Emmitt Smith, There's No Need to Apologize.

Many people saw the news over the weekend that Emmitt Smith took to Twitter to express his frustrations with Jeff Driskel: "Put Jeff Driskel on the bench please, I have seen enough." I don't know any Gator fans who disagreed.  Unfortunately, he followed that up with a political move: he apologized.  Emmitt, there is no need to apologize for saying what all of Gator Nation is thinking.  We also saw Robinson retweet (and then un-retweet) a picture of Will Grier and Treon Harris that expressed his interest in seein a new QB on the field for Florida.  Not for one second do I buy the "that was an accident" excuse.  He just knew Muschamp would get on his case about bringing down team morale.  But here's the bigger problem: Jeff Driskel is bringing down team morale by being absolutely terrible at football.  And no, I'm not going to apologize for saying that.  I'm sure the kid works hard and tries his best, but at the end of the day, Will Muschamp needs to recognize that Driskel is not a solution to Florida's woes.  He's actually making things worse.

Which brings me to my next point...seriously, how many more games does Muschamp have to lose before Foley gives up? Foley has now said he will evaluate everything after this season.  Hopefully that means after this season he'll realize how terrible Muschamp is and fire him - and hopefully Driskel will leave with Muschamp.

As we watched Florida embarrass itself in Tuscaloosa

Besides Driskel keeping his starting position, other surprises last weekend included Missouri managing to look worse than Florida, Lucky Les not being lucky enough to come back and beat Dan Mullen....and Clemson apparently being paid off to lose that game.  No other explanation.  To those of you thinking I should mention Utah-Michigan as a surprise, well, I wasn't surprised by a Big Ten team looking terrible.  But Rutgers and Nebraska won! And I ended up winning 4 bets on the Nebraska-Miami game.  Sweet, sweet victory!

As for this week: Florida can't lose! (Gators have a bye)  So...Let's go NC State!!! Former Gator Jacoby Brissett has a chance to make all of Gator Nation smile by beating the tremendously overrated FSU.  So please, Wolfpack, I'm begging you.  Beat those gross Noles.  I'll be watching Tennessee-Georgia to see what Florida is in for next week against the Vols.  But I think Georgia wins today.  A note about Thursday's game - I expected UCLA to win, but Arizona State...wow.  That was rough.  Wisconsin will win against the USF Bulls.  Wisconsin played one SEC team to start the season (and lost) and now they play no one the rest of the season because they're in a joke of a conference.  They could end up with 1-2 losses and have to play another SEC team in a bowl game.  And guess who I'll pick....  I'm not sure why some people think Arkansas is "back" all of a sudden, but I think they're going to get blown out in Arlington.  Rutgers will beat Tulane.  Nebraska will beat Illinois.  My upset special this week: Stanford loses at Washington.  

And Driskel won't turn the ball over today.  GO GATORS!

Some People Never Learn

Jameis Winston, I'm looking at you.  I may not know you personally, but I know enough to know you're an entitled moron.  Rape accusations.  Soda theft at Burger King.  Crab leg theft.  And now yelling vulgar nonsense while standing on a table in your student union? Clearly you don't get it.  It has been made clear to you about a million times that you will be held to a higher standard - as you should be - than other students because you're a public figure at FSU.  But here's the problem: Your corrupt football program/university let you get away with stupidity with seemingly little consequence.  I have said before that I respect the FSU baseball team a lot more for not letting you play after the crab leg incident.  But man.  You're just an idiot.  You personify the FSU culture that every Gator fan loves to make fun of.  You're not invincible.  You're not important.  Get over yourself and grow up.  I could go on and on about this.  You deserve the suspension (took long enough for something to actually earn you a suspension), and I sincerely hope Clemson runs up the score in the first half.  GO TIGERS.

On to other overrated things in the ACC...Virginia Tech! Thank you for proving that you're not good.  It just makes the fact that you exposed Ohio State so much sweeter.  No offense to the I still don't quite understand Arkansas State's distraction attempt against Miami.

So Rutgers disappointed me in its Big Ten home opener.  Penn State just isn't good.  But then again, neither is Gary Nova.  At least it was a close game, I guess.  Nebraska looked great on the road.  Hopefully they snapped out of that funk that made them almost lose at home to McNeese State....but luckily in college football, almost doesn't count.  USC proved to be way overrated, and Tyler Murphy actually showed some potential.  It was surprising, but I did enjoy seeing the upset.  Georgia was Georgia.  Their kicker set a new SEC record for most consecutive field goals, and then he ended his streak.

The game I cared most about last weekend turned out to be much more dramatic than I had hoped.  Kentucky may be improved, but there was no reason for that game to go to triple overtime in the swamp.  Completely unacceptable.  Muschamp better turn it around fast or Foley won't be supporting him much longer.  But at least Jojo Kemp can shut his mouth now.  28 victories in a row for Florida over Kentucky.

Supporting the Gators during the Florida-Kentucky game 9-13-2014

Obviously this weekend is a huge game for the Gators.  I only wish I were more excited.  I think we have a lot of offensive talent on this team - including Jones, Taylor, Robinson, Dunbar, Debose - but I don't think it's being utilized well at all.  I'm not sold on Roper just yet.  Still definitely not sold on Muschamp, needless to say.  Alabama is a 2 score favorite, and I actually wouldn't be surprised if Alabama is insulted by that after seeing our game.  However, Alabama's game against West Virginia did expose vulnerabilities.  Thought I think Saban has had a plan all along to confuse SEC opponents. I think Saban has known all along he wants Coker as QB.  Sims will play, but only for specific plays that were designed for him or in games/situations where Saban feels no threat from the opponent.  That said, we may see Sims this weekend if Alabama runs up the score early.  But if you've ever watched a Lane Kiffin team play, you know Coker fits Kiffin's style of offense better than Sims does, so I think Alabama is just trying to throw off SEC opponents with this "we don't know which QB to play" nonsense.  Florida, please surprise me.  Please pull off a huge upset.

Some picks for this weekend...

Rutgers will redeem itself with an upset win at Navy.  Missouri will beat Indiana - and it won't be close.  Michigan State will beat Eastern Michigan by less than 65.  Wisconsin will beat Bowling Green, but it will be closer than people expect, at least through the first half.  Auburn will beat Kansas State.  LSU will beat Mississippi State, but it won't be a blowout.  Oklahoma will be challenged by West Virginia, but will win by no more than 10.  Oregon will beat Washington State.  Hoping for Clemson to beat FSU, though I haven't been impressed with either team.  Of course I'm picking Nebraska over Miami.  That's a given.  Clearly this isn't a classic Miami-Nebraska matchup, though.  Miami couldn't handle Louisville, and even though Nebraska had a momentary lapse against McNeese State, I still don't think Miami can win this game in Lincoln.  People who know me love that I know to make bets on games.  I have 3 bets riding on this Miami @ Nebraska game, so come on Huskers! Go Big Red!! I can't bring myself to pick against Florida, no matter what logic tells me.  I'm sure Muschamp is checking the weather in Tuscaloosa hoping this game will be canceled.  But come on Florida...shock the world!  Beat Bama!

GO GATORS!

The Big Ten Sucks

I know, I've been saying that for years.  But now the media is FINALLY catching on! On Saturday night, all ESPN could talk about was how bad the conference is this year.  I mean, that's nothing new.  The conference hasn't been good in years.  I've explained this a million ways, a million times already, so I have no need to go on a rant now.  I'm just happy that the media caught on early this season.  Now I won't have to hear these "experts" on tv talk about a potential Ohio State-Michigan State game in the final four.  Because guess what? There's no way 2 Big Ten teams are making this playoff.

Shout out to the Hokies, by the way.  SO HAPPY I got to see Ohio State lose in Columbus.  Only wish I could have been there in a Gator shirt to rush the field...

I knew Michigan State would lose and I knew Michigan would lose (I thought it would at least be a game, though, since Notre Dame isn't good).  Stanford disappointed me, and UCLA did not look too good.  At least Houston won a game.  Nebraska and Rutgers both won, but in less-than-impressive fashion.  Come on - Howard and McNeese State? But Nebraska and Rutgers may still be 2 of the best teams in the Big Ten.  The final score didn't show it, but Wisconsin had trouble moving the ball against Western Illinois.  Purdue lost.  Northwestern lost again.  Just give up.  The Big Ten is not very big at all.  But don't worry, Buckeye fans.  I think your team can beat 0-2 Kent State.

FSU did not look good.  I repeat: they will not win the national championship this year.  I'd actually be surprised if FSU makes the playoff this year.  The ACC looks really bad (almost as bad as the Big Ten!), and the Seminoles may not even win the conference.  If Florida had played the Citadel and won 37-12, everyone would be talking about how bad our offense is to only score 37 and how lazy our defense must be to give up 12 points to an opponent like the Citadel.  Any FSU fan would have expected to win that game by at least 50 points.  Face facts: FSU is way overrated.  They're just lucky the ACC sucks.  As for FSU's next game - let's go Clemson!!!!

Tonight we have the battle of the cougars - BYU vs Houston.  I'd love to see Houston get its act together and win this.  I do think it will be close, but I think BYU comes away with this one.  Once again, not many high profile games this weekend.  As much as I'd love to support the SEC, I don't see Tennessee winning on the road at Oklahoma.  Missouri will beat UCF in a game that will be closer than it should be.  Louisville wins at Virginia.  I'll pick NC State on the road at USF.  Overrated USC will beat Tyler Murphy and company.  My upset of the weekend? UCLA loses to Texas.  Best game of the weekend is probably Georgia-South Carolina.  You know I've gotta go with Spurrier to beat the Bulldogs.  Nebraska will get its act together and win at Fresno State.  I see Rutgers winning its Big Ten opener at home vs the Nittany Lions - sorry Penn State fans!

So last week the Gators played Eastern Michigan and came away with a big win.  65-0.  I was happy to see we were at least able to move the ball, but I won't get too excited about beating EMU because, well, it's EMU, not Alabama.  I was happy to at least see a full game rather than a ten-second tease, though.  But this week we play an SEC opponent....an SEC opponent who hasn't beaten Florida since 1986 (and UK hasn't won in Gainesville since 1979).  The streak will stay alive this year - sorry Jojo Kemp.  If you couldn't beat us last year in Lexington when we were arguably the worst we've ever been, you can't beat us now in Gainesville.  

GO GATORS! Beat Kentucky!!

Still waiting...

There were a few close calls and disappointments this weekend.  Alabama didn't look as good as people expected on offense (I'll be very surprised if Sims starts all season) or defense.  Ohio State sucked and Navy lost its momentum, which was hugely disappointing.  Then of course Oklahoma State fumbled away a golden opportunity to beat a terribly overrated FSU team - but after seeing that game, I'm confident FSU will not go undefeated this year.

But one disappointment stood out above all the others.  The biggest disappointment of the weekend was the Florida game being terminated after 10 seconds.  Sure, Valdez Showers looked great for 10 seconds.  And I mean, Jeff Driskel didn't turn the ball over.  We didn't miss any field goals.  Our defense didn't allow a first down - or even a yard - from Idaho's offense.  We averaged 64 yards per return, and we're still undefeated.  This all sounds great if you didn't see or hear about the game.  But I really, really wanted to watch the Gators play.  I sat in a Gator bar in Nashville with one of my best friends from college, and we were pretty disappointed.  It didn't help that the rain in Nashville was almost as bad as the rain in Gainesville on Saturday!  So I'm still waiting for Florida to really start its season.  Ten seconds of football just didn't do it for me.

 

Florida vs Idaho (Complete Game)

So sometimes I'll write about some crazy things some of my friends say.  One friend of mine has been telling me for months that the Miami Hurricanes will go undefeated in football this year.  I actually thought they'd surprise people in the first game because Louisville lost an awesome coach, but I was wrong.  So that friend of mine is very quiet now.  Obviously we have a bet on the Miami-Nebraska game the end of the month.  Hint: the Huskers aren't losing to Miami in Lincoln.  I made a few accurate predictions based on my SEC bias.   One such prediction I made about this past weekend was that LSU would win in the 4th quarter.  Sure, I thought it would be decided later in the quarter, but I know many people thought Wisconsin had secured a victory in the 3rd.  I knew better.  I know Les gets Lucky, and I know LSU doesn't lose openers like that.  Of course Georgia beat Clemson and of course Auburn beat Arkansas.  No surprises there.  And I guess for now it's safe for me to eat potatoes since Florida didn't lose to Idaho.  I hope they reschedule the game. 

On to week 2! Nebraska will blow out McNeese State.  Rutgers will beat Howard and remain undefeated as a Big Ten team.  I'll take Stanford at home over USC and I'll take Oregon at home over Michigan State.  I'm already picking Nebraska and Rutgers - how many Big Ten teams can I really pick to win in one weekend? I think Michigan vs Notre Dame will be close, but I'll say Notre Dame wins by single digits.  I'll pick Ole Miss on the road at Vandy.  Just for my dad, I hope Houston can beat Grambling State.  Houston looked terrible against UTSA.

Not many marquis games this weekend.  There supposedly are more thunderstorms expected in Gainesville on Saturday.  With any luck, I'll get to see Florida beat Eastern Michigan this weekend.

GO GATORS!!