root for them wildcats!

[radbag]

Since Florida forfeited its ability to control its way in the SEC East race in the month of November, the question centers on what team or teams the Gators should be pulling for the next few weeks.

We all know the scenario – Georgia and Tennessee have to each lose once (in the case of the Vols, once and only once), so it's whoever faces the Dawgs and Vols. But there's an easier way to look at it – Kentucky should be the favorite son of all Florida fans.

The Wildcats are the only team left with both Georgia and Tennessee on the schedule. Simply put, after a week to heal their wounds, if the Wildcats run the table, then if the Gators take care of their business on Saturday against Vanderbilt and then next weekend against the nose-diving Gamecocks of the Ole Ball Coach, the Gators are headed to Atlanta.

The 'Cats have lost of three of their last four to take some of the luster off their terrific 5-0 start, and have dropped two straight since their historic upset of then-No. 1 LSU. Kentucky still has the opportunity to turn this into a special season or see the high times dissolve into another 8-4-type deal. After an open date on Saturday, next week the 'Cats are in Nashville against Vanderbilt, before they finish on the road at Georgia and then at home against Tennessee.

The more amusing scenario comes about if Georgia loses to Auburn and beats Kentucky, while Tennessee falls to either Arkansas or Vandy at home. Then we would head into the final weekend of play, which features just one game involving East teams (Tennessee at Kentucky), with either Florida or Georgia representing the East, based on the outcome of Tennessee-Kentucky. In that scenario, the Gators would actually need Tennessee to win, to force a three-way tiebreaker that UF would claim, while Georgia would be pulling for Kentucky to set up a two-way tiebreaker, which the Dawgs would capture.

Or, if Georgia loses one but Tennessee sweeps Arkansas and Vandy, then Georgia is eliminated while the Gators would then be pulling for the Wildcats to give the Vols a third loss and a tiebreaker they would win. Either way, with contests left with both Georgia and Tennessee, Kentucky will have a huge say in who finally comes out on top of this zany division race . . .

We've heard a lot of debate concerning the relative strength of conferences across the country – it's a discussion that comes up every season, with folks in this neck of the woods inevitably coming to the conclusion that SEC football is tops. So far this season, that appears to be the case and you could make a pretty strong argument just about every season. But please, please, dispense with one criteria that many people, including the lazy media types, are using to back their point.

Do not, I repeat, do not use this silly argument that the SEC has to be the best league in the land because it may have 11 bowl eligible teams by the end of the month. That's 11 out of 12, leaving out only Ole Miss. Seems impressive, right? Of course, the likelihood of any more than nine teams (if not eight) actually getting an invite is remote, but that's beside the point. Eleven out of 12, Big-Ten breath. Case closed.

Uh, wrong. To begin with, since when did merely going .500, with a 6-6 record, mean anything in terms of a team's relative strength? In the era of 12 games, where the additional game is generally against a patsy (especially in the SEC – can you say Louisiana-Monroe, Chattanooga, Tennessee Tech, Florida Atlantic, Western Carolina, Eastern Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Northwestern State, Gardner-Webb, South Carolina State, Louisiana-Lafayette and Richmond?), pounding out six wins doesn't mean much.

A team could easily become bowl-eligible and finish with a 2-6 league record. Take Arkansas. The Razorbacks could wind up 2-6 in the SEC with wins over Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and tack on victories over North Texas, Florida International, Chattanooga and Troy, and be headed bowling.

Besides, the 11 teams becoming bowl eligible in the SEC becomes even less meaningful when you look at other leagues. Right now, the Big Ten, which we can all proclaim as way, way down this year, has nine teams with at least five wins and Iowa is 4-5 with games left against Northwestern, Minnesota and Western Michigan. That could be 10 bowl eligible teams out of 11 in an awful league. The Big 12 has nine teams with at least five wins and Nebraska is 4-5, so that lousy conference could have 10 bowl-eligible teams. Six out of eight Big East teams have at least five wins – get the picture?

So argue non-conference victories (oops, maybe not) or any other criteria, just drop this bowl-eligible stat as it pertains to the SEC. Simply doesn't mean a thing . . .

This may seem a touch off the wall, and maybe I've been dabbling in that Kool-Aid again, but it's my contention that the second half explosion Florida experienced against Tennessee may have been the worst thing that could have happened to this team. Hear me out.

That glorious September afternoon, where Florida scored 31 unanswered points to stretch a 28-20 third-quarter lead into a 39-point victory, may have caused us all to realign our expectations of this team. After torching Tennessee for 335 yards in the second half alone (about as much as the Gators gained all game in losses to Auburn (312), LSU (314) and Georgia (343)), we put aside thoughts of a young team trying to re-load in an effort to match last season's exploits.

Instead, we were awed by the offensive explosion (rightly so), impressed by the defensive resilience (just 13 points allowed and a score of its own on a Dustin Doe fumble recovery) and treated to a special teams dandy (Brandon James' opening 83-yard punt return for a touchdown). It was a three-pronged tour de force.

At the time, we did not know exactly how bad Tennessee's defense would be this season – can the Vols really win East with the worst D in the SEC? Would put to rest the "defense wins championships" malarkey. So we all got fooled a bit by Florida blasting Tennessee by nearly 40 points.

The ripple effect is that when the Gators' warts were eventually exposed against top competition like Auburn, LSU, Kentucky and Georgia (actually a tougher "gauntlet" than last year's Alabama-LSU-Auburn-Georgia, especially since only one game was at home), it led to a feeling of disappointment.

Many folks thought Florida might drop a few games this year, but the shellacking of Tennessee may have changed that perception a bit. If the Gators beat the Vols by, say, 10, would the difficulties of the last few weeks been perceived in a different light? There's no quantifiable answer, but I venture to say it would . . .

Nothing will come easy for the Gators the rest of the way (discounting Florida Atlantic), and there are many Gator fans out there fretting about Vanderbilt tomorrow. Certainly, the way the Gators have been playing defensively, especially in the secondary, should be cause for concern.

And yes, Earl Bennett, now the SEC's all-time leading receiver (another product of the system – just kidding) did have a monster day in last year's game, catching 13 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown. And sure, Vandy quarterback Chris Nickson had a career day, throwing for 298 yards and two scores. And all that was against a standout Gator defense, so we should all be worried, right?

If you want, but keep in mind, this game was under control, 25-6 after three quarters, before the Gators fell asleep in the fourth quarter of an early morning game in a barely-filled kid-size stadium. Through three quarters, the Commodores had just 198 yards and only 10 first downs, before scaring the comatose Gators with 193 yards and two touchdowns in three fourth-quarter drives to make it close.

You can also point to two years ago, when Vandy took UF to double overtime in The Swamp before falling. Of course, that was with a high number-one draft pick at quarterback and if Dee Webb had any hands at all, and doesn't drop a sure interception with four minutes left, the Gators win by two touchdowns.

Plus in the past, the Gators have always had to avoid the tendency to overlook Vanderbilt. It's just natural, having beaten a team 16 times in a row and coming after Georgia and a slew of tough games. But on Saturday, with everything on the line, plus the fact that Vandy has gotten everyone's attention with a win over South Carolina and almost beating Georgia, it's doubtful the Gators will be on snooze control against the Commodores.

So fret if you'd like, but with the weak Commodore offense (just 16 points a game against SEC competition) lining up against the Gator weakness, and the Commodore strength (a solid D) trying to corral the Gators' potent offense, it will likely be close for a while, but the outcome will be the same as it always is against Vanderbilt.

AROUND THE SEC

OK, no Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler and Stock Up and Stock Down this week. We'll save that for when a winning streak starts up again.

Instead, we'll take a venture around the league this Saturday. With Kentucky and Mississippi State off, and four teams playing toughies out of the conference – Auburn (Tennessee Tech), Ole Miss (Northwestern State), Tennessee (Louisiana-Lafayette) and Georgia (Troy – this one could be interesting if Troy quarterback Omar Haugabook is healthy and can play) there's only three league hookups, including Florida-Vandy.

The other two are interesting. First there's South Carolina visiting Arkansas on Saturday in a pivotal contest for both teams. After sprinting to a 6-1 start, the Gamecocks are on the precipice of falling off the cliff. They are underdogs against the Razorbacks and with home games left against Florida and Clemson – and they've been lousy in Columbia with seven losses in less than three seasons under Steve Spurrier – a 7-5 season or even worse, a 6-6 ledger with five straight losses to end the year, is not out of the realm.

If that occurs, Spurrier will have proven that even the master himself can't raise South Carolina past the level of mediocrity it has always wallowed. Which will beg the question – how long will the Ole Ball Coach suffer being a non-contender in the SEC? Could he possibly listen to Tennessee if the Vols give Fulmer the boot and they throw major coin at him? Just asking. And on the flip side, with wins over four non-SEC cupcakes plus Ole Miss, will Arkansas finally have something to hang its hat on this fall?

And then there's the Saban Bowl in Tuscaloosa, with Alabama hosting LSU ostensibly for the SEC West title. We all know the intrigue of fun-loving Nick Saban facing his old team, and all the venom emanating from the fans in the Bayou. But LSU is the only team in the league with a chance to be among the nation's elite, with an opportunity to hold the SEC banner alive in national championship conversation.

Under Les Miles, the Tigers have not proven they can win a championship and now is the time. They are better than Alabama, but certainly not as strong as folks believed a month ago. They could easily have three losses right now and their vaunted defense has been a bit of a sham (can't give up 19 scores, including 14 touchdowns, in 19 attempts by the opposition in the Red Zone – that ain't championship defense, fellas!). I think LSU will win, but those boys have to prove they have championship mettle, or else we'll have to listen to Miles carping again about the "best team" in the SEC not playing for the title in Atlanta.

MARTY LIKES

We continue to limp along after a 3-3 week actually raised the season ledger to 12-18 (hey no one has hit .400 since Ted Williams – oops, bad analogy). We were OK with Troy covering over Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee covering over North Texas and Arkansas covering over FIU, but whiffed on Auburn (only beating Ole Miss by 14), Missouri (also only beating Iowa State by 14) and Tulsa (only beating SMU by six). This week we're going to try our hand at four games to see if we can get things going in the right direction. On to this week's picks:

1) Boise State minus-26 over San Jose State: Boise is awfully good on its own funky blue turf. The Broncos average 49 points a game at home (skewed a little by the four-overtime win against Nevada) and are on their way to a Thanksgiving Friday showdown at Hawaii. San Jose State's three wins are over Utah State (0-8) by three, Idaho (1-7) by seven and Division I-AA UC-Davis. Their five losses are by an average of 27 points, including 30-0 at Fresno State last week.

2) California minus-14 over Washington State: Yes, I know Cal has lost three in a row, to Oregon State and on the road to UCLA and Arizona State. But this is still a quality team looking to right itself before hosting USC next week. Washington State is awful. The Cougars have yielded 190 points (47.5 a game) in four road losses.

3) Michigan minus-4 at Michigan State: This doesn't fit my mold, because I'm taking the road team here, but this is just a hunch. Michigan is a far different club than the one which began the season in embarrassing fashion, and a solid chance to go to the Rose Bowl and upset the BCS applecart in two weeks against Ohio State in Ann Arbor. Michigan State, losers of four of its last five, annually defines inconsistency. Or maybe, the Spartans are indeed consistent – they always get off to a fast start, build false hope, and then come crashing down to earth as soon as the stakes get raised.

4) UConn minus 2.5 over Rutgers: Another hunch here. I just don't believe in Rutgers, which needed a bunch or miracle big plays to pull off its home upset of South Florida, but just got bounced by West Virginia and has only played one road game all season, at lifeless Syracuse. For 7-1 UConn, it's a battle for respect – this "showdown" can only be witnessed by folks who get EPSNU, which has angered the Huskies, for what that's worth.

Also under consideration were Tennessee minus-30 over Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State minus 18.5 over FIU.

[G8rMom7]

Eh...Ihate already told me this! [img]{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif[/img] Go Kats! I'm going to start singing the Wildcats cheer from High School Musical!

[UFGirlluvr]

Ohhhh now everyone in Orange and Blue is jumping on the bandwagon. The Gators should just take care of Vandy first ( i am totally being sarcastic)