I'm writing this in Tampa's airport, so I'll have to be quick this morning. A few thoughts on UF thumping Tennessee again:
1. Lou Holtz and other national commentators are raising questions about Florida's offense due to Tebow's quiet numbers so far this season. That's ridiculous. UF got up 17-0 and than Urban Meyer chose to go extremely conservative. His number one goal is always win the game. On the road with a lead that seemed insurmountable, his plan to do that was run the clock and work on Florida's ground game. It wasn't terribly aesthetically pleasing, but it was efficent. Why show all your cards if you don't have to?
2. UF running backs seem to be improving and are able to avoid fumbling so far this year. Tennessee's running backs fumbled twice, and one of them got a key penalty early. Guess that Stan Drayton hiring to learn UF's secrets didn't work out so well for Phil Fulmer after all.
3. If you're Jonathan Crompton and your team just got humiliated again by a team that owns you, it's possible you could have said something stupider than this...
“We should have won the ballgame in my opinion. We moved the ball great at times on offense. We stopped ourselves. We shot ourselves in the foot.”
but I'm not sure what that would have been.
Maybe Christian Ponder will feel better after hearing Crompton's comments. The FSU quarterback at least had the sense to say something stupid before the game, not after. Seven turnovers, twelve penalties, a quarterback controversy, and a third straight loss to Wake Forest. Looks like they're in midseason form in Tallahassee. Whichever idiots voted this team into the top 25 last week based on two beatdowns of high school teams should have their ballots taken away.
Yesterday in the NFL was insane. 67 passes for Brian Griese and the Bucs rally from ten down in the fourth in Chicago. The Dolphins over the Patriots by 22 in Foxboro - huh? An 0-2 Jaguars team that never beats the Colts in Indianapolis stages a last second comeback. It could have been even crazier - the Bengals took the Giants to OT and the Raiders were up big on the Bills in Orchard Park before blowing it. It's looking like as interesting a year in the league as we've had in a long time.
Congratulations to Paul Azinger and the US Ryder Cup team - it's a great story that they finally broke thorough without Tiger. I don't think people should use that to bash Tiger, though.
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It hasn't been just the national commentators ripping the Gator offense. The Gator fans on Cornell and Matthews' show were calling in throughout the first hour today and the words "inept", "horrible", "hard to watch", and "embarrassing" were all used. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. One caller kept bringing up where Florida ranked in the SEC in offensive statistics and another complained that Tebow isn't putting up the numbers that Chase Daniel and Colt McCoy are.
WHO CARES???
As a fan, I couldn't care less where the Gators rank in the SEC in statistics or what Chase Daniel is doing to a bunch of WAC and D 1-AA opponents. The 2007 team put up amazing offensive statistics. What did it get them?? A Citrus Bowl loss. The 2004 squad also has great offensive stats. That team got a coach fired and earned a Peach Bowl bid. The 2006 team had a hybrid offense that was inconsistent in terms of production and looked disjointed at times. What was their end result?? Oh, yeah...a national championship.
It's pretty simple. Urban Meyer realizes that ball control, mistake-free offense coupled with ha a very good defense and outstanding special teams can win championships. This defense hasn't been tested at all yet, but they look a lot more like the 2006 defense than the 2007 version, and if you win easily with that formula, why change it? To pad your stats??
When Spurrier was here, we didn't run the ball enough. With Meyer, we don't get in the I-formation enough or throw it downfield enough. I guess those perceptions will never change and unless the Gators win every game 45-0, we'll hear those things again about Meyer.I just can't understand going on the radio and complaining about your team after a 24-point win. You think I, as a Dolphin fan, have ANYTHING negative to say about my team today??? I've had the same stupid, ear-to-ear grin on my face all day. I guess I could complain that they overexposed the Ronnie Brown Wild Hog formation. I mean, it only worked prefectly every time they ran a play from the formation, but darn it, I need something to complain about!
I have to disagree a little bit about the offense. We are in the earliest part of the season and have faced teams that, quite frankly, we knew weren't going to really challenge this team. What worries me is that (aside from the Hawaii game) we haven't gotten the ball in the hands of some of our younger and more inexperienced offensive players. We're going to be counting on Rainey, Thompson, Moody and Cooper (who has never been our go-to WR) to make big-time plays later on in the season. It's hard for me to buy that we're simply not showing our hand when a lot of these guys haven't been tested yet. It's hard to hide something that you're not really sure you have. Even if that is the case, we most likely won't be tested until LSU, does our offensive staff really want to wait until game 6 of the season until they unleash some of our weapons? I think there's something to be said for developing on-field chemistry and rhythm in the early part of the season.
Our opening offensive drives have been our best so far this season. As far as I know the staff still scripts these plays before the game. That leads me to believe that they are having a hard time calling plays in real time that go with the flow of the game and attack the defense that is on the field. I've never been a big Mullen fan, his play calling is wildly inconsistent and, more often than not, predictable. It was nice to see Moody get some snaps, but they came late when the game was out of hand. This coaching staff has always been too hesitant to trust its players once they've made mistakes (see: Kehstahn Moore in the UGA game last year) and I'm worried that when the first ball hits the turf we're going to be forced back into the Tebow and Harvin Show. It's frustrating to watch Tebow consistently pound the ball when we actually have some talent at the RB position.
I hope I'm proved wrong, but I really think we need to get some of our younger guys some quality touches and make sure they're ready when the tough games roll around. Unfortunately, I just don't have faith that Mullen is going to change his habits come LSU and Georgia time.
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