Florida-Ole Miss: Gators, B/R Writer Celebrate Birthday Together

After continuing their dominance against Tennessee last weekend, Florida now has time to relax and enjoy themselves until this weekend. After that, they have their conference home opener against Mississippi. And the story remains the same in Gainesville, the team is starting to come together as the cohesive unit that we all expected them to be.

And Florida is following the simple chemistry necessary to stay in the BCS race. The formula allows the offense to not spend too much time putting up big numbers and the defense to keep continuous pressure on the opposing offenses. Has this formula worked for the former national champions?

You tell me.

Out of all the Top 25 teams, Florida is the only team to have no giveaways this season. The defense has stepped up in big fashion as they have nine takeaways so far this season. Though they don't have the offensive numbers as the other 24 teams in the nation, but their defense has stymied offenses all season long.

Even though we're only into the fourth/fifth week of the season, this is the time where teams who really want the BCS Championship start to step up and take charge of their destiny.

But while USC is battling Oregon State, Alabama faces Georgia in a pivotal SEC showdown, LSU faces the revamped Mississippi State Bulldogs and Oklahoma battles Mountain West powerhouse TCU.

In all honesty, it would work in Florida's best interest to win this weekend. Just imagine this: Alabama shocks Georgia, LSU skates past the 'Dogs, the Gators down Ole Miss and either USC or Oklahoma get stunned this weekend.

Now picture the Top 25 now. Florida doesn't have an easy schedule, but they got Ole Miss and Arkansas in the next couple of weeks with it all leading up to the "Showdown at Da Swamp" between the Bayou Bengals and the Gators.

The SEC looks tougher this year than last year. Instead of Kentucky playing spoiler, it is Vanderbilt. Instead of people second guessing Nick Saban, they are praising him and hoping that he survives the weekend in Athens. And LSU and Florida will most likely have a holiday in Mississippi.

How it will happen? Defense, Defense, Defense.

Florida's defense is intimidating this season. Meyer has used the lack of gunslinging mojo by Tim Tebow to his advantage. But that's not saying that the action will just happen when Florida isn't on offense. As proven last week in Knoxville, Florida can make things happen on special teams as well.

Brandon James proved himself to be the ultimate equalizer (hope St. Louis is paying attention) with a return for a touchdown as well as providing the Gators with decent or good field position.

What else? Home Field Advantage.

As proven time and time again, in Da Swamp, no one comes out alive. Tennessee knows this. Florida State knows this. Even Hawaii knows this. But when it comes to the big rivals of the SEC, they try to adjust to the noise of Ben Hill Griffin, but it never seems to work out for them.

Whether on offense or defense, Florida finds a way to win in Da Swamp. With Percy Harvin showing his true colors, and Emmanuel Moody proving his worth in bunches, Tim Tebow should have enough talent to cruise past Ole Miss. He won't have to work too hard, but if he plans on winning another Heisman, he might want to put some more impressive numbers on the board...

...But then again, I think he's more focused on holding the crystal ball that comes with a big giant trophy. So it's all good to have the Heisman, but every player wants to hoist up the BCS Championship. Because in his eyes, if Chris Leak can hoist it, so can he. With all that said, here's my final take.

Ole Miss hasn't played to their full potential in Houston Nutt's first reign as coach. Florida is famous for capitalizing on a good situation. And Nutt should be no stranger seeing as how it was his former coaching reign that suffered the wrath of the University of Florida in the SEC Championship Game two years ago. Though Arkansas is a distant memory to Nutt, he still has to deal with Florida since he decided to not leave the conference.

But in fairness, does anyone think that there will be any upsets out of the Top Five teams? I didn't think so. So Florida wins this one, concentrates on Arkansas and dispatches that guy who ran with his tail between his legs from Atlanta, and then got in a shootout against LSU. Sounds like a good way to celebrate my birthday.

Final Score: Florida Gators 38, Ole Miss Rebels 10