Wow what a backtrack for Dooley, somebody must have threatened his
locker room pass. Now we're back to crowing about the smoke and mirrors
11-2 season and using the injury card.
On 11/5/2013 8:27 AM, Shane Ford wrote:
Back Nine: Gators need faster starts on both sides of ball
Vanderbilt wide receiver Jordan Matthews (87) tries to shed a pair of
Georgia defenders in the Commodores' 31-27 win over the Bulldogs on
Oct. 19. Matthews leads all SEC receivers with 66 catches for 890
yards. (AP Photo)
By Pat Dooley <http://www.gatorsports.com/personalia/patdooley>
Gainesville SUN Columnist
Published: Tuesday, November 5, 2013 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 4, 2013 at 8:31 p.m.
//
*/The Back Nine comes at you after another Saturday in Jacksonville
that sent 40,000 fans home disappointed. Of course, that's the scene
after every Florida-Georgia game. And every Jaguars game./*
**
*10.*Maybe it's the pre-game meal. Maybe it's the way they warm up.
Maybe it's because the other team has studied film and has come up
with a plan. Whatever the reason, one of the biggest reasons Florida
is having a bad season is because of the way the Gators start. UF has
been outscored 62-29 in the first quarter. The Gators have won the
second and third quarters 105-45 (and the fourth 34-30) but those slow
starts have been a problem. They aren't just an offensive problem
either, although 3.6 points per game in the first quarter isn't
exactly getting it done. This defense seems to always make early
mistakes that put the Gators in a hole. In the four losses, Florida
has been outscored 41-13 in the first quarter. For all of the
criticism of the offense (and it is warranted), the defense seems to
need a quarter to adjust to what the other team's offense is trying to
do. Will Muschamp went all technical on us in trying to explain what
happened on the two early touchdown drives by Georgia, but the bottom
line is the defense needs to start showing up ready to play.
*11.* Another Sunday reading emails and Tweets about how Florida needs
to fire its head coach or its offensive coordinator or its
cheerleading coach or its hot dog vendor. Is the answer always to fire
everyone? What is especially interesting is that so many of you think
Chip Kelly would return to college coaching and take the Florida job.
Do you not remember that in June he was given an 18-month show-cause
by the NCAA for recruiting violations, which means basically that he
can't coach in college football in 2014? No? Well, then you probably
don't remember that Florida is playing without its starting
quarterback, tailback, both offensive tackles and its best defensive
player. Or that when the Gators play Vandy on Saturday it will be
their first home game in 35 days. Or that three of Florida's four
losses have come against teams ranked 8, 11 and 13 in the latest BCS
standings and the other against the team overwhelmingly picked to win
the SEC East in July. Look, I get it. This has been a miserable season
for Gator fans punctuated by FSU's return to glory. The offense is
hard to watch. But Muschamp isn't going anywhere and he shouldn't. Do
things need to improve? Absolutely. But Florida won 11 games last
year. Or did you forget that, too?
*12.* We could call Saturday's game the “Bowl-Eligible Bowl” because
both Florida and Vanderbilt are sitting at four wins and need two more
to get to a bowl game. Florida will have to find a way to contain
Jordan Matthews, who leads the league in receptions with 66 for 890
yards. And the Gators need to take advantage of an
uncharacteristically-porous Vanderbilt defense. In their four losses,
the Commodores have surrendered 45.3 points a game. Mostly, the Gators
just have to find a way to win. The fact Florida has won 22 straight
against Vanderbilt is irrelevant except that if Florida is going to
keep America's second-longest bowl streak going it needs to keep its
streak against the 'Dores going.
*13.* Florida State's biggest day of the season wasn't Saturday when
it throttled Miami and it wasn't two weeks ago when it destroyed
Clemson. It's biggest day of the season is Thursday when Oregon plays
Stanford. If Oregon and Alabama win out, all projections have FSU
being left out of the BCS Championship Game. The Seminoles finish with
four games against teams with a record of 13-21 (remember, Gator fans,
every Florida loss hurts FSU's BCS chances) and even an ACC
Championship Game against a one-loss Miami team probably wouldn't be
enough. FSU is certainly hurt by it's non-conference schedule, the
same way Ohio State is. Other than Florida, the average Sagarin rating
of FSU's other non-conference opponents is 129th in the country. You
can get away with that in the SEC, but not the ACC or Big 10. You need
help. I wouldn't be surprised to see Baylor, whose schedule is
back-loaded, make it interesting if it wins out.
*14.* Ah, to be a fly on the wall when the SEC football coaches meet
in Destin. The Bret Bielema-Gus Malzahn feud is such a classic. The
latest was a blatant fake of an injury by Auburn's Anthony Swain
during an Arkansas scoring drive. I know, it's difficult to believe —
there was an Arkansas scoring drive. Google the video of the fake
injury. It's priceless.
*15.* Speaking of video, check out the Sacred-Monmouth game if you get
the chance. Moses Webb pulled a rare hat trick on one play. He
fumbled, forced a fumble and scored a touchdown. Webb was stripped
after making a reception, but chased down the Monmouth player who was
returning the fumble, stripped him, scooped the ball up and scored.
That still wasn't the most amazing thing that happened over the
weekend. That had to be Florida Atlantic's upset of Tulane after a
tumultuous week that saw its head coach Carl Pelini booted after he
admitted drug use. Heck of a job by the Owls to stay focused.
*16.* I'm not saying Riley Cooper's racial slur before the season has
been forgiven, but has anyone else noticed how it kind of went away
once the season began? I mean, a Raider fan threw something at him and
another gave him a pair of middle fingers after his third touchdown
catch of the game Sunday, but I think that's more about being a Raider
fan than anything else.
*17.* The Tweet of The Week comes from Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com —
“The temperature on Mars right now = Michigan's rushing total today.”
Dennis was exaggerating as the average temperature on Mars is minus-80
degrees. Michigan rushed for minus-48 in a 29-6 loss to Michigan
State. OK, maybe he wasn't exaggerating that much.
*18.* So I'm not sure how this happens (something to do with a Cloud I
hear) but all of a sudden my iPhone has all of these Miley Cyrus and
Justin Bieber songs on it. Kelsey, how do we delete these things?
Anyway, I did find some good music — “Sort Of” by Ingrid Michaelson,
“Nobody Knows Me At All” by The Weepies and for an oldie but a great
one by an underrated band “Hungry” by Paul Revere and The Raiders.
/Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at [email protected]. And
follow at Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley./
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GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY!
1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions
2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions
2008 National Football Champions |
Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996),
Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
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