SB Nation - Carl Moore

The Fatal Flaws

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

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.

Three Keys for Florida

Year2 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:00:17 -0000

Stop the run without sacrificing play action coverage.

Florida can afford to spend some extra effort in stopping Alabama's running game thanks to having a clearly good pass defense. The trick though is to do that without allowing Alabama play action game to get going. Too little attention has been paid to Bama TE Colin Peek and how he's one of Greg McElroy's favorite targets after faking a hand off. He can do some damage.

Florida will probably go to man coverage when loading the box, which means a linebacker will likely have to recognize Peek on a pass route and cover him. Brandon Spikes will be in run support far more often than not, so how Ryan Stamper and Brandon Hicks cover Peek will be vital to stopping the Tide attack.

Be able to find someone other than Cooper and Hernandez on third down.

The scouting report is crystal clear at this point. On third down, Tim Tebow generally goes through three progressions: look for Riley Cooper, look for Aaron Hernandez, and then take off. Alabama knows this, and so do the Florida coaches through self scouting.

Last year, little used targets Carl Moore and David Nelson caught touchdown passes on third down. Nelson is back, and Deonte Thompson is pretty good too. Florida has to be willing to go to those guys on third down because it's unlikely that the excellent Bama secondary will leave Cooper and Hernandez open. The primary targets are primary targets for a reason, and they'll get their shares of the third down throws. However, those two alone won't be enough to defeat the Tide.

Win the fourth quarter again.

There is a reason why Florida is a dominant fourth quarter team. Tebow just doesn't wear down over the course of a game as you might expect, and everyone goes through Mickey Marotti's hellish yet extremely effective off season conditioning program. Not only that, but depth in key places like defensive line allow the coaches to rotate liberally and keep players fresh.

It's very unlikely either team will put this one away after 45 minutes. It almost certainly will come down to who wins the fourth quarter again, and UF would appear to have an advantage in that regard once more. They will need to do what they do best: finish stronger than the other guys. That's no small feat against Alabama, but it will need to be done.

Dropping The Ball

mlmintampa — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:07:06 -0000

More photos » by Rogelio V. Solis - AP

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During training camp this past spring and summer, two things were supposed to happen on offense; Tim Tebow's throwing motion was finally going to be fixed, and the receiving corps would pick their 3 and 4 options after Riley Cooper and Aaron Hernandez went up the ladder.

Neither of those things have happened.

Tebow is even more lazy now with the ball, nearly starting his wind up from his hip. At this point, Tim Wakefield has a quicker release than Tebow. There is no excuse for this. In his fourth year, he should be committed to doing things the right way, not his way. It doesn't matter if he is still completing more than 60% of his passes. Anyone can throw an accurate ball short, which is what UF has been doing. This team is never going downfield, despite Deonte Thompson sliding across your TV the past few weeks with his hand in the air. If Tebow had a quicker release, he could execute his decisions quicker, which is desperately needed since everyone is blitzing and stunting UF's line into submission.

Scot Loeffler was supposed to turn Tebow into Tom Brady or Chad Henne, but a few months was not going to change 20 years of a bad throwing motion. He should have been better council for Tebow in terms of checking his emotions as a quarterback. The interception that Mississippi State returned was a throw Tebow thought he could make because he is Tim Tebow. It had no chance. While those plays are few and far between, taking off after the first read is covered is another example of Tebow's emotions getting to him. He thinks no one else can do the job, so he has to. Loeffler was supposed to be the voice of reason and stepping into the pocket, and he has not done his job.

Steve Addazio and Billy Gonzales deserve a large share of scorn too. Addazio has done a servicable job in putting together an o-line without last year's starting tackles, but the unit looks lost on some plays. As offensive coordinator, he could protect these guys more, but has not chosen to do so. In addition, it took until last week for Addazio to finally move his line around, with pulling guards providing a nice convoy for UF's backs outside the tackles. This is an example of how Addazio lacks the creativity to be a coordinator. He is not using plays that stretch the limits and plays that should work, are not working. (Why is no one open on playaction passes?) Gonzales shoulders the burden too for running a receivers unit that has given UF two studs and a bunch of bums. It is not his fault Carl Moore and Andre Debose are injured, but he's had all year to figure this out. He's also conspired with Addazio in setting Florida's offense back to 1979. If he has as much authority with red zone offense as Addazio with the rest, then he is just as guilty of crapping the bed as Addazio is between the 20s.

Of course, Tebow, Loeffler, Addazio and Gonzales are members of the conspiracy while Urban Meyer is the leader. I think Meyer was aware that this was not going to be easy. But instead of demanding more accountability from the major actors, he seems willing to pass everything off as part of the process. I appreciate him taking responsibility while being delicate, but if you were like me, you were excited to see him yell at Addazio in the first half. Meyer has to stop being his coaches' friend and make them figure this out. You don't win National Championships by assuming you have the most talent or that eventually you'll play better. You do it by working harder than the other guy. Judging what this group has done since the spring, you have a good reason to doubt if they've been putting in the necessary work.

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.

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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.

Where Does Florida Go From Here?

Year2 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:30:14 -0000

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It wasn't the epic beat down that all the experts were predicting. There was no domination. Instead of calling timeouts at the end, Urban Meyer was shaking Tennessee players' hands after it was over to tell them good game.

This Florida team didn't look like the one from the second half of last season that steamrolled everything in its path. It looked like the one from the first half of last year that played things conservatively and won by much more modest margins. In some ways it looked frighteningly like Meyer's 2005 team, which was the worst of his tenure. Here's a look at what happened on Saturday and what the champs can do to get their groove back.

WHAT HAPPENED

They got beat up front.

The Florida offensive line is still not set and ready, and it really showed. Tennessee has an excellent defensive line, and any time Tim Tebow dropped back to throw something deeper than 10 yards, the pocket collapsed around him. The Florida coaches have a philosophy that anyone who earns playing time should get it, even the offensive line. As a result there were guys rotating in and out throughout, which didn't help anything. They need to pick their best five and go with it.

On the other side, the banged up Tennessee line did a good job of patching things together and playing well. The Florida defensive line was held back by Jermaine Cunningham having the flu and Brandon Spikes, who often lines up as a defensive end, having tendinitis in his Achilles.

Spikes' injury also caused him to be conspicuously absent in supporting the line against the run during his normal linebacking duties. It is no coincidence that Spikes missed most of the second half, and it is the second half when the defense began playing a lot better. A full speed backup, in this case Dustin Doe, was better than the half speed Spikes. With all the depth that the team has, it's a small wonder that Cunningham and Spikes played at all.

Wide receiver is at critical condition.

Senior Carl Moore is out with a back injury. Freshman five star recruit Andre Debose is out for the season with a hamstring injury. Deonte Thompson missed the game with a hamstring pull. Riley Cooper pinched a nerve on the first series of the game. Even tight end Aaron Hernandez had the flu.

Of the team's six top pass catching targets, three missed the game and only one, David Nelson, was fully healthy. That's not an excuse, that's an explanation. I can't name many teams that could put together a full passing attack with that kind of attrition among the receiving ranks. With Thompson out and Cooper slowed, Florida was without a deep passing threat. With the Tennessee line winning up front on longer passing plays to boot, the vertical passing game never had a shot.

But just as important as the guys who didn't play because of injury were the guys who didn't play and were healthy: Omarius Hines, Frankie Hammond, and T.J. Lawrence. These three redshirt freshmen are along with Debose the future of the position in Gainesville, and apparently none practiced well enough to see the field. This was especially surprising in the case of Hines, who got meaningful snaps against Troy and looked good in them.

Too much conservatism.

Or, the right amount if you're only concerned with winning and not style points.

Years from now, we will all probably look back at the 2007 season and wonder what exactly it was that caused Urban Meyer to break from his conservative streak so early in the season. In every other year, now including this one thanks to Saturday, he comes out at the beginning of seasons and plays things close to the vest.

In past years, he explained the flood of runs up the middle as trials to see how tough his team was. This week it was a reaction to Tennessee's demeanor:

"I didn't feel like they were going after the win," Meyer said. "They wanted to shorten the game. I think that was the plan. There are 10 minutes to go and they're not in a no-huddle. It's 23-6 and no urgency (on UT's part).

"The way we lose a game there is throw an interception. Why put yourself in that position. Let's find a way to win the game. We're not trying to impress the pollsters, we're trying to win the game. A lot of it had to do with the way they were playing. It made our life a little easier."

You could also see it in all the Tebow runs. When Meyer gets unsettled, as his nervous tick of running his hands through his hair betrayed plenty of times on Saturday, he leans on the players he trusts most, and he trusts no one more than Tebow. The quarterback had 24 carries, four more than the rest of the team combined. Jeff Demps, though slowed by a 101 degree fever, averaged 7.8 yards per carry, Chris Rainey averaged 7.1, and Emmanuel Moody was the best of them with 11 yards a carry. But remember the thing about trust? Moody is the least trusted of the three and only got three carries on the game.

I don't want to sell Tennessee's defense short here, which was fantastic and outplayed Florida's offense on many occasions. Monte Kiffin was in the team's heads all week in practice, and he called a very good game. He moved Eric Berry all over the place and nearly every time had his prized safety in position to make a play. However, ol' Monte got some help from the other side too.

NOW WHAT?

Obviously, the schedule sets up nicely for the Gators over the next couple weeks. The road game at Kentucky could end up a very dangerous contest if the Wildcats learn to get out of their own way by Saturday. However, Florida could probably gut it out in the same way they did against the Vols if need be, allowing the talent gap between the teams to be the difference. After that, it's a bye week before the road trip to LSU.

Now that Florida has had its first big test of the season, it's time to evaluate what needs to happen to stay on track to accomplish its goals.

Get healthy, or at least play the healthy guys.

It floors me that the coaches seem to trust the unproven depth on the offensive line, as evidenced by the constant rotation, but not the experienced depth on the defense, as evidenced by them playing guys like Cunningham and Spikes who were nowhere near 100% ready to go.

If Spikes is hurt, use fellow leader Ryan Stamper and play talented guys like Doe and Brandon Hicks. If Cunningham is struggling with the flu, lean on Justin Trattou, Carlos Dunlap, and some of the young guys waiting to break out like William Green to pick up the slack. If Demps has a fever, ride Rainey and Moody. Only the MASH unit at receiver has no real proven second options, but would it hurt to put Hines or Hammond out there just to see what they can do? Probably not.

Take care of the ball.

The Gators have now lost five turnovers in the past two weeks. The fumbles against Troy were sort of understandable because of the rain, but not everyone fumbles six times during a storm. Eric Berry's interception was a magnificent play, but Tebow's fumble late against UT came from him trying too hard and putting the ball where a defender could strip it instead of just taking a nice gain and being happy.

At some point, someone is really going to make them pay for their indiscretions as Ole Miss did a year ago. Maybe it's Kentucky this weekend with the newly dangerous Mike Hartline to Randall Cobb connection. It could be LSU in a couple weeks, or Ryan Mallett with his cannon arm. No team wins championships of any kind turning it over this much.

Try to block out the hype.

In last year's revenge game for Florida, Brandon Spikes leveled Knowshon Moreno on the first Georgia drive of the game. It seemed to loosen the team up. No such play did the same in this year's revenge game, and the team looked tight for most of it.

That big play at the beginning isn't going to be there most weeks. The external pressure is only going to intensify thanks to voters (UF is now the unanimous No. 1 in the Coaches' Poll) and other powers (like Oklahoma and USC) falling away.

While the game against Tennessee was never in serious doubt for a lot of reasons, there are better teams looming ahead. If the pressure contributed any to the less-than-championship caliber performance over the weekend, a loss or two will be waiting for them ahead.

The good news is that had the tackling on defense been better, Tennessee would have had about 50-75 fewer yards. For all the struggles, the defense was still very, very good and will probably continue to be. Since defense wins championships, that's going to be the most important thing going forward.

Road To Pasadena: OMG WHOZ GUNNA CATCH TEH BALLZ

mlmintampa — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:25:58 -0000

I had planned on writing this edition of "Road To Pasadena" about Riley Cooper and how the most underrated man-child on the team could be this year's Lou Murphy. But then David Nelson has a panic attack in this morning's Gainesville Sun;

"Yes, to be honest with you, I'm worried," senior wide receiver David Nelson said. "We've got some guys that need to step up. That's a work in progress. That's the main concern right now on the team, our depth at wide receiver."

A senior member of the receiving corps will have a much more pessimistic perspective on the situation than Tebow (who seems to think there are 6 or 7 who can play right now). The problem is that behind Nelson, Cooper, Brandon James, Deonte Thompson and Aaron Hernandez, it's an injured guy (Carl Moore, assuming Andre Debose gets surgery) and two freshmen; Frankie Hammond and T.J. Lawrence.

But we knew going in that receiver would be a problem. That's why Jeff Demps, Emmanuel Moody and Chris Rainey will be leaned on. That's why you may see Tebow in a more traditional formation, putting more blockers out in front. (Although double-TE looks unlikely as a walk-on is the second tight end.) Nelson's reaction is as if he went to practice Monday and was surprised Harvin and Murphy were no longer on the team.

As for the five front runners, all can be trusted, save for Thompson. Nelson became a Man with his performances in the SEC and BCS Championship Games, Cooper and James never take a play off (but Cooper needs to be a better route runner), and Hernandez is a badass. Plus, Thompson isn't trusted because he was playing behind studs. On any other team, he's a No. 1 guy. In addition, Demps' hands are improving. Rainey will need more than the three catches he got last season and who knows if Moody knows how to use his hands. If you thought this would be easy, you were wrong. Repeating is harder than winning the first one, especially without your top-two receivers. But it's not impossible.

SEC 2009 // Meet the New Gators, Same as the Old Gators

Year2 — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:30:09 -0000

More photos » by Phil Sandlin - AP

Florida safety Dee Finlley pulls in a pass in the rain as the Gator freshman football team opened their season practice. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

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Had I written a roster post for Florida last year, it would have made this one heck of a lot easier. I could just copy and paste it, delete the sections on Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy, and then be done, right?

Well, yes and no.

Of course Florida has a lot of guys back from last year. That's where the whole "consensus preseason No. 1" stuff comes from. Seven offensive starters return, and the top 22 from the defense come back. Some will say top 21 and point to the transfer of DT Torrey Davis as the missing one, but I'd ask you when you were taking the depth chart snapshot. He registered all of five tackles before the bowl and spent much of the year in the coaches' doghouse.

The quarterbacks are set. We know that. Tim Tebow is starting with John Brantley backing him up. About the only thing worth mentioning here is that Urban Meyer says Brantley has a package of plays and will get spot work in meaningful situations. I doubt he'll do as much as Tebow did in 2006, but he's going to get non-garbage time minutes.

Speaking of 2006, that leads to the receivers.

They are the biggest question mark on the offense, what with Harvin and Murphy gone. The unit is probably going to approximate the one that Meyer had in his first championship year down to the man. David Nelson will be Dallas Baker, the tall guy. Deonte Thompson will be Andre Caldwell, the speedy guy. Carl Moore will be Jemalle Cornelius, the possession guy. Freshman Andre Debose will be Percy Harvin, the slash guy. Aaron Hernandez will be Cornelius Ingram, the receiving tight end. Riley Cooper will be, well, Riley Cooper.

The biggest difference is that Hernandez is a known quantity from the beginning, a playmaker waiting to break out. Ingram was still adjusting to being a tight end, having come in as a quarterback, but Hernandez will be ready from Day 1.

The running backs are in much better shape this time around compared to '06 though. Jeff Demps, when he's not moonlighting in the Percy Position, will probably be the primary back. He's fast and hits holes with authority despite his size. Chris Rainey is exciting with his ability to make people miss, but he dances around too much to be the top guy. Emmanuel Moody will be the biggest beneficiary from the new I-formation sets, but he's not guaranteed to get many carries. It'd be a big boost if he could be the big back playmaker that Florida has lacked since the time of Ciatrick Fason, but he hasn't put it all together yet.

Moody and Rainey also tend to get hurt, which further solidifies Demps in the top spot. Return man extraordinaire Brandon James and freshman Mike Gillislee are in the mix as well, but I don't know how many balls there will be to go around.

The offensive line will be the key to everything. The Gator offense didn't take off last year until it gelled around the fourth quarter of last year's game with Arkansas. Three fifths of it are rock solid with Maurkice Pouncey, Mike Pouncey, and Carl Johnson back from starting in 2008.

After that, some combination of redshirt sophomore James Wilson, sophomore Matt Patchan (who played defense last year, like Mike Pouncey did in '07 before moving back to offense in '08), and redshirt junior Marcus Gilbert will fill the other roles. Redshirt freshman Sam Robey made some noise in the spring, and true freshman Xavier Nixon has impressed in fall practice. All of those guys except Robey were four or five star recruits according to Rivals, so it's likely that no matter which five take the field, it will be a good group. It better be, if UF is to repeat as champs.

The defensive line is in flux a bit, as it has been every year since most of the excellent 2006 line graduated. All the starters are back, but only Jermaine Cunningham looks set in his job. Tackles Terron Sanders and Lawrence Marsh are getting pushed hard by Jaye Howard, and this may be the year that Carlos Dunlap gets the starting role over Justin Trattou. Dunlap led the SEC with 9.5 sacks last year, but uneven effort kept him behind Trattou on the depth chart.

The linebackers are two thirds set. Brandon Spikes and Ryan Stamper are every bit the senior leaders and performers that any team would want. The final spot is currently a revolving door of A.J. Jones, Brandon Hicks, and, when he gets back from suspension, Dustin Doe. All three of those guys have started games, so whoever ends up there for good (if anyone) will be quality. Young bucks Jon Bostic and Brendan Beal are pushing for playing time as well.

The secondary is perhaps the strength of the entire team, something that would seem impossible during 2007's burnfest. The corners are right now Joe Haden and freshman All American Janoris Jenkins, a formidable duo. Wondy Pierre-Louis, Markihe Anderson, and Moses Jenkins are good enough as backups. The one to watch though is redshirt freshman Jeremy Brown, who missed last season to injury. Meyer has lamented that at the time of his injury, Brown was actually ahead of Janoris Jenkins on the depth chart.

The safeties are loaded. The two starters are back, the big hitting Major Wright and the ball hawking Ahmad Black. Wright struggles in coverage though, and Black can't lay the wood. As a result, sophomore all-everything recruit Will Hill has been impossible to keep off the field since the spring. Also in the mix are senior Dorian Munroe, who missed last season due to injury but has played well in the past, and newcomer Dee Finley.

The special teams will look exactly the same. Dangerous return man Brandon James is back (his last year I promise, Tennessee fans), and so are P Chas Henry and K Jonathan Phillips. Phillips missed just one field goal and one extra point (the fateful blocked one against Ole Miss) in all of 2008, but his longest made FG was only from 40 yards. The big-legged Caleb Sturgis might get a chance to kick the longer ones. The tradition of key players contributing on special teams will continue as in past years, most notably with the addition of Demps as the gunner on punt coverage.

The depth across the board is much to Florida's advantage, and the coaches are delighting in the ability to replace underperformers in practice with another quality guy. If you want to nit pick about the receivers, two O-linemen, and the third linebacker go ahead, but just about any coach in the nation would trade his roster for this one.

MONDAY: Florida's Song Remains the Same, Florida's Heisman winners

TUESDAY: The Underdogs Florida Will Face, Don't Miss Tebow's Last Year

LATER TODAY: Coaching Changes

THURSDAY: Predictions

FRIDAY: Conclusions

Gators Preview, Part One

mlmintampa — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:00:11 -0000

This is the most important season in the history of Florida Football. The last time there were this many expectations around the team was in 1996, the year after Florida went undefeated, only to get destroyed by Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl. That team, like this one, is stacked with returners and a senior quarterback. But the current version is trying to do something that hasn't been done since that 1995 Nebraska team; win consecutive outright National Championships.

Florida's journey to Pasadena begins with Tim Tebow. In three seasons, the man has done everything asked of him. Even a Gator-hater can agree that Tebow's play against a stout Alabama in the SEC Championship Game and his recovery in the second half against Oklahoma for the BCS title, is proof he is not a fullback with an arm. His touchdown drives against Bama and the way he took control against the Sooners was something he had never done. In his biggest losses (LSU in '07 and Ole Miss in '08), he didn't do that.

Tebow has lost two huge weapons in his arsenal, however. Percy Harvin was the show piece. It was his 179 yards of total offense against Oklahoma (on a partially broken leg), that filled the void when Tebow was not on his game. Harvin made Florida's simple running game of counters and options look unstoppable. Another loss is Louis Murphy, who was the old standby and the resident trash talker. Murphy was not fast, but could be relied upon to catch the five yard hook for a first down. These two were Florida's top receivers.

Stepping up will be a collection of receivers. Returning are WRs Riley Cooper, Carl Moore and Deonte Thompson. Cooper is a great athlete who has at least one brain cramp a game. Moore is a senior, who transferred to Florida after ju-co. Last season, he only caught 14, as he struggled with injuries and learning the offense. Thompson is expected to be the deep threat, following being buried on UF's depth chart behind speedsters like Cooper, Harvin, Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey. You can include WR David Nelson as well, who had five touchdowns, but one each in the SEC and BCS Championship Games. The one standout returner is TE Aaron Hernandez, who is a monster. He was Florida's third receiver, catching 34 for 381 yards and five touchdowns. Hernandez is a NFL-sized tight end and will cause matchup problems for every team.

With an inexperienced receiver corps, Urban Meyer will lean on the running game. Here will be the elite backs in Demps and Rainey, who might be the fastest backs in the SEC. (Demps almost qualified for the US 100m team in the 2008 Olympics before he joined UF as a freshman.) While both are starting to produce the "hard" runs Harvin could pull between the tackles, that job will likely go to Emmanuel Moody. The former USC man was in Meyer's doghouse last year, but could have more success this season. If the Gators are serious about running a more traditional offense for Tebow's NFL stock, Moody could benefit. Moody spent his whole life in pro-style offenses and adding that style to the UF playbook could benefit Moody now and Tebow later. The question mark in the backfield is freshman Andre Debose. No one expects Debose to become Harvin 2.0, but that is the role he was recruited to play. In Harvin's freshman season, he had 75 touches for 864 yards, and Florida won the 2006 National Championship. If Debose can do the same, UF will be in a bed of roses.

Tomorrow, Part Two.

Camp Day

mlmintampa — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:12:05 -0000

Gators camp opened today. Here's a few things that need to happen before the home opener on September 5.

Stay Healthy: Hopefully Florida's injury bug is out of their system after a spring practice where anyone with a sore muscle was sat down. There is a belief that players must get into "football shape" (hitting and the unique things that happen in a scrimmage), but not at the cost of a player's health.
Focus: At some point in camp, Urban will talk about how it was a bad practice and guys are not focused. This is what he does. Since we only get to see two practices, we have no idea how accurate this is. Look to Tebow and the older players for a better gauge of how good things are going.
The Clusterf at WR: Who is it going to be? Carl Moore, Riley Cooper and Deonte Thompson? What about Frankie Hammond? Or David Nelson? Does Urban know Moore couldn't catch a cold last year? And where does Andre Debose fit into all of this?
Andre Debose: My father (a former college player and high school coach) uses a term called "hard running". The idea is that you can be fast, but can you run hard enough to break tackles or burst through a closing hole. Percy Harvin had this ability and it led to most of his injuries. Bubba Caldwell had it too, but then he broke his leg and started to tip-toe through tackles. Andre Debose has been nursing a hamstring injury, so maybe the first few weeks of camp and the regular season won't be enough to judge him on. But if Debose and the Gators want the freshman to be Harvin 2.0, he better be a hard runner.
Stay Healthy: No seriously. I especially don't want to see any Pounceys grabbing knees or shoulders.
Will Carlos Dunlap make the Leap? I've never been upclose to Dunlap, so I can't say if he is build like freakish ends like Simeon Rice or Jarvis Moss. The number 8 on Dunlap's back may be slimming, but he looks the part, built like a T; wide across the chest with the legs of a heavyweight boxer. Dunlap has used this frame perfectly, culminating in being named defensive MVP in the Oklahoma game. However, after two seasons of growth, Dunlap cannot hit the cruise and assume that growth will continue. If anything, this is the year he will be targeted. Florida's defense is built on great linebackers and a deep secondary. But if Dunlap can dominate, it creates an extra level of concern for opponents.
Realistic Expectations: We all want Florida to go undefeated. But the nature of the SEC, plus the nature of College Football, has drastically limited the chances of an undefeated champion. The Utahs and Boise States can still go undefeated, but they don't have to slog through Tiger Stadium or Ohio Stadium or Norman. In the Divisional Play Era (since 1992), five times a Big 12 or SEC team had won a title unscathed (Alabama, Nebraska, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas). Can Florida do this? Of course. But some days you got it and some day you don't. The only way UF guarantees a spot in Pasadena is an undefeated season. But don't be surprised if the LSU or Georgia games are more than just games that leave you with a chill.

Orange and Blue Game Review: Maintain Status Quo

mlmintampa — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:14:05 -0000

Nothing changes. But that's fine: There were no jobs won Saturday at the Orange and Blue Game and there were none lost. This is in part because of UF's nagging injury situation and the volume of players Florida has coming back. There will continue to be question marks about who will take the tackle spots vacated by Jason Watkins and Phil Trautwein. But, Meyer has a room in the stadium filled with O-linemen who are 6-4, 320. None of them are proven (I'm looking at you, Matt Patchan), yet we should have confidence that the situation will be solved. I thought John Brantley was pressured a lot, but that is the difference between the quality of the defense's 2nd and 3rd units and the offense's comparable units. To be fair, I think Patchan was fine, but I think he can get beat inside by a quality end. Nick Alajajian is the other lineman who stood out. He seemed to handle himself well, but the 6-4 freshman needs to get bigger (he's listed at 288lbs and played like it). He layed a nice block on a reverse, but then got thrown down later by Earl Okine. On the bright side, I saw a few good looking girls wearing "ALAJAJIAN 58" tshirts, and that's always nice to have in your corner.

Jarvis Moss, Carlos Dunlap, Earl Okine?: At 6-7, Okine looks like a jacked LeBron James and follows a line of tall dudes in the Meyer Administration. His 274 pound frame could use some more weight, but not enough to sacrifice his quickness. Of Florida's defenders, Okine stood out the most because he was all over the place. Not just hopping around at the line like he was Simeon Rice, but the way he pursued the ball and moved up field. His throw down of Alajajian was awesome and a sign of the general badassness an end needs. Perhaps his Orange and Blue showing will energize him like Dunlap's did in 2008. Duke Lemmens (who, with a big season, can earn "The" in front of his name like The Major Wright) also played well. Meyer raved about Jon Bostic after the game, saying the early enrollee will get a chance to play in 2009. Dorian Munroe had a pick, but is stuck playing in a defensive backfield that could top the Carlisle Indians.

The best players from Saturday may not see the field: Frankie Hammond can run like a gazelle and has good hands. Too bad that only makes him the 5th or 6th receiver. Carl Moore looked good and Deonte Thompson will finally get a chance to play ball. Include those two with David Nelson (on the sidelines), Riley Cooper (injured in baseball), and Andre Debose, and it is hard to find a spot for Hammond. Munroe is in a similar spot.

John Brantley throws a pretty ball: I felt like I was Johnny Miller during the US Open with the way I was trying to breakdown Tebow and Brantley's mechanics. Throwing a ball is an unnatural motion, but not on Brantley. It's smooth. Tebow's motion is based on sheer strength and will. Watching Tebow, I couldn't tell if the motion was quicker or not, but in warmups, you can tell when he is fighting the old motion. It might even be that I want it to be quicker and more smooth, so I am trying to convince myself that it is. As for Brantley, he was dropping passes into waiting arms all day. He could win a Heisman and National Championship too. He is that good.

Gator Boosters finally hit by Florida's Depression: The announced crowd was 65,000, but I thought it was about 50k, which is still good. (And better than the 36,000 announced for FSU at Ron Zook Field.) However, a lot of the club areas and luxury boxes were empty. Not surprising, considering that the most expensive seats and boxes all over the country are going unsold as people either drop their tickets or move to cheaper ones. Starting today, UF is also selling 250 season tickets, but you have to donate $2000 to be eligible. Considering there are 7 home games, the cheapest way to get tickets might be to get several families or a large group of friends to pool some cash, then draw straws to figure out who gets the seats each game. I would do this, but I'm waiting until I establish the Alligator Army Memorial Scholarship Fund and Drinking Club before I get season tickets.

Adventures in Gainesvegas: Football players are just like you and me in that they have no social skills. I met a girl who told me that Chris Rainey texts her occasionally. This isn't surprising, considering she's an attractive white girl and Rainey has let us all know of his preference for UF's melanin-challenged females. But here's the thing; he's never met her in person. They are just facebook friends. What? Does Rainey not have any game? Perhaps I should be easy on Rainey, considering I started dating a girl after saying I'd "facebook her" instead of getting her number. I also saw a girl I know Friday night wearing the most ridiclous pair of boots I have ever seen. Not only did they not match her dress (tan colored, looked like a flight attendant, with black boots), they were as wide as Michael Crabtree's walking boot and to her knees. Here's how that conversation went;

Me: "What's with the boots?"

Girl: "Tim Tebow likes them!"

Me: "Tebow said he liked them?"

Girl: "He said they were crazy! Isn't that awesome?"

I've never heard anyone use "crazy" as a compliment about any female, so I highly doubt Tebow likes girls wearing awful boots. Also, I was very upset to learn Gainesville bars are 21 and up now, which prompted me to yell out, "You suck Bernie!" when UF's anti-alcohol President Bernie Machen was introduced at the game. Apparently, we've traded four National Championships under Machen for drinking laws from 1920. Machen should stick to making sure UF isn't bankrupted by the Florida State Legislature.