WARNING!!! WARNING!!! The above link ties to an article written by our favorite Orlando Sentinel hack, Mikey Bianchit. To spare him the web hits, I'll paraphrase.

Unfortunately for Muschamp, the Gator roster has thinned up a lot. Amazingly, no UF players this year were named to the Coach's Preseason All-Conference team and the Gators have only 71 scholarship players on their roster — 14 under the limit.

"We have more unknowns than I'd like to have," Muschamp admitted. "… Obviously, numbers-wise, it's easy to see we only have four defensive tackles and six scholarship offensive linemen — and that's not exactly what you want."
We're a little down [in numbers];

"We're a little thin," he added. "But that's where we are, and I don't think anybody is feeling sorry for the Gators."

Okay, so its more of a cut-and-paste than a paraphrase. Sue me. But Bianchit may have a valid point. UF is very, very thin in key positions. And Meyer won a friggin' title with the guys Zook left him. (I've always said the Zooker was a great recruiter.) Won't happen anytime soon under Muschamp with both front lines so thin.

...Or so you would think, if the content of this research is correct. Apparently, teams who wear red do better. This also explains the success of Oklahoma and... Rutgers?

Its sports science. Click the link.

Senior OU cornerback Jamell Fleming, who was thought to be academically inelligable for 2011, has returned to the team. He was an all-Big12 selection. So much for a lack of depth.

So a few fanshots down you can see that Gatasports posted an article about UF depth issues. These issues, apparently, will be resolved NEXT recruiting class. But what about right now, when redshirt freshman Chris Martin leaves Gainesville?

From the link: "Chris and his family have indicated that it might be best for him to be closer to home (Aurora, Colo.)" said coach Will Muschamp. "We wish him nothing but the best of luck." Martin, a 6-4, 250-pound redshirt freshman, transferred to UF from California in July of 2010.

So obviously Martin wasn't a projected starter. But can we pause to evaluate the DL depth at UF for a minute?

The gist of it is that Spetman is trying to be the big dog again. ""I am the person who hires and fires coaches at Florida State University and I have not been asked," Spetman said. And right now he is out of the country. Won't return until next week. So... We'll find out about the future of Jamey Shouppe next week. No announcement today.

The last article I posted went "premium." Hopefully they won't lock out this one.

(Link: Orlando Sentinel's Swamp Things blog)

First of all, in full disclosure, this link involves video from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. You may or may not like his views or politics... If you fall into the may-nots, fast forward to about the 15 minute point in the video clip.

So Tim Tebow gets invited to The Daily Show to promote his book. Thats right... He wrote a book. A memoir, at age 23. (A fact which is not overlooked in the interview, by the way.) But at 17 minutes, 39 seconds, Jon Stewart asks Tim if and how he would try to get out of church. And we all know that Tim Tebow is a deeply religious man. So this is his response:

"You know, like, when FSU would beat Florida, which (dismissive hand gesture) hasn't happened in a while 'till this last year, but like I would..."

Stewart: "Everybody, stay in your seats! Stay in your seats!"

Tim: "I would beg my parents, 'Please, do NOT make me go to church! I do NOT want to have to face all the FSU fans.' And sometimes then they would let me get out of it, but thats about it."

Tim also things that players should be paid so "guys can go to Outback and have scooters." Whatever thats worth.

I found a link to this site at ESPN.com, of all places. Its apparently brand new (started in the last few days anyway). I figured that all the new folks at TN could use a refresher on some of the numbers they may have missed over the last few months of discussion. About the author, Kristy Dosh:

"Kristi Dosh is an attorney who is a noted expert on business and legal issues in professional sports, with special concentrations in Major League Baseball and collective bargaining in all four major professional sports... Kristi is a regular contributor to SportsMoney on Forbes.com, where she writes about numerous business and legal issues facing professional athletics. She is also the founder of It’s A Swing and a Miss, a blog dedicated to analysis of issues in Major League Baseball. She has been a guest writer for numerous other websites and blogs dedicated to sports."

Didn't get to take an extensive look at it, but from what I've seen of it so far, its pretty decent.

Yet, oddly enough, there is no mention of Ponder or anyone else not named Newton, Gabbert, Locker, or Mallet. So I guess we can mostly dismiss the article. Interesting perspectives from several GMs though.

(sarcasm) I'm shocked the SEC didn't beat the Pac-12 to the punch. After all, they're pretty much already the NFL Lite anyway, right? (end sarcasm)

"Officials said Saturday that Jones had an operation to repair a torn right patella tendon and could be out for six months. The injury occurred during practice on Friday."

A guy I know said sources quoted as long as 12 months, but REALLY optomistic outlooks still have him missing the FSU game.

...So now I don't feel so bad about the loss after all.

I'm not sure why I decided to share this with the group, but I guess it needs to be displayed on its own lack of merits. The site AssociatesDegree.com posted an article on 08 March that ranked the nations top 10 "corrupt" colleges. The author titles the article accordingly and then debunks the entire premise of the article in his first paragraph. To paraphrase, "All colleges cheat. So to be fair, these are the top 10 worst offenders who actually got caught."

9. Florida State — Seven Major Infractions: Former rival coach Steve Spurrier once referred to FSU as Free Shoes University, a zinger derived from a 1993 scandal in which nine Florida State players went on an agent-funded shopping spree at Foot Locker. Six years later, also during a national championship run, all-American wide receiver Peter Warrick and Laveranues Coles were charged with felony grand theft for receiving $412.38-worth of clothes from a Dillard’s cashier — they only paid $21.40. Warrick was suspended for two games and Coles from thrown off the team. In 2009, Bobby Bowden was forced to vacate 12 victories because of an academic cheating scandal that also involved the men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball and men’s track and field programs — a 2007 men’s track national championship was vacated as well. The penalties ensured Bowden wouldn’t catch Joe Paterno as the FBS’s all-time winningest coach.

What the author wrote about FSU is old news to pretty much everyone here. I take issue, however, with being considered a top-10 team in any sense other than statistically. Florida State University isn't anywhere near the caliber of SMU or Auburn when it comes to the dirty business. The 1999 Dillards deal the author referenced wasn't even one of the seven major NCAA infractions!

Three of the infractions came from our wildly successful basketball program, and only one of those was later than 1971. And the official NCAA "Free Shoes" report clearly states that the school knew nothing before it was self-reported. Yet the school made the top 10 with such a thuggish football team. And for the most part, only the football team. Basketball and track and so on were briefly mentioned in reference to the tutor incident, but its worth noting that the basketball team is the only team in FSU history to suffer any postseason bans related to major infractions.

I'm just not sure how a football program that has served and is currently serving a grand total of six years of probation warrants this kind of attention. (Yes, that includes the tutor incident.) In comparison, Auburn football had tallied six years of probation and five years of TV and postseason bans prior to 1959. Even Memphis, who was ranked behind us at number 10, has more probation and ban time on record.

We're not that bad, and its not even close.

45 years removed from his Heisman season (and 15 from his National Title run as HMFIC) and the ol' Ball Coach finally gets his statue in Gainesville. Danny Wuerffel gets one, too. (See Also: Previous comment about it being 15 years since that title run.) Then there's Timmah... Most bloggers continue to speak of him as if he still throws balls in the Swamp. The glue holding the new nameplate above his old locker hasn't even dried yet. And he gets a statue. Probably because it was just so convenient to install all three at the same time. Saves costs, I guess. I don't know.

The statues will be unveiled during the spring game. The honorees will somehow "be involved." South Carolina, oddly enough, hosts their spring game on the same day. At least Tim might be there.

A series of secondary violations has cost Oklahoma a week of practice. I suppose that the difference between this and Michigan was that Michigan MADE their athletes participate while OU simply "really, really encouraged" their athletes and had them attempt to forge documents.

Couple this with the three off-season arrests thusfar in Norman and things aren't so golden after all. I wonder if ANY of this means someone will be sitting on the bench in Tallahassee...

According to "sources" on Fanhouse, and I can't find an additional article citing the sources. Perhaps in the next few days an additional source will break. In any case, its juuuuust in time for all the LOIs to roll in, isn't it? Just peachy.

Slight update: I found a link HERE at NBC Sports, but it cites the Fanhouse article as its source. Another HERE at a USC fan site... Also citing Fanhouse.

From yesterday or earlier today... Reports of Charlie Ward's death have been circulating. Enough, apparently, to give cause to an article on Tallahassee.com. Its all just an odd hoax. Charlie Ward is doing just fine.

Per ESPN.com, SI.com and the Florida Times Union. John Brantley II, told The Associated Press in a text message that his son has "been a Gator his whole life and no reason to change now."

This is important because...

1) After the record was set against our Lady Noles, you knew this let-down loss was coming. Yes you did.

2) And with that, I am SO GLAD that FSU will not be that "footnote" team in history that UConn defeated last to set their record. That dubious honor goes to the ladies of Pacific. We were 89. Pacific was 90. I suppose that, if you really care, FSU was the last ranked team to be defeated, but we weren't the last team.

And thats a good thing.

In case you were not already aware. VT sold all of theirs as well. Ticketmaster still has tix available, but I think attendance will look MUCH better this year.

Please REC this up so it can stay easily accessable.

Ponder has been announced as a finalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. From the web page: "The Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award is presented each year to the outstanding senior NCAA Division I Student-Athlete of the Year across nine different sports. The acronym "CLASS" stands for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School."

One third of the athlete's total score depends on fan votes. And fans are eligible to vote ONCE EVERY DAY. So lets stay on this one, Noles.

Per ESPN.com. Figured this would come, but later rather than sooner.

Is anyone aware of any activities being planned on game day? Anything going on? I have mentioned before that I am bringing my brother-in-law to his first FSU game and I want him to have a good time. Are the Chiefs doing anything? Any meet and greet or some such thing? I would imagine that FSU would want to go all out, with 15000 tickets still available and all.

Any help you guys can offer is much appreciated.