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.   

Florida Vandy Preview and Prediction

The Florida Gators are set to host the Vanderbilt Commodores this Saturday November 7 at 7:15 PM on ESPN.  The Gators defense will take the field without defensive leader Brandon Spikes for the eye gouging incident in the Florida Georgia game and taking a full game suspension so the team can focus on the game rather than the media blowing the incident out of proportion.  He’s sorry, he knows it wasn’t right, now let’s get over it.

Vandy takes the field at a very impressive 2 – 7 while maintaining winless in the SEC at 0 – 5.  It’s kind of hard to win games when your starting QB has only thrown 4 TD’s all year while throwing 7 INT’s.  Larry Smith is under 50% for completion percentage this year and rocks a solid 88 QB rating.  I think it’s safe to say that Brandon Spikes sitting this one out will not affect us in the least bit.

Tim Tebow picked up a little bit last week against Georgia in the throwing game and I think you’ll see a quick gun slinging offense this week against a Vandy defense that allowed a Georgia Tech team to put up 56 against them.  Their low scoring games were against teams like Mississippi State and Army.  So don’t worry Gator Nation, we should see a good show of fireworks this Saturday as well as see Brantley get some action in the 2nd half.

Brantley has an amazing 73.3 completion percentage with 4 touchdowns on the year putting his QB rating at a whopping 182.3.  Obviously with more time in there and more throws it would be diluted a little bit and closer to Tim’s rating (153.7) and stats.

I don’t think you need a crystal ball to see that I’m picking the Gators to win like old in this game.  Gators 52 – Vandy – 16

Brandon Spikes Suspension Extended to Full Game

The media has had a field day with the Florida Gators and Brandon Spikes and now Spikes’ suspension has been extended to a full game:

“A lot of the negative things out there really weighing heavy on his heart right now and so as a group we decided the best interest [is] just for the team to not play him Saturday,” Meyer said. “It was a group decision and we’re doing it out of respect to our team so we can focus on trying to win our ninth game and we think it’s the right thing to do. We support Brandon fully and we look forward to getting back and finish the season the right way.”

Had the media not went all crazy on this situation, there wouldn’t have been any suspension at all nor would it have forced Meyer to extend the suspension to a full game.

Meyer said Spikes’ actions were in retaliation for things that happened earlier in the game. He also said Spikes accepted the punishment with no trouble. Spikes had his helmet ripped off by a Georgia player and there were several incidences of pushing and shoving. Officials called five personal fouls and during the second quarter gathered Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and Georgia linebacker Marcus Dowtin for a brief discussion about the behavior.

Tebow on Monday said that there were more incidents of chippy behavior in the Georgia game from both sides than in a typical game.

Can we stop beating a dead horse now?

Brandon Spikes Eye Gouging Video Against Georgia

I would like to say this is not what Florida Gator football players are taught.  The running back for Georgia was not seriously injured but with the attention this is getting you would have thought he was blind.  Tim Tebow was poked in the eye earlier in the game as well but no one is talking about this.

Florida head coach Urban Meyer has suspended star linebacker Brandon Spikes for the first half of this week’s game against Vanderbilt.

“There’s no place on the field for that,” Meyer said. “We’re going to suspend him for the first half of the Vanderbilt game. That’s not him, but we love Brandon Spikes and we’re going to support him.”

Brandon Spikes Eye Gouging Video

Who’s Motivated? Don’t be Shy…

Motivation. I’ve written about it before. I can’t tell you how many times I have read an article about the Florida Gators and motivation. Apparently the only way the Gators can get up for a game is if they are motivated by someone out there saying Florida can’t win. So every week, more stories come out about Florida’s opponent not respecting them.

University of XYZ doesn’t think the Gators are all that special. Coach ABC likes his chances against Florida. Player 123 was talking trash about Tebow, or the running game, or the defense.  Brandon Spikes is motivated to step up and play better when the offensive side of the ball is struggling.

Is there a chance these kids don’t need all this bulletin board propaganda to go out and win? You are talking about the best football players from around the country, all successful at the high school level, coming to play in the best conference – the SEC.  I would think most of them have an idea of what it takes to win, without being told that someone doesn’t think they can.

But don’t worry Gator fans, because this week’s motivation is the AP Poll. Apparently Alabama jumping Florida in the latest AP Poll is supposed to give Tim Tebow some extra pep in his step. Never mind the fact that Florida is ranked first in the BCS standings and that the AP isn’t even a relevant poll when determining who plays for a national championship.

Perhaps Gator players want to go out and win, for the sake of winning? I am pretty sure they know the consequences of not showing up for a game, especially after the near loss to Arkansas Saturday.

If all this motivation stuff truly works, the Gators better be ready for their next game against Mississippi State. Former offensive coordinator, Dan Mullen, will try to beat his old team and throw a wrinkle in the BCS standings. You better believe Mullen’s players will have all the MOTIVATION in the world to get a win for their coach.

Maybe Florida players can take motivation from their opponent’s motivation, who will be motivated to win by Mullen’s motivation to beat the Gators? Confused yet? The confusion has motivated me to stop writing now.

They don’t ask how, they ask who!

If you are a Florida Gator fan, the game earlier today was not only painful but stressful.  I found myself nearing a record breaking 4 heart attacks in a span of 4 hours.  I have my legal team filing suit against UF for my newly developed case of tourettes after watching the game today. I had to switch from my big flat screen to my little box TV as preventive measure to not break my good tv.  But they don’t ask how, they ask who!

As a fan stated on our live game feed discussion on Facebook: What’s a Gator’s favorite snack?  Butterfingers.  This was the recurring theme in todays game.  Fumble after fumble after fumble after fumble.  That’s right 4 fumbles.  The mere fact that Florida was always within 1 score was a miracle in and of itself.  All the fumbles at crucial times during the drive that halted the Gator offense in their tracks.

Thank God that the defense came to play.  Even with Spikes re-aggrevating his groin injury that happened earlier this week and being out of the game after the first drive, the defense was here to play (for the most part).  They prevented Arkansas from capatalizing off these fumbles and keeping it within striking distance.

Until the near end of the game, Arkansas simply could not convert on 3rd downs and Florida won the field position game.  However, 3rd downs weren’t Florida’s best friend either.  Florida came into the game only allowing 7 sacks all season and gave up 6 sacks with 4 coming on big 3rd down plays for Florida.

The offensive line simply could not give enough protection to allow the WR’s to run their routes.  The one time we did get Tim the protection he needed, he found Deonte Thompson wide open for a touchdown.  There were several times that the WR’s were wide open down the field but Tebow couldn’t hit them because he was busy scrambling from unblocked blitzes.

In the end though, Florida was able to drive down the field after a wide left FG by Arkansas and put together a winning drive for a FG by Sturgis leaving just 9 seconds left to go in the game.  The resulting Hook ‘n Lateral play after the squib kick from Arkansas failed and the Gators went on to win the game.

It was sloppy.  It was painful.  It was stressful.  But dag gummit we won.  Final score 23 – 20 Gators.

Les Miles Not Happy with SEC Officials

We thought LSU week was over when Florida boarded the buses and left Tiger stadium with a 13-3 win. Les Miles, however, is still thinking about one play from last week – Tim Tebow’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Riley Cooper.

Miles sent the videotape of that play to the SEC this week for review, telling reporters, “Yeah, we sent that in. I’m savoring the opportunity to call in there.”

So Miles is angry that the officials missed the jersey tug? Apparently the LSU coaching staff missed it as well. Cornerback Chris Hawkins was benched for the rest of the game after giving up the touchdown to Cooper.

“What we saw from the sideline, we did not see,” Miles told the AP. “He just got yanked on, and there are no corners that I know that sustain that and don’t give up position on the ball.”

The call was clearly blown, as CBS showed the replay over and over – Cooper grabbed the jersey. Gators fans thought it was smart, while Tiger fans are thinking the game could have turned out differently.

Take away the touchdown and Florida may end up kicking another field goal. Say they don’t score. Nothing LSU was doing indicated they would march down the field and ever score again.

Bottom line…the defense of Florida was the real difference maker on Saturday night. Brandon Spikes and the rest of the defense shut down LSU for all four quarters.

Miles still thinks LSU could win the game, if the two should meet up down the road in the SEC Championship.

“The thing that we have to see is that adjustments have to be made certainly, and our team plays a little bit better,” he said. “If we do what we’re capable, it’d be just wonderful to see that team again.”

I have news for you Mr. Miles. If the Gators do what they’re capable of doing, and have a truly healthy Tim Tebow, seeing that Gator team in Atlanta would be more of a nightmare than anything you could imagine as “wonderful.”

Striving for that Perfect Season

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Undefeated. Perfection. 12-0. Call it what you want, but know that it has been the goal of Tim Tebow and Brandon Spikes entering this season. Meyer turned down the dial on such talk, but it’s the largest elephant in the room that no one is talking about. You’ll hear the company line, “Our goal is to make it to Atlanta and play for an SEC Championship.”

At a time where the SEC is widely considered the best conference in football, the goal of winning an SEC Championship ultimately means you’ll probably get a shot at the National Championship as well. Alabama or Florida could lose a game late, win the SEC Championship, and still make it into the Rose Bowl. You have Florida and LSU to thank for that. The SEC, having won the last three BCS Championships, has all but guaranteed a one-loss SEC team making it into the game over one-loss teams from weaker conferences.

So do you think Tebow and Spikes would be disappointed if they lost a regular season game, but still played for a National Championship? I actually think they would. Tebow and Spikes have been there before and won it all. They have accomplished most everything a college player could ask for…except that perfect season.

You know Tebow is a man of his word. How could he not be after the way the team performed following the infamous “Promise” speech? I can’t bet against Tebow until he’s been proven wrong and you shouldn’t either. But if Tebow doesn’t end up playing much Saturday against LSU, he’ll have to rely on Spikes and the rest of his team to keep that goal alive. Something tells me Spikes is just as driven. Should make for an interesting night in Baton Rouge.

Team Captains Named for Florida Gators Football

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Urban Meyer announced the five players who will serve as the Gators’ captains during the 2009 year. The captains were voted on by their teammates.

1. Brandon James
2. Joey Sorrentino
3. Brandon Spikes
4. Ryan Stamper
5. Tim Tebow

Tim Tebow, Ryan Stamper and Brandon Spikes are of elite status being named twice as captains.  Only 8 players have been named twice in their career.