UF Rejects (Football 2012)

Normality is restored: Florida beat Florida State in Tallahassee.  Gators drink Gatorade.  Seminoles drink Seminole fluid.  YES!

I'm sad Notre Dame won, but at least the Gators took care of business...should be in a BCS bowl game.  Nebraska won to secure its spot in Indianapolis.  I was disappointed in Rutgers, but as long as they win Thursday, no harm done.  I was more disappointed in Michigan.  AP voters better not name them #1 after Notre Dame loses to Alabama...the Buckeyes played no one, and they played close games with all of those no ones - Cal? Purdue? Ugh.  LAME!

Picks - RUTGERS beats Louisville at home.  Kent State beats Northern Illinois to keep things interesting in the BCS.  UCLA definitely lost the first game to Stanford on purpose to avoid playing Oregon, but I'm not sure they can beat Stanford anyway.  I think they'll play a closer game this weekend, but I still think the Bruins will lose.  Texas loses at Kansas State and the Wildcats secure their BCS bid.  Alabama will beat Georgia.

The question is...if Kent State wins and UCLA loses, does Kent State move into the top 16 - and will they be ahead of a BCS conference winner? Hmm...we may still have a BCS buster in the mix.  And if Kent State goes to a bowl game, does that mean the Sugar Bowl will pick the Big East winner? Because I don't want to see Florida-Rutgers.

On to basketball...Gators have a big one Thursday against Marquette...a rematch from the Sweet 16.  Other games I'm looking forward to this week:

11/27 - UNC/Indiana & NC State Indiana
11/28 - Duke/Ohio Stte
11/29 - Notre Dame/Kentucky
12/1 - Baylor/Kentucky & San Diego State/UCLA

No basketball teams stand out as dominant....could be an interesting basketball season with many surprises!

GO GATORS!!!!

Gators Eat Badgers for Breakfast

Or maybe we eat Pop-Tarts, I'm not sure.  But last night the Gators sure feasted on Bo Ryan's squad.  Erik Murphy was fantastic.  Rosario looked a lot more comfortable.  It was a reassuring game for me considering the Gators don't typically play very well at the start of season.  But I'm pleased so far with the 2.5-0 start.  Yes, I'm giving us .5 for the half we won against Georgetown - don't judge me.



Breakfast of Champions



As for football....Gators, seriously, what's wrong with you? You have to show up for EVERY game.  That was completely pathetic.  Louisiana-Lafayette probably considers that a victory.  You better plan on blowing out Jacksonville State...even with Brissett.  Driskel may not be the best QB in the world, but he's a million times better than Brantley, and I think has proved to be better than Brissett.  Get well soon, Jeff.  As for Rutgers, it was a slow start, but they won the game, even though I maintain that the game effectively did not matter.  Now that Louisville lost, Rutgers can lose a conference game before beating Louisville tand still get its bid to a BCS bowl game.  Rah Rah! I posed a question about ice cream last week.  It's been more than a decade since I've had ice cream at Penn State (that's scary), so I'm giving the edge to Nebraska's Dairy Store...based on the fact that I was there this year - and I'm somewhat swayed by Nebraska beating Penn State on the football field.



Yes, Nebraska has Sweet Corn Ice Cream

Alabama looked awful against Texas A&M.  Nothing else surprised me.  On to this weekend...not many good games.  I'll pick UCLA over USC.  FSU is looking ahead to Florida and plays a closer than expected game with Maryland, but wins.  Oregon beats Stanford.  Oklahoma State edges Texas Tech due to home field advantage.  Wisconsin beats Ohio State - Over/under on how many hours it takes Meyer to fake a heart attack after that one? Rutgers wins a close one at Cincinnati.  Nebraska beats Minnesota.  Florida better destroy Jacksonville state.

Basketball...all I can say so far is Kentucky, Kansas and Michigan State are all overrated.  Also, FSU sucks.  We once again have a situation where no teams appear to be dominant.  Could make for a fun postseason, but I'm now afraid of losing a talented player like Patric Young to the NBA early...I don't think he'll be quite ready at the end of the season, but with lack of talent in the draft, we may see No. 4 leave Gainesville.

Upcoming games I'm looking forward to...

11/18 - Florida vs Middle Tennessee (in Tampa)

11/18 - Cornell at Wisconsin (revenge?)

11/19 - UCLA vs Georgetown (Barclays Center)

11/20 - Indiana (I assume, since Georgia is a joke as usual) vs the winner of UCLA/Georgetown

11/20 - Florida vs Savannah State

11/21 - Pittsburgh vs Michigan

11/23 - Pittsburgh or Michigan vs Kansas State

GO GATORS!!!!!!

A Gator Returns to The Swamp

Well, Florida vs. Missouri wasn't the greatest Gator game of all time, but I sure did miss being in The Swamp.  It was great to make my return - even if the nightlife scene in Gainesville got a little weird.  The Gators won though, and I had a wonderful weekend in sunny Florida after Hurricane Sandy hit New York.  Now we're dealing with a snowstorm. 

I didn't watch too many games this past weekend, but I will make a few points: Alabama is better than LSU (I'm glad Alabama won - they need to win out and Georgia needs to beat Auburn despite what most casual fans seem to think.  I'd rather play in the Sugar Bowl than lose in the SEC Championship....see my last blog post.)  Pittsburgh is terrible/Notre Dame is the luckiest team ever.  USC is not good.  Nebraska likes to scare me with these last-minute comebacks.

Just a few picks this week for football...Stanford beats Oregon State.  Picking Virginia to beat Miami (really don't know why).  Alabama rolls.  TCU plays a close one...would love to see an upset there.  LSU beats Miss State.  Oregon will struggle at Cal but win.  You'll see.  Rutgers will beat Army.  Nebraska will beat Penn State (bigger question here - which school has the better ice cream?).  Florida will win its homecoming game over Louisiana-Lafayette.

And now...I must mention that my favorite time of year begins Friday: COLLEGE BASKETBALL SEASON!!!!!!!!!! So excited to see NCAA hoops.  I'm not sure if the Gators will be as good as last year, but I can't wait to find out.  Some games I'm looking forward to in the next week....

11/9 - FLORIDA vs Georgetown (in Jacksonville)

11/13 - Duke vs Kentucky

11/13 - Michigan State vs Kansas

11/14 - Wisconsin at FLORIDA

Of course, the Nov 14 game has special significance to me because my brother went to Wisconsin.  I will have to DVR the game of course....and not just because I won't be home to watch it, but mostly because I know I'll fall asleep trying to watch Wisconsin play basketball, and I'll need to be able to resume the game when I wake up.  Final score? 64-42 Gators.  I know what you're thinking: the Gators have too much offense to score only 64 points! But I'm accounting for the Gators taking a nap on the court the last 15 minutes of the game.  Besides, the Gators never have their chemistry set early in the season.  It takes a couple months for them to really warm up.

GO GATORS!!