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| Friday, September 29 Spurrier, Gators show right stuff By Kirk Herbstreit Special to ESPN.com | |||||||||
Give Gators credit, and don't write off the Vols After handling Florida for 59 minutes, that had to be a tough loss for Tennessee to swallow. There's been a lot of attention paid to the last play of the game. Before you spend any more time over-analyzing whether or not it was a catch, it's important to note Tennessee dominated Florida in the first half. The Vols had great field position throughout the first half. They had the ball inside the Florida red zone four times and inside the 5-yard line twice, yet only managed to come away with 12 points on four field goals. If Tennessee had been able to score a touchdown on any of those drives, the last play of the game wouldn't have been an issue. Tennessee could have been up 28-7 by the half, instead of just 12-7. Either Tennessee's offense self-destructed inside the red zone or Florida's defense stepped up. The credit goes to the Gator defense, which kept Florida in the game. Jesse Palmer played incredibly well; his receivers were dropping balls like crazy in the first half, but Palmer hung in there. He made good decisions and threw the ball accurately. I don't know if the Gators changed uniforms at halftime, but a different team came out of the locker room in the second half. The receivers were catching everything. That last drive should help Palmer gain even more confidence as the Gators get into bigger games. The reason I picked Florida to win this game was because of Palmer's experience compared to that of A.J. Suggs. However, Tennessee's gameplan on both sides of the ball looked great. The Vols are a very good team that's going to win a lot of games this year. They lost Raynoch Thompson, Deon Grant, Shaun Ellis, Dwayne Goodrich, and still their defense may be better than they were last year. Suggs is going to continue to get better, as is Travis Henry. And 10: Spurrier's zero tolerance policy I applaud Steve Spurrier's intolerance of trash-talking. After Jabar Gaffney's post-touchdown, throat-slashing gesture to the Tennessee fans, Spurrier ripped him in the press and announced he will bench Gaffney for the first half of their game against Kentucky this weekend. Gaffney missing only two quarters of football may not seem significant, but the message Spurrier is sending is. A lack of discipline and a breakdown of concentration has cost Florida in recent years. Spurrier is trying to address those problems by using Gaffney as an example. Gaffney sitting down should catch the attention of other Gator players. The message from Spurrier isn't really about the throat-slashing gesture. It's about making his players understand that either they listen up and do it his way, or they are out of there.
The Irish have the hunger back Two weeks ago, I thought Notre Dame would battle its tails off against Nebraska and come up short. I never expected them to follow that great, heart-breaking performance against the Huskers with an equally great, and even more impassioned, performance against Purdue. And, the Irish did it sans starting quarterback Arnaz Battle -- who was the majority of their offense! To come so close to pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the year, then to turn around seven days later and play a completely different offensive style without your starting quarterback is an incredibly tough thing to do. All the people in South Bend and the other subway alumni who've been complaining about Bob Davie should send him a "Thank you" letter for getting his team in position to win the Purdue game. I can't go anywhere in the country without people telling me Bob Davie isn't the right guy at Notre Dame. How he stays positive with all the extraneous stuff flying around is beyond me. The season isn't over yet, but Davie has done a great job in the first few games and I like his attitude toward adversity. 8: Bruins be careful The Bruins balanced offense, combined with the inexperience of John Navarre, took care of the Wolverines in Pasadena. Navarre was 8 for 28 and, as expected, looked uncomfortable playing his first game on the road. Navarre is still going to be a great quarterback, the first road trip is always tough. UCLA is gaining a lot of confidence. One of the players alleged that the Bruins aren't getting enough respect, that they've beat everybody and should be ranked higher. There is still a lot of football to play before anyone starts dropping lines like that. This weekend in Eugene, for example, will be a serious challenge. Oregon hasn't lost at home in over three years. The Michigan game was a great win for UCLA, and so was Alabama. But as good as the Pac-10 looks right now, the Bruins need to move on and focus on improving. And be very, very careful. 7: Are you kidding me? The Pac-10 pity party is over Last week the Pac-10 went 7-1, with six of their wins coming as underdogs. It's 19-4 in non-conference play and have three teams in the Top 10 this week. Like many things in college football, the Pac 10's slump was cyclical. The last two years they were young in key positions, especially on defense. This year, they are 14-3 against major conferences, and have allowed 17 points a game. Last year at this time, they were 5-12 against major conferences, allowing 30 points a game. Defense has been the difference for the Pac-10 in 2000. 5: Home sweet home Last week I picked UCLA to upset Michigan because I love its offense and its defense has been much more aggressive than they've been in the past. Playing at Autzen Stadium will be the Bruins' biggest challenge thus far. Oregon's passing attack will test UCLA's defense. The Duck defense will be geared to stop DeShaun Foster's running ability, forcing Ryan McCann to throw to Brian Poli-Dixon. Even though I picked the Bruins last week, home field advantage will be the difference this week. The Ducks will win. 4: Primetime in the Big Ten? It's about time The Big Ten will get to feel what the SEC experiences every week, when Michigan plays at Illinois this Saturday night. Playing under the lights on national television electrifies the atmosphere of a game. The environment should inspire the Illini, especially since Michigan's banged up defensive front will be tested by Kurt Kittner and Rocky Harvey. It's been reported Drew Henson is probable for Saturday's game. If he does play, how will he respond to being thrown into the fire without any reps? The Wolverines were okay without him in games against Bowling Green and Rice, but they clearly need him back for games against UCLA, Illinois and Wisconsin. Without Henson they lose continuity and a chance to build the offense around him. Henson has plenty of ability, but without any reps it can be tough to play with guys who are at Game 4 speed, while he's at Game 1 speed. If Henson struggles, does Lloyd Carr go to John Navarre? Michigan will find a way to win this game, but only by a very narrow margin. 3: Penn State wondering ... is it November yet? Everyone expected the Lions to struggle, but they are struggling on the wrong side of the ball. When the season began, Penn State's defense was the question mark with the loss of defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, Courtney Brown, LaVar Arrington, David Macklin and Brandon Short. The offense returned nine starters. Yet that is where they are struggling, on offense, where all the talent came back. The defense has been playing well, but the offense can't get anything going. Now they have to go into Columbus and take on the Buckeyes, who's strength is defensive speed. Ohio State defensive coordinator John Tenuta will load up the line and do what everyone else has done to Penn state this year -- take away the run and make them throw. Penn State's receivers have proven they don't have the speed to threaten defenses, therefore everybody is making an effort to take away RB Eric McCoo. 2: Buckeyes need to find the fire Ohio State is coming off an average performance against Miami (Ohio). The Buckeyes should beat Penn State this weekend, but they need to go out and play like they are excited to be there. They'll need to put more pressure on Penn State and play with the kind of reckless abandon they showed only once so far this year -- in the second half against Arizona. The offense ran the ball well last week, but their pass protection continues to be their Achilles heel. As the season progresses, the Buckeyes need to get a better performance out of the inexperienced offensive in order to protect Steve Bellisari and give him a chance to throw the football. 1: Upset Alert | ALSO SEE Fowler: Opponents drown in noise at Ducks' pond Corso: Not So Fast, My Friends Gilmore: Viewer's Guide | ||||||||
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