Bring On The Vols!

The Gators left Florida Field Saturday with a 56-6 victory over the Troy Trojans. It would have been easy to reflect on how the Gators went all Brad Pitt on Troy's Eric Bana ass. Instead, everyone is focused on next Saturday. There's a certain obnoxious coach leading his creamsicle crusaders into the Swamp.

I'll have plenty on that game later in the week. For now, let's reflect on Saturday's victory.

The Gators started out rather slowly. Fumble and miscues had the Gators locked into a 7-3 battle for a quarter and a half. It wouldn't be long, however, until Tebow was raining touchdowns on the hapless Troy defense almost as unmercifully as mother nature unleashed her own fury on the crowd in the literal "Swamp."

Tebow tied his career high of 4 touchdown passes and ran for another before being relieved by John Brantley late in the third quarter. Perhaps the two most impressive Gators on the field outside of Tebow, were Chris Rainey and Mike Pouncey.

Rainey looked more like Earl Campbell on Saturday. He simply did not go down on first contact. Rainey literally constituted the whole Gator offense on one drive early in the third. The drive was capped off by a 3 yard touchdown run.

Mike Pouncey was a beast in his own right on the field. I thought I was sitting a table at the local IHOP on Saturday. I think in the future, Mike should carry some whip cream and jelly dispenser to heap on the defenders after one of his trademark "pancakes." The highlight of the game for Pouncey was probably his mid-air recovery of a Brandon James fumble during the Gators' first drive of the third quarter. I would bet Pouncey has better hands than Deonte Thompson.

The Gators D looked significantly better this week. Troy looked absolutely over matched against the stout Gators defense. The defensive front bounced back nicely from last week's game, in which there were 0 sacks. Three times the Gators knocked Levi Brown on his anoos.

However you want to spin this game, it was still a tune-up for Tennessee. It's a shame the Vols couldn't take care of business against UCLA last week. Now there's no shot of Kiffin making any kind of absurd statements in he days to come.

Here's the stats:

Passing

Tim Tebow 15-24 237 yards 4 tds
John Brantley 10-12 135 yards 1 td


Rushing

Jeff Demps 7 rushes 87 yards 1 td
Chris Rainey 12 rushes 85 yards 1 td
Tim Tebow 13 rushes 71 yards 1 td


Receiving

Riley Cooper 5 recs 82 yards 1 td
Omarius Hines 4 recs 67 yards
Aaron Hernandez 4 recs 39 yards
Cade Holliday 3 recs 66 yards
Brandon James 2 recs 49 yards 1 td
Deonte Thompson 2 recs 39 yards 2 tds
Justin Williams 2 recs 15 yards
David Nelson 2 recs 9 yards
Mike Gillislee 1 rec 6 yards 1 td


Defense


Tackles

Ryan Stamper 5
Ahmad Black 5
Joe Haden 4
Jermaine Cunningham 4


Interceptions

Janoris Jenkins 1


Sacks

Markihe Anderson 1
A.J. Jones 1
Carlos Dunlap 1


Player of the Game


Tim Tebow - G.O.A.T.

Tebow had another god-like performance on Saturday. Tebow's 1 rushing touchdown tied him for third all-time on the SEC rushing touchdown list. His 5 tds total moved him into second place all-time on the SEC list. The 4 passing touchdowns tied his personal career high. Finally, his all around awesomeness ranks him as the greatest thing to hit the college campus since sorority all-white parties.

Florida - Troy Preview

While Troy should provide a bit of a tougher challenge to the Gators than Charleston Southern did. It won't be by much. The Trojans completely imploded last week against Bowling Green in Dave Clawson's first game as head coach of the Falcons. The starters should get a little bit more playing time this week as they prepare for the upcoming SEC slate.

5 Keys To The Game

1. Show up. - The same as last week. All the Gators have to do is make the Gator Walk into the stadium Saturday morning get their pads on and walk onto the field. That should be enough to take down the Trojans.

2. Get more receivers involved. - Last week it was the Riley Cooper show. Even though Justin Williams and Cade Holliday both caught touchdown passes, the best receiver on the night was clearly Riley Cooper. The Gators need to get their other receivers involved this week if they want to establish confidence in their passing game heading into conference play.

3. Establish pressure on the QB. - Pop quiz hot shot. How many sacks did the Gators rack up against Charleston Southern last week? Answer- 0. There's no way this defense should go sack-less in a game especially against Charleston Southern.


4. Keep Wondy Pierre-Louis in for the whole game. - I hate to say it but Wondy was god awful last week. The Buccaneer receivers consistently beat him in man coverage. I like this guy so I would hate to see him end up like Kyle Jackson. Let him play the whole game to build his confidence up. We may need him as the season progresses.




5. Give Moody the God Damn Ball! - I can't emphasize this enough.







5 Players that need to step up.

1. Deonte Thompson - All of Gator Nation will be watching to see how Deonte bounces back from what may have been one of the worst performances by a receiver in recent Florida history.


2. Wondy Pierre-Louis - I've already enumerated the reasons why Wondy needs to have a good game. It would be nice to have extreme confidence in this guy. Having Janoris Jenkins back will take some of the pressure off of him.

3. Jonathan Phillips - Yet another opportunity for Phillips to kick all kinds of PATs. He actually missed one last week. Hopefully that's his only one of the season. He may even be able to sneak a few field goals in as well.

4. Carlos Dunlap - Carlos better walk away from this game with at least one sack. No excuses. He is vital to the UF pass rush.

5. Jermaine Cunningham - See above.

Here's some highlights from the last time Troy ventured into the Swamp.



Here's what they're saying about the game.

I have to admit there's some good stuff there. Good job Troy fans.

My Prediction:
Florida- 52
Troy- 6

The top 25 players: Sun Belt

We've finally made it to the end of my conference player breakdown series.

Of course we're ending it on a high note with the greatest conference of all! The Sun Belt conference!

Here are the top 25 players from the epitome of conference awesomeness that is the Sun Belt.

1.Rusty Smith - Florida Atlantic QB - If it wasn't for Tim Tebow, Smith might just be the best QB in the Sunshine State. Rusty has lead the Owls to tremendous success during his tenure in Boca Raton. I look for that to continue this season.

2. Frantz Joseph - Florida Atlantic LB - While Smith is busy leading the Owl offense, Joseph is the unquestioned leader of the FAU defense. Howard Schnellenberger loves tough defensive players, and Frantz Joseph fits that mold perfectly.

3. Tyrell Fenroy - Louisiana-Lafayette RB - Fenroy is the most dangerous runner in the Sun Belt conference. While the Ragin' Cajuns have been struggling as a team as of late, there is no such problems with Fenroy's game.

4. Casey Fitzgerald - North Texas WR - Larry's younger brother definitely has the talent to be just as good as his older brother. With Riley Dodge in the mix this season, I see Fitzgerald busting onto the scene in a big way.

5. Tavious Polo - Florida Atlantic DB - While the Owls are busy throwing the ball all over the place, Tavious Polo is busy making sure the same doesn't happen to them. For the most part, Sun Belt QB's know to avoid this guy.

6. Reggie Arnold - Arkansas St. RB - The Red Wolves may very well have the worst nickname in 1-a football now. I don't see anyone making fun of Arnold for that. He is a load that is very tough to bring down in the open field.

7. Kenny Mainor - Troy DL - The Trojans have had a long line of great defensive linemen. Mainor is the latest to take on that legacy. With a down year expected, Mainor and the Troy D will need to step up to prove the experts wrong.

8. Greg James - Louisiana-Monroe DB - The War Hawks will get a little bit more pub this season thanks to their monstrous upset of Alabama late last season. That will be a good chance for James to show off his talents.

9. Cortez Gent - Florida Atlantic WR - Gent is the go-to receiver in a pass happy FAU offense. Rusty Smith to Cortez Gent will be very difficult to defend in the Sun Belt.

10. Dion Small - Troy OL - Small is not a proper name for someone so big. This guy will be clearing lanes for the Trojan offense this season.

The rest:

11. Antwyne Zanders Louisiana-Lafayette LB
12. Jervonte Jackson Florida Atlantic DL
13. Jason Harmon Florida Atlantic TE
14. Corey Small Florida Atlantic DB
15. Matt Mandich Arkansas St. OL
16. Boris Lee Troy LB
17. Aaron Schutz Louisiana-Monroe OL
18. James Truxillo Louisiana-Monroe DB
19. Alaric Coleman Louisiana-Monroe DL
20. Desmond Gee Middle Tennessee RB
21. Cedric Mack Florida International OL
22. Riley Dodge North Texas QB
23. Jamal Lewis Middle Tennessee OL
24. Terence Moore Troy LB
25. Bradley Guillory Arkansas St. OL

Pack it in now boys.

I already let you in on who I though were going to be the most improved teams from every conference. Now, I'll turn a little more negative and let you in on the teams that should just skip this season altogether and get ready for 2009.

Once again it will be conference by conference

ACC

Boston College-This should be a familiar sight to Eagle fans once the season is over.

Big XII

Kansas- Count me in as one of the people who thinks Kansas was a total fluke last season. Just like the fact that Mangino came up empty on this mining expedition.

Big East

Connecticut- See, even the pennants know which was Connecticut's season will be heading.

Big Ten

Michigan- All the fans need now are brown paper bags.

C-USA

Houston- The Cougars should still be in the mix in C-USA play, but they will miss Art Briles a lot.

MAC

Miami (OH)- The Redhawks will be dropped on their head a lot this season.

Mountain West

New Mexico- The Lobos will be dressing their cheerleaders this season in an effort to bolster the skill positions. We'll have to wait and see for the results.

PAC-10

Oregon- The product on the field might just be as ugly as these uniforms.

SEC

Arkansas- Their head coach is a douche. All you need to know.

Sun Belt

Troy- I was googling pictures for Troy football when I cam across this. It has nothing to do with the Trojans, but Troy Aikman Football is one of the greatest games ever!

WAC

Hawaii- The Rainbow Warriors will sorely miss Colt Brennan, June Jones and Davone Bress this season.