Tim Tebow, Thanks for the Memories!

The Florida Gators for the past 4 years have been spoiled.  We’ve had a special quarterback behind us these 4 years making it special as well.  Thanks for the memories Tim Tebow!  Florida has by far had it’s best 4 years in school history.  In part this is from Urban Meyer but a lot has to do with Tim Tebow.  His performance led the Gators to a 51 – 24 victory.

One Night and One More Time, Thanks for the Memories, Thanks for the Memories.

Tim had a career best in his last collegiate game against Cincinnati going 31 – 35 for 482 yards and 3 touchdowns.  This ties the most times he’s passed the ball and surpassed his previous most yards in a game.  What a way to go out!  Tim Tebow is a great player on the field and even more of a man off the field.  There isn’t a way you can’t like him as a person unless you’re just a terrible person.  He does what he can for the community and just is a good spirited person and anyone who displays negativity should only direct to his football playing because he’s done more for the community and young kids than most of us will do in our lifetime.

Winning two national championships and a Heisman trophy while at Florida, he will go down as one of the best to ever play for the Gators and possibly college football.  I wish you the best of luck at the next level and hope to see you succeed in the NFL and prove the critics wrong.  As you said last night, you just want the chance to play and I think you’ve by far have shown you deserve the chance.  I mean you can’t be worse than Jamarcus Russell!

Tim Tebow Wins Campbell Award

In what some consider the academic equivalent to the Heisman Trophy, Tim Tebow has taken claim to be the 20th recipient of this award last night.  Tim was awarded with a $25,000 post graduate scholarship.  The other finalists took home $18,000.  Tim Tebow will graduate December 19th with a 3.66 GPA majoring in Family, Youth and Community Sciences.

“It feels like just the other day I threw the jump pass against LSU my first year and now it’s over,” Tebow said Tuesday before the Campbell winner was announced. “It went by fast that’s for sure.”

Two other gators have received this award including Brad Culpepper and Danny Wuerffel.

“Tim Tebow is a once in a lifetime student-athlete,” said NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell. “Tim’s unparalleled accomplishments and charisma have transcended the playing field, capturing the imagination of both young and old. We could not be prouder to have Tim as an ambassador of this award and our sport.”

The trophy was presented at the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame’s Annual Awards Dinner in New York City tonight. This is the kickoff to a week of college football festivities in New York City, culminating with the Heisman announcement.

“This award means so much because it’s not just how you play on the field, it’s not just what you do in the classroom, but it’s what you do as a leader and someone who is going to serve your community,” Tebow said according to a release from the Hall of Fame after the banquet. “That’s what’s most important about this award, because all these guys are great players and they’re extremely intelligent, but more importantly, they’re good people. They help their community and they make a difference in this world.”

While Tim Tebow doesn’t enter the Heisman Race as a likely winner, he will be missed at Florida by all fans and his efforts on and off the field are above and beyond what anyone can expect.

Quotes from USA Today

Memo To Tim Tebow Haters

Don’t hate on Tim Tebow crying. He cries because he cares about the team. He cries because he knows we didn’t do as well as we could. He cries because he gives a damn. He’s not a sissy or (excuse my language) pussy, he’s a man that doesn’t care about showing his emotions. Get over it haters!

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.

Tim Tebow: NFL Draft Day

With only 2 games left for Tim Tebow, the question that is gaining more and more importance is will he be a first round draft pick?  Setting aside all bias for Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators, my professional response would be an early to mid 2nd round pick is more likely.  However, I would not be surprised if he went late first round.

Peter King has some research to back it up:

NBC’s Peter King reported during Football Night in America th t he has spoken to 17 coaches and personnel executives over the past month, and that he has asked for predictions as to the precise spot at which Florida quarterback Tim Tebow will be drafted.

The average draft position?  33rd overall.

But King added that two coaches of “winning teams” said Tebow won’t get past their selections in round one.

Well right now with where the standings are for the NFL, the last place team with a winning record will be the 16th pick which is dead middle of the round assuming no trades to move up or other mishaps.  That being said, the definition of winning teams in the above quote was not clear so it could have meant a team like Jacksonville who’s owner has openly stated that he thinks Tim Tebow on his team would be good.

Personally, (I know I’m about to have my entire fan base turn on me) the more I watched Tim play this year, the less and less I became convinced he would do well in the pros.  I think it’s in Tim Tebow’s advantage for the Miami Dolphins and other teams to make the “wildcat” a regular occurrence in the NFL to make his appeal to a team more worthy.

There have been talks about Minnesota snagging up Tim Tebow which may make sense as they would be near the end of the first round with their success this year and it would just make sense to have Tim Tebow come in behind Brett Favre and learn from one of the greatest for a year or so.  It would also reunite him with Percy Harvin who he has great chemistry with already.  The experience and knowledge that Brett Favre would be able to pass on to young Tim Tebow would be amazing.  And it makes sense because at some point, Brett Favre will have to retire and stay retired.

Tim Tebow’s draft range will be debated up until the day he’s drafted.  His arm strength is adequate but he throws somewhat side armed and has a long release.  His ability to read a defense is questionable which are all reasons why he won’t be a top 10 draft pick next year but his charisma, confidence, accuracy and determination to win will make him a great choice.

Minnesota makes the most sense to me just based on their current quarterback situation as well as where they will be picking in the draft.  It’s hard for to believe that Jacksonville would waste a mid first round pick on Tim Tebow when there are just so many other things wrong with their team that Timmy couldn’t fix by himself.

Who do you think will pick him up?  Leave us a comment telling us.

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.   

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

I was a WLOCP Virgin

That’s right… I was a WLOCP (World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party) Virgin.  I wanted to save myself for a special occasion and found no better opportunity than in a year where the Florida Gators have the shot to go Wire to Wire and Tim Tebow had a possibility of setting a SEC rushing record against the team that currently held the record.  What better time to pop my proverbial cherry.

If there’s one thing I learned is that next year it’s definitely worth getting a hotel and going up Friday night and not returning until Sunday.  Me being unexperienced with the WLOCP, I chose to go early Saturday morning with a friend.  Unfortunately we didn’t get on the road until 10 AM picking up some last minute tailgating supplies.  While waiting for my friend, I chose to start the party early and had a couple drinks while I sat on my couch waiting.

As we neared the stadium the aroma of tailgating fluttered past as we strolled down the street screaming Go Gators out the window to every Gator and Bulldog fan.  One thing that I must say is that Georgia knows how to make ‘em right.  The girls from GA were just ridiculous and they definitely won the battle of hot girls.  The Georgia guys in an effort to make fun of Florida fans wore cut off jean shorts because we apparently wear “jorts” in Florida.  However, because they were acting normal it just led me to believe it was their normal attire.

We were lucky enough to snag a spot in a lot right off East Bay street less than 1/4 mile from the stadium.  As soon as we parked, the grill and beers were out.  We arrived right at 12 with just enough time to get going.  It wasn’t more the 2 hours before I was done with my first 12 pack and we began going from tailgate to tailgate.  At this time my phone decides to no longer want to hold a charge and I’ve lost my buddy.  Luckily I thought ahead and gave him his ticket already.  After going around to a few other tailgates, I decide in my drunken stupor that it would probably be best to go ahead and sit down and get hydrated.

My tickets were in enemy territory on the 30 yard line or so.  Unfortunately the Georgia side is directly in the sun and boy was it beating down today.  After paying $6 for my souvenir cup or Mountain Dew, I still was dehydrated from the sun and beer drinking but forced to deal with it as kickoff was on its way.

Almost immediately after the game started a fight between 2 bulldogs almost broke out.  To diverge attention, my buddy and I stood up and screamed “HOW BOUT THEM GATORS, WE LOVE US SOME GATORS”.  The crowd’s attention went from the 2 bulldogs about to fight to us and the tension ceased. Drinking 2 mixed drinks, 14 beers or so and sitting in the hot set me up for an embarrassing moment nearing half time… I passed out with a minute to go in the 2nd quarter and woke up on the kickoff of the 3rd quarter.

We left after the Spikes INT for a TD which was the last score of the game and began our journey back.  I was no longer a WLOCP virgin and I didn’t cry myself to sleep or regret my choice at all.  While I definitely learned next year a hotel is a must to truly get the experience needed, it was an enjoyable time and can’t wait to do it again next year.

Florida Georgia Recap

Yesterday I had the luxury of attending the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail party (oops are we not supposed to call it that anymore?).  Going into the week, there were questions about the offense and whether we could put up points like we used to.  What most folks don’t realize is that our defense was a major reason that we put up so many points last year. Would we see the Florida Gators of old?  Would we see the Tim Tebow of past years?  These questions on the minds of many as we went in for the chance to clinch the East with a South Carolina loss.

The Florida Gators opened the game strong driving right down the field with a deep pass to Riley Cooper to draw first blood and go up 7 – 0.  The defense holds Georgia on their first opening drive and Florida came back down the field quickly again with another deep pass to Riley Cooper for a touchdown making it 14 – 0 and had most people thinking blowout at this point.

Georgia in a must score drive did in fact get points on the next drive.  Florida determined to keep them out of the endzone caught some help with Georgia pushing themselves back with penalties.  Nonetheless, the Georgia kicker nails a 50 yarder to make the score 14 – 3.

Florida looked to score 3 straight drives but the Georgia defense had other plans that didn’t involve this and put up their first stop against the Florida offense and drove down the field for a touchdown.  We had ourselves a ballgame…. for a minute.  Florida would answer the field goal with a field goal of their own extending the lead to 17 – 10.

A Florida defensive turnover put Tim Tebow and company in great scoring position nearing the end of the first half.  With a Tebow run up the middle it looked as if the play was done but then Tebow just comes bursting out of the pile and runs with no one in sight giving Florida a 24 – 10 lead and also gave Tim Tebow the SEC rushing record breaking Herschel Walker’s record of 49 TD’s.  Tim would end up with one more rushing TD on the next Gator score (resulting from 1 of the 4 interceptions of the day) bringing his total rushing TD’s to 51 and the score to 31 – 10.

I know the Dawg fans are saying “Herschel did it in 3″.  Well ok, but Tim’s a QB and he wasn’t the starter his first year either so stop the nonsense.

Georgia not going out with a fight did come down the field and score making it 31 – 17.  Florida had issues with tackling again this week.  The running backs from Georgia were consistently getting yards after first contact which is unacceptable.  We must make these tackles.  Also, they were able to eat up the middle of the field when they passed the ball.

Florida would answer the touchdown with a field goal from Sturgis putting the game at 34 – 17.  With Georiga on it’s last hope to come back, Brandon Spikes would soon put the nail in the coffin with an INT for a TD and the game would stay at the 41 – 17 score as a final result.

Florida’s win clinched the SEC East for them and now will await to see if Alabama or LSU will join them.

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