Scairdy Cats Time!

UK almost hurt us worse than a loss would have--roughing up our boy Tim. That hit looked so scary...it easily could have been a spinal injury. We're just thankful that it wasn't, that it appears to be "just" a concussion. It does take a little shine off the Superman image, though; it seems Tim is not invulnerable after all. Let's hope it has no ill effects and perhaps learns to be a bit more cautious. Still, as someone pointed out, it happened while he was passing, not running.

I found the ESPN coverage repugnant, if not downright invasive. The guy just got hit, viciously, and all you jerkoffs want to show is "the hit" fifteen times in a row, and THEN, Tim being carted off throwing up in a bag. ABC is a cesspool of inanity, a behemoth without competent leadership, which clearly shows in the irresponsibility of the folks in the front lines. The White House "debate" on health care, which was really a 2 hr pro-Obama commercial, was tantamount to pissing on the grave of journalistic ethics, which had finally died, after years of increasing frailty, during the recent presidential brainwashing...uh, I mean campaign. How can we not expect a subsidiary of this repugnant organization to resort to sensationalism without feeling for the person involved? On a good note, though, they do say Tim's name a lot.

This was a particularly short game, the outcome having been decided in the first quarter. At the end of one, it's Gators 31, Wildcats, zip. Not only no points, no first downs, and a minus 1 in rushing. Perhaps the soundest whipping I have ever seen in one quarter of football.

The good news:
Tim Tebow's two rushing TDs against Kentucky put him in second place on the SEC all-time rushing list. One off the leader, and closing fast.

Most Rushing TD in SEC History:
Herschel Walker 49
Tim Tebow 48
Kevin Faulk 46
Carnell Williams 45
Dalton Hilliard 44

The bad news:
"The hit." A freak accident in which timing is everything. Sacked, falling backwards, finding the knee of his blocker with his head. Double Ouch! No pictures, please, we've seen it enough.

In the postgame interview, Coach Meyer said Tebow had just one question after the hit. "He asked me 'Did I hold onto the ball?' I told him he did and he winked at me and said ‘It's great to be a Gator.’" There won't be another like him anytime soon.

Only a few pics this time, I'm a little down
(pics)

And, in pro news, a former Gator showed the big boys what we've known all along--all of you should be sorry (and ashamed) you passed up Percy in the draft!
Try one of these links to see his 101 yard runback for a TD...
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-cant-miss-plays/09000d5d812f1d14/WK-3-Can-t-Miss-Play-Harvin-to-the-house

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdXn1ontMd0

Lest we forget...the Bumper Sticker of the Week...

Jesus is coming! Look busy.

Baby Comes Home

Bryce has made it back to Georgia! The court hearing went well, and he is "officially" ours! Yeah!!!!


The flooding in Atlanta looked to be an obstacle, but somehow (coincidence? I think not) the paperwork on this end got resolved and the group flew home.

Now Pierce has someone to push him into being the next Tim Tebow! Rumor has it he loves his little brother already.

Rocky Topped!

Ouch! That hurt.

It wasn't what the Gator Nation had hoped for, but it certainly wasn't the result the Vols wanted either. The fact that the ugly orange were never in the game made for a conservative plan by UF, and thus a lower score. But for the fumble inside the 10, we would have scored and gotten much closer to the spread. They often say a win is a win, and we're happy to be undefeated (even though that is expected at this stage) but I sure miss the blowout. Damn that Monte Kiffen!

And then there's Lane Kiffen...what an ass. And yet, even an ass may speak the truth.

”I thought our plan was great, and thought it was executed great. {yeah, if your plan was not to get beat too badly} But, at the end of the day, Superman is back there with the ball and you have to find a way to tackle him." {but they couldn't}

Lane, beating the spread is not the same as winning. I'm just sayin'....

We did get to see a lot of good football, but the highlight of the day was Tim colliding headlong into the best Tennessee player in a very long time, safety Eric Berry. The two giants of this game, one on one. Well, not to mention the other two Tennessee players it took to bring Tim down. Berry went backwards faster than Nancy Pelosi being asked about her previous votes! But Eric is a stud--if he isn't the first defensive back taken in the draft, something is very wrong. I think this is the one (if not, it's a fine symbol):

And then there's Tim running out of bounds taking the defender's helmet with him. Tim Tebow the Warrior. Part man, part beast. All heart.

But it was the defense that came up strong again. They let 'em score a touchdown via the run, but otherwise held up pretty good.

If Chris Rainey had made the first down when he had a chance--instead of dancing in the hole trying to get more yards--it's possible the Vols wouldn't have been able to drive the length of the field for that touchdown. Guess we'll never know. Chris did well otherwise, and we need to see more of him GOING WIDE!!! Send Moody up the middle and the scat the scatbacks out wide. Sheeesh!
And Demps--what a gutsy performance! Had the flu, had a fever...no problem. Here's a touchdown.

Another interception by Joe Haden to keep that nation-leading streak alive at 15. Ahmad Black got one at the end but, hey, Ahmad,....it's fourth down...knock the ball away instead of catching it 30 yards up field. We might have scored again from the 50.

But we did lose one streak--Tim didn't throw a touchdown pass in this game (was at 30). Actually he threw two of them but the receivers couldn't hang on. It's easy to forgive Brandon James cuz he got whumped as soon as he caught it, but Riley just flat dropped the ball. Ouch. If Tennesissy can take any consolation from this game, they stopped that streak.

As a side note of interest, UF Athletic Director Jeremy Foley accepted the 2008-09 New York Times Regional Newspaper Group's SEC All-Sports Trophy from Gainesville Sun publisher Jim Doughton prior to kickoff. This is the 19th time in the past 22 years that Florida has won the award. GO GATORS!

And, of course, the Bumper Sticker of the Week. . . .dedicated to LK, you know who you are...

I had the right to remain silent, but I didn't have the ability.

Welcome to the World, Bryce

Another great day for the family--the birth of Bryce Garrison Loescher! He was born in Oregon at 11:43 AM PDT. His stats are: 8 lbs 1 oz, 20.5 inches. He looks about as goofy as every baby looks when first born, but I understand he is gorgeous in person.

Proof:

Not bad shape for having been through such a harrowing ordeal!

Pete

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Pete and Tracy are ecstatic, as you would expect...Tracy especially, since she didn't have to spend 4 days in labor!

The Trojan Skirmish

The Trojans--too much potential for a host of different jokes, but I won't stoop to that level. As Urban had said, the Men of Troy could have been a problem. Similar to Hawaii early last season, they had had good years and might have made it close, but for a lack of depth. And talent. And the Florida coaches' ability to adapt to a strange defense. It appears that Troy put in a brand new defense for this game, and it--and the downpour early--kept the Gators off balance in the first quarter. But these guys weren't good enough to keep it up and UF's 28 second quarter points let us all breathe easier.

The Gators margin of victory (we were #1 last week) fell to 7th highest, but was second only to BYU for teams playing BCS (formerly known as Division 1) teams. It appears I was mistaken when I said UF had the highest margin of victory last week--that honor (?) went to Air Force with a 72 point win over an FCS (formerly known as Division 2) team, and the winner over non-FCS teams in point spread was.... Tennessee. But c'mon . . . Western Kentucky? Division 1 by lack of quality control more than anything. Oh, well, wait 'til next week!

Now that the offense took off the handcuffs, Tim got to showcase his more customary game and made a strong argument that as Tim goes, so go the Gators. Four (or five) touchdown passes, one running TD. He could have had another easy one, but gave it to Rainey--what a leader! If the idiotic Heisman voters who put TT 3rd on their ballots had to judge the candidates by only what they did in the first half, he would have won it going away. If Tim stayed in the whole game, or even through 3 quarters, he would have rewritten all the record books already. His stats would be eye-popping. But Johnny B needs the playing time for next year, and the only numbers that really count are the final score in the national championship game.

Another great effort by the defense to keep the Trojans from scoring (well, that almost rises to the level of a joke). We can give up field goals all day long, but I wonder how many games into the season we'll go before the opps score a touchdown. A long way, we hope. It would be more than could be reasonably expected for to shut out the Vols. But it would be G-R-E-A-T.

Stars of the game:


Tebow (of course)



Rainey (some nifty running)



Brandon James caught a touchdown




Moody got some game time (and didn't fumble)

Cooper (I have to say he is winning my admiration, grudgingly after last year)




And, of course, the D. Still no touchdowns against any squad.




Let's all hope for a fantastic game next week . . . 63 to 0 would be about right. Just enough.

Oh, yeah. . . almost forgot. The Bumper Sticker of the Week is:

I never thought I would miss Nixon.

The Season Begins!

Well, actually, the preseason. The real football begins September 19th when the UT assholes come to town. That will be a good game. Meanwhile, Charleston Southern is the lamb of the moment. I hear a lot of crap about the quality of this opponent, but I also heard a rumor that the original victim was to be UCF, who bailed. When you have to find a date to the big dance at the last minute, you gotta take what you can get. Kinda like Orange and Blue, Part Deux. Except to get to hit other people besides your teammates.

There was also a piece on ESPN interviewing the coach of the Buccaneers, and it appeared that
they were extremely grateful to be able to play Florida. Half their team was from Florida and the opportunity to play in front of friends and family--not to menition 90,000+ screaming folks--was a tremendous windfall for them. The money didn't hurt either, but the coach made a good argument that the money didn't make the deal. I don't recall when I've ever seen any team rated as a 73 point underdog. Yikes! This was the first time since Ole Miss last year that the Gators didn't cover the spread. But why would they? If they had played their best brand of football, even with the second stringers, they could have hung 100 on that team. Seems that wouldn't have been the kindliest (or smartest) thing to do, so the Gators played the entire game with about 3 sets on offense and 3 on defense. No stunts, not much in the way of blitzes, if any. Meyer described it as "painfully vanilla." Maybe that will teach the oddsmakers a lesson.

Though the Gators looked a tad rusty at first, they had some super plays from all 3 squads (1st, 2nd, and 3rd strings--maybe even 4th). Call it a mercy killing.


Demps was outstanding, as usual, and it's fun to watch him burst out and blow by everybody.


Rainey--1 carry for 76 yards!--was phenomenal. Hard to believe that defensive back almost caught him.



And the Gatornaughts were supreme (again).








.... and Timmy, well, he was typically Timmy.







Keeping alive the streak of 29 consecutive games with a touchdown pass--the next closest quarterback has 18! And Tim only plays the first two quarters...can you imagine his stats if he played the entire game each week?
As he creeps up on the seemingly unreachable record by the great Herschel Walker of 49 rushing touchdowns, we might see more short yardage runs near the goal line by Tim Terrific.

One of his favorite targets? Aaron Hernandez, the best tight end in college football. Critical catches, TD running over people...what a football player.

The defense played well under the restrictions they had, and the third string (or 4th?) managed a goal line stand to preserve the touchdown shutout. It's hard to prevent field goals nowadays, but it's a matter of honor to keep the other team out of the end zone. It was tight in the closing minutes, but you know the rest of the defense appreciated it.


And so, having vanquished the less than mighty Charleston Southern Buccaneers, we have the first one in the books for 2009. GO GATORS!!!!!!!