Steve Spurrier nicknamed Ben Hill Griffin Stadium "The Swamp," with the obvious comparison that Florida Field is about as dreadful as an alligator infested swamp for opposing teams. While Spurrier's comparison was intended for opposing players, it's now focused on Florida's head man: Can Will Muschamp survive in the swamp? With the Gators' immense success over the years, the expectations have become impossibly high. Spurrier left Florida with the notion that 10-win seasons were not enough anymore. Now, forget 10 win seasons not being enough: 13 wins in 2009 wasn't enough for many Gator fans.

For Coach Boom to survive, he's going to need some help from his players. In the history of Gator coaches, the ones with the most success had at least one all world type super star. Ray Graves had Heisman winner Steve Spurrier. Galen Hall had Emmitt Smith. But even their success would not satisfy today's Gator fans. To satisfy today's Gator fans, championships must be won and to win them you need more than just super stars: You need little guys.

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Joakim Noah has always been a big fan favorite for not only Gator fans but basketball fans in general. But after Sunday night's game against the Miami Heat, Noah may have lost a few fans. Apparently Noah felt disrespected by a fan's comment and decided to dish out a few insults in retaliation. Noah has always been famous for his intensity and hustle but there is no excuse for this kind of language.

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Sort of, anyway: Florida, Vanderbilt and South Carolina all earned a share of the regular season title with a final SEC  record of 22-8. This is the Gators' 12th conference championship.

Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan talked to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about the added pressure on this year's team thanks to outsized preseason expectations.

"Every year presents itself some new situations and circumstances, but this has been a little bit of a grind. Not a little bit. It's been a huge grind, to be honest with you," said Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan. "To go out there every night and your team's expected to play flawlessly and you're not supposed to lose, and to have a lot of expectations, for these guys to respond and play the way they have over the course of the year is a huge accomplishment."

On Friday, Kentucky ruined the Gators' chances of an outright SEC crown with a 14-1 beatdown. But the Gators had a little bit of revenge on Saturday, destroying Kentucky 19-3. Next up is the SEC Tournament and, more importantly, the NCAA Tournament after that. South Carolina owns the tiebreaker so the Gamecocks take the No. 1 seed into the tournament. The Gators are the No. 3 seed and face off against No. 6 seed Mississippi State Wednesday at 4:30pm. The last time the Gators won the SEC Tournament was 1991.

Due to the NFL lockout, Mike Pouncey, Marcus Gilbert and Ahmad Black are still without NFL contracts, but time is their only enemy. As for Will Hill and many others who were undrafted, they must deal with a much more difficult uncertainty. Usually around this time of the year players like Hill or Chas Henry would be in mini-camp competing for a roster spot. Instead they are in a very tough dilemma: Continue to wait for the lockout to end or consider other opportunities and move on.

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It's hard to explain how most Gator fans feel about Cam Newton. At first Cam was just another troubled Gator that was easily forgotten because at that time, Tim Tebow and the Gators were winning. A few years later everyone knows Cam and personally it is kind of annoying.

Every time I see him I don't know what to think. Should I be upset with Cam? I sure wasn't upset when he left; would it be fair of me to be mad at him now, right after all of his success? Imagine if Cam goes on to become a great NFL QB, one thing Florida football has never had.

That brings it back to Tebow, who made Gators fans forget about Cam once. Will he do it again?

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Gators beat BYU in OT, 83-74.

You all saw the game or at least read about it so I'm not gonna tell you what you already know. But if your like me, you just want a thread to chat about the game or even better...The next game!

Here is some stuff to talk about.

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Boy wonder, Jimmer Fredette the scoring machine. How many points will he score against the Gators? Jimmer averages 28.8 points per game on the season, and has 66 points so far in the tournament. Jimmer shoots 40% from behind the arc and 45% the rest of the time. A lot of players can match up with those numbers but how many of them are taking over twenty shots a game?

Last year, ol' Jimmer dropped 37 on Kenny Boynton in the Cougars double over time win, sending the Gators home early in the first round. This year if Boynton is healthy I assume he will again be expected to guard Jimmer. This time though, Boynton has help from excellent defensive freshman Scottie Wilbekin and Casey Prather, not to mention beastly Patrick Young waiting in the paint if Jimmer should get by the guards.

Jimmer is going to take 20 some thing shots, and will make close to half of them, it's just a scientific fact. So double teaming Jimmer is almost pointless. Having a three man rotation guard him is about the best we can do. Hopefully their intensity will tire him out while our guards stay fresh coming on and off the bench because we cannot afford to focus our entire defense on Jimmer. Jimmer will not beat us by himeself, FACT!

So how many points will he score? It all depends on how many shots we allow him to take, will it be closer to 30 or even more?

Gators again couldn't hold a big late lead. With a few minutes to go they had a 8 point lead and then let Vandy go on a 7-1 run and eventually tie the game at 54 to send it to OT. Walker had a chance for another buzzer beater but took way too long to get his shot off and it ended up being an ill advised 3 point attempt. Blah!

It's not "hack a Shaq", it's "hack a Gator", which is how Vandy got back in the game and also ended the game for them. They lost 3 big players to foul trouble in OT, and all Florida had to to was make a  few shots and play defense. Chandler Parsons was clutch with another double double which  earned him player of the game. Parsons made a huge rebound with seconds remaining in OT and then made his two free throws to put the game away. 

GATORS WON 65-61 IN OT...AGAIN!

p.s. Dicky V, that was NOT A FOUL on Boynton at the end of OT! Great call ref's!

The Florida Gators basketball team has some pretty talented players. McDonald's All American, plenty. Five star recruits, plenty. NBA drafts prospects, plenty. Since the last 2007 NCAA championship...SEC Champions, none. SEC Tourney Champions, none. NCAA Tourney bids, 1. NCAA Tourney wins, NONE!

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All this football talk is exciting but there is only so much we can debate before it gets old. We got a Basketball team to watch, and they have plenty to talk about. This years team is fun and frustrating to watch, you never know what your gonna get. Some times you get a top 10 team that looks like they can stand toe to toe with any one and other times you get a team who can't make shot if their mothers life depended on it. It's a long season though, and like I said there is plenty to talk about;

Alex Tyus is no longer the predator.

Kenny Boynton is probably our best player even if he has off nights here and there. 

Vernon Macklin looks like hes learned how to score in the paint.

Chandler Parsons is playing a different role this year and its taking a tole on his offensive game. But if he can get his shot back, and his new role as a big man look for a lot more double doubles from him.

Erving Walker is really fast and can shoot wide open threes but is still not a very good point guard.

Patrick Young plays really hard, hopefully well see more then that as the season goes on and he matures.

That's all I got.

...Oh and this team is in huge slump at the free throw line this year. If it ever ends, look out SEC!

Our boy Timmy is finally getting his first start today (Kyle Orton is injured). The game is on in a few minutes (4:15). I won't be able to see it, but Mile High Report has a game thread started and I am sure if you are interested as I am you can check in every now and then and keep up on how Tebow is doing in his first start. It says it's supposed to be "swamp" like weather against the Raiders. The Raiders wont be as scary as Colt McCoys first start having to be against the Steelers but the Raiders aren't the laughing stock of the league this year like they have been. Hopefully he makes us proud. If you want to join the thread or check up on the game here is the link.

Note- Rex Grossman also made a little come back today in the game and maybe his career. Maybe starting him wasn't such a bad idea!

Society loves to see the underdog win, but in college football we don't give a crap about David, we just want Goliath to fall hard and some times our wishes come true, i.e. USC Trojans. Everyone knows that the Gators invented Gatorade to replenish fluid, carbohydrates and electrolytes. Well college fans, you must be thirsty from all of your "hating" on the Florida Gators? Well your gonna need a lot more Haterade to bring this Goliath down!

I know most of you have read or had to listen to all the ridiculous rants from Gater haters, and it's usually pointless to even bother arguing with them. You try to play nice and every now and then you might actually have a pleasant debate but to me its not even worth it any more. I know that if I am on a rivals blog, the lemmings will not listen to any logic so I think it would be more fun to see what other Gator fans think of these HATERS.

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A lot of FSU fans are pretty cocky right now. FSU won, score board right? Sure they won, it wasn't even close! But I just want to point out that not only does UF lead the all time series, have more national championships, and play in a real conference...Even with a loss tonight WE STILL DOMINATED THE DECADE 7-3!

I know I know, Blame it all on Bobby and now FSU is back...Well just in case you haven't realized it yet but we also went through a rough patch of coaching by the name of Zook, and right now by the name of Addazio yet we still won 2 national championships in the decade some how...? If FSU didn't win this game, it would of been pathetic on your part, not only are we rebuilding but our OC and OLine coach is a failure but our QB is a total bust. So you FINALLY WON ONE, AND IT MEANT NOTHING. So please check your ego and relax, and for goodness sake accept the fact that even with your win tonight you are still our little brother. Next year we will have a QB to fit our style and all those FREAK athletes you read about on ESPN, yeah they will actually be ready to play serious game next year.

This post was simply in response for the Nole fans who feel the need to rub it in. I just wanted to let them know, we can't win them all but we still own you. And if you didn't come here to rub it in, we sucked really bad but your team did a good job of taking care of business. Good game, that is all.

PS- We just won the on the Basketball court.

Are the Game Cocks our New SEC Rival?

Remember the days of Volunteer running backs ruining our season like Jamal Lewis or Travis Stephens. 10 or so years later a lot has changed. Tennessee is pretty horrible and the bottom dweller USC has become SEC contenders. Has Marcus Lattimore continued the old tradition on a new team to run the ball down our throats.

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Wow, Holy, Yikes, Oh My, Goodness Gracious... Jordan Reed has a cannon of an arm. I know, I know it was just Vandy. But John Brantley looked like crap against the same Vandy. I have tried to stick with Brantley all season, but he just can't make the right reads half the time and as everyone knows he doesn't fit right in Urban's spread option. Maybe in a pro style offense and adequate time Brantley would be awesome but clearly that's not going to happen. So I welcome Jordan Reed with open arms.

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After every game it seems there is more to complain about then to cheer about with this team. So I figured I will make a fan post of my complaints, and to help not clutter up the main page and get everyone off topic. I hope you will feel welcomed to add your two cents.

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Does anyone here actually think the Gators will win? I don't mean, you have your hopes up. I mean, you would put money on it your so confident. Probably not...My goal is to get your hopes so high that you will proudly bet anyone in the office tonight that the Gators will WIN!

LAST SEASON    

 Last season the Gators were so one dimensional, that Gator nation almost put a bounty on Addazio's head. The defense was so unbelievably good though, it almost didn't matter if we even scored on offense. So when we met Alabama in Atlanta, everyone expected a low scoring grind it out battle of the trenches. Instead Bama came out and slapped the Gators in the face with their ding dongs all game long. Tim Tebow was so embarrassed he cried, as did all of Gator nation.

So one year later, I think we are all still shell shocked. For you numb nuts, shell shocked is slang for PTSD.Every time we watch the Gators, we still cringe in horror that our defense will some how let us down yet again or our offense will run the same two plays the entire game as if the other team didn't know it was coming.

ALABAMA

Did anyone watch the Alabama-Arkansas game. This is not the same Alabama defense from last season. Arkansas does have an NFL QB, but that's it. Can you even name any one else on the team besides Mallet? So its clear, Bama has a huge weakness on defense. ESPN says they only have two returning starters.The offense still has the dynamic duo Richardson and Ingram. I almost jumped on the "Richardson is better" band wagon until Ingram came back and made Duke look like 2009 Florida, and basically won the Arkansas game by himself. I still don't think Greg Mcelroy is all that great. He reminds me of the last two Bama QB's...boring and easily forgot. Still Kentucky's tall WR Matthews gave the Gators secondary hell last week. So even if we stack the box and limit the dynamic duo, can we stop Juilo Jones? My only hope is that Janoris Jenkins was covering Randall Cobb all game, but this week all the pressure is on #1 to shut down Jones, like Joe Haden did last season.

GATOR DEFENSE

The Gators defense has not dropped off nearly as much as people predicted. The defensive line is very underrated and the linebackers do a very good job of filling the gaps. The defensive backs is our money makers. Already 12 picks to league the country. The problem I have seen this season on defense is missing tackles. Thankfully there is usually three guys around the ball anyways that when one guy misses, there's two more ready to take his head off. I don't expect the defense to shut down the Bama offense, I just hope they put themselves in rewarding situations such as 3rd and long because I am confident they will not pass the ball deep without a struggle because of Austin's defensive style. (NFL Defensive Back coach)

GATOR OFFENSE

The Offense started out VERY SLOW to say the least. But it has finally come together. Our formula is so simple, but if we don't kill ourselves nobody can stop it. Here's the formula, short pass to set up the run. All the Gators have to do is not screw themselves. John Brantley has caught some slack for being a round peg forced into a square slot. I wont argue that, but I will scream very loudly John Brantley is the most valuable threat we have to beat Bama. Unlike last season, Saban will not be able to exploit any part of our offense, he will not be able to throw crazy schemes at the Gators because this season if you choose to blitz Brantley he will find that open receiver, and not to beat a dead horse...but unlike last season we actually have WR's that can get big yardage after the catch like Thompson, Moore, Burton, Hines, Hammond, Debose and so on. He cant scheme up some crazy package to prevent the pass because that would just make Urban Meyers day. Even if Demps cannot carry the load, I am 100% confident in Gillislee and Moody. Our number one strength is Brantley's arm on third downs, he will find the open receiver and let those 5 star receivers rack up the YAC all game long. (The short west coast style cannot be stopped with our talent if ran to perfection.)

HOW THE GATORS WILL WIN

Here's how the Gators can win. You cant stop the dynamic duo, we can only hope to contain them and that's about it. We have to put Bama in 3rd down passing situations and let our defense make some turnovers, even its 3rd and 5, 6, or 7. Our Special Teams must get the momentum on our side.

Key for the Defense- Force them into passing situations to increase the chance of turnovers.

Key for the Offense- Do not go 3 and out as little as possible, and DO NOT beat yourself with fumbled snaps and penalties.

Hidden Advantage- Teryl Austin, A NFL defensive coach against a NFL style offense. This might be why he was hired, just a guess. But our defense should be very prepared.

GATORS 27- BAMA 24

All this stuff we have been reading about Dez Bryant, well he thinks it’s foolish. Recently Dez Bryant has gone through the typical scrutiny that a select handful of NFL prospects go through every year around draft time. Some of it is actual news, and the rest is just the media trying to get their precious web hits. Some people who follow these talking heads blindly might point out that the reporters are just doing their job. But now days with websites like Twitter and Face Book it’s like an adult version of the children’s game, "Pass It On." Bryant says he brought 6 pairs of cleats but didn’t have his cleats he feels most comfortable in, and the next thing you know your reading on some blog or Twitter that he forgot his cleats to his own work out. There’s a big difference between the two.  

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Since the emergence of Tim Tebow and the success of Urban Meyer Gator nation has become the target of ridicule. Even some of our own have taken sides with these talking heads. Before you start your Gator bashing please read my list of how I feel about some of these rumors or issues you people spew at us Gator fans every day, whether it be here at SBN or in your personal life.

Feel free to add your opinion and or spin in the comments.

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