Darrin Kitchens 12 Tackle Breakout Game...

Darrin Kitchens - 6-2, 229
Sophomore - #49 - Homestead


2011
11 - games
9 - unassisted tackles
12 - assisted tackles
21 - total tackles
2.5 - tackles for a loss of 12 yards

It never hurts when you are developing a linebacker who's 6-2, 229 and ran a 10.9 100-meter dash in high school. Darrin Kitchen's is such a linebacker, he has the size and can run like hell.

Now he's beginning to make a name for himself.

Kitchens 12 total tackles against Furman (5 unassisted and 7 assists) is very impressive he increased his total season tackles by over 100% in one game going from 9-to-21. He's tied for 16th on the team in total tackles with Loucheiz Purifoy, Purifoy has no other stats like tackles for a loss or INTs at this time.

Furman's surprise offensive may have helped out a bit they broke a lot of plays past our line of scrimmage.

Putting it into perspective Laurentee McCray has 23 tackles on the season, Matt Elam is second in tackles with 64, Josh Evans is 5th on the team with 44, Ronald Powell has 25!!! This game ran Kitchens total up to 21.

Jon Bostic is the clear leader with 81 total tackles, six tackles for a loss, three sacks, two passes broken up and one forced fumble.

Many people call for Coach DJ Durkin to be fired, he's done nothing this year but develop a good second tier of linebackers (Micheal Taylor 32 total tackles) along with McCray who came from no where and is now a guy Gator fans can't wait to get healthy.

Durkin is doing his job, depth at this position looks really good next year. So good a safe bet would be they have a good rotation next fall to keep the front line players fresh and healthy.

You have to love it when a player has a game that puts him on the map, this one did for Kitchens.

Note - Kitchens has five total tackles in conference games. Two quick points here, the running clock made the game shorter more like an NFL game. With more of an NFL staff they'll go with front line players most of the game giving backups like Kitchens few opportunities to prove themselves, this is what the Furman game may have done if coaches aren't too hard headed.


Darrin Kitchens Bio from Gator Zone...

CAREER: Appeared in 10 games as a freshman and was a member of the kickoff coverage unit as well as a reserve linebacker.

2010: Saw action on the kickoff team in every game except for the season opener vs. Miami University, USF and vs. Appalachian State…Recorded his first career tackle at Vanderbilt.

PRIOR TO FLORIDA: A three-star prospect who was rated the No. 41 outside linebacker in the nation to Scout.com ... Recorded 48 solo tackles, 18 sacks and 24 tackles-for-loss in 2008 ... Has been timed at 10.9 in the 100 meters and 22.1 in the 200 meters and also recorded a long jump of 22’11” in track ... Chose Florida over Florida State and Michigan ... Coached by Bobby McCray.

MAJOR: Social and Behavioral Sciences

KITCHENS’ CAREER HIGHS
Tackles: 1 (2x-last vs. Penn State, 2011 Outback Bowl)

Questioning Alabama's Hyped Defense

Alabama hasn't played anyone worth a crap on offense other than Arkansas, and the Hogs lost their RB before the season began making them for all practical purposes one dimensional going into the Bama game.

So who Alabama has built their great defense on?

Kent State
@ Penn State
North Texas
Arkansas
@ Florida
Vanderbilt
@ Ole Miss
Tennessee

My kindergarten class could have slowed down most of those offenses. Kent State, Penn State, North Texas, Vandy, Ole Miss, Florida and Tennessee just aren't that much of a threat.

Scoring offense
rank - pts per game - school
19th - 37 - Arkansas
74th - 26 - Florida
80th - 25 - Vanderbilt
96th - 22 - Tennessee
101st - 22 - Penn State
103rd - 21 - Ole Miss
105th - 20 - North Texas
119th - 13 - Kent State

I've heard all this stuff on how great Alabama's defense is, I just don't get it so we'll see tonight.

By the way LSU faced...
Scoring offense
rank - pts per game - school
4th - 48 - Oregon
15th - 39 - West Virginia
73rd - 26 - Auburn
74th - 26 - Florida
83rd - 25 - Mississippi St.
96th - 22 - Tennessee
115th - 17 - Kentucky

Florida is getting better and better...

The Gators were my pick to win the SEC West. Made that pick just before the season started.

Florida really hasn't had a test yet. Tennessee just couldn't run the ball and had it not been for a big day for the refs vs the Gators the Vols would have been routed.

Kentucky is far less of a test than Tennessee was, if you're going to play an away game with a new staff and new systems this game is tailor made. Moses could part the Gator defense and Kentucky still couldn't score this weekend.

The big test will be Alabama the week after in the swamp. I'm really liking the Gators.

(Old photo above, Cam Newton, then OC Dan Mullen, his successor at OC Steve Addazio all moved on to bigger and better things...)

Florida's defensive line is very tough. The defense as a whole is nasty fast. One area of concern is the play of the defensive backs. That needs to be cleaned up, but then again they faced the best quarterback they will face all season in Tyler Bray.

When you look at Alabama's rushing they just aren't doing that well. In their first two games against Kent State and Penn State Trent Richardson rushed for 148 yards in 39 carries for a 3.8 yards per carry average. His total so far has been helped out with a 50 and 71 yard TD runs vs North Texas. He has 315 yards on 50 carries, minus the two TD runs he's averaging four yards a carry against poor competition.

Those aren't Heisman numbers and Arkansas is better than that against the rush. The Hogs weakness so far is pass defense. Nick Saban likes to go conservative in big games, be interesting to see how this plays out. Would think Bama tries to pound them then catch them with their pants down on a play action here and there. It will only take a few key hookups for the Tide to pull this one out.

That is if Arkansas isn't red hot.

Think the Gators are in great shape to get Alabama next week and LSU the week after. People can try to say the Gators haven't faced a defense like they'll face against Alabama and Tennessee. The reply to that is they face their own defense everyday in practice.

Just feel that Charlie Weis is holding some stuff back, they haven't needed to show everything in their bag of tricks to go 3-0, nor will they this weekend against Kentucky. And Florida really has a strong group of offensive linemen who are playing at a high level early in the season allowing only one sack of John Brantley in three games.

LSU's offense is OK. Against the Gators you better be better than OK. Now Florida needs to stay healthy. You wonder about Chris Rainey getting so many carries. The Gators are one of the few teams in the country that can match up with Alabama and LSU speed and strength wise.

Florida will leap to the #1 spot in the nation with victories over Alabama and LSU. They are going to get that done, you heard it here first.

Swampie's Rumor Mill: Hard to Understand Oklahoma to Pac-12

Swampie's Rumor Mill: Hard to Understand Oklahoma to Pac-12

Hard to Understand Oklahoma to Pac-12

The University of Oklahoma Regents will meet Monday in a closed meeting to discuss the school's conference options. On the same day the University of Texas Regents will meet and discuss the future of the Big 12 conference. Texas representatives have been in Norman this past week trying to convince the Sooners to remain in the Big 12.

Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State, and Oklahoma State will not waive the right to litigation if Texas A&M leaves the Big 12. R. Bowen Loftin, president of Texas A&M, says his school is being held hostage right now.

If Oklahoma leaves everything will fall apart.

What doesn't make a lot of sense is the travel. The US map below is color coded to illustrate the three largest conferences to Oklahoma. In blue - the SEC, green - Big 10, yellow - Pac 12, and Oklahoma is orange.

From Normal Oklahoma in miles...

SEC
235 - Fayetteville, Arkansas
358 - College Station, Texas (when, not if A&M joins the SEC)
552 - Oxford, Mississippi
629 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana
647 - Starkville, Mississippi
691 - Nashville, Tennessee
706 - Tuscaloosa, Alabama
822 - Auburn, Alabama
851 - Lexington, Kentucky
868 - Knoxville, Tennessee
931 - Athens, Georgia
1071 - Columbia, South Carolina
1192 - Gainesville, Florida

734 - Average travel to SEC Schools

Pac 12

715 - Boulder, Colorado
1012 - Tucson, Arizona
1036 - Tempe, Arizona
1251 - Salt Lake City, Utah
1350 - Los Angeles, California (USC, Cal)
1630 - Stanford, California
1646 - Berkeley, California
1839 - Pullman, Washington
1961 - Eugene, Oregon
2019 - Seattle, Washington
2028 - Corvallis, Oregon

1486 - Average travel to Pac 12 Schools

Nothing is really close, it's interesting that over half the schools in the SEC, counting A&M, are closer to Oklahoma than the second nearest Pac 12 school at Tucson, the University of Arizona. The average is almost exactly double the distance to Pac 12 schools, 1486 miles, at the SEC schools 734.

Of course Oklahoma will fly whether they end up in the SEC or Pac 12. That's every sport and it will be double the air time. Not a piece of cake.

Even though there is plenty of travel ahead for the Oklahoma speculation by just about everyone has Sooners looking West where there are no shortage of good reasons to do so. Bob Stoops brand of football is a better fit in the Pac 12 than the SEC. The Pac 12 is well known as a passing conference with most of the best throwing quarterbacks in the country.

The SEC is more like a Texas, Nebraska or an Ohio State, it's a power league where you better be able to run the football and play strong defense. Not saying Oklahoma can't do that and couldn't adapt to the SEC.

Oklahoma State would be a great fit with the Pac 12 offensive style of play if the much rumored package deal of OU and OSU comes into play.

It's great for the Pac 12, they will help the West Coast teams get more appeal when they travel to Central USA. Kickoffs at 3:30pm EST are practical giving the East Coast fans more opportunities to watch. Of course some of the Sooner games on the West Coast would be too late for prime time on the Eastern side of the US.

Not only will joining the Pac 12 help the Oklahoma schools recruit California and the West Coast, playing in Oklahoma will hep the Pac 12 schools get a stronger presence in the state of Texas. Especially with the super conferences looming there will be some schools in the Lone Star state left out. Many recruits may look to out of state options where there will be a greater chance of national TV coverage.

Of course the SEC will be an option for those recruits when Oklahoma opts for anywhere, law suits won't work if the conference falls apart. Texas A&M would give the SEC a better shot at Texas recruits.

The flip side is if Oklahoma were to opt for the SEC they would have more appeal to rich areas like the state of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

It has been written that Oklahoma doesn't like the perception that they're some sort of puppet with Texas pulling their strings. Taking any step out of the Big 12 will change this national image.

Oklahoma State is looked upon more as a partner to Oklahoma than a tag-a-long. Besides neither of the Oklahoma schools have a huge private TV contract to worry about losing.

Looking for stability the Pac 10 has been together a long time, since 1915, they league started small with four teams (Cal, Washington, Oregon and Oregon State)and continued to add teams.

Stability is the SEC established in 1932 with 13 teams, 10 of the charter members are still in the conference (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt). The SEC expanded to 12 teams back in 1991 with Arkansas and South Carolina, it's mind boggling to think those two schools are entering their 21st year in the conference. One could actually argue there is more stability in the SEC looking at those ten charter members.

In the end if Oklahoma joins the Pac 12 as many think they will, Coach Stoops won't be that happy because it will involve another conference championship game. But that should be OK for a while with USC's probation setbacks Oklahoma should battle Oregon for dominance of the league.

If Oklahoma were to surprise everyone and join the SEC, they will battle for the league title against the likes of LSU, Alabama, Florida and say a South Carolina or perhaps Tennessee and Auburn when they rebuild.

The SEC would love to have them.

Swampie's Rumor Mill: Return - College Football Today

Swampie's Rumor Mill: Return - College Football Today

Return - College Football Today

Still have the desire to write about College Football so I'll do so here.

Today is going to be fun, see if Auburn can continue pulling games out of their hat. Of course Clemson isn't very good so the War Eagles could go to 3-0 without a lot of difficulty.

Questions why Auburn would hire Gene Chizik, boy am I eating those words. He's turning out to be a great football coach.

Thinking FSU is going to be awfully difficult to beat, like their defense but wonder if their QB is ready to win this level of football game. Oklahoma isn't that good against highly ranked foes, not sure they've beaten anyone soon. So it's a matter of which team implodes? I'm not sure who wins this one think it's too close to call.

Florida and Tennessee should be a fine football game. The Vols 6-6 QB Tyler Brey will have to have one heck of a day. Will Florida's defensive line begin to play up to their recruiting hype? The story of this game might well be Florida's defensive front vs the blocking of Tennessee.

One thing is for sure, Florida hasn't shown any blitz packages. There is a good side and bad side of that. You keep it secret, that's nice, but your guys don't get the opportunity to run these blitz schemes in front of 90,000 screaming fans.

Think Florida beats UT's offensive front and wins this game. If they don't look for 80+ points to be scored in this one. Don't think that happens but we'll see, Brey is very good, Florida doesn't rely on their QB to win this game like Tennessee does.

Have a great day today...

SEC Teams with a Chance at the SEC Championship Game...

Team	Alabama	Arkansas	Auburn	LSU	South Carolina	Florida
Overall	5-1	4-1	6-0	6-0	4-1	4-2
Oct 16	Mississippi	at Auburn	Arkansas	McNeese St	at Kentucky	Miss State
Oct 23	Tennessee	Ole Miss	LSU	at Auburn	at Vanderbilt	open
Oct 30	open	open	at Ole Miss	open	Tennessee	Georgia
Nov 6	at LSU	at S Carolina	Chattanoo	Alabama	Arkansas	at Vandy
Nov 13	Miss State	UTEP	Georgia	Louisiana-Mo	at Florida	S Carolina
Nov 20	Ga State	at Miss State	open	Ole Miss	Troy	Appalachian
Nov 27	Auburn	LSU	at Alabama	at Arkansas	at Clemson	at FSU

Morgan Died Today...

September 24th, 2010

My sweet Morgan died this afternoon, one of the very best dogs ever, I won't ever have another Morgan. I still have her daughter a pain in the ass, but I love her too. If I get another dog it will be a Lab.

I thank the Lord for having six wonderful years with this animal, she was given to me when she was four and a half. When she wanted to be petted some she'd use her nose like a dolphin and flip my arm up in the air, the mischievous look on her face, she'd jump in bed and snuggle right up getting her head close to mine with that sneaky happy look in her eye, but when you quit petting her she'd get up and go sleep on the floor except for the few times she was mad at her daughter. Gabby sleeps with me all the time.

I put Gabby back in the bedroom when I took her mother outside to bury her. It took me quite a while, several times just to get her out there am still filling in. Anyway dog tired I came back in and she was wanting to get out. I let her out and didn't think, but she ran through the house looking for her mother. Gabby was the only pup that Morgan had that survived. Her mom is the only other dog that she knew. I let her out back, she went all over looking for her, it was really sad. Poor Gabbs...

Thank God for dogs...

Junior Seasons For Gator Quarterbacks...

Where does John Brantley stand as a junior against other Gators starters in their junior year. Guys like Wayne Peace, Kerwin Bell, Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffel, Rex Grossman, Chris Leak and Tim Tebow...

If it wasn't for Tim Tebow charting Gator QBs would be easy for the above group where rushing wasn't a factor. Tebow had 3037 yards rushing in his career to go with 9,285 yards passing. He had 88 TD passes to go with 49 rushing for a grand total of 137.

Since Brantley is expected to throw the ball and run it far less than Tebow the stats below will concentrate on that area.

The chart below has the combined Fr/So - Freshman and Sophomore years C/A completion and attempts, % completion percentage and TDs/INTs. The next four slots are the junior years of the quarterbacks below including Swampie's prediction for John Brantley...

Player	Fr/So C/A	%	Yds	Td/Int	Jr C/A	%	Yds	Td/Int
John Brantley	54/76	71.1	645	10/1	245/365	67.0	3200	26-6
Tim Tebow	256/383	66.8	3490	37-7	192/298	64.4	2746	21-5
Chris Leak	428/719	59.5	5632	45-12	235/374	62.8	2639	20-6
Rex Grossman	390/607	64.5	5762	55-19	287/503	57.1	3402	22-17
Danny Wuerffel	291/485	60.0	3984	40-19	210/325	64.6	3266	35-10
Shane Matthews	447/739	60.5	6082	51-30	275/463	59.4	3205	23-16
Kerwin Bell	278/472	58.9	4301	37-15	131/242	54.1	1515	10-10
Wayne Peace	250/453	55.2	3074	16-20	174/246	70.7	2053	8-10

What jumps out at this man besides the amount of experience all the other guys had by the time they were juniors, is how Urban Meyer football has drastically changed the TD to INT ratios. It is interesting to note Brantley's lone INT was on a tipped pass.

Rex Grossman had a horrible season after finishing third in the Heisman voting his sophomore year. A new staff and losing a couple of receivers to the NFL really hurt. Grossman was hard headed, actually got a caustic email from his dad requesting I lay off of his son.

I had written he was erratic, throwing a great pass then seemingly losing concentration and chunking up an INT. That was after his freshman season, I laid off thinking maybe I was too hard on him, but he went on with his career at Florida and onto the NFL and proved Swampie right. Always liked Grossman but consistency wasn't his trademark.

It seems it isn't too much to expect Brantley to complete 67% of his passes this fall other real quarterback before him threw for darn near that percentage (66.8%) as a freshman and sophomore.

Florida is a run first football team, Tebow was good enough to sling it around a lot more than they did in his career. Doubt Brantley throws it 45% of the time, would think he goes around 3,100 yards, 3,400 for the season at most. He will throw around 25 TDs and keep it down to 6 or 7 INTs depending on the amount of mistakes his receivers make.

Every QB who's started for any amount of time at Florida has won big at the high school level...

John Brantley - Owned a 27-1 record as a starter, won a state championship his junior year and was runner up his senior year. Broke the state record for career touchdown passes with 99, topping the total of 98 shared by UF quarterback Tim Tebow and Florida State signal-caller Xavier Lee…Threw for 2,766 yards and 41 touchdowns in his final prep season…Established a Trinity Catholic career passing record with 6,802 yards…Was an all-state selection in Class 2B…A Scout.com five-star passer who was named the Most Valuable Player of the Elite 11 Quarterback Camp…
Tim Tebow - Lead Nease to their 1st ever state championship, threw for 9,940 yards and 98 TDs.
Chris Leak - 46-0, lead team to three straight state championships 2000, 2001, 2002, 185 TD passes
Rex Grossman - Won 5A title in Indiana, 7,518 yards and 97 TDs in his career, Parade AA
Danny Wuerffel - 14-0 State title at Ft. Walton Beach and #2 national ranking
Shane Matthews - Led Pascagoula to 14-0 record and state championship in Mississippi 1988
Kerwin Bell - nickname in high school the throwin' Mayoan couldn't find record his team did play very well for Mayo and beat some people.
Wayne Peace - 11-2 Lakeland team lost in the state semifinals to physically dominant Pine Forest 26-14
John Reaves - As a senior in 1967, he led Tampa Robinson Class 2A football semifinal game before losing to the Coral Gables, who won the state championship and were ranked as the national champions afterward. Reaves was lauded as the State Player of the Year. He also played basketball and baseball and ran track for the Knights, and once scored fifty-two points in a high school basketball game.

Gator QBs Signed Since 1979

It takes a lot of quarterbacks in a program like Florida. Many will play other positions, as you'll see below there aren't that many starters and the ones that do play for a while.

Note - Kerwin Bell wasn't signed, he was a walkon so he didn't show up on the recruiting list in the media guide although he was a 4-year starter. Terry Dean and Danny Wuerffell actually split two years. By 2004 just used recruiting services data base to finish this list.

You have to recruit a whole bunch of quarterbacks.

Name	Ht	Wt	Town	Pos	Starter
79 - Johnell Brown	6-1	180	Gainesville	Qb/Wb
79 - Ivory Curry	6-0	175	Miami	Qb
79 - Larry Keefe	6-3	200	Ft. Walton Beach	Qb
79 - Mike Mularkey	6-4	220	Richmond, VA	Qb
80 - Dale Dorminey	6-1	188	Hialeah	Qb
80 - Mark Massey	6-1	180	Pensacola	Qb
80 - Wayne Peace	6-2	203	Lakeland	Qb	4- year
80 - Roger Sibbald	6-0	190	Dunnellon	Qb
82 - Vernell Brown	5-11	175	Gainesville	Qb/Wr
82 - Ray Criswell	6-0	175	Orange Park	Qb/K
82 - Donnie Whiting	5-11	175	Titusville	Qb
83 - Derrick Crudup	6-1	190	Boca Raton	Qb
83 - Pat Pinner	6-4	200	Lakeland	Qb
83 - Scott Rismiller	6-4	215	St. Petersburg	Qb/TE
84 - Rodney Brewer	6-2	205	Apopka	Qb
84 - Brian Massingill	6-0	190	Tifton, GA	Qb
84 - Clifton Reynolds	6-4	200	Palatka	Qb
87 - Billy Deeds	5-10	170	Auburndale	Qb
87 - Kyle Morris	6-3	205	Clinton, MS	Qb	2- year
87 - Johnny Nichols	6-0	185	Pensacola	Qb
87 - Herbert Perry	6-1	190	Perry	Qb
88 - Jerry Dunn	6-1	185	Denver, CO	Qb
88 - Scott Hoffman	6-3	205	Elgin, IL	Qb
88 - Shane Matthews	6-3	175	Pascagoula, MS	Qb	3- year
88 - Lex Smith	6-2	202	Dade City	Qb
89 - Donald Dogulas	6-2	181	Liberty, TX	Qb
90 - Jay Austin	6-3	195	St. Petersburg	Qb
90 - Terry Dean	6-3	195	Naples	Qb	2- year
91 - Luke Bencie	6-3	197	Sarasota	Qb
91 - Antwan Chiles	6-2	236	Lauderdale Lakes	Qb
92 - Danny Wuerffel	6-2	193	Ft. Walton Beach	Qb	4- year
95 - Bobby Sabelhaus	6-5	225	Owings Mills, MD	Qb
96 - Doug Johnson	6-2	195	Gainesville	Qb	3- year
97 - Tim Olmstead	6-2	196	Binghamton, NY	Qb
97 - Jesse Palmer	6-2	220	Nepean, Ont.	Qb	2- year
99 - Rex Grossman	6-1	205	Bloomington, Ind	Qb	3- year
99 - Chris Stephens	6-3	205	Gainesville	Qb
00 - Brock Berlin	6-1	204	Shreveport, LA	Qb
01 - Ingle Martin	6-3	210	Nashville, TN	Qb
02 - Gavin Dickey	6-0	190	Tallahassee	Qb
02 - Patrick Dosh	6-3	205	Glen Allen, VA	Qb
03 - Chris Leak	6-1	205	Charlotte, N.C.	Qb	4-year
03 - Justin Midgett	6-3	180	Punta Gorda	Qb
05 - Josh Portis	6-3	183	Woodland Hills, CA	Qb
06 - Tim Tebow	6-3	217	Ponte Vedra, FL	Qb	3- year
07 - John Brantley	6-2	190	Ocala	Qb
07 - Cameron Newton	6-4	232	Atlanta, GA	Qb
07 - Bryan Waggener	6-4	230	Glendora, CA	Qb
09 - Jordan Reed	6-3	235	New London, CT	Qb
10 - Tre Burton	6-3	203	Venice	Qb

Opening Day Stats for Gator QBs

Name	Year	team played score	at/cm	yds	td/int	PR
Steve Spurrier	1964	Alabama L 17-14	9/14	140	1 - 1	157.57
John Reaves	1969	Houston W 59-35	18/30	342	5 - 1	204.09
Kerwin Bell	1984	Miami L 32-20	15/30	159	1-1	98.85
Shane Matthews	1990	Ok St W 50-7	20/29	322	1-0	176.51
Terry Dean	1993	Hogs W 44-6	16/22	237	2-1	184.12
Danny Wuerffel	1993	Vols W 41-34	19/38	231	3-1	121.85
Eric Kresser	1995	N. Ill W 58-20	26/42	458	6-1	195.84
Doug Johnson	1997	Srn Miss W 31-6	17/34	231	2-3	108.83
Rex Grossman	2000	LSU W 41-9	18/28	276	3-0	182.44
Chris Leak	2003	UK W 24-21	20/35	268	2-2	128.89
Tim Tebow	2007	Wrn Ky W 49-3	13/17	300	3-0	282.94

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiwR6A32gfw

Contract In, Swamp 24-7 Launching Tonight

OK, Very excited to join the staff of 247 Sports, the Florida site named "Swamp 24-7" launches tonight. Franz Beard, Justin Wells and yours truly. Several other well known Gator internet guys are coming to pitch in, we will be well monitored on the boards...

When I get a web address I'll post it.......

Won't be able to do anymore work on my story for a good while, football season is about to begin...

Tebow Had Strong Showing vs Bengals

Tim Tebow played in his first NFL game, be it a preseason, none the less for a first outing his play was remarkable.

He entered the game in the third quarter, the #2 guy for now Brady Quinn went 6 for 16 for 68 yards and 1 INT. Quinn also ran the ball twice for 1 yard and fumbled once but the Bronco's maintained possession.

Tebow was 8 of 13 for 105 yards, a 7 yard TD pass on the next to the last play of the game was dropped, it was perfectly thrown. He also launched a 35 yard pass down field that was dropped.

Tebow completed passes for 33, 21 and 17 yards. Believe it or not Tebow was second in rushing for the Bronco's with two carries for 10 yards.

On the seven yard drop, there was only 3 seconds left. The Bronco's called time out and asked for a review. The ruling on the field was confirmed by replay. On the last play of the game the Bronco's spread the field, Tebow moved to the right just out of the pocket and saw a clear field. He decided to run it in meeting two Bengals at the one. Those two just weren't enough to stop Tebow and one of them was real slow getting up.

With time out they let the Bronco's kick the PAT, ending game 33-24 for the Cats.

The Denver Post praised Tebow's play and wrote that Quinn needs a good showing to hold onto #2.

On the last drive Tebow's big play a pass to Davis for 33 yards was vintage Tebow. Flushed out of the pocket Tebow ran to his right then spotted Davis down field. He launched a perfect spiral with his new compact release well down field right on the money.

The pass was crisp and thrown with velocity, the Bengal crew in the booth were really impressed, it's hard to run in the opposite direction of your throwing arm and drop the ball in that well, Tebow made it look easy.

Tiger Woods

I like Tiger Woods and wanted him to win the PGA today even though it was out of his reach. I always want Tiger to win.

You can count this man as one who's upset with all the talk of Tiger no longer being what he used to be. Actually dislike golf these days, some no-name young guy just goes postal and shoots lights out.

I like rooting for the old fool that I know and love. I like Tiger, I like Phil.

Of the four major championships - US Open, Masters, British Open and the PGA - the top two aggregate golfers were Phil Mickelson at -18 and Tiger Woods at -11. No one else was close.

Figured out what's wrong with Tiger having been a decent golfer once I had a five handicap. It's just simple, Tiger's game stinks right now.

There you go, you heard it here first.

Today I was rooting for him to have a big day and post a score. He had four birdies on the front nine, but after he boggied the ninth hole, his third boggy on the front, this man had enough.

Discouraged I felt it was more fun to watch Richard Burton torture John Hurt in the move 1984 than continue watching the Tiger.

I mean Hurt met the girl, sank a few birdies, then boggied his way in on the movie. In the end he finished at seven over par and failed to qualify for the human race.

Believe it or not Tiger is still on shaky ground emotionally. Whenever you make a major pattern of living change it has a dramatic affect on your central nervous system.

Be it giving up gambling, drinking, drugs, smoking, or a divorce, a death of someone very close when you quit or lose something you depended on you're not going to be right for a while, the bigger the attachment good or bad the greater the time it takes for your system to get somewhat back to normal.

It usually takes a year believe it or not.

I would like to see Tiger hit more fairways, and my goodness he used to just destroy the par fives, now he just butchers them. On a difficult course like this I wonder why can't he use his three wood more off the tee like he used too.

And I question pros who try and manufacture so many shots that they end up swinging like a duffer.

Whatever, as ugly as it is I'm going to continue to watch the Tiger. He was on the leader board the final day in the Masters and British Opens this year, you aren't there unless you're a hell of a golfer.

Tiger isn't done, don't stick that fork in him yet, he's just recovering. I mean my goodness he's only 35 years old, you aren't washed up in golf at the age of 35.

24-7, James Wilder, Meyer vs Agents, Why GaTech left SEC

Swamp 24-7 will open up on 247 Sports. I still haven't got a contract they have so much to do whether I join or not is still up in the air. When I get that contract as they assure me I will I'll post it here.

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James Wilder will commit to FSU

The Noles did a job on him but he can't sign till Feb-of-2011, even if he is an early enrollee his commitment could change as late as Christmas. A lot of crap can be sold to an eighteen year old young man who's feeling on top of the world.

It angers me when I keep reading this complete crap about how Wilder is better suited to be a linebacker. I look at him and see a young man who could become a bigger more powerful Mark Ingram. He is a very special running back guys that size are very rare, 6-2 linebackers who run 4.5 are just about a dime a dozen. A 6-2 running back with 4.5 speed, tremendous power, balance and incredible natural instincts are extremely rare.

I am sorry but this is what made me want to write about sports in the first place. There are times journalists or bloggers or the recruiting guys don't know their ass from a hole in the ground. Far too often they just can't think for themselves.


But the bull will hit the road this fall.

1 - Where will Wilder get the biggest platform to display his talents?
- a - FSU will not win more than 9 games this season if that many! FSU is a LONG ways from being at the level of a Texas, Florida, Alabama or Ohio State. They simply have not recruited well at all positions, their team is undersized at several positions, they are in for another rough season, there are no quick fixes for what they are facing.

This will become apparent this fall, there is much hope for Jimbo Fisher but he just doesn't have the horses. Last year the Seminoles were 94th in the country in scoring defense allowing 30 points per game. They were 104th in rush defense allowing 204.6 yards per game.

- b - Florida should have a great season, that could cause Wilder rethink his decision. Florida has recruited exceptionally well on the offensive line, they look to be very strong there for years to come, they are a running team. Urban Meyer has never had a big back before.

2. Negative Recruiting - For some insane reason this is used against Meyer others say Wilder won't get the carries at Florida or they will make a fullback position for him.
(Note - how stupid do some people think you are, you think if Florida wanted Wilder that they would tell him we're going to design a fullback position just for you when the kid wants to be a tailback, My God how do these people write this crap and the worst part about it is a lot of people will actually believe it.)


3. If Wilder wants to play three years and go to the NFL he can go to FSU. If he wants to play three years and try and win a National Championship then he better go to Florida.

FSU will play Oklahoma, BYU, Miami, Boston College, North Carolina, Clemson and Florida. They can easily lose six games this season. If that happens it will be hard to hold onto guys like Wilder because they'll see the hand writing on the wall.

Guys like Wilder want to be the man, but they darn sure don't want to be the ONLY MAN.

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Urban Meyer has come a LONG WAY!

The amazing rise of Urban Meyer. He's going into just his tenth season as a head coach in college football yet Meyer, Nick Saban, Jim Tressel, Mack Brown and Bob Stoops were in on a conference call last week with NFL commisioner Roger Goodall along with others to discuss what to do about the agent problem in college football.

Seven years ago he was headed into his first season at Utah.

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Why did Georgia Tech Leave the SEC?

From Wikipedia -

Bobby Dodd's tenure included Georgia Tech's withdrawal from the Southeastern Conference. The initial spark for Dodd's withdrawal was a historic feud with Alabama Crimson Tide Coach Bear Bryant. The feud began when Tech was visiting the Tide at Denny Stadium in 1961. After a Tech punt, Alabama fair-caught the ball. Chick Granning of Tech was playing coverage and relaxed after the signal for the fair catch. Darwin Holt of Alabama continued play and smashed his elbow into Granning's face causing severe fracturing in his face, a broken nose, and blood-filled sinuses. Granning was knocked unconscious and suffered a severe concussion, the result of which left him unable to play football ever again. Dodd sent Bryant a letter asking Bryant to suspend Holt after game film indicated Holt had intentionally injured Granning. Bryant never suspended Holt. The lack of discipline infuriated Dodd and sparked Dodd's interest in withdrawing from the SEC.

Another issue of concern for Dodd was Alabama's and other SEC schools' over-recruitment of players. Universities would recruit more players than they had roster space for. During the summer practice sessions, the teams in question would cut the players well after signing day thus preventing the cut players from finding new colleges to play for. Dodd appealed the SEC administration to punish the "tryout camps" of his fellow SEC members but the SEC did not. Finally, Dodd withdrew Georgia Tech from the SEC in 1963. Tech would remain an independent like Notre Dame and Penn State (at the time) during the final four years of Dodd's coaching tenure. In 1967, Dodd passed the head coach position to his favorite coordinator, Bud Carson. Dodd simply retained his athletic director position, which he had acquired in 1950. He would not retire from athletic directing until 1976.

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Not sure when the NCAA got any teeth, does anyone know where you can see a complete list of NCAA sanctions? Saw one link but it didn't work.

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Rumor Alert

Why would a coach show up at 11:10 for a 11:30 meeting with the press, leave at 11:18? Maybe the press wasn't getting there on time? The late comers missed the boat that day...

Reason's for FSU's and the ACC's Downfall

Discussion on Bobby Bowden and the state of FSU

M&M Nole - Michael wrote:
"i think it was way past time that he (Bobby Bowden) left. remember the football program was and is about building the character of the young men on the team, and the team itself - not about Him, and some sort of media-constructed competition with Joe Paterno, or building his "legacy". he started phoning things in years ago, and the real beginning of the end was when he was grooming his son to replace (against all the rules about nepotism), and appointed him as "offensive coordinator". well, the whole thing was certainly offensive. i still like the man, but not what he became as a coach. as the song says "you got to know when to fold 'em" - he didn't."
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Bottom line M&M, had Bowden continued to win all that other stuff is not a factor.

What really hurt FSU was recruiting. It's what built their program and it's what destroyed it. They got the recruiting boost when Florida went on probation in 1984, that lead to the tremendous 14 year run of top-5 finishes from 1987-2000.

What hurt their recruiting was joining the ACC it took a while but it finally caught up with them.

Florida State Seminoles (Independent) (1976–1991)
1976	Florida State	5–6
1977	Florida State	10–2			W Tangerine	11	14
1978	Florida State	8–3
1979	Florida State	11–1			L Orange	8	6
1980	Florida State	10–2			L Orange	5	5
1981	Florida State	6–5
1982	Florida State	9–3			W Gator	10	13
1983	Florida State	8–4 (7-5) ‡			W Peach
1984	Florida State	7–3–2			T Citrus	19	17
1985	Florida State	9–3			W Gator	13	15
1986	Florida State	7–4–1			W All-American	20
1987	Florida State	11–1			W Fiesta	2	2
1988	Florida State	11–1			W Sugar	3	3
1989	Florida State	10–2			W Fiesta	2	3
1990	Florida State	10–2			W Blockbuster	4	4
1991	Florida State	11–2			W Cotton	4	4
Florida State (1976-91):		143-44-3
Florida State Seminoles (ACC) (1992–2009)
1992	Florida State	11–1	8–0	1st	W Orange	2	2
1993	Florida State	12–1	8–0	1st	W Orange	1	1
1994	Florida State	10–1–1	8–0	1st	W Sugar	5	4
1995	Florida State	10–2	7–1	T-1st	W Orange	5	4
1996	Florida State	11–1	8–0	1st	L Sugar	3	3
1997	Florida State	11–1	8–0	1st	W Sugar	3	3
1998	Florida State	11–2	7–1	T-1st	L Fiesta †	3	3
1999	Florida State	12–0	8–0	1st	W Sugar †	1	1
2000	Florida State	11–2	8–0	1st	L Orange †	4	5
2001	Florida State	8–4	6–2	2nd	W Gator	15	15
2002	Florida State	9–5	7–1	1st	L Sugar †	23	21
2003	Florida State	10–3	7–1	1st	L Orange †	10	11
2004	Florida State	9–3	6–2	2nd	W Gator	14	15
2005	Florida State	8–5	5–3	1st (Atlantic)	L Orange †	23	22
2006	Florida State	2–6 (7–6) ‡	1–5 (3–5) ‡	5th (Atlantic)	V Emerald
2007	Florida State	0–6 (7–6) ‡	0–4 (4–4) ‡	3rd (Atlantic)	L Music City
2008	Florida State	9–4	5–3	T-1st (Atlantic)	W Champs Sports	23	21
2009	Florida State	7–6	4–4	3rd (Atlantic)	W Gator
Florida State (1992-2009):		161-53	111–27
Total:		377–129–4
National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title
†Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll.

Look at the national champions from the SEC since 1996 (hey why not start there???)

SEC
1996 - Florida
1998 - Tennessee
2003 - LSU
2006 - Florida
2007 - LSU
2008 - Florida
2009 - Alabama

ACC
1999 - FSU
2001 - Miami

Miiami was still with the Big East in 2001.

The SEC is just more appealing to the top recruits they just want to play there that statement has been proven by success in the draft to recruiting rankings. It is very difficult for many teams in the Southeastern region to compete with the SEC appeal. The best want to play against the best.

When all that conference realignment was being talked about FSU was and is extremely interested in joining the SEC. It was like holding some liver to a dog's nose, sure they'd get the crap kicked out of them at first but over time the recruiting boost they'd get from it would be tremendous.

FSU had that 14 year run of excellence. They reloaded the QB position with fourth year juniors and had the best LBs three deep. They had great rush ends, perhaps the best production there in that time period.

They began their decline with the QB position and at DE, then WR wasn't what it used to be, the last decade starting in 2001 it's been a mess. (Sharrif Floyd Gator DT recruit to right)

Now perhaps Bowden had a part in the school opting for the ACC over the SEC, it worked for a while but then that decision caught up with them.

Jimbo Fisher can recruit his heart out, the bottom line is last year two 7-5 SEC teams, Georgia and South Carolina, beat Georgia Tech and Clemson the two teams who played in the ACC conference championship game.

To put that into perspective four teams in the SEC had better records than Georgia who finished with an 8-5 season, and there were two other teams Arkansas and Auburn who had 8-5 records. South Carolina finished with a 7-6 record. There were only two teams in the SEC who had worse than a 7-6 record, Tennessee and Kentucky each ended with the 7-6 mark.

You are literally saying two middle of the pack teams in the SEC beat the two best teams in the ACC. Kids see that stuff and it kills recruiting.

After 44 Years Bobby Bowden will not be on the Sidelines...

Bobby Bowden was the coach at FSU for 34 years, his first 16 seasons FSU was an independent. After joining the ACC FSU went on to win the conference 11 of the first 12 seasons.

What is the most amazing feat is FSU finished in the top 5 in national rankings for 14 years, from 1987 to 2000. In that span FSU was ranked 4th and 5th by one service or the other three times. This mean that someone had FSU ranked 4th or higher in the country for those 14 consecutive seasons that included two concensus national championships in 1993 and 1999.

Below....
Wrote 'Bowden Should Quit' after the Florida - FSU game last season. Some strong points were made especially toward the end on the ACC vs SEC. This was prior to Bobby Bowden's announcement that he was standing down as FSU's football coach.

Right below is a comment I added to the post after seeing the FSU replay show the next day...

- - I watched the Sun Sports replay of the game this morning, Bobby Bowden was interviewed after the game and I swear it looked like he had been crying. His eyes were red, maybe that was it for him, he said he'd have to do some soul searching. Next season can't be appealing for him. - -


Bowden Should Quit.....


Swampie's Rumor Mill
August 29th, 2009

It shouldn't have come to this but the best thing Bobby Bowden can do is quit his job as the head coach of FSU. He wants to leave on his terms if he stays another year he will lose that opportunity.

FSU will push him out the door and all that he built will crumble. His run at Florida State will never crumble but the Seminole program has and will continue to do so.

Jimbo Fisher the famous coach in waiting hasn't done that much with FSU. He's developed a decent offense this season but everything the Seminoles did in this process has been wrong.

FSU has often been a trend setter like the Deion Rule or play to the Echo once again creates a first in college football. Although they didn't start the coach in waiting thing they dam sure finished it, no one can possibly think that's desirable now.

Gone for Fisher is that recruiting boom that usually comes with the hire of a new coach. Right now its same old same old which can't be very appealing. About all FSU has on defense is a linebacker who can run like hell and make tackles forty yards down field, something every sorry defensive team needs.

Who will coach Bowden be fooling next season, he won't have any input into what's going on, hell he may as well move a nice comfortable bed into his office and snooze most of the day away if he doesn't do that already. The man is 80, he looks good, he's had a wonderful career, he doesn't need this.

And FSU has proved they no longer deserve him.

He will think it over. He saw how far his football team was behind Florida yesterday. No amount of optimism can cause him to realistically think that can be made up in one season. FSU has some athletes but lack the horses.

Florida will be awesome again next season even if the Gators lose a small herd of juniors.

In the SEC this season there were only two top teams Alabama and Florida, then LSU, Ole Miss and six 7-5 teams. Yesterday two of those 7-5 teams South Carolina and Georgia beat the two teams headed for the ACC Championship game, Clemson and Georgia Tech.

FSU finished the 7th best team in the ACC at 6-6, 4-4 in the conference. Would a 9-to-10 win season next fall leave the program where Bowden can walk away in peace, especially if he had nothing what so ever to do with anything?

He can walk away now and hold his head high. Florida State betrayed him, he doesn't need to stick around like Ceasar and let the idiots up there spear him to death after next season. Et tu FSU!

Gators and Public Property

Fans can go before and after practice and see the team walking to and from the practice facility, until the day the UAA connects an underground walk way to the practice field.

Any sidewalk at the University of Florida is public property you, me, anyone has the right to be there. The people Urban Meyer's wants to beef up security for the autograph seekers, security will tell them to get out.

Something was mentioned about scumbags and internet people were tossed in that mix. I'm an internet person who has for many years followed the UAA's guidelines while others haven't so this man resents being lumped in that category.

Perhaps it was a misunderstanding so this man asked. Certainly they weren't going to ask someone on public property to leave.

(Please note the email concerning this and one other topic will not be posted, they other topic is inappropriate especially at this time of the season.)

From Steve McClain
Sports Information Director
Athletic Department
University of Florida

Richard:

Thanks for your note and your concerns.

What you have seen in various reports is a simple case of the media embellishing some quotes by Coach Meyer and not putting them in the proper perspective.

Rest assured, we are very aware that the players walk to practice on public property before they get to the private practice facility.

If you have encountered any of the football players walking to practice this year, you probably would say things are not much different until you get to the
entrance of the facility. There, you will see some protective gates to funnel the players into one entrance point and limit crowding by the gate. The main intent was to limit the number of autograph seekers who were bothering our student athletes daily and then turning around and selling various autographed items on the internet. I think we would all agree that practice had gotten out of hand.

Thanks again for sharing your concerns and please feel free to call or e-mail if you have any more questions or would like some additional information.

Go Gators!

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Could an underground path to the practice facility be in Florida's future?

As far as this man knows nothing like that is in the works at this time but an underground walkway to the practice field can be done. Just connect the stadium to the O-Dome then you can go out the back of it a shorter open distance thus easier to secure.

Now I don't know if it's already connected or not. But it could be used for many other purposes.

A couple of names for it? They do you could call it the Florida Chunnel, or the Gator Chunnel.

Of the Gator

Gators #3 in Coaches Poll...

This shouldn't surprise you. Urban Meyer says he thinks this team can be really good and everyone else is beginning to believe too.

Las Vegas odds came out for the national champion in 2010, Alabama is 4 1/2 to 1, Ohio State is 5 to 1 and the Florida Gators are 8 to 1. Big difference is Florida isn't returning a starting QB, young John Brantley is getting a lot of preseason respect and love.

Rightfully so. The Gators are Loaded, this man picks them to go 13-1 and win a third national championship under Coach Meyer.

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Urban Meyer closes fall practices. I predicted five years ago Meyer was going to close fall practices and if he had his way he'd close spring practices. He's a me and my guys kind of guy.

I don't have any issues with it, but don't try and say it's for other reasons, come on.

Anyway called the UAA and they said they didn't have any history on fall practices open to the public under Urban Meyer, so I asked Franz Beard and this is what we came up with.

2005 - 5 days, think it was longer and they cut back to five
2006 - 5 days
2007 - 3 days
2008 - 3 days
2009 - 2 days
2010 - 0 days

And this is much like a Black Hole, zero being the event horizon where there is no turning back. People used to plan their vacations around fall practices a wonderful way to get revved up for the season.

Now if incoming freshmen don't get much opportunity to play their first fall you'll have to wait to see them in the spring, as long as Meyer allows that.

What was the line in that old commercial? 'Didn't your momma teach you how to share?'

For some reason that comes to mind when I'm thinking of Meyer closing practices.

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One of the BEST LINES by a Gator this fall Reported in the Gainesville, SUN...

Senior running back Emmanuel Moody said frosh Sharrif Floyd looks "chiseled" and "mean," making him one of the most intimidating youngsters of the group.

"Sharrif looked like he just came straight out of prison," Moody said.

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I've talked to some people, read a lot of comments and I've seen a lot of video. This team's mindset for this fall is about as good as this man has ever heard. They have a chip on their shoulders, they are close, they have great leadership in Mike Pouncey the Gators' Maximum Supreme Leader. Pouncey leads by Tebowian Methodology.

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Deonte Thompson has gained weight up to 205 and got faster running his fastest 40 time ever, a 4.22.

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This year it's Accountability and Development.

A reporter asked Meyer about this being a year with no Super-Stars on the team.

Meyer responded, "Oh there better be. Or we won't be very good. I just don't know who they are yet."