|   (off topic) Great finish for Florida! | ChipB
Jan 3, 2002 6:56 AM | | Nice to see my Gators finish strong...along with a couple of other SEC schools (LSU and Tennesee).
Grossman, Jacobs, Graham, and Gillespie were awesome for the Gators.
56-23...wow!
-Chip |
| Lousy finish for my Bulldogs (plus a word about the Ducks) | Mr. MidFi
Jan 3, 2002 8:13 AM | | I was also glad that the SEC made strong statement at season's end, but I really wish Georgia had gotten its act together and beaten BC. You can only turn the ball over in the red zone so many times.
Change of subject: If Nebraska wins tonight (which they probably won't), there is no question in my mind that Oregon should be the champs. Their only loss was a close, hard-fought division rivalry game against a ranked team, on the road. And they bare-butt spanked Colorado, who pummeled Nebraska just a few weeks ago. |
| Yes, but only Nebraska will have beaten Miami! | Rae
Jan 3, 2002 8:49 AM | | And Oregon's one loss came to Stanford, who (although ranked) probably isn't as good as Colorado. If you can forgive Oregon the one quarter of horrible football they played against Stanford, surely you can forgive Nebraska for the Colorado game?
Y'know, <i>if</i> they win tonight.
~Rae |
| ah, moot point! (nt) | Rae
Jan 4, 2002 6:31 AM | | |
| yeah, REAL moot | ThreeLockBox
Jan 6, 2002 12:03 AM | | and I think that this is the last time you'll see Crouch lining up at the QB position in an organized football game. Hiesman winner indeed! |
| Oregan should be thankful for the 2nd place finish | ThreeLockBox
Jan 6, 2002 12:08 AM | | The only way any team would've finished second this year, was to NOT play Miami. It sure ain't hard to get the best highschool football
talent to spend four (or five) years in the state of Florida for college...go figure. |
| Hats off to Oregon! | DLD
Jan 3, 2002 9:53 AM | | I was stunned. Who gave them a chance against "the hottest team in the country" other than die hard Duck fans?
I'm also proud of the SEC and my LSUs. Best receiving corps I've seen in a long, long time. Double Reed and Clayton and Myers and Royal run wild.
Pulling for Miami to blow out N tonight so there won;t be any disputes. Time for a playoff system. |
| SEC completely punked the 'big' 10 | ThreeLockBox
Jan 5, 2002 11:54 PM | | The SEC is trecherous. LSU, Tennessee, Florida, S. Carolina, Georgia, MSU, all tough every year, any team capable of beating another. |
| Hats off to Miami! | ibelafn
Jan 3, 2002 10:24 PM | | This Oregonian is very proud of what the Ducks accomplished this year and their impressive showing against Colorado (Joey Harrington is a great leader and QB). Miami, IMHO however, is definitely No. 1 with Oregon a notch below at No. 2. Interestingly, not many close Bowl games...lots of teams getting stomped!? Wish I could get excited about the TrailBlazers - what a disappointment! ib
NP - Beatles 1 |
| Hey Chip...I just heard that Spurrier resigned today. | maf
Jan 4, 2002 11:46 AM | | ...You think he's finally going to take that NFL job? Tampa maybe?
Mark |
| I'm in mourning... | ChipB
Jan 4, 2002 5:22 PM | | I can't express how stunned I am. Even his assistant coaches didn't know he was about to resign.
There's a lot of speculation that he could end up with Tampa Bay if Tony Dungy leaves to coach Minnesota. I think that makes the most sense, but who knows? I never could've predicted his leaving Florida for the pros. Damn... |
| I felt the same way when Johnny Majors retired from Tenn... | ThreeLockBox
Jan 6, 2002 12:00 AM | | that is, until Fulmer took us to a national title. Its college and its all about recruiting, and most of the time, its the staff that does the coaching and the head coach is a figure head, just look at Miami. Besides, Spurrier is a cry baby, and I can't imagine him at an NFL press conference after a loss. |
| You're kidding, right? | ChipB
Jan 6, 2002 9:19 AM | | I can understand that, as a Tennessee fan, you don't like Florida or Spurrier. I can also appreciate opposing views and differences in opinion, but try to get your facts straight before you imply that Spurrier is a figurehead or call him a crybaby.
At Florida, Spurrier did the coaching. That's how he earned the nickname 'the Ball Coach'. He was his own offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and he was more hands on than practically any coach in the country. He's never been a figurehead and that's just one of the reasons why it will be so difficult to replace him. The new coach will likely have to find an offensive coordinator and QB coach for his staff.
Before his arrival at Florida, the Gators had never won an SEC title. In Spurrier's 12 years, the Gators won six conference championships and a national title. During his tenure the Gators achieved more than in all their previous history combined. That's an unmistakable and irrefutable impact.
Spurrier has always been passionate about protecting his players and the only times he's ever taken issue with other teams/coaches has been over his players. He is fiercely protective of his guys and if that rubs other teams, coaches, and the media the wrong way, then so be it. I wasn't personally very happy with the how he handled the whole FSU/Dockett incident through the media (thought it should've been discussed between schools behind the scenes), but it was in keeping with Spurrier's attitude toward dirty play by opposing teams. He was sincerely angry about it. Mickey Andrews (FSU defensive coordinator) has a history of teaching his teams to hit after the whistle (the infamous regular season FSU-Florida game in '96 bore that out) and Spurrier wasn't the only coach to ever accuse him of it. In the Sugar Bowl two years prior, FSU's Donnie Abrahams left his feet going full speed and threw an elbow into Danny Wuerffel's head from Wuerffel's blind side. One of the game announcers said Abraham's flagrant cheap shot should've gotten him thrown out of the game, but it didn't even draw a flag.
Spurrier has as much integrity as any coach that's ever coached at any level of football. Yes he's an arrogant jerk, but he also has tremendous class and has always made sure that the kids that play for him conduct themselves with integrity. Whereas Bowden plays his criminals regardless of what they do, Spurrier suspends and dismisses players from his team for breaking team rules. That's one of the reasons he has close friendships with coaches like Joe Pa, Bob Stoops, and Lou Holtz--great coaches and class acts themselves.
Unfortunately, Saint Bobby just does his 'aw shucks' routine for the media and they continue to slurp it up like his personal lap dogs. They love his good ol' boy act and he's never been able to do any wrong. Spurrier was always college football's Darth Vader and could do no right. Florida fans have always accepted this as a simple fact of life and we're more than happy to bear the frustration with the media in exchange for having such a great coach. Sadly, we've just lost the best there is (IMHO).
Spurrier will undoubtedly prove himself at the pro level just as he has at Florida. He'll handle the pressure and the media and he'll excel. If that were not the case, there wouldn't be such great interest in him. Beano Cook likened Spurrier's availability to coach at the pro level as like a 'lady of the night on a troop ship'. Personally, I hope he ends up with Tampa Bay and that would happen if Tony Dungy heads for Minnesota to coach the Vikes.
If you're interested in unbiased opinions, check out ESPN's web site and read Kirk Herbstreit's essay and some of the other articles on Spurrier. It provides some interesting insights on some of the things I touched on here.
-Chip |
| Just rattlin yer cage | ThreeLockBox
Jan 7, 2002 10:06 AM | | I feel the way you do about Bowden, though. He never gets called to the carpet for the type of students he has on his teams, or for what they do in their off time. In fact, I felt the same way about Don James when he was the coach at Washington. Majors was a figure head at Tennessee, that's why when Johnny was asked to step down, and Fulmer was given the interum job, the Vols never missed a beat, in fact, they took it another step up.
I couldn't really be a Spurrier fan and a Vol fan at the same time could I? No! Maybe I'll like him now, depending on where he ends up. But remember, the same media that covered him in Florida will follow him to the pros. |
| My 'Gator' button is easily engaged | ChipB
Jan 7, 2002 10:21 AM | | ...even when I know I'm being 'played'. I can never just let a negative comment lie without returning fire. [:o)
You make an excellent point about Majors; Fulmer has certainly exceeded all Majors' accomplishments and made UT a force that they rarely were under JM. I didn't think that would be the case at the time Fulmer took over, but he's built the Vols into a consistent national power. And regardless of who ends up at Florida (my guess is Stoops), it'll still come down to UT versus the Gators for the SEC title next year. I'm not saying that LSU won't be in the hunt again, but they'll have a much tougher time replacing Reed than the Gators will have replacing Gaffney and Caldwell. All other things being equal, Tennessee and Florida are both better than LSU in terms of pure talent.
Next year will be like past years: the SEC East will be probably be decided in September, and the winner will have lots of time to get motivated for the SEC Championship game (which was not the case for UT this year). Whoever wins that game will once again be in the hunt for a national title.
Spurrier will do what he's always done--win, rant, and win some more--and the media (and fans of every team save his own) will hate him. I just pray he doesn't end up with the Deadskins. I loathe that team and its owner and it would just about kill me to see Spurrier in DC.
-Chip |
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