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 Sunshine State Scoreboard

GatorBytes' Sunshine State Scoreboard 2001: Spring Preview

Monday, April 9, 2001

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Now I know how Columbus felt when he set sail across the ocean in search of the Indies. After making it to the Canaries, it would be more than a month before he would see land again, but he didn't know that, and it must have seemed like an eternity. For Gator fans, the four plus months before they see football in the Swamp again is an eternity. The Orange and Blue Spring football game is behind us and the opening kickoff of the 2001 season is too far off to fully comprehend. Thankfully, there's Gator baseball, and Lopes' boys gave us something to cheer about yesterday as they broke the school record for consecutive wins (14) by sweeping Kentucky on a balmy Palm Sunday afternoon.

Spring practice was definitely different this year. This annual Rite of Spring has never previously been a big deal (at least not for the head ball coach who has always said it doesn't tell him very much). But this Spring was a different story as Spurrier devised a scoring system to keep score of both the offense and the defense during scrimmages, and even got involved briefly in coaching up the defense and uncharacteristically turned over the offense to Buddy Teevens while he watched the game from the stands. Another Spurrier first. Between him and Bowden, there is no lack of originality and inventiveness in how these two gridiron generals train and deploy their forces. Northern Virginia had Jackson and Lee. North Florida has Spurrier and Bowden. And both of them have a common enemy: Miami.

This has also been perhaps the most physical Spring practice of the Spurrier era. When Spurrier first came back to his alma mater in 1990 as the head ball coach, he made some changes straight away, both substantively and symbolically: He removed Doug's Rug, the artificial turf that players and coaches hated alike, and he announced that practices would be less physical than they had been. Instead of pounding each other, he wanted his players to save that for their opponents: the effect was that injuries and internecine conflicts that fractionalized the team in the past were reduced. And practice was more fun.  The Gators finished first in the SEC that year and went on to win four consecutive SEC titles from '93 to '96.  Then came the debacle at Tempe in the Gators' first-ever national championship game as the Nebraska Cornhuskers humiliated the Mighty Gators 62-24 in the Fiesta Bowl. With that came a new change of direction and a command from the Gators' head ball coach to the team: get physical. The Gators' did, up to a point, and won the national title the following year. But it wasn't enough for what was yet to come. In 1999 the unthinkable happened: the Gators lost in the Swamp, breaking what was then the nation's longest home winning streak, and then lost AGAIN (what's that expression about hell freezing over?), and capped that off by losing twice to the same team (Alabama) in the same year, an occurrence that the folks over in the astronomy department said was about as likely as the Earth and Moon colliding. From their high water mark in '96, when the Gators won the national title, they were left high and dry in '99 as the water ran out of the Swamp like it had run out of Alachua Sink over a century ago.

Last Spring, it looked like the Gators might have to return to the good-old days of polite, friendly practices because of decimating injuries that forced them to play seven-on-seven in the Orange and Blue game that year. So why now has the head ball coach made this the most physical, most competitive Spring practice that the Gators have yet had to endure? I am not going to pretend that I know how to read the head ball coach's mind. I'll leave that to the sports writers who are paid to do that, but here's my take:

1. Spurrier is back on track to eventually equal or surpass Bear Bryant as the SEC's all-time greatest coach after winning his 6th SEC title last year. The three years that elapsed before he picked up his 6th ring was one less than the four-year hiatus that the Bear had between titles in the course of picking up 14 Conference rings--13 at Alabama and one at Kentucky--when, for a while, it looked like the only problem the Bear had was not having enough fingers to wear them all. Spurrier needs to start winning the SEC title again on a regular basis if he is going to catch the Bear, and this being a different day and age, he won't have the same problem the Bear had. Today you can wear rings on your toes, as well as your fingers, so Spurrier should be ok for at least 14 more years, but he may have to start wearing sandals.  Right now, what he's got to be thinking about is making sure that the Gators have fire in their bellies when September rolls around.

2. The Noles come back to the Swamp this year. They were one of the two teams that beat the Gators at home in '99, showing the world one more time that Gator invincibility in the Swamp was a myth. Spurrier, whose meteoric rise at Florida is the stuff that myths are made of, has no intention of letting his portly nemesis from the panhandle strut out of here with another win in 2001.

3. Spurrier, who is in obvious discomfort from back surgery last year, and now hobbles instead of jogs off the field, may be going through what psychologists call a type of reaction formation, demanding more from his players physically than he can demand from himself to displace the anxiety he feels about his own diminished physical capacity (observant readers may have noticed an increase in the number of Golden Flake potato chip commercials that the Noles' head ball coach did after he had back surgery himself, which is another way of coping). You can also argue (since football isn't a pure science) that the better conditioned an athlete is the less likely he is to injure himself. But you can also argue that it is more likely that there will be injuries if players start going after each other with the same intensity that they go after their opponents.

4. And now for what I believe may be the main motive for this Spring's physicality: GatorBytes was practically alone in his prognostication about the outcome of last year's game in Starkville when the Gators visited Mississippi State.  The Gators were everyone's pick to win, with the notable exception of GatorBytes.  Readers may remember that it was GatorBytes who said that when the Gators came back into the locker room after that game, the predominant color would be black and blue, not orange and blue. Mississippi State is a small state school of 15,000+ in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by cow pastures. But one thing you can always count on from the Bulldogs is a physical, smash-mouth football game. And that's what the Gators got. The problem is they didn't have much to give back, and that's got to linger in the back of the head ball coach's mind when he thinks about this year's opening opponent: Marshall University. Like the Bulldogs, the Thundering Herd heralds from a small school (13,000+) in Huntington, a coal-mining town in West Virginia, where there is one thing they know how to do as well as mine coal, and that's play football... and win. As Mid-American Conference champs last year, and Division I-AA national champs in 1992 and 1996, Marshall isn't coming here to lose and pick up a pay check so they can go back home and say they played at the largest university in the South against the Mighty Gators of the fabled Southeastern Conference. Unlike the Gators' usual opening game fodder, where the guests' routine is well known--show up, put in your time, collect your check, and leave--the Herd is likely to envision a different scenario, one that their head ball coach, former Gator defensive coordinator Bob Pruett (57-9 in six seasons at Marshall), knows is possible: play sound football and good things will happen. He learned that from Spurrier who preaches it all the time. And he and Spurrier both know that the Gators always have trouble getting off the starting block on opening game day without tripping and stumbling over themselves.  My guess is that Spurrier is already thinking ahead to Marshall and knows that the Gators are going to have to play better, harder and more physically than they normally have in September or they could become the first Gator team in the Spurrier era to start 0-1.

Now, about the Orange and Blue game, Robbie Andreu did a good job covering it for the Sun and Larry Vettel will have a lot more to say about it this morning on the Wakeup Call (WMOP 900 AM), so if you want details and analysis, that's where to get them.  And if you want something on the Noles' and Canes' Spring games, you'll have to get that somewhere else, too. Besides, I give them enough coverage as it is during the regular season, and all I get in return is...well, never mind.

Until September...

I'm outa here,

GatorBytes

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GatorBytes' Sunshine State Scoreboard: Kickoff

Sunday, September 2, 2001

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Sunshine State Scoreboard is back for its third season...with a new format. Instead of the weekly capsule summaries of the state's big three football powers, the new Scoreboard may be a little less structured at times, and possibly a little less regular, depending on what's happening from week to week. The frustration of recent years was erased last year as the Gators got back on track and won their 7th conference ring after coming up empty handed for three years, and the post-Wuerffel era QB controversies have just about ended. The head ball coach had another back operation and appears to be getting around a little more comfortably and grousing a little bit less. And there is a quiet confidence in the Gator camp as they begin what may be their best chance of repeating as national champions since '96.  In other words, the controversies that made writing this column easy the last couple of seasons aren't there any more. Besides the Sun has some pretty able writers, like Pat Dooley and Robbie Andreu, who have a lot more to say than I have. And for hardcore fans, there's Larry Vettel every weekday morning on WMOP/WGGG. There isn't much left after that, with them chewing the fat, that pretty much leaves me the gristle.

Florida (1) 49 v. Marshall 14
Next week the Gators host Louisiana-Monroe (0-1)

The Gators' 49-14 trouncing of what had been anticipated to be a potentially dangerous opponent, and more of a belly full than the usual opening game fodder, was the first opening game in some time that did not elicit a chorus of boos from Gator fans...directed at the Gators themselves for sloppy play and mistakes. Nevermind that the opening drive ended in a flubbed field goal attempt that should have been a chip shot or that another drive ended in an interception in Marshall's end or that the Gators had more penalties than their outmatched opponents, they were a far better team than what Gator fans were used to seeing this early in the season.

Miami (2) 33 v. Penn State 7
Next week the Canes host Rutgers (1-0)

Congrats to Miami and Coach Coker for helping to preserve Bear Bryant's record as Division I's winningest coach, which, barring catastrophe, will pass temporarily to Penn States Joe Pa, before passing ultimately to Bobby Bowden. Will the Canes pick up where they left off last year? If it was any other team, I'd have to say no, not with a new coach starting his first head coaching job. But can you think of any other program in recent history that has a better chance, having won four national titles under three different head coaches?

FSU (6) 55 v. Duke 13
Next week the Noles host UAB (1-0)

What can I say about FSU? It was business as usual. Nevermind that they lost a ton of starters (literally), including their starting QB and offensive coordinator, they pummeled hapless Duke to smithereens. Sure, I know, it was Duke (0-11 last year), but do you really believe it would have made all that much difference whoever it was they played in the ACC? Okay, the two Techs from Georgia and Virginia would have been a sterner test, but I doubt that would have made much difference to the Noles' venerable old head coach, who was in typical form the following day on his TV show: "Looky, Gene, that's Eric...Eric...('Powell'--Gene), oh yeah, well, whatever, you just know his mama is sooo proud of him! What's that you say, Gene? You say that's ole Rix's first TD ever? You don' say! Well, I'll be dog gone, Ooweee! We gotta get him in there more, and give ole Weinke a little rest. What's that, Gene? Ole Weinke isn't here any more!?" Yes, nothing much has changed in Tallahassee. There is always something to write about there.

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GatorBytes' Sunshine State Scoreboard: Miami Reigns Supreme

Wednesday October 16, 2001

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Saturday October 13, 2001

Miami 49 vs FSU 27
Next week: Miami 5-0 (1) is idle, FSU 3-2 (21) plays at Virginia 3-3

Florida 20 vs Auburn 23
Next week: Florida 5-1 (7) is idle

Croak at Doak and other disasters

At readers' requests, GatorBytes is back with another edition of Sunshine State Scoreboard, reluctantly I might add, because up until last Saturday, I was more or less convinced there wouldn't be much to write about, at least not until later in the season. The Mighty Gators and Cagey Canes would cruise through the first part of their schedules, and the Gnarly Noles wouldn't be doing much of anything after being trounced by a North Carolina State team that had lost its first three games. But that all changed last Saturday.  First of all, I'd like to congratulate the University of Miami for its convincing victory over FSU at Doak Campbell Stadium where the Noles hadn't lost since 1990.  Miami's place atop the polls is well-deserved.  There, now that I'm through with that, here's how I really feel: #@!$%&*... Call it envy, if you will, but I just can't accept the fact that this tiny school in Coral Gables, a school that is smaller than the local community college with a student body of barely 13,000 students (not including football players), that doesn't even own its own football stadium, is once again competing for the national championship, having already won four under three different coaches, while that big, fat school to the North, the largest in the Southeast, with the largest fan base and alumni support, the best facilities, and high school talent out the wazoo, plus a bona fide genius coach, blows their best chance since '96 to win a measly second national title!  If you haven't figured out which school I'm talking about, it isn't Edward Waters!  No, I'm talking about the University of Florida, the flagship University of the State of Florida.  The colossus of the North. The place where Gatorade was invented.  One of the nation's great universities.  Think about it.  I bet there isn't one reader in 100 who receives this column who can tell me what Harvard or Yale are famous for.  But everybody knows that the University of Florida is the home of the Gators.   But that's beside the point.  The University of Florida isn't going to remain the great center of learning and culture that it is, if the Gators don't start playing better and smarter.

So what went wrong Saturday night on the plains of Auburn?  The Gators' head ball coach pretty well summed it up the following morning on his TV program when he said that he and the coaching staff did a pretty lousy job of convincing the players to take Auburn seriously, seriously enough to realize that if they didn't play well, they could very well be beaten.  But it was more than that.  As the Gator men's basketball team gets ready for another season of Billy Ball, the football team, which has its own style of ball known as the Fun & Gun, started playing knuckleball. No, I am not talking about baseball. I am talking about the kind of football knuckleheads play, which was painfully evident when Gator DE Kennard Ellis jumped on Auburn QB Daniel Cobb, who had fallen on an errant snap back at his 17, after the play was over, drawing a personal foul and giving Auburn a first down at their 32. And then there was the fiasco when Spurrier sent Matt Leach in to punt on THIRD down. Apparently disoriented by the strange timing of the play, he dropped the ball, but instead of simply falling on it and kicking it again, since there was another down left, he panicked like it was fourth down (which is what it always is when he goes in, which is not that often to begin with) and tried to fling it around, barely averting disaster as the ball changed hands several times before the play came to a merciful end with the Gators still in possession.  The game ended in fitting fashion like something out of a Keystone Cops comedy routine as Rex Grossman, on the final play of the game, unable to find an open receiver and desperately trying to stave off defeat, lateraled the ball to a surprised Max Starks (a 6'8" 345 lb OT and the largest player on either roster) who lumbered a few feet downfield before crashing to earth.  Great teams also have great character, something that was not exactly evident when an electrifying 80-yard TD pass from Grossman to Jabar Gaffney that tied the game turned into a self-indulgent display of taunting as Gaffney slowed down and strutted into the end zone, while looking back at his beaten opponent, in what looked more like a routine from a step show than a football game.

As disheartening as this loss was--the season was shaping into the Gators' best chance of winning another national title since their first in '96, something that is now only a remote possibility-- the Gators still have a chance for another hugely successful season, thanks to the conference they play in: the SEC, the strongest football conference in America.  Unlike FSU and Miami, the Gators have more to play for than the national championship, and there are some old-time Gators who will tell you that an SEC conference ring is more coveted than Waterford Crystal any day.  It's kind of like this: being a millionaire in America may not be what it used to be, but it still means something, and most Americans could quit their jobs and retire on a million bucks.  But being a millionaire in, say, Japan where a night at a sushi bar can easily add up to a million yen, it isn't a big thing.  Winning the ACC and the Big East isn't a big thing either.  Winning the SEC is.  And despite losing to Auburn, the Gators are still odds-on favorites to win their 7th conference title.  That's why it's great to be a Florida Gator.  You can lose and still come up smelling like roses, well, maybe not roses, but... On second thought, let's move on.

Letter to the Editor

This edition of Sunshine State Scoreboard includes a new feature where selected readers' comments will appear.  Our first guest commentator is Eyecane from Ocala who is a UM alumnus who used to play ball himself.  Too clever by half, maybe, when it comes to singing the Canes' praises, there's no denying that he has a clever way with words...

"Well, it looks like all those meanderings about how the BCS might torpedo Miami once again have all become moot. If the 'Canes get down to business and win all their games (no gimme - I know) then we're going to Pasadena. FSU gave us multiple opportunities to beat them, and we took advantage of every one. Quickly and often!! Lots of little 'Nole streaks have been jeopardized by this loss, and the 54 game home unbeaten streak is over. UM's 58 game home winning streak remains intact.

And then the Gators lost. How could it be? Poor outmatched Auburn. Syracuse beat Auburn by 20!! Well here's how I saw it: Start off with an injured Earnest Graham, sprinkle in some Grossman asynchronicity, throw in a spunky Tiger squad with a blossoming QB, add weather - wind - a night road game in the SEC and a savvy place kicker, and you end up with a perfect answer for Jabar Gaffney's annoying slowdown, touchdown strut. Namely, a 23-20 goodbye kiss by Auburn to Florida - marking the end of their storied annual series.

For ardent Miami fans it was like hitting the Daily Double at Hialeah. It clears up the BCS snarl. And it probably spells big trouble for the Georgia Bulldogs this weekend.

The drive for five is very much alive. I would have liked it to be the Gators for the big prize in January - but we'll just have to settle for OU or Nebraska. Possibly UCLA or Oregon. Maybe Florida can make it, but a lot of chips must fall exactly for that to occur. For FSU to appear, it would be Fresno ST."

Eyecane

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GatorBytes' Sunshine State Scoreboard: the Day Before

Friday November 16, 2001

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Welcome to the inaugural issue of Sunshine State Scoreboard on the Web! This is also the first time the Scoreboard has come out the day before the game, which makes it much harder for me to sound like I know what I'm talking about when I haven't read Dooley and Andreu and listened to Spurrier and Bowden or Burt Reynolds. Also, I'm reluctant to share insights that might be used by the Gators' Sunshine State rivals, not that anything said here is likely to matter or even be comprehended, but you never know. The outcome of Saturday's Gator-Nole game, however, is no mystery. The Noles are reeling faster than the Taliban, having lost to the Canes and two unranked ACC teams coming into this game, and will find no mercy in the Swamp Saturday night. Don't look for me to predict the score, however, that's Pat's department. All I'm going to say is it ain't gonna be pretty.

GatorBytes

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GatorBytes' Sunshine State Scoreboard: Editorial

Haile Village Center, Gainesville, Florida
Wednesday November 28, 2001

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Just when I thought it couldn't get any better than the Warrick-Janikowski days, now comes FSU athletic director, Dave Hart, to show, as he put it, that FSU is a class act. For those of you who are good at anagrams, notice that "class" contains three letters that spell a word that seems most apropos in light of the AD's following comments.

As all of you know who receive the Scoreboard, the AD was incensed at remarks that the Gators' head ball coach made about certain unacceptable gridiron behavior that the Noles seem to have a penchant for when they play the Gators. Spurrier may have been a little more blunt than this, which is okay. He's not Miss Manners and he isn't burdened with the problem that seems to plague the author of this column: too many words to choose from. No sir, Spurrier shaves with Occam's razor, and he shaved away all the stubble when he said what everybody was saying anyway: twisting another player's leg and then boasting about it afterward is dirty ball.

Hart went ballistic when he heard this, lambasting the Gators' head ball coach in a manner that was more inappropriate than the comments that provoked his barrage, derisively telling the media, "It would be good if somebody just spanked [Spurrier] and put him to bed and hope he wakes up all grown up!" He then said, implausibly, "I believe strongly in the respect factor," something that was conspicuously absent in his own remarks.

And as if that wasn't enough, he dragged poor coach Bowden back into the fray, adding that if Bowden had made the same comments as Spurrier, he would have benched him! The elderly, venerable coach, who is one of the most respected coaches in the country, must wonder what he has to do to get some respect, not from Spurrier, but from his own boss. Such comments by Florida's AD, Jeremy Foley, about Spurrier would be incomprehensible. In fact, they would never occur, because at Florida, the athletic director doesn't just talk class, he acts it, and that's why UF's overall sports program, not just its football program, is recognized as one of the very best in the country year in and year out.

Ahhh, that felt good!

GatorBytes

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GatorBytes' Sunshine State Scoreboard: GatorBit

Sunday, December 2, 2001

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Saturday, December 1, 2001

Tennessee 34-Florida 32

Miami 26-Virginia Tech 24

FSU 28-Georgia Tech 17

For the Gators, Saturday's loss was a reminder that football is only a game, and for the Vols, it was an affirmation of the Story of Job.

Congratulations to the Gators for another fine season, to the Vols for a great season, to both teams for playing hard and well and for making this one of the great rivalries of college football. Good luck to the Vols in the SEC championship game, and may both teams win their bowl games.

Likewise, congratulations and good luck to Miami in its quest for a fifth national championship, and to the Noles, May God have Mercy on your Souls!

This has been a GatorBit brought to you by GatorBytes.

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Some final comments by others...

"If I am a good football coach, it's because of my mistakes. I try to learn from them"--Steve Spurrier

"Sure, losses hurt, but football isn't life and death"--Bobby Bowden

"The drama of sport is a big part of the drama of life, and the scope of this drama is endless"--Grantland Rice

For more, see Quotes

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GatorBytes' Sunshine State Scoreboard: the Bowls

Tuesday, January 1, 2002

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Bowl time!

First let's deal with the obvious: Miami will beat Nebraska in the Rose Bowl Thursday to win the national championship for the FIFTH time under FOUR different head coaches, which makes you wonder if the real Genius of the Gables is UM AD Paul Dee. Look at the Yankees. Great players, great coaches, but who put it all together?--George Steinbrenner.

Congrats in advance to the Canes for bringing another Waterford to the State of Florida, well, South Florida, but that's close enough.

And to the Noles...congratulations on edging out the Hokies in the Gator Bowl. 'Nuf said. Okay, okay... here's a special congrats to Bobby Bowden for tying Bear Bryant's all-time win record (even if he didn't do it in the SEC!).

Now we come to the Orange Bowl, and I regret to report some disconcerting news from Dr. B, my handler, who told me to ignore the spread on this one, which has the Gators favored by 16 over Maryland. He said the Gators will be lucky to eke out a win. Here's why. He calls it the BMI factor, which stands for Body Mass Index. Dr. B has been analyzing the Gators' losses and has made a startling discovery, namely that the likelihood of beating the Gators increases proportionately to the opposing head ball coaches' weight and girth. This applies to any coach whose weight and belt size is greater than Spurrier's. Consider who the Gators have lost to during the Spurrier era: Bobby Bowden (repeatedly), Terry Bowden, Mike DuBose (twice), and Phillip Fulmer (four times). Dr. B has examined this with every statistical tool that modern science offers. He's done regression analyses, analyses of variance and covariance and all kinds of correlational analyses, and he keeps coming up with the same results: the only significant factor that these coaches have in common is their greater BMI. Now look at the Terps head ball coach, Ralph Friedgan, and you can see why there is good cause for concern!

Curiously, the BMI factor is a curvilinear relationship, which means that an increase in BMI correlates with an increased likelihood of beating Spurrier up to a point and then gradually decreases. There is a critical point that D. B calls the Portly Point, which is best exemplified by Bobby Bowden. Not surprisingly, this is who Spurrier has had the hardest time beating. But he has managed to beat downright obese coaches, so that's why the Gators may still win tomorrow.

What isn't clear is the theory underlying the BMI factor. According to Dr. B, it might have something to do with body image and being comfortable with who you are. This is the psycopigskin theory. Gaining weight, afterall, is a natural progression of aging, and fighting it may create a biochemical imbalance associated with manic-depressive behavior and impulse control disorders such as acute agitation and repeatedly ripping off your headgear when things don't go as planned. People who are comfortable being overweight may simply be more self-confident about everything. Ever notice how Bobby Bowden is always smiling, even when defending himself from accusations of pigskin shenanigans by the fit-looking 56-year-old Spurrier? And then there is the psycophysics theory. Readers will remember that Dr. B discussed physicist Werner Heisenberg's Principal of Uncertainty in a previous column. Well, there is another well known theory of physics that may explain BMI, that is, E=Mc2, which states that the more something weighs, the heavier it is, or something like that. Believe it or not, that theory actually won its creator a Nobel prize! Now, I know what you are thinking: Dr. B is no Einstein, but Einstein is no Dr. B, either!

It may be too late to do anything about this now. Not even an all-nighter at Krispy Kreme will help the Gators' head ball coach at this point. What's needed is a rigorous off-season training program. Golf is fine. Nobody ever got into shape playing golf. What other sport can you play while drinking a beer and eating a hot dog at the same time? So, don't change that. What I would change are some of the commercials Spurrier does, like getting that Burger King whopper spot that Bowden had and seeing if Sonny's Fat Boy will be a sponsor. Keep the Golden Flake commercials. You've got to eat the stuff when you do the commercials (at least on the set), so that's why these fit in so well with an off-season conditioning program. Spurrier should also get a personal coach, say, someone recommended by the International Sumo Federation, or become a lunch buddy with Jimmy Rane.

Happy New Year!

GatorBytes