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Ramblin' with Rashad features the Gator perspective from the West Coast. Gator fan, Rashad Baadqir, brings a unique and informative look at the Gators. We hope you enjoy it. The most current articles are posted first.
Gators make easy
work of FSU 37-10 as they get ready for Alabama (updated 11/29/09)
Call
it a game, call it a event, call it a rivalry or a celebration but whatever you
choose it was a night to remember in Gainesville for all Gator and college
football fans everywhere as the No.1 ranked Florida Gators said goodbye to
their senior class led by Tim Tebow and Brandon Spikes with a convincing 37-10
win over arch intra-state rival Florida State. Tebow the face of college
football the past few seasons played his last game in the Swamp before he leads
the Gators into a showdown matchup against No.2 ranked Alabama
with the winner assured a ticket to Pasadena,
California to play in the BCS
title game.
However,
before we talk about Alabama
and BCS title games, let us reflect on what was in a near perfect night for the
Gator Nation. It was a game that probably will go down in Florida
football lore as the best send off ever, as Tebow came out to an overflow
standing ovation that every Florida
fan won’t ever forget. Tebow soaked up the applause and praise crying for a bit
before he ran out of the tunnel for the last time in his illustrious Florida career to greet
head coach Urban Meyer. And boy what a career it has been as Tebow’s accolades
to continue to mount up as he threw for three scores on 221 passing yards and
ran for two touchdowns on 90 rushing yards to make his case for winning a
second Heisman award in three years. Tebow is Florida’s
favorite son at the moment and if he brings home another championship title,
the mayor of Gainesville
will have to proclaim it “Tim Tebow day or week”, or something or other.
Tebow’s
great night was also shared by the great play of fellow seniors, Brandon
Spikes, Ryan Stamper, and Riley Cooper. Cooper who score on a 39 yard pass
play, returned for his last season after signing a major league baseball
contract with the Texas Rangers. But it was Spikes and Stamper leading a salty
defense that has led the nation in defensive scoring by applying pressure,
stopping the run, and hurrying and sacking the quarterback at will. Florida’s defense held the Noles in check all day and it
wasn’t til the fourth quarter that the Noles scored a touchdown and by that
time Florida
has its third and fourth stringers in the game. To pour more salt on the wound
of the Noles, Florida
junior all-everything tight end Aaron Hernandez heaved the football into stands
after scoring on a 37 yard shuffle pass play. It has been somewhat of a
returned tradition of throwing the football into the stands on the final home
game of the season first started by former Gator great Carlos Alvarez back in
early 70’s. Former Gator and current Cincinnati Bengal wide out Andre “Bubba” Caldwell recaptured the
tradition two years ago at home in his final game against FSU as well.
Hernandez is one of several junior class players considering leaving early for
the NFL, and with his toss to the crowd it’s presumed A-Hern. is a goner.
As much as
it was night to celebrate among Gator fateful, it was a night of misery for the
Florida State Seminoles whose season has been otherwise a nightmare of what was
of a perennial powerhouse. FSU legendary head coach Bobby Bowden looked like a
beaten down heavyweight fighter on his last legs, as Florida has clearly established itself as
the top program in the sunshine state. Bowden whose team fell to 6-6 on the
season and is Bowl eligible is facing some hard decisions as pressure mounts as
what to make of is this the end for the man who built the program. Bowden whose
coaching career at the school spans 35 years didn’t envision dividing the rabid
fan base that seeks some instant change of a spiraling down turn that has made
FSU a program that once was and has been. Bowden will be meeting with school
officials this week and word on his return or not should be forthcoming. Bowden
has said he would like to coach one more season (2010) while coach in waiting
Jimbo Fisher takes over in 2011.
More
importantly what we know in the here and now is the Gators are team seeking to
repeat as defending BCS national title champions, but they must first beat a
determined Alabama team in Atlanta for the SEC title. It is assured to
make for the most hyped, most watched, and most anticipated SEC title game in
the modern era. Both teams are near mirror images of each other and will face
off in a repeat conference title showdown match won last year by Florida. Alabama for its
merits has more than revenge on its mind leading up to game, it has a pair of
stud running backs in Trent Richardson and Mark Ingram who are capable of
dominating in the run game in bruising style. Ingram, Bama’s leading rusher and
a Heisman candidate, may not be at full strength as he is recovering from a hip
pointer received in the Alabama-Auburn played last week.
ESPN’s
College Game Day crew of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, and Lee
Corso will again be at Florida
games in back to back weeks this time outside the Atlanta Georgia Dome, in what
is billed as the best game of the season.
Notes and
Briefs:
I went 4-1
on my weekend college picks….and apologize you missed my selections over the
holiday weekend….but trust me I did call these games:
1. FSU at No. 1 Florida:
In Tim Tebow’s last home game at the Swamp along with a host of others seniors
from the famed 06 recruiting class which has won the most games in SEC history.
Most rational thinkers aren’t giving the Noles much of an upset chance with a
red-shirt Freshmen at QB, well neither am I as the Gators march into the SECCG
undefeated. Florida
35, FSU 13.
2. No. 2 Alabama at Auburn: The Iron
Bowl is most hated SEC rivalry between these two intrastate teams. Bama will
get tested hard but move on in without looking ahead to Florida a week later. Alabama 24, Auburn
10.
3. No. 9 Pitt at West
Virginia: The Backyard Brawl adds another
subplot game to the final weeks for the Big East crown. Pitt led by Frosh
sensation Dion Lewis roll up the Mountaineers for the BCS berth versus Cincy. Pitt
31, WVA 21.
4. No. 3 Texas at Texas
A & M: Texas just wants to win
and move on in this Texas
bruiser. The Longhorns close this one out early and get rested for Big 12
Championship versus Nebraska
next week. Texas
41, TAM 20.
5. No. 18 Clemson at South
Carolina: This is my upset pick of the
ranked teams this week. The Gamecocks find a way to win this game. South Carolina
23, Clemson 17.
Gators Roll Past FIU
62-3
In
a game that was billed as a glorified scrimmage for a No. 1 ranked Florida team
headed to a showdown match-up against No. 2 ranked Alabama for the SEC crown and a chance for the Gators to repeat as national champions, the most
impressive thing fans left with was what’s ahead for the future. I am not
talking about near future as in wanting to play in the BCS national title game
in Pasadena. Oh
no, I mean the 2010 season future. What most fans got a glimpse of was the poise,
control, and easy pass touch abilities that highly touted red-shirt Sophomore
John Brantley showed in his second half performance that included passing for
three touchdowns one of which was a beautiful 31 yard floater to wide out
Frankie Hammond on 4th and 11 in the closing minutes of the game.
Brantley, getting his most extended playing time since the first two weeks of
the season, made the most of it by going 9-13 for 146 yards and three TD's.
Florida senior All-American
quarterback Tim Tebow had no problem sharing the spotlight with Brantley, the man who will eventually replace him as the Florida starter next
year. Tebow wasted no time putting in a decent day’s work with 215 passing
yards and 105 rushing for a total of 3 scores, and in Tebow-esque fashion he
scored on a 55- yard run streaking down the sidelines to put the Gators up 14-0
early in the first quarter. From there the Gators rolled to a solid 42-3
lead before Tebow gave way to Brantley early in the 3rd quarter. The
Gators, who are now 11-0 on the season, put on a passing display from the
opening series showcasing its young receiving corps who have been missing in
action for much of the season. Head coach Urban Meyer admitted as much that the
game plan hasn’t gotten the ball spread around enough but if the game against
FIU is any indication of a coming out party, then the Gator faithful will take
it. Wide receivers Deonte Thompson, Justin Williams, Omarious Hines, and
Frankie Hammond showed off their play-making skills in the hopes of becoming
more integrated into the Meyer game plan. Hines perhaps had the most
dazzlingly touchdown of the group as he took a short pass from Brantley and
broke tackles before dragging a FIU defender 7 yards into the end zone.
Still,
despite the effort of the offense and the outing of the young offensive
players, the defense made it a signature game from the start. Senior linebacker
Brandon Spikes got Florida
on the board with his early first quarter interception for a touchdown which set the tone of how difficult it would be for the out-manned Golden Panthers to keep pace. The Florida defense showed why it is one of the
most dominating units in all of college football limiting FIU to a field goal
and a meager 69 rushing yards on the day.
As
impressive a win as it was, the Gators will have to get into rivalry week mode.
The Florida State Seminoles come to town in an all important regular season ending home game this week for a senior class that has won 2 SEC and national championships
and will be trying to win a third and stay unbeaten. No Florida team has finished the season
undefeated and this group has a excellent chance of making history by doing so.
FSU comes into the game hoping to salvage a very disappointing season that has
them barely bowl eligible with a 6-5 record after posting a home win over Maryland. The FSU fans
can only hope that the Seminoles can spoil the Gator parade in the last
home game of Tebow’s illustrious career. No Gator team under Meyer has lost to FSU, and no one
thinks that streak will end on Saturday November 28th.
ESPN’s College Game Day
crew of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, and Lee Corso will be
setting up shop outside BHG stadium making its 31st trip to The Swamp, first
among appearances that the popular show has made to the best college match-ups.
Rashad's Weekend Projections in College Football Week 12
Here are my week 12 top 5 game
picks:
1. FIU at No. 1 Florida: In this glorified scrimmage, John
Brantley will get alot of playing time showing the Gator faithful of what’s to
come in 2010. Florida 59, FIU 6.
2. No. 11 Oregon at Arizona: This is a battle to see who
supplants USC as Pac-10 champ and a trip to the Rose Bowl. Ducks are looking
good. Oregon 28, Arizona 27.
3. No. 8 LSU at Ole Miss: The only marquee SEC matchup on
the weekend schedule, preseason this looked like it could be a battle for the
SEC west title, as it is now both teams trying to salvage the season after
disappointment. Ole Miss 24, LSU 17.
4. No. 25 Cal at No. 17 Stanford: Jim Harbaugh is the
Pac-10 smack version of Lane Kiffin in the SEC, but to his credit his wins
against top 10 teams back to back can’t be ignored as moral victories. Stanford
has become a real player in the Pac-10 this season with the outstanding play of
running back Toby Gerhart The Cardinal win the “Big Game” before closing out
the career of Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame next week. Stanford 38, Cal 24.
5. Maryland at Florida State: It’s do or die win time if
Florida State (5-5) is going to go bowling this year otherwise the only bowling
they will see is down at the AMF lanes. The Noles get it done before visiting
arch rival the Gators next week for Tebow’s last home game. Florida
State 34, Maryland 17.
Tidbits from Around College Football - Week 11
Well another week has passed as
SEC fans, well lets say No.1 ranked Florida
and No.2 ranked Alabama fans, await the
much anticipated match up on December 5th for the conference title
and a chance to play for the BCS national title in Pasadena. This game is looking more and more
like its going to settle many things as the season comes to a close. Florida and Bama are in
a race for conference supremacy and it looks like we could be seeing these two
powerhouse programs playing for many more conference championships in the years
to come.
Looking at the rest of the college
football landscape, hello there Stanford fans how do you do. What a smack down
did Stanford put on the USC Trojans on their homecoming game 55-21. Stanford
head coach Jim Harbaugh has a legit team as they have now steamrolled two top
10 teams (Oregon
and USC) in back to back weeks. Still the race for the Rose Bowl is Oregon’s to lose but with an upcoming road against Arizona things could get
interesting down the home stretch. The Pac-10’s Rose Bowl opponent has been
decided with Ohio State’s big win over Iowa in overtime. Ohio
State will be making its first Rose
Bowl trip back to Pasadena
since 1997.
TCU is another legit team with an
outside shot to make a trip to the championship game one week after the Rose
Bowl. In order for the 4th ranked HornFrogs to get to the BCS title
game they will a need 3rd ranked Texas to lose in either of its remaining
regular season games or the conference title game. TCU, Boise St, and Cincinnati are fighting for a outside shot to
get into the BCS title picture.
Comings and Goings:
The Florida Gators welcomed the
18th commitment of its 2010 recruiting class, with a verbal from
Palmdale (CA) All-American defensive back and 4 star player Joshua Shaw. Shaw
is rated by several recruiting services as the 3rd best cornerback
in the country, and should compete for early playing time next fall when he
suits up for the Gators.
Gator fans should expect this
2010 recruiting class to be one of the best ever as they are in the hunt for
several remaining top prospects. California is
becoming a hot recruiting spot for Florida
as they look to steal a few top players out of USC’s backyard.. The Gators are
also expected to sign two other Southern California
prospects in Ronald Powell and Kenny Stills.
Gators Strong Defensive
Effort Shuts Down South Carolina
It
wasn’t as pretty a win as we all hoped, but when the Florida Gators needed a
big play their defense stepped it up just in time to turn a pivotal South
Carolina fourth quarter drive into a back breaking interception by Justin
Trattou leading to a 24-14 victory and a 10-0 record on the season. Facing the
Ol’ Ball Coach Steve Spurrier and his Gamecocks, who honored the nation’s
wounded soldiers by wearing a specially designed uniformed with military
camouflage on the sleeves, Florida relied on
good old fashioned defense to limit South
Carolina to zero points in a tale of two halves.
Florida opened things up on its
opening series drive to take a quick 7-0 lead on a 65 yard Riley Cooper td
catch from Tim Tebow. Florida
followed with a field goal and touchdown run from Emannuel Moody in between two
scores by the Gamecocks. Despite its miscues, South Carolina hung on long enough to pester
the Gators but were nowhere near taking charge of the game.
Florida struggled again at times
on offense and its redzone play didn’t get much better either. However, there
are many positives as we saw a plethora of throws down field and an array of
receivers getting touches including Omarious Hines who had pretty much MIA.
Hines caught two balls on the night, and should see more playing time from here
on out as he is showing ability, speed, and elusiveness.
Junior
defensive back Joe Haden showed why he is a premier player and All-American and
should be the first cornerback taken in the 2010 NFL draft if he elects to
leave Florida
after this season. Haden forced fumbles, made tackles, held lock down coverage,
and had a game sealing interception to cap off his day which earned him SEC
defensive player of the week honors.
Next week Florida
will host Florida International, before the last home game for Tim Tebow and
Brandon Spikes against Florida
State. Florida fans can catch this week’s game on
PPV or ESPN gameplan, while the FSU game will be broadcast on CBS at 3:30pm
est.
Tidbits Around College Football - Week 10by Rashad Baadqir
Well college football fans what
did we learn in week 10? Well, Iowa
sure is the team that we thought they were. After their home loss to
Northwestern the Hawkeyes pretty much assured themselves of no trip to Pasadena for the Rose
Bowl or BCS title game. With Ohio State up next this week, Iowa
will likely be traveling to Florida
for the holidays with two losses.
Oregon welcome back to college football
reality. After blistering the USC Trojans the previous week in a clash for the
Rose Bowl race, Oregon
got bludgeoned by Stanford 51-45. Oregon will
need to win its remaining three Pac 10 games (Arizona
St, Arizona, and Oregon State)
to secure it’s Rose Bowl hopes.
Cincinnati escaped a close call performance
with it’s back up quarterback Zach Callaros leading the way against UConn 47-45.
Cincy has two big games (West
Virginia and Pitt) still looming on its schedule and
it all starts with the Mountaineers this week.
Bama can thank their lucky stars
for Julio Jones, he went from goat to hero in taking a short screen pass and
streaking down the sidelines on his way for a game breaking score leading the
Tide to a win over league rival LSU for the SEC East crown and trip to Atlanta
to play No.1 ranked Florida for the SEC championship as well as a chance to go
to the BCS title game in Pasadena. More controversy did not escape a season of
officiating horrors for the SEC. In what appeared to be a fourth quarter
interception by LSU player Patrick Peterson defending Julio Jones which could
have given LSU one more chance to score and take the lead back against Alabama.
However, the play was ruled out of bounds as video replays seemed to show that
Peterson’s foot was in bounds, but the call on the field by the side judge said
he was out.
Comings and Goings:
Oregon reinstated running back LeGarrette Blount back to the
team after his season opening post game fight in the Boise State
loss. Blount, who was originally suspended for the reminder of this season saw
his suspension reduced after fulfilling some structured requirements mandated
upon any chance of a return to the playing field. Still this is a controversial
move that many fans and pundits think should not have happened. Arguing that
for such action, Blount should not be allowed to return to the team, instead
just keep him on scholarship, and let the team move on. Oregon went on a seven game win streak after
that seasoning opening lost, before losing to Stanford last Saturday.
Gators Make Easy Work of Vandy
On
a night in which its All-American linebacker Brandon Spikes decided to
self-impose a one game suspension on himself after the highly publicized and
fingers in face mask video on Georgia running back Washaun Ealey was seen
around the world, the Florida Gators handled a gamely Vanderbilt football team
by a score of 27-3. Much of the overflow crowd in The Swamp, seeing their
Gators back home for the first time in several weeks, expected the Florida
offense to pick up where it left off the previous week when it manhandled
Georgia in Jacksonville 41-17. However what occurred was a sometimes confused
and out of sync offensive unit that had trouble handling the Commodores blitz
and stunts leading to sacking Florida quarterback Tim Tebow four times on the
night.
The number
one ranked Gators who are now 9-0 on the season and one step closer to
repeating as SEC and National champions dominated this game defensively from
start to finish. Led by Jermaine Cunningham, Carlos Dunlap, and Ryan Stamper
who recorded his second career interception in as many weeks held the Commodore
offense to 199 total yards on the night. The Florida defense in absence of
Spikes continued to show the nationally telecast audience why it is one the
most dominate teams in the hunt for the BCS title. However, before Florida has
hopes of playing the BCS title game, it must handle its 3 remaining opponents
(South Carolina, FIU, and arch rival Florida State) in addition to the much
anticipated SEC title match up with third ranked Alabama. Florida has the key
to repeating its BCS title holders in its own hands.
Still,
there is much work needed to get this Florida offense back at its championship
level from a year ago, then again when you are missing NFL rookie stars in
Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy, who by the way were in attendance at the game,
its somewhat understandable. The biggest problems from the Vandy game seemed to
come from the ineffective pass protection that often left Tebow scrambling,
hurrying throws, or taking sacks from missed assignments and poor line play.
The Florida run game has been business as usual, but what is withholding this
offense from being lights out is the pass game. With no true elite wide out
Tebow has relied this season on his main stay pass catchers in Riley Cooper and
Aaron Hernandez, yet Tebow needs some of the other guys in the ranks to step up
when they face its title or bust opponent Alabama next month. Deonte Thompson
has been the point man, but he was non existent in the Vandy game only making
one catch on the night. One thing that head coach Urban Meyer has been
struggling with is finding some creating ways to get other playmakers in the
mix and scoring in the redzone. Players such as Brandon James, Chris Rainey,
Jeff Demps, and company have been looked at as those playmakers. Vandy didn’t
really expose anything new that the Florida offense hasn’t already seen or
tried to fix, but it did give them some more things to think about in spreading
the field and getting others involved. The red zone or dead zone has been
Florida’s worst trouble spot to score touchdowns this season, settling for
field goals is not getting it done and the team has tried changing its scheme
by adding the I-formation and option pitches to eliminate the one dimensional
running of Tebow who has taken a beating since he returned to action from
suffering a concussion in week 4 against Kentucky. One thing Florida fans have
to maybe understand is that this offense is what it is and nothing more.
Florida seems to be taking a win at keeping it simple approach and move on, not
trying to become a score happy team that could take the team out the flow and
create more mistakes. With a salty defense that is unrelenting scoring enough
which seems like getting as much17-20 points is enough to win. I think any
rational Gator will take that. Still Florida is 9-0 and posting the nation’s
longest win streak of 19 in a row. Florida is winning solidly, but not winning
exceptionally, and for a Florida fateful that has gotten spoiled these past few
years with title wins, the diet of success can become a bore if there is no
slaughter of your opponent.
Up next
for Florida is a rangy South Carolina team that will be playing in front of a
home crowd on national television and led by former Florida head coach Steve
Spurrier. The Ol Ball coach’s team is spurting after a great start to the
season, now having lost its last two games.
Rashad A. Baadqir is a contributing writer for TheGatorConnection.com and can be reached
at browningofeurope@yahoo.com
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