Just a few days after two Tennessee Vols Nu’Keese Richardson and starting safety Janzen Jackson were kicked off the team for their involvement in an armed robbery at a gas station a third freshman DB Nyshier Oliver was arrested on game day for shop lifting of all places at Dillard’s. Oliver a 4-star recruit was committed to Notre Dame but changed his mind ending up in Tennessee’s class.

Nyshier Oliver Item

Florida Gator head coach Urban Meyer talked about an early signing period in football, his biggest concern was it would take away from their time of getting to know the kid getting to know what kind of person they are.

So the maturation process for Lane Kiffin continues. His daddy is there to help him and his second daddy Mike Slive isn’t that far away. As in any program you can bet most of the kids at UT are great kids, a few bad apples can make the barrel look bad, but if removed in time the barrel will be OK.

Other Gator News - Florida got a commitment from 4-star cornerback Joshua Shaw out of Palmdale, California.  He’s a corner prospect with good size.  Florida’s recruiting seems to be going really well.

But he isn’t there and people can only wonder what will go on between now and the Alabama game.  One thing has already taken place, Carl Johnson moved inside to give us more push in the middle, he did miss a block on fourth and short against South Carolina.  Tebow came up short but it’s good that sort of thing happens now rather than against Bama.

So the Gators essentially have 3 weeks to prepare for Bama.

As for FSU there is no way in hell a freshman QB playing in only his 3rd game is going to have success against our defense. And as bad as their defense is it’s hard to believe that they will stop our offense, even with all the problems. No one can imagine Tebow being upset in his final home game.

You have to wonder if Greg Reid regrets his decision now. He would have played this year, no he wouldn’t have started but next year he would have been a superstar, at corner and return man, on a national title contender. Now he is playing for a program that is going to be bad for years to come.

With these two games remaining it is debatable how Tebow should play. The Heisman thing do you push for an opportunity to put up huge numbers the next couple of weeks and perhaps he can sit out the 4th quarters.

Does he need rest? If he does just sit him out the FIU game he will win or lose the Heisman when he plays Alabama.

But the eye will be on the bigger prize so you’d have to think Meyer is more concerned about the needs of the team, to work on timing and the starters should play for 2 to 3 quarters to work out the kinks, see Carl Johnson comment above.

This has been a strange season, there is still time for improvement, Georgia seemed to be the only game the Gators jelled in and yet that game still felt a bit restrained in some aspects.

Looking back the Tenn game was disrupted by the flu bug, then you had the Tebow concussion and he didn’t practice for a couple of weeks, players have been in and out with injuries, continuity will not be written to describe the Gator offense of 2009.

Certainly a kid like Xavier Nixon needs the work. You can coach speak all you want but you’ll never convince me the coaches don’t start looking at Bama this week.

I’m a man who’s afraid of injuries. FSU if they can’t beat us perhaps they’ll try to make is easier for Bama to get that job done. This just might be the last game ever for Coach Mickey Andrews, a Gator insider told me years ago when he was the secondary coach at Florida for Coach Charlie Pell they were always on him because his secondary was getting flagged so often for unnecessary roughness.  Will he pull out all the stops?

So Meyer will run a fine edge sword against FSU, Tebow’s last Gator home game.  How long do you keep him in if the Gators get the big lead?  You don’t want him injured in the 4th quarter of a blow-out.

And get this we have to beat Alabama because it looks like the loser of the SEC Championship game will get TCU.  Neither Florida nor Alabama will want to be in that game, you don’t want to be a bride’s maid against a team like TCU who will be sky high with everything to prove.

There is much to think about, much this staff and team can and will work on, much we all can hope for between now and the end of our season.  We have a home and home then The Game for The Game.

Hot on the heals of the big three are some outstanding 10-0 football teams this year in TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State.  And hot on their heals is a fine 10-1 Georgia Tech team.  And look at the #8 spot, Pitt sits there at 9-1, with 9-2 Ohio State and 8-2 LSU knocking on the door.  Who says the games wouldn’t count in a playoff system?  Hockypuck!

One thing for sure, whoever loses from here on out will not make the BCS Championship game.  If Texas trips or Florida and Alabama prior to the SEC Championship game, they’re out.

Florida’s win over South Carolina was another 10-point workman like road victory in their grind toward a perfect season (UF and Bama is shaping up to be the “Perfect Storm”).  The Gators have had four such wins:  23-13 over Tennessee, 13-3 at LSU, 29-19 at Mississippi State, 24-14 over South Carolina.  All of those games could have been much worse.

Speaking of the top teams Charlie Weis isn’t in that party although he hoped to be included just a few weeks ago.  Have to feel for Coach Weis, but the Fighting Cheeseburgers are a lousy football team.  He is responsible and should be replaced.

One thing that drove this man’s bus was the national reaction to Weis in his first season versus Urban Meyer.

Lets face it our media is as responsive from week to week as a sixteen year old gurl meeting her idol pop star for the first time. Someone, some team has a big game they bat their eyes and fight to stay on their feet when their legs go weak, like our national media seldom do they stand back and look at a body of work.

Have we become a sighthound society, is our RAM low?  (Random Access Memory)

That’s it we need more RAM.  Hey someone should make a cereal and call it RAM, put some chocolate and a little caffeine in it, add milk and WHAM you can remember what happened last week!

An opening like the Notre Dame job can cause two to three more openings.  Especially when you look at who the Irish will go to first, guys like Urban Meyer who wouldn’t even talk about it till the end of the season, think he’s 150% all Gator now, turning down the Irish will prove it.  Mostlikely the next Irish coach will be Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly, possibly Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson or Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh.

The nice jobs like the BCS schools like Georgia Tech, Florida and Stanford cause that ripple effect because 80% of the coaches would die for a shot at those schools, perhaps over 95% at a school like Florida or Notre Dame.  Those kind of high exposure jobs just don’t come along that often.

Bob Davie said, “To hire the best you have to pay the best.”

How true. And the big schools do just that.

Not sure that Pitt is a great team but they are tough, they are a team that Dave Wannstadt can be very proud of.  This is his best job and in college football you have a lot more ties to the game emotionally speaking.  They are stingy on defense and have a pain in the butt offense that can throw well and has two fine darting running backs.

Pitt’s the bottom team of the top eight and they have a tough finish to try to get to ten wins this week they go Virginia and finish the season the week after hosting #5 Cincinnati.  Funny how a team becomes really strong and you type their name out rather than Cincy?

There are many teams who are deserving of a playoff season this season.  It has been a fine football year, not a lot of big upsets with so many undefeated teams.  It’s a year of the haves and have nots.

And with two games left some things will still be played out.  Word on the streets is no one wants to play TCU.

You look at Florida, their three on the road 10-point vistories look really large right now. Being a Gator fan this man doesn’t fret much over those who will be closed out, it isn’t right but my heart can’t fight much for something that so favors your team.

Whatever that says it is true.  Not something anyone wants to hear.

But there is a message to President Obama.

Mr. President you want a playoff?  Investigate the college presidents and what they get from these powerful bowls that’s the secret to the headlock they now hold on college football where the vast majority of people dream of some type of playoff system and a few stand between it.  Just follow the money, gifts and perks.

That works when you have the talent, any coach can look good with the talent. With the talent and your team plays very poorly that is when the finger can be pointed at a coach.

So the Bulls got the crap beat out of them.  Leavitt has brought them a long ways, can he take the next step?

Tonight

#25 WVa vs #5 Cincy ESPN2 – Have to go with Cincy, but this should be a nice game. WVa has the weapons to go toe to toe with this fine Cincy team. It’s 7 to 7 now, Cincy just had their first fumble of the year, they are 9-0. Still think Cincy wins.

BCS

Of the Top Three only possible trap games are Alabama and Florida, Texas will beat the hell out of Baylor. As much as this man investigated Stephen Garcia it doesn’t mean he might walk out and have the game of his career. That seems to have happened to the Gators many times in the past. Guys who couldn’t hit the toilet from the sink come out and look all-pro against the Mighty Gators.

But the team that actually stands a great chance tomorrow is Mississippi State. In 2008 the Tide rolled over the Bulldogs 32-7, in 2006-07 State won 24-16 and 17-14. This season the Bulldogs might be the best team with a losing record in college football. They lost at Auburn when the Tigers were hot 49-24. They lost a very tough game at home against LSU 30-26, they were at the goal line and turned away in that one. Houston was next they dropped that one 31-24. Another home game with Florida that was 29-19 and really the only two TDs they scored were a pair of pick-six they got off of Tebow. They have some strength on defense if Bama is flat from the LSU game this one could get interesting.

#1 Florida at South Carolina 3:30 CBS
#2 Alabama at Mississippi State 7:00 ESPN
#3 Texas at Baylor 12:00

Best Game Perhaps?

#16 Utah at #4 TCU 7:30 – Incredibly this game isn’t on TV? Utah only lost one game to Oregon 31-24 way back on September 19th, the Utes are 8-1, 5-0 in the Mountain West while TCU is 9-0 and 5-0 in the Mountain West. Would like to know why this game isn’t on TV? Haven’t seen TCU play and really would like too. This is unbelievable.

Games of Interest…

Tennessee at Mississippi 12:00 CBS – Will Dog the Bounty Hunter need to go to this one? This might be a good game, think the Vols could win big depends on which Mississippi team shows up? Is there more than one???

FSU at Wake Forest 12:00 ESPNU – One of these teams will take a step toward a possible bowl game the other will be out of it. Wake Forest has been dam close to a really nice season other than their game with Clemson, the last two against Miami and Georgia Tech were very tight. Look for Wake to win this one.

Kentucky at Vanderbilt 12:21 – Vandy plays hard they have a good defense, this could be a great game because Kentucky at 5-4 really needs it to get to 6-wins. They close out at Georgia and back home with Tennessee.

Lousy Game Alert

#10 Iowa at #11 Ohio State 3:30 ABC – Iowa lost it all last week in their 17-10 loss to Northwestern. They cannot overcome the loss of their QB Ricky Stanzi. Ohio State should win this one BIG along with the Big 11…

More Games of Interest

Auburn at Georgia 7:00 ESPN2 – See if Auburn has anything left in their tank. This one should be a fairly evenly matched game. What is going on with the Bulldogs?

Notre Dame at #12 Pittsburg 8:00 ABC – Can the Fighting Cheeseburgers save Coach Charlie Whopper’s job? Or will the Pitt Panthers ‘have it their way’ and go all the way with their order? Not sure if Dave Wannstedt will super size it or not, but think he does the happy meal on ole Charlie Weis. Seems fitting these two guys started their college head coaching careers against each other four years ago, Wannstedt is making slow but steady progress while Weis is about to be charbroiled.

Want to start with the rankings of defenses in the SEC and look at how Garcia did in those games.  Ommitted below is South Carolina the 4th ranked defense and 5th ranked SEC defense LSU because they don’t play the Gamecocks.  The first two columns are the teams South Carolina plays and the yards per game they allow, after that it’s GTD (Garcia TDs thrown), INTs (Garcia’sinterceptions), YDs (Garcia’s yards against that team), % (Garcia’s completion precentage) and PER (Garcia’s Passing Eficiency Rating against that team).

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The chart above you can see the progression in the final column from the bottom up Garcia’s Passing Eficiency gets worse as the quality of defense he faces rises.  It almost holds true with his completion percentage.

This is huge when it comes to telling the tail of South Carolina in 2009.  South Carolina is dead last in the conference in rushing offense with 121 yards per game ten yards behind the 11th ranked team in the SEC Georgia, the Cocks are ranked 91st in the nation in rushing offense.  They depend on throwing the ball like vintage Spurrier to open up the run.

Florida leads the conference in passes Intercepted with 15.

If Garcia could have hit 110 or higher against Alabama the Gamecocks probably win that game it was that close.  But they don’t have the blocking, Garcia gets hurried and his accuracy suffers as does his ability to spot the open receiver down field he just doesn’t have the time.

What does this all mean?  Garcia’s chances this weekend against the Gators were slim and none, after further investigation none just left town.

Swampie thinks another snowball has melted.

FSU’s Christian Ponder separated his right shoulder in the loss to Clemson Saturday.  Highly acclaimed redshirt freshman E.J. Manuel will get his first start against Wake Forest.  Manuel is 1 for 4 for 4 yards this season.

Manuel has had time to get ready but he’s going into a difficult situation at best.  FSU at 4-5 last three games are at 4-6 Wake Forest, home against 2-7 Maryland and at 9-0 Florida.  The Seminoles have to win two of those games to get to 6-6 and become bowl eligible.

FSU’s defense is lacking this season.  They are 106th in total defense allowing 434.89 yards per game, the Gators are 2nd to Texas, allowing 232.44 yards per game 1.66 more than the Longhorns. The Noles are 99th in the country in scoring defense allowing 30.89 points pre game (the same as they average scoring) to Florida at #1 allowing only 10.11 points per mauling.

Ponder has carried FSU with a 147.71 passing efficiency, he’s 17th in the country.  For some perspective Tim Tebow is 8th with 156.59, Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen mark is 162.88 he’s 3rd in the country.

One interesting point is FSU tied at 29th in scoring with Alabama, they score 30.89 ponts per game.  The Gators are at 35.00 points per outing and tied for 11th with Auburn and Fresno State.

Not sure where to look but FSU’s defense is as bad as this man can ever remember.  Don’t see how they can possibly beat the Gators two weeks from this coming Saturday nor help Bobby’s overall win record next season, they have no spear and their old horse is about to be put out to retirement.

So what about South Carolina’s Snowball’s Chance?

This is a game Gators shouldn’t lose even though the Gamecocks have some players and a decent defense.

D - defense, O - offense

Left out passing stats, Tebow as mentioned above is 8th in passing efficiency while Stephen Garcia is 67th with a 126.81.  Garcia has 13 TDs and 6 INTs while Tebow has 11 and 4.  Tebow completes 10% more passes than Garcia who is at 55%, Tebow is 65%.

Florida just does everything better than South Carolina.  Shoot the Gators don’t punt the ball often enough to have stats in the NCAA ratings, that requires a minimum of 3.6 per game.

With that said this still could be an interesting game.  Florida hasn’t been taking many risks lately and South Carolina run defense isn’t bad, it just isn’t real good.  They are almost even in time of possession 31 minutes for the Gators 30 for the Cocks, turnovers lost 13 for the Gators 14 for the Chickens.

The Gators allow 2.44 sacks per game that’s 83rd in the nation and that’s not good.  South Carolina is worse they allow 2.70 sacks per game and are tied at 100th with Northwestern.  Neither team wants to be in a passing situation on third down although Tebow leads the Gators in rushing with 578 yards, Garcia has 103 yards a 1.3 yards per carry average.  Tebow gets 3.7 per carry.

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Florida just has a better football team as evidenced by their scoring offense 11th in the country with 35 points per game and their scoring defense #1 in the country allowing a stingy 10.11 points per.  South Carolina allows 20.4 and averages scoring 21.3 that means they average .9 points better than they give.

See mistakes playing a huge roll in this game and see the Gators making less of them.

Florida seems to be 24 points better than South Carolina, SC allows 10 points more scoring per game and the Gators average 14 more scoring per game.  Not sure it turns out that way but could see something like 33 - 9.   So that’s the score this man will go with Gators 33 South Carolina 9.

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This man is deeply impressed with Jeff Demps this year.  He’s shown durability, maneuverability, great instincts, to go along with his tremendous speed and acceleration.  He is a better back than I thought him to be, very high on Chris Rainey’s ability to find something or make something happen, didn’t think Demps was on that same level but do now, absolutely.  We are blessed to have Jeff Demps, Rainey and the Mooo.  Now if they can talk the Pouncey twins to return for one more season.

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After South Carolina this man hopes….

FIU and FSU are Florida’s last two games at home and they don’t stand a chance.  You’d have to ask yourself is there something the Gators could do for the end of their season, end being the SEC Championship and Bowl game?  Especially the SEC Championship.

This man thinks there is.

First major job is to shore up the pass blocking.  It hasn’t been good since Matt Patchan went down.  Back in the preseason Swampie suggested they move their best lineman Maurkice Pouncey out to left tackle.  Looking at Mount Cody wouldn’t you want big Carl Johnson inside to help prevent Bama from a big push up the middle.  It just seems a lot of pressure on Tim Tebow has come from the left side.

If Deonte Tompson or any other wide receiver is making late seasons strides I wouldn’t show it till Bama.

Offensive tackle is the position Big Carl Johnson wants to play at the next level but he just isn’t built for it, he has the body of an all-Pro guard.  If you put Pouncey out there at the end of the season and he looks good it might lure him back for another season to play there in the hopes of getting those big bucks in the NFL.

Just some thoughts here.

Alabama probably faces the toughest task, Mississippi State has played a lot of people tough including the Gators.  They get Alabama after the LSU game and it’s at their place.  Alabama also has to go to Auburn at the end of the season but suspect Auburn just won’t have enough defense to slow Bama’s running game down.

Below are final opponents of the top three.  Pr is Power ratings, to get an idea of this Vanderbilt has a power rating of .547, or 103rd in the nation out of 121 teams.  The Gators sluggishly beat them Saturday 27-3.  Beside each team is their record, Alabama, Florida and Texas are all 9-0.  Below the record is the score of the ly (last years) meeting if the two teams played the year before.  As you see blow all the teams played last season by the top three were clobbered.

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While Alabama and Florida will play each other in the SEC Championship game, Texas looks to play Kansas State the current leader of the Big 12 North division at 4-2 and headed for a showdown with 3-2 Nebraska in the last game of the season. K State is 6-4 at this time and if they get by Missouri and Nebraska the best they can be before facing a more than likely 12-0 Texas team is 8-4.

Safe bet is for Texas to be 13-0 looking to face the winner of the SEC. It is highly unlikely any of these teams lose before the end of the season.
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SCREWING THE GATORS an SEC and National TRADITION
1 - Urban Meyer fined $30,000.00, Lane Kiffin flapps lips Mike Slive slaps Meyer.
2 - First SEC title stripped.
3 - 1984 NCAA penalties only one school was more harshly dealt with.
4 - Second SEC would be title ineligible because of unproven allegations over $200.00
5 - Darnell Dockett is poo poo’d by national media while Brandon Spikes is vilified.
- add your own where the Gators got shafted below…
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Final Point on Brandon Spikes.

On Saturday someone pointed out when their is an eye gouge that the player gouged gets up off the field infuriated, that didn’t happen with Georgia running back Washaun Ealey who said he didn’t think Spikes should miss a game over it.

But in the Vanderbilt game ESPN just couldn’t leave it alone. During the broadcast they pulled up a poll taken the day of the outrage over Spike’s YouTube film of the incident. This poll people said what Spikes did was worse than Blount’s punch and charging the crowd after the game was over, the poll went 60/40. But this was before Spikes came out and took himself out of the game. What sickened many in the Gator Country chatroom was why even show that?

I deeply respect ESPN but they are far from perfect, this was classless in my opinion. Next they showed Herschel Walker trucking some Gators. A couple of us said oh great now show Run Lindsey Run…

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Had FSU Joined the SEC?

Watching the FSU - Clemson game it hit me how the Seminoles would have changed the SEC and what would the SEC have done for them. Over the years FSU came down to the level of the ACC and this man thinks perhaps the ACC has improved it’s recruiting.

Couldn’t help but wonder about what might have happened to FSU had they joined the SEC. I am sure they would have requested in being in the SEC West with the chance to play Alabama, LSU and Auburn each year. Not to mention it would put them in a division opposite of the Gators.

But it would have killed the Florida - LSU game once they went to one fixed divisional opponent which increased the regularity divisional teams would face each other from twice every eight years to twice every six.

Who would the league take Arkansas or South Carolina? If Arkansas who would remain in the SEC West and who would go? That would most likely cause a huge fight with Auburn being moved cause they’d want the home and home with Alabama and where would that put Tennessee?

You have to figure in that the league didn’t go to one fixed opponent from the other division for a while they began with two. South Carolina would have been the easy choice looking back at it.

Would FSU have been better off? Am sure the Seminole recruiting would have picked up through the Southeastern States although they seemed to do well in Florida and along the Atlantic coast for a while. They would have had to do better at recruiting linemen to keep up in the SEC, one of their big issues lately.
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Percy Harvin at the Vanderbilt game…

Mark Mark Schlabach talked with Harvin and the explosive playmaking Gator said Tim Tebow was getting hit too much. He said they have to protect Tebow. This was the same thing Bob Davie was saying in the booth, that Florida’s pass blocking was a weak spot.

Being able to get the ball out to a playmaker like Harvin was a key for the Gators big offense last year, that and two fifth-year offensive bookends in Jason Watkins and Phil Trautwein.  Many optimistic Gator fans felt we’d be as good if not better on the OL, well you don’t replace guys like Watkins and Trautwein with inexperienced players at that position and expect improvement.

You look at top guys like A.J. Green at Georgia, Damian Williams at Southern Cal, Terrance Toliver, Brandon LaFell and Jarrett and at LSU, Julio Jones at Alabama - The Gators tried to get all of those guys.  The top guy they got Andre Debose got hurt.

The big one I dream about is Damian Williams, had Houston Nutt not lured him away with his crap, can you imagaine Williams on one side and Riley Cooper on the other.  As it is for the first time Brandon James actually showed flashes exactly what we need at Percy’s old position.  He didn’t try to dance, he didn’t try to be picky he just displayed that excellent excelleration, it seems there are different styles for a kick/punt return guy vs a spread option slot man.

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Meyer’s Best Job Yet at Florida

If you continue from the discussion just above this man believes this is the best coaching job yet by Urban Meyer at Florida.  Well guess this is a projection, it has become difficult for this man to see the Gators beating Alabama and Texas if that happens Meyer deserves coach of the year, Tim Tebow the Heisman yada yada.

Florida is weak in pass blocking and low on productive WRs.  The late developement of Brandon James and continued developement of Deonte Thompson are key to the Gators end year success. They need just one other guy to take the focus off of Riley Cooper and TE Aaron Hernandez and the running game.

Not sure how they help the blocking schemes against teams like Alabama and Texas if they get past the Tide.  Florida has recruited well at offensive line they have some pups who’ll grow up and be very good.

But seemingly having a guy like Percy Harvin hurt them.  Hopefully they’ll get Debose back and they are recruiting several guys with great athletic skills who should help shore up their recieving corps.  With a QB like John Brantley it’s hard to image kids not wanting to be here for two years of that.

Florida and Alabama will meet in the SEC Championship game and now it’s a very real chance of a historic meeting with both undefeated.  But gone will be any opportunity of any more jabs by the coaches at each other or the officiating because First Comrade Mike Slive has mandated it so.  Violators will be dealt with severely.

Nick Saban nor Urban Meyer or any other SEC coach can take a chance at some good fun like Steve Spurrier used to always do because some stinker might hear it wrong and demand them to write a nice fat check.

What country do we live in. This man is not a big fan of Lane Kiffin but loved the way he stirred things up, he added some spice to this conference again. He helped make it alive. In that aspect he was great for the conference, the Tennessee fans love him.

But not the anal retentive Slive, they’ve got to get rid of this person. The SEC doesn’t need his crap.

We are the league of the very best group of football coaches in the world. You take Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Les Miles, Mark Richt, Steve Spurrier, Bobby Petrino, Bobby Johnson, Rich Brooks and Houston Nutt these guys are all veterans, winners except for Johnson who everyone feels is doing a great job at a very difficult place to win.

How are you going to keep these guys with a pit viper curled up in the home office at Birmingham. When they leave who will want to step into a situation where a slip of the yapper will cost you 30-large.  Will Urban bolt for the Notre Dame job now?

Slap that fine on me Slive, just try too. Yeah I’d write you a check, tell you it’s in the mail too, and request you hold your breath till it comes.

And hear this Mikie the replay official at the Alabama - LSU game jobbed the Tigers! Had to be something behind it because that was the worst no-call on LSU’s interception this man has seen since replay has been instituted. Yes First Comrade Slive I publicly call your replay and that officiating crew lousy scum pond bottom feeders!  Did they sell out so the SEC could cash in big time with the HUGE SEC Championship game?

How else can it be explained I’ve heard investigators say always follow the money trail?  There is a huge pot of gold at the end of this SEC rainbow.

Your officiating crews have had a horrible year they should go along with you let the door hit all you guys in the ass.

Fine me, just try!  I think it’s still a free country, I have a right to my opinion and this is it.  What is the motive to miss something that is so obvious, a call that should have been clear as a bell?  Did the replay guy have a 10″ TV maybe?

Couldn’t we afford something a little larger than 19″, maybe take Urban’s 30-grand and go on a shopping spree at a local Walmart Entertainment Center?  We’re only talking 12 sets, hell you could borrow the money at any bank just use Lane Kiffin’s lips as collateral.

Walk to your mirror look in it and repeat after me.  ‘I want to stop this behavior and be a man, I want to become honest with myself and others, I will no longer stop freedom of speech within the conference, we need a lot of work on the officiating and I’m going to look into it thoroughly.’

So the SEC gets their game, an undefeated Alabama and Florida.  Chances are very good both teams will be undefeated I’ve heard from an honorable man that ACC refs will never call a game at Florida Field again, so the Gators should be safe against FSU, SEC refs will protect them against South Carolina. Think the ACC has more credibility with officiating crews these days anyway.

Alabama just needs the same SEC refs to keep them safe from Mississippi State and Auburn, they’ll be OK.

So Alabama is the least penalized team? What a joke, Mt. Cody is worth at least two flags a game for taking his helmet off on the field.

A clear INT isn’t called in the booth! And it can’t even be discussed, yes Comrade Slive you’ve put your mark on the SEC. Hope you’re proud of yourself.

If Urban or any other great coach leaves because working in this league has become too unpleasant many will want Slive’s head to roll.  You don’t make things better comrade by censorship.  The Prime Comrade might like that but no one else will.

Not making as many practices anymore but when I did I’d always spot Brandon Spikes and go back to him several times during a practice to see what he was doing.  From what I could see he’s a very sociable character always hanging with his teammates and chewing some sort of fat with them. You’d see him smile and laugh a lot. And he’d end up making them laugh.

Webster should take a photo of Brando Spikes and use him in their definition of gregarious. An online Webster definition of the word gregarious - tending to associate with others of one’s kind : social b : marked by or indicating a liking for companionship.

Brandon Spikes likes his teammates. That’s what I saw at practice.

I grew to deeply respect Spikes. Read a story on him that described what he wanted to do with himself at college and why. Many said where he grew up he wouldn’t make it out they felt he’d fail. He wanted away from that type of life to be something much better than what the hard streets ground most young men into.

He’s a man that loves his family and mother. That’s a man after my own heart. Those people who said what they did about Spikes this week not only hurt him but they hurt me too. It was like how could they say those things if they really knew him. Where he came from, what he stands for.

As fickle as our national media is they’ve gone from thinking of Spikes as a goat to a hero in a few days. Most saying he helped his NFL stock by showing the kind of character that we Gator fans already knew Brandon Spikes had.

When he came out and said he didn’t want to be a distraction to the team so he was taking himself out of the whole Vanderbilt game. That told the nation what he was about, a team player all the way.

I am a guy who deeply loves my Gators and college football. Guys like Guss Scott who lost his mother and took a lot of abuse by Gator fans, or Reggie Nelson who lost his mom but didn’t take the abuse, and of course Brandon Spikes who was recently abused nationally they all reach a special spot with Swampie.

Spikes already had my respect, he said Ryan Stamper had his back. Well Brandon Spikes he isn’t the only one who’s got your back, as if you need any help, well you got it. You have the proud backbone of Gator nation behind you, not those fickle emotional wishy washy fans. The ones who bleed orange they’ve got your back buddy.

From here to bloody hell buddy I’d go to war with Brandon Spikes, wouldn’t be much darn good but I’d go in a New York minute.

So here’s to Spikes, hope he gets some more rest this weekend then goes out the winner he is the last five games of his Gator Career.

Vandy at Florida 7:15 ESPN2…
There isn’t a chance of an upset in this game. I sincerely believe in respecting all and don’t diss Vandy. But this is going to be one ugly game. Vandy is 2-7, they have gone over scoring 17 points three times - last week in the 56-31 loss to Georgia Tech, they somehow scored 28 in the first half and 3 in the second. They opened the season with a 45-0 romp over the Western Carolina Catamounts, that team is 1-8 this season. Vandy also went out and jumped on Rice 36-17. These three scoring explosions came in the first game of the season, the fourth and the ninth.

Vanderbilt 0-5 against SEC Competition
(when game played, Vandy’s opposition, score,
opponent total offense, Vandy’s total offense and turnovers)

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With Florida’s defensive ends, their defensive backs and good crew of linebackers not to mention a slew of on the mend defensive tackles, Vandy simply doesn’t stand a chance in this one. Meyer isn’t running the score up but I don’t see how the Commodores score much more than 10 on the Gators if that much.
Florida wins something like 45-9…

The Game
#9 LSU @ #3 Alabama 3:30 CBS

LSU’s Jordan Jefferson will be a key to this football game. Jefferson has gotten well in the two games he’s played since Florida when his passing rating hit a season low of 100.38, in it he was 11 of 17 for 96 yards no TDs and one INT.  The last two weeks against Auburn and Tulane his QB rating climbed each week from 154.60 to 172.30, looking slender at 6-5, 220 Jefferson rushes the ball about 10 times a game.

Alabama has the week off, LSU got their week off after Florida and have been on a steep learning curve since that football game.  They’ve had two easy wins going up 31-3 over Auburn with a minute left in the third quarter, that game ended 31-10. Tulane was even easier that one ended 42-0.

So this one is a toss up the question is does the week off help Alabama, get them reseted and healthy and the time to try to shore up their passing game.  Or does a rested and improving LSU football team ride a high into Bryant Denny?

Believe LSU has a lot more weapons than Alabama on offense.  If LSU gets a handle on Alabama’s running game this football game is over.  You look at points allowed and these two teams are just about dead even yet Bama gets all the press.  LSU loses this game if Jefferson hurts his football team more than he helps it.

This is an iffy pick but this man is leaning to LSU over Alabama 20-13

#16 Ohio State @ #11 Penn State 3:30 ABC

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Terrelle Pryor has become a joke.  JoePa puts another nail in ole Bobby’s coaching coffin.  It’s better to be a legend in Happy Valley than in Florida’s folly, by golly, it should have remained a gurls school.  Lions over the hard things that grow on trees by 10.

South Carolina @ Arkansas 12:21 ESPN360

This game could be interesting, it could be one of the best match-ups of the weekend. The Cocks are 6-3 the Hogs 4-4. Have to think South Carolina pulls this one out with their fine defense.

FSU @ Clemson 7:45 ESPN

Be more fun to try and guess the combined score of this game. I’d think it could be 104. Where did FSU’s defense go? When did it leave? Well Mickey Andrews is leaving he’s had enough. It had to be a difficult staff with some of his’n and some of your’n. Only one consistent thing lately about FSU is they do score points. This man can not pick this game these are two of the most inconsistent football teams in college football.

After those games the pickens are rather slim.

UCF @ #2 Texas - not a snowballs chance in hell
Syracuse @ #13 Pittsburgh - heavy on Pitt
Virginia @ #17 Miami - depends on which Cane team shows up…
Illinois at Minnesota - when do they pull the plug on Ron?
Connecticut @ #5 Cincinnati 8:00 ABC - talk about snowballs chances
Oregon State @ #20 California - this one could be a great game.
Washington State @ #18 Arizona - Another Pac10 game that could be very interesting. Bob Stoops Wildcats are higher ranked that his brother Mike’s Oklahoma Sooners at #24, doubt that’s ever happened before?  Bob has worked long and hard to get Arizona were they currently are.  Everyone out there is looking up to USC who’s doing their best to imitate FSU and climb back down into the Pack, or is that Pac?  First you lose the great assistant coaches and then the recruiting beings to slip due to many reasons.
Nave @ #22 Notre Dame 3:30 NBC - who cares….