you have people that can make a reasonable argument that someone is both overrated and underrated at the same time (reasonable is defined as a discussion with someone who is not a Yankee fan, Michigan, Notre Dame or SEC football fan… they’re all crazy and unreasonable). Seems like an odd concept, but here are some candidates for the over/under category:

Ben Wallace: Was so underrated for years that everyone started to realize that he was underrated, began talking about him, he got past his prime and since everyone was so silly about how underrated and great he really was, he became overrated. For Bill Simmons readers, I know… he’s mentioned this often. But there are others that fit this mold.

Terrell Owens: I know… I know. When has Terrell ever been UNDERrated? In fact, he truly may be. We’ve all heard the arguments about how he may be overrated (dropped passes, locker room cancer, drama queen, etc…), but if you look at the fortunes of the teams prior to his arrival and after his departure, he is an absolute difference maker. Jeff Garcia has proven to be a quality QB and a good “game manager” (we all know what that means if your running game isn’t putting up 4 yards per carry…), however the 49’ers haven’t been relevant since he left (lots of issues there though). The Eagles and Donovan McNabb were VERY, VERY good prior to his arrival when they had the first 4 guys to get off the #70 bus to Philly playing wideout for them. Owens shows up and they go to the Super Bowl. And now look what he’s done for the Cowboys and ::gasp:: Tony Romo! You think Tony Romo is sitting courtside at Mavericks games with Jessica Simpson if Owens isn’t on his team? I think not.

Which brings us to our subject today… Derek Jeter.

Jeter has for all intents and purposes become the face of Major League Baseball (the positive face at least). We may see Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens more often these days, but when baseball wants to sell itself to the fans and promote what baseball is about, Derek Jeter is the go to guy. He’s been rookie of the Year, All Star game MVP, World Series MVP, and 4 World Series titles in his first 6 years in the league and a list of celebrity lady friends as long as my arm.

We love Jeter so much that we’ve let him get away with openly not being a “clean cut” All-American boy. Jeter has not settled down with that special lady and doesn’t pretend that he’s going to. He essentially opened the door for Tony Romo and Tom Brady to date starlets, drop them and move on without consequence (anybody remember Mariah Carey? Jessica Alba?). He is the original modern day Joe DiMaggio and Joe Namath.

However, some are asking what’s he done in the past 7 years? His claim to fame is that even without putting up eye-popping “fantasy” numbers (Home runs, runs, steals, RBI, etc…), he is a winner, he is Mr. Clutch, he is THE Captain of the New York Yankees. The Yankees haven’t won a World Series since 2000 and while having been in the Fall classic a few times since then, he is one of the infamous trio to go 2-for-Games 4-7 of the 2004 ALCS. If his specialness is based on winning, statistics be damned, he’s come up short lately.

So where do we stand on Derek Jeter? Is he overrated because he hasn’t won anything in 7 years? Do we think too much of him even though he doesn’t put up first round “fantasy” numbers, even for a shortstop? Is he not worth as much since MLB writers by electing Justin Morneau MVP in 2006, have openly declared that a non-power hitter will never win an MVP award again. Is he just where he is based on his looks?

Or is he underrated for the same statistical reasons, but still manages to lead a fundamentally flawed Yankees team to the playoffs every single year. Do we truly not understand what it takes to overcome a double digit deficit in the standings to pass a very good Red Sox team? Is leadership in tough times only considered valuable in College hoops and football? Have we come to expect .315+, 10, 80, 100 runs and 25 steals from an American League shortstop? Since he plays for the Yankees, are we afraid to give him more credit than he’s already getting for fear that we’re “overrating the Yankees again”?

When it’s all said and done Derek Jeter’s resume does indeed speak for itself. He’s done some fantastic things in his now 13 years in the league… that’s right, Derek Jeter’s been around 13, going on 14 years. I can see him becoming the next Brett Favre type of athlete. Legendary, infallible, clutch, fun to watch and ultimately not quite who he was when we most fondly remembered him. I wonder if Tom Brady doesn’t win a Super Bowl in the next few years and keeps putting up typical “Brady-like” numbers will he make it into an over/under? (Not like the 07-08 “Playstation Brady” stats, but like previous years). There may not be an answer, but I look forward to hearing what others might think.

My final answer; Jeter is rated just about right. Big Papi is just about as clutch and just as great a force in the locker room, however, you’ll never see a highlight of him making a huge play in the field, or anything else not involving a wooden bat. True baseball fans appreciate what Jeter does, and those who know the Yankees know that he has his hands full in the post-Torre, post-George era. With a hothead manager, a REALLY hothead owner in Hank Steinbrenner (which is saying something given that we’re talking about George Steinbrenner here!), a decomposing pitching staff, and a steroid scandal hanging over the team’s head (after reading the names on the Mitchell Report, I thought it was a team media guide from the past 10 years), Jeter will have to earn every bit of his Captaincy to lead this team back to the playoffs.

The Denver Chronicles: Part I

Scotty Franchise — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:32:36 -0400

…and here we go again.

It all started in the Spring of 2003. What began as a mechanism for a bunch of friends, getting older and growing up to keep in touch and visit with one another has blossomed into an annual tradition and “event”. As my friends and I began to leave our surrogate home in Gainesville, Florida, we started losing touch. One moved to Utah, another departed for New Mexico, and yet another for San Diego. Until that Spring, we were limited to e-mails, the occasional phone call and the annual “Holiday letters” (which are dreadful, by the way…). One of the crew, we’ll call him “Dean”, decided to invite everyone to his place in Salt Lake City, Utah for the weekend for a visit. He planned it all out that we’d buy some tickets for the opening round games being played on campus at the University of Utah and on the off day, we’d go skiing, have a nice dinner and check out the “nightlife’ in Utah. We all signed on and did it with the blessing of Dean’s new wife. We caught some quality games that weekend, but one game completely altered the course of our lives forever.

#2 Arizona vs. #7 Gonzaga

If you don’t recall this game, we have come to know it as the “Luke Walton” game. Double overtime, Arizona wins as Gonzaga guard Blake Stepp misses a three pointer at the buzzer. This game had everything… a growing buzz from the crowd as the rallied behind the underdog Zags… a Bill Walton sighting in the stands… star players stepping up and hitting big shots when it counted… great basketball play (Arizona’s offense running through Luke Walton in the post at the end of the game was fantastic)… and all of us screaming our heads off and having a blast.

This was our gateway drug and we were hooked.

After that game and that weekend, we vowed that no matter what happened and what developments came in our lives, that we would always attend the tournament opening rounds in the place of our choice (TBD a year ahead of time). Some of us have to miss a year here and there (work commitments, children, etc…), but most of the group has vowed to make the trip and it’s special every time. As we get older and our lives change, staying in touch becomes more and more important and the buzz of NCAA opening weekend means much more to me these days.

The past 5 years, we’ve attended the opening rounds in Salt Lake City in 2003, Orlando in 2004, Austin, TX in 2005 (this was a Sweet 16- we couldn’t get tickets to the openers this year), Salt Lake again in 2006, and New Orleans in 2007. This year, we head to Denver.

Each year we purchase the tickets well in advance and have NO IDEA who is going to be playing at our site, but the drama builds as the selection show nears and the ‘Bracketologists’ start spaz-ing out. I have attended an extraordinary amount of tournament games the past two years. While I missed the opening rounds due to a wedding in ’06, I attended the Sweet 16. They were right in my backyard (Washington, DC) and my employer, George Mason University, was in the midst of their well publicized run at the time. When they made it to the Final Four and so did my beloved Gators, I had to make the trip to Indianapolis (Don’t ask who I rooted for, it’s still a sore subject around my campus). Last year, I was lucky enough to have the Gators placed in New Orleans during their historic 2^nd title run. When they made it to the Final Four, knowing that was the last time we were going to see that group of guys together, I had to make the trip to Atlanta.

This brings us back to Denver. Again, I got lucky Mason has been placed here to face the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. So to say that I have NO rooting interest is not completely true, but most times, we just show up and root for a good game and a good time.

I will be chronicling my trip this weekend through the Bleacher Report and not so much in a “running diary” type format, or doing a lot of play-by-play of the games. All of that stuff you’ll see on TV. I’ll be talking about the stuff Bill Rafftery, Gus Johnson and Billy Packer can’t tell you. The sight, sounds, smells of the games… the idiosyncrasies of the crowds… band, cheerleader and dance team rankings… and the moments off the court and appropriately, in the bleachers, that make our annual journey special. Here’s a sample (names are changed to protect the not so innocent):

2003: Between games, I took a phone call from my then girlfriend and a discussion began about whether she should move to this apartment that she was looking at. Long story short… the conversation took forever and I missed half of the Duke/Western Michigan game. We broke up that May. I still get hell for this with the crew every time I touch my phone around them.

2004: In the off day between games, our trip to Daytona Beach became eventful, including my still record, 22 beers consumed over the course of the day, leading to the now legendary falling asleep in the 2^nd row of a game the next day, as well as the sighting of a certain star player for Mississippi State “cat calling” some woman from across the street in downtown Orlando.

2006: The whole crew ended up hitching a ride during the dinner break with the Hartford Company’s executive ‘outing’ of some sort. They just got on the bus that they totally didn’t belong on and started eating and drinking these people’s free food. Think ‘Wedding Crashers’, but with 8 guys and much louder and obnoxious than Vince and Owen.

2007: Just a mess all around. This one had everything, Dean getting “motor boated” in a restaurant at 3am, a Habitat for Humanity build at 7am when we got home at 4am the night before, our friend “Pedro” yelling at Corey Brewer of the Gators, “Coach better take you out! You’re up by 30, you could break an ankle!”, only to discover that Corey Brewer’s mother was sitting directly in front of Pedro. Ms. Brewer’s head turned around without her shoulders moving… picture Linda Blair in the exorcist. It was ugly.

Who knows what this year has in store this year, I’ll keep you posted.I would be remiss not to mention the other highlight of the trip, “March Madness bucks”. We all put $20 into a pot upon arrival and in turn get twenty fake $1 bills. During the course of the weekend, you can bet these dollar bills with others in the group on any and everything EXCEPT outcome of the game (wins and losses). For instance, I bet Pedro that DaJuan Wagner would take more “bad” shots than Chuck Hayes has dunks, or I bet Florida wins by 40 points (an actual bet vs. Jackson St. last year which was “covered” when one of the bench scrubs hit a buzzer beating 3 pointer while up by 38). Other famous “madness bucks” bets… Number of times Nick Fazekas dunks vs. times he gets dunked on, number of times the band will play the fight song, whether a team will put 5 white players on the court at once, etc…

Opening weekend of the tourney means buzzer beating baskets to win games, scrappy underdogs taking ‘Big State’ school to their limits and sometimes winning the game outright. Opening weekend brings joy to some ‘mid-major’ school each year and crushes the hopes and dreams of a contender. It sparks debates on talk radio shows throughout the country and begins ridiculous wagers amongst friends and co-workers. This year… I didn’t even fill out a bracket. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as excited as ever, but it’s about my boys, not about the baskets.

We’ll see if I feel the same 8 minutes into game 1 on Thursday.

I hope you’ll share the ride with us.

Part II of the Denver Chronicles will be posted Friday after the first round games…

SEC Tournament and "Lost": The Striking Similarities

Scotty Franchise — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 05:51:41 -0400

The ABC television show Lost is back on the air, and no sooner does the SEC basketball tournament gets turned upside down.

For those of you who follow the show, you know that the island that the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 landed on is haunted, magical, cursed or blessed. Crazy things happen, including the first two and a half seasons of the show featuring flashbacks of the lives of the castaways and what life was like prior to the plane crash.

Somewhere toward the end of Season Three, the show began showing us flash forwards of life for the castaways once they get off the island. As a viewer, you find yourself wondering, "Is that a flash back or forward?” You also don't know who survives or who dies on the island. You are constantly shocked and can't wait to tune in for the next episode.

This brings us to the SEC tournament. I'm not sure if the Georgia Dome is haunted, or magical, cursed or blessed, but something has gone terribly wrong in the SEC. Here's the rundown on today's conference championship game:

Back to back National Champs, and winners of the last three SEC tournaments, the Florida Gators got bounced in the first round and won't make the NCAA tournament (first team to miss the dance after winning the whole thing since the "Danny and the Miracles" Kansas team won it in 1987 and missed the tourney in 1988).

The No. 4 team in the country (formerly No. 1) Tennessee Vols got bounced by a middle of the road Arkansas team with none other than Stephen Hill making the game winning turnaround jump shot.

If you're not familiar with Mr. Hill's offensive game, calling him a "garbage man" is offensive to players who play the garbage man roll well.

The Kentucky Wildcats got bounced in the semis by...wait for it...wait for it...Georgia.
If you're keeping score at home...Neither Florida, Kentucky nor Tennessee is in the SEC title game.

If that wasn't strange enough, we're playing this game at Georgia Tech's home court because a tornado hit the Georgia Dome.

Let's see this again...A TORNADO... HIT... THE GEORGIA DOME!!!!!

Crazy, right? Well, why stop there? In the true spirit of the "Oceanic Six" (the six survivors of the island) and as we see their lives unfold in bizarre ways post-stranded life.

Since the games were moved out of the Georgia Dome, games are being played in a more than half empty arena due to "restricted access," and the Georgia vs. Kentucky game was postponed and became a double header for whatever team won.

They would play at 12 Noon and then again at 6:30pm. Georgia beats UK on a controversial non-call (which I totally agree with) and ends up in the semi-final vs. Mississippi State later that night and they win!

To recap: A team that went 4-12 in the SEC wins three games in the league in one weekend, two of them in one day. A freshman averaging four points per game hits a winning three point shot, Georgia gets the benefit of a no call and the following day gets the benefit of a technical foul call in the last 10 seconds of a game.

The island has awoken.

Even stranger, at the end of the UK vs. Georgia game Billy Gillespie (who I’m beginning to really dislike by the way) is chasing a ref toward the locker room to yell at him about the no call on the charge that Ramel Bradley drew. The refs refused to hand Kentucky the game on free throws from an inbound play. Ironically, while chasing down the refs, the state trooper escorting them out laid a moving pick on Gillespie to slow him down.

Meanwhile, in the post game conference, Georgia's coach Dennis Felton was whining about having to play two games in one day and how it will essentially cost his team a chance at the NCAA tournament.

Really Dennis? I thought the fact that you have about six scholarship players on the team and went 4-12 in a down conference this year was really keeping you out of the tourney.

This argument is a close cousin of Jim Calhoun's, "We shouldn't have to play George Mason in their backyard" complaint. Would you rather play an 11th seeded mid-major very close to their home or a No. 3 seeded North Carolina team on a neutral site? There's an argument to be made there, but it all comes down to beating the guy in front of you.

Needless to say, this has been a whacky and wild SEC weekend. I have a hard time writing this without mentioning Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan's comments about his team, their effort and their apparent lack of—"onions."

I agree with him and getting into a 30-5 hole against Alabama is not how you make your case to get into the tourney. I would anticipate Florida losing a player or two to transfer and honestly—good riddance. While it's not fair to compare the 2005-2007 Gator rosters’ talent to the 2007-08 team, there was no questioning their heart and desire.

In fact, picture if you will, if Florida was in Georgia's place this weekend; I couldn't imagine that they would complain about playing twice. I couldn't imagine them getting walked over by anyone with something important on the line.

In fact, I could see them sitting in the front row behind one of the team benches drinking Gatorade (of course) and eating orange slices while cracking jokes. I could see them not going back to the hotel to nap.

They were basketball players and believed strongly in "beat the man in front of you." This new batch of Gators struggles with the mental part of the game and just doesn't look like they're having much fun.

I never thought a Gator could learn anything from a Bulldog, but these young Gators should watch every second of every game Georgia is playing and take note. You get out of it, what you put into it.

They are much more talented that Georgia, but they're at home watching both the SEC title game and the selection show. Even worse, they'll have to wait an extra day for the NIT selection show. I hope they bring more effort to New York than they brought to the Georgia Dome.

They'd better—the island is still watching.

Brett Favre; A New Hope: Re-dux

Scotty Franchise — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:20:53 -0400

October 30, 2007

First things first… How excited are you for American Gangster coming out this Friday?! Denzel Washington has already entered into what I call “Morgan Freeman territory”.

That’s the place that an actor/actress reaches after creating a body of work so extensive and so impressive that you just get to a place where it doesn’t matter what the movie is, you’ll just go see it. I’d pay the $10.75 to go watch Denzel make a ham sandwich at this point. It’s named after Morgan Freeman who is the inaugural member of this Hall of Fame. I mean really…he was the narrator for a movie that featured penguins walking across a block of ice and won an Academy award… enough said.

This list is a prestigious one for me, and thus, a short list. It includes the following:

Morgan Freeman himself

Denzel Washington

George Clooney

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Steve Carrell

Will Smith

Julia Roberts

That’s it. That’s the list. There are several who are knocking on the door but there are certain things keeping them off the list; Ashley Judd (went to Kentucky and Double Jeopardy), Tom Cruise (MI:3), Halle Berry (Catwoman, Perfect Stranger). And another handful of performers who have just made so much money that they just make movies to keep busy and to entertain themselves and as a result have been in some REAL stink bombs lately, so they get the “check the number two actor label”. They are: DeNiro, Pacino, and Samuel L. Jackson.

I was reminded of this list on Monday night while watching the Packers vs. Broncos game. I didn’t watch the game the whole way through. I actually didn’t watch much of it at all. I don’t care for either team all that much… I had no Fantasy football players involved and neither did my opponent this week… and I am a devout Heroes watcher on Monday nights now.

As I have mentioned, my fiancée goes to be earlier than I do typically and went to bed right after Heroes. Of course, I laid in bed and flipped between the end of the game and Journeyman.

It hit me while watching the game… Brett Favre, while not an actor, makes the “Morgan Freeman list”. There’s so much going on in the NFL this year, the Patriot cheating scandal, the stink fest that is the Rams and Dolphins (and my Jets), the Chargers and Bears disappointments, the Patriots domination (there’s a theme here), the complete and utter disarray and madness going on with the consensus Top 10 fantasy football players stinking out the joint, and the Patriot “point stacking” scandal (is that what you’d call the opposite of point shaving?).

We haven’t had the chance to step back and appreciate the wonder that is Brett Favre (after a usual scenario of jumping up yelling “what a play!!” as she tries to sleep. I swear she breaks the remote over my face in her dreams every Sunday and Monday night).

I know. It’s been written about. Lord knows, the guys in the Monday night booth, John Madden and Frank Caliendo never let us forget about Favre. Maybe it’s because he’s been doing the retirement yo-yo the past couple of seasons. Maybe we’re spoiled. But it feels like we haven’t really paid our respects to number four.

As you know the game ended on an 82-yard TD pass from Favre to Greg Jennings (who has been picked up and dropped from one of my fantasy teams 756 times in his two years in the league…) and my brain went loco when he ran into the end zone and Mike Tirico said these eight words:

“Packers win and go to 6 and 1”

6 and 1? Really?! The Green Bay Packers?! In 2007?! How did this happen?!?!

This was supposed to be the season Favre threw 22 TDs and 18 INTs, broke Dan Marino’s career TD record and rode off on a horse into the sunset. He’s already a hero, but if he could get this team to 7-9 or 8-8 this season, we’d look at him like he was a miracle worker. 6 and 1?!?!?

Then it hit me as clear as day: Brett Favre MUST save this season.

Meanwhile, in Foxboro… We’ve heard all of the comparisons to the Patriots. Sith Lords. Darth Vader. Bullies. Cobra Kai. Names like Beelzebub and words like Evil have been used to describe them. And it’s abundantly clear that they have a chip on their shoulder.

Scoring at will and scoring late in games that are already out of reach. I mean c’mon, they put up 52 points on poor ol’ Joe Gibbs and his boys this past week. If that doesn’t bring memories of Darth Vader chopping down Obi Wan Kenobi and then stepping on his robe to make sure he finished the job, I don’t know what does. (By the way, if I just spoiled the end of Star Wars for you… shame on you for not having seen it yet. What the heck are you waiting for?)

They are the late 80’s/early 90’s Miami Hurricanes football program. They are the guards in the first half of The Longest Yard. They are Vikings pillaging and burning everything in sight. They are the cloud of anti-matter devouring planets in the Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book series (sorry… nerd moment). They are Tupac in the”Hit ‘em up” song. They are Hurricane Andrew and a Tsunami all wrapped up into one.

After years of being everything that was right about the NFL and sports for that matter; they suddenly have a huge chip on their shoulder of this cheating scandal they’ve been implicated in and are out to prove, “OK. No cameras. No stealing signs. You questioned our 3 championships? We’re gonna kick everybody’s ass up and down the field and don’t care who we upset because you can’t do anything about it!”

They are by leaps and bounds the best team in football this year and probably since the 1989 San Francisco 49’ers. They have arguably the best QB in the league. And under no circumstances can they win the Super Bowl.

I won’t go too far into it, but the message it will send to kids about sportsmanship will be terrible. The other players and owners in the league will have a hard time rooting for them in any form or fashion.

The fans in the New England area will be completely insufferable (Red Sux just won the World Series, Pats, the Celtics upcoming Eastern conference title and Boston College is ranked #2 in the BCS), and they will spend all off season thumbing their nose at everyone saying, “We told you so! We told you so! We were disrespected and everyone thought we were cheaters!”

The problem is… because they’re the best team (by far), and because they play the right “style” of game. They SHOULD win. Which brings us to good ole number four.

He is the only player EVERYONE can get behind. He wasn’t supposed to do anything of consequence competitively this year. You can’t name his running backs (unless you’re a Gator fan!). And all of the sudden, he’s 6-1!

While some would argue that Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning and the Colts are an easy team to get behind, they just won last year. They also play in the same conference, leaving is with that terrible “AFC championship game is really the Super Bowl” thing going on again. Whoever wins the AFC will be playing a sub-par team in the Super Bowl. If you look at the NFCs best teams they are underwhelming:

Dallas Cowboys: Too many people despise them and won’t get behind them.

New York Giants: Just a loathsome group of individuals that only play well when they’re fighting amongst each other.

Detroit Lions: I just laughed out loud typing that.

Whoever wins the NFC West: As significant as the WAC in the BCS rankings

Green Bay Packers: They have number four. The all time NFL touchdown passing record holder as well as the all time wins leader.

Here are five reasons EVERYONE would get behind Brett Favre:

Deanna Favre: Brett’s wife. You probably recognized the name when you read it. For goodness sake, she has her own Wikipedia page.

I say Deanna Favre, not just because of her, but we know Brett’s family. We know about his humble beginnings in Kiln, Mississippi. We know Deanna was diagnosed with breast cancer just 3 years ago and has thrived. We know Brett’s brother in law died in an ATV accident shortly before they found out about Deanna’s illness. And we know Brett’s father passed away the day before a Monday Night Football game vs. the Oakland Raiders a couple year’s ago… a game in which Brett threw 4 TDs and an almost flawless game.

We know his family so well that we feel for him when they are in trouble. It’s also intriguing that under no standard is Deanna an athlete’s “trophy wife”. She’s always seemed like your everyday attainable woman, yet beautiful enough to be the QB’s gal. Kind of like the Secretary of student government dating the star QB in high school.

He’s a recovering alcoholic/addict: Brett Favre stood before the world and told everyone that he was addicted to painkillers from years of abuse to his body in the NFL. As a result, he had to kick the painkillers, but also had to stop drinking beer after games, and altogether.

He comes off as “one of us”. He could very well be your star athlete high school friend that tore up his knee jumping out of a moving car or his girlfriend’s window when her Dad came home. As time wears on, he becomes more and more human to us.

The records: This season, he became the most prolific touchdown passer in the history of the league, passing the legendary Dan Marino. Marino, who is insanely competitive and never won a Super Bowl in his career, so he ONLY has the records to hold on to, found a way to be happy for Favre and publicly congratulate him.

Favre also passed the legend and possibly the greatest QB the game has seen, John Elway in regular season wins. When asked what it was like, Favre said, “I don’t know how a quarterback is the only position on the field that gets credited with wins. How come I get any more credit for this than say a center or guard or running back”?

The on-field demeanor: One of my telltale sign of if a QB is worth his salt is, when he throws a TD, how he acts afterwards. In a young QBs first couple of seasons, they can get away with throwing it and sprinting down to the end zone with his hands in the air to celebrate. At season three, they should head to the sideline and congratulate the receiver later, or on a short TD throw, jog over and congratulate, then get off the field.

Example: Joey Harrington still sprints down field like he just won the Rose Bowl on every TD he throws. This is unacceptable. Somehow, Favre still gets away with this. He sprints down to the end zone (much slower than he used to…) and jumps up and down like an undrafted free agent playing in his first game. Somehow, it’s ok. He runs around like a little kid, head butts defensive linemen, throws blocks on reverses… He has always played in the way that we say we would if we ever had the talent and opportunity.

The T-shirt: Favre does his post game interviews in a white t-shirt. Most interviews you see, a player is in a suit (sometimes with 8 or 9 buttons and a Fedora) or dress jacket and buttoned up shirt. Favre is always in either a sweatshirt of some sort or a t-shirt.

I’ve always asked, “Is it because he’s knocking out these interviews before he gets dressed?’ or, “Is he ALREADY dressed and that’s what he’s wearing to go home?” I’ve always had this feeling that Favre plays the 1:00pm game, showers and does his interviews, stops by Lowe’s on the way home and then works on the yard and plays football with his girls before doing a terrible job at helping Deanna with Sunday dinner.

By going 6-1 in the first 7 games this season, Brett Favre has given us hope. Hope that someone will stand up to the Patriots. Hope that someone will fight back and never be intimidated by their high flying antics. Hope that someone will actually watch the Super Bowl should New England make it there.

Favre is a legend in his own time. By winning it all this year, he would become Rocky Balboa. He would be David, taking out Goliath with a single stone (and no running game to speak of). He would be Hickory high taking out South Bend in Hoosiers. He would be Maximus Meridius in Gladiator taking on the Germanian Barbarians. In order to beat the Patriots this season, it’s going to take the collective force of nearly an entire country rooting for “the other guy”.

Brett Favre IS that other guy. He is every one of us. He IS must see TV. He is the guy EVERYONE can get behind. He is our American Gangster. Now if we can just get Morgan Freeman to do the play-by-play…

Thanks for reading! Check in soon for my upcoming articles about the SEC tournament, followed by running coverage of my trip to the NCAA tournament opening rounds in Denver.