ESPN previews BCS title game...

Check it out.

Spurrier votes Gators second...

From Sports Illustrated:

South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, who coached the Gators to the '96 national championship, moved Florida past Michigan in the coaches' poll.

His reasoning?

"Heck, I'm a Gator," he said. "I went there. So I had a lot of reason to vote for them right there. It just appeared they're 12-1, the other team is 11-1, I guess that's about it."

Meyer credit's Ron Zook's recruiting...

Nice article in the Florida Times Union on Meyer giving credit to former Florida coach Ron Zook.

Florida to play Ohio State for National Championship

What seemed impossible just weeks ago is now a reality. The Florida Gators have moved past Michigan and into the BCS national championship game, to be played January 8th, 2007.

Percy Harvin: SECCG MVP / AP SEC Frosh of the Year

Percy Harvin not only became the first freshman to win the SEC Championship game MVP, he also was named as the SEC's offensive freshman of the year by the Associated Press.

Gators win 2006 SEC Championship

Congrats to the Gators and Gator Nation for winning the SEC title for the seventh time overall and the first time since the 2000 season.

The Gators beat the Arkansas Razorbacks 38-28 in the Georgia Done in one of the wildest games you will ever see.

Three Straight!

The Gators defeated the Seminoles in Tallahassee 21-14 to grab their third straight victory in the series. Chris Leak became the first quarterback in Florida history win two games at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Percy Harvin looked great until suffering a neck injury. Thankfully he will be alright and should play in the SEC Championship game on Saturday.

Go Gators! 11-1

Florida @ Florida State

It's been nearly three weeks since last post. The Gators have defeated Spurrier and USC East in the Swamp, stomped Western Carolina (Western Carolina?!?!?!) and stand at 10-1 going into Tallahassee to face the hated Seminoles.

Congrats to Meyer and the boys for winning ten games for the first time since the 2001 season.

I think we have a decent shot at making the national championship if the team can whip up on FSU and then win a good game against Arkansas for the SEC title.

My best friend Justin is a Seminole and he was brave enough to bet me $50 straight up on the game. I can't justify losing it, but it seemed like a great time to make such a bet.

Winning on Ron Zook Field should be more difficult than it would appear right now.

Go Gators!

Nelson Named Semifinalist For Thorpe Award

Back breaking safety Reggie Nelson was among semifinalists from the Jim Thorpe award.

Gators are 2006 SEC East Champions.

With Florida's victory of Vanderbilt Saturday afternoon and LSU's win at Tennessee, the Gators clinched their first SEC Eastern division championship in six years. The Gators will head to Atlanta at the end of the regular season to play for the SEC Championship no matter what.

Get your merch from Gatorzone.com.

We own this Cocktail Party!

After two long weeks to stew over the Auburn debacle, the Gators finally took the field in my hometown of Jacksonville for the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Florida has owned the Bulldogs for the better part of two decades, putting up a 15-2 record in the last 17, eight of the last nine and Urban Meyer is now 2-0 against his UGA counterpart Mark Richt.

The Gators led 14-0 at halftime and started the second half with a defensive TD to lead 21-0. Then the offense went to sleep, much like the Auburn game. Drives dies, Tebow fumbled. But one constant remained, the Gators defense dominated the field.

The final score, 21-14, does not indicate the Gators dominance for much of the game. Good win Gators.

Game balls should go to the defensive line, Reggie Nelson and Bubba Caldwell.

BTW, anyone have a pic of the UGA lineman who did the "chomp" right after Stafford rushed for Georgia's first TD?

This is not a fumble...

The Ole Ball Sack Busts on Cooper

Steve Spurrier lost any class he might appear to have had Saturday when he publicly humiliated his assistant head coach, Rom Cooper, and showed the frustration which has mounted as everyone waits for the Ole Ball Coach to take Carolina to the next level (mediocrity).

Until the day Spurrier ceases to side with the enemy, he has to be treated as the enemy (unless he's doing some function honoring the Gators or him as a Gator, then I will begrudgingly allow him his time. But I'm a little bitter about his actions.

Anyways, good work coach, see if you can humiliate a student-athlete next time around.

Video of the incident can be seen here.

SEC Coach Records

Here are the SEC's best to worst coaches since the begining of the 2005 season:

Urban Meyer: 15-3
Mark Richt: 15-4
Les Miles: 15-4
Tommy Tubberville: 14-4
Mike Shula: 14-4
Steve Spurrier: 11-7
Phil Fulmer: 10-7
Houston Nutt: 8-8
The Vanderbilt guy: 7-10
Rich Brooks: 6-11
Orgeron or whatever: 5-12
Sylvester Croom: 4-13

Amazing, a guy who's offense isn't supposed to work in the SEC has the best record of anyone since entering the conference...

LSU gets Tebowed....

Freshman QB Tim Tebow threw for two TDs and ran for another score sparking the Gators impressive win over the LSU Tigers in the Swamp last Saturday.

The offense took advantage of five LSU turnovers and the Florida defense dominated the Tigers for the majority of the game, pushing the Gators to 6-0, halfway through the season and halfway through the brutal four game SEC stretch which started against Alabama, continued against LSU and now moves on to Auburn this weekend and Georgia in two weeks.

It is Florida's first 6-0 start since Steve Spurrier roamed the sidelines.

The Gators also moved into the number two spot in the AP rankings, the highest since Spurrier's final season in 2001.

It's great to be a Florida Gator these days, but the road beckons and an angry Auburn team awaits Florida Saturday night. I'll be watching, will you?

Video highlights of Tebow wrecking LSU

September SEC MVP's

Offensive MVP: Kenny Irons, Auburn. There is no doubt in my mind that if Auburn is to win the SEC and play for the national title it will be on the shoulders of Kenny Irons. Not to say Auburn isn't a great team, just that Irons is that great of a running back. When he is contained, Auburn is likely contained, as evidenced by his 2.8 ypc and zero TD's vs. LSU in a game Auburn barely won 7-3.

Defensive MVP: Reggie Nelson, Florida. Reggie Nelson seems to be there whenever the Gator defense needs to make a killer play. He returned an interception 70 yards for a score against Alabama, made a game clinching interception in a victory at Tennessee. He has helped solidify a defensive backfield which was suspect going into the season.

Freshman of the Month: Tim Tebow, Florida. Many freshman had made big impacts in the first month of the season, but none have been as important, energizing and effective as Tebow. The 6'3" 230lbs. quarterback. If I am missing a freshman who has made more positive impact than Tebow, please let me know.

Alabama Crimson Tide @ Florida Gators 9.30.06

Ryan Smith intercepted two John Parker Wilson passes and Reggie Nelson returned a third interception 70 yards for a touchdown capping off a wild second half comeback for the fifth ranked Gators at the Swamp Saturday afternoon.

Alabama jumped out to an early lead as the Gators offense was slowed by penalties and mistakes early, including a botched shotgun snap which bounced off of Chris Leak's chest and was returned 50 yards by Alabama for the first points of the game.

Bama added a field goal to build an early 10 point lead and the Gators seemed on the verge of a repeat of last years 31-3 drubbing at the hands of the Crimson Tide.

Down 10-0 with the ball on their own five yard line and halftime fast approaching, veteran quarterback Chris Leak and true freshman quarterback Tim Tebow led the Gators on the field. The drive was highlighted by an improbable 45 yard rush by Leak and capped with a two yard touchdown run by Tebow. The Gators cut the lead to 10-7, which was the score at halftime.

The next score came late in the third quarter with Leak hitting wideout Andre Caldwell for a 16 yard touchdown putting the Gators ahead 14-10, a lead they would not lose.

Bama was able to add a field goal to cut the lead to 14-13 but they would get no closer as Parker began to throw his three interceptions. The first one, picked by Smith, set a Chris Leak to Dallas Baker touchdown pass. The second pick was returned by Nelson for the score and the third and final pick, again by Smith, sealed the victory for the Gators 28-13.
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My views:

Alabama controlled this game early on, and after the touchdown on the fumble return I had the feeling this was going to be "one of those games" where we just were not going to get the breaks. The resiliance of Chris Leak, solid play from the O-line and running game, and a tremendous game by the Florida defense were just too much for an overmatched Tide team. Wilson is a good young quarterback and Bamas receivers have a lot of talent, but the O-Line and run game need to get better if they want to turn around their season.

The Gators look every bit the contender heading into another tough contest against the talented LSU Tigers. More on that game in the coming days.

Go Gators!

The Ole Ball Sack Coaches'em Up...

I must hand it to Steve Spurrier, he brought his kids to play tonight. I really thought Auburn was going to hand Steve his ass on a platter, especially after they built a 14-3 lead in the second quarter, but the power of Steve Spurrier's coaching genius kept his team alive.

Also some props to Tommy Tuberville, he's the best coach in the SEC the last few years. Auburn has a great team and I can't wait till the Gators renew their rivalry with Auburn.

I have to say Sidney Rice did not impress me in this game. In my opinion he cost USC two touchdowns. One in the first quarter on USC's second drive when he failed to fight with the Auburn linebacker for the ball, which he should have caught, but it ended up being intercepted. The other one was in the fourth quarter when he again failed to fight for the ball in the endzone. This was on the final drive of the game.

The drop by Cook, however, will go down as the one everyone remembers.

Anyways, I think the Gators can beat both of these teams.

Ohio State @ Iowa... Calling the upset

I'm going to go on the record and predict that Kirk Ferentz Hawkeyes will stun Jim Tressel and Co. this Saturday night in Iowa City.

I live in Iowa for a few years, and this team is for real. They can upset some of the biggies and right now they are my darkhorse to win the Big Eleven.

Last season Iowa went ont he road to Ohio State and were destroyed, beaten to a bloody pulp, you could hardly make out their yellow pants the blood was so heavy.

But this year it will be the silver britches that will get beat up. Watch for the Hawkeyes to pull the upset over the media darlings OSU and become a major factor in the Big Eleven championship race.

Bowl Bound College Football

For all college football fans, check out Bowl Bound College Football by Grey Dog Software. It is a highly reccomended text based simulation.

Season recap.

It's September 28th and the big game against Alabama is just a couple days away. I'm thirsty for revenge, as are other Gator fans, but I just want a win. After Bama the Gators get LSU at home, at Auburn (ranked #3) a bye and then the Cocktail Party here in Jacksonville against the hated Georgia Bulldogs. This four game run will determine if the Gators are for real. If they are the national power I think they are. If they can beat Auburn and LSU, they can beat any team in the country. It is as simple as that.

But for the sake of completeness I will recap Florida's first four games of the season up to this point. First we will start with a dominating performance in the home opener against Southern Miss.

This game was on pay per view, even here in the heart of Gator country. So I didn't watch it live, had to catch the replay.

All world freshman Percy Harvin looked real good in his debut racking up over 90 total yards. Dallas Baker had a great day, picking up 123 yards from QB Chris Leak.

The Gators struggled some early, leading just 14-7 at halftime but shut the Golden Eagles down in the second half and adding three touchdowns to get the win 34-7 and put the team off on the right foot at 1-0.

Next up on the schedule was Central Florida, a bowl team from last year. The Gators drubbed Central Florida 42-0. Again, this game was on pay per view but I watched it at Cheers.

After another slow start the Gators exploded for 27 points in the second quarter. Chris Leak threw for 352 yards and four touchdowns. Freshman phenom Tim Tebow made his Florida debut passing for 89 yards and rushing for 62, which lead the team. Percy Harvin caught four balls for 99 yards and his first career score. The Gators amassed over 600 yards of offense and the defense held Central Florida to a measly 153 total yards.

Next up saw the first real test of the season for the Gators as they travelled to Knoxville, Tennessee to face the rival Volunteers. The Gators jumped out to a quick lead in front of the hostile crowd of 106,000 at Neyland stadium, but it was short lived. Tennessee scored on a trick play that added a field goal in the first quarter to lead 10-7. That would be the score at halftime.

Tennessee scored first after half time to take a commanding 17-7 lead. Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge could be seen mocking the Gator chomp on the sidelines.

Florida came back with an 8 play drive to punch in another touchdown, this one coming on a four yard reception by Dallas Baker from Chris Leak with under two minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Gators cut Tennessee's lead to 3, 17-14.

The Vols came back with a 10 play drive which ended in a field goal to give Tennessee a 20-17 lead. Chris Leak and the Gator offense came on the field on the ensuing possession and marched downfield in eight plays covering 65 yards which ended in another Dallas Baker touchdown catch from Chris Leak. The Gators made the extra point to complete the comeback and take the lead 21-20.



The Vols had one more chance but the Florida defense could not be moved and Erik Ainge was intercepted for the second time. The Gators were able to run out the clock and take the victory, their second straight against the Volunteers.

Just last weekend saw the Gators play a home prime time game against the Kentucky Wildcats broadcast on ESPN. Kentucky is an up and coming team, but still a team which had lost 19 straight against Florida coming into the game and had not won in the Swamp since 1979 when your's truly was just 3 years old.

The Wildcats fought and clawed with the Gators and the hostile enviroment for all of the first half and at one point took a 7-6 lead until Leak led the Gators on a touchdown drive in the final minutes of the first half, Florida missed the PAT but took a 12-7 lead into the second half.

In the second half the Gator defense crushed down on the Wildcats and would not allow them to score again. Leak and freshman Tim Tebow lead scoring drives. At one point Tebow ripped off four consecutive runs from the shot gun and racked up over 60 yards. The kid can play.

At the end of the night the Gators won 26-7 and began to prepare for the Alabama Crimson Tide.