Gators Up, Canes Idling, Noles Sinking

Years from now, last week may turn out to be the one week everyone will be able to turn to when discussing when it became evident that the Florida Gators were dominant, the Miami Hurricanes were bidding to stay in the discussion, and the boys from the Panhandle were firmly in the marginalized camp.

Reflecting on last week, I think there's bad news on the Tebow front -- reading between the lines. The good news, however, is that Tim Tebow is the number one ranked passer in college football more than halfway through the entire season!

That is incredible, man.

Sadly, he has an injury that is the kind of thing that may linger for a few weeks even though it doesn't cramp his throwing motion. We shall see. I hope the legion of Gator fans pooh-poohing his injury are right. Watching him sitting on the sideline and observing him wincing like he did -- I think those fans can keep right on wishing, but it isn't "just a bruise."

Unfortunately, Tim is like a super-talented basketball point guard who can do everything on the court and knows that the best option is when the ball is in his hands.

Tim needs to learn that less is more; trust the talent that you have around you. Urban needs to insist on it.

And yes, I am saying that Tim Tebow is a ball hog. He happens to be one of the best ball hogs I've ever seen on a football field but he's still a ball hog.

The Tebow-effect, however, has created this reality: Gator fans are extremely overconfident about the Florida-Georgia game. That, or they dismiss Matthew Stafford far too easily.

His stats against Vanderbilt, away from home, the same Vanderbilt that just shut down Steve's offense at Carolina: 16-31, 201 yards and one TD.

And, he led his team to a 45-17 beatdown of Ole Miss. Don't waste your time saying that was all about the running game, etc.

If our secondary -- a unit that benefited greatly from a few early, middle and late game missed passes by Woodson to receivers who were absolutely, positively wide open -- plays the same way against Stafford, guess what? It will all be about whether Stafford is on or not, accurate or not, and whether his receivers can catch the dadgum ball.

I have a very weird feeling about this game; I never expected to see Jackque Rickerson get toasted like that or Dicky Lyons (8 catches, 124 yards!?!) just have his way all game long. And some other guy had 8 for 128!

This may surprise some of you, but Dicky Lyons was averaging 5 catches, 55 yards per game! That other dude, Steve Johnson, was averaging 5 catches for 75 yards. Quit telling me how good that Kentucky offense was. Our secondary and our linebackers underperformed in pass coverage, plain and simple.

Which means Matthew Stafford may have a very good day against us. That is my focus, and why this game scares me. Winning 15 of 17 has naturally made us overconfident as hell. That was before Tebow. Things are just off the charts. For instance, look at this -- which is one Gator fan complimenting another this week in the aftermath of the Kentucky game:

Quote:

[Hey], gotta give you credit.  You were telling us back in July that Georgia would suck, and you were right.  (Of course, this is all relative.  They still might be good enough to beat [] Ohio State and Boston College.)

They suck, but they're in first place in the SEC East?

Georgia's offensive line is said to be terrible, but some folks still don't know how to give Stafford credit for overcoming that. That guy is not a bad QB and he might hit a hot streak against us. And we're talking about the secondary in this thread but it is really the linebacking group in pass coverage that has me concerned. I may be completely wrong on this but it seems as though they are getting eaten alive on some intermediate patterns.

Finally, this upcoming game is the definition of a rivalry game and this is their first shot at the Great Tebow while he is running the show. And believe you me, they sense "blood in the water" so to speak. They are going to come after Tim and will probably gladly accept a late hit penalty or two.

Be ready, it's coming. There might be a few fights this game. But, if the Gators win as I sure as heck hope they do, this has all the makings of a special season for the University of Florida. This is what I call an "all gravy" year. Following the national championship and with many senior and junior leaders graduating, it is obviously a transitional year. To be able to make it back to the conference championship game in the nations toughest conference would be an amazing accomplishment.

Since the Canes are (in my estimation) idling, I'll only say this. I think Miami has made a good bet with Randy Shannon. At worst, he turns out to be a Ron Zook who doesn't quite get over the hump but recruits great talent. At best, he's a native Floridian and (at present) the only black head coach among the major programs. That's quite a politically-correct coup for the Canes.

Given that he beat the Noles last week, I don't think he looks back. If he loses more unexpected games this year, next year becomes problematic but even then FSU is still in a much more dicey situation.

So, on to FSU.

The rise of USF, UCF, FAU and FIU is more of a problem for the one major program among the Big Three up here in the Panhandle. The Noles made a longterm bet by choosing the ACC over the SEC that went against their sports culture (football first). Now, if the Noles wind up being the second Florida school in an ACC that's seen as inferior (football-wise) to a Big East with USF as a lead dog -- that spells bigtime trouble for the Noles. I'm convinced that Jeff Bowden wanted to play Xavier Lee from the start but Bobby preferred Drew -- just as Bobby preferred Chris Rix. And of course, Bobby gets what Bobby wants, and somebody else takes the blame.

Has an elite Florida high school quarterback even been treated more shabbily by one of the Big Three programs as has Xavier Lee by FSU?

Drew Weatherford? Who thinks that football team believes in Drew Weatherford? I couldn't wait to hear Jeff Cameron's rant about this. I thought it would be a classic because he would not be able to defend Xavier (three straight passes into the dirt with no serious look downfield on the last drive of the game?), but he sure as hell wouldn't be satisfied with them giving the job back to Drew. And, as I expected, he was despondent over the prospect of Drew leading the team and thought if a change had to be made (and he thought it shouldn't be made), the clear option was to go with the younger quarterbacks. I'm not sure about that one. Drew isn't awful -- he's just average, and a slow quarterback in this situation leads to a slow death on the offensive side of the ball. But . . . he is a junior and might be a serviceable QB until graduation. I like him; he's clearly a stand-up guy and tough. He just doesn't bring the excitement or the threat that Xavier Lee brings when he steps on the field.

This FSU situation keeps hitting new lows. You think it can't get any worse, and then it does. The players may be close to a full revolt. I hate for it to end like this for Bobby but my goodness, this is pure mess. The weird thing (to me) is this: from the little bit I saw, FSU looked like the better team against Miami.

Why are they freaking when a QB with only 6 or 7 starts does what Xavier Lee did? It makes you think there is a problem with X's grades -- but that's all rumor and I certainly hope there's nothing to it.

Comments

[Steve]

It might help if the Jimbo takes his sunglasses off when the sun goes down.

[RattlerGator]

Steve, I feel for you brother man, I really do.

Although I'm glad as hell its y'all having to deal with this and not us. The surprising thing from that last game is that I genuinely thought the Canes were better coming into the game but the Noles definitely LOOKED BETTER to me from the bit I saw.

The weirdness of the Miami-FSU series continues.

Now, for *the* game in our hometown this weekend -- I just hope we can walk away from there with a one-point victory.