Might as well start this one. Tenn really threw up a smokescreen of sorts when they played AF so tight after the easy win over Cal. I think the Vols are somewhere in between and a lot depends on the ebb and flow of the game. I think the difference will be Chris Leak's experience with some help from a pretty good receiving corps and some razzle dazzle from super frosh Percy Harvin. Man..Harvin can do some electric things on the field and I hope he has some fireworks for Tenn on Sat. Otherwise Meyer had better have our best cover guy blanketing Meachem because he seems to be Tenn's spark on offense. My early week prediction is UF 31 Tenn 23
8) Air Force isn't yer average service academy... This should be a good game. The key for Florida is to not panic. I expect this game to go right down to the wire... ................JO'Co
I have no doubt that Tenn is the superior team to Air Force and most likely took them lightly. But inspite of "service academy are not real football teams " label hung on by some. Air Force has played at a good Div1 level almost since they opened. By being in the WAC and then the Mtn. West they have consistently played major college competition and been successfull, while they wouldn't be a good SEC or B10 team or ACC or PAc10 team, the Mtn West is as good as the BE,C-USA, MAC so you'd better take them seriously and show up ready to play or they'll beat you. I wish I could have seen that Tenn/Air Force game. I'm a big fan of how they play football. I've always found their version of the Triple Option to be amongst the most exciting offesnes in football, esp when they have QB's of the talent to Dee Dowis and the Morgan Brothers. But back to this game. I see the Gators as the clear favorite, they have a good defense and a good offense with a proven QB. The Vols have a good defense and potentially a good offense, but Ainge is still a question mark. He looked great vs Cal that's for sure and the Gator defense will be better than the Air Force defense so we still have to have a question mark at the QB position. David Cutliffe no doubt has the offense on the mend, but it's still only his 3rd game with Ainge. Terry
One thing definitely in favor of the Gators is due to your light weight schedule vs the Tenn schedule (which was much tougher inspite of the CAL blowout), the Gators could focus all their planning on Tenn and not waste much prep time for So.Miss and UCF. Where as the Vols had to legitimately concerned about the Golden Bearsn and the Falcons and as a result had to show their hand on offense and defense. Urban had the luxury of playing both of his games with a vanilla gameplan, he could hold things back. Fulmer didn't have that luxury. So the Gators will have the advantage in gameplanning for this game.
See my post under Vol injuries. UF did work on silent snap counts last week but did not work on a Tenn gameplan. USM and UCF on paper anyway were two of the toughest early non-con games Florida has had lately sans the Miami series. Don't prepare for either one and you lose. I know Amato is struggling right now but USM is a 3 point favorite over NC State.
Not surprised that NCState is an underdog to any team except a Div111 team. BTW: Best description of the Air Force/Tenn game ending from the guy who writes the Jones Top Ten.
I'm not a big fan of people who second-guess after the fact. A person who doesn't understand the game can easily rationalize why a decision that didn't work went wrong. It's useless commentary, IMO.
I'm with you Sid. Last year when Vanderbilt scored late against the Gators they were going to go for 2 points and the win instead of overtime but a penalty made them tie the game and they lost in OT. I think it is very reasonable for a team that is a decided underdog to take their chances with the 2 point conversion instead of OT.
Somebody asked Charlie Weis about going for the tie and overtime in yesterdays press conference. He said in most instances he thinks going for the tie and taking your chances in OT is the way to go. But he said that in the Fiesta Bowl, when the score was 27-20 he would have seriously thought about going for 2 than playing in OT with the Buckeyes. He gave his reasons and made some comment about how the Air Force coach must have been thinking along the same lines.
Well I didn't Get to see the TN game, I was reffing football and right after I had to be a security guard for deirks bentley, i was shocked at the score. But I think the FL will have to have a great game in teh secondary, if not expect to see a burning all night cause da vols are gonna whoop dat keester!! This will be one game I will not miss, I'm predicting a close game and a rattled chhris leake. UT 21 UF 18
Coach Weis' reasoning is interesting as it relates to his aversion to going into OT with OSU. Fast forward to Fisher DeBerry telling himself that he doesn't want his team to spend any more time on the field with Tennessee than is absolutely necessary. Hence the decision to end it one way or the other in regulation.
GORT When we get back home we will make copies of the 1st 2 games and send them to you. We will also send the Florida game if the TIVO doesn't accidently :wink: loose it. Email your address in case it has changed.
For the year, Harvin has seven receptions for 132 yards (18.9 yards per reception), as well as six carries for 69 yards (11.5 yards per rush). Four of his seven catches on the season have gone for first downs, while six of his 13 touches on the year have moved the chains SEC Freshman of the Week Percy Harvin..... GOOOOOO GATORS!!!
Motor... <t>This will be my first look at the Gators this year and Harvin has been as good as advertized so far.<br/> <br/> I'll be surprised if Florida does not win the game.</t>
Well I didn't get to meet the band but I was about 3 inches from deirks during the concert there a couple times. I was mainly paying attention to the army recruites who were pushing up against the gte and taking pictures. No pictures were allowed and there were some lil girls getting smashed so I had to rectify the situation, marine corps fashion lol. Then kicked a bunch of people out for being way to drunk lol. Tom thanks for the pictures!!
Interesting developement regarding where GameDay will be each Saturday. Apparently since Disney/ABC/ESPN are one entity now there will not likely ever be another Gameday at a SEC or Notre Dame game in the future. They will only be at ABC games. The gameday should have been at Knoxville this week, but ABC said no and sent them to USC/Nebraska because it's their big game of the weekend. Short sighted IMHO. But that's business.
Well........ <t>Wherever they go I just wish they would leave that ingrate Corso at home. The guy is beyond embarrassing.</t>