We report; you decide.

So the Gators kick a meaningless field goal up 23-3 with 25 seconds left in the game… was it really meaningless?

Henry doesn’t think so.  Neither does LD (good to see him back, by the way).

What say you?

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UPDATE: More thoughts on this over at Catfish and Cornbread.

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When the early stats don’t match the early narratives

It’s part of the nature of the preseason that we hear the stories about how happier days are coming for some schools.  Weaknesses get addressed, geniuses get hired, etc.  In only two weeks, some of these narratives have taken on water and appear to be sinking, but there are others where it’s too soon to tell how things will play out.

Like these three.

• Auburn. I bet you didn’t know that Troy racked up 34 points and 488 yards of offense against Georgia last year.  OK, maybe you did.  In the three Auburn games where Franklin has been directing traffic, the Tigers have averaged 28 points and 403 yards per game.  So I’ve gotta ask, do Clemson, Louisiana-Monroe and Southern Mississippi have better defenses than Georgia, or did Franklin have better offensive personnel at Troy than he does now?
• Georgia Tech. It’s safe to say that with an total offensive turnout of 235 yards (with 73 of those on two plays), Paul Johnson’s scheme wasn’t exactly a raging success on Saturday.  But the Jackets emerged with the win – which is what Johnson was hired to do, after all.  Will the question about whether his offense can succeed in the ACC matter if it turns out that only two or three offenses in the entire conference aren’t dysfunctional?
• Florida. Yeah, in the end the Gators won comfortably.  But I doubt they won the way they expected.  Remember that whole thing about getting a running game going to take the pressure off the GPOOE™?  Reality reared its head against Miami.
  

  Florida Rushing
  	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LG
  T. Tebow	13	55	4.2	0	20
  P. Harvin	5	27	5.4	1	10
  C. Rainey	3	13	4.3	0	13
  J. Demps	3	-1	-0.3	0	1
  K. Moore	3	-5	-1.7	0	0
  Team	27	89	3.3	1	20

Miami is very young on defense, very fast, with a very smart defensive coordinator. The Gators are going to see a lot more of the same going forward. Except some of the SEC defenses they’ll see aren’t so young.  Does Tebow survive a year of better defensive gameplanning by Florida’s opponents?

Some (non-Moreno) impressions from the CMU game

Obviously, it’s not worth reading too much into another game where it was obvious early on that Georgia’s opponent was overmatched, but, still, there were a few items of interest.

• Stafford’s decision making has improved from last year, which is reflected in his zero interceptions and the top passing efficiency rating among conference starters to date.  His run saving the third and long on Georgia’s one yard line was something you might not have seen out of him earlier in his career.
• If Dobbs doesn’t get in the end zone on that interception, the final score would have been 56-10.
• Asher Allen’s grab of that line drive rugby punt was a terrific play.  That was a difficult ball to handle.
• You think Spurrier wouldn’t mind having Dan LeFevour as his starting quarterback right now?
• He blew his blocking assignment on a screen to Moreno and he’s still feeling his way around, but I had no problem with A. J. Green starting.  Being six foot four with soft hands and body control makes up for a lot.
• There were some disappointing moments on defense.  Battle allowed himself to be taken out of plays on occasion.  Evans and Miller were erratic and blew coverages on a couple of deep balls.
• The pass rush was better on review than it appeared at the game.  LeFevour did a good job of getting rid of the ball at the last minute, which kept the sack count down – but he did get hit.
• Kickoff coverage leaves a lot to be desired.  All but two of CMU’s possessions started outside of its thirty.

“And I redshirted him anyway.”

(photo courtesy Ben Gray / bgray@ajc.com)

That was nothing short of a tour de force we got out of Knowshon Moreno yesterday.  After watching his athleticism, his pass receiving skills, his ability as a punishing pass protector and his superb instincts (was anybody really surprised to see it was Moreno who fell on Goodman’s fumble in the endzone on that downfield pass play in the second quarter?), I’m having a difficult time laying off the “best back at Georgia since Herschel” comments.

It’s gonna be a fun ride this year.