Gators - Buckeyes BCS Championship Thread

I'm starting a new thread and am requesting that we keep the discussion on track, no chest thumping pointing fingers etc etc etc.

Let's see if we cannot find some common ground for legitmate discussion.

Let me start by asking a question, I hear the line on the game is off the board right now, at least earlier today.

I hope it has nothing to do with the fund raising dinner that Terry posted an article about earlier. If by chance it does, I have to feel the NCAA doesn't have a lot to do if that is not already a dead and meaningless issue.

Any input?

 

Ok, having ask the orginal question let me say this about the Gators. It looks like we are pretty much at full strength.

Our running back Deshawn Wynn is in a boot because of a foot injury and I don't know how that one will turn out.

DL Ray McDonald who was thought to have a broken arm in the SEC Championship game does not have a broken arm and it looks like he will play in a cast and be about 90%.

Percy Harvin who has had several injuries this season looks to be in full health.

 

Bill, the Gators appear to be a very nice team. I can see how Florida could possibly be competitive in this NC game however but Ohio State is also a very nice team. It's all nice.

On the other hand the PAC 10 appears to be not as nice but I am sure that most times they are indeed nice except that the team that beat USC on Dec. 4th and almost beat the great Notre Dame team in South Bend was somehow beaten by 17 points by FSU tonight....a team that is not so nice.

As I have the utmost respect for ND and the PAC 10...all very nice teams I cannot understand how in the world FSU managed to pull this off.

After all...FSU is the top out of conference foe for Florida as we all know and they are usually very inferior and represent the softer side of the south.

Again...UCLA and ND are very...very nice teams and I wish them and Ohio State no ill will to be sure. Go Bucks!

 

Bill,

No official word from NCAA, but the university should know something definite today or tomorrow.

Local TV is saying unnamed sources say no penalties will be forthcoming.

I certainly hope not, due to the innocence, of the fund raiser.

You fellows might want to check out the OHIO State football preparation calendar on USA Today.

I think this will be a great game, lots of speed and talent on both sides of the ball.

 

GB,

Sheridan's point spread on USA still lists the Buckeyes as a 7pt favorite. The most volitile spread is the Rose Bowl. At one time, Michigan was a 1 and 1/2 favorite. Now, USC is a 1 pt. favorite.

 

After last night's beatdown of UCLA by FSU I expect the RB line going back to Michigan's favor.

The PAC 10 looks like crap right now.

Then again...I'm not sold yet on the Big Ten either.

Wisconsin's top 5 resume:

"Yes, Wisconsin's defense is the real deal and yes, Hill is one of the nation's best backs, but it didn't hurt to have a squishy soft schedule with no Ohio State and a non-conference slate that you and ten friends could've gotten through unscathed (Bowling Green, Western Illinois, San Diego State and Buffalo). There were only four wins over bowl teams, and Minnesota, Purdue and Iowa weren't exactly knocking down the door to Glendale.

Along with a 13-3 win over Penn State, the one true test was at Michigan"

And Arkansas shouldn't beat this team?

Yes...I know Gipper....for the thousandth "droning on till you drool" time the Badgers didn't play Western Carolina.......

 

Here's an article from GatorCountry that was first published on Bucknuts.

Feels Like Home

 

Bill,

That article was local here as well. Nice article on Urban.

This from the Dispatch this morning:

Physics professor

Tressel was asked whether he thinks Florida is more of a finesse team than a physical one. He scoffed, then started spouting equations.

"The little bit of film I watched, they’re very physical," he said. "What is it — force equals mass times acceleration? And they can accelerate, and they’ve got goodsized guys, and I’ve seen a lot of splattering going on on that film.

"So I don’t know that you could ever say something like that."

kgordon@dispatch.com

 

I'm not a huge fan of Wisconsin and tend to think they are overated, but compared to a one dimensional Arkansas team , I don't see them losing.

Arkansas has no passing attack and a mediocre defense.

How did they ever win so many games with such an incomplete team?

 

What does that say for Tenn and Auburn?

 

Tennessee, a team that doesn't have the strongest D in the country ( will look like an NFL D vs PSU) goes on the road with their backup QB and YOU expected them to win..

Arkansas might as well have scheduled Western Carolina.

 

Here's an article about the 96 Gator team that needed a couple of major breaks to win the National Championship. There are some parallels with this year.

96 Gators

 

In most years you have to have some breaks, I can think of that 98 Tenn team that was beaten at Ark until the Ark QB drops the ball while running out the clock.

This years Ohio State team hasn't really had any big lucky type breaks that won them games, at least I don't think so. That 2002 team needed a number of incredible/improbable finishes to win the NC though.


Terry

 

Speaking of breaks, didn't that NC team from Colorado get a 5th down and a phantom holding penalty in the Orange Bowl on Rocket's retrun? (any coach stupid enough to punt to him in that situation really deserved to lose.)

Oh and Moga, I completely agree with you about the Badger schedule. They probably played one team in the top 40 and lost.

 

"There were only four wins over bowl teams, and Minnesota, Purdue and Iowa weren't exactly knocking down the door to Glendale"

And these teams all lost their bowl games.

 

Gipper, that Colorado team got their 5th down in a regular season game, against Missouri I think, that led to a touchdown that won the game.

In the Orange Bowl I think the Rocket ran back a punt late in the game that would have won for Notre Dame but it was called back by a penalty.

They split the NC with Ga Tech that year and I think I would agree with you 100% that they were perhaps the luckiest of all the teams that have won the NC since I've followed football.

 

Don, I have not been able to find the Ohio State practice schedule you mentioned on USA Today. Do you have a link?

 

Bill,

I can not find the link now, probably removed as old news.

It basically laid out how through Tressel is in his preparation for big games.

Don

 

I would agree that Wisconsin has been "untested" so perhaps nobody really knows if they are any good or not, but by the time some of y'all southerners get done discussing them they obviously suck. They certainly are not getting respect they deserve for being a one-loss team. I have seen them play in person (their only loss) and they impressed me.

 

Stu,

I just performed a search for "Wisconsin" on this page and had no idea that yourself, AJNJ, and MCG (resident of Detroit) were all three southerners. :twisted: I only found that string in three posts, one from each of you. :shock: 8)