We again made too many mistakes to win the game. We didn't, however, quit. This game tells me several things. First, we will get better as the year goes on. There was tremendous improvement of effort in the 4th quarter over the Oregon game. Matt Simms needs to grow up in a hurry. He is making Freshman mistakes. Two interceptions that were key: One that happened in the end zone and took away a sure score. One that led to an easy Gator score. Even a victory in this game would not have been satisfying. This Gator team is a mere shadow of previous years. Too much for our young team but they will see at least two losses this year. Congrats to the Gators. We both have some improvements to make.
Terry, I believe Simms went to Louisville and is a Junior I believe. Hey I was close in my score prediction again. 31 - 17 and I predicted 27 - 17. I still think there are good things ahead for Tennessee. They won't win the SEC this year but I think they will be competitive.
Absolutely Terry. I was referring to Freshman like mistakes. He is a Junior that went to Louisville out of high school. When the coach left, he left and wound up in JuCo. He transferred to us this year.
Bout sums it up: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/13972433/gatorsvolunteers-matchup-has-lost-its-oncegreat-luster
Great matchups require great teams....Miami/FSU has lost some of it's cache' and so has ND/USC. Not necessarily to the fans of those teams but to the National audience that their games used to attract.
So true Terry. But then other games come along to take their place. Like Florida and Alabama, and Texas and Nebraska both coming up in October.
Fla is not a great team Bill. Therefore I think the luster is off every potential "great" game on the Gator's schedule this year. What was a "must see" game in the preseason looks to be a significant Tide win if not an ugly blowout. Bama is playing better than I expected and UF looks timid and uncertain on offense. That is a recipe for a Gator disaster circa 2005......I believe it was 31-3 Tide. I think the best.....most competitively played game on the UF schedule right now is Florida-LSU on Oct. 9th.
You know, Alabama's offense is clicking. Ingram is back and he played half of a half and racked up 150 yds, McElroy completed over 65% of his passes, Julio Jones got 100 yds receiving. Now the not so good news: Duke got 17 first downs, ran for 150 yds and passed for 150 yds. Our defense is vulnerable. I don't know what to think about Florida but I am very worried about Arkansas. Their strength matches up very well with our weekness. :?:
This appears so far to be a better Bama team than last year. The only "weakness" will be the schedule set up. I still say someone in the SEC will catch Bama running low on gas one of these Saturdays but I absolutely do not think that team will be Florida and after yesterday's scrimmage vs. Duke it won't be the Hogs either. It could be South Carolina. RE: Florida.....I had to post this from the Gainesville Sun talking about UF's Keystone Cops offense: "They are hard to watch on offense right now in part because they have a lot of rookies out there trying to figure it out. Maybe that's why, at one point, they huddled on the wrong side of the ball after a penalty." Another little amazingly resonant comment: "At the rate the Gators are going in the polls, they may be unranked if they win against Kentucky. That's how unimpressed with this team the voting coaches and writers have been so far." I think that says it all.
I need to add something else I read on UF: " Of 70 players who made the trip to Knoxville 43 are underclassmen, 21 were on their first road trip and 19 played in their first road game. "I'm very proud of our guys to come on the road and win in the SEC," Meyer said of the Gators' sixth straight win over the Volunteers (1-2). "That's something we'll never take for granted." Me too......