Gator Empire Collapses

One win away from the National Championship game. Just one. One lost away from being eliminated from the National Championship game. Just one. Win, and the Gators are off to Pasedena. Lose, and the Gators are heading back to Gainesville with agony and defeat. Turns out that Saturday night, Alabama got a little pay back from last years SEC championship game. Tide won 32-13 and clinched a berth to head to the Rose Bowl and play for the BCS Championship. It might have been the worst lost that the Meyer/Tebow Empire took since forever. No more time to give another promise or speech, no more undefeated season, no more national championship, no more number one and probably no more Heisman for Tebow. That's how big the lost was.

If the Gators were to lose, I think no expected them to lose the way they did. Bama's offensive just clobbered the Gators D. Their offensive line protected McElroy all day, and opened lanes for Heisman candidate, Mark Ingram. Who knew that the Gators defense, allowing about 9 PPG coming into the Championship game would allow 32 points in their semi-finals.

Despite McElroy getting the win over Tebow. Tebow threw for more yards but there was a few mistakes made by the Gators. Drop balls by Hernandez, Cooper, Nelson, Demps, Nelson and every single receiver the Gators had. It was just horrible. When was the last time that we saw the Gators get handled the way the did? For 22 straight games, everyone forgot how bad it feels to lose.

No one will know if DE Carlos Dunlap could have a made a difference because the Gators didn't look like the number one defense in the nation. Now the final game of 20+ seniors is near. Most likely they will playing in the Sugar Bowl and some say against Cincinnati. Just hope Tebow can go out in style.

In my eyes:

As I was watching Alabama celebrate all over the field, I had a weird comparison in my mind. It is a movie but the events happened in real life: Friday Night Lights. A town, a team, and a dream. 1988 Odessa Permian Panthers. A team that had a bunch of senior leaders, but when they got to the State Semi-Finals, they lost versus a very dominate, fast, and bigger Dallas Carter team. Funny how all four teams wore the same colors on game day, Dallas Carter held an explosive offense to 9 points and in the movie, they show a senior captain of the Panthers crying after the tough loss. The following year, even after the team lost so many leaders; they went on to win the State Championship the following year with a new QB.

I know that many will think "What's Florida without Tebow" Like ice without the cream, but the Gator Nation might not have to worry so much. John Brantley, a redshirt sophomore, was a 4 star recruit coming out of high school and has shows signs that he can be an elite QB with his live arm and has run a 4.58 40 yard dash, so he can move around just like Tebow. He's been around the game a long time, his dad and uncle played for UF, now- it will be Brantley's turn to show the whole nation what he's made of.

Tradition

Matt Leinart, Colt Brennan and now Matt Barkley. Leinart and Brennan had their share of breaking records and leading their teams to undefeated seasons and Barkley might easily be next. All three outstanding quarterbacks share a little bit of history. That history all starting at a private catholic school in Santa Ana, California. Mater Dei High School.

Matt Leinart. He is USC's all-time leader in career touchdown passes and completion percentage, and is second at USC behind Carson Palmer in completions and yards. Leinart was 37–2 as a starter. In Mater Dei, he led his team to a California Interscholastic Federation Division I co-championship, and was named the Sierra League's Offensive Most Valuable Player. He was also named Gatorade California high school football player of the year.



Colt Brennan. Where do I begin? Lets just say 30 NCAA I FBS records in a nutshell. Brennan didn't start a game before his senior because he was backing up a future Heisman trophy winner in Leinart and due to that, he never really pulled "over the top" numbers with Leinart under center for most of his high school career. BUT, he still eventually became one of the best college QB's we've seen in a long time and he came from no other quarterback factory than Mater Dei.


Now a new young gun has arrived in Matt Barkley. Matt Barkley is the first true freshman to start at QB for USC from the beginning of the season. In high school, we was also the first freshman to start since 1984 . He threw fir 10 touchdowns in his first year of high school. In 2007, he threw for 35 touchdowns. Barkley was named Gatorade National Player of the year and the 2007 Gatorade national male athlete of the year, becoming the first non-senior to win both awards. Barkley also won the 2007 Glenn Davis Award given to best high school football player in Southern California, as well as the inaugural Joe Montana Award as the nation's top high school quarterback.

So what has been scientifically proven? Mater Dei is the place to go if you are a young quarterback.

Heisman Hopefuls After Week 13

Front-runner's performances on week 13:

C.J Spiller:

• 37 offensive yards
• 18 rushing yards
• 19 receiving yards
• 88-yard kickoff return
• Team Loss vs South Carolina
  

Mark Ingram:

• 30 yards rushing
• 21 receiving yards
• Team Won vs Auburn

Toby Gerhart:

• 205 rushing yards
• 3 touchdowns
• 33 receiving yards
• 1 throwing touchdown
• Team won vs Notre Dame

Tim Tebow:

• 17-21 passing
• 221 yards
• 3 passing touchdowns
• 90 yards rushing
• 2 rushing touchdowns
• Team won vs. Florida State

Colt McCoy:

• 24-40 passing
• 304 passing yards
• 4 passing touchdowns
• 175 rushing yards
• 1 rushing touchdown
• Team won vs. Texas A&M

End of a Era

On Saturday afternoon, it won't be another game day in Gainesville. Saturday's game versus Florida State is much more meaningful. It will be the final game of Tim Tebow at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Four years ago, Tim Tebow's choice of college was between Alabama and his child-hood dream school, Florida. It wasn't easy for Tebow; crying and not knowing what to do. One day prior to the anouncement, Tebow spent twelve hours talking to then Tide coach Mike Shula. Urban Meyer thought he had no chance of getting Tebow to become a Gator.

Singing Day came, and coach Meyer refused to watch Tebow's nationally televised pick. Instead, he went outside to play catch with his son. His wife and two daughters went screaming outside to tell Meyer of the surprise pick. The QB from Nease High School officially became a Florida Gator.

In his freshmen year, Tebow became a goal line specialist and help the Gators win a national championship for the first time in a decade.

Ever since, it has been a Heisman trophy, Maxwell's, four NCAA records, 12 SEC records and two dozen school records.

After four years, two Southeastern Conference championships, two national titles, and a chance to lead the program to its first perfect season, the top-ranked Gators may be ready to name him "The Greatest One."

Who Knew

Who would have ever known that the Stanford Cardinals would be 7-3 (6-2 in the Pac -10) and most importantly, win back to back games versus top 10 teams.

Last week, the Cardinals won over a very strong Oregon team and on Saturday, Stanford destroyed #9 USC 55-21. It was the worst lost for a USC team in the Pete Carroll-Era.

QB Andrew Luck threw two touchdowns and ran for another, RB Toby Gerhart ran for 178 yds with 3 touchdowns and USC QB, Matt Barkley, was simply outplayed, throwing for 196 yds, 1 touchdown and 3 picks.

USC streaks of Pac-1o titles, Top 4 AP finishes, BCS Bowling, and 11 win seasons are now down the drain after this loss.

Remember Dave Wannstedt?

Dave Wannstedt succeeded Jimmie Johnson as the Miami Dolphins head coach in 2000. In his first year as the head coach, he took the Dolphins to a 11-5 record and win the AFC East title for the first time since 1994. Result in the playoffs? 27-0 loss to the Oakland Raiders.

2nd time around was similar. In the 2001 season the Dolphins managed another 11-5 record and another embarrassment in the playoffs. This time a 20-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

3rd season: The Fins didn't win 11 games this time but still were able to go 9-7. The Dolphins needed just one more win to clinch a playoff spot, but they blew an 11 point against the New England Patriots and cost them by not going to the postseason for the 3rd straight year.

Now the 4th season was hell from the start. Star player, Ricky Williams, who Wannstedt traded two draft picks for him, retired out of nowhere. Key players were injured and the Dolphins won 1 out of their first 9 games. Wannstedt resigned in the middle of the season.

In December 23, 2004, University of Pittsburgh named Wannstedt as the head coach of the team.

The first three years were tough for the Panthers, finishing .500 only once.

In 2008, the Panthers went on a roll with a 9-4 record, but a lost in a bowl game. Even though they lost, it was a sign of a new beginning in Pittsburgh.

This season, the Panthers started 3-0, but lost a game against NC State in the fourth quarter. Wannstedt's team went on to win the next 5 games and are now 8-1(currently winning, 20-7, vs Notre Dame)

If the Panthers continue the streak, they will have a chance to win the Big East title if they are able to upset the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats in the last game of the season. Does anyone smell Oranges in Miami?

Upset Upset

Last week we saw No.7 Oregon upset USC and basically bashing their BCS title hopes and no Pac-10 title this year. Oregon became the number one team in the Pac-10 but once again, the standings change just after one week.

Stanford did what Oregon had done to USC last week. UPSET. Running back Toby Gerhart ran for a school record 223 rushing yards with 3 TD's against a defense who held all of USC running backs to a total of 140 rushing yards! Freshman QB Andrew Luck didn't need much luck because his true freshmen skills were exposed. Luck went for 251 yards, 2 touchdowns in 12/20 passing. Standford pulled off the 51-42 victory.

With the win, Stanford becomes bowl-eligible for the first time in eight years. The win over Oregon could be a bigger win than the one of two years ago when Stanford SHOCKED No.2 USC in the Coliseum.

Now with the lost that Oregon suffered, it takes them out of title contention and the margin of the Pac-10 title just got smaller.


Note: Iowa's undefeated streak came to an end last night when Northwestern won 17-10. The Hawkeyes 'Captain Comeback' QB Ricky Stanzi, suffered an ankle injury and was out for the rest of the game.

Only unbeaten teams left are Florida, Alabama, Texas, Boise State, TCU and Cincinnati .

Other news: No.22 Notre Dame had no luck of the Irish last night when Navy took them down for the 2nd straight win in Notre Dame Stadium 23-21.

SEC On Top

The first BCS ranking poll came out this week. Not much of a surprise just the Boise State Broncos stand in number 4 while the USC Trojans at 7. We all know some of these teams are bound to lose and these polls will change about every week!




BCS Poll

RK Team W-L
1 Florida 6-0
2 Alabama 6-0
3 Texas 6-0
4 Boise State 6-0
5 Cincinnati 6-0
6 Iowa 7-0
7 USC 5-1
8 TCU 6-0
9 LSU 5-1
10 Miami (FL) 5-1
Say Florida and Bama make it to the SEC Championship like last year, only one of the two will be heading to the National Championship Game in Pasadena. So the best looking team right now is Texas, unless the computers mess up everything like every year.

Traditional Powerhouses Not So Powerful?

UCLA, Michigan, Notre Dame and Miami. What do they all have in common? All of them have a rich tradition of being the best winning programs in all of the college football, but what has happened to them in the last few years?

UCLA: Won their last national championship in 1954. It is hard trying to have a perfect record with the conference in which the Bruins are in. USC seems unbeatable in this decade. The Bruins haven't been in a BCS bowl game since 1998, in which they lost and that was the last time a UCLA team was ranked in the top 10 in an AP and coaches top 25 poll in the end of the season. UCLA managed to sign former Bruin alum, Rick Neuheisel, but only started out his first season with a 4-8 record. Being a successful QB in his playing days in Pasadena, can he motivate and recruit the right players so a team can finally challenge the Trojans and win the Pac-10? He sure has to fix his QB situation. Bruin QB's only threw for 9 touchdowns the whole season with 20+ interceptions.

Michigan: Who could come out with a victory after playing at "The Big House"? A lot of teams in the past two seasons. The Wolverines have the most all-time wins and highest winning percentage in NCAA history. Anyone could say they are the best program in college football history, but anyone can question that now with the slump they recently entered. Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is one of the best in all of sports, the Wolverines lead the all time series, 57-42-6, but since 2000, the Wolverines have only won twice versus the Buckeyes. They haven't won a BCS bowl game since the 2000 Orange Bowl and under new head coach Rich Rodriguez went a 3-9, the worst in school history. Maybe it will take time for the Wolverines to get use to the spread offense. They will have to be successful with it if they want to beat Ohio State, Penn State and even their cross-town rival Michigan State.

Notre Dame: 11 national championship and 7 Heisman trophy winner. Not to mention they have the most All-Americans of any school. Can anyone top that? But it seems that every time The Fighting Irish go into a BCS bowl game, they get crushed. They've lost their last 6 BCS bowl games and before this seasons bowl win against Hawaii, they had a 9 bowl-game losing streak going for them. Head coach Charlie Weis is always in the hot seat after a season due to the failed expectations the team had. Current QB Jimmy Clausen had all this hype and many thought he was the next big star in South Bend, but has struggled. In the 2007 season, they had a 3-6 record, they lost 38-0 to both Ohio State and Michigan, and lost to Navy, which they haven't won vs. Notre Dame since 1963. The good sign is they started the following season 4-1, but ended with a 6-6 record. How much time will they give Charlie Weis to bring back the glory days?

Miami: "The U" has won more national championship in the past 30 years than any other team in the nation. Two hurricanes have won the Heisman and six have been inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame. They also hold the record for the longest home winning streak with 58 wins. Also, their success in the NFL Draft and the players playing in the NFL. For some strange reason, after switching conference to the ACC, Miami hasn't been that dominate team as the ones in the past. While in the Big East, the Hurricanes won the conference 4 years in a row and zero championships in the ACC. Even though they still have amazing recruitment done by head coach Randy Shannon, the defense isn't the same like the years of Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Sean Taylor etc. All of them are/were amazing players in the NFL. Some experts say that 2000-2001 Miami Defense was the best in NCAA history. Ever since coach Larry Coker left, the Hurricanes "swag" left. With the recruiting done the last couple of seasons, many say the "The U" will be back soon and with the talent they have, the Hurricanes can be a dangerous team for years to come.