It’s still Great, to be, a Florida Gator!
Yes, ladies and gentlemen…My Florida Gators lost their first game of the season this past Saturday night at the very intimidating Jordan Hare Stadium. I wish that I could say that I am srprised, but really I’m not. It’s very interesting, that on this night, in a hostile environment, this was still a very winnable game. Plain and simple, Florida self destructed. In review, let’s take a look at the 10 things I stated that would be critical for Florida to win this game:
1. Florida has its best Offensive game of the year. UHM…Florida had it’s WORST Offensive game of the year.
2. Florida has its best defensive game of the year. While the defense did not allow a touchdown, there were breakdowns and alot of stops were not made. They had their worse defensive game of the year.
3. Florida secures the football. Hmm…One interception, 1 Fumble (which really wasn’t, but I digress), and one dropped punt. Florida did NOT secure the football.
4. Florida has its best special teams game of the year. One runback for 68 yards, some others that were longer than should have been, one punt “block” that resulted in an Auburn TD. Florida had it’s worst Special Teams game of the year.
5. Florida “takes care of business” and avoids the big head after all this week’s hype. Fact of the matter is, you start to hear good things about yourself and you start to believe it. I think Florida forgot that they had to come out and prove they were the number 2 team in the country. Florida did NOT take care of business.
6. Florida has the fewest turnovers. Florida had 3, Auburn had 1. Florida did NOT have the fewest turnovers.
7. Florida has the most takeaways. Definitely NOT the case. It’s interesting that in their attempts to take away the ball, it often led to Auburn gaining more yards of getting the first down when they needed it.
8. Florida scores the most points. Well, obviously that didn’t happen. That “fumble” that came at a time that Florida could have scored a TD to widen the gap and probably take over momentum really does hurt.
9. Florida has the fewest penalities (OK, this one is a stretch). Well, it was truly a stretch, especially for a team that leads not only the SEC but also the nation in penalties. There’s a “best in the nation” category you don’t want to own! Penalties again killed us. I feel that the penalty that resulted in the safety was a turning point in the game, even though we were still ahead. Don’t underestimate the power of momentum. I’m not sure the extra running exercises as punishment that Meyer had them perform really was helpful. Loss of playing time might be a possibility…
10. Florida has the most Luck! Perhaps I should have clarified this and said Florida has the most GOOD Luck! That replay really got us, and I feel it was a bad call even after the replay. I guess I’m not the only one, as the SEC will re-evaluate it this week. I guess when you’re playing an away game, luck doesn’t come very easily. Clearly, luck was not on our side.
Sooooo what does all this mean? Clearly, Florida is not the Number 2 team in the land. I was surprised to see they only dropped to #9 because I feel that Florida has always been disrespected, and any opportunity to drop them back further would be jumped on. I was equally surprised to seet ehm come in at #6 in the first BCS pole. Maybe Florida’s luck is changing…they are due.
Honestly, I see alot of positives and very few negatives. So, let’s get the negatives out of the way first.
NEGATIVES
1. We are no longer undefeated, and more than likely out of the National Championship picture.
2. Some of our younger guys (and maybe even the older ones) might dwell on the woulda coulda shouldas and not be as focused on the rest of the season.
3. With the worst part of our schedule over, we could become complacent and lose games we should win.
POSITIVES:
1. We are still in the lead of the SEC East and control our own destiny
2. The worst of our rough SEC Schedule is out of the way and we survived with only one loss…something that I don’t think many people saw at the beginning of the season (me included).
3. Now that we have a loss, we know that we need to get better. This could serve as a wake-up call of what we must do to win out.
4. If luck and the fates have anything to say, we could see Auburn again in the SEC Championship game and redeem ourselves.
5. We are headed into a Bye week. This should give us ample time for our healing players to get to full strength and to get better as a team.
6. Anything can happen in the wild world of the National Championship race.
7. Our Seniors have shown tremendous leadership, which should help us to regroup and become even stronger.
So, I see this as an opportunity for us to show who we are. I think that the only thing standing in the way of the Gators winning out, is the gators.
And as Always…It’s GREAT, TO BE, A FLORIDA GATOR!!!
