Tennessee, You Deserve This

14 months. All this carnage in 14 months. Hurricane Lane blew through Knoxville and left the Tennessee football program in ruins. How did it happen? Good question. You would think a school with the tradition and prestige of a Tennessee would hire a football coach to lead its program. Instead they hired a rock star wannabe. Why?

When Phil Fulmer was kicked to the curb at UT, his record was somewhere around the 150-50 mark. But winning 3 out of every 4 games for two decades were not enough for the Vols. They weren’t winning the right games anymore. They weren’t beating the Gators, and now it looked like the Tide was an automatic L for the near future too. Something had to be done. But what?

Apparently, somebody had the idea to go out and hire the “anti-Fulmer”. Fulmer was a class act. He was a Vol. He played for the Vols. He bleeds UT orange. He’s getting a bit older and out of shape. He gives the impression that he does not want to make waves, never wanting to mix it up anymore with Urban Meyers or Nick Sabans. He shrugs off losses with his standard “we will work like heck”. But he can never be accused of embarrassing the school.

“So who do we get? How about the kid who the Raiders just fired? He’s young. He’s good looking. He’s in shape. He’s got the balls to get in Meyer’s face. He is a guy who can come in and light a fire. Never mind he has a 5-15 record. Never mind he has never heard of Knoxville. Who cares if he wants to scrap everything UT and replace it with USC? As long as it wins games right?”

Well now you know. You went out and hired the anti-Fulmer only to realize that Fulmer was more good than bad. And now look at you. And you fans who have been swallowing his crap for 14 months, how do you like him now? Oh you loved it when he took pot shots at other coaches. You just laughed it up. You thought it was great when he made UT the butt of jokes around the SEC. It was just jealousy right? Or maybe we were scared? Maybe we were worried because we didn’t have Fat Phil to kick around anymore? No actually, we were really laughing at you.

Now look at you. You’re making youtube videos peeing on t-shirts and cussing his name. You’re burning mattresses and spray painting F-Bombs on rocks. You were SOOO cocky. What are you now? You’re getting what you deserve, that’s what.

Too Many Questions Surround the Urban Meyer Saga

The craziness of this past weekend has left the Florida football program with a lot of unanswered questions. This has the potential to be a train wreck if not handled properly. The Gators run the risk of a mass exodus by this year’s junior class, defections in this year’s recruiting class, and possible long term recruiting ills that may be tough to recover from. When Billy Donovan made his infamous flip flop, we know that it AT LEAST cost him Patrick Patterson. We can only guess at who else may have passed on UF because of it.

Questions that need answers include:

1. What happens if a year goes by and Meyer’s health has not improved? Does Addazio keep the job as head coach? Do we go after another coach for 2011?
2. What do we do about a new offensive and defensive coordinator? Do we promote from within and hire young assistants to take lower level jobs, or go after an up and coming coach for those positions? When Meyer comes back, what then happens to Addazio?
3. What if Meyer decides 2010 is too soon but would like to come back in 2011? What if 2010 turns out to be an awful season? Can we fire Addazio?
4. What if recruits start bailing? Does Meyer try to come back too soon?
5. Can Meyer learn to take it easier when he does come back so as not to have these health issues again?
6. If he does learn to take it easier, will he be as effective at his job. Is the reason he is among the best football coaches in the game BECAUSE he is so intense and will a more mild Urban be less effective?
7. What does Foley do if the more mellow Meyer isn’t as successful as the previous version? Can you really fire a guy for putting his priorities in order? How do you explain to the fans and boosters that Meyer’s health and family life are more important than winning the SEC?

There is a lot at stake in the coming months for the Gator football program. And it seems that a lot of it is out of the control of Foley and Meyer. But it will keep UF in the news. So it will be interesting.

What a Decade for the Orange and Blue

It all started out pretty well for the Gators. Well maybe not from the very start. On Jan 1, 2000 Florida lost the Citrus Bowl on a last second field goal to Michigan State. It was the Gators third straight defeat. They ended the greatest decade of Gator football by far (the 90s) by losing to eventual National Champ, FSU and the SEC Title game to Alabama. (Sound familiar?) But that’s when things started to pick up. The Gators made a memorable run through the NCAA Tournament by pressing the daylights out of the NCAA Field. They beat both Duke and North Carolina before dropping the NCAA Title Game to Michigan State. The football team then followed that up with a win in the 2000 SEC Championship Game against Auburn.

The momentum quickly faded however. UF’s hoops team would then suffer through five straight first weekend NCAA exits. The fans were actually grumbling a bit after the fifth one was also accompanied by the Gators top three players leaving the program. Two of which were juniors who were not exactly lottery picks. If you think the basketball team fell on hard times, the football team was a disaster.

The ’01 Gators were loaded with talent. And they had experience. They were ready to compete for a National Title. Then the unthinkable happened. September 11^th, 2001. A day none will ever forget. One of the least important circumstances of that horrible day was the cancellation of many sporting events that week. For Florida , that meant the Tennessee game that was scheduled for the following Saturday in Gainesville. The game was moved to the end of the season, following the annual rivalry game against FSU. It proved to be too much for the Gators to beat FSU and UT on back to back weeks.  There was also a controversial play in the FSU game that caused a stir. FSU’s Darnell Dockett allegedly hurt UF’s star Running back Earnest Graham’s knee in a pile up. Not only was Graham out for the UT game, Coach Steve Spurrier was irate. He was mad not only at FSU, but also the UF administration for not backing him up enough. After an Orange Bowl demolition of Maryland, Spurrier resigned. In came Ron Zook.

Ron Zook is the man who inspired the invention of the “fire__.com” websites.  His tenure was a train wreck. Five loss seasons, players getting into trouble, the bubble screen, and the interviews. Oh those interviews. Did the head coach of the University of Florida really have to make Yogi Berra sound like an intellectual giant? If he wasn’t blowing games to Tennessee, he was losing 23 point leads to Miami. If he wasn’t stuttering his way to another embarrassment he was losing to Ole Miss. The final straw was losing to a horrid Mississippi State team in ’04. That’s when things really turned around.

In ’05 the Gators hired Urban Meyer, the up and coming hot shot that had taken Utah (who?) to an undefeated season and a Fiesta Bowl win in ’04. He was the anti-Zook. He was a hard liner with the players. He was an offensive innovator. He had a plan. He had the guys he wanted to bring in to run his offense. The fans bought in, the players bought in, the Gators were back.

Meanwhile at the O’Dome, Donovan’s Gators were quietly putting together quite a team. The media ignored the ’05-’06 team in the preseason. Most picked the Gators to finish in the bottom half of the Eastern Division. However the Gators started off 17-0. They were doing it with a bunch of sophomores and freshman, many who had seen little playing time in Gainesville before. Before the season was done, these Gators had impressed enough to gain a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But what happened after that is the stuff of legends. They ran through the NCAA Field that year with reckless abandon. All the way to the school’s first ever NCAA Title. And then they did the unthinkable. They all came back.

Then it was football’s turn. In Meyer’s second season things were starting to take shape. The players believed they could win. And win they did. They weren’t always impressive, but they were tough with game on the line. The most memorable game was against South Carolina. The Gators had to block three kicks, one on the final play, to eek out a 17-16 win against their old coach. They ended up winning the SEC and were picked to face might Ohio State in the BCS title game. In spite of few giving them a chance, they vowed to show up. And did they ever. It was an epic beat down. The offense clicked like it had not since the days of Spurrier. And the defense was a stone wall that would have made the Steelers proud. The result was the University of Florida to become the first school to EVER win the basketball national title and the football national title in the same year!

How do you top that? You win another hoops title. And the Gators did. This time they went into the season with a big bulls eye on their backs. But the Gators answered the challenge. They ran through the NCAA Field for the second straight year on top of winning their third straight SEC Tournament. In April of 2007, the University would stage its third national title celebration in 12 months! The three Gator juniors in the starting frontcourt, Joakim Noah, Al Horford, and Corey Brewer bid a tearful farewell to Gainesville before all becoming top 10 draft picks.

And if you think that’s enough, just wait. On the football field, there was a new hero. Quarterback Tim Tebow, who played the role of short yardage QB for the title winning ’06 team, was ready to take over full time in ’07. He ran Meyer’s spread offense to perfection. He ran over people, who ran through people, he passed over them. With his cohort, Percy Harvin leaving them in the dust, the two were nearly unstoppable. Tebow became the first sophomore and the third Gator QB to win the coveted Heisman Trophy.

What would he do for an encore? How about leading UF to another National Title? After an early season loss to Ole Miss, Tebow vowed that his team would be the hardest playing team in the nation for the rest of the season. They did not disappoint. The Gators blasted every team left on the regular season schedule, then beat two consecutive #1 ranked teams to win yet another NCS Title.  They would not be stopped until the very last game of the decade. Before losing to Alabama in the ’09 SEC Championship Game, Florida would win 22 straight games. The Gators will start off the ‘10s in the Sugar Bowl against an unbeaten Cincinnati team with a top five ranking at stake.

So there you have it folks. The decade of the ‘00s has been a decade of Orange and Blue. Between the two major sports in college athletics, 4 National Championships, 6 SEC Championship Game wins, and a Heisman Trophy. Also another Final Four appearance and a 12-0 football regular season. It will be tough to top the last decade. That is for sure. But if the next one is even close, it will be a fun ride.

What if Alabama Wins?

Alabama is undefeated. They can easily win this game. What happens to the Florida Gators if they win? It would be a devastating blow. Not only would the Gators win absolutely nothing, no SEC Championship, no National Championship, no anything, it could very well also cost Tim Tebow his second Heisman Trophy.

Think about what is riding on this game tomorrow… a Gator win and they will play for a second straight national championship, the school’s first  perfect season, and possibly Tim Tebow’s second Heisman Trophy. So there’s a little bit to play for tomorrow, yes?

A loss in a game of this magnitude would have a devastating affect on Tebow’s legacy.

Year’s from now Tebow will be a legend either way, but a win in this game and he’s Babe Ruth. A loss and he’s probably, I don’t know, Ted Williams? There’s nothing wrong with being Teddy Ballgame, unless you’re the Bambino.

Plus the Gators get the added bonus if they win of playing Texas for the National Title provided they can beat #22 Nebraska on Saturday. I don’t know if you’re paying attention but UT is ranked #2 in basketball right now. A win in Pasadena and the ‘Horns give themselves an excellent shot at winning the football basketball double that the Gators pulled off a few years ago. Florida is the only school in history to do that. It would be nice if it took a while for the next school to do it.

So let’s see what we have riding on this game:

1. The SEC Championship
2. The BCS Championship
3. an undefeated season
4. back to back SEC Titles
5. back to back BCS Titles
6. a chance to protect the ’06 Gators record
7. Tim Tebow becoming the first two time Heisman winning QB.
8. A third BCS Title in four years.

Yeah that’s it. So what happens if Alabama wins? Somebody will have to come talk me off the ledge. That’s what.

Florida Gators Ranked 13 in Latest AP Poll

The Florida Gators men’s basketball team has gone from being a hunter to be one of the hunted this week. The Gators cracked the top 25 in both the AP and ESPN coaches polls for the first time this season on the strength of a 3-0 week against BCS Conference competition. With a rout Over FSU, a win over then #2 Michigan State, and a rather easy win over Rutgers, the Gators check in at #13 in the AP and #17 in ESPN. So much for flying under the radar.

Florida Now has a target on its back. Florida A&M proved this on Tuesday night. The 0-7 Rattlers came to the O’Connell Center and gave UF quite a battle. The halftime score was 37-33. UF then went on a tear at the start of the second half to open up a big lead of over 20 at the 10 minute mark. But over he last 10 minutes, that’s where it stayed with UF winning by 21, 80-59.

The Gators will now have to learn to expect this every night. They are again a big deal. Syracuse is on the schedule for next week. This will be a good test to see how far the Gators have really come. They were able to sneak up on MSU. The Orange will be ready. Syracuse has a win already over North Carolina. The same North Carolina last night ran Michigan State out of the gym for most of the game. The Heels ended up winning by 7, but the game was never really in much doubt.

The Gators have one more tune up against Jacksonville on Friday before the game against Syracuse. Should the Gators beat the Orange, the non-conference schedule then lightens up the rest of the way, giving the Gators a good chance to go into SEC play unbeaten. This gives UF an excellent shot at going into the post season with a single digit loss count. Single digit losses in a power conference mean a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. This means starting with lesser competition in the early rounds. That is the recipe for a deep run. Good luck Gators!

Bobby… It’s Time

Another FSU- Florida game has come and gone. And it is another year that it is painfully obvious that Bobby Bowden is finished. This year was the most obvious of all. The Florida Gators owned this show in every way possible.

It started out with “The Tim Tebow Farewell Extravaganza” in pre-game. There was not a dry eye in the house when Superman came out of the tunnel. Those include his two. Never has there been this much love between a fan base and a player. Not in Gator history. Not in college football history. Tim Tebow was/is the show.

Then the game started. Tebow again steamrolled FSU. He ran over them. He threw over them. He was a man among boys. It has gotten so bad for FSU that Urban Meyer actually felt bad enough for them to kill the clock with 53 seconds left and all three timeouts in the first half. Apparently Urban felt like he already had more than enough points. No need to rub their noses in it I guess. That tells you all you need to know about how pathetic FSU has gotten.

At some point CBS did manage to show Bobby standing there on the sideline looking like he was at Bed Bath and Beyond for three hours holding his wife’s purse. Verne Lundquist gave him an oh by the way “this is also Bobby Bowden’s last game in the Swamp” to which Gary Danielsen brought up that his two national championship teams had to both win at The Swamp. That was it. In a four hour long broadcast that could very well have been Bobby Bowden’s last regular season game, that was all he got.

I don’t blame CBS. That is how much Florida dwarfs FSU. Florida could have been playing FIU yesterday and it wouldn’t have made any difference. The ‘Noles were an afterthought. If you ever wondered when Bobby should leave, wonder no more. When you’ve stayed so long you are now irrelevant, it’s time to go.

Where Have All the Rivals Gone?

Everyone has a rivalry game that means a little more to them than all the others. Most old timers will tell you its Georgia. Lose every game on the schedule but beat the Bulldogs, and they’re happy.

Georgia has been taken out behind the woodshed so many times as of late, it’s simply become routine to come back from Jacksonville with a win. Once in a while the Bulldogs pull out a win, but the last 20 years have been dominated by Florida.

Tennessee could be on its way back as a revived rivalry, thanks to all the trash talking by Lane Kiffin. Games against the Vols and Phil Fulmer were fun to watch, but the fact that the Gators played them so early in the season kind of softened the intensity. The fact is, you can stumble early against Tennessee and still salvage the season and play for a National Championship.

For me, Florida State is that game each season that gets the hatred stirring in my stomach. Despite FSU being down for quite some time, it’s also the game I’m always most worried about the Gators losing.

The Seminoles are in desperation mode. For a historically “dirty-playing” team, I have no doubts they will go to any lengths to injure players and win at any cost. You do remember all the late hits on Danny Wuerffel? How about Darnell Dockett at the bottom of a pile twisting Earnest Graham’s knee?

You will see late hits on Tebow. Plenty of taunting and trash talking will take place (from both teams) and if there isn’t a fight before, during or after, I’d be surprised.

Florida has to be careful. They are the team with everything to lose here. One out-of-control fight against FSU means potential suspensions for their match-up against Alabama the following week. Players must remember to keep their cool.

On paper, FSU has no chance to beat the Gators, but with a long history of meaningful rivalry games, you can throw out team records and rankings. For all the reasons FSU has to get up for this game (rivalry game, beating Tebow in his last game at The Swamp, ruining the Gator’s perfect season, throwing a BIG monkey wrench into the BCS system, winning for their once-relevant coach), Florida will use those same reasons to take care of business.

Urban Meyer is the best in preparing his players for big games. Let’s just hope they remember playing FSU is still a big game.   

Doing the Gators Double Dip

This past weekend, I took my two boys to Gainesville for the basketball game on Friday and the football game on Saturday. It was a great time. First we went to the hoops game. We arrived just in time for tip off.

The crowd was fairly small again, which I still don’t get, especially with the football crowd arriving. But it was also loud. The first half the Gators again struggled on offense. This time they were also getting beat on the glass. They did manager to pull ahead but at the end of the first half they went on a turnover spree. Troy led 32-31 at the break. I don’t know what Billy Donovan said to them at halftime but he needs to bottle it. The Gators came to play in the second half. Erving Walker, who was scoreless in the first half, had 13 points in lees than ten minutes in the second half. He found his three point shot and so did Dan Werner and Chandler Parsons. Vernon Macklin and Alex Tyus took over down low as well making it very difficult for Troy to score. Troy produced only 13 points in the first 14 minutes of the second half. With two minutes to play, the Gators had turned a 1 point halftime deficit into a 28 point lead at 80-52. Donovan then emptied his bench and

Troy ended the game on a 6-0 run.

After the game I took my two sons, ages 16 and 4, across the street to the new Heavener complex. It was closed but we still got a good look at the place. WOW! That thing is really cool. Those three crystal trophies stare you right in the face. And with the videos screens behind them, I can’t see how a recruit coming to UF cannot want to be part of this. My only question is, where will this year’s go? There didn’t seem to any wasted space. The Gators’ 3 Heisman Trophies are also on prominent display on the south wall. I hope this weekend to catch the place when it’s open.

After a post game trip to Larry’s (I don’t know why but Larry’s always tastes better in Gainesville) we crashed at the in-laws’ house. We got up early the next day and headed for the Swamp. We didn’t have tickets and getting three as opposed to two is a bit more difficult. We were walking around, doing the ticket wheel and deal, and were actually in the right place at the right time for the team busses pulling in for the Gator Walk. That was cool. Seeing Tim Tebow step off the bus made my 4 year old’s day.

We managed to score three tickets with the cash we had. Good seats too. North end zone 21 rows up. The game went like expected. FIU didn’t put up much of a fight. Less than two minutes into the game, Brandon Spikes picks off a pass and waltzes into the end zone. A few minutes later, Tebow runs for his record breaking (SEC career touchdowns scored) from 55 yards out. Seriously, you guys are from South Florida. You can’t catch a 249 pound QB? I don’t think they really wanted to catch him. Who can blame them?

It was the 4 year old’s first Gator football game. I wanted him to see Tebow before he graduates. I don’t know if he’ll remember the game itself, but I’m sure he’ll remember seeing Tebow. That’s what it’s all about people. You don’t win championships every year. After this year, if we do win it, it may never happen again. But that’s ok, because those trophies will still be in the trophy case. Those banners will still hang in the O’Dome. They will still do the Gator Walk. And 90 thousand folks will still show up in the fall wearing orange and blue. And somewhere in that crowd, it will be the first game for somebody. And they will never forget it.

Your new Florida Gator head coach…

Okay…I’ve got it all figured out. I know where everyone will be coaching next year. Everyone is predicting that Charlie Weis gets fired from Notre Dame at the end of the season. Once that happens, Urban Meyer is packing up his things and heading out of town. I’m really surprised his house isn’t already for sale.  Who wouldn’t want to live in South Bend during the winter? It’s such a bright, cheery place.  Notre Dame has their man. The heads of Gator fans across the nation start exploding.

A recent “hot seat” coach, Mark Richt interviews for the Florida job, but his inability to win in the state of Florida doesn’t sit well with Jeremy Foley and he’s quickly eliminated from contention. Richt will wait a year until Jimbo Fisher fails miserably and take over at Florida State.

The new Georgia position is taken by Steve Spurrier, who wants to focus on all the golf courses in the state of Georgia and would actually have a shot at recruiting and winning with a marketable program. Any Gator fan whose head didn’t explode when Meyer left, has just given up on college football altogether.

South Carolina can’t break away from the Holtz family and ends up hiring current East Carolina coach Skip Holtz. In a related story, Charlie Strong is seen taking a flight to Greenville, NC.

Pete Carroll of USC gets tired of hearing about the SEC and wants to prove he can win in the best conference. That’s right….Carroll is your new coach at Florida. Phil Fulmer is named head coach at USC three days later.

Oh…and Lane Kiffin still sucks at his job so Tennessee brings in Tommy Tuberville as the head coach and Kiffin is demoted to “Assistant to the Head Coach.”Aren’t you happy I’m here to sort it all out?

Florida Gator Hoops Preview

The last two basketball seasons have been big disappointments in Gator Country. Following up two national titles with two trips to the NIT was not what Gator fans had in mind. This year’s squad looks to get UF back into the NCAA Tournament, a place where Gator fans hah taken for granted up until 2008. After watching last night’s final exhibition game, there is good reason to hope.

I see many prognosticators have the Florida Gators finishing firth in the SEC East this year. On rivals.com, for instance they site the fact that Erving Walker will be taking over at point guard for the departed Nick Calathes. It sure is funny that two years ago that same website rated Erving # 102 player in the nation and #19 among point guards. Now all of a sudden he stinks? Is that because he plays for Florida?

The Gators have been suffering from a lack of size since Marrese Speights left after the ’07-’08 season for the NBA. Last year Alex Tyus was forced to play center most of the time with Dan Werner at power forward. This year’s team adds Vernon Maclin, a transfer from Georgetown at center along with sophomore Kenny Kadji. Both men a big and can run the floor. Kadji looks vastly improved from his freshman year. He should be the starter on Sunday, the Gators opener vs. Stetson.

With that, Tyus gets to go to the forward position and guard smaller players. He also will be guarded by smaller players. Look for him to be a huge player this year. Chandler parsons at the small forward looks much improved. Perhaps he is ready to break out of Calathes’ shadow. The two played high school ball together and parsons has always been second fiddle. Without Nick, maybe he will bust out. Let’s hope so.

Where the Gators really upgrade is with its incoming freshmen. Kenny Boynton will more than make up for Calathes’ points and assists. He is a big time player. Get a good look at him Gator fans because he will be in the NBA very soon. This guy can ball. Eric Murphy has been described as the “Ahmad Black” of basketball. He’s always in the right place at the right time. He can shoot from outside and he can go inside and rebound with the bigs.

Dan Werner, the team’s lone senior, is coming off the bench. This should be a sign that we have more talent than the past two years when he started. He was also asked to be a huge contributor. Look for him to be a spot up three point shooter this year. When he gets to set his feet, catch and shoot, he can hit the three ball. I look for him to be a pleasant surprise this year.

This team can use several different combinations this year. We can go big. We can go small and quick. We got guys who can play inside. We got guys who can shoot from outside. We got some that can do both. We got guys who can get their own shot and guys who can pass. If this team is only the fifth best team in the SEC East, then the SEC East is going to be something else.

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