Tag: UF

Texas A&M opener postponed due to Hurricane Isaac

Hurricane Isaac has already taken with it one SEC casualty – Texas A&M’s first game as a SEC school – on the road at Louisiana Tech on Thursday night. The game has been rescheduled for October 13th. And while this gives Texas A&M another week to prepare for the visit of the Florida Gators to Kyle Field, it also means that Kevin Sumlin’s first game as the Aggies’ head coach is against one of the best defenses in the SEC and possibly in college football.  Usually ‘big-time’ schools will schedule a smaller program to give themselves match fitness before the all-important conference season. Louisiana Tech said that this was due to fan safety rather than a worry about weather conditions,

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SEC Preseason Preview: Can Florida return to old glories?

The Florida Gators are a National Power. Sure, they may have sucked pre-Spurrier, but in the last three decades, they’ve been almost always extremely competitive (if you ignore the Ron Zook years). Since 1991, Florida has won eight SEC titles, and three National Titles. They also haven’t missed a bowl game since 1991, either. That’s a pretty great record. But 2011, after Urban Meyer’s decision to leave the Florida family and go to ESPN (for the year, as it turned out, because he managed to recover sufficiently to take up a role at Ohio State), the Muschamp era started with a sputter. Sure, the Gators got into a bowl game, but they ended the season without a National Ranking….and losing

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Quick reflection on SEC Media Days: Why didn’t people mention soft scheduling?

This is going to sound really nasty bearing in mind that this is a blog on the SEC and the fact that we are read by SEC fans, but we’ve been looking for the ‘juiciest’ (trust me, there aren’t very many) quotes from the SEC Media Days, and we struggled to get anything that kept us particularly awake. However, like the ghost that haunts us and never seems to give up, we couldn’t help but think: Why on earth did NO-ONE ask either Commissioner Slive or any of the SEC head coaches about Non-Conference scheduling? Here is why: When the 2014 play-offs come along and the Committee -whoever they might be – are deciding ‘strength of schedule’, they hopefully will

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SEC Media Days: Muschamp refuses to name Florida starter

The starting quarterback for the Florida Gators hasn’t been decided yet, according to coach Will Muschamp at the SEC Media Days. He said in his press conference on Wednesday (Quotes from RedandBlack): “Offensively we obviously have a quarterback battle going on with Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel….Two guys that are very even in their competition….They’re even going into fall camp….They’ll get equal reps I would like to name a starter before the season, but I’m not going to put a timetable on that.  If we need to play both of them, that’s what we’re going to do.  We’re going to do what we need to do to win football games. Both guys have a similar skill set. So it’s not like there’s one

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SEC Meetings: What to Expect From Media Days 2-3

A few months after the SEC Meetings in Florida, we’re getting a play-off in college football – and it’s all to the SEC’s advantage, because if that group is going to sit and talk about ALL schedules – not just non-conference schedules – then it’s going to be SEC all the way. So anyway, here’s what we expect the coaches to talk about at the SEC Media Days from now on in (sorry about missing Mssrs Pinkel, Spurrier, Franklin and Sumlin, but we’ve been away (but you will be caught up on what they said). We expect: Nick Saban to talk about Alabama’s recruiting, re-tooling after another National Championship, and of course – as happens every year – oversigning. And how

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Feeling the loss: Key players out on each SEC team

Big-time players have gone from SEC schools around the country. The SEC Football Blog outlines which players are going to be missed the most…. SEC West Alabama Let’s get this straight first and foremost, the loss of most of their defense isn’t going to make life as easy for the Crimson Tide in 2012 and it was in 2011, but the big loss is running back, Heisman contender and bulldozer Trent Richardson, who destroyed the opposition week in, week out. Sure, Ed Lacy’s going to be good – but we’re going to give him a year to be Trent-good, if that’s at all possible. Arkansas  First of all, let us say that the biggest loss isn’t going to be on

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It’s Official: College Football Has Its Play-Off

After 100 years of controversy, College Football at last has its play-offs, starting in 2015, the NCAA has said. The four-team play-off will start in 2015, and the first ‘Final Four’ will be chosen by Selection Commiteee – and teams will be ranked on Win-Loss record, strength of schedule, head-of-head and then if a team is conference champion, USA Today reporter Nicole Auerbach tweeted. She added that the make-up of the selection committee is still to be decided. Virginia Tech president Charles Steger told a press conference: “I am delighted to report our endorsement of a four-team seeded play-off”, and added that they will be taking fan suggestions for a new replacement name for the BCS, which has caused so

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Demps fails to make US Olympic team

Former Florida star Jeff Demps has failed in his bid to explode into the 2012 Olympics as a 100m star. Demps, the brilliant return man who had 23 touchdowns in his Gators career, made the final of the 100m US Olympics Trials in Oregon, but only came 7th. This left many people wondering what he’d given up a promising NFL career for. Demps gave up football to focus on track just a few weeks after Florida’s bowl game with Ohio State. He said: “I can have the mindset of a full-time track guy now.” It is not known whether Demps will try for a career in the NFL – where someone who has his speed could be the next Devin

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Florida LB cleared to play

There was good news for the Florida Gators on Friday when linebacker Neiron Ball was cleared to play after a long injury. According to the Gainseville Sun, Ball missed the whole of the 2011 season after a blood burst in his brain and doctors found “arteriovenous malformation, a congenital vascular condition not related to football”. But finally, ball passed his final medical check-up, meaning that he’s free to put on the blue and orange soon. BOTTOM LINE: Great news for Florida, who now adds even more depth at linebacker and on the defensive side of the ball. Jelani Jenkins and John Bostic are going to be tough enough for offensive players to try and get through – and now Ball

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Friday Special: Ranking The SEC’s Coaches

Before Missouri, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Arkansas fans get angry and upset as to why Mssrs Pinkel, Sumlin, Freeze and Smith aren’t on the list, it’s because none of them have had SEC coaching game under their belts so they are going in the N/A category. But for the other 10, here’s the SEC Football Blog’s ranking of the conference’s coaches. Tell us what you think – as we’re sure you will- if you disagree… 1. Nick Saban (Alabama) There are those who love him (Alabama fans, his family) and those who hate him (Other SEC fans, Miami Dolphins fans), but there’s one thing for certain: Nick Saban is the best coach in the SEC – and in college

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