this and that

Number 4 – in a story that should be titled “Ain’t Karma a Bitch” Jacobbi McDaniel, a starting defensive tackle for the Seminoles, was injured in the loss to USF. McDaniel thinks the injury was due to a cheap shot.

Rumors are also flying out of Tallahassee about Coach Bobby and Jimbo Fisher. Word is that Bobby has let it be known that he wants the Golden Chiefs (FSU boosters) to buy out Jimbo so he can right the ship. I will pitch in to make that dream come true!

Da U – The Miami/OU game is the ABC Primetime game of the week and yet GameDay won’t visit Miami, choosing instead to go to Boston to cover the FSU/BC game (huh?). ESPN’s GameDay has only made it to Miami once (Labor Day 2006). In more meaningful news, da U should get ready for the return of Sam Bradford.

Tennessee – I know it is a little late, but here is an excellent breakdown of Monte Kiffin’s defense against Florida. Tennessee lost Nick Reveiz, 3rd on the team in tackles, for the season after dislocating his kneecap last Saturday. October is the month for Lane Kiffin to start paying the piper for comments made about the rest of the SEC. Tennessee plays Auburn, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina (14-2) in October.

Here is an article about Tennessee recruiting. I don’t even know what to say other than, how bad do things have to be when your sales pitch is “we almost beat them”?

Georgia – squeaked by Arizona State, thanks to an amazing sequence of plays by sophomore A.J. Green. Now the Dogs get to play LSU at home – 3:30pm on CBS. Is it wrong to hope for an 8 overtime game between those two teams?

Florida – the Tebow Health Watch is in full effect, with fans jumping for joy because of the fact that Tim was “only” suffering from a minor headache according to Coach Meyer. I would be shocked if anyone from the team (players or staff) comes out and says that Tebow is absolutely playing against LSU. If that happens it means one thing to me – Tebow isn’t playing. The theory being that the offense that Florida would run with Brantley at the helm, as opposed to Tebow, would be so completely different why give LSU a heads-up?

Finally, kudos to Coach Addazio for saying it was his fault that the offense was in the set it was in on the play that Tebow got hurt. While I don’t think it was anyone’s fault that a football player got injured playing football, it is a nice gesture by the coach to take the blame instead of letting Matt Patchan swing in the wind.

Nattering Nabobs of Negativism

With a tip o' the cap to recently passed conservative pundit William Safire, Saurian Sagacity appropriates the colorful description of Vietnam War opponents he penned in 1970 to describe the growing number blathering that offensive deficiencies leave us more vulnerable than 2008.

The negative nabobs natter that the 2009 offense is one-dimensional: overly reliant on Tebow as a rusher without a downfield passing attack and, therefore, inferior.

In the words of Mergz, I dissent.

A comparison of 2009 statistics through 4 games (Charleston Southern has been excluded to prevent accusations of statistical skewing) with those from 2008 demonstrates that our current offense is much more productive than the 2008 version. In fact, the 2009 offense puts significantly more points on the board (the ultimate mesure of success) and generates more yards per game. We tend to forget how many points the 2008 defense scored.

The offensive numbers from 2008:

1. Hawaii-255 yards rushing on 38 carries (Tebow 9 for 53 yards) and 151 yards passing. 35 of UF's 56 points were generated by the offense (21 points from a B. James punt return, a M. Wright interception return and an A. Black interception return). Total offense: 55 plays for 406 yds.

2. scUM-89 yards rushing on 27 carries (Tebow 13 for 65) and 256 yards passing. 24 of UF's points were generated by the offense (defensive safety). Total offense: 62 plays for 345 yds.

3. University of Tennessee-147 yards rushing on 39 carries (Tebow 12 for 31) and 96 yards passing. 23 of UF's 30 points were generated by the offense (7 points from B. James punt return). Total offense: 54 plays for 243 yds.

4. Ole Miss-124 yards rushing on 35 carries (Tebow 15 for 40) and 319 yards passing. UF's offense generated all 30 points. Total offense: 73 plays for 443 yds.

The averages:

Total offense: 359 Rushing: 153.8/4.4 per carry Passing: 205.5 Offensive Scoring: 28 PPG

Tebow's Numbers? 50 (12.5/game) carries for 189 yards, which equate to 3.8 yds. per carry and 47.25 yards per game.

Tebow generated 30.8% of our rushing yards from 36% of our carries.

The offensive numbers from 2009:

1. Troy-291 yards rushing on 46 carries (Tebow 13 for 71) and 372 yards passing. UF's offense generated 56 points. Total offense: 663 yards on 82 plays.

2. University of Tennessee-208 yards rushing on 44 carries (Tebow 24 for 76). UF's offense generated 23 points. Total offense: 323 yards on 63 plays.points. Total offense: 323 yards on 63 plays.

3. University of Kentucky-362 yards rushing on 52 carries (Tebow 16/123). UF's offense generated 34 points. Total offense: 495 yards on 68 plays.

Total offense: 493 yds/game Rushing: 287 Passing: 206.6 Offensive Scoring: 37.6 PPG.

Tebow's Numbers? 53 (17.6/game) for 270 yards which equates to 5.1 yards per carry and 90 yards per game.

For 2009 Tebow has generated 31.3% of our rushing yards from 37% of our carries.

Notice any similarities in Tebow's numbers between 2008 and 2009?

That's right, virtually the same percentage of carries and same percentage of our rushing yardage.

Notice any differences in Tebow's numbers betwen 2008 and 2009?

That's right, Tebow is averaging 1.3 more yards per carry in 2009.

What's really happening here?

Our offense is kicking ass in 2009 and it didn't through the first 4 games of 2008.

The proof:

The 2009 offense is averaging 37.6 PPG while the 2008 offense averaged 28 PPG, an increase of 34%.

The 2009 rushing offense is averaging 6.1 yds/carry while the 2008 offense averaged 4.5, an increase of 35.5%. It's small wonder that we have run the ball 66% of the time in 2009 against 55% in 2008.

The 2009 offense is generating 493 yds/game while the 2008 offense generated 359 yds/game, an improvement of 37.3%.

The 2009 offense averages 71 plays per game while the 2008 offense averaged 61, an improvement of 16.3%. Think clock control. Difficult to lose if you've got the ball, especially if you're winning.

So, teams are taking away the downfield passing game with deep safeties and are compressing the line of scrimmage with various schemes and looks. They still can't stop us. With such a rushing game, why take risks with deep safeties and the likes of Eric Berry (UT All-American safety) or Trevard Lindley (Kentucky All-American corner)?

This Florida offense is different than years past. This is an in-your-face, tough, nasty, down in the trenches team with lightning fast skill players. This is a "stop us if you can" offense that defies defenses. There's no sleight of hand and no need for it. That this is accomplished without a blocking fullback or the possibility of setting up a second tight end is impressive.

Natter Not Negative Nabobs.

An opponent's view of The Concussion

I have to credit Losers with Socks for a clever and irreverent take on Tebow's unfortunate injury.

What we learned this weekend

1. Superman is in fact human. After being sacked by Taylor Wyndham, Tim Tebow’s head violently crashed into Marcus Gilbert’s knee which resulted in Tebow being knocked unconscious (or at least that is what it looked like to me). As I was watching the play all I could think of when he hit the ground was “look at his hands”. Needless to say it was a very scary moment. Thankfully it appears as though the concussion was “mild” in its severity. For those of you looking to blame someone, apparently there are those that think Tebow should have been carrying the clipboard at that point of the game, why not blame the referee that made the phantom holding call on Hernandez the play before. No holding call, touchdown for Jeff Demps, and the play never happens.

2. Number 4. Seminole fans love to call Urban Meyer “7”, because he is the 7th coach to be named the head coach of the Gators since the hiring of Bobby Bowden. In the tradition of 7, Florida State will now be known as Number 4, as in fourth best football team in the State. The Seminoles, who apparently play better at higher altitudes, were dominated at home by South Florida. To make matters worse, the Bulls were led by a Redshirt Freshman QB from Tallahassee.

3. Da “U” is back….to where they rightfully belong. The Hurricanes were outplayed and outcoached in Blacksburg Saturday afternoon. Virginia Tech came out and hit Miami in the mouth, then proceeded to rush for 272 yards and remove Jacory Harris from the Heisman debate after 1 week. I don’t care how good your players are there are a couple of games each season that test your ability as a coach, not just as a recruiter, and the Virginia Tech game was the first test for Randy Shannon this season. I think it is fair to say that he failed this test. Next test? This weekend at home against Oklahoma.

4. All the teams with one loss are back in the National Championship debate. With Ole Miss, California and Penn State all losing on the same weekend, USC, Oklahoma and Virginia Tech now become viable options to play in the BCSCG. 3 of the top 4 teams in this week’s poll will play each other prior to championship weekend and Texas will play Oklahoma October 17th in Dallas.

Stick a Fork in 'Em

I cannot describe the demise of f$u any better than than this tidbit written by Corey Clark of the Tallahassee Democrat on nolesports.com after last weekend's drubbing:

"But here’s what I really want to discuss.
Here’s a stat that might ruin your
morning. Or afternoon. Or week. So take a deep breath before reading the next
line.
25-23.
That’s the record of the Florida State football program
against Division 1-A competition since Oct. 15 of 2005 (which was the night the
No. 4 Seminoles lost on the road to an unranked Virginia team).
Read that
again. Let it sink it in, if you have a strong stomach. 25-23.
Now, think
about this. If you throw out wins against bottom-tier 1-A programs Duke, Troy,
UAB, Rice and Western Michigan, that record becomes 19-23.
That’s nineteen
wins. And twenty three losses. For the same program that dominated an entire
decade and played in national championship games like it was its birthright. Now
it’s the very definition of a .500 program. It has been for the better part of
four years now."

Draft BlogPoll Ballot

I feel pretty good about my number 1 here. No one has looked better than Alabama thus far.

For the most part I’m pretty pleased with the order I have the unbeaten teams in. It’s the one loss teams that give me pause.

Essentially there isn’t a one loss team with a “good loss”, to my way of thinking. Sure Virginia Tech lost to my number one, but they got totally whipped. There are similar problems with the losses by the other single loss teams. And USC’s loss to Washington continues to look worse.

Here’s my first effort – let’s hear your takes.

(P.S. – When talking about ranking, the term “unjustifiable” is often used – as in it is “unjustifiable that so-and-so is ranked that high”, or “unjustifiable that such-and-such is ranked at all”. What I have seen so far this year that is “unjustifiable” is the preseason polls, in retrospect. The fact that teams continue to cling to being ranked where they are in “conventional” polls in the face of all available evidence is “unjustifiable”. Examples include USC at 7th in both polls despite losing to 2 loss Washington, or the totally mystifying and truly “unjustifiable” ranking of Houston BEHIND Oklahoma State in the Coaches’ Poll, who they thoroughly beat. My utter disdain for tradtional ranking grows with every week.)

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Houston	2
3	Cincinnati
4	Florida	5
5	Texas	1
6	TCU	17
7	Boise State	1
8	Iowa
9	South Florida
10	LSU	3
11	Michigan	1
12	UCLA
13	Virginia Tech	2
14	Oregon
15	Georgia
16	Auburn	5
17	Oklahoma	2
18	Oklahoma State	4
19	Wisconsin
20	Missouri	7
21	Southern Cal	1
22	Ohio State	1
23	Georgia Tech
24	Brigham Young	6
25	Miami (Florida)	23
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: California (#5), Mississippi (#14), Washington (#16), Florida State (#17), Pittsburgh (#24), Penn State (#25).

Paging Mr Walker

"Mr Walker, Mr Herschel Walker."

That object in your rushing record rearview mirror is closer than it appears.

FSWho?

How in the name of Saint Bobby's Compression Stockings does a team go to Provo, score 54 points and run up 512 yards of total offense, then score only 7 points at home on 288 total yards? Including 19 yards rushing. NINETEEN.

Who the hell are you FSU?

P.S. This is not gloating. Until our flu-ridden bunch pulls out a win at often difficult Lexington, I have nothing to say.

Tebow Flu?

It's being reported that Tebow, Haden and Wright have the flu or something similar. Apparently, they were flown separately as UF preferred to infect the public-at-large or UAA officials flying up on one of the UAA jets.

"Mmmmmm.........Cupcakes"

Respectfully, I disagree with Mergz.

Due to the length of the response, I am posting independently rather than commenting on the original. It makes sense to read Mergz Cupcakes post first, it's just below.

First and foremost, all UF programs are about winning SEC championships, as AD Foley has repeatedly stated. SEC championships are one of the primary benchmarks by which our coaches are evaluated.

Within this context, the scheduling Ass. AD must keep in mind that our first SEC game is always UT, half the time an away game. Thus, the goal must be to prepare the team, allow it to work the kinks out during the first couple of games, let the coaches test the rotations and let some of the 3rd teamers get some playing time in case they are called upon once the brutality of the SEC schedule takes its toll on the 1st and 2nd teamers.

It is the scheduling Ass. ADs job to set us up for an SEC run, and hopefully more, not satisfy the idle urges of bored alumni who want to chew peyote in the Arizona desert.

Our strength of schedule, for the foreseeable future, is fine simply playing an 8 game SEC schedule, f$u and, hopefully, the SEC championship game. So that's not a factor to be considered. If the SEC ever turns into the ACC, a policy change would be warranted. We have made it to the BCS NC twice in the last 3 years with a blemish. While I haven't gone to the BCS website yet to evaluate UF's recent strength of schedule history, our failure to schedule quality opponents during the cupcake portion of the schedule has cost us nothing.

Our alumni and wallet must be considered.

The truth of the matter is that we really can't afford to give up a home game every other year as would be required with most quality opponents. While our athletic budget is greater than $100M annually, we are paying approximately $9M per year in salaries to Donovan, Meyer and Foley. Giving up that game foregoes 90,000x$40.00 plus UF's percentage of the concessions. It is unlikely that we will be paid $4M, or anything approaching that, by our opponent; even the uberwealthy Notre Flame. This year, UAA contributed around $6M of their "profit" to UF. Of necessity, the lost revenue from gallavanting around will come right off the top of that contribution at a time when UF is experiencing deep budget cuts and needs it most.

Like it or not, the beast must be fed.

And UGA is not immune to this need. As we have read in the past, the UGA administration has expressed dismay that the campus shuts down the thursday and friday before WLOCP as well as concerns that the travel distance gives UF a competitive advantage. Let there be no mistake, the City of Jacksonville applied a green poultice to those wounds when wrenching this week's 6 year extension out of UGA. Both institutions stand to lose a great deal of $$$$ on a home-and-away. My suspicion, especially after UGA's opening loss to Oklahoma State, is that they will schedule less non-cupcake season openers. Not only is UGA much weaker defensively, the offense had to replace key personnel, including QB Stafford (1st round), RB Moreno (1st round) and WR Massoquoi (2nd round).

This proved difficult as noted by Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald:

"Two weeks after its offense seemed stuck in a rut, Georgia players can't help but be struck by how far they've come as they prepare for Saturday's visit from Arizona State.
In no time at all, Georgia went from relying too heavily on a scarce few players in a humbling 24-10 defeat at Oklahoma State to finding playmakers all over the field in Saturday's 52-41 win against Arkansas.
"We were talking (Saturday) on the bus after the game like, 'What were we doing that week?' " quarterback Joe Cox said. "There were just so many people. It doesn't even feel like it happened. It just feels so weird that that game, it just kind of flew by and we were like, 'What was that?'
"And now looking back, it really disappoints you knowing that you can play a lot better and what could have happened if you would have played like that against them."
Leaning heavily on the trio of tailback Richard Samuel, receiver A.J. Green and Cox, Georgia mustered just 257 yards of total offense against Oklahoma State."

And Oklahoma State just isn't that good. Their defense has given up an average of 26.3 points and 384 yards per game while their offense musters only 364 yards per game. Excluding UGA from the calculation and they have given up an average of 444 yards per game to Houston and Rice.

If you exclude Oklahoma State, UGA is averaging over 40 points per game.

Clearly, UGA figured some things out that should have been figured out against a cupcake.

UGA should be 3-0 and working on that defense. Instead, they are one, generously two, losses away from both SEC and national irrelevance.

I'm unconvinced that our alumni really want to traipse all over the country. I well remember the 2006 BCS NC game. By my rude estimation, about 30% of the Bull Gator tickets had been sold, in allotments of 6, to Ohio State fans. I recall that 6 together were going for $2,000/per seat. It became apparent to me that there were plenty of folks funding a large portion of the Bull Gator contribution through Stubhub (or the equivalent) sales of their ticket allotments. It was a pretty annoying sight. And that was during a strong economy and for the BCS NC.

On top of that, the early games coincide the commencement of the school year. Parents will be dealing with the normal chaos associated with re-acclimating their kids to the academic year and less likely to pack up the family for quick 3 or 4 day cross country trip.

There's injury exposure and the possibility of a loss before the team is working together properly, but those are obvious.

Would it be nice to wander about the country, see some sights and check out some other storied campuses? Sure.

But it does not advance our goals and is bad policy.

Oh, and the ASU Sun Wussies? They are 3-25 against ranked opponents since 2000. Why give such a team a home-and-away?

Poor caddying.

Yeah, but they are OUR Cupcakes

Senator Blutarsky at Georgia blog Get the Picture has seized upon a comment I made to add his critical take of Florida’s non-conference schedule.

For the most part, I agree.

Florida has no business playing teams like Charleston Southern, Citadel or Western Carolina. It is highly inequitable football, and does nothing to help our strength of schedule. Were it up to me, such games wouldn’t count towards records or statistics.

Georgia isn’t without fault on this issue, they play teams like Tennessee Tech (on November 7th). And while we play Florida State annually, wouldn’t it be great – from the standpoint of this fan – to play someone like Oklahoma State or Arizona State? Who wouldn’t want to travel to venues like that, at least once every couple of years? In 1991 Florida played at Syracuse, and the memories of the Carrier Dome are vivid with me still (perhaps because we lost).

So I congratulate Georgia on playing Oklahoma State and Arizona State. I congratulate Tennessee for facing UCLA, and Alabama for playing Virginia Tech. As for Florida, to hear Greg McGarity (UF’s senior associate athletic director for internal affairs) as quoted on Get the Picture, variety doesn’t seem to be a part of Florida’s future schedules. I guess we have to get used to playing our SEC opponents, FSU and a couple of random pushovers each year.

Which is kind of sad, if you think about it.

Read the post over at Get the Picture. I’d like to hear your take.

The Forgettable Tennessee Game

To hear all the all-to-excitable sports media tell it, Saturday’s game against Tennessee was a “game-changer”, or somehow “served notice” that Florida is vulnerable.

I even heard one commentator breathlessly exclaim that Tennessee held Florida to the “Fewest points scored against the Gators since 2007!”

Now that’s really digging back in time!

(The game being referenced was the 20-17 Florida loss to Auburn in ’07. An actual loss).

Last season 2 teams held Florida to nearly the same points as Tennessee did this year – Miami (26) and Oklahoma (24). (Oddly I don’t recall either Randy Shannon nor Bob Stoops claiming moral victories.)

In those two games Florida had 345 total yards offense (Miami) and 480 total yards (Oklahoma).

The best yardage any opponent held Florida to in 2008? Well that would be the Tennessee Vols, who held the Gator’s to only 243 yards in their 30-6 loss.

(Even in losing to Ole Miss the Gators gained 443 total yards).

This season coach Quittin’s defense –essentially the same group with Monte now in charge – surrendered 323 yards to Florida, or 80 more than ’08. They just managed to prevent 1 more TD (Tebow’s ill advised fumble). Somehow 323 yards total offense doesn't really meet the standard of "stopping" a team, to me.

So, despite the hype, here’s where we go from here –

Scenario One – Florida wins out. Under this scenario UT quickly becomes a distant memory.

Scenario Two – Florida loses. And under this scenario, whoever beats us becomes the story.

Either way, the UT game fades from relevance.

However the one thing the game will always remain as – a loss for Tennessee.

Resume Ranking Means…

…never having to say you’re sorry.

Ole Miss clearly wasn’t the 4th best team (AP) nor 5th best (Coaches’ Poll) in the country. They weren’t even the 8th best (our very own BlogPoll).

I had them at 14th ranked on a resume basis, which I admit may have even been generous given the dearth of quality teams they had faced. But my goal wasn’t forward looking as the system many rankers employ, and I didn’t really have an opinion how “good” Ole Miss was or wasn’t.

So if *you* ranked Ole Miss in the top 5 based on perceived team quality, *you* were wrong. Just like *you* were wrong when it came to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and USC.

So say it - *you're* sorry.

Likewise, as a resume ranker, I will have no problem dropping Mississippi from my top 25 as a resume that includes wins over 2 non-BCS teams, and a loss to their first conference opponent, isn’t a team that ranks among the top 25 by record (especially in light of the fact that it should have been worse – South Carolina had several opportunities to score that they bungled with penalties).

Traditional rankers seem to believe there is some mysterious gravitational force that keeps highly ranked teams from “falling too far”. For resume rankers teams don’t “rise” or “fall”, they merely get placed where they belong.

Traditional ranking looks pretty bad at this point in the season.

"The Book" on the Gators?

I saw this post on TomahawkNation.com by tdchrisdavis:

"The game vs UF will not be decided until the 4th quarter IMO
UF isn’t as good this year. Their passing offense looks weak without Harvin and that other guy. Crossing routes are basically their go-to play, while they try to mix in enough go routes with their sprinters to loosen up the coverage.
To beat this team you do what Oklahoma did – play zone to minimize their speed, use some weird looks to confuse their QB, and really commit to the run up front. I’d go with a cover 2 with 4 guys covering underneath, 4 man rush, and 1 guy playing as a QB spy, which will help vs both the run and scrambles."

I don't know about the spy, otherwise, it pretty well synopsizes what is becoming the prevailing theory on how to beat UF.

To be sure, our coaching staff has acknowledged, and our fan base understands, the current issues at WR resulting from the injuries to Moore, Debose and Thompson. At the moment, I'm selfishly missing Noah Boateng and Jared Fayson, but if they were here, we probably wouldn't have Thompson and definitely wouldn't have Moore, and who could have predicted this many incapacitating injuries so ignore my moaning.

Tebow's ability to read defenses has always concerned me. I watched the UT linebackers and safeties fidgeting about prior to many of the snaps and wondered if uncertainty about the location of defensive personnel didn't contribute to Tebow's decision to run so often. I also noticed that Tebow looked to the sidelines on the vast majority of offensive plays with 15 seconds left on the 40 second clock. This led me to wonder if the coaching staff trusts his ability to read defenses and whether or not he is even allowed to audible.

Hopefully, Thompson will be back to full speed and this post will be mooted. However, knowing the slow-healing nature of hamstring injuries and the risk of aggravation, I wonder if our coaching staff might limit his participation to get to the off week and achieve full recovery before LSU.

Of course, with the quality of our offensive line, Tebow, the RBs, the quality of all aspects of our defense, I'm not sure that many teams can play with us in a conservative game.

Even if the theory is accurate and our offense can be slowed, as demonstrated by UT (an excellent defense), we should still score in the area of 30 points, which should be more than adequate against most opponents if we minimize turnovers.

Looks like everybody's putting on their Big Boy Britches and going after the Bully.

Correction: Scalper of Tomahawknation.com correctly noted that the source was a comment posted on the website and not an original post by the bloggers.

What They're Really Complaining About

Florida's record against each Southeastern Conference team from 1990 to the present:

Alabama 8-4
Arkansas 7-0
Auburn 11-5
Georgia 16-3
LSU 14-5
Kentucky 19-0
Mississippi 3-3
Mississippi State 5-3
South Carolina 16-1
Tennessee 14-6
Vanderbilt 17-0
Total 130-30

UK Throws the First Punch.....and Misses

Today's Lexington Herald-Leader leads with an article by John Clay titled "Florida Gator haters abound in SEC," subtitled with a quote from noted SEC sports commentator Paul Finebaum, "Everything rubs people the wrong way about Florida." Clay then goes on to waste two perfectly good columns of print on the tired, and oft repeated, argument that UF isn't "Southern" and is somehow "different" from the rest of the SEC.

So, that got me thinking, what is the rest of the SEC anyway? We all know what they want us to think; the other schools carefully market images that include a generous helping of the more endearing attributes of the "South" with the suggestion of deep ties to tradition in all things, especially their football programs.

UF is inferentially declared a "carpetbagger," by reference to the hiring of SEC outsider, Urban Meyer, and a quote from Clay Travis, the author of an SEC football tome, Dixieland Delight, "Florida fans are the least Southern of all the SEC schools. As a group, they have a huge Northern influence since most of them didn't grow up in the state..."

OK, so if we're not "real" SEC because we brought in a coach without the appropriate SEC pedigree, then let's apply that same test to our sister institutions and see how they fare:

1. Ole Miss-Houston Nutt. A Little Rock native, he went to Arkansas during the SWC hey-day and then transferred to Oklahoma State because Lou Holtz wouldn't give him enough playing time. His assistant coaching career included 2 years at Oklahoma State, then to SWC Arkansas for a year, back to Oklahoma State until 1989, 3 more years as an Arkansas assistant (one of which may have been SEC). These were followed by head coaching stints at Murray State(Ohio), Boise State(Idaho) and then, finally, SEC Arkansas. This guy cut his chops in the Big 12 and SWC, not the SEC. His relationship to the SEC arose purely by chance due to the failure of the SWC.

SEC CarpetBagger Quotient: High

2. University of Arkansas-Bobby Petrino-Petrino grew up in Montana, went to Carroll College in Montana. His assistant coaching career began with a stint Weber State, then Carroll College, back to Weber State, followed by University of Idaho, University of Nevada and University of Louisville. He was then an assistant for the Jacksonville Jaguars. After 20 years of coaching made it to the SEC as Auburn's offensive coordinator. As we know, he went on to become Louisville's head coach and turned an embarrassing stint in the NFL as the Falcons head coach.

SEC CarpetBagger Quotient: Moderately High

3. University of Tennessee-coach Lane Quittin'-coach Quittin' attended Fresno State. His assistant coaching career included a year at his alma mater followed by, 1 year at Colorado State, a year as a "quality control" asistant for the Jacksonville Jaguars, then USC from 2001-2006. As all are aware, he spent a year as head coach of the Raiders, then a year out of football. He is then hired as UT head coach. As we all know, he is married to a UF alumna who is the daughter of former UF QB and assistant, John Reaves.

SEC CarpetBagger Quotient: High

UF Connection Quotient: High

4. University of Kentucky-Rich Brooks-Attended Oregon State University. He then coached at his alma mater for 6 years before working as an assistant at UCLA, the LA Rams, Oregon State (again), SF 49ers and UCLA (again). He was then head coach at Oregon for 18 years before coaching the St. Louis Rams for a year before serving as DC of the Atlanta Falcons for 3 years. In 2003, after 40 years of coaching, he finally entered the SEC when he accepted the head coaching job at Kentucky.

SEC CarpetBagger Quotient: High

5. Vanderbilt-Bobby Johnson-After playing at Clemson, he spent 15 seasons as an assistant at Furman and 2 at Clemson. After returning to Furman for 7 more years as head coach, in his 25th year of coaching, he entered the SEC for the first time.

SEC CarpetBagger Quotient: High

6. LSU-Les Miles-After growing up in Ohio and playing at Michigan, Miles served as an assistant 20 years at Michigan (two stints), Colorado, Oklahoma State and the Dallas Cowboys. He was head coach at Oklahoma State for 4 years before entering the SEC as head coach of LSU in his 25th year.

SEC CarpetBagger Quotient: High

7. University of Alabama-Nick Saban-After graduating from Kent State, he served as an assistant for a total of 20 years at Kent State, Syracuse, West Virginia, Ohio State, Navy, Michigat State, the Houston Oilers and Cleveland Browns. He spent 5 years as head coach of Michigan State before finally entering the SEC during his 26th year of coaching as head coach of LSU.

SEC Carpetbagger Quotient: High

8. Auburn University-Gene Chizik-After growing up in Tarpon Springs, FL he attended, and graduated from, The University of Florida before becoming a high school football coach at Seminole High School. After 3 years, he moved into the college coaching ranks where he served as an assistant for 14 years at Clemson, Middle Tennessee State, Stephen F. Austin before accepting a position at Auburn which he held for 3 years before departing the SEC for Texas and Iowa State.

SEC CarpetBagger Quotient: Low

UF Connection Quotient: High

9. Mississippi State University-Attended high school in New Hampshire, then Ursinus College in Pennsylvania. He spent 7 years as an assistant at Wagner, Columbia, Notre Dame and Syracuse before hooking up with UF head coach Urban Meyer at Bowling Green, following him to Utah and then UF for 4 years. He is known for being a member of a group of college football coaches called "the New Hampshire Mafia." His performance as UF offensive coordinator resulted in his current position.

SEC CarpetBagger Quotient: Moderate

UF Connection Quotient: High

10. University of South Carolina-Steven Orr Spurrier. Nothing else needs to be said.

SEC CarpetBagger Quotient: Nonexistent

UF Connection Quotient: Intertwined with identity.

11. University of Georgia-Mark Richt-After growing up in Boca Raton, FL, he attended University of Miami. He spent 15 years as an assistant at FSU and a year as an assistant at East Carolina before being hired as head coach at Georgia.

SEC CarpetBagger Quotient: High

State of Florida Connection: Extremely High

So, what conclusions are to be drawn?

Of the four SEC coaches actually born in what is considered the South (Spurrier, Richt, Chizik, Johnson), 2 were born and raised in Florida (Richt & Chizik) and 2 have strong UF connections (Spurrier & Chizik); leaving Johnson of Vanderbilt as the only Southern SEC coach whose identity is not intertwined with the State of Florida.

Mississippi State has a coach who was brought to the SEC by UF's head coach.

Tennessee's coach is married to a UF aluma who is the daughter of a UF player and assistant.

Other than the coaches with UF and/or Florida connections, all other SEC schools have brought in COMPLETE outsiders whose careers have absolutely no intersection with the SEC or the South. Only Vanderbilt's Robinson can claim a life connection to the South, even if he can't claim a professional connection to the SEC prior to his current position.

Rather than being the "carpetbagger," Florida is the source of the SEC connection for those coaches with SEC pedigrees and Urban Meyer is directly responsible for Dan Mullen's SEC pedigree.

Regarding Mr. Travis' assertion about the Northern influence in Florida. It can't be denied that a northern influence exists in Southeast Florida. However, many SEC states have undergone substantial demographic changes over the last two decades resulting from a northern influx. The population of Georgia increased by over 2 million (26%) between the 1990 census and the 2000 census. Likewise, the population of Tennessee increased by 16.7%, South Carolina-15.1%, Arkansas-13.7%, Mississippi-10.5%, Alabama-10.1%, Kentucky-9.7% and Louisiana-5.9%.

Mr. Travis' assertion is true for all SEC states except Louisiana.

For such irresponsible reporting, Mr. Clay, on this blog, your name is mud.

And the Florida arrogance?

That's been around since long before the Spurrier era, as evidenced by the last two lines of our Alma Mater, written in 1925 by Milton Yeats:

"For before her all are falling.
All hail, Florida, hail."

What's the alternative? Kentucky?

Straight Outta' Crompton

As I continued to mull the UF-UT game, it occurred to me that Crompton might have been our most valuable player in 2008 and 2009.

In 2008, he fumbled on the UF 2 and threw an interception from the UF 1.

In 2009, he threw a pair of key interceptions.

When you consider our lack of gaudy offensive statistics or individual examples of game-dominating offensive play, I think it's difficult to underestimate his role.

Who would have ever thought that the H.W.A. (Hillbillyz with Attitude) would be nostalgic for Erik Ainge (statistically excellent, but whom they criticized for being unable to win, with two 4-loss seasons in his two campaigns at the helm despite being sacked only 3 times his senior season and 13 his junior)?

BlogPoll Final Ballot

At Saurian Sagacity our BlogPoll rankings are a group effort (led, of course, by yours truly). Trying to rank 120ish teams is an awesome task by oneself, and the helpful comments and suggestions are always welcome (not to mention the raison d’etre of the BlogPoll itself).

After weighing the various merits of commentators (within the bounds of resume style ranking) I have made the following changes –

Cincinnati is moving up. I credit Dan Shanoff with this insight.

Cal is moving down. Maryland isn’t a win worth noting.

I *think* Ole Miss is a good team, but they haven’t done anything yet to prove it. Movin’ on down.

Washington appears to be pretty good after all, and LSU won there. The Tigers move up.

As for the logical order of Miami ahead of FSU ahead of BYU ahead of Oklahoma, that is a tough call. FSU nearly gakked up to a lower division team at home, and I think their defense…well it stinks. BYU got totally owned, at home, by FSU. Oklahoma, on the other hand, lost a very close game at at neutral site.

So I don’t think the simple order ranking is necessary logical. However, at this point, it is good enough.

As for Iowa, it is a very close call. I’m not sure who I’d remove to include them. So they can wait for a week.

Our results are –

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Miami (Florida)
3	Cincinnati	7
4	Houston
5	California	3
6	Texas	9
7	LSU	12
8	Boise State	2
9	Florida	5
10	Michigan	5
11	Auburn	7
12	UCLA	5
13	Missouri	4
14	Mississippi	2
15	Virginia Tech	8
16	Washington
17	Florida State
18	Brigham Young	16
19	Oklahoma	3
20	Southern Cal	17
21	Ohio State	3
22	Oklahoma State	3
23	TCU
24	Pittsburgh
25	Penn State	9
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Baylor (#11), Georgia Tech (#13), Nebraska (#17), Minnesota (#20), Kansas (#21).

coach Lane Quittin'-Revisionist Historian

Having chosen the worst economic times of my adult life to start a business, other matters have superceded bloviation for quite some time.

However, things are running along reasonably smoothly and this matter begs comment.

As it relates to UT, Mergz has adequately demonstrated that our defensive and offensive performances in 2009 were somewhat better than 2008. There has been adequate discussion of the conservative UF game plan and the underlying rationale.

What Lane Quittin' celebrates is not a "moral victory", but his personal cowardice and gutlessness, character defects that devalued the hard work of a UT team that put itself in a situation to have the possibility of winning the game and ameliorating the embarrassment of 2008.

Let's review 2008 a bit more in depth, particularly UT's first half possessions, that's where they gave us the game:

1. After UF drove 44 yards for a TD on the opening possession, on 3rd down, Hardesty fumbles on the UT 23. After advancing exactly 0 yards on the ensuing possession, UF kicks a field goal. (3 point swing).

2. After returning the kickoff to their 21, UT advances to their 42 and punts. Brandon James returns the punt for a touchdown (in one of the most exciting and important of his many exciting returns-one I don't consider a point swing since based on B. James' proven abilities).

3. UT begins driving from their own 26 and advances to the Florida 2 where Crompton fumbles on 2nd down. UF then marches 75 yards for a field goal. (6 pt. or 10 pt. swing, depending).

4. After ensuring kickoff, UT begins driving from their 39, 11 plays and 60 yards later, Crompton throws an interception to Janoris Jenkins which is caught in the end zone and returned to the UF 3. (3 or 7 point swing). We intentionally run out the clock, taking it to half-time.

Subtracting the UF points resulting from UT's Red Zone turnovers (I consider anything inside the 25 yard line as the red zone--it's only a 42 yard field goal which is physically possible for almost all college kickers and have never understood the arbitrary assignment of the 20 as the red zone boundary) and UF has 24 points (14 at the half).

Now, if you give UT 6 points for their 2 turnovers inside the UF 5, the score is a respectable 24-12 (14-6 at the half). If you grant them 14, it's a close 24-20 (14-14 at the half). But, instead of a 14-6 or 14-14 game at the half, what occurred left UT so far behind, 20-0, they never had a chance.

We can all be fairly certain our coaching staff was fully aware the score of last year's game did not represent UT's potential or, frankly, the close physical contest.

In 2009, each team played better, for the most part, than 2008. In my opinion, Tebow's Red Zone turnover was our only sloppy play (I thought Berry's interception was a magnificent play on what appeared to be an uncatchable ball).

Which brings me to coach Quittin' and the fallacy of the "moral victory".

UT choked last year--no two ways about it. Any doubts? Review their 1st half. What should have been a close contest was gift-wrapped for the Mighty Gators. UT's players (pretty much the same motley crew as last year) had demons to exorcise, and they put themselves in a position where that possibility existed.

What happens?

Their coach quits on them, ostensibly to impress recruits by advertising that he "covered the spread" against UF.

UT's players deserved better, they deserved the chance to win or go down swinging, not have their manager refuse to have them come out of the corner for the 15th round.

I have read the calls from Lane Quittin' to have SEC Commissioner Slive look into Coach Meyer's comments on this anti-competitive behavior. The more interesting, and appropriate, inquest would be Quittin's behavior from 6:01 remaining in the 4th quarter to his almost immediate claim of moral victory in his post-game comments.

In the often cleverly written UGA blog, Get the Picture, there is an interesting comparison of Lane Quittin' to Eddie Haskell. In one of the comments, the writer compares the "moral victory" spin to Esprit d'Escalier, a french colloquialism meaning "staircase wit," used to refer to one who thinks of the witty or clever response after the fact. While quite amusing, I'm afraid I disagree.

coach Quittin' began planning this canard before the game clock expired. I will never refer to him as "Coach" (that term being a term of respect) again. Hereafter, if reference to him is necessary, a lower case c will be used, i.e. coach Quittin'.

What would Vince Lombardi say?

The Moral Victories of the Young Lane

As I looked at the box score of this Saturday’s game I felt like the numbers were eerily familiar. Then I looked at the box score of last year’s game and saw why.

The two games were almost the same. Only this time, Tennessee was a little bit worse.

Take at look at the box scores –





















Tennessee had 3 fewer first downs and 48 fewer total yards than a year ago. Florida, on the other hand had 4 more first downs, and 80 more yards.

It doesn’t stop there. The supposedly hapless Crompton managed 162 yards passing in 2008 with a 5.8 yards per attempt average to 93 yards this year and 4.9 average. Apparently last year’s coaches knew how to get more out of Crompton against the same Florida defense.

Tennessee’s rushing was marginally better at 117 yards against 96 yards last season. Florida, on the other hand ran for 208 yards versus 147 at Neyland.

This year the Vols turned the ball over only two times, against 3 turnovers last year, so we have some improvement there.

So while the score may seem a little more palatable at 23-10 rather than 30-6, remember that Florida scored on a Brandon James punt return last season, so our offensive scoring output was identical. Tennessee did manage to get in the endzone this year.

After the Florida game last year Tennessee had a 1-2 record having beat UAB, and after having lost at UCLA and Florida. This year, Tennessee is the same 1-2 having beat an arguably less capable Western Kentucky, and having lost to UCLA at Knoxville and Florida by virtually the same outcomes.

What is Coach Kiffin’s reaction to mediocrity? Well, elation.

“I think we have a powerful message around the country about what’s going on in Tennessee football,” Kiffin said, speaking directly to the five-star recruits of America.

“I think there is a real strong message about Tennessee football out there right now. And people who follow recruiting have noticed that.”

A message so strong, in fact, that it is indistinguishable from last season’s start.

Also can there be any doubt now that Kiffin was playing not to get blown out? It seems Lane fancies himself a beneficiary of the gaudy Vegas line.

Then there is this tidbit sure to inspire the spirits of starter Jonathan Crompton –

“We have to find a Tim Tebow in recruiting,” Kiffin said.

So Jonathan, you hold that spot down while Kiffin finds his own Tim Tebow. Do all you can for Lane’s moral victories this year.

And who knows? After a couple more close losses, Kiffin may have the SEC right where he wants them.

BlogPoll, Draft Ballot

If anything voting got tougher from one week to the next.

What to do, for instance, with Florida State? They give up a ton of yards to Miami, almost lose to Jacksonville State, and then go to BYU and annihilate them.

Who is this team? Well, 25th is what I could come up with.

I still have ‘Bama number one, as I think their win over Virginia Tech was the soundest I have seen. Cal comes in 2nd for their wins over Maryland (I know) and at Minnesota. And I have Miami at 3rd despite the fact they have played 2 games. These three teams, to me at least, pass “the eye test”.

As for the rest, who the hell knows? Is Tennessee, loser to Florida and UCLA, a quality opponent? And when is Penn State going to play a real team?

As always your suggesting are solicited. Let’s try to put together a decent ballot.

Here's what I have now -

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	California	6
3	Miami (Florida)
4	Houston
5	Cincinnati	5
6	Texas	9
7	Boise State	1
8	Florida	6
9	Michigan	4
10	LSU	9
11	Auburn	7
12	UCLA	5
13	Missouri	4
14	Mississippi	2
15	Virginia Tech	8
16	Washington
17	Oklahoma	5
18	Southern Cal	15
19	Ohio State	5
20	Oklahoma State	5
21	TCU
22	Pittsburgh
23	Penn State	7
24	Georgia
25	Florida State
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Brigham Young (#2), Baylor (#11), Georgia Tech (#13), Nebraska (#17), Minnesota (#20), Kansas (#21).