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The 2017 Season

  
I'm not going to discuss the play of the game, or the outcome of the game.  Rather, I want to discuss the location.  Instead of going to Tubby's, we went to PS Tavern on Bay Street.  The owner, Scot Minshall, had worked at the sports bar that hosts the Rocky Mountain Gator Club in Denver.  Unlike other locations, who have seemingly just tolerated us, he is excited about his sports bar being the "Gator place" in Savannah.  Indeed, he had a small banner hanging that stated, "We support Gator Football".  We were in the back of the sports bar, with tables, TV, and audio set to our game.  Not only were our own local Gators present, but we had quite a few tourist Gators joining us.  With our location downtown, we will probably have many other Gator visitors joining us, adding to the excitement.

With Hurricane Irma approaching, it's not certain that (1) the Gators will play the all-important game against Tennessee on the 16th; (2) the game is played and people in Savannah will be able to see it; or (3) Savannah will have electricity and PS Tavern will not be ready to host us.  So Tennessee is still up in the air.  But as the season progresses, once Savannah recovers from Irma, we will definitely be back at PS Tavern for the rest of this season, and hopefully for seasons to come.
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Disintegration of a team . . . and who the GATORS are

Yeah, I was there - high atop Williams-Brice Stadium, on a beautiful sunny afternoon, Harris and I were up there in Section 503, cheering on our Gators, because, well because someone has to support our team.  When I ordered those tickets in August, there's no way I or anyone else could have even wildly imagined that the season would have come to this.  Nine selfish suspended players, a gazillion of injuries, a hurricane-caused loss of a game, and to me, what appears to be in hindsight a coach who was stubborn and would not change or fit in at UF, and here is where we are.  At the end of the game (yes, we stayed til the end) it was touching to see the Gators who Will Muschamp recruited reunite with him on the field for hugs.  And that begs the question, did we do the right thing in letting him go?  What if we hadn't fired Muschamp, who was what we call in Yiddish, a real mensch, a man who was respected by the university administration, who instilled discipline that was needed after the Urban Meyer era of Dunlap, Hernandez, et al?  Pat Dooley had an interesting take on that in an article earlier this week, and here it is.  While sitting there watching the game, there's one line I had read this week in that article that struck me as appropriate, given our past and present circumstances as Gators.  "The Gators — at the worst — might be like South Carolina. But that’s the thing. Florida doesn’t want to be like South Carolina. It wants to be like Florida. It doesn’t want to be happy with 8-4. And it never is."

Like any other stadium, Williams-Brice has painted on its facades the various accolades and accomplishments their teams have earned.  Championships?  The 1969 ACC title and the 2010 SEC Eastern Division Title.  That's it.  (yes, they left the ACC and became an independent for quite some time before joining the SEC in 1992, but still, that's it).  Since Steve came to Florida, we don't even "light up" the Eastern Divsion titles (they're all painted on the facade), we "light up" the SEC titles on one of the walls that used to say "This is Gator Country".  And there are other accomplishments and players, too, but the one that was most striking was a paean to Steve for leading them to eleven wins (I guess in that 2010 season).  Leading them to eleven wins!  Heck, even Muschamp did that for the Gators in his second (2012) season!  As we left the stadium, I told Harris about that article, and that point - all the giddy Gamecocks were ecstatic about beating us (btw, since joining the SEC, they have beaten the Gators just six times - here's the record.), and that's great for them - but the best they will be, after cleaning Wofford's clock next week and getting beat by Clemson, will be 8-4.  And that's fine with them.  It isn't fine with us, and the next Gator head coach has to understand that.

In the meantime, another run to a championship begins Monday night on ESPNU at 7 pm when Mike White leads his Gators onto the court to defeat Gardner-Webb in the basketball season opener.  Ranked 7th in one poll and 8th in the other, two ESPN analysts have actually penciled the Gators to win the whole thing in March.  Basketball season is a long slog, and we'll be getting together to watch as many Saturday afternoon games as the Gators will have.

I also want to mention that the Lady Gators Hoopsters will be here playing in a tournament that starts at 4:30 on Tuesday November 21.  If you are in town and not working (me, LOL), I encourage you to go.  The tourney is in the Civic Center and we play Richmond first.  Still trying to arrange a get-together with the team.  Stay tuned this week.

Here we go . . . again

As the late, great, Casey Stengel would have said, "who woulda thunk it"? (or was it the late, great, Yogi Berra?)  Three years removed from Will Muschamp, and all of the frustration of his tenure, and the Gators are looking for a new coach, again.  Don't let your Bulldog friends tell you it was because we lost to the Doggies.  That just made it easier to grease the skids on Jim McElwain's sled out of Gainesville.
 
I'm not going to write much of my two cents here, because you can read every article I link to, so I'll start with Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun, who was our guest speaker in 2016.  And as he wrote, the McElwain Era Began to Unravel Early On.  Pat has a lot of videos on the Gainesville Sun, but if you're like me, you might prefer the written word.  However, they're all pretty good.  He also has a weekly article entitled "The Back Nine," as in the back nine of a golf course.  This week's was excellent, and here it is.  So who's gonna be our new coach?  Only AD Scott Stricklin knows.  But here's his take on that.

After being our guest speaker for two of the last three years, it would be unfair to not include Zach Abolverdi and the site he works for, SEC Country.  Zach does a lot of podcasts, but he and his colleagues have written some great articles on this, including a deluge on Sunday detailing the reasons why Mac's gone, and who Stricklin should be looking at.  Their site is soooo good, with soooo many good articles on all of this, that I'm just going to provide the link to their site, and as you load it, just keep clicking "Load More" on the bottom of the page to find what you're looking for.  They have a great article on each of the possible successors.

Oh, and by the way, did I tell you that ND transfer Malik Zaire is finally going to start on Saturday at Mizzou?  It's about time, and it's something that might not have happened if Mac were still coach.  A 7-4 regular season record is still possible, as well as an "average" bowl game.  But I think it wouldn't be if Franks were the QB.  We'll see how Malik does, and guess what?  If he does well, there's still the possibility he might come back next year if the NCAA will grant him another year due to his injury at ND, to run what could be a spread option offense.

It all starts Saturday, and we'll see you at Buffalo Wild Wings (one time only), at noon, to see how it begins to turn out.

Texas A&M Game -Videos and Thoughts

 

Gators enter the field against Texas A&M in their "Swamp Green" uniforms

 

Tom Petty's "We Won't Back Down" after "We Are The Boys" at the end of the 3rd quarter

Sorry for the full size - I've tried to reduce it, to no avail. Perhaps I'll figure it out.

So just before and after the PA played Tom's song, we had the high point of the night - first Felipe's 70 yard scramble, and then Dre Massey's (Dre, where have you been?) jet-sweep TD. And then . . . nothing on offense. Up 17-10, and the Gators couldn't score again. And worse of all, the special teams couldn't come through. The ensuing KO sailed out of bounds (I guess Eddy was trying to pin their returner deep), and a later punt was not only kicked directly to the receiver, but the coverage was lousy. But the real problem was the inability to convert 3rd downs in the 4th quarter. We haven't seen this level of inconsistency in quite some time.

Nonetheless, as I pointed out in my Georgia week e-mail, the boys in Orange and Blue were just as mediocre (by record) heading into battle against ranked Georgia teams in both 2002 and 2014, and pulled off amazing upsets (especially three years ago, with Muschamp's job on the line). You can't take anything for granted in this match-up. Georgia's good, but their SEC wins are against teams with a combined lopsided losing record. This is the best SEC defense they've faced to date. Injured Gators (Cleveland, Toney, et al) will be back (no, the "Knucklehead Nine" as Pat Dooley calls the suspended players, will not be back, maybe even not until the FSU game, if at all). Perhaps QB Zaire will play some. Perhaps Coach Mac has some trick plays, or a new offense, up his sleeve. That's why you have to play the game.

So if you're not headed to Jacksonville, we hope to see you at PS Tavern for what we hope will be a rousing good time, and a big surprise for Bulldog fans.

Man Down . . . Man Up

I missed the Vanderbilt game due to Yom Kippur (no TV, no Internet, just praying . . . nearly all day).  But when the holy day ended after 8pm, I got on my Android, and the first thing I saw on Gatorsports.com (after the score), was the surprising loss of starting QB Luke Del Rio, for the year.  You have to feel sorry for the guy.  But this meant that Felipe Franks would not only once again be the starter, but he'd be working on some more OJT, on the job training. 

Besides reading all about it, I got to see all the highlights on ESPN's site.  After a few fits and starts once Felipe got into the game, he seemed to settle into a groove, passing for 185 yards on ten passes, but no TDs.  And the rushing attack sure looked good.  It was the first game with FIVE Gator rushing TDs since back in 2012.  Three of them from RB Lamical Perine, and two more from freshman sensation Malik Davis, who ran for over 120 yards, including his jaw-dropping 4th and one 39 yard run to daylight to close out the game.  He looks like he's going to be a special player.  The Gators finished the game with 467 offensive yards, a marked improvement.  With the play of the offensive line improving, this looks like it's going to be the formula for the rest of this year - let Felipe manage the game instead of win it, while the improved rushing attack puts up the yards and the scores. 

This new offense will take the field this Saturday against what has to be an embarrassed bunch of LSU Tigers, after getting humiliated at home for homecoming against Troy.  If you're not going to The Swamp for OUR Homecoming, join the Savannah Gator Club this Saturday to see if the Orange and Blue can keep the winning rolling.  Kickoff is at 3:30pm, so don't be late.

The Streak Goes On!

Since Saturday night, it's been said that there are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and Kentucky losing to Florida in football.

1993 - "Doering's got a Touchdown"; 2014 - triple overtime (I was there, but still not the most tense game I've seen in person, that would be 2006 South Carolina); and now, 2017.  The wins over Kentucky haven't all been close, there have been plenty of blowouts and plenty of "normal" 27-14 kind of scores.  And there's been plenty of just good Gator luck (like the holding call on the UK offensive lineman on their last drive Saturday night).  But no matter what the score, since I was living in Atlanta, working for The Coca-Cola Company, going to grad school at Georgia State, and my son Harris, whom many of you know, was only two years old, the Kentucky Wildcats just cannot beat the Gators in football.  Thirty-one games is one heckuva long streak.  You may even feel sorry for them, but don't - their supremacy in basketball precludes that.

When Coach Mac replaced Felipe Franks with Luke Del Rio, I'm sure there were plenty of Gator fans wondering what he was doing.  In 2016, Del Rio was 5-1 as a starter, and due to injuries (now we know he had multiple) he only played four complete games.  But when he was healthy, he was good - knowing the playbook inside out, he showed he had a command of the field.  When he took over for Franks, the running game took off (watch out for freshman RB Malik Davis, #20 - he had 93 yds rushing), the play was crisper, there was less confusion before each play, and well, we scored twice in 8 minutes.  Sure, he had one pick.  But the play that exhibited his command the best was 4th and 3 heading to the first of the two final TDs. He rolled right, there was nowhere to go.  But he saw his "check down" guy, RB Mark Thompson, wide open over the middle for about a 5-6 yard gain and a first down.  Franks probably would've tried to run the ball, with a disastrous result.  Don't get me wrong, Felipe IS the future of Florida football.  But he's still not totally ready, and if we want to win THIS year, Del Rio HAS to be the starter.  He WILL be this Saturday at home against Vanderbilt.

What a Finish!!

1973 - I was in the old Gator Bowl as a freshman to see "little" Lee McGriff catch the fourth-down TD and Hank Foldberg Jr. catch the winning 2 pt conversion to defeat the Bulldogs, 11-10.  Although it was at the end of the game, it wasn't the actual end, as there were about less than two minutes left in the game.  1993 - "Doering's got a touchdown" as Danny Wuerffel hits Chris Doering in the endzone on the last play of the game to defeat the Kentucky Wildcats for the seventh straight time (who knew then that the streak would continue to the present day?).  2006 - I was there, in the northwest corner of BHG Stadium, in a stadium gripped by pandemonium as Jarvis Moss blocked South Carolina's Ryan Succop's attempted FG, on the last play of the game, to preserve the 17-16 win over the Gamecocks en route to the NCAA title.  And now, perhaps the greatest ending in Florida football history, a legend-making 63 yard bomb from QB Felipe Franks to WR Tyrie Cleveland, with no time left (the play started with 9 seconds left) to claim an astonishing 26-20 win over the arch-rival Volunteers.  It was probably as much of a shock to us Gators as it was to the Vol fans.  For us though, it was the happiest shock you could have.  

So as the team prepares for its first true road game (i.e. in an opponent's stadium) against Kentucky, we still have to acknowledge that despite being such an incredible play, this team still has some ways to go before it can be considered any kind of contender.  They need to have a more consistent running game, and Franks needs to grow into being an SEC quarterback.  Players need to learn to hold onto the ball, and more.  This may even be a "rebuilding year" for the Gators.  But it sure looks like it just might be an entertaining year of Florida football.

Not many showed up at PS Tavern Saturday afternoon, but there were some Gators there we didn't know but met, and it looks like it's going to be our place.  Earlier in the year, I alluded to the problem at Tubby's - that if a UGA game was on opposite ours, Tubby's was "required" to play the audio for the Georgia game.  And I wrote that it was unlikely until Jacksonville, we'd be playing any of our games at the same time they would be playing.  Well guess what?  Four weeks in, and I've already been proven wrong.  Their home game against Miss State is at 7pm on ESPN, and our game at Kentucky is on at 7:30pm on the SEC Network.  Whose game do YOU think Tubby's will have the audio on?  Now it's nice to know that we have a place to go to where the owner WANTS us.  So come downtown Saturday evening for what we know will be a welcome environment and we hope will be another entry in "the streak."  We hope to see YOU there!!

Tennessee Game

Here I quote the Gainesville Sun's Pat Dooley, who was our Annual Banquet guest speaker in 2016: "Strictly from a football standpoint — and I broach this with extreme caution because football feels so trivial in our state right now — Florida needed this game."  Pat was referring to the Northern Colorado game, but now he might be referring to the Tennessee game.  I'm sure that many Gators might feel now is not the time to play this game, either.  As a "semi-native" Miamian, I've got family and friends down in the "hurricane zone," and I think even they would want the Gators to play this one.  It definitely will provide a distraction from their problems.  And I'm sure that after a week with no school, the students are ready for some football.  So let's all take some time off to cheer on the Orange and Blue this Saturday.  See you there.