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ScriptOhio

ScriptOhio

Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Five Florida Gators Football Games To Watch in '09

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The Florida Gators are the defending national champions.
They return the entire two-deep defense from last season's squad, including Brandon Spikes, Joe Haden, Ahmad Black, Carlos Dunlap, Jermaine Cunningham, and Major Wright.
The Gators also return phenom Tim Tebow . The only major loss for Florida is WR Percy Harvin.
With the incredible team that the Gators have coming back, going undefeated should be no problem, right? Well, maybe not.
Despite the great team and the soft schedule, there are 5 games that could potentially give the Gators trouble in 2009. Of course, they could beat each of these teams by 30+ points. But still, these are five games that you should definitely tune in to.
So here you go: 5 Florida Football Games to Watch in '09.

Sep. 19 - Tennessee

The Gators should be heavy favorites in this one. But the reason you should watch this edition of the Third Saturday in September should be obvious.
Will Lane Kiffin get his words shoved down his throat, or will his words from last December turn out to be prophetic?
Plus, it is Kiffin's first SEC game, as well as his first road game as coach of the Vols. Also, how will new Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin respond to the Gators' high-powered offense?
On the Florida side of things, Tennessee shouldn't be surprised if Urban Meyer elects to run up the score late in the 4th quarter to rub it in Kiffin's face. Meyer holds grudges. Just ask Georgia.

Oct. 10 - @ LSU

Last year, the Gators demolished the Tigers in the Swamp, 51-21.
But again, that was last year.
This year will be a different story. The game will be in Baton Rouge, where Florida hasn't won since 2003.
And don't think that LSU won't want revenge after last season's embarrassment.
LSU will be improved from 2008, but the question is, will they be improved enough to beat the Gators?
The game is currently scheduled by CBS in a prime time slot, which gives the Tigers an advantage. LSU is widely known as having the best night-game home field advantage in the country.

Oct. 24 @ Mississippi State

Near the end of last season, the Mississippi State Bulldogs had a vacant head coaching position. The man who accepted that position was none other than then-Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen.
Now I know some of my fellow Gator fans will say, "Mississippi State? They won't give us any trouble!" You may be right. Then again, maybe you won't.
Think about this, guys: Dan Mullen knows every player on Florida's team. He also likely knows how to stop them.
The Gators should win this one, but don't sleep on the Bulldogs. With Mullen at the helm, State is more than capable of pulling an upset. If Florida pulls their annual upset loss, then I would expect MSU to be the team to do so.

Oct. 31 - Georgia

Ah yes, the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. One of the best rivalries in college sports.
While it hasn't really been much of a rivalry from a competitive standpoint the last 20 years (Georgia has only won four times since 1989), the Dawgs pumped a little life into the series in 2007 when they upset the Gators 42-30 in the infamous "Celebration" game.
However, whatever new life that had been added to the series in '07 was crushed in '08, when the Gators blew out the Dawgs 49-10.
And now, without their two biggest offensive players (Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno), it will be a little tougher for Georgia to win this time. Senior Georgia QB Joe Cox will make his first and only start in this rivalry against Florida 2009.

November 28 - Florida State

The Florida-Florida State rivalry was once the best rivalry in college football.
While it has died down a little in the last 5 years, FSU seems to believe that its program is on the way back. If that turns out to be true, then we shall see a re-emergence of this once-great rivalry.
It will start this November in the Swamp. The Gators have outscored the Noles 79-19 in the last two meetings in Gainesville. If FSU can manage to stay close, then they could have a chance to win.
However, Urban Meyer is a combined 11-1 against Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida State, as well as 4-0 against the Noles. Those odds may be too much to overcome.
This game will show one of two things: Either FSU will show that they're ready to be competitive in this rivalry again, or Florida will show that they're still dominant the series.


Entire article: Five Florida Gators Football Games To Watch in '09 | Bleacher Report
 
In the presence of greatness

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - My earliest college football memory is of the 1978 Cotton Bowl, as an eight-year old boy watched his favorite team (Notre Dame) and his favorite player at the time (Joe Montana) upset the top- ranked Texas Longhorns for the national title. The following season in the same venue, "Joe Cool," as he would later become, rallied the Irish from a 22-point, fourth-quarter deficit to knock off Houston in one of the greatest college football games of all time. The comeback was that much more impressive considering the weather conditions and the fact that Montana was suffering from the flu in the subsequently-named "Chicken Soup Game."
The point of my little stroll down memory lane is to date myself and say that I have been hooked on college football for just over 30 years now. It is not to proclaim Montana to be the greatest football player in college history. He saved that distinction for his professional career.
There have been a ton of great players that could be considered the all-time best over the last three decades. I limit this topic to that time frame because I simply don't remember football before then.
Herschel Walker has to be near the top of everyone's list, doesn't he? The 1982 Heisman Trophy winner was a three-time consensus All-American and led Georgia to an undefeated season and a national championship with a win over the Irish in the Sugar Bowl (1982). Other running backs that could earn the title of "all-time best" include Bo Jackson (Auburn), Barry Sanders (Oklahoma State), Ricky Williams (Texas), Marshall Faulk (San Diego State), Marcus Allen (USC)...The list goes on and on.
As far as the best quarterbacks over the last 30 years, the aforementioned Montana, although legendary as a pro, comes up a bit short in terms of this list. The New England area could lay claim to the top college quarterback in the diminutive form of Boston College's Doug Flutie. The 1984 Heisman Trophy winner will always be remembered for the "Hail Flutie" play against Miami that year. He single-handedly put Boston College on the college football map, where it remains to this day. Other QBs worthy of mention include Tommie Frazier (Nebraska), Matt Leinart (USC), Danny Wuerffel (Florida), Charlie Ward (Florida State) and Tim Tebow (Florida).
That's right, I am starting to think that the current Gators quarterback may just be the best college football player I have ever seen (live that is).
I mean, what hasn't the young man done? After playing a key role in Florida's national championship season as a freshman, Tebow followed that up with becoming the first-ever underclassman (freshman or sophomore) to win the Heisman Trophy in 2007. If that weren't enough, Tebow again led the Gators to a national title this past season and will return to attempt the trifecta in 2009.
Tebow has shown the ability to dominate the game both with his arm and legs, as his stats are ridiculous (over 6,300 passing yards and 67 TDs, while amassing over 2,000 rushing yards and another 43 scores), but it is his leadership qualities that give him his greatest advantage and catapult him to the top of the heap. His ability to command a huddle and an entire team, for that matter, is exactly what all the greats did, and what separates him from his peers today.
His awkward delivery is well-documented and scrutinized, and his game at this time probably doesn't translate perfectly to the NFL, especially given the league's usual affection for classic, drop-back, pocket passers.
To rectify that, however, Florida head coach Urban Meyer is going to put him under center more, as well as give him a more conventional, over-the-top delivery. It only seems fair considering all that Tebow has done for Meyer and the Florida program.
Every team on Florida's schedule and the SEC as a whole, for that matter, probably hopes the experiment is a disaster.
However, in seeing Tebow's body of work over the last couple of seasons, is that reasonable, or just wishful thinking?
Tebow has dominated the competition at the college level and that is what he will be best remembered for. The bottom line is that it is fun to watch Tebow play the game, something that I have tried to share with my two teenage sons the last two years.

Entire article: The Sports Network Football Bowl Subdivision
 
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