On to the Goal

Let’s end the week on a good note…

That looks absolutely amazing in HD. Oh, and every single guy you just saw in that video? Back next year. Happy Friday.

Perception is reality, but to perceive something, you actually have to observe it. And often in life, we simply choose not to observe. We are content to stroll down our safe, tree-lined streets, blissfully unaware of the fact that somewhere just across town someone is smoking crack or getting robbed at gunpoint. (If you live in Washington D.C., these things are actually occurring in the alley behind your house.) We make our own perception and thus our own reality.

The defending champs return 11 starters on defense and perhaps the greatest college football player ever at quarterback. Life is good for the Florida Gators. Just so long as we don’t think about those instances in which it’s not so good.

As a fan, my initial reaction to Florida being labeled the new “Thug U” for having 23 players arrested in Urban Meyer’s four-year tenure was to recoil in defense. “Other schools have plenty of guys arrested! We’re talking about young males here, things are going to happen! Florida has had perhaps hundreds of players during that time span, and 23 guys are a small fraction of a largely law-abiding team!”

All those things are true. And it’s natural that we reach for them when faced with unwelcome news. We love the Gators and the University of Florida, and we don’t want their good names to be sullied by a handful of lowlifes. But that doesn’t mean we can declare “case closed,” dismiss the article and launch a few insults at Tennessee just for good measure. We should not ignore the issue as if it doesn’t exist.

We might not think so, or at least tell ourselves we don’t, but the media thinks otherwise. A few years ago, The Seattle Times ran an investigative series on the 2000 Washington Huskies – another team with a great defense and a bruising option quarterback. Husky fans were outraged and called the series unfair, and I can’t say I necessarily blame them. But whether the series was “fair” is irrelevant at this point. It happened and the school’s reputation suffered somewhat. It could happen again to Florida.

So with that in mind, it would help to understand what we’re really talking about here. I couldn’t find a comprehensive list of the 23 arrests, so working from memory and a number of message board leads, I set out to document as many of the arrests as I could. A few hours of Googling yielded 14.

I’m probably forgetting some obvious ones, and I couldn’t find links for some stuff that I seem to remember happening. I haven’t named any of those “unconfirmed” cases here, nor did I include anything that happened before or after a player was enrolled. This is a list only of the arrests and/or charges (post-Meyer) that I could substantiate with an actual media report. I’ve sorted them by level of severity as judged by, well, me. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty, etc., etc., allegedly. Any instance in which I could confirm the charges were dropped is denoted by an asterisk.

C’mon, it’s college – generally harmless stuff

• John Curits – Probation violation stemming from an alcohol charge.
• Dorian Munroe – Illegally removing a boot from his car. Stupid, yes, but more funny than anything.
• Torrey Davis – Of his many alleged problems, driving with a suspended license wasn’t all that bad.
• Tony Joiner* – The underlying charge sounded serious, but considering the fairly humorous “misunderstanding” defense and subsequent dismissal, no reason to fret.
• Brandon James – Buying weed off an undercover cop. Yes, I’m including this here, because if you smoke weed (which many college kids do) you often have to buy it. James, well, he chose… poorly when it came to dealers.

Boys bein’ boys, not condoning it, not losing our shit over it

• Dustin Doe* – Fightin’. Moving on…
• Jermaine Cunningham – Sub-chuckin’. Abusing service industry employees is not funny if you’ve ever worked in the service industry. Except when it is. But seriously, tip your waiters.

He said, she said and a whole lotta nothing

• Carl Johnson* – Violating a restraining order. Frightening but completely unsubstantiated back-story.

Troubling crimes, but not depraved or wanton

• Marquis Hannah – Felony burglary and misdemeanor assault in what sounded more like a crime of passion than cold, calculated criminality.
• Cam Newton – Stealing a laptop. And not very well.

Really, really terrible things

• Jacques Rickerson – Beating up his girlfriend. Totally unacceptable.
• Jamar Hornsby – Credit card fraud. Of a deceased woman. Who was the girlfriend of a teammate. Later, brass knucles. Giggity.
• Ronnie Wilson – Shootin’ an AK-47 behind Gator City, detailed in terrifying audio.
• Avery Atkins – Beating up his girlfriend led to a sad, tragic spiral that led to his untimely demise.

Of those 14, half are merely things that college-aged males do. None of it is to be condoned, mind you, but it’s inside the realm of mistakes that good, decent people can make before their brain is fully formed. I’m also going to throw out the Johnson matter, because of it’s high bullshit quotient and the fact that there’s no way to ever really know what actually happened. But that still leaves a minimum of six serious crimes, four of which can be accurately described as “totally messed up” offenses. Or worse. That’s an average of one per year. And my tally is missing nine arrests.

For the record, all six players who were accused of serious misconduct are no longer on the team. Most were quickly kicked off and only Newton seemed to have left of his own volition. Yes, Ron “Don’t call me Ronnie” Wilson was back last year, briefly, but is thankfully off the team once more.

In that respect, this is not Switzer’s Oklahoma or Miami circa 1980-something, as Dave Hyde suggested. I certainly don’t think it’s fair to accuse Urban Meyer of “running a loose ship.” Minor transgressions are punished, though admittedly sometimes a bit too lightly. Major issues are met with much more serious consequences, but not necessarily automatic termination. Think of it as “shades of gray” rather than “black and white.” Page two of this Sports Illustrated article by Andy Staples does a fantastic job of explaining Meyer’s philosophy on the matter, particularly his differing approach in dealing with Atkins and Marty Johhnson when he was at Utah. (I agree with many of Staples’ points, by the way, particularly the one about the “one percent of one percent” canard.)

It is fair, however, to point out that every one of those six players was either a Meyer recruit or, in Hannah’s case, a walk-on whose entire run with the team was during Meyer’s tenure. These are his guys. And Hyde is right when he says that the frequency of their heinous behavior runs the risk of damaging Meyer’s reputation and, worse, that of the team and university. A few bad apples, yes, but averaging one “totally messed up” incident a year is not good for business. Just. Not. Good.

So what’s the impact of all this? In the short term, probably not much. Our rivals will have some fun at our expense, newspaper columnists will moralize and, worst-case-scenario, Outside The Lines will launch an “OMG the horror!” investigative piece that reveals exactly zero new facts. (I don’t see anything in these arrests that the NCAA could latch onto.) But then, barring another gut-wrenching incident, silence. We’ll get back to talking about the things we like about football, entertainment, socializing and the ability to release all your pent up emotion by screaming “WOOOO” over and over again at high decibel levels.

The rest will fade into the background until the next backup lineman forgets how to hold his Natty Light. Pray it isn’t something worse.

Yes, I am working on a reaction to this. Should be live this afternoon at the latest.

Slightly old news, but Jesse Scroggins, a highly touted quarterback in the 2010 recruiting class, told ESPN.com that he’s considering in Florida. The dropback passer said that is especially interested because Urban Meyer apparently told him that the Gators will change their offense once Tim Tebow leaves:

“I’m hyped on Florida for sure,” Scroggins said. “They win national championships there and coach Meyer does a great job with the quarterback position. They said they’re changing the offense after Tebow graduates to a more drop back style offense and they brought in Scott Loeffler to be the OC there and that’s the kind of offense he has always run so I know it will be a good fit for me.”

Scroggins, a noted Beaver enthusiast, is listed as as a four-star recruit on both Rivals and Scout, so I guess he would be nice to have in the fold, especially given what the Gators will lose to graduation following the 2009 season.

Linebacker Tim Tebow (15) makes a tackle in the BCS Title Game. (Photo via The Oklahoma Daily.)

Quarterback Jevan Snead will be a senior in 2009, and linebacker Tim Tebow, a three-time All-American with nearly 500 tackles and 32.5 sacks in his illustrious career, is almost out of eligibility as well. With such big holes to fill on both offense and defense, every little bit helps. So don’t be surprised if the Gators start taking a few more snaps under center with John Brantley before switching to a full-blown Power-I with Jesse Scroggins in 2012.

(By the way, if Scroggins thinks Loeffler is the OC, he either knows something we don’t or is way, way off-base. Guess which one I’m leaning towards…)

(And just for the record, Mike Bianchi, et al., the recruiting game is nothing but a sleazy sales pitch, with both sides manipulating and bending the truth. Urban Meyer is a part of this bizarre dance, and he is no worse a huckster than Miles or Saban or Carroll or Brown or Stoops. So, really, just stop. Also, two national titles. Scoreboard. Bitch.)

No. It’s just not. Now stop it.

I was going to stretch this into its own post but after a few hundred words, I realized that it was just too far-fetched to even warrant that much. In no uncertain terms, Florida is not going to play a regular season game against USC in the foreseeable future, despite USC’s efforts to land an SEC opponent. There’s just too much that doesn’t work. USC needs games against the SEC much more than the SEC needs games against USC. There’s the issue of revenue lost from a home game, which would almost certainly be a requirement. And then there’s the SEC TV deal, which doesn’t exactly provide incentives or make it easy (based on rights retention) to schedule tough non-conference opponents. It might make sense for another school, but the only place Florida will probably ever see USC in the post-season (Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease). I certainly wouldn’t expect to see the Trojans in The Swamp anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean we can’t dream…

OMG Touchdown!

That whole “Cocktail Party” to Atlanta? The media’s fault, clearly

Mark Richt may be backing off on his sort-of call to move the Cocktail Party further north. Ben Volin points out that Richt’s recollection of the event is more than a little self-serving, but really this is just the latest in SEC coaching melodrama. Urban Meyer had a similar incident recently. Whatever. Here’s the money quote from Richt:

“I don’t care where we play the game, quite frankly.”

Thanks, coach. We’ll hold you to that.

Yay SEC coaching melodrama!

Some of this gets tiresome, but it’s nice to see that after a moment of sober reflection, Steve Spurrier is still Steve Spurrier.

“I didn’t accuse you of cheating,” Spurrier said, pointing toward Kiffin. “I said, ‘Is it permissible to call recruits before he’s announced as head coach, before you take the test?’”

Spurrier then turned down back to the group of reporters and said: “He took the test online and I didn’t know you could do that. I thought you had to take the test on campus, then get announced.”

Kiffin, who turned red during the 40-second exchange, said something inaudible. Otherwise, he was silent while waiting for the elevator to arrive.

OK, Doc Saturday is right: That wasn’t exactly his 95-mph fastball of yore. But I generally side with Orson in awarding bonus points for saying it to Kiffin’s face. No, it wasn’t the heat, but it was at least a knee-buckling curve for a strike.

For no particular reason, this picture.

Scavenged via here

The St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press featured a “getting to know you” interview with Percy Harvin yesterday. The results were largely amusing and light-hearted, though that fact was completely lost on most of the Viking fans who commented on the story.

Overall, I think Percy came off as a good guy, if slightly immature, which we basically already knew. The most interesting item, however, was buried near the bottom of the interview:

If I could trade places for a day with anyone, it would be my old (Florida) teammate, Tim Tebow. Some of the stuff and some of the girls and things that were thrown at him. We saw all kind of actors and news reporters just kind of blatantly say, “Tebow, I want you.” And he turned them down. I’m looking at him, like, “Man, you are crazy.”

Somewhere, Thom Brennaman read that, gave an understanding little nod and stared wistfully into the distance. [/Simmonsbarf]

Now, before anyone gets too carried away, there’s a lot of ambiguity to Harvin’s quote. It’s not really clear if the unnamed reporters and actresses (I’m assuming that’s what he meant) are merely making inordinate demands for interviews or if they’re looking for a little more, eh, access.

Based on the context, I’m guessing the Interwebs will lean toward the more scandalous explanation.

UPDATE (5/27): I was being far too cautious. It’s pretty clear Harvin meant they want to sex Tebow.

Hey, that’s what the Internet is for. Either way, this really just confirms what we already knew: It’s very good … to be … Tim Tebow.

So let the speculation run wild, I guess. Message board moderators, prepare thyselves. And commenters, step up your game. The deadpan first reply on this Gatorsports.com thread will be difficult to top.

Finally, be honest: After a bunch of catty coach-fights, we needed this. I mean, it has been a full four days since Deadspin mentioned “Erin Andrews.”

HT: Swamp Things

Due to life circumstances and general laziness, I missed a number of actual interesting items last week, the most interesting of which came from Smart Football (not really a surprise anymore, is it?). In his latest post, Chris shares a video of the “shovel option,” which Florida famously unleashed for drive-saving first downs at several critical moments in the SEC and BCS title games. This particular video, however, was filmed juuuuust a few years earlier:

Look familiar? Yep, The Bear was one smart guy.

There are obviously some differences between the two plays that Chris and a couple of the commenters can explain far better than I. But to me, this is the latest example of how the term “innovator” is so frequently misused when referring to football coaches. This misnomer is especially common when talking heads discuss Meyer. In the lead of his pièce de résistance on the “Urban Meyer Offense,” Chris explained it perfectly. I’ll reprint it at length here because it’s so good, but please read the full post if you haven’t done so already. Emphasis mine.

The book “Spread Formation Football,” written by Coach Meyer, begins with the line: “Spread formations are not new to football.” Very true.

Wait, I should have been more specific. “Spread Formation Football” was written in 1952 by Coach Dutch Meyer of TCU. Yet that Meyer’s edict applies with as much force to today’s Coach Meyer as it did then, if not more so, because it highlights a simple truth. Urban Meyer, and his offensive coordinator, Dan Mullen, are not geniuses, nor are they innovators. Indeed, Florida’s offense is not new; it is not novel; it is not even that unique. Urban Meyer would agree and say, that’s okay. His offense may not be new; it is merely very, very good.

I highlighted those two sentences because I think they help distill the point down to it’s simplest form: Meyer isn’t inventing new schemes, he’s merely bundling them in a way to make the most effective use of the (admittedly prodigious) talents of his players.

Like a brushfire on a windy day, the terrible idea of moving The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party away from Jacksonville continues to flare up. Most recently, it was Georgia Coach Mark Richt fanning the flames at a booster club meeting in Columbus, Ga:

“When people ask me the question, ‘Do you really think [Jacksonville] is a neutral site?’, I say, ‘No, it’s not neutral,’ ” Richt said. “When you play in the state of Florida every year — we fly, they drive; it’s hotter for us, it’s cooler for them.”

It’s easy to dismiss that as mere whining and it’s perhaps even a bit understandable given how poorly the last 19 years in Jacksonville have gone for Georgia relative to the previous two decades. Georgia athletic director Damon Evans struck a much more neutral, cautious tone (as per his job requirements) and even offered some comfort in saying he’s “not an excuse guy” and will not overreact to Georgia’s struggles in Jacksonville.

But the fact that we’re even talking about this indicates that there is some pressure in the Georgia camp to move the game north at least once every four years. According to former Georgia AD and coach Vince Dooley’s comments in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, they wouldn’t even need to consult Florida if they wished to play the game elsewhere every other year once the present contract expires next season. I’m assuming this stems from the fact that the game is a conference-counter that both teams are required to face one another. In the year’s when it’s Georgia’s “home” game, they technically get to decide where it’s played.

So why would Georgia not want to play it in Atlanta or even Athens in even-numbered years? For the same reason that everything else in college football happens: Money.

Each team makes $3.8  million every two years under the current format in Jacksonville, McGarrity said, yet a typical home-and-home pays about $2 million to the home team. That means every other year, either Florida or Georgia would have to miss out on the money. “Even in conservative dollars, you’re missing $1.5 million over a two-year period,” McGarrity said. “That money can do each institution a lot of good.”

Based on those figures, it makes absolutely no sense to play the games in Gainesville and Athens. Even for athletic departments with budgets in the high eight-figures, $750,000 a year is a lot of money — probably too much money to simply walk away. A move to the Georgia Dome may be easier to stomach economically, but a new problem comes into play there — Jacksonville’s stadium is much bigger.

With the benefit of temporary seating, 84,649 fans attended last year’s Cocktail Party as opposed to just 75,892 fans at the 2008 SEC Championship Game in Atlanta. that’s a difference of 8,757.  Even if the revenue gap can be closed by raising ticket prices, I can’t imagine that Florida (or Georgia, for that matter) is keen on suddenly losing seats for more than 4,000 potential donors.

So while Georgia may have the ultimate say over where its home games are played, I agree with Dr. Saturday that a change is not likely. Tradition is nice, but it can be sacrificed in the name of the almighty dollar. What doesn’t make sense, however, is to trash more than seven decades of tradition for less money, more pissed-off alumni or a nasty combination of both.

As if the whole “loyalty” tiff wasn’t enough Urban Meyer drama this offseason, Steve Spurrier (perhaps inadvertently) kicked up the whole “Meyer to Notre Dame” talk on Paul Finebaum’s radio show last week.

Well we learned Friday that Urban Meyer has a quote for us: He isn’t going to Notre Dame.

Meyer, who has been embroiled in a controversy over remarks he made at a Gator Club two weeks ago, said he didn’t know what Spurrier was talking about when the former UF coach called Friday.

“I didn’t know what he was getting at,” Meyer said. “Here’s a quote for you - I am not going to Notre Dame. There’s gotta be something else going on in sports. Isn’t there car racing going on?”

Yeah, there’s other stuff going on in the sports scene, even if you don’t care about the basketball or hockey playoffs. But for whatever reason, the rumor mill often trumps other newsworthy events, sometimes even the actual games. Two seasons ago the media focused incessantly on whether Les Miles would leave LSU for Michigan and that was mere hours before the Tigers took to the field to play for a national championship. Like it or not, even if there is actual news to report, this crap is going to be discussed.

The Meyer-Notre Dame rumor will never die, but it should go into hibernation until at least the end of the 2009 season. Florida may be engaged in an unprecedented run of success (in modern times, at least) while Notre Dame is struggling to maintain its grip as an elite program. The good news for Gator fans, however, is that though the Irish may be struggling, they’ll at least appear to be elite in 2009. Check out this schedule:

09/05/09	vs. Nevada	Notre Dame, Ind.	3:30 p.m. ET
09/12/09	at Michigan	Ann Arbor, Mich.	TBA
09/19/09	vs. Michigan State	Notre Dame, Ind.	3:30 p.m. ET
09/26/09	at Purdue	West Lafayette, Ind.	8:00 p.m. ET
10/03/09	vs. Washington	Notre Dame, Ind.	3:30 p.m. ET
10/17/09	vs. USC	Notre Dame, Ind.	3:30 p.m. ET
10/24/09	vs. Boston College	Notre Dame, Ind.	3:30 p.m. ET
10/31/09	vs. Washington State	San Antonio, Texas	7:30 p.m. ET
11/07/09	vs. Navy	Notre Dame, Ind.	2:30 p.m. ET
11/14/09	at Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh, Pa.	TBA
11/21/09	vs. Connecticut	Notre Dame, Ind.	2:30 p.m. ET
11/28/09	at Stanford	Palo Alto, Calif.	5:00 p.m. PT

To recap

• Two terrible BCS teams: Washington, Washington State
• Two somewhat dangerous but ultimately beatable non-BCS schools: Nevada, Navy
• Two decent 2008 outfits that will be without their playmaking running backs: Pitt, Connecticut
• Four bad-to-mediocre BCS teams: Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Stanford
• One respectable BCS foe: Boston College
• One date with EXTREME DEATH: USC

Against that schedule, anything less than 10-2 would be a disappointment. And frankly, I have a hard time seeing how the Irish could do any worse than 9-3 and a Gator Bowl or somesuch. If I’m right, it will be awfully hard to justify getting rid of Charlie Weis and thus almost impossible to pry Meyer away from Gainesville. Just to be on the safe side, it might be best to forgo Schadenfreude and say “Go Irish” a few times this fall.

Why not do it by re-living a classic game? (Albeit with strange commentary.)

UPDATE 5/14: Check out the 58:30 mark of the following video. Chris Leak threw a pass out of bounds right into the hands of Kirk Herbstreit who snatched the ball over a wildly flailing Lee Corso. Herbstreit holds the ball over his head, older-brother style, for a few moments and then giddily high-fives Corso and Chris Fowler. I don’t remember this happening and I’m wondering if CBS’ cameras captured the moment as well as this let’s… just say “unofficial” footage. (Pleaseplease don’t take it down!) If I did see it the first time around, I have no idea how I forgot it. Great moment in football history.

Also worth noting: How stunned the LSU defense looks in the moments after the unveiling of the jump pass.