It was a tragic picture as the clock was winding down at the end of the 2009 SEC Championship game. Tim Tebow watched the clock hit zero, tears running down his cheeks, as Alabama players and coaches began to celebrate. The Crimson Tide outplayed the Gators today to a final score of 32 – 13.

Image: Newscom

Not only does this mean that Alabama is officially the SEC Championship team, but they’ll also be heading to the BCS National Championship Game. Florida, who was #1 going into today’s game, will likely still play in a BCS Bowl (probably the Sugar Bowl), but this was a disappointing loss for Tebow and the entire team.

It also sets the stage for Mark Ingram, Alabama’s star running back, to receive the Heisman over Tebow, who was also a top contender. Of course, there’s nothing guaranteed for the award, but in today’s showdown, Ingram and the Alabama defense outplayed Tebow and the Florida offense in ever way. It’ll be a hard case for the Florida superstar to receive the Heisman over Ingram.

Mark Ingram, Image: Newscom

In today’s game, Alabama didn’t just get lucky. They dominated the game from the start, although in the first half, the game was fairly close. Florida went to the locker room trailing 19 – 13. Early in the third quarter, the Gators missed a chance to turn the game around, and Ingram and Greg McElroy decided that it was time to stop playing around. Florida gave up over 250 rushing yards, which is the most ever under coach Urban Meyer. McElroy had a near perfect game, and although Tebow didn’t play poorly, his one interception was yet another nail in the Florida coffin.

I think Alabama receiver summed up Tebow perfect when asked about the quarterback after the game:

“He’s a great player, but man, we’re tired of him.”

Post from: EveryJoe

Florida Denied SEC Championship

Julio Jones, one of Alabama's leaders. Image: Newscom

The question remains, though – does Alabama deserve a rematch with Florida? There’s no question that team deserves the SEC West title. LSU is the only other team that even comes close to Alabama’s talent and skill. Some are questioning, however, whether a game against Florida is really worth the time.The Gators are dominating the SEC East and with Tebow on the field, a title game may seem like a bit of a formality.

Here’s what I have to say to those commenters: it is Florida you should be questioning, not Alabama.

The Crimson Tide started the season against Virginia Tech, a team that was ranked #7 at the time and is still ranked as #21 in the BCS standings. Admittedly, they had some easy games with teams like Florida International, North Texas, and Arkansas. However, along with LSU, they also beat Mississippi (ranked #20 at the time) and South Carolina (ranked #22 at the time).

Let’s look at Florida’s schedule now. Charleston Southern. Troy. Vanderbilt. The only ranked team they played all season was LSU, and that was a fairly abysmal game. The Gators only won 13 – 3. Of course, the team did play a handful of games without Tebow, so it’s maybe hard to really evaluate the team.

To me, this isn’t Florida’s fault as much as it is a symptoms of the current BCS set-up. Teams have learned that they can come out on top if they pad their schedule with teams like Charleston Southern, as long as they still play most of the teams in their conference. Is this good football? No. Most of the teams in the top 10 could have performed as well as Florida with their schedule.

I think the SEC title game will be really interesting. It’ll be the first true test for Florida, and the first time Alabama will be fighting an uphill battle.

Post from: EveryJoe

Alabama: Deserving of the SEC Title Game?

Here’s the video, in case you haven’t seen it:

The SEC agreed to this punishment, but football fans everywhere have been grumbling that the punishment wasn’t harsh enough. So, Spikes decided to take matters into his own hands. After talking to Meyer and administration, he announced late last night that he’d be suspending himself for the full game.

Says Spikes,

“I really don’t want to be a distraction to the team. I want the guys to prepare without any negative things going on. I feel like if I would play, it would be a big thing. I’m just trying to stay out of the way and just motivate the guys.

Personally, I think this is a great choice and it shows a lot of maturity. The announcers are still going to mention Spikes, but at least this means that they won’t spend the entire game talking about him. I think sometimes the media focuses a little too much on the negative – and I get that; people love gossip. However, the focus this weekend really needs to be on the game and that the players who deserve to be there. Members of both Florida and Vanderbilt don’t deserve to share the spotlight with a debate over whether or not Spikes should be playing.

Was the eye-gouging intentional and malicious? Maybe, maybe not. In any case. this decision makes it easier to forgive Spikes for the incident.

Brandon Spikes, Image: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

Florida’s Spikes Suspends Himself

Undefeated:

• Alabama
• Boise State
• Cincinnati
• Florida
• Iowa
• Kansas
• South Florida
• TCU
• Texas

Winless

• Ball State
• Eastern Michigan
• Florida Atlantic
• Miami (OH)
• New Mexico
• Rice
• Western Kentucky

Really, I think the big surprises here are that there are no major surprises. Few people would have put Iowa on the undefeated list when predicting records at this point in the season, considering that they played Penn State, but once again, the boys at Happy Valley choked.

I guess South Florida on the list is a little surprising too. They haven’t had a totally easy season. Cincinnati has (sorry, I know ya’ll love ‘em, but I’m not sure they aren’t totally overrated). Next week, they play one another, so that will end for one team.

WR Mardy Gilyard has been important for the Bearcats so far this season. Can they continue to charge ahead as they meet harder opponents on the field? Image: Newscom

I’m hoping that Cincinnati proves they deserve to be ranked so high, but I don’t think South Florida will just roll over.

As for the winless list…well…let’s just say that Michigan is happy to not be on it.

Post from: EveryJoe

2009 Midseason Undefeated and Winless

To be clear – as the announcer said, it was a clean hit. It was a hard hit, yes, but the injury came from Tebow’s head bouncing forward off of the leg of another player, not from some kind of illegal, bad sack. Poor Wyndham will probably get death threats from rabid fans, when all he did was play some ball.

Image: Newscom

Tebow was taken to the University of Kentucky Medical center after laying on the field, possibly blacked out, for two or three minutes. He walked off the field under his own power, but felt ill on the sidelines, so an ambulance took him away. At the hospital, sources say that he got a CAT scan and MRI.

Several fans showed up at the hospital and have been asking to go back to his room and pray with him, but security is tight. Sources also say that his dad and brother are there. Coach Urban Meyer talked to the press after the game, and said that Tebow’s first question to him was “did I hold onto the ball?” and later said “it’s great to be a Gator.”

They haven’t released anything official yet, but I’m sure that he has a concussion. Hopefully, it isn’t anything more serious. I may not be a Florida fan, but I don’t want to see any player get hurt. From my own experiences, I know that concussions typically aren’t super serious unless there’s bleeding or discharge from the holes in your head or unless you throw up. I say typically because we all know what happened to Natasha Richardson after a little bump on the head. He definitely was sick after that hit, but I’m not sure if he vomited or not, and you’ll need a true Gator fan to actually look through the tape of the game at the sidelines to see if there’s pictures of him puking.

Of course, Tebow was sick before the game, so that could have something to do with it. He actually took a private plain to Kentucky, separate from the general team, as did other players with flu symptoms, as a precaution. I think Jen at RightFielders makes a good point though: why was he playing at this point? Florida was way up at the end of the third, and Tebow was definitely already sick. He should have been out of the game at that point.

Image: Newscom

All of this information is up to date as of the time of posting (Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 5:30 AM EST), but I’m sure there will be new information during the day today about Tebow’s condition and the likelihood that he’ll play against LSU. At least he has next weekend off for sure – it’s Florida’s bye week.

Post from: EveryJoe

Tim Tebow Injury Update

Washington wide receiver #3 James Johnson breaks down field, Image: Newscom

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Alabama
4. Mississippi
5. Penn State
6. California
7. LSU
8. Boise State
9. Miami
10. Oklahoma

What’s significant to note is who is not there anymore. And really, that boils down to my favorite team to bash, USC.

Sorry, USC fans. This was supposed to be an easy week for you. The Trojans took on Washington, and after a week at Ohio State’s horseshoe, everyone thought that this would be a relaxing game. Only Matt Berkley couldn’t start, so Aaron Corp took his place. And then Washington actually turned out to be good. Now, Washington already lost to LSU, but they took the moment of the 42-23 win against Idaho from Week Three and used it to beat back USC 16-13. The Trojans had absolutely no passing game, and the Huskies took advantage of that.

It was also a hard week for the MWC. BYU lost at home to Florida State, who is proving not to be a totally terrible team. So MWC fans put their confidence in TCU and Utah instead. TCU pulled through with a thorough beating of Texas State, but Utah was another story. They lost on the road to Oregon, and I couldn’t help but chant “overrated” in my head a bit. They were ranked too high after wins to just Utah State and San Jose State. So now, it’s up to you, TCU.

The week started off with an upset, though, so I guess it was Week Three’s fate to have a bunch of games that pissed people off. Thursday gave us #20 Miami beating #14 Georgia Tech 33 – 17. They’re done. Miami has more than proved that the deserve to be in the top ten. Georgia Tech has more than proved that they deserved to be dropped from the rankings completely. On Friday, Boise State (#10) won against Fresno State 51-34, but don’t be too fooled by the score. Boise State played like crap, both the teams’ defenses sucked, and the game looked like it might go either way for awhile there.

And then there was the Florida – Tennessee game. Coming into this game, my money was on Florida, but I knew that Tennessee wasn’t just going to lie down and take a beating – and they didn’t. The Vols put up a fight, but also knew when they were bested. I think the main problem here was that Kiffin played it safe. Rather than making big plays, which was what they needed for any hope of winning against the Gators, they chose to hold back, focusing more on not doing anything stupid than on taking risks. Florida won 23-13, but it was a good game.

Some other games of interest:

• #13 Virginia Tech beat #18 Nebraska 16-15. VT just has a strong defense, and the game ended up coming down to possession time at the end. Kudos to Nebraska’s kicker, who kept the Cornhuskers in the game.
• Michigan State lost a heartbreaker to Notre Dame on Saturday. With a final score of 33 – 30, we’re beginning to see just how disappointing this Fighting Irish team really is. They should have killed MSU.
• In what I like to call “the battle of who sucks less,” Washington State beat SMU 30 – 27 in overtime.

Post from: EveryJoe

College Football Week Three 2009 in Review

I digress. Let’s check out the AP Top 10 this week:

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Alabama
5. Mississippi
6. Penn State (actually, they’re also #5, it was a tie)
7. BYU
8. California
9. LSU
10. Boise State

All of the top ten teams are still undefeated, but that’s not surprising since many of them had super easy games the past two weeks – or no game at all (Mississippi already had their week off).

I have to start at the bottom with Boise State at #10. I predict a win against Fresno State, with a score of roughly 51 – 34. Ok, that game was tonight. So, they remain undefeated – more on that when we review Week Three. Also significant: #20 Miami beat #14 Georgia Tech 33 – 17 on Thursday night. Again, we’ll talk about that more in a few days when I review the entire weekend, but damn. Where did this team come from?

So let’s see. #5 Penn State has a gimme, and #8 California should have too hard of a time at Minnesota. #4 Alabama plays North Texas at home. *shrug* And poor Washington is about to feel the wrath of #3 USC. Even #5 Mississippi is just playing Southeastern Louisiana (who?), and #9 LSU is playing Louisiana-Lafayette. Errr….scratch what I said about people playing real teams.

We aren’t totally without decent match-ups. #1 Florida finally plays someone we’ve heard of at least when they host Tennessee tomorrow afternoon. Can Kiffen and his boys pull off the upset? Highly unlikely, but you never know. Stranger things have happened. I think that it is more likely that Florida will run all over them. We’ll see I guess.

#7 BYU hosts Florida State later that evening. Now, if you would have asked me at the start of the season, I would have said that this would be an interesting game. Florida State has proven, however, that they were highly overrated coming into 2009. I mean, at least they won last week. There for awhile, it looked like they were going to lose to Jacksonville State.

Then there’s #2 Texas, who hosts Texas Tech this week. Texas Tech is 2 – 0, but they’ve played North Dakota and Rice…so they might as well be 0 – 0. What makes this game interesting is that last year, Texas Tech stop the Longhorns at the last second with a Michael Crabtree touchdown. This year, though, they have a brand new quarterback after losing Graham Harrell, and of course, Michael Crabtree is making NFL headlines instead of NCAA headlines. Texas? They still have Colt McCoy. Either Texas Tech is going to prove themselves in this game, or they’ll prove that their first two games really were just against horrible opponents. Texas is out for blood, having been denied the National Championship because of this game last year, so my prediction is that Texas will put them in their place.

McCoy and the Longhorns want a little revenge after last year. Image: Newscom

That covers the top ten, but there are a few other games worth mentioning. #19 Nebraska travels to #13 Virgina Tech, with kick off at 3:30. I think Nebraska has really been a sleeper team so far. Granted, like most programs, their first two weeks were basically not even games, but their offense is pretty strong. I’m looking forward to both teams showing what they got.

I’m also interested to see if Notre Dame bounces back from their loss last week to Michigan. They play one of their rivals, Michigan State, this week. Now, Michigan State isn’t the bottom of the barrel, but they aren’t good by any stretch of the imagination. Ya’ll know as well as I do, though, that college football is all about momentum. Notre Dame was thrown for a real loop last week, so we’ll see if they can spring back.

To be honest, not many games interest me this week. Penn State will be lucky if I roll out of bed in time to watch the kick off, and most of the top ten have easy weeks, once again. I know the major debate in college football is whether or not to have a playoff system, but maybe more important that this is the debate of changing scheduling rules. I mean, when a horrendous team plays a top-ranked team, it just looks bad for both schools.

Post from: EveryJoe

College Football Week Three 2009 Preview

NCAA rules prohibit any college player lending his name or picture to a commercial promotion. While it is unclear whether or not Florida could be fined over an event they couldn’t control, it is better safe than sorry, and they quickly emailed the Miracle about the event. The team was a little disappointed, but complied, changing the name of the event to “What Would T.T. Do?”

Tim Tebow, who's initials just happen to be T.T. Image: Newscom

While many fans just went with the flow, some were a bit upset about the chance. Says one fan,

“I think Tim Tebow is a fan of anything related to getting his name out there. I don’t think Tim Tebow would send destruction on us. I think it’s kind of ridiculous. I can see where UF is coming from but the Miracle are just doing it for fun. They’re not trying to profit off of Tebow, they’re just trying to get their team out in the public and get some attention.”

The team gave away promise rings to fans before the game on Wednesday night and had a character named “T.T.” who attempted to walk on water.

Post from: EveryJoe

“What Would Tim Tebow Do?” Night Problem

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. USC
5. Alabama
6. Ohio State
7. Virginia Tech
8. Penn State
9. LSU
10. Mississippi

Texas received four first-place votes, and Oklahoma and USC each had one first-place vote. We’re going to see match-ups between many of these top ten teams, but by then, we could see some of these schools fall from grace. Are there any surprised coming from down below? Is this Notre Dame’s year? What about Oklahoma State or Utah?

In my opinion, though, this top ten list is pretty spot-on. I would have voted for Florida as number one, even if I’m not a fan of the school, and it’s only natural to have Texas and Oklahoma as two and three, consider that they both have a Heisman winner or nominee coming back for another year. Only tie will tell, though.

Picture via Wikipedia.

Post from: EveryJoe

Coaches Poll Predicts Florida as #1

Officially, the university is saying that Tavadis Glenn of Jacksonville was asked to leave for safety reasons. However, the real reason is that Glenn flashed the “U” sign during a drill – a clear indication that his allegiance lies with the University of Miami.

Damien Berry holds up the "U" symbol to fans. Image: Newscom

Them’s fightin’ words…errr, signs…Gator country.

I’m not sure if coaches knew this before hand, but I later found out that Glenn has already verbally committed to Miami. According to reports, he flashed the sign after a successful block and taunted the Gator recruits all night. Says Glenn, though,

He told me to get out the camp, that this is not a Miami camp. He told me to take that (expletive) down there. I was like ‘Huh?’ I only did it once.

Other players say that Glenn was warned verbally after flashing the sign once, but did it again a short time later, ignoring the coaches.

While I hope the coach who dismissed him didn’t actually curse at the kid, I’m glad he was booted out of the program. Showboating of any kind just doesn’t have a place in the game. There’s good natured rivalry, and they there’s being a jerk…and this kid was anything but good natured.

Post from: EveryJoe

Florida Asks HS Player to Leave Camp