What are they doing playing this well? 27-24 end of 3rd quarter and the momentum is with Ole Miss. We've lost to them two times in a row when they rallied in the 2nd half to beat us. I hope this Gator teams pulls it back together and wins. A shoot out win is good enough for me.
I'll take it, a SEC win is an SEC win! This is exactly the kind of game we would lose under Zook. Go Gators!!!
Zook didn't have Tim Tebow to run the ball and kill the clock. Give Miss a lot of credit for playing so hard. Al least UF hung on and didn't make the fatal mistakes that they could have made to lose the game. Overall it was a very sloppy flagfest that I'm glad Florida came out of with the all important W. Also....Tebow is unbelievable. What a tough...tough football player.
At this point, I would take a 1 point win over Arkansas State. Wouldn't save Fulmers job though. An impressive win would help since they almost beat Texas this year.
As I said earlier, the next 8 weeks will be interesting for the UF defense. They had a rough day in Oxford and gave up far too much in the passing game. Offense was below 2007 par in points scored but did put up 507 yards, its 4th 500 yard game. Production was closer to that 250/250 run/pass balance about which Urban Meyer speaks. Yesterday, UF had 246 on the ground and 261 through the air. Just checked the conference rankings (per the NCAA web site) and found these for Tebow: #6 in rushing @ 89.5 ypg 5.8 ypa #1 in rushing TDs @ 7 #1 in pass efficiency @ 198 #2 in passing ypg @ 274 #2 in passing TDs at 10 #1 in comp % @ 68.4% #1 in both y/att @ 11.5 and y/comp @ 16.9 #1 in total offense @ 364 ypg #1 in points responsible for @ 25.5 ppg
It's really odd how some teams always seem to play well against certain teams. Vanderbilt always seems to give Alabama fits, Southern Mississippi often gave us a scare also. Mississippi vs Florida is another of those situations :?:
I'm unable to explain why UF plays so (relatively) bad in Mississippi. Yesterday, there were several key guys out of the game which surely had an impact on the outcome. On defense, M Anderson - starting CB- was out and that only compounded the "challenges" at FS where Jackson still struggles and Major Wright is making freshmen mistakes. On offense, the top two outside receivers - Caldwell and Cooper - did not play and I think the guys backfilling - Murphy and Nelson - are not nearly as consistent. Also, I was a bit surprised that we didn't see more of Cornelius Ingram in tha passing game. I curious as to why that was. And penalties. Coaches need to figure out what's going on there and find a way to reduce. I will agree with Urban Meyer on his position re the flag on Louis Murphy after his TD reception. His CHOMP was not a big deal and should not have been flagged. Hell, I see opposing teams do the very same thing - the CHOMP - several times during a game - sometimes towards the Gator fans - and I've never seen a flag thrown it.
"On defense, M Anderson - starting CB- was out and that only compounded the "challenges" at FS where Jackson still struggles and Major Wright is making freshmen mistakes. On offense, the top two outside receivers - Caldwell and Cooper - did not play and I think the guys backfilling - Murphy and Nelson - are not nearly as consistent. Also, I was a bit surprised that we didn't see more of Cornelius Ingram in tha passing game. I curious as to why that was." How do we look on getting some of these guys back Gaterz? I am coming into Gainesville next weekend with my 19 year old son the musician who is as rabid a Gator fan as I am ( this is his 6th Gator game and he grew up in Detroit ). Obviously I want a max performance vs. the War Beagles.
Got an answer.... "Starting cornerback Markihe Anderson did not make the trip to Oxford. UF's most experience cornerback reinjured his knee in last Saturday's game and was limited in practice all week. True sophomore Wondy Pierre-Louis once again started in his place. Sophomore wide receiver Riley Cooper, who was limited all week in practice by a sprained ankle, made the trip but did not play. Meyer said Anderson, Cooper, starting offensive guard Maurkice Pouncey and starting wide receiver Andre Caldwell (sprained knee) will play in Saturday's game against Auburn. Pouncey (ankle) played only a handful of plays Saturday. Ijjas has a sore quadriceps muscle in his leg that prevented him from practicing much of last week. Following Murphy's touchdown reception in the third quarter, Jonathan Phillips relieved Ijjas and missed the extra point. Ijjas returned to kick a 25-yard field goal with 4:59 remaining in the game. Caldwell made the trip to Oxford but did not dress. He served as UF's spokesman on the coin toss before the start of the game. With Caldwell and Cooper out, the Gators were missing two key playmakers in the receiving corps. Meyer said he nearly played true freshman Deonte Thompson in Saturday's game. "He's really close (to being ready to play)," Meyer said. Kids on the road Here's yet another illustration of just how young this Florida football is: Thirty-five of the 60 Gators who dressed for Saturday's game had never played in a college road game before. Also, 18 players were making their first collegiate road trip.
MCG Looks like you have the current 411 on the injuries. Hopefully, there will be just good news, later today. I read this AM the AU game kickoff at 8PM. I don't yet know what our schedule will be for gameday but maybe we could catch up with you somehow. I'm planning to be in Cedar Key Friday night through Saturday afternoon as we're replacing the roof on the house and boat lift, and adjusting the lift for the smaller boat. I'd like for our sons to meet but mine will be out of town as their group Funkatron plays in Tallahassee on Friday night - Big Daddy's - then in Orlando on Saturday night @ Twangfest. They're actually starting to get some publicity and recently were top billing at Gainesville's Side Bar. Like I keep telling the one who wants to be a professional, it only takes one song!!
Hey, I was just wondering if there was any concern among UF fans that Tebow might take a shot running the ball at the end of ballgames. I mean he is running like a fullback and taking a beating. He is one of my favorite players to watch and I would hate for him to go down to some kind of freak injury. Doesn't UF have a fullback????
He's pretty much playing like Alex Smith did for Urban at Utah isn't he? If you are running the Spread/Option or the Zone/Read or whatever it's called I don't think you can protect your QB, he has to run the ball. Vince Young, Alex Smith, Pat White, they have to run the ball. If they don't run the ball then it's just not the same offense.
I agree with you to a certain extent. However, at the end of that Ole Miss game with UF trying to salt away the clock, Tebow ran repeatedly out of the shotgun straight at the defense when, in my opinion, they should have been loading up in a goalline set and running straight up the gut. I realize you can't protect the QB in the basic spread option but, well, I guess you'd just have to see the replays to understand what I'm talking about. Tebow may be superman but I doubt he can dodge bullets forever......
One thing I haven't seen for some reason is a lot of injuries to QB's in that offense. Smith, Young were ironmen, White has been knicked a little bit but he's not the physical specimen that Smith, Young and Tebow are. Who is the backup at UF anyway? Is he as physically big as Tebow?
Cameron Newton ... Bigger and More physical. He completely laid a Tennessee defender flat on his back after a short run when he finally got in the game last week. I was wondering why he wasn't in there late vs. Miss to pound the ball and kill time. All I could think was for ball security. Who knows if either has fumbled in pratice, but maybe the ball was more secure with Tebow than with Newton. At least when the lead was less than a score and a lost fumble could be disasterous.
I think every Gator fan is worried about TT getting dinged up or worse. In his comments post game and again on Sunday, UM said they used TT too much and wants to limit his carries to 12+/- per game. Having said that, what concerns me is the fact late hits on both Tebow and Harvin are not getting called. Twice in the OM game, a OM DTackle belly flopped on P Harvin after he had been tackled (taken to the ground) by another defender. Those sorts of plays - as well as the shivers thrown at Tebow - are total BS (having just one intended purpose) and should not be condoned by SEC officials.