Florida-Tennessee: it’s just business, except for the part that’s personal.

Before you read any further, let me state for the record that I would never root for anyone playing organized athletics to suffer serious injury.  That being said, I can’t help it if my mind pondered the unthinkable after reading what Barnhart had to say about this week’s meteor game.

At any point in Saturday’s game with Tennessee,  will Urban Meyer take his foot off the gas? Not only no, but hell no. I understand that when Lane Kiffin accused Urban Meyer of cheating in recruiting (he later had to apologize because Meyer did not cheat) the Tennessee coach basically wrote a check with his mouth that he knew his team would not be able to cash. But back then Kiffin wanted to rally his fan base and a little controversy was a small price to pay in order to do that. But Saturday the bill comes due. Tennessee is an undermanned football team (compared to Florida) right now. But also understand that this game is about recruiting. Tennessee came into the state of Florida and picked off a kid (Nu’Keese Richardson) that the Gators really wanted and thought they had. Meyer wants to send a message to future recruits from the state that it’s probably not a good idea to go to one of Florida’s biggest rivals. You can always expect Meyer to pour it on when he plays Tennessee or Georgia. That’s just the nature of the business.

OK, fine.  Let’s say it’s early in the third quarter and the Gator defense has just returned Crompton’s third pick of the day for a touchdown, making the score, say, Gator Chomp 41, Rocky Top 0.  Tempers begin to fray.  After Tennessee goes three-and-out (again), Corch Meyers sends the GPOOE™ back on to the field to get even more medieval on the collective Volunteer ass only to watch as a Tennessee defender – a frustrated Tennessee defender – injures Tebow and puts him out for the rest of the season.

I think it’s fair to say that all hell breaks loose at that point, but can you imagine the reaction from something like that happening?  And not just the questioning as to whether the injury was deliberately caused; how about Meyer dealing with the issue of what Tebow was still doing in the game at that point?  Like I said, I certainly don’t wish injury to Tebow, but, man, the aftermath sure would be entertaining, as least from a neutral party’s point of view.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, I’ll try to think innocent thoughts the rest of the day.