The Sunday Blog comes at you after a wonderful weekend with friends who didn’t let a bad football team ruin Saturday night.
* Several people have pointed out to me that Johnny Townsend’s hold was less than perfect when Eddy Pineiro missed the crucial extra point. Thanks for the info. Our replay system is less than ideal in the press box. The bottom line is that it was still in the third quarter. Florida didn’t lose because of the missed extra point. It lost because it has a bad offense. And the win prompted LSU’s Derrius Guice to Tweet to Jim McElwain — “Did we get what we deserved this year coach?” Stings a little, doesn’t it?
* Nothing made a lot of people happier than to see Jim Harbaugh getting drenched and then to lose at home to Michigan State. Or is that just me? It was another typical day of college football with Oklahoma losing to Iowa State and Oklahoma State getting back into the college playoff picture. And FSU is 1-3, which is mindblowing.
* Thanks, Gator fans, for singing “I Won’t Back Down” with all of your hearts at the end of the third quarter. The annoying LSU band couldn’t ruin it because you were so into it (the LSU band issued a statement explaining why it played over the “We Are The Boys” segment.) Hopefully, the Petty song becomes a tradition at every game.
* Fan bases get loud after losses and I would expect nothing less here over the next few days. Ditto Arkansas where the Razorbacks were trounced by South Carolina. The noise only fades with wins and Arkansas faces Alabama and Auburn in its next two games. That sounds like 2-5 to me.
* My AP ballot: 1. Ala; 2. Clem; 3. Georgia; 4. Penn St.; 5. TCU; 6. Washington; 7. Ohio St.; 8: Wiscy; 9. Wash. St.; 10. Aubie; 11. Miami; 12. Okie St.; 13. Okie; 14. USC; 15. Michigan; 16. VTech; 17. USF; 18. SD State; 19. Notre Dame; 20. NC State; 21. UCF; 22. Mich. St.; 23. Ga. Tech; 24. Stanford; 25. Kentucky.
KY in top 25?
Pat, I have seen chatter that “I won’t back down” should be a new anthem for UF. Thoughts?
We should ban LSU’s band from Florida Field next year. What they did violates the reciprocal respect rules promulgated by the SEC and was incredibly disrespectful for those trying to honor Tom Petty. They should be fined, and barred. This reflects poorly on the entire AD group at LSU, which is of course headed up by the guy who did the Duke Lacrosse team wrong. Justice will prevail Joe.
Pat… Yes…they did lose the game in the 3rd quarter when they missed the extra point…as you well know the missed extra point did cause them to lose the game…your statement is pure non-sense…otherwise the game goes into overtime…maybe they win or lose in overtime…but the game was lost on the extra point … period … over the years, I’ve really enjoyed your columns…but, you’ve turned into such negative writer…I like to read positive articles ….but you have turned into such a wimp with your articles. ..Kentucky no. 24 have you completely lost your mind…also ranking USF and UCF ahead of UF or even FSU is insane ,,, both the gators and noles would beat both USF &UCF without doubt…Why do you and the other writers have USF ranked so high. I understand they are unbeaten…but, so would UF & FSU if they played the same schedule…I think USF has not beaten a top 25 team or even a team that has scored votes as a top team…they haven’t beaten a team that has even scored votes to be considered as a top 25 team through out the season so far…actually I think one of their wins was a team that scored 1 vote…USF being ranked 17th is total non-sense….when are you guys going to put some logic in your voting after both UCF &USF would have at least 2 losses if they played either UF or FSU schedule.
https://www.change.org/p/university-of-athletic-association-make-tom-petty-s-won-t-back-down-a-tradition-at-gator-games
I think people need to chill out and just enjoy the ride, we knew this wasnt a championship team, what we didnt know was that Shannon’s defense was a step down from the past decade of DC’s. Thats why we arent competing even though our offense is a little better than past years. Remember One stupid pass interference penalty kept the drive alive and gave LSU a touchdown. Also remember one bogus pass interference call set LSU up for another score.
Guice and LSU will suffer at least a couple more losses, starting this week vs. Auburn. So his joy won’t last long.
As for UF, lose this Sat. then get trounced by the Pups and it’s going to get real ugly around here.
It is doubly frustrating seeing offenses elsewhere, including Grier’s at WVU, and down the road at UCF, cruising up and down the field and scoring with ease, while our OL “dead fish” slog up to the line, run a play late, and fail over and over again. And we at least played great D under Muschamp. At what point are coaches held responsible? How long does a coach get to show he can have a disciplined team? Would a Saban or a Meyer(pre-meltdown or now), or even a Frost or a Fleck, allow a team to be this dysfunctional?
How ironic that I was loudly bellyaching about the Gators inability to generate turnovers. And then Duke Dawson gets out-fought for an interception. If he just knocks that ball down, LSU misses out on a 40+ yard play (when they couldn’t move the ball at all) and likely doesn’t score the winning points. The Gators D was doing a great job of chocking off the Tiger’s O. Yes, that interception would have been sweet (the likely Pick 6 DD couldn’t quite corral would have been sweeter). And in that moment, you have to want your DB to get the INT. But – damn!
If the ball is to be held differently for PAT’s and FG’s, then that’s on the Coach.
Either way, it was shanked!