Spurrier Returns To The Swamp & College Basketball Returns To My TV

Florida won on the road at Vanderbilt last week, but I'm not going to praise the team too much for it.  I mean, let's be real...Temple won there this season.  If Temple wins somewhere, Florida can undoubtedly win there.  Anyway, one more win and we go to a bowl game.  Can this Florida beat Spurrier in The Swamp? I certainly hope so.

Watching the UF-Vanderbilt game in NYC

I'm not really sure what happened to Michigan State last weekend, but I'm officially cheering for the Big Ten West.  GO MINNESOTA - BEAT THE BUCKEYES! Baylor basically gave Stoops the message to start looking for a new job.  Auburn looked like the New York Jets with those 2 fumbles to end the game.  Terrible way to end a game.  FSU looked bad against a bad team as usual.  TCU is proving itself.  Alabama got lucky.  And Oregon didn't blink.  The Ducks took care of business.

As for this week... I'm calling for Rutgers to beat Indiana.  Attention Scarlet Knights: If you want to go to a bowl game, you may need to win this game.  I am obviously picking Nebraska to win at Wisconsin and control its own destiny in the Big Ten West.  But most importantly, I need the Big Ten West Winner to win the Big Ten Championship.

Wisconsin-Nebraska in 2012 (in Lincoln)

I'm picking Georgia Tech at home over Clemson.  TCU will completely embarrass Kansas.  I'm picking Mississippi State at Alabama.  Auburn will rebound with a win over Georgia.  Texas A&M will beat Missouri.  My pick of an unranked team beating a ranked team this week should be painfully obvious: Miami over FSU.  I don't say this often (for obvious reasons), but Go Canes.

And of course, I'll take my Gators at home to secure a bowl berth.

Today is Friday, November 14th: the official start of the Florida men's basketball season.  Anyone who knows me knows that the start of basketball season (all college basketball, not just the Gators!) is like a holiday for me.  I'm excited to see Florida beat William & Mary tonight - even though I'm disappointed I can't see Chris Walker's progress just yet.  We will miss him Monday when we play ACC foe Miami.  That looks like a trap game, but I'm obviously picking the Gators.  Miami will be better this year with the transfers coming in, but come on...Gators got this.

Do people actually believe Minnesota has a chance to beat Louisville? Because they don't.  But I'll pick Manhattan to win at FSU this weekend! I'll pick Gonzaga to beat #22 SMU and start the season overrated as usual, but I'm not too worried since the Zags will lose on December 6th at Arizona.  The big game on November 18 is Kansas vs Kentucky (if you think Michigan State-Duke is bigger, you're wrong and you shouldn't talk about basketball).  Florida plays both Kansas and Kentucky this year, so I'll definitely be watching that game.  I'll take Kentucky (even though they're getting just a bit too much hype this season) - and I'll pick Duke to beat Michigan State.  No, I don't show respect for Big Ten basketball.  But I also just think Duke will be better than Michigan State this year.  I think Utah will lose at San Diego State. Oklahoma needs to watch out at Creighton next week.

With all that said.... GO GATORS!! Beat the Tribe tonight, and beat the Gamecocks tomorrow!!

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!!