Picture courtesy of the AP
Not only is Florida winning games in the SEC, they're making it look easy.
All the talk of a possible letdown certainly didn't reach the Gator locker room, as they jumped out to a 35-0 halftime lead and coasted to a 42-14 victory against the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Again, it was a complete effort for Florida, as they excelled in all three phases of the game. How so?
Carlos Dunlap blocked two punts, Florida scored on 5 of its first six possessions--and was a goal line fumble away from scoring on all six--and the Gator defense held Vandy to just three first downs in the first half. The Commodores didn't even get past midfield until the second half. Vanderbilt, despite running 3 more plays than Florida, was held to a mere 264 yards of offense, almost two-thirds of that coming in the second half. Offensively, Florida was flawless, as Tim Tebow finished 12-17 for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Also, for the first time this season, he ran with authority, finishing with 88 yards on 11 carries; most of his yards weren't from designed running plays, either. Vanderbilt blitzed from the corners early, but left open space in the middle of the field for Tebow to run; much to Vandy's dismay, Tebow took advantage of the open field. In terms of passing, Tebow's 12 completions were spread around to seven different receivers, with Louis Murphy finishing with 3 catches, 39 yards, and a touchdown. David Nelson had just one catch, but led all receivers with 41 yards, with his catch being the highlight of the night for Florida. Facing heavy pressure from the Commodore defense, Tebow stayed in the pocket and delivered a perfect strike to a wide open Nelson as he streaked to the endzone. His reception put the Gators up 35-0, and all but eliminated any chance of a Vanderbilt comeback.
On defense, Florida was able to put the clamps on an already struggling Vandy offense. Quarterbacks Mackenzi Adams and Chris Nickson combined to finish 12-22 for 114 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Both of the TDs were thrown by Nickson in the second half, when the game was already effectively over. Joe Haden and Major Wright had six tackles apiece, and Brandon Spikes and Ryan Stamper both finished with seven. Ahmad Black only had one, but also recorded his fifth interception of the year last night. Most importantly of all, though, the Gators clinched the SEC East title and will play Alabama in the SEC Championship game later this year. Now, one has to imagine that the locker room talk has shifted a bit from simply winning the SEC to being in the national title game. Penn State's loss to Iowa knocked them from the hall of the undefeated teams, and Florida looks to move up at least one spot in today's BCS rankings. That would place them 4th, with Texas, Alabama, and Texas Tech being ahead of them. However, none of this matters if the Gators lose another game. South Carolina and Florida State loom ahead, and both are solid teams this year. The Gamecocks are 7-3, and look to spoil Florida's national championship hopes on the road. There can't be a let down for Florida now, even as the pressure continues to mount with each passing week. South Carolina will be motivated to play, and Florida must be as well.
Speaking of Tech, could they be the best team in the country right now? They steamrolled an Oklahoma State team that almost beat Texas earlier in the year, a week after a dramatic win over the Longhorns. I don't care what Bob Davie says, Graham Harrell is driving the bus to New York this year, not Tim Tebow. He threw six touchdown passes last night, and the Red Raiders won 56-20 over the Cowboys. They get an off week now, and can rest up before having to take on an Oklahoma team that they defeated last year. Should they lose, Florida could very well move ahead of them if the Gators continue to win. Florida will also have a chance to unseat Alabama from the #1 spot in the BCS by defeating them in the SEC Championship game. In short, Florida's chance to make it to Miami are very real so long as they keep winning.
Some other thoughts........
- Bama just keeps winning. They don't always look pretty doing it, but they win. They showed guts again yesterday, pulling out a close win on the road against LSU. Bama gave up 201 rushing yards, but LSU kept the Crimson Tide in the game, as Jarrett Lee threw four interceptions--three of which went to Rashad Johnson. The last of these clinched the game for Bama, as Johnson intercepted a Lee pass in the endzone during overtime, which took away LSU's chance to score during the extra period. From there, a quarterback sneak by John Parker Wilson ended the game. Credit to Nick Saban and Alabama for pulling out a tough road game against a focused LSU team; they're now on a collision course with Florida in the SEC Championship game. And as an aside, Julio Jones is a monster; he had 128 receiving yards against LSU, and leads all Bama receivers with 634 yards and four touchdowns. Can you imagine the numbers he'd be putting up if Alabama had a better quarterback? Maybe Star Jackson will be Bama's #1 guy next year........
- Tennessee is a mess this year. An absolute mess. They lost to Wyoming 13-7 yesterday--at home. They're now 3-7 overall for the year. Seriously, where's this team's pride? Wyoming was a four touchdown underdog, and they couldn't even manage to score more than one touchdown? Neither Crompton nor Stephens did anything against a Wyoming squad that was 3-6 prior to yesterday, including losses to such distinguished teams as Air Force and Bowling Green. When you manage to roll up a measly 219 yards of offense against a defense that gives up over 320 per game, you know something's wrong. Seriously, put Eric Berry on offense for God's sake; he's the best player Tennessee has by far. Let him play some snaps at QB and give him some basic zone read plays. Your season's shot now, so the coaches may as well experiment and see what works on offense for them. Their quarterback situation certainly isn't.
- It's a cold day in hell when USC is flying under the radar, but that's where they are now. They never really got back in the media's good graces after that loss to Oregon State, and to some extent, that's on USC themselves. They struggled to score points against Arizona and California despite rolling up yards. However, their defense it phenomenal this year; in fact, they've only given up 60 points total this year, with 27 of those coming in the loss to Oregon State. They've shut out three teams this year, as well. The point? While their offense hasn't always been impressive, their defense has come to play 9.5 times out of 10. A high powered Oregon rushing attack? Held to 60 yards rushing (as a point of reference, Oregon is 5th in the nation in rushing offense, averaging 274.3 yards per game). An Arizona team that averages 39 points per game? Held to 10. Cal yesterday? Held to 3 points and 27 rushing yards. They're on their A game right now, and if the offense can play more consistently in the redzone, they're going to be a dangerous team.
- Notre Dame is still decidedly mediocre. That might be an improvement over the 3-9 abortion that was last year's team, but it still isn't worth the 10 year deal Notre Dame gave to coach Charlie Weis during his first year. They just lost to Boston College last night, and even worse? They got shut out. That's right. Zero points in a 17-0 loss to the Golden Eagles. That brings them to 5-4 on the year, and with a definite L on the schedule when the Fighting Irish travel to the Colesium to play USC, that means Notre Dame will be making some low-end bowl game, probably against a superior non-BCS conference team. That means that Notre Dame could very well end up a 6 loss team at the end of the year. My point? That all the "blame Ty" group members shouldn't feel vindicated because the man couldn't do anything with a disaster of a Washington program. Boosters got rid of Ty for being mediocre, and then signed a guy who's now gone 26-19 in his time to South Bend, the very definition of mediocre. Unless the Notre Dame fans have suddenly tempered their expectations and now expect their team to languish in such a state, I'd think it's high time for them to approach Weis with a buyout deal, don't you?
Yeah, neither do I.
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