by tom weppel
Random thoughts from a cluttered mind...
Unless you have your head in the sand, you know that we will be seeing about 85,000 crazed fans invade J-ville, as the game between Georgia and Florida cranks up downtown in No-Name Stadium. The game starts at 3:30 and can be seen on TV-47, CBS.
The Gators come off a nice win last week over top-ranked Kentucky, 45-37, while the ‘Dogs had the week off to heal their wounds and rest up.
Despite their two losses, the Gators are a strong outfit, led by former Nease QB Tim Tebow. Tebow has turned into a Gainesville movie star. He is so popular, he cannot go ANYWHERE without an escort leading his way, whether its to class, practice, or even to the store. He has had to change his cell phone number numerous times, as he continues to get calls from everywhere.
His main target on the field is WR Percy Harvin, who has shown his prowess in catching, running, and scoring. The Tebow/Harvin combination, without question, is the key to the Florida offense. And, with Tebow nursing a sore non-throwing shoulder, early reports are saying he should be able to start and play.
Meanwhile, Georgia, at 5-2, must deal with concerns at the RB position. Their top two backs, Thomas Brown (collarbone), and Kregg Lumpkin(knee), are either out or too banged up to play. And so head coach Mark Richt must turn to redshirt Freshman Knowshon Moreno to take care of running the ball.
In the last fifteen years, the Gators have practically owned this game, having won 14 of the last 16 games played between the two. Still, Georgia holds a 46-37 lead in wins, with two ties.
Most retail businesses and restaurants want the ‘Dogs to win. When Georgia wins, those fans stay in town Saturday night to party and spend cash. When Georgia loses, they go home. Most Florida fans leave Jacksonville, no matter what. And so we shall see how things play out. One team will emerge with three losses on their record, and it won’t be pretty.
After losing last weekend at home to the Miami Hurricanes, I think its pretty fair to call the Florida State Seminoles nothing more than an average team. That has to hurt, if you are a Seminole fan. Bobby Bowden is hurting, for sure, as he has simply not kept things going for his boys over in Tallahassee. He’s got an awful corps of QB’s. Xavier Lee is actually being looked at by head basketball coach Leonard Hamilton, because he has thrown some great bounce passes!
And so Bowden is going to give backup QB Drew Weatherford a fourth or fifth chance, depending on who’s keeping tally, to capture the head job. Weatherford has a scrimmage on Saturday as the ‘Noles host the duke Blue Devils. After that, he’ll have to play Boston College, Virginia Tech, Maryland, and Florida .They could easily lose all four.
After a pretty tough loss on Monday Night to the Colts, the Jaguars will have to bounce back as they hit the road now for three straight games, starting on Sunday in Tampa. This will be a tough task, as the Jags must now go to work without the services of QB David Garrard. They now turn to Quinn Gray to lead the offense, and that, my friends, will be tough. Without question, Jackie Del Rio and his coaching buddies downtown will have to cook up some good stuff in order to generate points.
Meanwhile, the Bucs have been a little better than average. They have won games people didn’t expect them to, getting to 3-1. Since then, they have lost two of three, to go to 4-3. While they have had great play out of QB Jeff Garcia, they have lost two RB’s to injury, having to go now with former Gator Earnest Graham to carry the load. The Buccanneerdefense is the group the Jags will have to be most aware of in this game, to see if they can make some things happen and stay competitive. The Jags must be very, very careful to make sure they DO NOT suffer a letdown. It would be easy for them to do so, after being so jacked for the Colt game. We’ll see how they respond to that loss.
The Red Sox and Rockies are cranking it up in the World Series now. Boston is the team of tradition that so many are aware of and know about, while Colorado is the team, STILL, that no one knows about. It seems to be a total David/Goliath confrontation, on the surface. But the bottom line is that the Rockies are a fierce team that has simply blown their first two opponents right out of the playoffs. It will be interesting to see how this series emerges. Overall, though, many will be pulling for the BoSox to come away with another Championship title.
Tom Weppel talks trash with Greg Larson, Lonnie Marts, Eugene Chung, Artis Gilmore, and Ron Duguay on SportsAvengers.com 24/7.
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