Tag: Florida Gators (Page 7 of 22)

      Florida, Ohio State could be down players for bowl games

      December 21, 2009 /

      According to a FOXSports.com report, Florida will be without Brandon James for the Sugar Bowl after the all-purpose player had surgery on his right foot.

      James, a senior from St. Augustine, broke a bone in foot against Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title game and had surgery last week. Florida coach Urban Meyer says Chris Rainey, Jeff Demps and Joe Haden will take over James’ punt and kickoff return duties against No. 4 Cincinnati on New Year’s Day.

      James finished with 1,324 total yards and two touchdowns this season. He had 109 yards rushing, 215 yards receiving and a score, 756 yards and a touchdown on kickoff returns and 244 yards on punt returns.

      FOX is also reporting that three Ohio State players will likely be ineligible to play in the Rose Bowl.

      Seniors wide receiver Ray Small and defensive lineman Rob Rose and sophomore running back Bo DeLande are likely to miss the Jan. 1 bowl game against Oregon due to a violation of team rules, the Columbus Dispatch reported on its Web site.

      Freshman receiver Duron Carter was declared ineligible last week.

      As of Monday morning, the school had not issued a statement regarding the status of the three players, meaning the decision may not yet be final.

      Both Rose and Small had academic issues at the start of spring practice this season, although each player had talked about overcoming their problems to turn in successful seasons. Ohio State has officially confirmed that the players will be held out, but it doesn’t look good.

      Losing Rose would be a hit to the Buckeyes’ defensive line depth, while Small would sorely be missed in the return game and as the team’s No. 3 wideout. Taurian Washington would likely take over as OSU’s No. 3 receiver with Carter also being held out of the Rose Bowl with academic issues.


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      College Football

      Six Pack of Observations: Alabama crushes Florida in SEC title game

      December 5, 2009 /

      Here are six quick-hit observations for Alabama’s 32-13 shellacking of Florida in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game.

      1. Maybe Lane Kiffin had it right after all.
      Maybe that brash Lane Kiffin had it right when he said earlier this week that, “Florida has better players, and Alabama has better coaches.” And actually, Kiffin only had it half right. Nick Saban outschemed, outcoached and outsmarted Urban Meyer for four quarters and not only did ‘Bama have the better coaches, but they proved to have the better players as well. Meyer simply didn’t have his team prepared to play today – period.

      2. This was total domination at its best.
      The game wasn’t even as close as the final score wound indicate. Alabama’s backfield trio of quarterback Greg McElroy (12-of-18 passing, 239 yards, 1 TD) and running backs Mark Ingram (113 yards, 3 TDs) and Trent Richardson (80 yards on 11 carries, 7.3 YPC average) played near-flawless games. The Tide dominated the Gators in every phase of the contest and never let up after smacking Florida in the mouth from the very first drive.

      3. So much for Florida’s game plan.
      Coming into the game, pundits figured that if Florida stopped Ingram that the Gators come out victorious. But instead, Alabama’s game plan to stay balanced was executed to perfection because not only were the Gators unable to stop Ingram, but they were unable to stop McElroy too. Florida tried a variety of different looks and in the end they just had no answer for what the Tide was doing offensively. And it really didn’t even matter that defensive end Carlos Dunlap (who was suspended after arrested for DUI earlier in the week) didn’t play because Florida just had the wrong scheme.

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      College Football

      2009 College Football Odds: Championship Weekend

      December 2, 2009 /

      Thursday, December 3

      No. 16 Oregon State at No. 7 Oregon, 9:00PM ET
      There’s never been as much at stake in the annual Civil War game between Oregon State and Oregon, with the winner booking a trip to the Rose Bowl. The Beavers blew an opportunity to head to Pasadena last season when they were blown out by Oregon at home. The Beavers haven’t been to the Rose Bowl since 1964, while Oregon hasn’t made the trip to Pasadena since 1994.
      Odds: Oregon –9.5

      Saturday, December 5

      No. 1 Florida vs. No. 2 Alabama, 4:00PM ET
      No game has as much at stake than this Saturday’s SEC title game in Atlanta. The winner will have the opportunity to play in the BCS title game, while the loser has to pray that Texas is beaten by Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship Game and that voters favor them over unbeaten TCU or Cincinnati. Can Tim Tebow lead the Gators to another victory over ‘Bama this season or will Mark Ingram and the Crimson Tide defense avenge last year’s loss to Florida?
      Odds: Florida -6

      No. 3 Texas vs. No. 22 Nebraska
      It’s pretty simple for Colt McCoy and the Longhorns: Either win and book a trip to the national title game or lose and watch their opportunity to become champions fly out the window. The Big 12 North hasn’t beaten the Big 12 South in the title game since 2003 when Kansas State beat Oklahoma. The last time these two teams met, Texas came away with a 28-25 victory in 2007. Can the Cornhuskers snap the South’s reign over the North?
      Odds: Texas –13.5

      No. 5 Cincinnati at No. 15 Pittsburgh, 12:00PM ET
      West Virginia’s win over the Panthers last Friday took a lot of the intrigue out of this matchup, but with the Big East championship on the line, both teams still have plenty to play for. A BCS berth is also on the line and speculation continues to grow that Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly is headed for South Bend. Can the Bearcats overcome this one final road challenge and head to a BCS bowl? Or will PITT ruin Cincinnati’s perfect season?
      Odds: Cincinnati -2

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      College Football

      Lane Kiffin calls out Urban Meyer . . . . again

      December 2, 2009 /

      Lane Kiffin just loves jabbing Urban Meyer.

      Tennessee coach didn’t mind distinguishing between the two coaches, though he hesitated to predict a winner.

      “It’s kind of hard to call,” Kiffin said Tuesday in an interview on WNML-AM in Knoxville. “There’s a bunch of great players on both teams. Florida has so much speed. I think you’ll see Alabama will outscheme Florida, and Florida has given up 28 sacks this year when a bunch of guys come free. But the problem is Superman (quarterback Tim Tebow) is back there. It comes down to can you tackle him.

      “It will be a real interesting matchup. Florida has better players, and Alabama has better coaches, so we’ll see.”

      The message her is clear. Kiffin thinks Urban Meyer is lucky to have Tim Tebow, and that without Tebow Meye and Florida football will come back down to Earth. You know he’s just waiting for the rematch where he gets to play Florida without Tim Tebow. Next year should be fun.

      NFL

      How the BCS breaks down heading into championship week

      November 30, 2009 /

      After Florida, Alabama and Texas all escaped rivals week with victories, the BCS standings remained unchanged this week. The Gators still hold the top spot, while the Crimson Tide are second and the Longhorns are third.

      Heading into the final week of the season, here is how everything breaks down for each of the five BCS title contenders:

      Florida: Tim Tebow and the Gators play Alabama in the SEC championship on Saturday and with a win, they’ll play in the title game. There’s always an outside chance that even if Florida losses this weekend, they could still play for a national title if Nebraska beats Texas and voters don’t rank an undefeated TCU or Cincinnati team in the No. 2 spot.

      Alabama: A win over Florida on Saturday would catapult the Tide into the top spot in the BCS standings, which means they’ll play for a national championship. And just like Florida, ‘Bama still has an outside shot to play in the title game if Texas losses and voters decide to screw TCU or Cincinnati.

      Texas: A win over Nebraska in the Big 12 championship would mean that the Longhorns would take on the winner of the SEC title game. A loss to the Cornhuskers would mean Texas has little to no shot of playing for a national title because the loser of the SEC champ game or undefeated TCU or Cincinnati would get the bid.

      TCU: It’s now a waiting game for the Horned Frogs after they finished the regular season 12-0. They’ll be rooting for Texas to lose and they wouldn’t mind seeing either Florida or Alabama get blown out in the SEC title game in order to endure themselves to voters. A Cincinnati loss to Pittsburgh wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

      Cincinnati: The Bearcats might be able to improve their ranking by beating Pittsburgh for the Big East championship on Saturday. With TCU idle, a good showing against a good Panthers team might convince voters that Cincinnati should leap frog over the Horned Frogs if Texas losses. That said, the Bearcats are still hoping for a miracle when it comes to playing in the title game.


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      College Football

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