why complain?

radbag · Post by **radbag** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:48 am

Before we get to the heart of the matter, allow me a short digression. It is certainly the birthright of all fans to complain about certain aspects of their respective team.

Bellyaching even during the best of times comes naturally to all fans ï¿½ just this morning, I was moaning about Mariano Rivera needing 34 pitches to get through the ninth inning of Wednesday's Yankees win over Baltimore. Certainly, no self-respecting Yankees fan should ever utter a disparaging word about the greatest closer in baseball history, but hey, it's part of the landscape (at least we're not griping about the biggest collapse of a division leader in baseball history!).

So I understand a fans' thirst for perfection, or at least the presumed reaching of a team's potential in all aspects. But I was bemused in the aftermath of Florida's 59-20 trouncing of Tennessee over the hue and cry about how Urban Meyer handled the last 10 minutes or so of the game.

Many Gator fans were not happy to see Tim Tebow and the starting unit back on the field for a late field goal drive with the score already 49-20. With the game well in hand, the prospect of a season-altering injury to Tebow, Percy Harvin or any of the key offensive players caused many to question or even criticize Meyer for the personnel decisions in the final 10 minutes.

While there is a point to be made, I was amused by this, because it's likely the same folks who were complaining were the ones carping about how last year's championship team continually failed to put teams away. Numerous times the Gators had teams by the throat, and let 'em wiggle free to make the game too close for comfort down the stretch. It happened against Georgia, Vanderbilt, Florida State and even Arkansas for that matter.

Last year's team, for whatever reasons, never acquired that killer instinct and although it was never hurt in those close wins, the comfort level was never there in the fourth quarter. During much of the season, fans were frustrated because the team seemingly could not put together that complete performance. Now, when things turn 180 degrees, at least for one afternoon against Tennessee, folks were upset that Florida had its top players in while completely burying the Vols. You can't have it both ways. Oh well . . .

I know some are fretting about Saturday's game ï¿½ first one on the road, young team, sandwich game in between an emotional win over Tennessee and the upcoming Auburn-LSU double-dip (a media creation, this sandwich game thingee), etc. I would say those are all valid concerns, except for one vital aspect, Ole Miss stinks. Nah, that was uncalled for, let me re-phrase it ï¿½ Ole Miss STINKS!

The Rebels are a bad team in a hopeless situation with a coach who has won just eight of his first 26 games. Along with Mississippi State and Vandy, Ole Miss is the third venue in the league where it is impossible to build a consistent contender in the SEC (and by the way, can someone please tell Verne Lundquist that it's the Southeastern Conference, not the Southeast Conference ï¿½ geez, how many years has he been doing SEC games!). The resources are just not there to compete with the rest of the league on a year-in, year-out basis. It might be harsh, but it's reality.

This year's version of the Rebels is particularly weak. Oh sure, they'll come out all fired up and the crowd will be stoked to greet the defending national champs. But any chance of an upset will vanish by the first commercial break. The Rebels are really bad in all three phases, and are particularly weak on defense. They've allowed nearly 470 yards per game, including more than 290 yards a game in the air with opponents completing nearly 70 percent of their passes.

They've allowed 84 first downs, almost 25 more than any other SEC team and sport a first down differential of minus-26 (Florida is a plus-25, LSU a plus-47), meaning their defense is on the field for an SEC-worst 32:18 per game. And in Memphis, Missouri and Vanderbilt, it's not like the Rebels have been going against a trio of prolific offenses. In short, this is a poor football team, the worst in the SEC, with little to hang its hat on. The only way this is a contest at all on Saturday is if there's a complete lack of focus from Florida.

GRAND HIGH EXALTED MYSTIC RULER

The Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler (GHEMR) is the player on Florida's team who deserves notice above all others for his play in the previous game. And my selection of the GHEMR is totally subjective ï¿½ feel free to offer your own.

For week three, the GHEMR was easy to hand out ï¿½ it goes to sophomore receiver Percy Harvin. All Harvin did was turn in one of his customary electrifying shows, especially in the second half. Harvin rushed nine times for 75 yards and a touchdown, and hauled in four passes for a career-best 120 yards. That's 13 touches for 195 yards ï¿½ in the first two games total, he had 13 touches for 176 yards. But the Gators don't need the Best of Percy against Western Kentucky. They need Harvin at his best for the big moments.

STOCK UP

Ah, the rising fluctuation of the Gator stock market, identifying players who are moving up or down based on the past week's outing. On offense, we'll give the nod to one of the unsung heroes of the game, redshirt freshman Maurice Hurt. Hurt spelled an injured Maurkice Pouncey in the first quarter at right guard, and the Florida offense never missed a beat. It was Hurt's first significant playing time and he demonstrated he was up to the task, displaying the "competitive excellence" Meyer talks about when the opportunity to perform presented itself.

On defense, we're going with cornerback Joe Haden. It was nearly a flawless performance for the true freshman, who put on an excellent display of tackling (a team-high nine tackles) and coverage. It's a testament to both Haden's natural ability and the coaching acumen of secondary coach Chuck Heater that the rookie can turn in such an outstanding outing in just his third start.

STOCK DOWN

Hard to find many who fit the bill here on offense, but we'll give the nod to a senior who has seemingly worked his way out of the picture on offense, tight end Tate Casey. Casey rarely gets on the field anymore, with Eric Rutledge assuming Billy Latsko's blocking role out of the backfield and freshman Aaron Hernandez lining up at tight end in other situations. Casey, who showed promise as a true freshman in Ron Zook's final season and caught two of the more memorable touchdown passes from last season, has become an after-thought.

On defense, fellow true senior free safety Kyle Jackson seems headed toward oblivion as well. Jackson, who has never progressed from a seemingly strong freshman season, missed a pair of open-field tackles early against the Vols and was replaced by true freshman Major Wright. Jackson may not be completely out of the picture, since the coaches may not feel comfortable turning over the free safety responsibilities totally to Wright, but he sure seems to be on his way to a permanent spot on the bench.

AROUND THE SEC

It's clear that LSU and Florida have distanced themselves from the pack ï¿½ they are clearly the cream of the league. But what about the second tier? Can't put Auburn there. Certainly can't put Tennessee there. Not sure if you can put Georgia or Arkansas there. Alabama, Kentucky and South Carolina are making noise about heading to the top of the middle.

We'll find out a lot about some of these teams on Saturday when Alabama hosts Georgia, Kentucky heads to Arkansas and South Carolina faces LSU in Baton Rouge. It's hard to tell what to make of the Tide-Dawgs matchup, other than it being basically an elimination game for Georgia. Start off league play 0-2 and forget about the East title. For no other reason than the game is in Tuscaloosa, we like the Tide.

In this week's upset pick, we're going with Kentucky to escape on the road at Arkansas. We don't know how the Wildcats we'll handle the little prosperity they've never experienced, but we just can't escape the feeling that the Razorbacks might be headed or a free-fall. And if Houston Nutt had run the ball on third down with two-plus minutes left and the Tide out of timeouts, instead of throwing, the home side probably wouldn't have had enough time to complete the victory.

South Carolina doesn't have enough offense to contend with LSU. Seems like Steve Spurrier's SC teams are the polar opposite of his great UF squads ï¿½ better on the road than at home, better on defense than offense. He found a way to sneak out of Athens with a win ï¿½ won't happen on Saturday.

Auburn (New Mexico State), Tennessee (Arkansas State) and Mississippi State (Gardner-Webb ï¿½ wow, Gardner-Webb!) all win easily.

And just to clarify the situation next week, for TV purposes, the SEC office explained that the Florida State-Alabama game is not considered an FSU "home" game, but rather a neutral site contest and basically, was up for bidding. CBS claimed the game, which is why it is under consideration along with Florida-Auburn next week by the network, which will experiment twice the season with games in the 5 p.m. time slot instead of the customary 3:30 kickoff (Nov. 3 is the other date). Essentially, if Alabama beats Georgia, CBS grabs the Bama-FSU matchup with UF-Auburn going to ESPN at 8. If the Tide lose, then UF-Auburn will be on CBS at 5.

MARTY LIKES

OK, now we know the 0-3 debacle of Week Two was an aberration. We went 2-1 last week, with Oregon easily covering over Fresno State and Kansas doing the same over Toledo, while Arizona State was one score short of covering the 28 points against San Diego State. The season's ledger is now 4-5. On to this week's picks:

1) Louisville minus-37 over Syracuse: Yes the Cardinals are coming off a tough loss to Kentucky and are quite vulnerable on defense, but it doesn't matter. Syracuse is embarrassingly bad and lost to the Fightin' Zookers by 21, at home, last week. 'Nuff said.

2) Cincinnati minus-23 over Marshall: The Bearcats are growling under new coach Brian Kelly and have scored 140 points in three wins. Marshall, meanwhile, got clobbered at home by Division I-AA New Hampshire last week and has given up 127 points in three losses.

3) Kansas minus-30 over Florida International: We'll ride the Jayhawks one more week, as they finish one of the most creampuff non-conference schedules (Central Michigan, Southeastern Louisiana, Toledo and FIU) we've seen in a long time. They've scored 159 points in their three wins, FIU has managed just 19 points in its three losses.

Also under consideration: Boston College minus-28 over Army, Bowling Green minus-21 over Temple and Arizona State minus-12 over Oregon State.

MinGator · Post by **MinGator** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:19 pm

While there is a point to be made, I was amused by this, because it's likely the same folks who were complaining were the ones carping about how last year's championship team continually failed to put teams away. Numerous times the Gators had teams by the throat, and let 'em wiggle free to make the game too close for comfort down the stretch. It happened against Georgia, Vanderbilt, Florida State and even Arkansas for that matter.

Last year's team, for whatever reasons, never acquired that killer instinct and although it was never hurt in those close wins, the comfort level was never there in the fourth quarter. During much of the season, fans were frustrated because the team seemingly could not put together that complete performance. Now, when things turn 180 degrees, at least for one afternoon against Tennessee, folks were upset that Florida had its top players in while completely burying the Vols. You can't have it both ways. Oh well . . .

my issue with these statements is that while last year we bitched about not putting teams away, it wasn't because we had back-ups in too early. the starters couldn't put them away. imho, the starters where in too long against UT, and while i LOVE that we hung 59 on the Vols, i would have been just as happy with less and gotten the starters out after Harvin went in for the score on the first play in the 4th.

radbag · Post by **radbag** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:20 pm

i don't disagree 95

annarborgator · Post by **annarborgator** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:44 pm

I personally think Tebow needs all the reps he can get right now. I'm down with getting the starting WR/RB out ASAP. Those speed guys are just too fragile with all the changing of direction and whatnot.

I do see the point though--and I'm not a coach. If Tebow is good enough to not need the extra reps at game speed against a top level SEC team then I would agree--yank him earlier. I think he still needs reps at this point though.