On Tebow's Concussion

The best thing I've come across that sums things up. It also references this piece from the NY Times, which shows this issue is about a lot more than Tebow, but, as EDSBS smartly argues, it is because of Tebow's celebrity that a point can be made about the problem of brain injuries in football and how they are dealt with.

Oh, and Brantley is able.

Also, Harvin has had head issues throughout his life in the form of migraines.

Harvin said he had suffered migraines since middle school and that he has been able to sleep them off in the past. But he required medical attention after a severe bout as a sophomore. Harvin said he experienced nausea and dizzy spells along with the headaches and spent time in the campus health center. He received painkillers, medicine and fluids to combat the effects.

“By the sixth day, my mom and everybody was just crying,” he said at the time. “There was nothing anybody could do. I just had to cry myself to sleep some nights. It got that bad.”

Big Day For NFL Gators

Coaches Poll Sucks

and more

Gators' Tebow discharged, returning home

Gators' Tebow discharged, returning home

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UF QB Tebow taken to hospital after hard sack

UF QB Tebow taken to hospital after hard sack

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Prediction Week 4

The two biggest questions this week are: Will Meyer open up the Florida offense this week and show some trust in some of his other playmakers? And, How will the flu, that now seems to have hit Tebow, Haden and Wright just prior to game time, affect the Gators performance this week against Kentucky?

The answer to the first question is yes. Sometimes Meyer gets “meyered” in his own “old school” conservative upbringing and the offense suffers. How many times in the past have we heard him say we have to consciously think to get the ball in this playmaker’s hands or throw to that receiver more? I think last week’s conservative game plan was not planned, but developed as the game unfolded.

The answer to the second question is impossible to predict: Who knows how sick these players really are?

Now, let’s talk match-ups.

Florida’s offense vs. Kentucky’s defense
This again will be the key match-up to determine whether this is a blowout or a close game. Kentucky has a highly touted defensive back in Trevard Linley, but that is where the similarity between their defense and Tennessee’s defense ends. Kentucky does not have the speed or talent on defense to contain Florida’s backs or handle Tebow’s runs. Plus, Florida coaches worked hard on getting freshmen receivers Omarius Hines, Frankie Hammond Jr., and T.J. Lawrence game ready this week by giving them the majority of snaps. The talk is they responded. I look for Hines to have a breakout game and Florida’s offense to sail.

Florida’s defense vs. Kentucky’s offense
Kentucky has a few weapons. All-purpose offensive threat Randall Cobb and the speedy Derrick Locke, who anchors a running-back-by-committee approach for the Wildcats, can score from anywhere on the field. But Florida’s defense may be the best in college football. They are two-deep across the board in quality players. What team could have an All-American linebacker the caliber of Spikes miss most of the game and have his back-up win SEC defensive honors for the week? Points will be at a minimum for Kentucky this week, though I think they are a little better than Tennessee on offense.

Special Teams
Both teams have special players returning kicks: Locke for Kentucky and Brandon James for Florida. Locke returned a kickoff 100 yards for a TD last week. The key though, is that Kentucky has allowed more big returns than Florida this, giving up a 65-yarder already this year, whereas the longest return against Florida has been 25 yards. Florida has the edge.

Intangibles
Streaks: Florida has beaten Kentucky 22 straight years and has won 13 straight ball games.
Playing No. 1: Kentucky has played a No. 1 team 11 times and won three of those games. The last one was a 43-37, 3-OT win over LSU in 2007. Kentucky has played Florida two other times when they were No. 1 and lost 65-0 in 1996 and 55-28 in 1997.
Last year: The Wildcats expected to play Florida tough last year, based on their overall steady improvement (re: OT win over LSU the previous year), but Florida crushed the Wildcats 63-5 in Gainesville.

Prediction: Florida, 48, Kentucky 10

'The Percy Position'

On why he could be the Vikings' most valuable. By Smart Football's Chris Brown, with videos.

Rich Rod On Spread Runs

I know his team is not very popular to Gator fans, but this video is helpful.

Mullen's New Offense

For those curious. Thanks to Smart Football for the link. Before getting to nostalgic, especially after the Gator offense struggled, remember that the margin wasn't close on many of these plays and Tennessee arguably has a better defense than Auburn.

Big Football Bias

Kiffin up to his old tricks

Follow the link to a Scout.com story about Kiffin calling a Florida commit asking him to visit Tennessee on the "down low."

Meyer named coach of the year by Sporting News

No exact date of when the magazine will be here other than sometime this week.

Co-ed appeals to Tebow

Pick 6 Kentucky Open Thread

Post picks in comments of this post.

Everyone seemed to know the rules, but just to recap for convenience:

Pick 2 players for each category. You may pick same player for both picks in a category. No quarterback picks (Tebow was already banned, but after thinking this through, it became apparent that many issues would arise if Brantley were to start or if any number of scenarios took place with backup QBs).

Also, picks can be changed: the final submission (in comments) will count unless it's after kickoff.

Yards from Scrimmage
Touches from Scrimmage (runs + receptions + passes)
Receptions
TDs (including returns)
Defensive MVP (according to Sun)
Point Margin (list one guess--earn 2 points for within 3, 1 point for within 6)

Play on reptilia!

Pick 6: Week 1 Points

Happy to be corrected, but here goes:

Yards from Scrimmage & Touches: Rainey
Receptions: Hernandez
TDs: Demps
Defensive MVP (according to Sun): Stamper and Black
Margin: 10

Participant Points:

Mary 5
John 4
Sean 4
Brad 3
Galapagos 3
Michael 1

Play On!

Urban Meyer of the Florida Gators and Lane chatting it up

Week 3 prediction--Tennessee

I don't want to dwell on the obvious emotional layer of this game, so I will set it aside for now and talk match-ups.

Florida Offense, Tennessee Defense
This I believe will be the most intriguing and evenly contested match-up of the afternoon. Tennessee's strength is their defense, both from a talent and a coaching standpoint. Their talent allows them to play a lot of different schemes and throw a bunch of different blitz packages at you. Tennessee will stymie Florida early on by playing Eric Berry as a spy on Tim Tebow. But as the game progresses, Florida's offense will wear them down, while making the necessary adjustments to move the football. Plus Tennessee's offense is prone to mistakes, so the defense will have to defend the short field several times throughout the game.

Florida Defense, Tennessee Offense
This is a mismatch and why I think Florida will win handily. Johnathon Crompton has been so bad at QB, I think Tennessee will try to run first and dink and dunk second. With Lawrence Marsh back at nose, Florida will shut the run down and Crompton will be asked to do something he is not very good at--throw the ball downfield. I think Florida's defense will score at least once and will get at least three turnovers while holding the Vols out of the end zone.

Special Teams
Advantage Gators. The talk has been Nu'Keese Richardson, the super frosh who jilted the Gators. He returns punts, and I look for him to fumble at least one time during the game giving the Gators a chance for an easy score. I also see Brandon James affecting field position. If they kick it to him, he will burn them. If they kick it out of bounds, they will give up valuable field position.

Intangibles
We have all heard over and over again Lane Kiffin's off-season comments. I have no problem with coaches running their mouths because it will all be settled on the field. The real intangible will be the Swamp. Tennessee has a lot of freshmen who see significant playing time (both punt returners are freshmen), and they will not be prepared for the noise or the intensity of the match-up. Can you imagine trying to field a punt with 11 thoroughbreds drawing a bead on your chest while 90,000-plus fans are screaming DROP IT?

My Prediction: Florida 38-9

Pick 6 Update

The rules were tweaked for Pick 6. The updates are in the original post (below). Changes include:

--only 1 guess (instead of 2) at margin-of-victory is accepted. A guess within 6 points of the correct margin will earn a player a point, while guesses within 3 points of actual margin will earn 2 points.

--kick returns for touchdowns count for the touchdown category

--instead of declaring an overall winner per game, we will add our points for any category wins or ties as we go, and an overall winner will be declared after the bowl game. (Ties are ties--no breakers, even at the very end.)

--also, just to be clear, if you select two players that tie for the lead in a category, you get a point for each just like you get 2 points when you select a player twice that is the winner of the category

(If anyone does not specify which margin guess they want to keep, we will accept their first guess of the two. Submissions can be entered or changed anytime before kickoff. The previous post's comments section will still contain our picks this week, so make any changes in those comments and latest entries will count.)


Thanks for playing.

Pick 6- Tennessee

If you would like to play Pick 6 for the Tennessee game, write your picks in the comments section of this post

Pick 6 (updated!)

Welcome to 'Pick 6'- The Gator fantasy game

Here are the rules:

-Anyone can play. Each week there will be a 'Pick 6' post; participants just need to write their picks in the comments section

-We will post the results and declare a winner after each game for each category. There will also be an overall winner at the end of the season which is based upon cumulative points. Points will be based on number of categories that you pick correctly on.

-Only SEC, FSU, and championship/bowl games count

*The Game*

-There are 6 categories: most yards from scrimmage, most touches from scrimmage, most receptions, most touchdowns, defensive mvp (according to 'the Sun'), and margin of victory (regardless of winner)

-Each week you will make 2 picks in each of these 6 categories. You get 1 point for each correct pick, even if the player you pick ties for the lead in that category. On the margin pick, you only get 1 guess--1 point is awarded for being within 6, 2 points for being within 3.

-You make your picks independently of other participants. For example, if I picked Demps for 'most yards', anyone else may also pick him for any category, including 'most yards'

-You can pick the same player for multiple categories. You can also pick the same player twice for the same category. For example, if I feel strongly that Hernandez will have the most receptions, I can use both of my 'most receptions' picks on him. If he ends up with most receptions I would get 2 points, because both of my picks are correct.

--if two players tie for the lead in a category, and you picked both, you get the 2 points

--Kick returns for touchdowns count in the touchdown category

-All stats are according to ESPN.com

-QBs are off limits

Some cool stats--enjoy them while you can

I found these little tidbits at the end of Edward Aschoff's article this week on Gatorsports:
--Florida leads the nation in total offensive yards (1,287)
--Florida leads the nation in yards per touch (10.5)
--Florida leads the nation in offensive touchdowns (16)
--The Gators have three running back in the top 10 nationally in yards per carry:
--No. 1 Jeff Demps (14.7)
--No. 5 Chris Rainey (9.8)
--No. 9 Emmanuel Moody (9.8)
--No other school in the country has two in the top 10.
--With a win Saturday, it would be the first time Florida has led in the all-time series with Tennessee. The series sits at 19-19

These stats were culled from ESPN:
--Tim Tebow (197.9)is second in the country in QB rating to Arkansas' Ryan Mallet (210.3). ND's Jimmy Claussen is third (196.3).
--Jeff Demps ranks 40th in the country in rushing yards (176), but he does only have 12 carries, with three TDs.
--Riley Cooper ranks 23rd in the nation in receiving yards (187 yards on 10 catches).

Week 2 prediction

Today's game against Troy will give the fans a much better indication of what types of new wrinkles the Gators will have on offense and hopefully a peek at how dominating the defense can be.

The Gators still have questions at wide receiver. We had two significant drops in the first game that worry me. Brandon James dropped a short one out of the slot and then Deonte Thompson dropped an easy one that would have been six points. We also don't know if our running game can produce big numbers like last week against the better talent. We will need it to be in high gear when we play Tennessee. I wonder how much of the speed-up offense we will see this week and if will we see Joe Haden at QB. I hope so. I want Tennessee to have to spend time preparing for it before we play them.

On defense, I want to see lots of three and outs and more turnovers.

Troy has enough talent to make the Gators work but not enough depth to stay with the Gators for four quarters. I see the Gators starting slow, but building momentum. Look for a 21-3 halftime lead that eventually expands to a runaway.

My prediction: Florida 51, Troy 6.

Florida Gators Locker Room Highlights

Expectations,expectations...

USA Today sportswriter Danny Sheridan, who set the line for all sports in the publication, was in Gainesville this week.

He originally set the Florida-Charleston Southern line at 73 then amended it to 63. But the most interesting thing he said was that Florida right now is favored by 21 or more points in nine of its 12 games. In fact the only game they are not double digit favorites is the one against LSU (9 points).

With such high expectations can come disappointment. My thought is, try to enjoy this year, whether we win by 21 or 1. A win is a win and if we win the eight in the middle (the SEC slate) we play for the SEC title. Those are the most important to win. It helps (or could hurt-more on that later) that three of the four remaining games are patsies, so if you win the SEC, more than likely we will be playing for the BCS title.

Now the hurt part. Say we lose a middle to late SEC game like Georgia or South Carolina. Our strength of schedule outside the SEC is so weak, we may not have time to play back into the title picture unless another SEC West team goes undefeated or is ranked 1 or 2 and we beat them in the SEC Championship.

Enough of the negative vibes. All things now point to a great season for the Gators, so take it one game at a time and sit back and enjoy history being made.

PS: Florida 70, Charleston Southern 3

Who do you want Florida to play opening day?

There is no dancing around this--Charleston Southern is not going to be much of a challenge. In fact, unless you like watching bullies ganging up on one little kid half their size on the playground, then you won't be much interested in this game after half time. This begs the question: Who should Florida be playing in its opener? An SEC opponent? Utah? Miami? FSU?
According to Urban Meyer, the Gators almost had Utah as an opener. Remember the Utes? They were undefeated last season and some said they should have shared the title with the Gators. That would have been sweet.
I prefer Miami or an SEC opponent because I want there to be more excitement heading into the opener. No matter how you spin it, no one can get excited about playing the Buccaneers (Chas So). Sure, I get excited about opening day. But not about our opponent. What makes the game special is the fear that you might lose. That elevates the game to a whole other level for me.
Just think how pumped you would be right now if we were playing Mississippi State on Saturday!