Just a few things that popped into my brain this morning:
- First off, kudos to CBS for passing on Florida-Tennessee to show Alabama-Arkansas. At least Verne will have plenty to talk about after ‘Bama opens up a four-TD lead.
- I notice that the line has moved in UT’s favor after opening as a pick ’em. Why, exactly? Is it that the Gators struggled in the first half at College Station? Is it the injury to Jenkins?
- The big news from that link is that Gillislee is expected to play. So far, he’s accounted for more than a third of Florida’s offense.
- Serious question: what decent defense has Tyler Bray picked apart as a starter? Here are his game logs from 2010, 2011 and this year. Take your time. Florida’s defensive passer rating through two games is 99.75.
- While I’m on the subject of defense, anybody notice how NC State fared against UConn last weekend? 150 less total yards gained than against the Vols and less than half the rushing yardage.
I’m not predicting a winner here. But it’s worth noting that the team with the edge in rushing yardage has won 20 of the last 22 games in this series. If Gillislee is good to go, how likely is it that Tennessee will outrush Florida?
Get The Picture 
Ya Know, Ol’Kirby might just have trouble finding a SEC gig. UT won’t want another Dawg pedigree, UF won’t want another Dawg pedigree, and USCe/Auburn won’t want a Dawg pedigree in the first place.
I hear Kentucky is gonna open up…
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Why would Kirby want to coach at a basketball school?
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If he’s getting about $1Mil to be a coordinator on the winningest team in CFB why would he leave to take an iffy job in the first place? UT is a graveyard right now. If they don’t succeed this year most of the better players on that team are going to leave anyway. UF—well you know how the fans are there. If you don’t win the BCSNC they want to fire you no matter how many games you won. See Meyer, Urban.
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I think that Auburn was pretty happy with their last coach w/UGA pedigree. I just think they may have an issue hiring the Alabama defensive coordinator.
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If the change in the line in Vegas is an effort to get some Vol money, I suspect it won’t work…the Vol fans I know are aware they have not exactly played elite competition….they are happy to be undefeated cause it is better than the alternative but none of them are giddy cause Florida, even without Jenkins, is a pretty good defense.
The Vols still show almost no ability to run the football, which, I am sure Boom has noticed.
After being properly scolded during my exuberance following Missouri, I am now very concerned about FAU and Vandy…FAU, after all, is probably the best team Georgia will play next week, and Vandy is…well, their coach talks a lot and you gotta watch their anchors.
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don’t forget Tennessee has a nasty habit of blowing up our season right when things start to look promising (04, 06, and 07), we’ve lost the last two to the chickens, and we’re 4-18 in the last 22 against the Gators. to channel my inner munson “we haven’t got a chance”.
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I have no room in my brain for the Vols yet.
We are prime ugly upset bait.
How can we get ready to play FAU, forget Vandy, after that slugfest in Missouri….and I’ve got a long time to worry. Carl Pelini has worked on the big stage and knows him some defense. And Russ gets his promotion…all the signs of a horrible meltdown are there.
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FAU beat Wagner 7-3, on a fourth-quarter TD. Ain’t no upset coming.
Now if you want to worry about Georgia covering the spread, okay.
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But, but, but…..man, you know we are gonna be flatter than fritters….I bet Arkansas fans were saying the same thing last Tuesday. You go right ahead….I AM going to worry.
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Has the Red Clay Hounds announcing position opened up? Scorp’s putting in a bid and I second his nomination. Get your best Munsen on, Third.
Like the Dog in the commercial looking for a place to deposit his bone, someone has to worry, worry,worry, worry about these teams, no matter that they all are trap games and no one is getting excited. FAU came close twice last year and are gonna come after us with all they have. I think.
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Thanks man, but I lack the stamina for it….all this worrying I have to do, plus calling the game would be way too much…even for an old man 🙂
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How about a dirty-minded old fart to help cheer?
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You forgot to enable the sarcasm font there 🙂
I agree with not worrying about the Vowels just yet, we need to get through the next two games and then start worrying about our hillbilly cousins from the north.
Here’s something to chew on regarding the UT game. By then we will have the following players on the field in a 3-3-5 defense that I suspect we’ll see alot of that day.
DE-Corn Wash
NT-Motel 6
DE-Abry Jones
OLB-J.Jones
ILB-Tree
ILB-Gilliard or Herrera
CB-Swan
CB-Mitchell
CB-Commings
FS-Rambo
SS-Williams
Where is the weak spot? I think we can stop the run with the front 6 and play man with the secondary. Jarvis might have 10 sacks in that game.
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“Motel 6”
That’s good stuff right there. People are now wondering what I’m laughing about. Thank you. 🙂
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Youse guys have lost your rabbit-ass minds…you CAN NOT do this….one game at a time, one play at a time…this shit has to stop.
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Am I the only one here who understands the kharmic dysentery produced by overconfidence? Larry would be shocked by all of you.
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Flawridah Atlantic has the finest long snappah in the Sun Belt Conference.
How’m I doing? 😉
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Much better, dude….
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FAU also has an offensive lineman who has overcome great adversity to join his fellow Owls in their defense of honor in Athens.
It’s gonna be a long week.
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I’m with you Scorpio. I’m still wincing from the loss to the Richmond Spiders.
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Have you lost your mind? This is not 1993, you guys do not need to worry about anyone on your schedule. Geez…..
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what are you, the Munson Whisperer? Take a deep breath. It’s going to be ok, for this week, at least.
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I didn’t worry at all about Buffalo….worried like hell last week….nuff said?
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And see what happened! Now we have little Buffalo hoof prints on our butts.
And have none of you ever heard of “Sparky”, the Bull? While having his way with a heifer, he was struck by lightning. Killed the cow, kinda melted Sparky’s hoofs a little, but he lived to wander around thinking that nothing could beat the sex he had with that heifer so he didn’t try anymore. He kinda stands in the shade and smiles. (Thanks to Rick , the disc jockey formerly from Chicago and now LA for over 20yrs. True story he broadcast and Sparky became legend).
The point is, we could have been hit by lightning during the Buff game. You guys don’t worry enough.
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See…Cojones freaking gits it!!!!! Lightning is a very bad thing to tempt.
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+1, Munson Whisperer
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Ok…If I were, indeed, the “Munson Whisperer”, that would mean I could have cured Larry. That’s what a “Whisperer” does. So while the appellation does have a certain melodic ring to it, it is misleading.
I’ll accept something like “The Last Munsonite”….or how about “The Ghost of Larries Past”, but “Munson Whisperer” makes me itch.
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Clearly, you’ve never heard of the Ghost Whisperer. I can only imagine Jennifer Love Hewitt is the kind of Whisperer even Munson’s ghost would talk to, but that was the intended comparison.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460644/
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Ah….gotcha 81…can you send her my name….I would love to learn her technique. I don’t think I have the ah…..well, you know.
A dog or horse whisperer is a person who cures problem animals. I speck Ms. Hewitt could cure most of us.
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“Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien improved to 5-4 against teams from the Big East, including wins in four of the last five match-ups”. Now that’s something to brag about … The Big East, really? And you won 10-7 … please!
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Unless UT can run the ball, they will get beat in a game that portends to be close, sloppy, ugly and entertaining for Dawgs.
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And likely padd-popping — there has to be a strategic injury in there somewhere (not that I’ll be wishing ill will toward anyone in particular).
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Can Florida move the ball and score points? They have Gillislee, but if Tennessee gears up to stop the run, can Driskel make them pay? I see this being a 17-13 type game… very low-scoring, lots of ineptness and derpitude on offense, and a big mistake here or there costing the loser. With Jenkins and Powell out, plus it being in Knoxville at night… I can see UT giving the points. Particularly since you usually get 3 for home field advantage anyway.
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Worry, worry, worry, worry,…..
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Oops. That was for 81Dog, above.
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Meant to say that “derpitude” won’t cause me to define it on the internet nor the Dictionary, but is a fine descriptive word that is open to individual definitions. They become the great words that we use simply because they are reader self-defining.
“Morale derpitude” comes to mind. Use it to denote a fan disease cured by massive intakes of booze. Unless you end up humping a stature. Then you have to get cured of Tigger disease. That’s done by giving up your wife, family and a good golf game.
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What happens if Gillesle doesn’t play or gets hurt? Florida’s offense sucks without him.
What if Bray gets lucky and hits his talented recievers on a couple bombs to take an early 14 point lead? There is no way Driskel is going to win the game with his arm and Florida’s WRs.
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I’m no genius, but given UT’s woeful running game and Bray’s deep threat, I’d expect Florida’s safeties to be playing well off the line of scrimmage early on. It’ll be hard for the Vols to go over the top of that.
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You may be right, but Patterson and Hunter appear to be very special receivers…if they were mine, I think I would let them see how well the Gators back line could really cover either one of them….I see the Vols going first and bomb…a lot, and with some success. If this happens, the Vols’ woeful running game might suddenly appear.
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So, you are saying it’s more likely Bray throws a pick on the first two drives?
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No, just that I think Florida is going to force him to throw underneath.
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Think he will be effective underneath? This ain’t beer bottles thru windshields from the balcony.
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In Bray’s defense, N.C. State was supposed to field one of the top pass defenses in the country this year, and David Amerson was supposed to be one of the nation’s very best CBs, not to mention a near-certain NFL first-rounder. But yeah, that still marks the first time he had a baller day against anything other than a scrub opponent. If he can light up Florida’s secondary the way he lit up NCSU’s, it might be time to regard him as a serious threat, but obviously that’s easier said than done.
I’m with you, though, on being awfully skeptical of the Vols’ defense. We’ve all seen how difficult it is in that first year of transition to a 3-4, and it’s not as though Tennessee was starting out with a brick wall from a personnel standpoint, either.
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Speaking of NC State, I don’t know how you can have a top pass defense with that awful a pass rush.
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And that is the key to beating TN. All QBs make mistakes when pressured but Bray has been almost Cromptonesque when someone is hitting him regularly. Without a decent running game he will struggle against UF, UGA, and Bama. I hope they win against UF, and think they probably will pull out a close one in KnoxVegas, because I want our guys to play an undefeated TN team in three weeks. The atmosphere will be electric and our guys need the experience of another “big game”, high profile win if we want them to get to Atlanta for a shot at the SEC.
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Mac…I know you know better than this….one at a time, baby, one at a time.
Damn, do I have to do ALL the worrying here?
Guess I gotta man up.
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We are for you and Mac, Scorp. Mac lines’em up and you worry them flat. I’d like to play on both sides. It’s the perfect ploy to get away from the antiBoboisms.
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Afraid you got this “respect everyone” from listening to Lil Nicky’s rant on F’Bomb. Big difference between taking care of business with the little guys and forgetting who we really need to pile-drive. I do want to play an undefeated UT team in three weeks, whether we are undefeated or not. This weekend is going to be the first indicator of what is really under that Orange hood.
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Trust me Mac, nothing that passes through my brain comes from Nick Saban. Bureaucratic bullshit is boring.
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One more comment regarding the NC State Wolfpack … they are a middle of the road team in the ACC Atlantic Division and got trounced by UT (which is probably the third worst team in the entire SEC (behind Arkansas & Vandy). I’ve lived up here in ACC land for 25 years and have constantly telling these folks that SEC football is the heat. NC State … Pick your battles and hope to become a competitor in basketball again.
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Where do you place Kentucky?
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Not sure who is going to win, but I know who I want to win. Florida has exactly one more game out of state between Saturday and the end of the season…and that is Vandy. I want Florida to lose.
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This. Always.
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Nah. Hope they are undefeated. Makes their hurt worse when we enjoy that ass.
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Senator, first off, props to Coach Richt for keeping those guys suspended. I really thought he’d play one to two or three. You know, I just don’t totally trust the artist formally known as “Boca Richt” who found God. He must not have been too worried.
Why did the line move? UT is at home and scores a ton of points. Their D is better than you think. It was rated pretty well last year, (26th?) playing a tough schedule and getting no help from the offense for much of the year. UF’s offense is horrible, relies on one guy (more than 1/3 of the O, yikes, talk about putting all your eggs in one basket), Driskel scares no one, and they have key losses on that good D.
The talk of let down games the next two for UGA is insanity.
However, I do believe that the talk re UGA has now gotten a little absurd (ESPN’s McShay/Kiper piece, 790 this a.m.). A bunch of football yet to play (UT, SC, UF, perhaps SEC Champ Game). I mean, are you really sold on that OL yet? And, again, UGA didn’t play a tough schedule last year. Their D reputation is based on last year. Look at the points given up to the solid teams in the losses last year. Simply, the UGA defense is a good defense. Is it great? I don’t think you know till you play some good offenses. And Mizzou’s offense is just not all that (look at last year’s results).
But do continue. It will be fun to hit this blog after their first loss.
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The ignorance in using just points scored in games as a judgement of the defense is all I need to know about your understanding of how to analyze a defense. You are a headline reader, no depth. The SC game alone blows the numbers out of the water before you look at the LSU and MSU games. Returning nine starters from a defense that was in the Top 5 at the end of the 2011 season, and the talk of schedule shows you are drunk on media/talking heads Kool Aide. Weak sauce troll.
If you want to say TN might beat Florida, and conceivably find a way to upset the Dawgs, I get it, both could happen. But I wouldn’t get ahead of myself and ignore the storm warnings on the horizon for TN. I think they lose 4-5 this season, which is pretty good. But come back over anytime, and especially at the end of the season which will be more significant than the result of any single game. Yeah, we avoided the Arkansas juggernaut again. Boy that is a huge relief, we have such a hard time with them.
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Damn, Mac….Well Said, sir….you should let that dark side out more often.
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I didn’t mention any particular upcoming UGA game, I just said there is a lot of football still for UGA to play, so it’s a little early to be talking NC. Hell, it’s a little early to be talking SEC Champ. Lets face facts: based on the last 32 years, it is likely you guys lose a game, or three (I had to throw that one in, as you guys LOVE mentioning series history/team history, even though they are perhaps the most useless talking points of any in college football for obvious reasons).
I also did not mention UT beyond the UF game. Was this entry not about that game? As to that, one more problem with UF: they can’t seem to protect Driskel.
Getting back to your Dawgs, the OL does not all of a sudden go off the ?mark list after the Mizzou game. You still have freshman at TB. And here is your headline: every college football fan knows that UGA’s schedule last year was a joke and they lost handily to every good team they played. That vaunted Top 5 D of yours is the result of that schedule (which you seem to think doesn’t matter), and it didn’t help you out much in games against real offenses. So yes, talk up that D. That “Top 5 D”. Against a cupcake schedule. Because if it was another team that had a “Top 5 D” as a result of the schedule you played last year, you guys would be ripping them. But it doesn’t matter, because it’s UGA and they have a “Top 5 D”.
I will say it again, that UGA fans are by far my favorite, because they are beyond delusional about their team.
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Don’t know where you’ve formed that impression, bro’; certainly not from this thread and thousands like it. In my very long experience as a Dawg fan, there is no less “delusional” a fan base when it comes to understanding the weaknesses of the team & the coaching staff, or the wandering whims of The Fates. We do not, however, much like folk from other schools horning in on our pessimism.
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You are right about that, toughest home audience in football, delusional isn’t on the charts when you get above the 8th graders and a few drunken students. I don’t know how Kiper and McShay translates into UGA fans, but that was his source. I don’t know anyone talking NC (especially since, like the Easter Bunny and Santa, there isn’t one), and I don;t hear anyone talking SEC. What you do hear is we have a great shot at getting to Atlanta in early December, By then we will know who is available, and who has answered the questions positively, if we have, we can play the West winner. If our OL gets dinged up any more, or we get a key injury among the proven talent, we could come up short of that. I haven’t seen anything so far (very early yet) to say we cannot defeat all that is in front of us. We all have weaknesses, I just see a few more on the teams we have to face. I expect us to lose 1-3, that is as good/better than I see for anyone else in the East, and I think we will be favored against all of them. This is why we play the season, no one knows what will play out but if this were a game of 5 card stud, I would take our hand over the contenders.
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“…UGA’s schedule last year was a joke and they lost handily to every good team they played…”
…while the Vols merely lost to everyone, regardless of quality…
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I’m sure you’re right about Coach Richt. He’s been putting on an excellent act for the last 20+ years. He’s a regular Keyser Soze.
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Does this mean I have your blessing to mock other schools’ discipline again? 😉
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Missouri was twelfth nationally in total offense in 2011.
Are you just checking to see if we’re paying attention?
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When Mizzou comes into Hillbilly Town and whacks the Vowels then we can all come back here and laugh at this ass clown.
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As long as we are talking about what NC State did last weekend, did anybody notice what Buffalo did? I know they didn’t play anyone, but 56 points is decent for them.
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Turns out, Buffalo and NC State might have been a decent game. Pre-season rankings and picks are such a silly idea. Just group the teams by Tiers and remain flexible. There have been so many very surprising results thus far, more fireworks to come.
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I predict that since they practiced so hard and long for UGA and showed it, the training will take Buffalo to a championship this year. Every team will copy their success and competition opens up to make the cupcakes another league called Extra Frosting. They look tastier, but they put the Extra pounds on your ass.
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UT vs. Florida is my favorite game of the year. One of them has to lose.
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I hope for a stadium collapse every time those 2 teams play.
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UT line move does not surprise me. Likely a result of UF’s weak outing vs. Bowling Green and the fact that their offense doesn’t scare anyone.
It’s also way to early to look at UF’s defensive passer rating as the sample size is too small and is not adjusted for strength of opponent compared to others on that list. However, I do believe UF has a stout D-front.
Finally, remember that oddsmakers do not set the line where they think the game will end, rather where they think they will get 50/50 action on the teams involved. Lines are set by public perception, not an assessment of teams relative strengths and weaknesses, which is why degenerate gamblers like me love the talking head meme-of-the-week douchebags at the WWL.
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The wife and I are fresh off our TAM win at College Station. In addition to the happy results of the game, we had an overall great time. Our experiences suggest those reports that TAM fans are SEC worthy are accurate. We now hope to double down on our trip to Knoxville this weekend. I expect Bray to have a decent game. I think he is a good QB and UT has good receivers. I also think (or maybe just hope) we will move the ball against UT. Might be a 28-24 kind of game, with hopefully the good guys winning.
One thing is for sure, the crowd won’t intimidate the Mighty Gator players. That was an electric crowd at College Station last weekend and I thought the boys in white, orange and blue managed the opposing crowd and an early deficit quite well.
Finally, if Florida does manage to win this game, will anyone in the Bulldog nation start to worry about a certain October weekend down in Jacksonville?
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Personally, I’d love it if both teams showed up undefeated.
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If that happens Senator, the pucker factor for both coaches will be enormous. Diamonds could be forged.
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Ain’t it funny? UT, UF and UGA are not quite the dumpster fires that many had hoped. I’m not saying Bama and LSU are quaking yet, but you know……not dumpster fires.
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How come no one talks about history when talking about UT/UF? Sure, we’re 4 of 22 against the Gators since 1990…..but UT is 6 of 22 against them, including the last seven.
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This. It seems like the only team Florida has beaten since 1990 is UGA but in reality they’ve beaten most everyone. I’m hoping we can get one of those streaks (albeit on the winning side) against Auburn. Currently it’s 5 out of the last 6 if I remember correctly.
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I have to admit that I’m slightly more nervous about the Vowels this year than I have been for a couple of years. Granted all I have seen is highlights and they haven’t played anyone, but Bray doesn’t worry me as much as Justin Hunter and that Juco guy that we were in for.
And yeah, I will probably not even watch the CBS game if it’s Bama and Arky..I might not watch a Bama or LSU game on CBS this whole season unless it’s with the sound turned down. Of course this is also the same network that thought it was a good idea to show US Open tennis on the first two Saturdays of college football.
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Bet CBS is happy about their game choice?
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