The game clock read 9:32 in the fourth quarter and the north end zone upper deck was nearly empty. Just about everybody wearing some combination of French blue and orange had made their way to the exists of Bryant Denny Stadium to get a head start on the long drive back to wherever they came from. The score stood at 31-6 in favor of Alabama, and the last two Gator possessions had ended with a fumble and a turnover on downs. Everywhere else within the House That Mal Built was just as full as it had been two and a half hours earlier when a national TV audience settled in to watch what Paul Finebaum had written was the most important game in college football so far this season.
The guy who sits behind me in the South Zone took it all in and summed it up perfectly: "you can tell which fans suffered through those bad years and which ones didn't."
Officially, sundown on October 2, 2010 came at 6:34 p.m., Central Time, but in the time zone of college football, the sun set on the University of Florida's reign as the darling of the national media, and purported SEC heavyweight at 2:21 in the first quarter when freshman, Trey Burton tossed a "Tebow-jump-pass" to Bama's Nico Jonson in the Alabama end zone. Johnson's interception killed Florida's 12 play, 74 yard opening drive. The ensuing 80 yard, 9 play drive engineered by GMac and the Alabama offense, resulted in the first of three second quarter touchdowns and killed the vain hope of the Gator-nation that Urban Meyer would merely reload after Tim Tebow's
What of Urban Meyer, one-time "Football Genius?" At least he survived his trip to Tuscaloosa without a relapse into the "medical" condition that spurred his brief "retirement" from coaching after last year's SEC Championship Game. How long was Meyer "retired" anyway? Not long. The only thing shorter was his post-game press conference last night; four questions, two
Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that Meyer has little time for the sports media. Recall his petulant rant at a beat reporter who dared to quote accurately a Florida player who said that John Brantley was a better pure passer than Tebow? Well, when you pick a fight with people who buy paper by the ton and ink by the barrel, you often get the worse end of the exchange.
Consider the following samples from today's column by Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel:
"The only difference between this Alabama victory over Florida and the last Alabama victory over Florida is that Urban Meyer could have easily announced his resignation at halftime this time."
"It was so bad that Tim Tebow, though he's now in Denver, is probably crying again."
"This was no contest from the beginning. This was Rocky Marciano knocking out Glass Jaw Joe in the first round."
"Gator Nation has been pointing to this game for months and this is the effort that Meyer and his coaching staff get from their team? Shameful."
"Meyer pumper Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama' into Florida's practice this week to get his players pumped up for the game. After this putrid effort, he should pipe in another Skynyrd song, 'That Smell' "
and my favorite:
"Alabama's offensive linemen chewed up Florida like they were gnawing on a rack of baby back ribs at Dreamland. Meanwhile, Alabama's defense smothered Forida's offense like three coats of barbecue
Yes, it was a dominating performance, but by no means a perfect one. Here's how I grade the game:
Offense: B+ It might not be completely fair to down grade the superb first-half offensive performance under the weight of a lack-luster second-half. The dynamic of the game was different, the play selection and personnel groupings were different, but the fact remains that a game is 60 minutes long, and Alabama has yet to play a complete game on both sides of the ball against quality opposition.
GMac's stats were respectable; 11 completions on 17 attempts for 84 yards, and no TDs or interceptions. Florida challenged the Alabama offense with its much-ballyhooed "Jumbo Package" of 5 defensive linemen and 2 linebackers. The idea was to smother the Tide running game and force GMac to rely on his arm. He did, to excellent effect. He also relied on his legs to good effect in key situations gaining 33 net yards on 7 carries with a longest run of 17.
Marquis Maze, out of the wild-pachyderm, completed a 19 yard pass to the pride of Reform, Alabama, Michael Williams, for Bama's only passing TD. Mark Ingram scored Bama's other two offensive TDs with runs of 6 and 1 yards. However, Florida did an effective job bottling up Ingram who only gained 47 yards on 12 carries. Mark was the recipient of 3 passes on which he gained a total of 19 yards. Trent Richardson gained 63 yards on 10 rushing attempts and for the fifth consecutive game led the team in all-purpose yards [63 rush, 58 kick returns].
Alabama's first four possessions of the game resulted in a FG and three TDs. The Tide offense had three drives greater than 40 yards [68, 80 and 42] the first three times it had the ball.
At the half, the Tide offense had 202 yards of total offense. It had 273 for the game. This is partially explained by the fact that Florida had its most productive and time consuming drives in the third quarter [UF time of possession in the third period was 12:29]. Coach Saban told reporters after the game that the second half was not indicative of how Alabama is supposed to play for an entire game. When Alabama plays four quarters of offense the way it played the first half against Florida, there is not a team in the country that will be able to keep the Tide off the scoreboard.
Defense: A The Gators gained 281 yards of total offense, 2/3ds of it in the second half. But the bottom line for a defense is keeping the opponent out of the end zone and Alabama's defense did that last night in superb fashion.
Courtney Upshaw showed no signs of lingering problems from a high ankle sprain. He was in the Florida backfield so much that if the game had gone on any longer, he would have qualified for in-state tuition.
Mark Barron led all defenders with 11 tackles [2 solo]. Upshaw recorded 7 tackles [5 solo] and Dont'a Hightower was credited with 6 [3 solo]. Will Lowery had 2 tackles, both solo.
Florida suffered 8 tackles for lost yardage, a forced fumble, 3 interceptions, 8 pass breakups and 9 QB hurries.
Special Teams:
Punting: C Alabama netted only 38.8 yards per punt, but had one in excess of 50+ yards that was downed inside the Gator 5. While Tide special teams did not allow any long returns, Julio Jones returned one punt 41 yards to set up Alabama's second TD. Later in the second quarter, however, he seemed to lose track of a punt that hit the turf at the Tide 20 and bounced dead at the 2.
Place Kicking: A Jeremy Shelley was good from 28 yards in his only FG attempt and was perfect on four PATs.
Kickoffs: B+ Cade Foster averaged 68 yards per kick and had 1 touchback. Alabama averaged 23.4 yards per kick return and allowed an average of only 19.3.
Coaching: A Alabama was the Gators' first big game of the 2010 campaign. They supposedly had been focusing on this rematch as a chance to expunge the memory of the beating inflicted on them in the 2009 SEC CG. Well, so much for focus. So much for revenge. There can be no serious debate about who is the better coach between Nick Saban and Urban Meyer. Florida fans should be seriously concerned about the state of their post-Tebow football program.
Next week marks the half-way point in the 2010 regular season. When Alabama crosses the 6 game meridian, it will have played four teams that were ranked in the top 10. Will Alabama be 6-0 this time next week? This team is starting to take on its identity, and that is of a team that is tough, physical and intense. The young defense continues to mature each week, and the offense can only be stopped by itself. The SEC East Champion will be either Florida or South Carolina. We will be playing a rematch against one of them the first Saturday in December. My guess is that "revenge" will be the preparation theme for whichever team is Alabama's opponent for the SEC title.
The Commissioner
The guy who sits behind me in the South Zone took it all in and summed it up perfectly: "you can tell which fans suffered through those bad years and which ones didn't."
Officially, sundown on October 2, 2010 came at 6:34 p.m., Central Time, but in the time zone of college football, the sun set on the University of Florida's reign as the darling of the national media, and purported SEC heavyweight at 2:21 in the first quarter when freshman, Trey Burton tossed a "Tebow-jump-pass" to Bama's Nico Jonson in the Alabama end zone. Johnson's interception killed Florida's 12 play, 74 yard opening drive. The ensuing 80 yard, 9 play drive engineered by GMac and the Alabama offense, resulted in the first of three second quarter touchdowns and killed the vain hope of the Gator-nation that Urban Meyer would merely reload after Tim Tebow's
What of Urban Meyer, one-time "Football Genius?" At least he survived his trip to Tuscaloosa without a relapse into the "medical" condition that spurred his brief "retirement" from coaching after last year's SEC Championship Game. How long was Meyer "retired" anyway? Not long. The only thing shorter was his post-game press conference last night; four questions, two
Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that Meyer has little time for the sports media. Recall his petulant rant at a beat reporter who dared to quote accurately a Florida player who said that John Brantley was a better pure passer than Tebow? Well, when you pick a fight with people who buy paper by the ton and ink by the barrel, you often get the worse end of the exchange.
Consider the following samples from today's column by Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel:
"The only difference between this Alabama victory over Florida and the last Alabama victory over Florida is that Urban Meyer could have easily announced his resignation at halftime this time."
"It was so bad that Tim Tebow, though he's now in Denver, is probably crying again."
"This was no contest from the beginning. This was Rocky Marciano knocking out Glass Jaw Joe in the first round."
"Gator Nation has been pointing to this game for months and this is the effort that Meyer and his coaching staff get from their team? Shameful."
"Meyer pumper Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama' into Florida's practice this week to get his players pumped up for the game. After this putrid effort, he should pipe in another Skynyrd song, 'That Smell' "
and my favorite:
"Alabama's offensive linemen chewed up Florida like they were gnawing on a rack of baby back ribs at Dreamland. Meanwhile, Alabama's defense smothered Forida's offense like three coats of barbecue
Yes, it was a dominating performance, but by no means a perfect one. Here's how I grade the game:
Offense: B+ It might not be completely fair to down grade the superb first-half offensive performance under the weight of a lack-luster second-half. The dynamic of the game was different, the play selection and personnel groupings were different, but the fact remains that a game is 60 minutes long, and Alabama has yet to play a complete game on both sides of the ball against quality opposition.
GMac's stats were respectable; 11 completions on 17 attempts for 84 yards, and no TDs or interceptions. Florida challenged the Alabama offense with its much-ballyhooed "Jumbo Package" of 5 defensive linemen and 2 linebackers. The idea was to smother the Tide running game and force GMac to rely on his arm. He did, to excellent effect. He also relied on his legs to good effect in key situations gaining 33 net yards on 7 carries with a longest run of 17.
Marquis Maze, out of the wild-pachyderm, completed a 19 yard pass to the pride of Reform, Alabama, Michael Williams, for Bama's only passing TD. Mark Ingram scored Bama's other two offensive TDs with runs of 6 and 1 yards. However, Florida did an effective job bottling up Ingram who only gained 47 yards on 12 carries. Mark was the recipient of 3 passes on which he gained a total of 19 yards. Trent Richardson gained 63 yards on 10 rushing attempts and for the fifth consecutive game led the team in all-purpose yards [63 rush, 58 kick returns].
Alabama's first four possessions of the game resulted in a FG and three TDs. The Tide offense had three drives greater than 40 yards [68, 80 and 42] the first three times it had the ball.
At the half, the Tide offense had 202 yards of total offense. It had 273 for the game. This is partially explained by the fact that Florida had its most productive and time consuming drives in the third quarter [UF time of possession in the third period was 12:29]. Coach Saban told reporters after the game that the second half was not indicative of how Alabama is supposed to play for an entire game. When Alabama plays four quarters of offense the way it played the first half against Florida, there is not a team in the country that will be able to keep the Tide off the scoreboard.
Defense: A The Gators gained 281 yards of total offense, 2/3ds of it in the second half. But the bottom line for a defense is keeping the opponent out of the end zone and Alabama's defense did that last night in superb fashion.
Courtney Upshaw showed no signs of lingering problems from a high ankle sprain. He was in the Florida backfield so much that if the game had gone on any longer, he would have qualified for in-state tuition.
Mark Barron led all defenders with 11 tackles [2 solo]. Upshaw recorded 7 tackles [5 solo] and Dont'a Hightower was credited with 6 [3 solo]. Will Lowery had 2 tackles, both solo.
Florida suffered 8 tackles for lost yardage, a forced fumble, 3 interceptions, 8 pass breakups and 9 QB hurries.
Special Teams:
Punting: C Alabama netted only 38.8 yards per punt, but had one in excess of 50+ yards that was downed inside the Gator 5. While Tide special teams did not allow any long returns, Julio Jones returned one punt 41 yards to set up Alabama's second TD. Later in the second quarter, however, he seemed to lose track of a punt that hit the turf at the Tide 20 and bounced dead at the 2.
Place Kicking: A Jeremy Shelley was good from 28 yards in his only FG attempt and was perfect on four PATs.
Kickoffs: B+ Cade Foster averaged 68 yards per kick and had 1 touchback. Alabama averaged 23.4 yards per kick return and allowed an average of only 19.3.
Coaching: A Alabama was the Gators' first big game of the 2010 campaign. They supposedly had been focusing on this rematch as a chance to expunge the memory of the beating inflicted on them in the 2009 SEC CG. Well, so much for focus. So much for revenge. There can be no serious debate about who is the better coach between Nick Saban and Urban Meyer. Florida fans should be seriously concerned about the state of their post-Tebow football program.
Next week marks the half-way point in the 2010 regular season. When Alabama crosses the 6 game meridian, it will have played four teams that were ranked in the top 10. Will Alabama be 6-0 this time next week? This team is starting to take on its identity, and that is of a team that is tough, physical and intense. The young defense continues to mature each week, and the offense can only be stopped by itself. The SEC East Champion will be either Florida or South Carolina. We will be playing a rematch against one of them the first Saturday in December. My guess is that "revenge" will be the preparation theme for whichever team is Alabama's opponent for the SEC title.
The Commissioner
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