If the University of Florida is the fourth-best college football team in the country, then it will be an incredibly weak year in college football. Florida beat Miami of Ohio, 34-12, but that score is highly misleading. It was 20-12 in the fourth until the Gators scored on a 72-yard run and a lucky throw-it-up-in-the-end-zone-and-pray touchdown pass on fourth and 21. And this came against a Miami team that won one game in 2009.
How bad was the Florida offense, now that Tim Tebow is in the pros? With 12 minutes left in the game, the Gators had 28 total yards. The Orlando Sentinel sums up the ineptitude pretty well:
Eight fumbles, including five botched center snaps from the shotgun formation, only 41 passing yards and minus 16 rushing at the end of the third quarter. Although they finished with 212 yards, 187 of them came in the final 13 minutes.
The center snaps were a joke. Center Mike Pouncey snapped the ball seemingly everywhere but into the hands of new quarterback John Brantley. The result was 60 yards lost and a turnover. When a team can’t execute one of football’s most basic plays, you know they have their work cut out for them.
I thought the Florida result was the biggest news of Week 1, and it shows the Gators were ranked so high more because of their name than their talent.
Saturday wasn’t a banner day for SEC dominance — Mississippi blew a 21- point lead and lost to Jacksonville State, 49-48, in double OT. Later, LSU did beat North Carolina, 30-24, but had to hold off a furious rally from the depleted Tar Heels.
I would love to hear what other fans saw on opening weekend.
on Sep 5th, 2010 at 4:28 PM
Agreed, Florida’s Offense looked lost and confused but I think its just first game jitters. They have a few games to get it together before they face a real opponent, and their defense looked very stout at times.
OU didn’t look all that great either and definitely think Texas can win the Big 12 south again this year.
Irish had their golden open, which I was happy about. I do think its funny how everyone was expecting a high scoring shoot out and it turned into a low scoring, defensive game. I still don’t like the odds of them being a much better Michigan but one can hope.
on Sep 6th, 2010 at 5:49 AM
How long can Florida go without Tim Tebow？ I do think Tebow has great influence than we can imaged on the team.
on Sep 6th, 2010 at 4:50 PM
I was at the game.. and trust me… it looked worse in person than it did on TV. Theres alot to this story though… Robey is the main guy at center.. but apparently his elbow is dinged up or something. Pouncey has been practicing at center but he is not his brother and I was afraid of that comparison being made.
With that said… Florida never starts out well.. in any game.. and typically plays up to the level of talent they are facing until they wake up.
We kept hearing all summer how there was no sense of urgency in the lockerroom (primarily with some freshmen as it was reported and based on Pouncey and Raineys comments).
They’ll be ready for USF and the rest of the schedule. I really think this was a fluke. If not.. its gonna be a long year Gator Nation.
BTW… I am thinking of starting a LGBT Gator club.. anyone interested?
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 10:10 AM
You’re wrong. The Gators weren’t ranked highly for their name. The Gators were ranked highly because they seemed to have recruited tremendous talent. The problem is that the talent hasn’t all panned out.
Neither Donte Thompson nor Carl Moore have been able to catch a ball in a game situation for three years. They should both be benched. And Jeff Demps is out of his natural position. If he gets a big hole he’s gone, but if anyone gets even a finger on him, he goes down. A running back doesn’t need light-speed. he just needs to be able to consistently get five yards a cary even when hit. Therefore, Demps needs to in open space. If he can catch and run a route he should be a WR or a CB. And if he can’t play those positions, he needs to stick to track. They should put the new guys in and see what happens.
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 4:52 PM
Jack… thats why Gillislee is the better back than Demps. With Demps speed.. he should be at WR.
on Sep 8th, 2010 at 3:58 PM
Yea it was kind of bad but they will get it together