FanHouse Florida Football

For people who currently rule the college sports world, Florida players sure seem angry. First, linebacker Dustin Doe was arrested last weekend for being part of a brawl in a Gainesville parking garage, now offensive lineman Ronnie Wilson has been charged with aggravated assault, simple battery and the use or display of a concealed weapon during the commission of a felony (complicated charge, worth a lot of points).

According to reports, after he spit on and slapped a man in a nightclub, Wilson allegedly took a rifle out of his car trunk and fired a warning shot into the air because he wanted the man to "know how it feels to be scared." Urban Meyer's take? "Obviously, this is a major concern." Meyer not only has to be concerned for the reputation of his program and the well-being of his players, but also the fact that he has an offensive linemen who feels the need to discharge a firearm for intimidation purposes rather than just using the fact that he's 6' 3" and 300-pounds. What was Wilson going to do to intimidate the 300-pounder lined up against him on game day? Shank somebody during warm-ups? Lob grenades into the opposing huddle?

Unlike Doe, who was not suspended (but will face internal punishment) mostly because his offense was in self-defense, Wilson probably faces pretty stiff penalties, both legally and from the team. He is currently awaiting a court appearance.

Few things awe people more than the act of speed. I sit here writing this while the Daytona 500 plays out on my television screen, cars ripping across asphalt at nearly 200 miles an hour. The main event at the Olympic games is the 100 meter dash. In college football, our fastest players have quite often been amongst the most celebrated.

Reggie Bush and Adrian Peterson came along and spent three seasons simply running right by defenders. They gave way to Ted Ginn who capped his career with a kick return touchdown that was Ohio State's lone highlight in January's BCS Championship Game.

But now that those guys are gone, who is left to fill the void as captivating speedster?

For players already on college rosters, Clemson has two of the zoom zoomiest around in receiver/returner Jacoby Ford and tailback CJ Spiller, both sophomores. There are other players out there yet to make their mark and we'll be on the lookout for them. One such burner is Jamere Holland, a redshirt freshman receiver at USC who clocked somewhere in the 10.3 range in the 100 meters in high school.

Florida sophomore receiver Percy Harvin is also a superb choice, weaving expertly through defenses any time he so much as has a step on a defender. West Virginia junior tailback Steve Slaton has excellent speed and is a worthy candidate. Junior Arkansas tailback and Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden is an obvious selection here. Finally, there is junior Texas tailback Jamaal Charles who ran somewhere in the 10.2 range in high school and owns several long touchdown runs to his name.

Among incoming recruits, many people have made comparisons between Louisiana's Joe McKnight (a USC signee) and Reggie Bush, but McKnight is probably a step slower with a personal best of 10.71. There are some reports of him having clocked a 10.4, but I have yet to find anything legitimate and official backing that up. He's definitely a playmaker but I'm not sure he's quite in that class of guy who simply runs right by college defenders as Peterson and Bush and Ginn were able to do.

My nominee among this year's incoming freshmen to fill the speed vacuum would be tailback Jahvid Best, a 10.41 runner who has signed with California.

Noble reader: now that you've seen my list, I ask you now who else should be under consideration as an impact player with awe-inspiring speed? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Signing Day came and went almost a week ago but recruiting is still a hot topic in college football. The FanHouse has been all over the issue this week. As always, USC leads the headlines with Joe McKnight's communications with Reggie Bush and the limo sent to a recruit. Both are obscure no-no's. But there's also a storm brewing at Clemson between the divergent missions of the university and the football team. And then this morning came news of Urban Meyer's near-violation of yet another obscure rule.

In the years I've followed recruiting I don't recall this much carryover of issues a week after signing day. Perhaps this is because of the rise of the recruiting websites, perhaps it's because of the game's tremendous popularity right now. Perhaps a million other things but this may be the proverbial bubbling before cauldron's lid bursts off.

And perhaps it's because a Midwestern school with great pull managed to register their complaints against lowly Illinois and its big recruiting class all the way into the pages of the New York Times.

Look no further than Brian's entry today about NCAA President Myles Brand forming a committee to review recruiting practices to see that things are definitely heating up.

As for remedies, Brian suggests getting rid of the idea of singing day. Eh. I'd rather they just simplify and reduce the rules and ask that the NCAA spend the necessary dollars to credibly enforce them. Of course the NCAA has earned the reputation of a bad lover over the years, all take and no give so my suggestion is probably pie in the sky but you never know.

Florida's victory Monday night over Ohio State was a shocker to most everyone, except those living in the nine Southeastern Conference states. For those of us below the Mason-Dixon line, it was validation. In an era where Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso have way too much influence, Monday night was a match-up of our brand of football versus theirs. Speed versus Size. North versus South.

And it wasn't even close. It was hard to find anyone around Auburn, Alabama that wasn't pulling for the Gators on Monday. That's saying a lot. Florida was one of Auburn's biggest rivals for more than 80 years before conference realignment wrecked their annual meetings.

But Auburn fans, like most all other SEC fans, knew this game was more than Florida versus Ohio State. This game was for respect - national respect. All season we listened to the "experts" talk about Ohio State, Michigan, USC and even Notre Dame. Little national respect was given to Auburn, Florida, Georgia or LSU. They were good teams, but those northern schools had the entire package according to the writers and sportscasters.

Within minutes of Florida's complete annihilation of Ohio State, ESPN's Lee Corso was blaming the loss on the layoff the Buckeyes had between games. Fifty days was just too much he said. Never mind that Florida had 30 days off. What's the difference in a month off and a month and a half? It was a downright stupid comment. No, make that ignorant.

The BCS got lucky. Score one for mankind. When it was all said and done on Sunday night, the national championship game was decided by the voters. What a novelty. Those pesky computer polls found a way to deadlock Michigan and Florida and defer to real live breathing humans to decide who plays for the national championship. The polls made the final choice.

The BCS is still a joke. Using polls to determine who plays for the national championship is still really dumb. But fortunately, the two most deserving teams are headed to Glendale, Arizona to play for all the marbles.

Anyone who's a proponent of a playoff couldn't possibly support Michigan's effort for a rematch. They lost to Ohio State in the last round. It's time for the next one and Florida deserves to be there. Are the Gators dominating? No. Could they have stayed on the field with Auburn's 2004 team? No chance.

First things first. I no longer have a dog in this BCS hunt. My Auburn Tigers have been eliminated. With that said, I'm still hot over this BCS process. Just as Auburn was bent over in 2004, it appears likely that the winner of the Florida-Arkansas contest will face the same fate.

Many in the South believe that Arkansas is the best team in the conference and will win the SEC Championship on December 2nd. I don't share that feeling. I believe that Florida is a better team and will be even faster on artificial turf. Something tells me that Urban Meyer is a better big game coach. Time will tell.

Regardless of who wins, it appears that the winner will settle for the consolation prize, the bronze medal game if you will. The idea that a one loss SEC Champion will be left out is just as incredible as it was in 2004 when Auburn went undefeated.

December 2, 1989. That was the day Alabama came to town for the first time. And like Florida's 2006 edition, both were unbeaten and ranked second in the land. On that day in 1989, Jordan-Hare Stadium was louder than its ever been. On Saturday night, Auburn's fans along with its team, matched the fervor and determination of that day 17 years earlier.

Friday night at the pep rally at Toomer's Corner, former head coach Pat Dye talked about that day many years earlier, and said the fans put the team on its shoulders and never let them down until the game was over. Dye asked for that kind of help again on Saturday night. Coach: Mission accomplished.

The second half of football Saturday night was the most inspired Auburn has played in recent memory. For the first 30 minutes, Auburn's defense looked like it was picking up where it left off in the Arkansas game. Florida had obviously watched the game tape and was determined to make a duplicate. The Gators offensive line was consistently blowing the Tigers defense five yards off the ball every snap in the first half.

It's pretty fun to watch these Florida fans drink the Kool-Aid. They beat a decent LSU team at home and now they think they're headed to Arizona in January. Never mind, that Alabama had them on their heels for three quarters or that they struggled against Kentucky .

I want to share with you a post by Florida FanHouse writer Ryan Ferguson. Here's an excerpt from a story he ran Thursday. In it, he interviews a character named Swampy (I couldn't make this crap up) and asks him to give insight into Saturday's game. You'll get a kick out of these "deep thoughts"...

RF: Let's talk Auburn for a minute. Some are wondering if this former #2 is a bit of a fraud; in addition to their blowout loss to a pretty good Arkansas squad, they had to rely on an unexpected on-sides kick during the 3rd quarter to wear down Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks. A review of Auburn's game against Arkansas shows a lot of screen passes and dumps off to the flat by Cox, who didn't have a great day. In short, the offense looked pretty one-dimensional, and as soon as the Tigers found themselves in a two-TD hole they were unable to pick up the pace and turn to the passing game. Going purely by that tape the Gators' D would seem prepared to have a field day on Saturday in Jordan-Haire stadium. Your thoughts?

After the win over LSU many thought that Auburn's next big defensive test would be against Florida. Then came last week and the upstart Arkansas ground attack. The bad news is Florida hasn't gone anywhere. Florida still remains the best offense the Tigers will face this season.

Going into the season many believed that Urban Meyer's offense couldn't work in the SEC. It's one thing to pull it off at Utah and Bowling Green, but playing in the SEC is a different story. One could argue that the jury's still out on Meyer's offense. But you can't say his unit hasn't gotten better every week.

Chris Leak is starting to perform like the heralded quarterback that came to Florida with such high expectations. While Gators fans still don't give him the credit he deserves, he's made a believer out of most everyone in the conference. Leak has completed 65% of his passes and thrown for 1,395 yards and 14 touchdowns. The Gators offense is average 29 points a game. That's not bad for a group that has faced Alabama, Tennessee and LSU already this season.

During game week you always want to check in on the enemy, especially when it's a season defining game like this one. And they don't get any bigger than this weekend's Auburn-Florida game. For you youngsters who don't much about history, I don't know much biology, Auburn and Florida were once great rivals back in the days of Shug Jordan and Pat Dye. We actually played every year and hated each other. It was a wonderful time.

Much like North Korea and Iran today, Florida was once part of our axis of evil or as Coach Dye used to call it, "Amen Corner." That was his term for the final three games of the season - Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Yeah, real men played football when we were in college. No, I never played.

Anyway, my point is it's good to know about your opponent and what you're up against. And boy are you in for a treat. Orson Swindle (who the hell knows if that's his real name - I hope not) is publisher of was is widely considered the best college football blog in the country, Every Day Should Be Saturday. It's a Florida Gator blog that also covers the entire world of college football. And it's hilarious. It's frank and always on the money.

If you don't do anything else this week, go and visit Orson's site. I go there everyday and so do thousands of others. I promise you'll continue to visit daily.

Link: Football Saturday In The South