SB Nation - Brandon James

Random Musings From the SEC Championship Game

outsidethesidelines — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:00:31 -0000

It's a bit late in the week for musings on the SEC Championship Game, but with the BCS Championship Game still one month away, I figure we have plenty of time to fully dissect the victory in Atlanta. With that in mind, here are a few random musings I had from watching the SEC Championship Game:

Florida ran their combo option / shovel pass play on the opening play of the game, and Eryk Anders chased down Hernandez from the backside to make the tackle for a minimal gain. Anders followed Hernandez the entire way and we were obviously prepared for such a play, but the interesting thing of it was that Florida never went back to that play the rest of the game. That really surprised me, especially given how successful that play has been for them the past couple of years.
A large degree of Florida's lack of point production in this game can be traced back to three key offensive mistakes on the Gators' part, namely two costly drops and a terrible throw by Tebow. The first big mistake came on the opening drive when Jeff Demps dropped a pass out of the backfield that was destined for big yardage (Florida ultimately went three and out on that drive), and the second was Hernandez dropping a pass at the goal line after he left Cory Reamer in the dust (Florida had to settle for three points there). Finally, Tebow made a terrible throw on the interception to Arenas... it was an easy touchdown pass with the proper arc on the throw, and instead it ended up being the dagger through their hearts. I'm not saying Florida would have won had they capitalized on these three plays, but the game would have certainly been much closer.
Speaking of that throw by Tebow... it's throws like that why he'll never be a legitimate NFL quarterback. Call him the greatest college player ever if you want, but he has a slow wind-up in his delivery and he doesn't throw the football vertically very well. You can get away with that, combined with the rest of the positive things he can do for you, when you are playing the SEC East, but the NFC East? That stuff doesn't fly up there. Tebow will probably be a first round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, and he may be an outstanding player in some type of a hybrid role or at another position, but in terms of his potential as a traditional NFL quarterback, his prospects aren't much better than mine.

I found our defensive strategy pretty interesting. We had some blitz packages and mixed up our looks, as per usual, but it certainly seemed like our strategy was to make Florida throw the football vertically down the field against six or seven defenders in coverage. We wanted to take away the interior run and the short passing game, and from there we wanted to make Florida beat us by having Tebow sit back in the pocket and throw the football down the field into tight windows. That was a fairly different strategy than what we used last year in this game, and if nothing else the end result was a lot better.

Only allowing 13 points to the Gators looks impressive on paper, but in all honesty we didn't exactly stop them, hence why they averaged almost seven yards per play. They are an elite offense and they had a lot of success against our defense. Fortunately, though, they shot themselves in the foot just enough at critical times, and our offense scored so many points that they were forced to push the envelope later in the game when they would have otherwise taken easy points. Combined, that kept them to only 13 points, despite the fact that they generally moved the ball well.

And speaking of that latter point, the game on Saturday reinforced the long-held notion that the best defense is a good offense. That was on display all afternoon in Atlanta.

I sincerely hope that Aaron Hernandez goes pro, and he's a fool if he doesn't. In terms of pure match-up issues, I think he probably gave us more issues than any other single skill position player we faced all year long. I hope he's playing somewhere in the NFL next year when the Gators make the trip to Tuscaloosa.

You know the corner blitz from Javier Arenas that we see all of the time? For whatever reason, I don't think we saw that a single time against Florida. Again, I think it was clear that we wanted to force Tebow to throw the football down the field into tight windows.

The play of the game... from P.J. Fitzgerald? If he doesn't make a great open field tackle on Brandon James, undoubtedly James will score and Florida will take a 10-9 lead and have all of the momentum despite 'Bama having controlled the first quarter. That play didn't get much attention, but it was absolutely critical.

As great of a player as Julio Jones is, I think it's clear at this point that it is in fact Marquis Maze that makes our passing game go. Jones is a great player in his own right, but he draws so much attention from opposing defenses that it really limits his production. He always draws the opposing team's best cornerback -- Joe Haden followed him around the Georgia Dome like he was his shadow -- and opposing defenses usually have either a linebacker or a safety giving assistance of some form to the corner. All in it all, it really just limits what he can feasibly do, and from there it is really all up to Maze -- who is usually isolated on the second or third corner -- to make plays. And notice that Maze's best games (Virginia Tech, Arkansas, LSU, and Florida) have been the best days for our passing game as well. I highly doubt that is a coincidence.

Brandon Spikes was absolutely abused in this game. Josh Bynes may have had a career day in the Iron Bowl, but we beat Spikes to a pulp in Atlanta. Far from the career day that I feared he may have, that was probably the worst performance of his collegiate career.

Could there possibly a more inconsistent player than Greg McElroy? I tell you, that guy has been all over the board this year. He has played perfect (Florida), extremely good (Arkansas), good (Virginia Tech), decent (Kentucky and LSU), poorly (Tennessee and Ole Miss), and ungodly terrible (South Carolina). Pretty much anywhere along the performance spectrum, McElroy has been there at some point throughout the year. In terms of variance, I don't think I can ever recall a 'Bama player who has been as all over the board as McElroy has this year.

Speaking of Greg McElroy's performance against Florida, if that was not the best performance of my lifetime by an Alabama quarterback, I don't know which one could legitimately be considered better. He played at an extremely high level against an elite defense, and made plays with both his arm and his feet. Personally, that was the best performance I have ever seen by an Alabama quarterback.

As a closing thought, could there ever be a bigger SEC Championship Game than this? Considering that both teams came in undefeated, #1 v. #2, and a rematch of last year's game, I really don't think you could ever have a bigger SEC Championship Game, even as a theoretical matter. Tim Brando mentioned something to that effect on the CBS broadcast Saturday afternoon, and I think he is right. For all intents and purposes, this is as big as it will ever get.

The Fatal Flaws

mlmintampa — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:17:50 -0000

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Hopefully, we are far enough out from the SEC Championship Game that we can take an level headed look at the 2009 Gators. As fans, we have seen a team that either was destroying people or not meeting our expectations. Considering the history of college football, 14-0 was a challenge unlikely to be met, especially with the bonus of three outright championships in four seasons. But we thought our boys could do it. Here's some things that I thought were never addressed or fixed and ultimately led to the Gators' fall. As always, tell us where we're wrong. Let's get the hard one out of the way first;

Tim Tebow: In each of his first three seasons, Tebow improved as a player. The problem was that as a senior, he was the same as the year before. Every team he faced knew exactly what he was doing. You saw the strategy Alabama used of daring Tebow to throw to receivers he never trusted behind a line that nearly killed him. Against Tennessee you saw how an NFL-style scheme (even without the talent to do it) could confuse Tebow. There are two reasons for this; either Tebow plateaued as a player or the loss of Dan Mullen impacted Tebow's preparation and chemistry with the offense.

Tebow was pulled in more directions this season. He wasn't just Tim Tebow, quarterback, Florida. He was a missionary, preacher, charity leader, university representative, oh and this was his senior year of college. Everyone is stretched thin in their senior year of school either because of school demands, the pressure of post-graduation or relationships. Tebow had all of that plus everything listed above. The problem is that Tebow wouldn't have it any other way. This season, I have a hard time thinking that everything else surrounding him didn't contribute to his actions on the field. He was still a college senior and no senior ever has a perfect year. Here's hoping that at least he doesn't knock a brick off Century Tower. (If you don't get that, look at the last urban legend listed here.)

Lack of a Go-To-Guy: Tebow needed a running mate this season and no one stepped up to fill that role. Aaron Hernandez had uneven performances and Riley Cooper could never get open before Tebow got in trouble. Cooper might have been the most well-rounded player on offense, but even he got the drops. Jeffrey Demps and Chris Rainey still struggle catching the ball and Brandon James was never going to be the solution at the Harvin position. Emmanuel Moody lived in Urban Meyer's doghouse all season. Carl Moore and Andre Debose never saw the field. That Florida ran the same offense as 2008, without a go-to-guy, is a failure of the coaching staff. Like Donald Rumsfled said, "You go to war with the Army you have. Not the Army you might want or wish to have." Meyer and Steve Addazio knew what they had in front of them and treated them like Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy with Jason Watkins and Phil Trautwein at the tackles. Which brings us to our next point...

Never figuring out the passing game: If yards and rushing yards stay relatively flat, how do touchdowns scored go from 75, 82 in 2008, to 56 this season? I pin the blame on not having a secure 3rd and 4th receiver and not securing the offensive tackle spots. I thought Xavier Nixon and Marcus Gilbert got it together, but it was late in the season before that lineup change was made. I don't blame the line for the 36 sacks (only 2 more than last season) because too often they had to face 5 and 6 man rushes. Teams could afford those blitzes because Florida's receiving options were Cooper, Hernandez and a bunch of nobodies. David Nelson had his best game against Alabama (4 catches, 53 yards, TD). That's nice, but Nelson was supposed to be a number 3 guy behind Cooper and Hernandez, but his output was no better than 2008 (23 catches, 254 yds, 2 TD in 2009; 12 catches, 228 yds, 5 TD in 2008). Deonte Thompson was supposed to explode this season, yet nearly had the exact same numbers. Demps still thinks run first, catch ball second. Rainey is skinner than I am and James was getting too many touches as a returner (62) to be fit enough to be a permanent player (20 rushes, 24 catches). We trusted that Meyer, Addazio and Billy Gonzales would see any red flags and immediately turn the Gators into Georgia Tech South. But they kept calling plays like they had four reliable receivers and two experienced tackles.

Steve Addazio, Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach: It does not matter if you liked Addazio's play calling or not. The fact is that he cannot do both jobs and I would be surprised if anyone could be o-line and coordinator. Offensive line is hands on, requiring the coach to be on the sidelines. Offensive coordinator is a mad genius, sitting in his box and designing plays like a chess player thinking three moves ahead. It didn't help that Florida's play calling by committee was like cooks spoiling the broth. Last year, the offense went through Mullen. You never knew who it went through this season.

A light defensive line: Just the presence of Terrence Cody kept UF away from the precious dive play. UF does not have a monster run stuffer like that (Omar Hunter may get there one day). Plus, Jermaine Cunningham and Carlos Dunlap are long and lean. They can run around you, but not through you. Were it not for Brandon Spikes, A.J. Jones and Ryan Stamper, UF would have been screwed at the front. The Gators got by like this until they ran into an old-school big ugly offensive line at Alabama. Like any great defense that relies on speed, a big line can always win. There wasn't much UF could have done here, aside from eight in the box, and Greg McElroy was too good for that.

The Fans: No one is escaping this. Every college team has good and bad fans, unemployed fans who stalk message boards all day, and the locker room stooges who get off on revealing who was tanked on Monday night and who has the girlfriend sleeping with half the defense. Every college team has jackasses who write blogs, guys who have only played video game football and claim they know what they are talking about, and old men trying to live vicariously through college kids. But we wore the crown, so we fall the hardest. It doesn't help either that we seemingly lost the ability to lose with class. I include myself in this because while this seems very mature and composed, during the game I was screaming obscenities at Nick Saban, my friends, Mark Ingram, "Sweet Home Alabama" (song, not the Reese Witherspoon movie), Tim Tebow, and the band Alabama. I was also figuring out how UF could win in the fourth quarter, when a rational person would have turned off the game and waited for Texas-Nebraska.

We've been spoiled the past four years and the sooner we realize that, the sooner we have some realistic expectations for the Gators. Eventually, Tennessee, FSU and Georgia will get good. Florida may actually lose consecutive games to these teams. Losing these games, if it happens, should not require you to threaten the lives of anyone or throw the Gators under the bus, via your facebook status or twitter. However, all bets are off if Urban Meyer becomes Ron Zook, but I don't see that happening. We need to be rational again, but mediocrity can never be tolerated.

The Confidence and Complacency of Champions: When the Yankees were losing Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS to the Red Sox, Aaron Boone asked Derek Jeter why he was so calm. Jeter said, "The ghosts will come eventually." The ghosts did show up and Boone hit a game winning home run to send the Yanks to the World Series. The next season, the Yanks blew a 3-0 ALCS lead, and the Red Sox won the World Series, defeating the Curse of The Bambino in the process.

When you are defending champion, even if you are not considered to be the best team in your league the next season, there is a certain level of confidence in your team and what they can do. The Gators had won the SEC and National Championship twice in the last three seasons. There was no reason to doubt that they couldn't do it again. With that confidence also comes enough of a lack of drive that it can impact you negatively. You don't want to take those extra reps or spend 15 more minutes running routes. Sure, you can go to the party/Bible session/hookup with that chick from Plants, Plagues and People class, you'll just end your film study five minutes early. What's a few minutes anyway?

It all adds up eventually and for the Gators, it was 19 points in Atlanta. 19 points does not happen in one week of preparation, but over the course of the entire season. It's the reason why guys take extra sprints in August or lift more weights in April. Over the course of 11 months, the Gators were confident they could win no matter what and complacent enough to not put in more time. As for the party that ended Carlos Dunlap's season that included other teammates, let he who never took the edge off an upcoming test by drinking or fooling around with a lady cast the first stone. As for me, I think you got me confused for a better man.

Besides, Alabama played a perfect game. They had one penalty, were 11 of 15 on 3rd down, Bama held the ball for nearly 40 minutes, McElroy was 12 of 18 passing, and Marquis Maze's five catches for 96 yards made up for Julio Jones two catches for 28 yards. Florida could have spent the week in the football complex and St. Augustine's Church and they still would have lost. Give Alabama some credit.

As we said on Saturday, everything sucks now, but this still your team. You have to take the good with the bad and accept that sometimes, the other guy is better and you are not good enough. Time to look forward to next season and put your faith and trust in Urban Meyer. Especially that he finds a new defense and offensive coordinator. And say a prayer that John Brantley and Omarius Hines become the next great duo in Gainesville.

What will it take to pull off the upset?

outsidethesidelines — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:53:47 -0000

On Friday during game weeks I generally post a preview of the upcoming game, but I've decided against that this week. Both Alabama and Florida are already well known commodities, and in general everyone is aware of the key players, so I see little need in recapping something that most already knew in the first place.

Instead, I want to take a look at the things that we must do in order to pull off the upset. Florida knocked us off a year ago in Atlanta, and despite another 12-0 start by the Tide, the general consensus is that the Gators will send us to New Orleans once again. And unfortunately, I'm afraid to say that the general consensus is indeed probably the correct one. We're fighting an uphill battle here, and victory will not come easy for the Tide. Let's look at some key things the Tide must do in order to pull the upset.

Avoid the slow start. Sluggish performances early have plagued the Tide all year, and truthfully did for much of the second half of last season as well. That continued last week against Auburn as we found ourselves down 14-0 before we could even blink. Likewise, we got off to a slow start last year against Florida. We received the ball on the opening kick-off, went three and out, punted, and Florida marched right down the field for a touchdown. Simply put, we cannot afford another slow start this year against the Gators. We don't necessarily need a blitzkrieg from the beginning -- like the Blackout two years ago -- but we cannot get ourselves in a hole early and still expect to overcome that and get the victory over a team like Florida.

Win the field position battle. Offensively Florida is still a juggernaut, and giving this offense a short field is almost guaranteeing a touchdown. Last year, for example, the combined average starting field position of Florida's four touchdowns was past their 40-yard line. Likewise, Florida is very good defensively and any offense consistently forced to drive 60+ yards against them to get points is likely to be very limited in point production. Given that, we must win the field position battle in this game.

Limit the big play from Florida offensively. You heard all that talk about how Florida cannot generate the big play? Don't buy the hype. They might not be producing them at the prolific clip that they were last year, but this is still a big play offense. Riley Cooper had a 51-yard reception against 'Bama last year, and has had four catches of 35+ yards in 2009 (not to mention averaging over 17 yards per reception). Aaron Hernandez and Deonte Thompson both have big play ability. Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey both average over 7 yards per carry, and have had several 40+ yard runs this year. Again, they aren't producing the big plays at the prolific clip they were last year, but don't interpret that to mean that they haven't generated big plays. They can still strike you at any time, and we must limit big plays for the Gators.

Get off the field defensively on third down. Last year, in many ways, the difference in the game was the ability of Florida to convert on critical third downs. And once again the Gators bring that reputation to Atlanta... they are one of the top teams in the country in third down conversion percentage. Simply put, we must get them off the field when we have the opportunity. A breakdown defensively on third down gives them new life, which with an offense of this caliber will more likely than not result in points.

Stop the dive play and control the interior run by Tebow. For all of the talk of speed and spreading the field, Florida relies heavily on the inside running game on the halfback dive and the draws by Tebow. It is of the utmost importance that our defensive line can stop this on their own. If they can shut down Florida in this capacity, that allows the linebackers to play sideline-to-sideline, and it allows the safeties to stay back and limit big plays. If you cannot do it in the trenches, however, linebackers and safeties have to come up to stop the run and that is what really allows all of the elements of their spread game to expose you.

Establish a consistent pass rush with the defensive line. Blitz packages can be great, but against a spread team -- one that will always have checkdowns to high end players at their disposal -- led by a senior quarterback they can be of limited effectiveness. If you have to rely heavily on them in order to rush the passer, much like we did last year, it will many times be ultimately futile because you get picked apart on the back end. And to that end, we have to be able to rush the passer with the defensive line. Florida is young at the tackle position (one of their few weaknesses), and we must take advantage of that. Along with controlling Florida's interior running game, our defensive line needs to get to Tebow. Simply put, they need to play the game of their lives.

Greg McElroy must be a game changer. Remember earlier in the year when we were saying that McElroy had transcended the game manager label and had turn himself into a legitimate game changer? Well, that hasn't been true in the past two months, and McElroy hasn't played particularly well since the Arkansas game. He has been checkdown happy, hasn't been able to throw the football vertically, has missed key throws, and has made a lot of poor decisions. That is acceptable enough against teams like Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Auburn, but that all must change on Saturday if we are to win. McElroy will have to be able to throw the football vertically, and will have to eliminate dumb mistakes, especially turnovers. There is simply no two ways about this one... if McElroy plays at the game manager level, we'll need an almost perfect performance by the rest of the team in order to win, and that is simply not feasible against a team like Florida.

Offensive line must get the job done in pass protection. Lost in the very low Adjusted Sack Rate that the Tide's offensive line has posted this year is the fact that our offense almost never throws the football vertically, and thus the ball generally comes out quickly on three and five step drops. That makes the offensive line's life very easy, but against Florida they will probably not get any such luxury. We'll have to throw the football vertically and in turn they will have to protect on long drops. And don't think the suspension of Carlos Dunlap is going to dramatically change things. Florida still has a ton of talent coming off the edge, and remember last year that the Gators clinched victory not with Dunlap, but with a key sack from Jermaine Cunningham.

Run the football relatively well. Injuries are really limiting our running game right now with Mark Ingram, Mike Johnson, and James Carpenter all being slowed by some ailment or another, but they must overcome that this week and still play at a high level. Florida has a great run defense in their own right, and as a result we aren't just going to run over this team. Much worse run defenses than Florida have been able to shut down our running game (see Arkansas and Auburn), and we cannot allow that to happen in Atlanta. Again, we aren't going to be able to run it down Florida's throat regardless, but we do need to be able run the football relatively well (and do it on a consistent basis).

The wide receiver corps must make plays on the outside. Julio Jones had a big game last year in Atlanta, and he will need another one this year. Likewise, Darius Hanks and Marquis Maze -- both of which had big catches in the Georgia Dome in the season opener against Virginia Tech -- will need to use the fast track of the Dome to their advantage once again. We haven't been able to get the football to our receivers consistently all year long, and that must change tomorrow.

Kick and punt return defense must hold up. It's going to be tough enough to control the Florida offense and move the football on the Florida defense as it is, but it's going to create an almost impossible task if we have one major breakdown in either kick or punt coverage. Brandon James is as good as any returner in the country, and we cannot afford to give Florida a cheap score in the return. Again, given how difficult of a task we face in the first place, giving up a cheap score on special teams will likely be the death knell for us.

All in all, simply put, we need to play at a very high level. We need to play our best game of the year in order to win on Saturday, and anything short of that will likely result in defeat. We cannot afford to play like we did against Virginia Tech. Or Kentucky. Or South Carolina. Or Ole Miss. Or Tennessee. Or LSU. Or Mississippi State. Or Auburn. We're going to have to take our game to another level if we truly expect to beat Florida.

In short, what we really need is perfection. Of course, a football game (not counting kicks) usually consists of 120-130 snaps, and that's just entirely too many snaps to not expect some breakdowns, particularly against a team of Florida's caliber. Thus, as with most things, perfection is an elusive goal in football, and it is one that we will not attain tomorrow. Nevertheless, the harsh reality is that we are going to have to come very close to that level if we are indeed going to knock of Florida. They are on the verge of a bona fide dynasty, they have one of the top three coaches in the country, they probably more talent and depth than any other team in the country, and they are led by a senior quarterback who will undoubtedly go down as one of the great college football players to ever live. A "good" performance will probably not bring down the mighty Gators, rest assured. We had a "good" performance last year and it was not enough. It likely won't be enough this year either. Perfection may be an unattainable goal, but Alabama will need to come almost as close as humanly possible in order to pull off the upset tomorrow night.

Hope for the best.

An early primer on the SEC Championship Game

outsidethesidelines — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:33:04 -0000

Enough about Auburn, the goal coming into this season was to get back to Atlanta for a rematch with the Gators and we have done just that. Obviously there are a lot of issues to address this week, so I want to go ahead and write a rough primer addressing many of them. Let's get started:

Pythagorean Wins

Many of you are aware of my research into the application of the concept of Pythagorean Wins into SEC football, and with the 2009 SEC regular season officially coming to an end this past weekend, we can now get an early estimate on Pythagorean Wins. I won't get into the nitty gritty just yet -- I'll save the 2009 Pythagorean Wins post for a later day -- but the highlights of this year's analysis is that Alabama and Florida are still a head above the rest of the SEC, Florida stills lead the SEC very narrowly over 'Bama, but the gap between the Tide and the Gators is much smaller than last year, and both 'Bama and Florida are pretty big overachievers relative to their Pythagorean projection.

Last year Florida outscored conference opponents by a total of 259 points, and the Tide did so by a highly impressive 140, but things are a lot closer this year. The Gators "only" outscored conference opponents by 125 points this year, and the Tide outscored their opponents by 123 points. That's a long way down for the Gators from last year, and now the margin of razor thin in terms of the two teams Pythagorean projections. The gap between the two teams last year in conference point differential was 119 points, and this year the gap is down to a mere two points. Had Leigh Tiffin converted on his partially blocked field goal attempt in the Iron Bowl, the Tide would lead in this category.

It turns out the Gators are indeed human, but...

The good news for those of us praying not to see a repeat of last year's outcome in Atlanta is that Florida is not necessarily invincible this year. Last year the Gators average margin of victory in conference play was roughly 38 points, and in terms of sheer domination, that was probably the most dominant team we have ever seen in the history of SEC football, and perhaps the most dominant we will ever see, well, ever. Those guys went through the SEC last year like Lawrence Taylor in Tecmo Bowl, but fortunately they have came back to Earth a bit this year.

On the other hand, don't read too much into that. Florida has not been completely invincible this year, but they did go undefeated and for the most part they weren't seriously challenged. Only Arkansas gave them a true scare, and they won every other conference game by 10 points or more. The fact that Florida hasn't annihilated teams at the same clip as they did last year says more to the reality that last year was a once-in-a-lifetime type season more than it does about any inherent weakness in this year's Gators.

A Vertical Element in the Passing Game

Some teams throw the football down the field. We don't. And some teams throw the football to their wide receivers. But we don't do that either. Or, more precisely put, we apparently cannot do that. Oh I'm sure we would love to, but, um, you know...

In any event, it just doesn't happen. We just do not throw the football down the field, period. Again Mississippi State we threw literally two passes all day further than fifteen yards beyond the line of scrimmage, both of which came on busted coverages. Against Auburn, once again we threw literally two passes all day further than fifteen yards beyond the line of scrimmage. And we cannot get the football consistently to wide receivers not named Julio Jones, either. Against Auburn not a single wide receiver outside of Jones caught a pass, and on the year our second leading receiver in terms of receptions (Marquis Maze) is barely averaging two catches per game.

Why is that the case? I really don't know because we don't have sufficient information. It's either a function of a quarterback entirely too quick to check down, wide receivers unable to consistently get separation, or some combination of the two. My gut instinct is that it is mostly on McElroy's shoulders because he does check down very quickly, but again that's all speculation, and unless you have the coach's film to get the birds eye view of the entire play developing, you really don't have enough information to adequately assign blame.

Either way, regardless of whatever the cause of this problem happens to be, it is something we have to get fixed by the opening kick-off in Atlanta.

Brandon Spikes... the game of his life on the horizon?

Speaking of the lack of a vertical threat in the passing game, Ted Roof and the rest of the Auburn defensive coaching staff altered their defensive gameplan accordingly to that and it paid big dividends. They stuffed the box and consistently committed a lot of personnel to stopping the run. They were putting a hat on a hat for every blocker we had, and still had enough to let middle linebacker Josh Bynes roam free. Not surprisingly, Bynes had arguably his finest day at the collegiate level, racking up 10 tackles plus a tackle for a loss. He roamed free on the interior running plays and Jonathon Evans -- starting his first game -- largely did the same thing to runs on the outside, and racked up 8 tackles in his own right.

Rest assured Florida will do the same thing. They have a much better defensive line and they will commit the resources that Auburn did. That will allow Brandon Spikes to largely roam free, and if that happens he will literally end up with a tackle on basically every single interior running play. And, as an added boost to the Gators, it will make the loss of A.J. Jones a moot point.

Again, we have to find a way to throw the football vertically against these guys. If not, Spikes will have a career day and our offense will be ineffective.

The 'Bama offensive line in pass protection... a weak link?

I know what you are thinking, our offensive line a weak link in pass protection? But, they've done a great job this year on that front, right? Well, in raw terms yes they have. We have only given up 14 sacks in 316 passing attempts, and that gives us an Adjusted Sack Rate of only 4.4%. That will surely be one of, if not, the best rates in the SEC.

But that is not necessarily to say that they might not be a weak link. Yes they have protected the quarterback very well so far this year, but on the other hand they have had an easy job too. We don't throw the football down the field, we check down a lot, and the ball comes out very quickly. All in all it makes life very easy for them in pass protection. But against Florida, that will likely be a very different story. We'll have to take some shots vertically, and the Gators have a great pass rush in the front four.We'll find out a lot about just how good these guys are this weekend.

Slow starts

No putting a pretty face on this one, slow starts have plagued us all season long and that is one of the major reasons we have been forced to rally from behind in the fourth quarter three times to remain undefeated.

Florida International led us in the second quarter. LSU jumped out to an early 7-0 lead against us. The Arkansas game was scoreless going into the second quarter. The Ole Miss game was 3-0 late in the second quarter. We led Kentucky only 7-6 with 45 seconds remaining in the first half. The Tennessee game was a 3-3 game midway through the second quarter. Mississippi State had two good drives to start the game, mixed with a three and out by our offense. Auburn jumped out to a 14-0 lead before our offense even managed a first down. Hell, we even went three and out against lowly Tennessee-Chattanooga.

The only time our offense has scored a touchdown on their opening possession against a BCS conference opponent was Kentucky. The end result of our opening offensive possession the previous seven games have been as follows: punt, interception, three and out, punt, three and out, three and out, three and out. Am I the only one who wants to drop an F-bomb when reading that?

In any event, starting fast isn't everything, of course, but slow starts can sure as hell get you beat. We've been playing with fire on this front all year long, and it may very well get us burnt in Atlanta. If we come out of the gate against the Gators like we have much of the year, we may very well find ourselves down 14-0 again before the game really even gets started. And to paraphrase Verne Lundquist from a few years back, there are few certainties in an uncertain worlds, but one of them is this: Florida ain't Auburn. And we had better not start as such come Saturday.

Arenas probably won't be a factor as a returner...

Javier Arenas has been an impact player for us in the return game ever since he first stepped foot on campus in 2006, and he even had a couple of big returns for us in the Iron Bowl this past Saturday to boot. However, we probably shouldn't expect him to have any major impact in the return game come Saturday. Florida has been nothing short of perfect in kick and punt coverage this year, and return yards have been almost non-existent against them.

On the year, they've allowed only four punt returns this year for a grand total of 13 yards. They are netting almost 43 yards per punt, and basically they boom it deep and high, and usually the kick either sails out of bounds or the returner is forced to call a fair catch. Likewise, things have been very good on kick returns as well. They only have nine touchbacks on 73 kickoffs, so Arenas and company will get chances there, but the Gators are averaging only 20 yards per kick return, one of the best in the country.

So, unfortunately, you probably shouldn't expect Javier Arenas to play a big role in the return game here, and it certainly doesn't seem like our offense will get any great help from this area. On the other hand, though, if our kick coverage issues continue, rest assured Brandon James will make us pay.

All of this Ingram v. Tebow hype, don't buy it...

I notice that many of the national talking heads are already billing this one as an Ingram v. Tebow battle, but don't buy into that talk. Tebow may be that near that important just because of the position he plays, but even so this game will be decided by the group effort of 80+ players, and to be so myopic that you look at only two players is simply overestimating the value of one individual in the ultimate team sport.

Certainly our chances of winning are better if Ingram can get healthy and play at a high level, but it's far from a death knell for us if he is a relative non-factor like he was against Auburn. Both Trent Richardson and Roy Upchurch are fine players in their own right, and the drop-off from Ingram to them isn't very much. There are more important issues out there that will likely decide this game other than the Ingram situation.

Uncharted Waters

All in all, you have to keep in mind that this is a very hard game to project because this game is uncharted waters for both teams. Simply put, Alabama hasn't played a team yet that is anywhere near as good as Florida. Florida hasn't played a team that is anywhere near as good as Alabama.

The best team 'Bama has faced all season is probably either LSU or Ole Miss. Florida, on the other hand, probably faced their toughest opponent against LSU, and after that their toughest opponent may very well have been 7-5 Arkansas in Gainesville. So, again, this is uncharted territory for both squads, and this makes this game very difficult to project. There is probably a lot more inherent unpredictability in a game like this than there are in most others.

Want Meyer to go to Notre Dame?

Okay, so you want Urban Meyer to go to Notre Dame, right? Well, if you want that to be the case, you had better find a way to beat Florida on Saturday. Think about it this way... Notre Dame is probably going to fire Charlie Weis any day now, and we might even get official word today. But if Florida wins this Saturday, Meyer will be in the BCS Championship Game yet again, and Notre Dame won't even get a legitimate chance to talk to him until January 9th. In real terms, that means the Irish will probably just move on in the next couple of weeks and hire someone like Brian Kelly.

Now, admittedly, I really don't think there is much of any real chance of Meyer going to South Bend anyway. Oh I'm sure the powers that be at Notre Dame will kick the tires on him a bit -- they will definitely do that, and it would be idiotic if they didn't -- but I'd still be really surprised to see him leave Gainesville. Nevertheless, though, if you want that to even remain a viable option, you've got to find a way to knock off Florida on Saturday. Notre Dame is probably the only job that Meyer would leave Florida for, and If the Gators win in Atlanta for the second year in a row, you can guarantee that Meyer will be in Gainesville another four or five years at a minimum.

Looking Ahead: The Return Of The Troubles

mlmintampa — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:27:47 -0000

More photos » by Phil Sandlin - ASSOCIATED PRESS

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"These kids are spoiled. They don't know what it was like watching Ron Zook for three years."

As a Florida transplant, I wasn't a Real Gator Fan until I attended UF. The Gators were always my favorite college, but Danny Wuerffel and Steve Spurrier were as close to me as characters on a show. (Now I rip on current students for being lazy at games. I'm an old man.) It is one thing to attend games or watch on TV, but as a student, you see players walking around campus and going out. That exposed me to how unprofessional and unfocused the Zook Era was. How was Bubba Caldwell supposed to learn his playbook when he couldn't show up for the Age of Dinosaurs at 10:30am? Why should I have been surprised when UF blew a 23 point lead at Miami, when the players were more excited to go out the night before than playing in the game?

Those stories are few and far between now. College athletes will still skip out on class and everyone wants to go out on Friday night, but Urban Meyer's cultural change was a 180 from the Zook years. But those of us who were there wear the scars and remember the losses to inferior teams every time UF starts slow. I'm not trying to bring down the room, but Florida is looking at a 2010 season that looks more like Florida 2003 than Florida 2007.

Based on Meyer's comment that there are seven juniors that are "quality NFL players" and Jeremy Fowler's estimate of five guys, we will assume three guys; Carlos Dunlap, Joe Haden and Aaron Hernandez. All of them have an NFL body and NFL talent. There are always guys who leave after a championship who shouldn't, so we will include Emmanuel Moody, so would get more touches in the pros than in Gainesville.

Now include Tim Tebow, Riley Cooper, Jermaine Cunningham, Dustin Doe, Brandon James, David Nelson and Brandon Spikes. Throw in the loss of Charlie Strong and Steve Addazio (fingers crossed!), and you're looking at a legitimate rebuilding season.

I think most people trust John Brantley, but any concerns about the loss of Tebow was stifled by having a high quality backup. How many of you trust Jordan Reed to handle the ball next season? The defense should be ok, with enough guys in the pipeline to take over (Brendan Beal, Jelani Jenkins, we've seen Jaye Howard and Omar Hunter), but who would take Strong's duties? Even if you do trust Brantley, do you trust Andre Debose coming back from surgery, when it seems like every Florida player returning from surgery gets hurt again? (Cornelius Ingram, Dorian Munroe. Apparently UF's team surgeon uses push pins and Elmers' glue. The failure of those surgeries is a story on its own.) Plus, without Cooper and Hernandez, who is going to catch Brantley's rockets? I don't see UF wasting Brantley's arm and sticking with the running game like they have done this season. But I also don't see TJ Lawrence and Omarius Hines as the answer.

The cupboard isn't bare, but playing at Tennessee, at Alabama, at FSU and dealing with improved Georgia and LSU, Florida 2010 doesn't look good. Just something to think about between your weekly heart attacks during Gator games.

Three We Need To Trust For Saturday

mlmintampa — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:36:06 -0000

Saturday's game against Kentucky will be one day short of the year anniversary of Florida's loss to Ole Miss. Since then, the fortunes and scope of Florida Football has changed for the better. But that was also a perfect storm, as Texas, Penn State, USC and Alabama all lost, creating a cluster of one loss teams. Florida's charge following the Ole Miss game, and defeating the No. 1 team in the nation in consecutive games, finally secured them the No. 1 ranking. If you expect the same results in 2009, should Florida lose, you'll be wrong. There is no requirement that a defending champion gets to defend their title.

That is why Florida may have to lean on three of their healthiest guys right now as the team fights off the flu bug to end all flu bugs. Those guys are Tim Tebow (mildly shocking, I know), Brandon James (again, shocking), and Emmanuel Moody (wait, what?). I'm still upset at the quality of play calls in the Tennessee game, but with the flu bug spreading from students and into the football complex, not taking shots downfield and using your senior quarterback with 100,000 miles on the odometer seems like a good idea. Of course, in regards to Tebow, that should not be happening. That is why Brandon James, at least until the flu bug stops, needs to be the featured back. He is far more valuable on offense rather than splitting time on special teams. If Florida is supposed to have all these fast dudes, there should be someone to fill James' role on returns.

In addition, the push-and-pull around Moody's playing time is an embarassment. Moody has 7% of the touches this season (14 of 180; 7% is the same percentage as last year) and is a big back who can move the pile. His run against Tennessee proved that. Yet, Moody is being held out for either not being ready, not being healthy, or as a pawn in Urban Meyer's head games. Hopefully, it's not any of the three. With Moody not being used and James used even less (8 of 180 possible touches, plus 13 returns), it's time for Florida to start getting creative. If they want to control the clock and avoid pitching it to sick or inexperienced wides, that's fine. But safe is death and Florida is not in a position to think the same ideas will win again.

Tennessee-Florida post game awards

Joel — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:22:17 -0000

More photos » by John Raoux - AP

2 months ago: Florida quarterback Tim Tebow (15) fumbles the ball as he is hit by Tennessee defensive tackle Montori Hughes (93) and Tennessee linebacker Rico McCoy, left, during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Tennessee recovered the ball, and went on to score a touchdown. Florida won 23-13. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

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Best particle accelerator. That Eric Berry/Tim Tebow collision. Sure, Berry went backwards, but Tebow had the advantage of a bigger head of steam, and both ended up on the ground. An usher later discovered the Higgs Boson in Section B, Row 13.

Best defensive play, I. Berry, who baited Tebow into throwing to the corner, jumped the route, and got his arms underneath a low, fast pass for one of two Tebow turnovers in the game.

Best defensive play, II. With Florida inching toward the end zone to get into blowout territory, an unidentified Tennessee defender (Montori Hughes? Rico McCoy? That other guy at the bottom of the pile over there?) stripped Tebow of the football, and Dennis Rogan scooped it up and returned it 35 yards. Tennessee then seized the opportunity and scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive.

Best offensive play. Montario Hardesty and the offensive line, who scored the first touchdown against the Gators this season.

Best swing. That Tebow fumble up there and the ensuing Hardesty TD put the score at 23-13 instead of what would likely have been 30-6.

Worst offensive squandering of an opportunity, I. Gerald Jones, who ran out of bounds in the end zone while Jonathan Crompton was completing a pass to him on a roll out.

Worst offensive squandering of an opportunity, II. Crompton's too-straight and too-shallow pass to Jones on the opening drive of the third quarter, which was picked off by Florida's Joe Hayden. The Vols took a good kickoff return and some momentum and turned it into a turnover and a very poor third quarter.

Worst defensive squandering of an opportunity. The sack that wasn't. After holding Florida to a field goal on its first drive of the third quarter, the defense had Tebow practically sacked at two different times at 3rd and three on their next drive. Instead, Tebow outmanuevered the defense for a first down, and the Gators went on to score a touchdown on that drive to extend the lead to 23-6.

Best (worst?) dubious information. That Berry wears the No. 14 because his mother was in labor with him for 14 hours, according to Bob Kesling on Sunday's Lane Kiffin show.

Best question and answer. A viewer of the Lane Kiffin show asked Kiffin why he kicked off directly to Brandon James. Kiffin answered that you couldn't have kicked it out of bounds because the Gators would have made them kick it off again five yards deeper. Because you can only kick away from him on punts, they simply challenged their guys to do a good job in kickoff coverage. Eddie Gran later explained that the kick is supposed to be on the numbers, though, instead of right in the middle of the field.

Best discipline. Is it true that there have been no defensive penalties and only five penalties combined in two games?

Best stat. Tennessee has outscored its opponents 40-0 in the fourth quarter so far this season. That group bounce that the team does just before the fourth quarter actually means something.

Defensive Player of the Game. Eric Berry, who had 11 tackles (9 solo), 2 solo tackles for a loss, and 1 interception.

Offensive Player of the Game. Montario Hardesty, who rushed 20 times for 96 yards and the team's only touchdown. He also caught one pass for four yards. All of this despite the lack of a serious passing threat, Hardesty and the run game kept the Gators' high-powered offense off the field for much of the day and gave the team a WIN in the all-important public opinion game.

What have we missed?

Poseur LiveBlogs

Poseur — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:55:10 -0000

This could go very poorly, but I'm sitting on my couch, flipping through about ten games it seems. I've already made the early run to the grocery store, so I plan on watching the games for the rest of the day. So, being bored and having a blog, I'm trying one of those liveblog things. This could suck.

11:53 AM. Jahvid Best is really, really good. I don't think the Gophers receiver was in the end zone, but he got popped so hard I'm willing to let him have it. Though I am mad at the announcers for trying to call it a dirty hit. The DB's helmet came nowhere near the receiver. Can we stop trying to turn football into chess? Helmet to helmet hits are bad, but let's only outlaw helmet to helmet, not all hard hits.

11:58 AM. Penn St is struggling with Temple. Temple. I don't have the words. Michigan has a Notre Dame hangover and is tied 10-10, but I don't think that will last. But, of the struggling top 25 teams, I'm interested in UNC. I don't think they are all that good and they struggled with a mediocre UConn team. Now they are tied 7-7 with ECU, who is pretty decent. ECU's gonna take over inside UNC territory. Go Pirates!

12:07. That didn't take long. Penn St scores. Michigan scores twice to go up 24-10.

12:15. I get a sandwich. Best scores another touchdown. There ought to be a rule against this guy. I know the Heisman is sort of a joke, but the Pac-10 has their candidate.

12:28. Don't let teams up off the mat. Cal was killing Minnesota. It was 21-7 with less than 2 minutes left and then Cal commits a silly fair catch penalty to give the Gophers great field position. Gophers take advantage and score a few plays later and now its a 21-14 game at the half. This is completely self-inflicted. Do not let teams back in the game, particularly on the road. Now, the Minnesota crowd is rocking and there's gonna be a game in the second half. Stupid, stupid penalty. I thought kids who went to Berkley were supposed to be smart.

12:39. Saban just called timeout so Bama can attempt a field goal, already up 27-0 against North Texas. Now 30-0. He's a great coach, but wow, he really is a jackass. It's North Texas, coach. It's probably the right call, it just feels sort of icky.

12:47. I hate to rag on another team's traditions because everything looks kind of silly when it's not you. But the Purdue steam whistle is irritatingly dumb. I don't think that could fire me up if I was reborn as a Boilermaker fan.

12:54. Cal continues to implode. The defense starts off the half by getting a three and out, with a sack on third down as an exclamation mark. Then the punt hits a blocker. That's the second huge special teams miscue in this game. Cal is ahead on yards 274-113, but they just keep doing stupid things to let Minnesota hang around. This is how you lose to teams that you are much better than.

12:58. The Gophers fumble the ball back. Jesus.

1:01. The Perfect Brownie pan is no Snuggie. Besides, the gooey inside pieces are the best ones. No one likes the corner brownie. It's all crusty. Perfect brownie, my ass.

1:04. Kentucky dodged a bullet as Louisville's field goal attempt clanked off the uprights. But that was set up by great pass coverage on third down. Give credit to the defense for holding after the offense put them in a terrible position. Only to have the offense turn the ball over again.

1:13. Why shouldn't a quarterback always attempt to ground the ball instead of taking the sack? The penalty is a spot foul and loss of down, the exact thing that would have happened had the QB just eaten the ball and taken the sack. I never understand why more QB's don't attempt to try and get away with a grounding. What do you have to lose? The Louisville QB grounded the ball, but it didn't cost them a field goal opportunity. The turnovers finally caught up to Kentucky, even though they still have a 17-13 lead.

1:20. DECKER!!! Eric Decker has now added a touchdown pass to his two TD receptions. He's just been amazing in this game, and is giving Best a run for his money for Best Player on the Field. Minnesota has tied it up! Great playcall inside the 10.

1:25. Michigan scores on Denard Robinson's run. The Wolverines are up 38-14 so we can safely stop paying attention to it. Purdue is still losing to Northern Illinois, in an almost unwatchable game. Trust me, I've tried. Penn St. is still beating Temple, but the score is 24-6 late in the third. As much as I hate "style points," PSU's schedule is a joke. If you are going to play the Blind Sisters of the Poor each week, all you can do is earn style points. All I've learned about the Nittany Lions is that they are better than some awful teams. It's embarrasing for the sport they can play this many patsies in a row. They have done nothing to justify their lofty rankings and really, they should be winning these games by a much larger margin. It's time to start punishing them for their schedule.

1:33. Awful, awful, AWFUL pass interference call. That was terrific coverage by Cal. Cal's getting punished for playing great defense. And the announcers are actually trying to justify the call. They are wrong. It was awful.

1:37. You make the call. Down by 10, 6:33 left in the game. You just gained four yards on 3rd and 5 to set up 4th and 1 at the 5 yard line. Kick or go for it? Skip Holtz opted for the field goal. I think he'll regret it. UNC is up 7.

1:43. Cal's offense has gone into the tank. They have just gotten their first first down at the half. On third and forever. For a huge gain. Does this finally wake the Bears up?

1:46. Worst call of the day. The UNC QB throws it away, but an ECU blitzer is then blocked into the QB by an offensive lineman. He's flagged for roughing the QB. Once again, you should always ground the football. UNC scores on a short run two plays later. Game over.

1:51. Cal, Purdue, and Louisville score touchdowns at almost precisely the same time. The Cardinals TD was a go ahead score, but the Boilermakers are still down by 7. And blowing that stupid whistle again. How is Cal only leading by seven?

1:54. Minnesota finds the flaw in my ground-the-ball theory. When in the grasp of the opposing team, do not then throw the ball directly to the safety.

1:57. Louisville fumbles the punt. Kentucky is in business, down by 4. Sure, it's been sloppy, but it's been exciting.

1:59. Way to go, Tedford. Up by 7 and on the 35 with 5:00 to play, Cal goes for it on fourth and inches. They get it. I love that call. Cal's offense is the better unit than the defense, so put it in the hands of your offense. Great call.

2:03. First down, Huskies! Northern Illinois looks like they have sealed the first upset of the day. Purdue never really showed signs off life.

2:06. Ho hum. Best scores another touchdown. 35-21 Cal. Time to focus on the Kentucky-Lousville, which is becoming a "whoever has the ball last, wins" sort of game.

2:10. I spoke too soon. There are 25 seconds left in the Purdue game and its 4th and 1. NIU will punt. And Kentucky got a huge interception against Louisville with less than 2 minutes left.

2:12. Incomprehensible call. Purdue calls the hook and lateral, but the lateral goes over the running back's head. NIU recovered the fumble but the refs somehow called it an incomplete pass. Then, Purdue follows that up with an underneath route with 1 second left, needing to gain 60 yards. I'm baffled.

2:20. Knock it down!

2:38. Brandon James. Still good. And that was an egregious face mask. Is Verne Lundquist drinking? How did he miss that?

2:40. Monte Kiffin tries to bail out his kid. But Florida goes for it on fourth.... and gets it. The Gators want blood. They would've kicked against 80% of their foes. Not UT. Not today.

2:44. Two straight plays the refs gave the Hokies a short spot. I thought they got both the 1st down and the touchdown. Both times, VT had to wait a play to convert. No big deal, really. Oh, and USC has already scored a touchdown. Aaron Corp is starting, surprising no one.

2:47. Give the Vols credit. They gave UF some great field position, but the defense bailed them out, keeping the Gators to a field goal. That's a great job by the elder Kiffin.

2:51. Jonathan Crompton is sacked, preventing him from throwing the ball. Perhaps that is for the best. Or the Vols could take EDSBS on his suggestion, and start a giant catfish at QB.

2:54. Crompton's molestache is really distracting. Perhaps that is how the Vols are moving the ball so well. Because this has been a real impressive drive.

3:02. It has been a good drive, even if it's been predictable: run, run, run. The Vols, rightfully, have no faith in Crompton. They even ran on third and nearly 20. Just taking the field goal. But they are following the plan on how to beat Tebow: keep him off the field. Ball control is the way to go. Excellent drive.

3:06. Beamer Ball breaks down. The Huskers have a huge return to reverse the field. It's not often you see VT's special team get burnt.

3:08. Yeah, Jake Locker is good. Big pass followed up by a touchdown run. I sort of hate him. UW needed that badly to keep USC from opening up too big of a lead. 10-7 is manageable.

3:14. Obligatory Oregon uniform joke. Oh, and that receiver was ridiculously open.

3:19. I know we're an LSU blog and therefore can only say negative things about USC, but I absolutely love the way Carroll consistently goes for it on fourth down. Sure, they fumbled and UW recovered, but I love the attitude of "we are always attacking." Oh, and Tebow scores another TD. Inching closer to Faulk and Walker.

Quick aside: it's shameful the way LSU fails to hype it's greatest athletes. How was JaMarcus Russell not a Heisman contender? Why is Kevin Faulk not spoken of in the reverntial tones he deserves? All-Time NCAA Yardage Leader. Yet I'm always surprised when he is on a list with the likes of Walker and Tebow.

3:31: Middle Tennessee St 13, Maryland 7. 2nd quarter.

3:34. Eric Berry! I think he had it. Right now its Offensive PoY versus Defensive Poy and the D is winning. Huge play if it stands.

3:38. Why call a pass play inside the five? Why?! And why on earth do you do it twice?

3:40. Garbage roughing the passing call. Look, Locker is a mobile QB, he's gonna take borderline hits. And the hit wasn't all that borderline. Let them play.

3:46. Nebraska kicks ANOTHER field goal. You gotta get touchdowns... and that is why you don't blitz Tebow. It leaves the middle screen wide open.

3:49. Tim Tebow is such a good runner due to his effort. I love how he doesn't give up on busted plays.

3:56. Just about a perfect first half for Tennessee. They have done everything they wanted to do, and are only down 6. Florida is obviously better, they just can't seem to put it all together.

3:58. What a huge play by the Huskies defense. USC's two minute drill was rolling and they moved the ball 50 yards in about 30 seconds. On 3rd and 1 and no timeouts, the run play is dropped in the backfield. USC couldn't get out there in time for a field goal. That play saved UW 3 points. Great play.

Who feels better about the LSU-UW game? Anyone?

4:09. Terrible punt by Oregon. Utah has to take advantage. Down by 14, you need to at least get 3 before the half.

4:14. I like the call to go for it, but I hated the play call. Why call a pass with only one option? If you're gonna make a call that poor, might as well kick the field goal. Utah is down 14 at the half. Ouch.

4:21. Why on earth did MSU call a timeout?

4:26. Tennessee picked up where they left off. The defense is keeping them in this game. And, if you let a team hang around, an upset can happen.

4:30. Speaking of guys who got away (see the comments), Joe McKnight made a nice move there. BS call to give a first down when the coach tripped over the ref.

4:33. 3rd and 21. Kiffin calls a run. Absolutely no faith in the passing game.

4:38. Tebow vs. Berry. Berry wins the battle again, but Tebow is winning the war.

4:42. USC fumbled inside the 10. I was positive the runner's knee was down but it was not overturned. Self-inflicted wounds...

4:48. It was harder than they would have liked, but UF is blowing this game open. Speaking of blowing it open, Oregon just scored another touchdown. This hurts not only Utah but BYU. BYU needs quality wins.

4:55. Aaron Corp threw into double coverage. It ended the way you would expect, with the ball in the arms of Donald Butler. Washington still hanging around.

5:00. Locker missed a wide open man. I like him and the way he plays, but you cannot miss wide open men on 3rd and 6 in a tie game. Bad time for a bad pass. As you can tell, I'm slowly losing interest in UF-UT. They are gashing off big run after big run.

5:04. 4th and goal from the 38. That's a goal line stand. Bud Foster comes through again. How often does a team have 1st and goal from the five and then be forced to punt?

5:06. Tebow fumbles. Weather in hell said to be unchanged.

5:07. Oregon fumbles. Utah returns it for a touchdown. If BYU fans partied, they would tie would on right now. 28-24, UO. Utah is back from the dead.

5:10. When executed properly, the screen pass is one of my favorite plays in football. Locker just threw a beautiful screen which went for 12 and very well could have gone for 40. UW is moving the ball and, shudder to think, looks like the better, more confident team right now.

5:16. I hate wasting timeouts in a close game. Hate it. The timeout is more valuable as a clock tool in the last two minutes. Really, what play is UW gonna call that will convert 3rd and 21? Send in a play, run it, hope it makes a first but if not, kick the damn field goal. But save the timeout.

5:18. Verne: "Blitz. No, zone blitz." Me: /slams head.

5:21. This is when an upset bid can go awry. UW is up 13-10 and kicking to USC. If the Trojans drive down the field, they can shut this crowd up. UW can't feel like they've already pulled the upset. There's a lot of football left.

5:26. Could the VT-Nebraska game be any more dull?

5:29. Going conservative with the playbook was a bad idea. It's a three-point game against USC. You think that lead will hold? And then a huge punt return. Conservative play is a terrible idea in a game like this. Go for the jugular.

5:34. Huge stop. Didn't just stop the first down, but dropped him for a loss. USC maybe goes for it on 4th and 2. But, it's all tied. Game of the day.

5:37. VT's defense deserves better. 15-10? One first down for the Hokie offense in the second half?

5:40. That pass is how legends are made. 3rd and 15 conversion.

5:42. 3rd and 2. Locker rolls out and gets it! And they ran important clock. USC will not get the ball back. Now, think about winning it.

5:44. Oregon plays for a field goal up by 4 on the 15. That allows Utah to have one last chance at the win. I hate calls like that. Go for it.

5:45. The biggest play in the last decade for Washington right there.

5:47. I hate going for a field goal. Should've gone for the TD at least once.

5:48. Wow. Just, wow.

5:49. Loved seeing Locker hold guys on the sideline. What a heady kid! CHARGE THE FIELD!!! YOU EARNED IT, HUSKY FANS!!!!

Now, on to the LSU game... I'm out.

Sprints Is Open to Becoming President of the NCAA // 09.18.09

cocknfire — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:43:57 -0000

More photos » by JOE RAYMOND - AP

The last time Georgia gave us one of its high-ranking officials as a national figure in college football.

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I miss Myles Brand even more already. Georgia's problem could soon be our problem, as UGA President Michael Adams is reportedly one of the favorites to take over the NCAA presidency after the death of Myles Brand.

Adams and Brand were close, having known each other for more than 20 years. On a few occasions, Brand would cite Adams as one of the pre-eminent university presidents in the nation.

"I'd never talk publicly about two things, jobs or money. I love the University of Georgia. My plan is to be here until retirement," Adams told the Associated Press Thursday. "My plan is to help facilitate the NCAA getting a search started and getting somebody in place to succeed Myles."

A rough translation of Adams' remarks would be: "Show me the dotted line."

Georgia fans are understandably torn about this. I always thought their complaints about Adams were overblown, but I can't necessarily disagree with them that he would not be at the top of most college football fans' list of favorite people were he to become the head of the Association.

While "Adams Steps Down" has the mellifluous sound of a choir of angels, might he do college football more harm than good as NCAA President? Adams is a well known, if poorly received, advocate of a playoff system. Current contractual arrangements notwithstanding, he would certainly be in a position to impose a playoff system as NCAA President. BCS fans, take heart because he is also a well known hypocrite and sellout.

Personally, my favorites are Lou Holtz and Chief Illiniwek. But maybe that's just me.

TENNESSEE-FLORIDA

Monte Kiffin doesn't believe in The Plan
Boy Wonder has long said his comments were part of a plan to put Tennessee back on the map. Maybe he should tell dad.

But he didn’t really intend to do it. ... Just got excited and said a couple things, wasn’t meant to disrespect anyone.

Can we all now admit that Lane had no carefully crafted blueprint for returning Tennessee to prominence and was just shooting off his mouth?

Florida fans might unwittingly turn themselves into Tennessee fans
Rocky Top Talk's hooper finds an, um, interesting reason for the Vols faithful to hope rumors that Florida fans will follow up a win by singing "Rocky Top" are true. I think the term is "reverse psychology ."

The smart way to handle Brandon James
Kick the ball out of bounds on punts.

The dumb way to handle Brandon James
"Challenge" him. Ask Phil Fulmer how that usually works out.

Wideout undergoes surgery
Andre Debose had his expected surgery Thursday.

OTHER NEWS

Reports of Julio Jones and Roy Upchurch playing are greatly exaggerated
Nick Saban hints that neither will take the field against North Texas.

The NCAA's first Adams initiative: Trash police
Stay classy, Athens.

Whole tailgate tents left half-standing. Abandoned portable grills. Urination in campus doorways. Defecation. Trash strewn everywhere.

"Some 70 tons of trash" had to be cleaned up by UGA workers after the South Carolina game. Kudos to the Georgia fans and blogs who have called this out, but as always Michael Adams finds a way to go overboard.

The city's open-container law is not enforced south of Broad Street on game days and police are generally more tolerant than they would be the other 358 days of the year.""We don't want to get a reputation like a British soccer crowd," Adams said. "I don't want to start arresting people or have a heavy police presence."

It's that kind of balanced perspective that puts you in line to run the Association.

Even with an easy schedule, you have to win
A Sea of Blue labels this week's game with Louisville "critical."

The path to a bowl requires at least one major upset if Kentucky loses this game, and even though that is always possible, it is also possible that UK will lose a game in which they are favored, as they have almost every year.

I could make a point here about an SEC team needing a win against a lightly-regarded Big East team to back up its hopes of bowl eligibility, but I won'-- oops.

Winning the easy ones might not help Mississippi State
The Bulldogs have a tough schedule this year, maybe even by SEC standards.

If State finishes the season having played six teams that are ranked at the time of the game, that will be the first such time in school history that feat has occurred. State has played five ranked teams in a season six times — 2007 (8-5), 2005 (3-8), 1988 (1-10), 1983 (3-8), 1982 (5-6) and 1981 (8-4).

That's a combined winning percentage of .406 against slates that are less difficult than this one.

There should be an award for things like this
And The Valley Shook actually goes to the effort to preview Louisiana-Lafayette. Of course, unlike Louisville, ULL has defeated a BCS team since October.

LSU-North Carolina fallout continues
Louisiana-Monroe is now on next year's schedule for the Tigers.

Be nice
Roll Bama Roll wants input on its new logo.[para] Which brings me to a related question: Our logo is the best the SBN graphics person could do with my idea. Thoughts on the TSK emblem?

Classic Moments In Championship Mode: Cold Blooded Brandon James vs. Tennessee, 2007-2008

mlmintampa — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:00:20 -0000

From the student side in 2007, which includes the usual student reaction to any play; cheering, silence, clapping, yelling, randomly jumping into people while screaming.

In 2008, Brandon James brings it back again vs. the Vols, with Mick Hubert providing the narration.