Who Dat?
We’re number two! We’re number two! Or something like that. Maybe the Zookification of the Gator football program makes it such that we of the Gator Nation are over-joyed with the current situation. Five years ago we’d be miffed that we’re ONLY ranked second. In other good news; the Bulls won and the Noles lost. And, as you might have heard, the Pewter Pirates dropped to 0-4. Could a perfect(ly futile) season be in the works? Set your dial to TALB and RIP THE KNOB OFF!!!!!
Break Yourself Fool!
In football skill is an important factor. In fact, the most important factor in determining the outcome of a contest. However, luck, or breaks, plays a pretty big role too. Luck manifests itself is small ways like a punt hitting at the 1 inch line and then bouncing away from the end zone, or your star running back’s ankle not flexing too much and causing injury, or even if the refs see a foul or not. In the Bucs’ first two collisions of the 2006 campaign they were just bad. They couldn’t move the ball nor stop the opposition from moving the ball. But against Carolina we had them. We frakking had them on the ropes for most of the game. Then someone’s spleen went and ruptured. It was the starting QB’s spleen. And he wasn’t the same after that. We came within two points of winning anyway. Two weeks later in Nawlins we find ourselves with a rookie starting QB. And it’s not Matt Leinhart or even Jay Cutler for that matter. It was the 98374th selected Bruce Gradkowski out of Toledo. But the kid did well in the preseason and Gruden generally has a knack for making something out of his signal callers. And Grads did very well. He only made a hand-full of mistakes; a lot less than was expected. And again we came within striking distance of winning the game. Then the breaks come into play. How many WRs throw a pick on a route every week and get away with it? Why in the hell does the opposing coach get to call a penalty (intentional grounding)*?
But good teams work through the bad breaks. And so far the Bucs haven’t been able to get past them. Then there’s the boneheaded coaching over the last couple of games. Why are we calling long passes on third and short in critical situations? If you see a match-up use it to take the CB and maybe a safety deep and open up the underneath for the first down. I would not be surprised to see that play show up on TMQ’s list of Sour Plays of the Week.
And the defense? WTF? I haven’t seen tackling this poor since Florida faced Nebraska a decade ago. Some commentators have blamed the fall-off on the loss of coaches. But these are, for the most part, long time players in this system. They know how to tackle and they know what is expected of them. I can’t believe that just because Rod Marinelli left Ronde Barber or Derrick Brooks forgot how to tackle. That doesn’t wash kids. Is it age? Could be, but not everyone on the defense is 62 like Brooks and Barber. Barett Ruud, Ryan Nece, and the rest are all spring chickens. I’m open to suggestion as to why the defense has declined so much just since last year.
*Almost every week you see a long pass go sailing down field and it lands nowhere near anyone. Yet I’ve never, EVER, seen such a pass called intentional grounding. You can’t know if the QB or the receiver made a mistake. Or if the defense kept the receiver from getting into position. And to have the opposing coach talk the officials into it? Unheard of! I’d like to see Mike Pireria explain that one. At least this call didn’t go toward determining the outcome of the game.
**You’ll also notice that I didn’t go for the easy headline of “Bushwhacked”. Go me.
Muff-A-Lotta
How many freakin’ false starts will the Gators commit this year? 100? 200?
Either the Gators’ coaching staff has been engaging in the biggest setup in college football, or they just found something in LSU’s defense. Twice young Tim Tebow fakes to run, then takes a step back and tosses (or shot puts) a TD pass.
Again, the Gators started slowly both on offense and defense. And again, the team came to life before halftime and from there took control of the game. As much as the Leak/Tebow combination is working, I sometimes worry about how it affects Leak. he’s doing a lot of the work and Tebow is getting the glory. Though, with each passing moment Tebow is gaining confidence and experience. So if Leak goes in the tank, I have confidence that the freshman can take over.
As for the game itself, the Gators showed that the Tigers’ defense wasn’t it all it was cracked up to be. Even with virtually no traditional running game we were able to handle them in all phases. But then there’s the kicking game. We need to start making figgies if we’re going to go much further. Well, we might be able to get through the regular season without a tre, but not the SEC Championship Game or the Plus One Bowl.
BCS Outlook
Next week will see the release of the first BCS rankings of 2006. Ohio State is firmly in possession of the number one slot. Florida holds the two spot, for now. Texas, Notre Dame, and Auburn all held the spot and then fell. Though, if Florida can make it through Auburn and Georgia over the next three weeks they shouldn’t have another tough game until December in Atlanta.
Basically, OSU and UF have the inside track right now and control their own destinies. Though, Michigan is in the mix as well. If they can beat Ohio State then they will move up to either 1 or 2 with UF taking the other spot.
On 11/2, West Virginia and Louisville meet and will tie up that controversy. Which could leave the UL/WVU winner and USC with possible beefs on BCS Selection day. Though USC is not the USC of old. They’ve come very close to losses over the last few weeks, and Cal could put a loss on them in November (and probably will). The Big East champ will have to hurdle the stigma of being the Big East champ if they want to make any noise about being “left out”.
Grothe-ing Pains
Now that the Bulls have the new QB thing worked out, they got a nice victory over that basketball school from New England. Hopefully they can build some momentum and confidence and maybe take care of WVU and Louisville to make the issues above moot. Plus, I’ve been waiting a while to use that headline.
From the Trib: “Among the nation’s freshman quarterbacks, Grothe ranks first in total offense and is tied for first in passing yards (205.0) with Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour, and is second in rushing yards (70.3).” Impressive. Seems that freshmen quarterbacks are all the rage in the Sunshine State.
The Invisible Man
In the late NFL game Sunday, which you might have missed because Fox hardly promoted it at all, the much anticipated re-uniting of TO and McNabb was… nothing. TO didn’t do squat and the Eagles came away with a win. Though it was not a championship, so I get to link, once again, to the Official TALB Favorite Website; phillysucks.com.
Break Up The Finger Bangers
Two game winning streak kids. It was a nail-biter though. Going into the afternoon games I was way behind. Then Philly’s defense stomped all over the Cowboys for 24 fantasy points. Which put the game into the hands of Javon Walker of the Broncos. I led 69-61 going into MNF, and Walker is historically capable of covering that kind of margin. The ‘Bangers have moved up halfway in the league in just two weeks. At the end of week 3 I was 14th out of 14. Now I sit at 7th place with the same record as the 6th (and last playoff spot) seeded Blumpkins. Only a 23 point differential separates us. It’s only week 6, but the playoff push is on. Well, since the playoffs are the last three weeks of the NFL regular season, this is more like week nine coming up. Definite playoff atmosphere right now.
Running Items
There’s More To Life Than Football
The New York Yankees were ousted in the first round of the baseball playoffs, again.
Reverse Watch
Late in the second quarter of the UF/LSU collision the all-knowing Verne Lundquist roars “DOUBLE REVERSE!!!!!!” as Tebow hands off to the receiver in motion who then hands off to Caldwell. This, gentle reader, is a “single” reverse.
Plus One Bowl
Ohio State vs. Florida
Super Bowl XLI
Chicago vs. Baltimore
Team TALB
TALB is always looking for fresh insight and additional input. If you want to submit something to be included in TALB, please feel free to contact me and I’ll get it put in the next edition.
King Of Football
As always, feel free to submit your entry for TALB’s King Of Football 2007. It will appear during the off week between the NFL conference championships and the Super Bowl (January 30, I think).
Next Time: Catch a Tiger (even a Bengal) by it’s tail.
