NaBloPoMo 2010 Day 21 -- UF's Rudy ... sort of

Yesterday was the last regular season home game for the Florida Gators. So it was senior day. All of the fourth- and fifth-year seniors were honored before the game started with a short ceremony as they ran out of the tunnel. This happened at a number of schools this weekend and more will happen next weekend as well. It's another one of those things that makes college football better than NFL football.

Many of you have seen the movie Rudy -- the story of the walk-on and undersized defensive tackle who sold his soul to dress for one football game at Notre Dame. The movie exaggerates the story, but he did actually get in the game and did record of sack. It's a great scene -- even if you hate anything Notre Dame.

During yesterday's win over Appalachian State, a four-year walk-on defensive tackle -- not particularly undersized -- but not the most gifted athletically -- lived his own scene from Rudy. Gary Beemer is a senior at UF. He's been a glorified tackling dummy for four years on the football team. But he gives 100% and has become a favorite of UF coach Urban Meyer. That must be the case or what happened yesterday would never have happened.

With UF winning by a healthy margin, Meyer approached Beemer on the sidelines and asked if he'd be interested in running the ball in a goal-line situation if UF was able to get the ball down that close. Stunned, Beemer told the coach that he was ready and willing.

Then late in the fourth quarter, the Gators did actually get the ball close -- inside the 10 yard line. And Beemer was told to run out to the huddle for the first down play. Here's what happened:

If that doesn't give you chills, you may be reading this from six feet under.

You can hear the fans cheering for Beemer as he runs out, and they yell louder when he actually gets the ball on first down. You can see his teammates -- many of them starters -- screaming for him and waving towels. That's a kid who's left an impression on his team.

But when he doesn't score on first down, Meyer doesn't abandon him. He calls the play for him a second time. He gets stopped short of the end zone again. But he gets a third shot, and he buries himself into the line and emerges on the other side of the end line clutching the ball all the way back to the sidelines.

But he's not just clutching a football. He's holding tightly to four years of blood, sweat and tears. And pain. And laughs. And shared meals. And a memory that will never leave the front of his mind. Oh, that more of us had opportunities to make moments we would hold so dearly.

NaBloPoMo 2010 Day 13 -- Season Review

I know the season isn't over, but for all intents and purposes, it is. I watched tonight as my Gators had a chance to redeem this season with a win over South Carolina and UF's former coach, Steve Spurrier. The game was at home in the Swamp, but it didn't matter. Tonight was a microcosm of the season, and tonight ended with a loss.

In no particular order, here are my thoughts about the season (well, I guess there is an "order" because the thoughts are numbered):

1) Urban Meyer made a mistake by not revamping the offense for the skill set of John Brantley. In 2005, when Meyer came to UF, he attempted to run his Utah offense with Chris Leak, a traditional drop-back passer. It didn't work. During the bye week before the game against Georgia, Meyer and his offensive coordinator, Dan Mullen (now the head coach at Mississippi State), retooled the offense to take advantage of Leak's skills. And the remainder of that season was saved, and it paved the way for the national title the following season. I expected Meyer to follow that template with Brantley this season. For whatever reason, he did not. The team has suffered because of it. Perhaps Meyer's health issues last off-season affected his memory.

2) The play-calling for the last two years has been questionable at best. After winning the national title game again at the end of the 2008 season, Dan Mullen was hired away by Mississippi State. Meyer had two options in selecting a new offensive coordinator: Steve Addazio, the offensive line coach with a couple decades of coaching experience, or Billy Gonzales, the younger wide receivers coach. Meyer went with Addazio. And Gonzales was not a happy camper. He stayed for last season, but he took a job with LSU at the end of the year. Last season, Addazio had Tim Tebow to bail him out of a lot of bad calls, but the offense did not run as smoothly as the year before when Mullen was calling plays and Addazio was just coaching the offensive line. This year, without Tebow, the offense has looked anemic. Meyer and UF are in a tough spot with Addazio, because he stepped in to run the program when Meyer resigned and then returned but took considerable time off last spring. He was a great O-line coach, so I don't necessarily want to lose him, but he needs to yield the play-calling responsibilities.

3) Meyer and co. need to decide what kind of team this is going to be ... and what kind of program he is going to run. It's OK if this is going to be a spread program. That means UF will never get a pro-style drop-back QB prospect, but so what?!?! If that type of QB can't run your offense, why recruit them at all? It's worse to recruit a pro-style QB and say that you can adjust to his talents, when in fact, you don't really want to. The Chris Leak situation tells me that Meyer can adjust his offense to the talents of his QB, but this season with Brantley tells me that he doesn't really want to. Fine. Tom Osborne ran his running offense through the '90s for multiple national titles because that was his offense. He still got players who could run it and run it successfully. Meyer just needs to own that the spread, read-option offense is what he prefers.

4) This three-headed QB system can't work long-term (or against teams not named "Vanderbilt"). Because Meyer won't commit to one offensive approach, he has now gone to 3 QBs -- none of whom can get enough reps in practice to do more than one thing. That means that defenses know exactly how to play against each of them. Brantley gets blitzed snap after snap because they know he's the passer. Trey Burton gets 8 in the box because they know he's not going to throw. Jordan Reed can throw the ball, but he doesn't get enough reps to run more than a minor portion of the playbook to be effective yet. This goes back to #3 above, but Meyer has to commit to one way of doing things and pick the best guy to run that offense and give him the most reps.

5) The offensive line has struggled throughout the year, and I think it's directly related to Addazio's offensive play-calling responsibilities. There is a reason for position coaches. There is a reason that some guys are great position coaches and not good coordinators. I think Addazio is one of those guys. He could be a good head coach, but he's not a coordinator. And those responsibilities are making him a poor position coach this year as well.

6) Meyer's top priority in the off-season needs to be to find Addazio a new job somewhere else. The program probably owes Addazio at least that given his willingness to step in for Meyer when he was away from the team. Once he handles that, he can then find a new play-caller. I would not be opposed to Meyer bringing Gonzales back if that relationship can be patched.

7) There is a considerable amount of youth on the team this season. But after the 10th game, I would expect to see more maturity and/or development.

8) Hopefully, this down year follows Meyer's pattern at UF. Each down year has been followed by a solid and/or championship year. I wouldn't mind that pattern repeating itself.

NaBloPoMo 2010 Day 10 -- Long Day

Man, was this a long day. (And I didn't make it to bed last night on the postmeridian side of zero hour, either.) And I am dragging! But I don't want to deprive you of your daily dose of my "perspective" on life. I think I only have energy to share some of the things I noticed throughout my day:

1) Fall Foliage: Fall is my favorite season. I love the crispness in the air in the mornings. I love the vibrant colors when the leaves change. And autumn is the season of college football, so what's not to love about that? The name of this blog derives, in part, from my love of this season. I saw some great displays of fall color this morning.

2) Free internet: I had a few opportunities today to take advantage of free web access. Maybe it's a sign of my advancing age, but I am so hesitant anymore to jump on a free internet hotspot given all the email/Facebook hacking I've seen over the last 24 months. I might also be tired of paying the computer nazi to de-malware my computer. (If you need a computer repair, the computer nazi that we use is great. He's not German. He's Asian actually, but he's as no-nonsense as the "Soup Nazi" of Seinfeld lore. Hence the name. Sue me, Seinfeld! I dare you!)

3) Club sandwich: I do not recommend the club sandwich at a lunch meeting. Especially when the woman on the other side of the table only eats half of her turkey & swiss. Clubs are good, but that extra slice of bread is problematic. No one on the other side of the table should have to see how wide I can open my mouth and count my fillings as I try to cram that thing in my pie-hole and explain how I can help her business. Even when nothing flies out of the back end of the sandwich, the stress of worrying that I'm going to have a huge dollop of mayo on the side of my face after a bite wears on you.

I am going to sleep well tonight (fingers crossed). This has been one long day. See you tomorrow.

NaBloPoMo 2009 Day 28 -- Rivalry Weekend

The weekends on either side of Thanksgiving are riddled with football games between in-state rivals. Thursday through Saturday this week especially saw matches that often pit family members against each other. Combining family dysfunction, holidays and football is a dangerous mix.

There were a few upsets this weekend too. South Carolina got the best of Clemson in Columbia. NC State pulled the upset over North Carolina. As I am writing, Georgia is leading #7 ranked Georgia Tech, but Tech is driving for the winning score. Tech failed to get the winning score. Poor play-calling on Tech's part on that final possession. All of a sudden, Tech tried to win the game through the air before it had to. There was time on the clock for Tech to try to win with their option attack and shorter, surer passing routes.

In Gainesville, Tim Tebow left The Swamp with his fourth win in a row over arch-rival Florida State (Florida's sixth win in a row over FSU). Tebow threw for 3 touchdowns and ran for 2 others. His play keeps him in the Heisman discussion, but he has to have a 400+ total yards performance next weekend in the SEC Championship game to have any hope of winning the award for a second time.

Colt McCoy kept Texas' championship hopes alive defeating Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night. But he also edged ahead in the Heisman race with an incredible offensive performance against another swiss-cheese Big 12 defense. Texas faces Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game in Dallas next weekend. That Nebraska defense could be the antidote to the Texas offense and ruin the lives of many Longhorn fans. But if McCoy can perform well against that defense, he likely would cap off the Heisman race and book a slot in the BCS championship game.

It's been another great regular season of college football. Hard to believe that it's almost over. I'm not quite ready to watch college basketball yet. But don't worry; I will be.

NaBloPoMo 2009 Day 14 -- Saturday Sports

Another Saturday, another stilted performance from the Gators. This has been such a hard season to watch the Gators which is somewhat difficult to believe because they are 10-0 after winning today on the road at South Carolina. The game started well with a long pass play from Tim Tebow to Riley Cooper, but as has happened in most games this season, things bogged down after the first quarter. In the end, they remain undefeated. They finished the SEC schedule undefeated and await Alabama on December 5th for the SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome. I try not to complain when the Gators have won 20 games in a row, but these close games are giving me (more) gray hair than I want.

Ole Miss took Tennessee to the wood shed today. I saw many a pundit calling for UT to win this one on the road. Given all the distractions in Knoxville this week, I had a hard time seeing it. Dexter McCluster ran all over Monte Kiffin's defense. Good win for Ole Miss. I'd like to see Snead stick around for another season at Ole Miss to see if he can lead that team farther next season. I suspect Sam Bradford's experience at Oklahoma this year will weigh heavily at the end of the year when he contemplates his decision.

My Saturdays in the fall usually start with English Premier League matches. Most Saturdays, there is a "lunch time" match that starts at 7:45 a.m. eastern, followed by a handful of matches at 10:00 a.m. But this weekend, there is a break in the Premier League schedule to accommodate the last small group of matches for World Cup qualifying. There were also a number of international "friendlies" for the nations whose World Cup fates were already decided. So there were some matches on this morning, but I wasn't interested in watching a friendly that didn't matter.

I was glad to see the University of Kentucky become bowl-eligible today with a win on the road at Vanderbilt. That makes four consecutive seasons that UK will head to a bowl. They've won the last 3 bowl games. Here's to a fourth consecutive result in their favor.

Hats off to Georgia Tech. With their win at Duke University today, the Yellow Jackets are 10-1 and will play in the ACC Champhionship Game on December 5th. Paul Johnson has a talented group that has bought into his option system, and they wear down teams over four quarters. Lately, they are also getting some big pass plays from Josh Nesbitt at quarterback when on the few occasions they let him throw the ball.

Stanford scored 55 points against Southern Cal today -- the most points EVER given up by USC. EVER. Jim Harbaugh has done a great job at Stanford in his short tenure there. This year, he has 2 huge wins against Oregon and USC. I suspect some major programs are going to be knocking on his door very soon. Notre Dame anyone? I wonder if the Michigan man will get a call from some wealthy boosters about coming back to Ann Arbor to restore the Big Blue tradition given Rich Rodriguez's struggles with installing his spread system.

I'm not a huge NBA fan, but I can't ignore how well the Atlanta Hawks have started the season. They are winning again tonight and will move to 8-2 for the first eighth of the season. Last night, they earned a huge road win in Boston against the Celtics. I applaud the Hawks ownership for sticking with the coaching staff over several years as the team was rebuilt through the draft and the occasional free agent pick-up. The addition this season of Jamal Crawford and Joe Smith seem to be the final pieces that could propel the team into the conference finals if everyone stays healthy and continues to build on the quick start.

How did your favorite teams do this weekend?

Happy Birthday to my sister Anita today. She's enjoying a birthday weekend in Athens.

Laundry night

This is one of those stream of consciousness posts. Sorry.

I did a couple of loads of laundry tonight. A load of whites and a load of dark clothes. Why do white clothes get so dingy looking? We use bleach, so I don't get it.

There's a metaphor there, but I'm too tired to unwrap that one.

I have a team in a fantasy football league. Had a running back in tonight's Jets-Patriots game. He didn't do squat. Why tonight does Matt Cassell decide to throw for 400+ yards and do the Patriots give up on their running game? Why?!

The Atlanta Hawks are playing some very nice basketball. They are young, but they are playing very well as a team. They actually make me want to watch an NBA game ... and that never happens.

It's still college football season, but the Gators hoops team gets the season started tomorrow night in Gainesville. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m. EST. ESPNU is providing coverage of that one. Check your local listings.

Speaking of the Gators. The Swamp welcomes back the Head Ball Coach and his South Carolina Gamecocks. The Gators have been on a roll. I expect to see Spurrier drawing up some ball plays from deep in his playbook. But I think the Gators will prevail. One game at a time. I can tell you that the Gators are not looking ahead to next week's game just yet. There will be time to get ready for The Citadel on Monday.

Will the St. Louis Cardinals regret not pulling the trigger on Matt Holliday and letting him get away to Oakland? Holliday would've been nice protection for Pujols.

I have a dentist appointment on Monday.

All right, my consciousness has been reduced to a trickle. And I need to fold the dark load before hitting the hay.

Talk to you tomorrow.

College Football Is Finally Here!!!

The 2008 season officially kicked off on Thursday night, but the season really launches in earnest on Saturday. Saturdays in the fall are college football. Many things to look forward to. First, of course, are my Gators. The Gators feature the reigning Heisman Trophy winner -- and apparently off-season circumcisor -- in Tim Tebow. Tebow is the first sophomore ever to win the award that goes to the best player in Division I. Tebow is also the first college quarterback to rush for 20 TDs and throw for 20 TDs. The thing about that stat is that it really understates Tebow's year, because Tebow really is the first QB to rush for 20 TDs and throw for 30 TDs. I do not expect Tebow to have the same statistical success this season. Mainly because I think the team has better RBs behind him this year who will take some of those carries and TDs from him. Look for RB Emmanuel Moody -- the Texas high school prospect and transfer from USC -- to leave his mark this season. (By the way, Moody wants to be a pastor too. Tebow and Moody would make a heckuva flag football tandem for Campus Crusade, no?)

The real key to UF's season is improved play on defense. Based on preseason -- which means virtually nothing -- the UF secondary has been making plays instead of trying not to make mistakes. The result has been much improved play in scrimmages. Hopefully that translates on the field when the games count. I think the D-line will be improved too. Another season older. And bigger. And stronger. Some new ideas from a new D-line coach may help inject some life as well. So Tebow's stats are down, but the Gators win 10 or 11 in the regular season.

I have several UGA fans who read and/or stalk this blog, so I would be remiss if I didn't say something about their beloved pups. First, thank you for taking the #1 preseason spot -- and the pressure that comes with it. Next, I'm still not convinced that Stafford is the guy. Yes, he played very well in Jax last year. But Moreno controlled that game as much as anyone. He needs to improve his completion percentage and lower the INTs to take that team where the voters think it should be at the end of the season. I'm also not listening to the ... stuff ... about the tough schedule either. In 2006, the Gators ran a similar gauntlet of teams on the way to the SEC title and BCS championship. If you win 'em, you'll deserve the title. If not, well then I suspect you'll whine about the really hard schedule and all its unfairness. Woe is you.

Can't talk about the start of the season without acknowledging the strong possibility that Ohio State will end up in the BCS game for the third season in a row. They return almost the whole team from last year and have more than 40 fourth- and fifth-year players. That's a lot of leadership. (Or a lot of guys who know how to choke away title games -- depending on your point of view.) But let's face it, OSU has one tough game at USC that they could win if for no other reason than USC's starting QB is in his first year as the guy and is returning from a knee injury in preseason practice. Plus this may be the first year in this run of Pete Carroll teams where the offensive stars are not there. The stars on that team are on defense. OSU has guys on both sides of the ball. OSU's RB, Wells, is probably better than Knowshon Moreno because he's got one more year of experience and is bigger than Knowshon. Wells could pass 2000 yards this season if he stays healthy. After USC, I guess OSU has "tough" games with Wisconsin and Illinois. Some would argue Michigan too (well, Brent Musburger would), but this is a year when Michigan should not be an issue because RichRod is completely revamping how the Wolverines play offense.

There are many more things to touch on. Can Bo Pellini bring back the Black Shirts in Lincoln? Can Paul Johnson win in the ACC with that triple-read Wing-T offense of his? How will Tommy Bowden find a way to squander Clemson's chance to win the ACC this year? Will ESPN ever put us out of our misery and retire Lou Holtz? PLEASE!!! Feel free to discuss these or raise a few more in the comments.

(I am watching the SMU game as I type this. Really enjoying June Jones getting waxed by the Owls of Rice. Too bad he won't be on the visiting sideline tomorrow in the Swamp when Hawaii faces the Gators. Really wish he could see UF's "system quarterback" shred his alma mater.)