Archive for October, 2009

Florida/Georgia – The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

The last two years have added a little spice to The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. The Gators have won 16 of the last 19 matchups, including last year’s 49-10 pounding. While the (4-3) Bulldogs are looking to play spoiler and get back on track in the SEC East, the Gators continue to chase their second consecutive national championship.

After back-to-back losses to LSU and Tennessee, Georgia responded with a 34-10 victory at Vanderbilt. Coming off a bye week, the Bulldogs have been preparing for the Gators for two weeks, and hope to continue to limit the Gator offense as Arkansas and Mississippi State have done the last two weeks.

After struggling against Arkansas and Mississippi State the last two weeks, the Gator offense looks to get back on track against the porous Georgia defense. Tim Tebow has thrown three interceptions in the last three games and gave more points to Mississippi State last week than he accounted for. No one puts more pressure on Tebow than himself, so expect the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner to come out and play well.

Prediction:

The game should be heated and physical, as these are two teams that truly do not like each other. Look for the Florida defense to continue to play well, stop the run, and keep A.J. Green from being a big factor. I expect the Gator offense to come out and throw the ball early, leading the offense to at least 35 points. Georgia will be hard pressed to score more than 10 points against the nation’s top defense.

Notes:

Tim Tebow is one rushing touchdown away from breaking Herschel Walker’s SEC record of 49.

Injury Report:

Jeff Demps (neck) is probable.

Brandon Spikes (groin) is probable.

Jaye Howard (knee) is probable.

Lawrence Marsh (ankle) is probable.

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Article originally posted at isportsweb.com.

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Gators continue to struggle, grind out win over Mississippi State

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Another week in the SEC, another questionable call that decides the outcome of a game. Unfortunately, this is becoming a trend, and Saturday’s game between Florida and Mississippi State was not immune. Late in the fourth quarter, Dustin Doe intercepted a tipped pass but slowed down on his way to the end zone, allowing receiver Brandon McRae to catch him from behind and knock the ball loose. The play was ruled a touchdown on the field and was not overturned due to inconclusive evidence of the ball coming loose before crossing the goal line. Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen was highly critical of the call and has already been reprimanded by the SEC for his comments. Lost in all this is the growing inability for Florida to score in the red zone and put away lesser teams. The Gators were held out of the end zone on four of five trips into the red zone and allowed Mississippi State to hang around until Doe’s interception late in the fourth quarter. Mississippi State’s Johnthan Banks returned two Tebow interceptions for touchdowns, including one of 100 yards right before half, making the score 13-10. After trading field goals in the third quarter, Dan Mullen took his chance on a fourth and 2 from the Mississippi State 27. He dialed up what appeared to be a successful fake punt until Robert Elliott slipped and fell before reaching the first down marker. This allowed the Gators to take possession deep in Bulldog territory and eventually create some cushion on an eight-yard Chris Rainey touchdown run. Doe’s touchdown made the score 29-13 with 8:25 left in the fourth, and the Gators would hang on to win 29-19.

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Article originally posted at isportsweb.com.

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Florida @ Mississippi State – Game Preview

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

The Gators look to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 17 games when they travel to Starkville to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs and former offensive coordinator Dan Mullen. Surprisingly, the Gators have not won in Starkville since 1985, and after last week’s turnover riddled performance against Arkansas, this game suddenly looks closer on paper than it should be.

Tim Tebow will be playing the Bulldogs for the first time in his career and will look to build on last week’s season high 255 passing yards. Opposing him will be the Bulldogs top threat and all-time leading rusher, Anthony Dixon. Dixon is averaging 5.2 yards per carry and has five straight 100-yard games. Mississippi State’s quarterback Tyson Lee is only completing 58% of his passes and has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns, thus putting the tempo of this game squarely on the shoulders of Dixon. If Mississippi State can run the ball early, it might open up the play-action passing game that was highly successful in their near upset of LSU.

Even though Mississippi State is much better than their 3-4 record shows, I feel that this game is pretty cut and dry. I expect the Gators to continue to play solid defense, step up on offense, and win this game soundly. The Gators control their own destiny for the National Championship game and are on a crash course with Alabama for the SEC Championship game.

Injury Report

–Jaye Howard (knee) and Lawrence Marsh (ankle) are doubtful.

–After re-injuring his groin last week, Brandon Spikes will be a game-time decision.

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Article originally posted at isportsweb.com.

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The True Effects of Tebow’s Concussion

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

In the weeks leading up to the LSU game, most of the emphasis was garnered around Tebow’s playing status game. As someone that has encountered him on campus countless times, and has seen every collegiate snap he has ever taken, I was very concerned about the long term health effects the concussion could have on him. Even as a die hard Gator, the person is more important than the game, and I truly believe that if not fully cleared by the medical staff, he should not play against LSU. Of course, this was the most important issue at the time, but now that the Gators have handled LSU and squeaked by Arkansas, it’s time to look at the true effects of Tebow’s injury: the loss of the explosive play. Now, how could this possibly be related to Tebow’s injury? Simple, Tebow running the true spread option dictates the pace and success of our offense. Since the injury, Tebow has not been able to play at the same pace as he did before the injury. Against LSU, the option was not even called. To the average fan it may have looked like the same offense you are used to seeing but it was far from it. Every “option” play was a straight dive and fortunately for the Gators, LSU could not stop it. Our offensive line was able to maul the LSU defensive line and successfully move the line of scrimmage in our favor on each play. Against Arkansas, the story was much the same. Run the dive. However, Arkansas was able to shut this down for a large portion of the game. As a result, the game was in question until the final seconds.

When Tebow is running on all cylinders, the offense is wide open. Defenses must account for him on the run, or Demps, or Rainey, or James, or Moody, and so on. When we have success in the run game, the field opens up for Hernandez over the middle and down the seam, and we are able to stretch the field vertically with Cooper and Thompson. We also always have the option of telling Tebow to put us on his back and carry us to a victory. He’s done it countless times and much to my surprise and the 90,000+ in The Swamp on Saturday, we neglected to simply count on Tebow as we have done so many times before. He didn’t truly do damage until the final drive, which was enough to get us the W, but that’s against lesser competition. No disrespect to Arkansas, but they are still a middle of the pack SEC team and are at least a year away from truly contending in the conference. Saturday’s effort does not beat Alabama, and might not be good enough to win at South Carolina. It will be interesting to see if Tebow will have the leash removed against Mississippi State this weekend in Starkville. The Gators need to hit a stride similar to last year to run the table and win it all again. Will it happen? I truly think so. We’ve had a high powered offense since 2007, the first year Tebow was a starter, and the defense has come along in the last two seasons. I never thought our offense would struggle this season but that is what an injury to the heart and soul of your team can do. As long as we get back on track offensively, we are the best team in the country.

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Article originally posted at isportsweb.com.

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