We've got a battering ram for a quarterback, and cheetahs at wide receiver. Some moments of concern, but in the end, the overall team speed and a surprisingly good defense led #5 Florida into blowing past and blowing away the former #22 team, Tennessee.
In Gainesville, Head Coach Urban Meyer asked fans to only wear blue, and to forego the customary companion orange [the Volunteers' primary colour], and while it may have made no impact, it certainly did not hurt matters any for the Gators. Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin, and Brandon James amassed over 600 all-purpose yards between them, leading the national champion Gators past Tennessee by the score of 59-20.
Eleven times in the previous fourteen years, the winner of this contest has gone on to capture the Southeastern Conference East Division crown, and none of those games had a score so lopsided as this one. Tennessee defeated Florida 45-3 in Steve Spurrier's first year at the helm, and he made them pay regularly for the affront. In three seasons at UF, Meyer has never been defeated by Tennessee. The Gators are now 3-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play, and have stretched their overall winning streak to ten games. The winning streak in The Swamp [Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field] stands at 18 games.
As evidenced by the "Blue-out" asked for by the Urban Legend, Meyer treats rivalry games differently from normal games. In one instance, he placed rival team logos in team urinals during the week of the big rivalry game. In three years, his team is undefeated against Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida State. Perhaps he needn't have worried: "Certainly this wasn't the representation that we intended it to be down here," Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said. By the final whistle, highways were filled with Volunteer fans, who voluntarily left the stadium early, perhaps to beat the traffic. There is no indication whether Tennessee fan Kenny Chesney, who grew up in Knoxville and in addition is a big fan of the Boston Red Sox, gave up on his team or stayed until the bitter end.
Tim Tebow threw for 299 yards and two scoring strikes. The big lefty also bruised his way for 61 yards on the ground, and battered the ball across the touch line twice more. Harvin caught balls for 120 yards, including one miracle play where he batted the severly underthrown strike from Tebow away from the cornerback, but it bounced off his glove into his chest as he fell to the ground for a big gainer. James finished with 203 all-purpose yards, including 83 on one punt return. All three of these baby Gators are sophomores.
The Gator defense, which lost all four starters on the line and three linebackers as well, held the Volunteers to under 50 yards on the ground, and quarterback Eric Ainge was unable to counter through the air. In the end, the Gators proved to be unstoppable, and even their few mistakes were not enough to keep them from victory.
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2 comments:
I'm a Purdue fan.. I really wish they could play like Florida does.
Purdue can score on anybody, but they have only have a decent defense. Most teams can rack up points on them. Thats there downfall. I'm hoping they can make it into the top 25 though.
Fast. Them boys are purely fast. We do have somewhat the same issue - most of the defense graduated or opted to enter the draft, and it will be interesting [and hopefully, not too frustrating] to watch them grow. Meantime, the offense looks like it can score on ANYONE. Backup QB, Cam Newton, is 6'5" and 250 and like battering the ball just like the starter, Tim Tebow. Tim is a miniscule 6'3" 235 by comparison :-) BTW, thank you to Purdue for a great QB I enjoyed watching lead the Dolphins to 2 SB titles and one other championship game: Bob Griese, #12. Good luck on making the top #25, Boilermakers.
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