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.

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...

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!

The Forgotten Gator Class of 2008

Meyer talks about the 2008 recruiting class in the YouTube video below. Several of those recruits will be counted on heavily this fall, as many as eight could end up being starters.



(* - stars ranking in recruiting/ Exp - S - games started, P - games played in/ '10 - ? means player could become starter/ Production and Remarks - Ts - tackles, yds - yards, ypc yards per carry)

Name	*	Exp	'10	Production / Remarks
Will Hill	5	5S 27P	Starter	90 Ts, 2 INT, 1.5 sacks
Omar Hunter	5	11S 17P	?	17 Ts, 2 for loss - should become a co-starter with Lawrence Marsh
Matt Patchan	5	15P	?	11g on defense, knee recovered will compete for spot on OL
Carol Moore	5	14P	Starter	184 yds 14 receptions 1 TD, took a redshirt 2009 has looked strong
Jeff Demps	4	17S 20P	Starter	1,359 yds 177 carries, 7.6 ypc, 14 TD, ran '10 fastest 100m in 9.96
Janoris Jenkins	4	25S 27P	Starter	77 Ts, 5 INTs, 17 pass breakups, started as a true freshman, boundary corner
William Green	4	1S 27P	Starter	19 Ts, 5 for loss, 1 sack, 1 blocked punt, looks up to 270 pounds, really bulked up
Lerentee McCray	4	11P	backup	10 Ts, moved LB to DE in '09, Meyer mentioned him as a possible contributor this fall
Omarius Hines	4	13P	2nd tm	172 yds, 14 receptions, still waiting to have break through season
Dee Finley	4	10P	backup	10 Ts, special teams, moved S to LB, looking for a position to get on field 222 lbs
TJ Lawrence	4	-	backup	special teams, good athlete who's rarely mentioned in WR talk
Earl Okine	4	5P	-	2 Ts, not sure where he ends up, a beast who seems to lake football talent
Jeremy Brown	4	-	?	hurt 2 yrs with chronic back issues, will compete with Moses Jenkins for field corner
Frankie Hammond	4	11P	-	57 yds, 4 catches, 1 TD, lost scholarship over DUI can work his way back
Adrian Bushell	4	-	-	In Junior College, unclear here if he's going to try to make it back or gone for good
Brendan Beal	4	-	-	Transferred, his playing time looked bleak he had lots of fans pulling for him
Sam Robey	3	13P	2nd Tm	not in the mix this year lots of seniors, in 2011 he's the starting center
TJ Pridemore	3	15P	FB	spot player getting on the field, getting playing time at fullback
David Young	3	14P	backup	3.23 GPA Parks and Recreation, working on it
Troy Epps	3	-	-	JuCo who just didn't contribute
Caleb Sturgis	2	-	Starter	22-30 FG, 44-47 PAT, 56 yd FG vs UGa was longest in the SEC last season
Byran Jones	2	-	-	Not on 2010 Roster, left team?

This could be a forgotten class with no quarterback and plenty still trying to complete for playing time. But this class gave the Gators
Starter-Janoris Jenkins a two-year starter at corner...
Starter-Will Hill the starter this fall at safety...
Starter-Jeff Demps has over 1,350 yards in rushing and 14 TDs...
Starter-William Green at 270 is expected to fill a huge role for the Gators this fall.
Starter-Carl Moore redshirted in 2009 will be relied on heavily at receiver.
Starter-Caleb Sturgis is a big time kicker with a very strong leg
Co-Starter-Omar Hunter needed a year to make the transition.
Could Start-Jeremy Brown, if he gets over his back issues he could start, saw film on Moses Jenkins up against Jenoris Jenkins in an agility race, looked like a dead heat, had no idea Moses was that quick, it was eye opening...
Could Start-One of the fan's favorite Matt Patchan who's had injuries to slow his career as a Gator, he will be competing for a starting spot on the OL this fall, perhaps at guard.

Rotation - Frankie Hammond was pushing for lots of playing time this fall till his DUI
Starter 2011-Sam Robey is the center in waiting for 2011.

Lots of talent yet to make their mark like Dee Finley who moved to LB from safety, Omarius Hines and TJ Lawrence two receivers who are getting to that now or never point in their careers.

Lingering Effects of Florida's 1984 Probation

Over 25 years ago and this man still believes there are lingering effects of that horrible probation put on the Gators of 1984. Not going down the list, reduced scholarships, reduced caps, no bowls, 1st SEC Title in 1984 taken away Tennessee lead the charge on that.

The Gators learned from that unpleasant event, they were fortunate to have current AD Jeremy Foley on staff. One example of this is Adrian Bushell, an old Coach out to the West would have him on the practice field in the Spring working at getting ready to take over a corner spot in the Fall.

But not at Florida.

Bushell, a third year defensive back, was kept out of spring to work on academics so he'll be eligible in the fall.

It isn't that Florida kids don't get in trouble like kids at other schools. What makes Florida special is what they do about it.

Something very good came out of something very bad. Back in 1984 Florida admitted their guilt, accepted their punishment, there were cries of cruel and unusual punishment, but unlike other schools that felt they'd been had by the NCAA Florida swore to go on and play by the rules and even go above and beyond.

That attitude has made them what they are and is one big reason their fans are so dam proud to be a Florida Gator.