SB Nation - Percy Harvin

Alligator Army All-Decade Team: Running Back

mlmintampa — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:36:14 -0000

This might have been the decade of the quarterback in Gainesville. But the best athlete was a running back. Remember, you can vote for Percy Harvin as a running back and wide receiver.

Earnest Graham (1999-2002): Fifth all time on the Gators' yards rushing list. Led the Gators in rushing three of the four years he was in Gainesville. 3065 yards rushing (3368 total yards), 33 rushing touchdowns.

Ciatrick Fason (2002-2004): 2004 First Team AP All-SEC. His 2004 season of 1267 rushing yards is sixth best in UF history. 1877 yards rushing (2285 total yards), 14 rushing touchdowns (19 total).

DeShawn Wynn (2003-2006): Led the Gators in rushing 2005-2006. 2077 yards rushing (2453 total yards), 25 rushing touchdowns (28 total).

Percy Harvin (2006-2008): 2006 Football Writers Freshman All-American. 2007 First Team AP All-SEC. 2008 Second Team AP, Coaches, Walter Camp All-American. 2008 First Team AP (as All Purpose), Coaches (as WR) All- SEC. 1852 yards rushing (3781 total yards), 19 rushing touchdowns (32 total)

Jeffrey Demps (2008-2009): Perhaps the fastest guy on the Gators and willing to run between the tackles. 1343 yards rushing (1667 total yards), 14 rushing touchdowns (15 total), two blocked kicks.

Alligator Army All-Decade Team: Wide Receivers

mlmintampa — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:00:32 -0000

We are going with three choices for wide receiver, since we are assuming a single-back formation for our All-Decade offense (five linemen, tight end, quarterback, running back, three wides). You will also notice that we included Percy Harvin, who will also be listed as a running back, but you can vote for him in both. Vote for your three top Gator wide receivers of this decade and check back tomorrow for All-Decade running back and quarterback.

Jabar Gaffney (2000-2001): 2000-01 First Team AP, Coaches All-SEC. 2001 First Team AP, Coaches, Walter Camp, Football Writers All-American. Despite playing only two seasons, Gaffney is second on UF's career yards list. 138 catches, 2375 yards, 27 touchdowns.

Taylor Jacobs (1999-2002): 2002 First Team AP, Coaches All-SEC. His 71 catches in 2002 are third in UF history. 133 catches, 2097 yards (2180 total yards), 16 touchdowns (17 total).

Chad Jackson (2003-2005): 2005 First Team AP All-SEC. Jackson holds the UF record with most catches in a season with 88. 120 catches, 1586 yards (1897 total yards), 16 touchdowns (18 total).

Dallas Baker (2003-06): 2006 First Team Coaches All-SEC. Led the Gators in receiving during the 2006 season, including 10 touchdowns. 151 catches, 2236 yards, 21 touchdowns.

Andre ‘Bubba' Caldwell (2003-07): Florida's all-time leader in receptions. 185 catches, 2349 yards (3429 total yards), 16 touchdowns (21 total).

Percy Harvin (2006-2008): 2006 Football Writers Freshman All-American. 2007 First Team AP All-SEC. 2008 Second Team AP, Coaches, Walter Camp All-American. 2008 First Team AP (as All Purpose), Coaches (as WR) All- SEC. 133 catches, 1929 yards (3781 total yards), 13 touchdowns (32 total).

Riley Cooper (2006-2009): 2009 Second Team AP All-SEC. Cooper choose to play a senior season after turning down a multi-million dollar baseball contract. 74 catches, 1315 yards (1329 yards), 17 touchdowns.

Austin Collie Update

sroufe — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:00:30 -0000

More photos » by Darron Cummings - AP

Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Austin Collie (17) is chased by Houston Texans cornerback Glover Quin after a reception during the first quarter of an NFL football game in Indianapolis, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Browse more photos »

BYU's all-time greatest wide receiver, Austin Collie, was drafted 127th overall last April. The Indianapolis Colts selected him in the 4th round after 19 other receivers had been picked. The Colts drafted Collie after releasing 36 year-old All-Pro Marvin Harrison. Harrison had accounted for over 600 yards receiving in 2008 and the Colts' rookie wideout Pierre Garcon had only made 4 catches all last season. Indianapolis hoped Collie could provide some much needed depth behind All-Pro Reggie Wayne and Anthony Gonzalez.

Not only has Collie provided the necessary depth team President Bill Polian and General Manager Chris Polian were looking for, but he has turned into one of Peyton Manning's primary targets. Collie has scored a touchdown in each of the past two contests and ranks among the NFL's top rookie receivers. You could easily argue that Collie and Minnesota rookie receiver Percy Harvin (drafted 22nd overall) have been the two best rookie receivers in the league this season.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that they are each catching passes from two of the greatest passers in league history. Still, after the Colts lost Gonzalez for the season in Week 1, Collie and Garcon have each stepped in and performed exceptionally well. And now, with the Colts having clinched home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs and possibly resting players like Wayne and TE Dallas Clark, Collie could get even more touches in the last few games.

NFL writer Don Banks of Sports Illustrated released a "Draft Redux" re-projecting the first round of the 2009 draft. Where does Collie fall? How about in the first round, 26th overall (to Green Bay), and as the 4th receiver taken.

Here's a brief look at where Collie ranks this season:

Category*	Total	Rookie Rank	NFL Rank
Receptions	50	1st	40th
Yards	540	6th	56th
Average	10.8	10th	83rd
Touchdowns	6	Tied - 1st	Tied-17th

*Among all players with at least 25 receptions

Here are also some links detailing more of Collie's success as a rookie:

An early take on Colts' No. 3 receiver - ESPN (8/12)
Anthony Gonzalez still not ready to practice ... - Stampede Blue (12/8)
Austin Collie, Colts... - FanHouse (10/12)
Austin Collie makes his move among NFL rookies - The Hazean (10/29)
Collie a pleasant surprise for Colts - Deseret News (10/19)
Collie's TD doom Titans - Indianapolis Star (10/12)
Colts' Collie getting some love from "The King" - Stampede Blue (8/26)
Garon, Collie don't miss a beat in Colts' offense - Indy.com (10/8)
Oak Ridge's Collie running with the Colts - ESPN Radio, Sacramento (10/13)
Rookie of the Year: Austin Collie? - Stampede Blue (11/5)

Collie Highlights from Colts v. Seahawks in October (including Collie's first touchdown reception):

SEC Championship Autopsy

mlmintampa — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:36:36 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

Browse more photos »

- Urban Meyer checking himself into Shands for dehydration after the game was just another paragraph in this incredibly bizarre season. It could be the flu, it could be food poisoning, it could have been throwing up because of the game, and it could have been his brain cyst acting up. It could be anything, which was the only consistency UF had this year; anything could happen.

- Educated Florida fans know that when UF runs the ball, they win. Yet, one of the glaring stats coming out of the game was the four non-Tebow carries UF had. They were losing the whole game, and big comebacks do not happen with 4-yard dive plays. But, there was no desire to grind some clock, keeping the Gator defense on the field even longer.

- Focus is the easy excuse for the Gator defense's awful play. From Charlie Strong's next job, to Carlos Dunlap's DUI, to Florida's front seven getting knocked off the ball every play, it seemed as if no one was ready. I don't believe focus was the problem because that is an insult to the team and Alabama. Of course, some guys thought UF would win because they won last year. There's also the complacency of champions in that they think they can flip a switch and win. But losing 32-13 is not Florida losing because of a lack of focus. It is Alabama winning because they had a superior game plan. On offense, it was spreading UF out and pounding the line. Greg McElroy is an efficient quarterback and has been winning games since he was 16 years old. Bama was the guy at the poker table who everyone is scared of because you never knew what his cards were. On defense, dare I say, they wanted Tim Tebow to throw the ball. I don't believe Tebow has regressed, but I think he has not improved. With Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy (or David Nelson in SEC and BCS games), Tebow could afford to not be perfect. With Riley Cooper, Aaron Hernandez and Deonte Thompson, he had to be perfect (how many incomplete passes this season hit guys in the arms?). The interception to Javier Arenas was an example of something else; Tebow still struggles with reading coverage. Remember, he threw a similar pick (where an hidden defender gets in the way) against Oklahoma.

- Panic was a large reason why Florida lost Saturday. While Tebow stayed calm, Cooper and Hernandez were in panic mode after every near miss. Brandon Spikes and the rest of the defense were getting caught running themselves out of plays. It got to the point where guys were diving for tackles and not breaking down. That's not a lack of focus or lazyness; that's being so desperate to make a play that you ignore your fundamentals.

- People who should be blamed for Saturday's loss;

1. Whoever picked the white helmets.

2. My friend Hanson for not wearing his lucky shirt.

3. Charlie Strong

4. Steve Addazio

5. Urban Meyer

10. Carlos Dunlap. The kid made the mistake of his life during one of the biggest weeks of his life. He is a huge dumbass. But now he has to live with the possibility that his mistake cost the Gators a shot at a National Championship. It didn't. Jevon Kearse could have replaced Dunlap and it would not have made a difference. Sometimes, the other guy plays better than you could and wins. I hope Dunlap comes back and plays well enough. If not, I don't blame the guy for going pro.

- While I will criticize a college player for the way they play, I have a hard time doing it after a loss in a championship game. As fans, we get upset and bitch and moan about blown tackles and dropped passes. But we get on with our lives. College athletes don't. Of the 44 starters yesterday, very few will be successful NFL players. That means the most dominant memory of their college career will be a blowout loss and a season of a division title. That stays with you forever. Some jackass who was a student, donates money and writes a blog has no authority to talk about how they are hurt by this loss. The guys in that locker room just worked 11 months to finish second place in their league. Consider their pain before you think about how much you were hurt.

- My pick for best Gator performance Saturday? Chaz Henry.

- I always use death as a metaphor for a season ending. The loss was like watching a loved one get a stroke, start rehabbing, and getting another stroke and slowly dying. It sucked. You keep thinking if they had stopped smoking, or Jeff Demps caught that ball in the first quarter, or if he ate healthier, or if UF stopped a few more third downs, that things would be different. You'll go crazy thinking that way. One or two plays in a 19-point deficit will not make a difference.

- Speaking of death, my friends and I finished Saturday night in the only acceptable way for Italian and Irish Catholics; by going out and eating and drinking until we felt a little better. Our first toast of the night was to John Brantley, we screamed curse words at Colt McCoy, wondered if Les Miles was running Texas and Hanson was working women like he was Tiger Woods. It was also nice to see so many people in Gator clothes. Like I told my 13-year old sister after the game, after she insisted she could never go to school again, you never turn your back on the team. If you're willing to be for the team in good times, you have to be there for the bad times too. She will be wearing her Gator jacket to school Monday.

- We'll be back later when Florida is officially announced for the Sugar Bowl, likely playing Cincinnati.

Bourbon Shots: Hate Edition

furrer4heisman — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:00:13 -0000

This isn't the prettiest of rivalries. The games are ugly, the teams play ugly, even the team's colors are ugly. The Commonwealth Cup is a game only Hokies and Hoos appreciate. It rarely means much beyond bragging rights for more than one team with the exception of the 2007 contest. But while this game carries little significance outside the Old Dominion, it carries a lot of significance for the Hokies and Hoos.

There's a huge culture clash between the two schools and to me, UVa embodies a lot of qualities I just loathe. To outsiders, the only difference may appear to be which color the fans prefer to wear with their orange. But those who know this rivalry intimately know there's a deep unyielding hate between the two schools that is on par with some of the more mainstream rivalries in college football.

This week brings out the worst in me. Let's see what it brought out from the media and bloggers. We'll also check in on GT-UGa, NC State-UNC, The Civil War and others. Links after the jump.

Hokie and Hoo Beat Writers

Beamer wary of Cavaliers (Randy King)
"The oddsmakers have established Virginia Tech as a hefty 13-point road favorite over Virginia in Saturday's regular-season finale. That said, don't even mention the betting spread to Frank Beamer. Frankly, Tech's football coach doesn't want to hear it."

Cavaliers need a new surprise in old rivalry (Aaron McFarling)
"And even though the result seemed familiar -- a fifth straight victory for Tech in the series, 17-14 -- the teams treated us to three hours of drama and storylines, thanks in large part to the Vic Hall moment. The Hokies remember it well, and they're bracing for a similar surprise this weekend."

A rivalry that's in the blood (Mark Viera)
"In-state rivalries like the one between Virginia Tech and Virginia start at a young age. These videos illustrate that, so check them out if you feel like wasting a little time."

The day Percy Harvin ended Ryan Williams’ track career (Nathan "Tommie Frazier" Warters)
"Williams ran in the prelims for the 100-meter dash, and he got smoked by Harvin, who went on to star in football at Florida and is now catching touchdown passes from Brett Favre as a Minnesota Vikings rookie. Harvin paced the field in the prelims with a 10.8. Williams ran an 11.43, which was good for 25th. Harvin later won the finals in 10.69 seconds. Williams didn’t care too much for his running that day, but at least he got to meet Taylor."

The next step in Tyrod Taylor’s development (Darryl Slater)
"Taylor’s less-obvious benchmarks of improvement, though, matter even more to Tech’s coaches. It is harder to see, from numbers alone, perhaps the greatest sign of their increased trust in him: their recent willingness to let him, and not his offensive coordinator, pick a play at the line of scrimmage based on what he sees in the defense’s formation."

Capturing the Commonwealth (Kyle Tucker)
"In the spirit of Rivalry Week, I’d like to quote a noted scholar, who once said of Virginia-Virginia Tech: "It’s like the rivalry between the hammer and the nail." That was Pilot columnist Bob Molinaro, (in)famous for his salty one-liners that often ring uncomfortably true. Sorry, Virginia folks, but the Cavaliers have been distinctly nail-like of late."

Special teams failures haunt the Cavaliers (Doug Doughty)
"Almost every momentum-changing special-teams play has been offset by a snafu by one of the units. Saturday, Chase Minnifield set up U.Va.'s first touchdown at Clemson with a 34-yard kickoff return. He fumbled on two later kickoff returns, one resulting in the Cavaliers taking possession at their 8-yard line."

Hokie and Hoo Bloggers

One-on-One With: Bud Foster (Part 3) (ACC Sports Journal)
"As a coach, you wear a lot of different hats, and a big one is dealing with your kids on a day-to-day basis. The bottom line for us and a big part of our success is that the kids know that we really do care about them. It’s not just, what can you do for me on Saturdays?"

Why I hate UVA: The Redux (The North End Zone)
"I've had and have heard of many bad experiences from people who visited or know UVA students and alums, and there are very few of them who weren't complete knobs. I hate the Yankees, but alas, I am still good friends with a couple of diehard (and actual, not bandwagon frontrunning Yankee fans) and we can have a civil discussion about the merits of both of our teams. This has never been the case in all of my experiences with UVA fans. They are all stuck-up and insecure twats."

Rivalry Reek (Beer Control Offense)
"I loathe groh, his face, his voice, his attire, his convoluted coach speak that only Stiney can understand, his sea of orange, his coattails super bowl ring, really ... I could go on for a bit. I will say 1 thing positive about him, his team NEVER quit. Even in avg to below avg years, they play hard annually .... just not well."

Game preview: Virginia Poly (From Old Virginia)
"Stuff Ryan Williams. There's a near-perfect correlation between holding him under 101 yards and Tech losing the game. Duke is the only exception. Williams is the key; Tyrod Taylor scares nobody."

Atlantic Coast Conference

If he gets the chance, Johnson will bring the hammer down on the Dawgs (Mr. College Football)
"State rivalries like Georgia and Georgia Tech are always big recruiting games. Saturday night’s game at Bobby Dodd Stadium will be no different. But in his second year at Georgia Tech, Johnson has infused the football program with confidence at a time where Georgia’s confidence is at a pretty low ebb. There is all kind of positive energy at Georgia Tech. I haven’t seen this much negative energy at Georgia since Jim Donnan’s last year (2000) as head coach. College Football 101 says that when you have your rival in a weakened position, you put your foot on the gas. If Johnson can lay a pretty good number on Georgia, he will. Georgia has enough athletic ability to make this game competitive. But I wonder if they have the heart to fight back. I really do."

The ACCSports.com Podcast (ACC Sports Journal)
"The dulcet tones of Barry Manilow open up this week’s conversation, as a tribute to Clemson finally "making it" by reaching the ACC Atlantic Division title game. But is that enough for Clemson fan? Joe and Jim also talk about the sparse crowd that showed up for Mickey Andrews’ final home game at FSU and what that means for Bobby Bowden. They then segue into "rivalry week," which really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be this year."

Tuesday Mornin' Hatin' on uga with Winfield & Dane (From The Rumble Seat)
"Dane: Beating georgia means nothing, but losing to them means everything. Mutt fans like beating Tech way more than we like beating them. I know that sounds crazy - but that's really all they had, and now it's gone. I heard "seven" more times last season than any other word, and every georgia fan I met made it a point to tell me that they owned us. No, you owned Chan Gailey. And now he's gone."

Another relic from the Bowden era: The QB succession plan (Tomahawk Nation)
"A sometimes forgotten aspect of the dynasty was Bowden's embrace of a quarterback succession plan. Bowden began to set up a recruiting structure by which he spaced quarterbacks two years apart, with redshirts factored in, so that a quarterback became a starter as a redshirt junior. New "elite" quarterbacks were recruited when the incumbent was a redshirt senior."

Road Trippin' Through The Motions (Backing The Pack)
"The game aside, we had a good time in Blacksburg, and it's a road trip you should make in the future if you have the opportunity. For an on-campus facility, the parking is surprisingly ample, and there's plenty of space for visitors who don't have a parking pass, which was a relief for us. Tech fans were very nice, though I suspect that was primarily because they all knew this game was a gimme."

How Will Bible's Diagnosis Impact State's Performance? (Yet Another...)
"Yesterday's news that offensive coordinator Dana Bible has been diagnosed with acute myelocytic leukemia caught all but Bible's closest confidants off guard. We knew he'd missed the trip to Virginia Tech for health reasons, but those reasons were unclear to nearly everyone until yesterday's press conference when Tom O'Brien shared the news."

Division Champ Dab-O-Meter (Block-C)
"Dabo is endearing himself to the Clemson faithful more and more each day, but his status on the Dab-O-Meter can only change incrementally now that he’s so close to Danny. He’ll have to be happy with the baby steps until I devise a new representational chart of Dab-O-Metrics. I’m way too busy trying to create the interactive Dab-O-Meter shirt. It’s like Shirt 2.0, you guys!"

Easily The Stupidest Thing You Will Read Today (Tar Heel Fan)
"What you are about to read is called stirring the pot and Josh Hailey at WRAL Fankind(no link for obvious reasons) basically shovels a bunch of manure onto the page then watches as the kids come along and play in it. It is traffic bait which Hailey readily admits up front with the classic "I know people are going to hate me for this" disclaimer which really means "I know people are going to hate me and that is exactly why I am writing it." Anyway, something like this requires a piece by piece dismantling and I feel obligated to provide it."

National College Football

Paying it forward, making a difference (George Schroeder)
"You may have heard the story of Angel Wilson, the 13-year-old Oklahoma girl with severe brain damage and cerebral palsy who somehow loves Oregon football. Or the colors. Or the Duck mascot. No one’s exactly sure what it is, but Angel lights up when the Ducks are on TV. When Ryan Wolfe heard her story, he did something about it. The result is a neat, heartwarming example of kindness, of giving without looking for anything in return."

Corn Blight Has Left The Building..... (Corn Nation)
"The one other area in which we need to improve is credibility. That's the biggest reason for the name change. Husker Mike and Jlew don't have the same problem as me. Their monikers are at least a close proximity to their real names. Me, well, let's just say "corn blight" is a long way from "Jon Johnston" and while it wouldn't take much to relate the two most people don't do it. They especially don't do it if they see it on a headline when scanning through Google News or any other web site. Bottom line - it's time for me to use my own name."

RCR Theatre: The Blind Side Review (Red Cup Rebellion)
"There's a few moments where I was fairly moved, not because of Oher's story, but because there is an unknown number of children, teenagers and adults who will never or never make it out of bad situations. There's a few lines in the movie that just makes you want to give money to poor people, and I don't even have much money to give."

The importance of Autzen Stadium going into the Civil War (Addicted To Quack)
"Going into the Civil War, I think that this home field advantage will be a huge factor. It's not getting a lot of attention yet, but it should. The Ducks are a better team at home. They play at a completely different level. And if the Ducks can come close to that level, I love their chances next week."

Autzen Stadium: Will it Make a Difference for Oregon State? (Building The Dam)
"More than anything, I think this proves that the Beavers aren't going to have another let down this year against the Ducks. But we didn't really need to look at statistics to see that-- I think we can agree that the vibe surrounding this team is better overall than it was a year ago. Everybody's healthy. The pressure is lower-- OSU hasn't had the "you control your own destiny" monkey on it's back the past month. The Beavers should be able to play loose."

National News and Notes

Year2 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:00:59 -0000

More photos » by Mike Stone - AP

Rejoice! Finally, a sell out in Fort Worth.

Browse more photos »

Because we're all playing for bowl positioning now, and that only goes so far.

Congrats to the Frogs.

You may recall a couple weeks ago that I pointed out that TCU, despite playing big time football, hasn't been drawing fans like a big time program. Well as a follow up to that, I'm pleased to report that the Horned Frogs have their first sell out in three years coming up in their showdown with Utah on Saturday. It still floors me that a program just outside the gigantic and football-crazy Dallas area can't find 44,000 people to show up to watch really good football, but I guess that's the nature of the beast in the mid-major ranks.

Mack Brown at least has a sense of humor.

Texas coach Mack Brown freely admits that he doesn't understand everything about how the BCS works, and he often has someone come in to explain things to him. When asked this week about if he was worried about falling to third in the BCS standings, he replied that someone told him that if the Longhorns keep winning they're in, and that's all he cared about. He also slipped in a little zinger too:

Brown was asked if the computer elements to the BCS standings don’t like his team as much as the human polls.

"I’ve called the computers. They haven’t called me back," Brown said. "I’ve invited them to our games. I don’t think any of them have shown up."

Nice. I wonder though if anyone has told him that it's the humans, not the algorithms, who have USC above Oregon.

The other choice is the Ghost of Christmas Past.

With Tommy West out at Memphis, speculation has arisen as to who will replace him there. If ESPN is to be believed, it could look a lot like Auburn's past in Graceland as Tommy Tuberville and Terry Bowden are the top two candidates. According to a website called FootballScoop.com (yeah, I haven't heard of it either), ~~former~~ current Auburn assistant Trooper Taylor is also on their list. Who knew Memphis scouted the Tigers of the Plains so closely? Also, it says look for Phil Fulmer's name to come up, but personally, I think Fulmer (and Tuberville for that matter) could get a much better job. (H/T CFT)

Apparently his copy of Phil Steele's season preview magazine just arrived.

Urban Meyer says he knows what is ailing the Florida offense. For one thing, it's a lack of big plays and defenses showing his team new looks. Beyond that though, he says it's a combination of transitioning to a new offensive coordinator, the losses of Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy at receiver, and the losses of last year's starting offensive tackles Phil Trautwein and Jason Watkins. Apparently, it only took him nine games to put that together.

It is telling though that Florida hasn't turned the ball over in the past two games and each one resulted in a 24 point margin of victory. I think a lot of people undervalued the role of turnovers in the Gators' struggles with teams earlier in the season.

Vultures.

Okay, so maybe not everyone is playing for bowl positioning. Tennessee is playing for recruiting positioning, of course. Did you know Charlie Weis is in trouble? And that Notre Dame has not just one, but two quarterback commits? Rocky Top Talk says watch for the UT coaches to swoop in on those guys should Weis be shown the door.

A Minefield Remains

mlmintampa — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:35:53 -0000

More photos » by Rogelio V. Solis - AP

Browse more photos »

Leaving downtown Jacksonville Saturday night, there was a sense of accomplishment for the Gators and their fans. As a fan, it suddenly felt like the negativity and self loathing following the team was washed off in the dirty waters of the St. Johns.

Florida is not the dominant team of last season and beating a team ranked 68th in total defense is not that big of a deal. For those who still want to see the Fun n' Gun, UF is 90th in passing offense. Beating Georgia did little to boost those numbers (165 yards passing) but it was effective (15-21 passing, six players had catches). That's not a trend though, and the next few weeks will determine how much the Georgia win really meant.

Vanderbilt: They've lost their last five games and have not defeated the Gators since 1988. They also have the 8th ranked pass defense nationally. Stats can lie and Vandy has not played great passing teams (Georgia, Georgia Tech, Army, Mississippi State), but being the top-10 in anything nationally is significant. Vandy cannot score with UF, but their defense will be enough to frustrate UF at times. That frustration, but Gator wins, has been a theme of the series in this decade (single digit wins in 2002 and 2006, UF's overtime win in 2005).

South Carolina: They crapped the bed against Tennessee, but South Carolina's defense will not lay down against UF. The Gamecocks go to Arkansas this week, which should inflate their rank of 16th nationally in total defense and 3rd in passing defense. And as long as Steve Spurrier is at South Carolina, there will be a segment of fans who hate playing this game. Stephen Garcia might be the worst ~~senior~~ redshirt sophomore quarterback in SEC history. Even Jonathan Crompton has a good game once a month.

Florida International: Essentially a bye week and a victory lap for the seniors before FSU. My little sister is going to this game (her first Tebow game), so if someone gets injured, she will be forbidden to go to any future games.

Florida State: Tim Tebow's first Hate Game was against FSU in 2007, when he destroyed the Seminoles and played with a broken hand after FSU talked trash for a week.. Last year, it was Evil Tebow murdering people after FSU's fans cheered Percy Harvin's leg injury. This year? Tebow gets to hear about how Christian Ponder is so much better than him. That's right, the FSU quarterback who is 4-4 this season and has only one home win against a Division 1-A opponent. Ponder has pretty statistics, but nothing to show for it. If win-loss was determined by who has a perfect throwing motion and more yards, Ponder wins. But as warped as college awards voting can be (FSU fans are pissed Ponder is not on the Davey O'Brien list), winning actually means something. Ponder is not a winner.

The thing I worry about in the final games is that this has been a strange season. Florida losing at South Carolina suddenly does not seem impossible when USC loses two Pac-10 games and Iowa is a top-4 team. In a year when FSU can't do anything right (they sue to get the NCAA report in the open; it says FSU players read at a 2nd grade level), beating Florida can salvage their season. We've already seen Tebow injured and each week is a new running back injury. The Gators are maturing each week, which helps with pressures that are out of their control. If they control themselves and remained focused, they will be upright and healthy for the SEC Championship.

UF Against The World

mlmintampa — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:35 -0000

Win or lose, the Georgia game can make or break Florida's season. In a year of no dominant teams (well, TCU and Cincinnati excluded), one beat down can restore the shine to Florida's crown, kill the distractions and put them back on a straight path to Atlanta and Pasadena. Another mess of a game just continues the heartburn. A loss, and you can kiss the BCS goodbye.

Distractions come with being the defending champions and they keep piling up. First, it is losing Percy Harvin, Louis Murphy and Dan Mullen. Then, it's Lane Kiffin and Tim Tebow having to do too much. Now it is that Charlie Strong is Teflon and Steve Addazio is toxic.

But Urban Meyer is circling the wagons.

"There's going to be negative," Meyer said, reiterating his message to the team. "Whether it's right or wrong, the way it is people want to see people fail. That's the way it is. Our job is not to change human nature. Our job is to control the football team and each other and continue to have a very close family atmosphere, family chemistry. And we have that."

That the players are feeling the same heartburn as the fans is a good thing. But Meyer is turning around the press clippings and blog posts that says this Gators team isn't good enough. In the past, Meyer was willing to keep telling the team they weren't good enough. Now, he has to do the reverse to inspire the team. If Meyer does it and Florida starts winning they way they should be winning, it is the finest coaching job of his career. At this point, no one is expecting Florida to roll up 40 point wins like last season. But we do expect Florida to finish their opponents, which they would have done against Mississippi State had they not had Tebow throwing from inside his end zone.

Florida needs to perform well against Georgia and show the finish that they did last year and in 2006. Maybe this time around, it will take pats on the back from Meyer to do it.

What's Wrong With Florida?

Year2 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:15:18 -0000

More photos » by Phil Sandlin - ASSOCIATED PRESS

It's been a frustrating season in Gainesville.

Browse more photos »

Poor red zone play.

UF came into the game against Mississippi State at eighth in the SEC with just an 80% red zone conversion rate, and they blew two more chances with a missed field goal and Tim Tebow's 100-yard pick six. A year ago, Florida was deadly inside their opponents' 20 yard line, more often than not getting touchdowns. Predictable play calling has turned many of those touchdowns into field goal attempts, and poor execution has turned some of both into...

Turnovers.

Florida was +22 in turnover margin last season, and it was +24 in its wins. This season, Florida is -1 and turnovers have played a huge role in the Gators' close scrapes over the past two weekends. They lost three fumbles in Arkansas territory (two in the red zone), and 13 of Mississippi State's 19 points came on interception returns for touchdowns. It's extremely difficult to win games by the big margins that Florida did last year when you turn the ball over multiple times per game.

A depleted receiving corps.

Last season, Florida lost Cornelius Ingram for the season in August and lost Percy Harvin for a game and a half. That's it for the front line players, and the receivers were a strength for the team. This season, Florida lost Carl Moore and Andre Debose for the season in August, and each was projected to be a starter. Deonte Thompson missed some games. Riley Cooper has been slowed sometimes by various injuries.

For Florida's offense to operate at its highest level, it needs to have at least five legitimate receivers. UF only has four this year thanks to losing Moore and Debose, and even they've got even fewer when guys miss time or are slowed. That means that running backs have had to moonlight out wide quite a bit. Whenever that happens, it means defenses can rush Tebow with abandon because they only have to seriously cover three of the five guys on the perimeter.

Tebow has not been great.

Tim Tebow is getting a lot of Heisman poll votes because he's the quarterback of the No. 1 team and because they are doing it out of habit, I suppose. He hasn't been playing like one of the most outstanding players in the country though, as he's been one of the primary sources of turnovers and red zone struggles. He doesn't go through his progressions enough, and he doesn't throw it away when no one is open enough.

To be fair, he hasn't been helped out by the deficiencies of the receiving position. Playing quarterback is harder when you don't have a lot of great options. He also hasn't been helped out by...

A crisis of offensive strategy.

Things looked great in the first two games against the cupcakes. They went downhill against Tennessee's great defense, where the offense went overly conservative in response to it. With Thompson out and Cooper slowed, the offense went extremely run heavy against Kentucky, and that ended up the most coherent offensive game of the conference season. They went back conservative against LSU thanks to Tebow's concussion and being on the road, and now against Arkansas and Mississippi State it had problems finding balance and a good mix.

Part of it is undoubtedly growing pains under first year offensive coordinator Steve Addazio. During the Kentucky telecast, Bob Davie (who employed Addazio on his Notre Dame staff) mentioned that the Gator OC's background has a lot of wishbone in it. That fact would explains why the option-based bonanza against the Wildcats was the most fluid the offense has been all conference season. Addazio has struggled re-integrating the passing game post-LSU, though things would look a lot better without the turnovers.

Spotty offensive line play.

Florida's offensive line didn't play all that well at the beginning of 2008, and it showed. It didn't gel until late in the '08 Arkansas game, which uncoincidentally was the point at which the offense as a whole took off. It has yet to gel this season, and until it does, we're not going to see a lot of fireworks from the Gator O.

Addazio is not just the offensive coordinator; he's also the offensive line coach. It's probably now time to ask whether his expanded role as coordinator has taken away from his ability to coach up the line. He's not done it many favors either since two of the five positions have been revolving doors for reasons other than injury, and he keeps begging for it to be overwhelmed with blitzes with his play calling (i.e. going five wide with two running backs at receiver). Addazio also used to have an associate offensive line coach to help him out in John Hevesy, but he left to follow Dan Mullen last off season.

They're feeling the pressure.

The team just looks tense on the sidelines. Meyer looks the most tense of anyone. He keeps calling each win a "good win" (no matter how ludicrous it may sound in situations like after the Arkansas game) to try to help take some pressure off, but the burden of trying to repeat appears to be getting to them. They better find some other way to deal with it because it's only going to grow with every passing week.

A regression to the mean.

I already mentioned the Gators' outrageously good fortune in the turnover department last year. They also aren't blocking nearly as many kicks; they had three blocks in the '08 Kentucky game alone, but they've gotten to just two this year.

Even when they weren't necessarily taking the ball away from their opponents or blocking kicks, someone in 2008 always came up with big plays when it counted (except against Ole Miss, of course). Percy Harvin broke off big runs. Louis Murphy would catch long passes. Ahmad Black would come up with improbable interceptions. Brandon Spikes would flatten somebody. When a game could break in favor of either team, someone always made a play to break it in Florida's favor. Good luck and good timing are fickle, and you don't get them in spades two years in a row.

Definitely not the defense.

It has allowed four touchdowns all season, and one was on a 31 yard drive after a fumble by the offense. Only two teams have cracked 240 total yards on it, and one was Charleston Southern in a game where the coaches emptied the bench in the second quarter. It has allowed 20+ points once—and it was exactly 20 points—and that was the game with the 31 yard TD drive. It has been doing all of that despite a plague of injuries on the defensive line and Brandon Spikes out or limited in most games.

Say what you want about the offense (and most of it is true), but you can't fault the defense. The Gators could easily have two or three losses if not for the play of the Charlie Strong's men.

Mississippi State Bulldogs v. Florida Gators Game Day Linkage

jeremyflint — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:15:32 -0000

There is plenty of information out there leading up to the game tonight in Starkville. Let's get right into the Game Day Linkage for October 24.

Starting off in Florida, there are plenty of previews of the Gators vs. Bulldogs. The Orlando Sentinel says that the Gators should be comfortable since their best games this season - Kentucky and LSU - have been on the road. They also say that we have the closest thing to Percy Harvin in freshman receiver Chad Bumphis.

Jacksonville.com has the match-ups to keep an eye on in tonights game. The most interesting matchup will be Anthony Dixon vs. Ryan Stamper. Stamper is a weakside LB but will be starting in place of Brandon Spikes who is banged up with injuries.

In fact, the entire Gator D-line has some sort of injury right now and they may only have 2 starters on the line tonight.

Tim Tebow is on pace to break Herschel Walker's rushing TD record. He only needs 1 more to break the record of 48.

Of course there is also talk of how much Mullen knows about the Florida offense, his close relationship with Tebow and his long history working with Urban Meyer. You can read about that here and here.

Chris Low of ESPN says that Mississippi State is pulling out all the stops for this game. There is a high probability that this game will break the record for largest attendance (56,118), which was set against Alabama in 2007. A few other notable numbers related to this game:

Florida has not won in Starkville since 1985, when Galen Hall was the head coach.
The last top 5 program that the Bulldogs knocked off in Starkville was Florida, who came in ranked #3 in 2000
The last Gator loss in Starkville cost Ron Zook his job. He was fired 2 days after a 38-31 loss.

Over on our side of the SEC, Veazey talks about the similarities between Tyson Lee and Tim Tebow off the field.

Also, Pernell McPhee, a Florida native, was "two seconds" away from becoming a Gator.

Rick Cleveland opines about the rough times the Gators have had in Starkville over the years.

And Anthony Dixon has the chance to increase his legacy at Mississippi State today by helping knock off the #1 team i the land.

Poll

Will Mississippi State knock off the Florida Gators tonight in Starkville?

Yes

20 votes

No

46 votes

66 votes | Poll has closed

Who is the All-Decade running back?
	Earnest Graham
	Ciatrick Fason
	DeShawn Wynn
	Percy Harvin
	Jeff Demps

pollcode.com free polls

Who are the All-Decade wide receivers? (select three)
	Jabar Gaffney
	Taylor Jacobs
	Chad Jackson
	Dallas Baker
	Andre 'Bubba' Caldwell
	Percy Harvin
	Riley Cooper

pollcode.com free polls