Alligator Army: FanPosts

The Blind Side and the Bell Curve

fasterhornkillkill — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:39:08 -0000

Michael Lewis' incredible college football book The Blind Side tells the amazing true story of professional footballs talent search for someone capable of blocking Lawrence Taylor. This search leads to inner city Memphis, where an incredibly athletically gifted young man who has been in and out of foster care and from the most difficult possible of circumstances improbably gets the opportunity to attend a private school and is adopted by a wealthy family. If Michael can get eligible to play college football, he will probably earn millions protecting the quarterback's blind side in the NFL.

The Blind Side is put into the context of the debate over IQ and education reform here:

http://jaypgreene.com/2008/05/10/charles-murray-vs-michael-oher/

Welcome to the new Alligator Army and SB Nation

clockwerks — Tue, 06 May 2008 04:40:15 -0000

Hey Alligator Army,

Today is the big day. We've switched your community over to the new SB Nation sports blog platform. My name is Trei, and I'm here to help you get adjusted to the new home we've built for you. If you have questions or trouble with the new system, post a comment in this thread and myself or one of the team (lovitt, sixfoot6 or odacrem) will try to point you in the right direction.

Before we begin, I want to let you know we still consider this a beta platform, so don't be surprised if you find a few bugs or if everything isn't exactly right yet. We hope you'll take the time to report any problems you encounter at bugreport@sbnation.com. We'll be continuing to make changes and improving things.

Please take a few minutes to read about what's new below. But if you just can't wait to jump in, here are some quick things to check out:

Sign up for your SB Nation network account and claim your old blog accounts
Once you're logged in, press your Z key in any thread with new comments
Explore your dashboard and setup your profile
Read the guide to the new FanPost editor
Install the FanShot bookmarklet and post videos to Alligator Army from YouTube or images from Flickr
Click the "Rec" button on posts and comments to help other people find the good stuff.
Customize display options on your Edit Settings page

What Has Changed

SB Nation Network Accounts - the Big Change

Readers across all of our blogs told us they wanted one account to use on every SB Nation blog. To make this work, we're requiring that everyone create a new SB Nation network account. In most cases you should be able to keep your old username, but a few of you may have to choose something new, since every other community in SB Nation will be going through this same transition. We tried to be as fair as possible in deciding who gets to keep which name, using a formula that takes into account length of membership and frequency of activity.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to participate on all of our blogs, but we don't want to encourage everyone to start visiting rival team blogs and initiating flame wars. To maintain friendly communities we ask that you explicitly join each blog in order to participate. It's a two-click process, but it does means accepting each blog's community guidelines. Just as you join each blog individually, you can be banned on each blog individually.

You can claim old accounts from multiple SB Nation blogs, and your new username will be retroactively attached to all your old comments and diaries. So now you'll be able to access all your writings from your single profile page... like magic.

To get started, click here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.

FanPosts (the Section Formerly Known as Diaries)

We changed their name. Why? Because we took this major upgrade as an opportunity to leave behind some vocabulary that never made much sense for a sports blog. SB Nation is the network of, by and for fans, and these are the blog posts we make. So we call them FanPosts. When you're at a bar telling someone to check out your online sports opinions, you don't have to suggest they read your diary.

FanPosts are displayed differently on the homepage - we include your avatar to give more credit for the time you spend writing great posts. The new post editor has a WYSIWYG view that provides easy formatting. It also auto-saves drafts so you don't have to worry about losing your work when you compose a post within the web browser. And you can now associate teams, players and games with your posts: these tools promote your FanPosts on our new team, player and game pages - across the entire network.

The new system does not work like the old diary editor. For example, in HTML mode the new editor doesn't auto-create a new paragraph from two line breaks. But it does offer a whole array of new features. Look for the blinking help button on the right side of the FanPost editor for quick tips, and take a look at our full guide to writing FanPosts on the new platform.

IMPORTANT - if you write your posts in Microsoft Word or some other off-line editor, you will get the most reliable behavior if you cut & paste your post into the HTML view of the FanPost editor. And if you do that, remember to wrap <p></p> tags around each paragraph so your text doesn't run together.

Visual Redesign

This one is probably the most obvious change of all. Like other major websites working to improve readability for their audience, we've adopted a fixed-width layout optimized for the 1024 x 768 resolution used by the majority of Alligator Army and SB Nation network users. Use the switcher below the user menu if you prefer the wider layout designed for 1280 monitors. We've introduced a top navigation bar with quick links into old and new sections of the site. We also polished a few edges, made some things larger, others smaller and moved a few boxes here and there. More changes and adjustments to come.

Search

We've completely replaced the old search engine with a new one. We're excited to make it easier to find old posts and comments, but we've only taken our first pass on the tools we're offering. We're focused on making search even better than what you had before, so please know that we're aware search is missing key features and we're working on it.

What's New

Schedule, Scores, Stats and Roster

Alligator Army now has all the basic information about the Florida Gators and hundreds of other teams. During games you'll see a regularly updated line score, and as the season progresses we'll track team stat totals and leaders. This is just our first step, so look for us to publish more detailed and archival stats in the future. The best part about all this sports data is that we've integrated it directly into the blog so. We now have special pages that aggregate all blog posts written about games, players and teams.

Recommending FanPosts

Some writing deserves more attention and more conversation. If you want to bump a FanPost up to the top and keep it there for awhile, just click the 'Rec' link under the body of the post. When a FanPost receives enough recommendations it will make the recommended list.

Auto-refreshing Comments

You no longer need to refresh the page to see new comments. If you're logged in, new comments will automatically appear on the page every few seconds. When you post a comment, the page will not refresh either. If you want to quickly cycle through all the new comments, you can press the C key on your keyboard. Unmark a new comment after you've read it with the X key. And use the Z key if you want to umark comments as you're cycling through them.

As you use these shortcuts to cycle through comments, press the R key to reply to the current comment. All these helpful keyboard shortcuts are listed at the top of each comments section for reference.

Recommending Comments

Now you can reward those folks who take the time to look up stats and make smart arguments in the comments. Next to each comment there is an 'actions' link that you can click to find the recommend and flag options.

Flagging Comments

To help the moderators on a site, we've built-in tools that let you flag comments that are spam, trolling or just plain inappropriate. Only moderators can see those flags.

FanShots

Many members of the community just want to post that one link, video, photo or quote, but don't need a full FanPost. We've got you covered: FanShots let you share YouTube videos, Flickr or PhotoBucket photos, quotes from articles, portions of chat transcripts, top 5 lists and simple links. If it's a video or image we'll put a thumbnail on the homepage when you post it.

For those of you who are experienced internet hunter-gatherers of Florida Gators material, install the bookmarklet onto the links bar of your browser and share FanShots with the community from wherever on the web you find that killer quote or photo.

Avatars

Upload an image so folks can see your custom avatar on your profile, your FanPosts, and all your comments.

Network Profiles

Now that we have unified SB Nation network accounts, your profile will be your central hub for all of your activity on any blogs where you are a member.

Network bar

The top bar stays with you on all SB Nation blogs. It's a quick way to login and logout. When you're logged in, you'll see your avatar and screen name which links to your profile. The icon to the right leads to your Dashboard area where you can edit your settings, profile, account details and any FanPosts or FanShots you've published. As we add more blogs to the new SB Nation network, the My Blogs menu will be a handy way to navigate between the blogs you've joined.

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There are plenty more small changes and additions we've made, so please take a careful look around and explore this new system. We appreciate your patience and hope you'll help us improve the new platform for this and all the other SB Nation blogs.

And in case you missed it, you'll want to start by claiming your old blog accounts and creating a new SB Nation network account.

Wuerffel to host Jacksonville luncheon on May 15, 2008

Mon, 05 May 2008 14:50:34 -0000

On May 15, Danny Wuerffel will be the keynote speaker at a luncheon at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium'sTouchdown Club to raise awareness for Desire Street Ministries.

Wuerffel has already earned the support of some well-known Jacksonville residents, including the Tebow family and Kerwin Bell, Jacksonville University's head football coach and former Gator quarterback, who are scheduled to attend the event. Former Florida Gator players Chris Doering and Shane Matthews will also be in attendance, among others.

Tables seat 10 people and are $500 each. Individual tickets are also available for $50 each for the noon event.

For more information call Lisa Kaviani at (407) 571-3906. To register for the event, e-mail June Holden at june.holden@comcast.net. For more information about Desire Street Ministries visit www.desirestreet.org.

The last time Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel was at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium as a Gator, he completed 16 of 23 passes and threw four touchdowns all before halftime during the 1996 annual Florida-Georgia football game.

Wuerffel is returning to Jacksonville in hopes of scoring another touchdown at the same location on May 15 for his non-profit organization, Desire Street Ministries.

Wuerffel will be the keynote speaker at a luncheon at the stadium's Touchdown Club to raise awareness for Desire Street Ministries.

Tables seat 10 people and are $500 each. Individual tickets are also available for $50 each for the noon event.

Event sponsorship opportunities are available at a variety of donation levels. Gold sponsorships are $25,000, silver sponsorships are $10,000 and bronze sponsorships are $5,000. Committed sponsors include AXIA and Full Sail University.

Exciting New Football Team in Florida

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:49:53 -0000

All true Florida Football fans, there is a new Professional football league starting this April that will feature former college standouts from all over Florida.

The All American Football league, AAFL, is set to kick off their season this April with one of their six teams in Florida. Team Florida has signed the top former Florida college players that didn't make it in the NFL, players such as Chris Leak. This is an great opportunity for many great Florida ball players to extend their career and possible even make it into the NFL.

The AAFL is pleased to announce an innovative fundraising program, where youth organizations have the ability to raise money through ticket sales for their local AAFL team.

We started this program last week, and it has already been very well received by various Church Youth Programs, high-school teams and clubs, as well as many other charitable and non-profit organizations. This program provides organizations with a fun, exciting way for their members to raise much-needed money. We have already heard from many organizations that they have never seen their kids so excited and motivated to participate in a fund-raiser.
For larger events and to kick off an organization's fund-raising efforts; players and coaches from that local AAFL team, as well as a group of ex-NFL players are available to attend your event and speak to the group. We will match the speakers with your type of organization to ensure the message they deliver is a good fit for your organization. They deliver a powerful, positive message to these young adults; ranging from faith-based messages to anti-gang, drug, and alcohol messages. They are also happy to sign autographs and have their pictures taken with the kids.
The potential money an organization can raise is substantial, and there are generous prizes for the organization members -

· Top 3 in every Organization -
o 1st place - $250 Gift Card and 4 $53 season tickets
o 2nd place - $100 Gift Card and 4 $43 season tickets
o 3rd Place - $50 Gift Card and 4 $33 season tickets

· Top 4 in every State -
o 1st - $2000 cash prize
o 2nd - $1500
o 3rd - $1000
o 4th - $500

· Top Person between all states - $5000 cash prize

If you are interested in learning more about this for your organization, or have questions; please contact us at fundraising@aafl.com; or by calling 877-286-3248. You can learn more about the league by going to either; www.AAFL.com www.AAFLUSA.com or www.AAFLSOURCE.com

TDs: The Runs Batted In of College Football Statistics (Part Two)

The Boy — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:45:26 -0000

Okay, so last time around, I talked about Points Per Play (PPP) as the football version of Slugging %. In baseball, OPS (On-Base + Slugging) is one of the most telling, easy, reliable stats around. It's great because it's flexible. There are two different ways to put together a strong OPS--either by getting on base a lot or by hitting for power--and the best hitters do both. You find consistency and explosiveness in one measure.

So if PPP is equivalent to Slugging % (explosiveness), what's equivalent to On-Base % (consistency)? Success Rate, that's what.

In its most basic form, Success Rate is simply the percentage of time in which a play is deemed `successful'. It is a measure I culled from Football Outsiders and tweaked to fit my own purposes. How is `success' determined?

Here are the rules according to down:

1st Down: 50% of necessary yardage. If it's 1st-and-10, you need 5 yards for 'success'.

2nd Down: 70% of necessary yardage (rounded up to the nearest yard, of course). If it's 2nd-and-10, you need 7 yards for 'success'. 2nd-and-15? 10 yards.

3rd and 4th Downs: 100% of necessary yardage. I figure this requires no explanation.

In all, any given play has about a 43% chance of `success.'

Success Rate measures consistency the same way that On-Base % does for baseball. It's a lot harder to score in baseball if you're not getting on-base. Sure, you can still hit a homerun, but in general, less people on-base leads to less scoring opportunities, which leads to less runs.

In football, a low success rate limits your chances in the same way. Sure, you can score on a 99-yard TD run, and sure, you can consistently gain 10 yards on 3rd-and-9 to sustain a drive (leading to something like a 33.3% success rate)...but you're playing with fire. The odds of consistently moving the ball like that are minimal.

To illustrate the usefulness of Success Rates, let's look at the success rates for each of the Big 12 Offenses.

1.    Texas Tech 53.6%
2.    Missouri 51.0%
3.    Oklahoma State 50.2%
4.    Kansas 50.1%
5.    Nebraska 48.8%
6.    Oklahoma 48.9%
7.    Texas 47.4%
8.    Texas A&M 45.7%
9.    Kansas State 45.5%
10.    Colorado 39.6%
11.    Baylor 38.5%
12.    Iowa State 36.5%

Aside from a couple exceptions (Nebraska above Texas?), that's pretty much a rundown of the conference's top offenses, is it not?

Success Rate is a fantastic tool, and I used it more than just about anything else when I was previewing Mizzou games this year (example here). It can be used to judge teams in every possible way--how they do in close games, how well they run (or defend the run), how well they play in the redzone, et cetera.

And it becomes an even better tool when teamed with the Points Per Play (PPP) measure we discussed in Part One. Quick recap: based on the average number of points scored from any yardline on the field, I came up with a way to create a `point value' for each play of a game by comparing the beginning value of a play compared to where it ended up. It is the "slugging %" to Success Rate's "on-base %" in the OPS equation. So if On-Base Plus Slugging = OPS, then what is Success Rate plus Points Per Play? S&P!

S&P, like Success Rate, is an extremely versatile tool. You can compare offenses, defenses, running backs, just about anything. To illustrate the usefulness of S&P, let's look at the four Heisman finalists.

Tim Tebow

PASSING: 52.5% success rate + 0.62 PPP = 1.15 S&P
RUSHING: 54.8% success rate + 0.54 PPP = 1.09 S&P
ALL PLAYS BEHIND CENTER: 54.6% success rate + 0.53 PPP = 1.08 S&P

Colt Brennan

PASSING: 53.7% success rate + 0.53 PPP = 1.07 S&P
RUSHING: 47.2% success rate + 0.38 PPP = 0.86 S&P
ALL PLAYS BEHIND CENTER: 52.9% success rate + 0.44 PPP = 0.97 S&P

Chase Daniel

PASSING: 51.4% success rate + 0.46 PPP = 0.97 S&P
RUSHING: 47.1% success rate + 0.38 PPP = 0.86 S&P
ALL PLAYS BEHIND CENTER: 50.4% success rate + 0.39 PPP = 0.90 S&P

For the three QB finalists, you can start to see how this single number--S&P--can take into account everything from Tebow's rushing TDs to Brennan's insane yardage totals to Daniel's nation-leading third down percentage. They had similar numbers, though when schedule strength is taken into account (I've got ways to do this, but not until I have everybody's games entered), Tebow comes out far ahead. It's why I'd have voted for him even though I wasn't remarkably impressed with the 20 mostly-short-yardage rushing TDs.

Okay, so I just came up with a complete different way to determine that Tim Tebow should have won the Heisman. Woo. I could have used yards and TDs to figure that out. What use do these new-fangled stats have if they're just going to lead to the same conclusions as the, uhh, old-fangled stats? That's where Darren McFadden comes in.

Darren McFadden

RUSHING: 46.8% success rate + 0.34 PPP = 0.81 S&P

And he was the QB in the WildHog Formation, so...

ALL PLAYS BEHIND CENTER: 48.3% success rate + 0.71 PPP = 1.19 S&P

As a point of comparison, McFadden's 0.81 S&P would have been #13 in the Big 12. Jorvorskie Lane (ATM) had a 1.09, DeMarco Murray (OU) a 0.97, and Chris Brown (OU) had a 0.85.

McFadden is obviously very good, but the consensus "best RB in college football" wasn't as effective at running the ball in 2007 as he was at being a threat to run the ball...if that makes any sense. With McFadden sharing the backfield, Felix Jones pulled off an insane 1.17 rushing S&P, and the WildHog was quite effective in giving McFadden the option of running, throwing, or handing to Jones and Peyton Hillis. But for every highlight reel run McFadden ripped off this season, there were about 10 1-yard runs. This is why a theoretically explosive offense like Arkansas' ground to a halt against good defenses like Auburn (lost 9-7) and Missouri (lost 38-7). The offense was perceived as better than it actually was, and its low success rate (44.6% for the season) and S&P (0.81...the same as stagnant Texas A&M's) betrayed it throughout the season.

(And here's another interesting stat: McFadden accounted for 111.04 `points' running the ball in 2007. Tebow accounted for 107.05.)

In other words, there's a reason why Darren McFadden didn't deserve the Heisman, no matter how good he looks in the open field. It wasn't his fault that Arkansas' passing game sucked, and it wasn't his fault that defenses did whatever they could to force other players to beat them...but you have to be more than a threat to win the Heisman--you have to still produce as well.

Okay, time for another plea. I really want to be able to test the limits of S&P, PPP, Success Rates, and lots of other stats I have yet to reveal, but I'm in need of some volunteers to help me plow through the remaining 2007 games. As I mentioned last time, games take about 30 minutes to enter (once you figure out what you're doing), and you can feel free to enter games for whichever team you like (other than the ones I've already done, anyway--Big 12, Hawaii, Florida, Arkansas).

If you want to help either shoot me a response on this thread with your e-mail address, or contact me at BillConnelly1@gmail.com. Thanks again.

TDs: The Runs Batted In of College Football Statistics (Part One)

The Boy — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:10:44 -0000

Hey, this is The Boy from Rock M Nation. I posted this over at Sunday Morning QB a couple days ago, but I figured I might as well post it on some other blogs too...let me know what you think.

OFFSEASON PROJECT! Over at RMN, I've been playing with the `Beyond the Box Score' idea (calling it that as an ode to the wonderful SBN sabermetrics blog of the same name) as it applies to college football stats.

I've been cranking out play-by-plays for 2007 games as fast as possible--as I post for a Mizzou blog, I've focused on Big 12 teams, Mizzou opponents, and teams with fellow Heisman finalists--but this is a massive undertaking, and I need some volunteers to enter play-by-play for the games I have yet to enter from the 2007. They take about 30-45 minutes each, and I'm figuring I'll need about 6-10 volunteers to finish this stuff in a timely enough fashion to do something about it before the 2008 season starts orbiting everybody's attention span, so...actually, how about I just show you why I'm doing this?

It's fair to say that the Bill James Revolution has reshaped the game of baseball over the last 25-30 years (for some franchises, anyway...my Pirates sure haven't paid any attention). I'd go into detail about all the different statistics that have come about due to James and his disciples, but I'm going to be honest here--if you don't know/care about Bill James, then you probably won't care at all about this post.

The typical statline for a hitter hasn't changed much over the years. Chances are, when a guy is at bat, the stats they'll show on TV are Batting Average / HRs / RBIs. However, as thousands of words are spent in deciphering baseball stats each year, it's becoming more and more obvious that those categories--the last one in particular--are pretty worthless in evaluating the quality of a hitter. Who cares about a .300 batting average if it's all singles and it's not complemented by any walks or anything? Who cares about 25 HRs if you strike out 200 times and don't ever get on base otherwise? And who cares about 100 RBIs if it's complemented by a .225 average and only comes about because the guys in front of you are fantastic hitters?

Having a high number of RBIs does say something about your propensity for timely hits, but it says even more about the ability of the folks ahead of you to get on base. If the dude in front of you in the batting order has a .220 on-base %, you're probably not going to get too many RBIs no matter how good a hitter you are. It's the same way with touchdowns, really. Jerome Bettis's final season was great for my fantasy team, but his "2 carries, 3 yards, 2 TDs" lines really didn't contribute much to the team overall. I loved The Bus as much as the next guy, but just about anybody could have come in and plunged in from the 1. Getting the ball to the 1 was the much bigger accomplishment.

(Since I'm a Mizzou fan, you can probably gather that I wasn't all that impressed by Tim Tebow's "20 passing TDs/20 rushing TDs" stat that everybody was in love with since half his TDs came from a couple yards out and Chase Daniel could have done the same if he never handed the ball off either. That's true, but in the end I'd have probably voted for Tebow to win the Heisman anyway. You know...if I had a vote...)

I've been entering play-by-play for Big 12 games for the last two seasons, and I've been able to do a lot with the data...enough that I want to be able to do it with the entire country's data. The biggest thing I've accomplished so far is coming up with measures called EqPts (Equivalent Points) and PPP (EqPts per Play), based on the chart below, which shows the average number of points that could be expected from any specific yard line.

As you see, gains in certain areas of the field are worth different amounts. I did the same thing for each down.

So a 5-yard gain on 3rd-and-5 from your opponent's 39 would only be worth about 0.19 points on the first graph, but it's worth a huge 2.24 points on the second one. Stuff like that is interesting to a nerd like me. And here's the most interesting part--averaging these two EqPts figures together, and adding in a measure of turnover costliness (into which I go into more detail in my Beyond the Box Score glossary), ends up doing a pretty good job of coming up with how many points were scored in a given game.

For instance...on December 1, Missouri beat Kansas, 36-28. MU's offense accounted for 29.47 EqPts (from the first graph) and 42.98 Down-Dependent EqPts (from the second). That averages out to 36.23. KU had 30.69 EqPts and 33.95 DD-EqPts, averaging 32.32. KU also had 6.83 points worth of turnovers (again, click the link above if you want information on that), and applying half of that to KU's score and half to MU's, you end up with an EqPts final score of MU 38.98, KU 28.91. Pretty damn close. On the same day, OU beat OSU, 49-17. The EqPts score was OU 47.88, OSU 15.65.

Of course, it doesn't always calculate closely--the ball's oblong and simply doesn't always bounce the way it's supposed to--but looking at things this way gives you a lot better indication of who accounted for a team's points than total yards or TDs or yards per carry.

For now, let's pretend that PPP is the football equivalent of Slugging %. What's the football equivalent of On-Base %? We'll get back to that in Part Two...if anybody's actually interested, anyway.

And if you want to help me enter play-by-plays, either shoot me a response on this thread with your e-mail address, or contact me at BillConnelly1@gmail.com. Thanks!

He15man History

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:01:59 -0000

Wow, I knew Tim would get it, the way he thanked almost every single person he has met in his life. Tim Tebow is the real deal America!

Tim Tebow became the first sophmore to win the Heisman the same way he scored 22 touchdowns. Tim Tebow is the real deal America and he will be around for a long a time so get used to it. Tebow received 1,957 points, well ahead of Arkansas tailback Darren Mcfadden (1,703). The 6-foot-3, 235-pound native of Jacksonville, Fla., picked to win on 462 ballots (52.1 percent), finished first in five of the six geographical areas. Tebow said

"I think it's amazing that you're known forever as a Heisman Trophy winner". "That's very special. It's overwhelming. I'm kind of at a loss for words." Tim Tebow becomes the third Florida quarterback to win the Heisman and he the Heisman voters finally got it right. Tim Tebow said that when he was growing up he always looked up at Danny Warfeal as a role model and as a great individual. Coach Urban Meyer said "The sophomore thing, I keep hearing," Meyer said. No question Tim Tebow was the best College Football Player this season. Tim rushed for so many yards each game, he used his size and strenth to get touchdowns and he used his great arm to produce touchdowns. Tebow joins an exclusive club, with an emphasis on club. There is a camaraderie among the Heisman Winners that spans for generations to come. Tim Tebow is one of the classiest players I have ever seen win the Heisman or even attend the Heisman. He sure does put his faith before football and that is a sign of a great football player. Although Darren Mcfadden had a great year, in my opinion Tebow showed up every game and proved to be a big contender for the Heisman Trophy. As for here is Gainesville the city is so glad Tebow won it and since he becomes the third person from Florida to win a Heisman there is no question Tim Tebow is the real deal. I have never seen a football player with that kind of size,strenth, and speed to be so classy.Before Tim Tebow leaves UF, I think he will be in the running to win another Heisman Trophy to add to this one. What a great College Football season it was and congrats to Tim Tebow for winning the 2007 Heisman Trophy.

Tebow Called Out!

ejruiz — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 03:08:34 -0000

Hawai'i Head Coach June Jones just implied that Tim Tebow is an average QB in a great system.

He indicated that Colt Brennan could run any offense, while he doubted that Tebow could run Hawaii's offense.

Listen, I get that he's campaigning for his guy in the Heisman race, but someone needs to remind this man that Tebow is a record-breaking QB in his own right. Moreover, he's coming to the Swamp next season without his star QB and I'm pretty sure you don't want to challenge a kid like Tebow. Hawai'i is getting embarassed next year and I can't wait until his postgame press conference when they ask him about his comments tonight. In fact, I can't wait until Georgia decimates an overrated Warriors team in the Sugar Bowl and Colt Brennan drops into the 2nd round of the NFL drsft. Never have I changed my mind about a program so quickly, but I suddenly hate Hawai'i.

Why the Noles will win today

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 20:55:12 -0000

Better Defense. There is not a national Championship on the line. However even in a spoiler game the best defense wins.
Ron Zook didn't recruit this team. Say what you want about him, but you won a championship with his team.
FSU is a different team in the 2nd half of this year. They are responding to the new coaches, and they are going to rock you...

NAPPY LIZARDS!! GO NOLES!!

We could have be #1 in the BCS ranking

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 16:48:20 -0000

If we had won instead of lost, we could have been ranked #1 in the BCS rankings. This site helps you figure it out:
www.PlayWhatIf.com

These seem to be good estimates of future BCS rankings.

Right now we are ranked #18 on the site, but if we had beaten Georgia and Auburn, then we'll be ranked #4. Of course, if we went undefeated, then we would have been ranked #1.
Go Gators!!!

Reasons its great to be a gator fan

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:00:23 -0000

I personally think the guy could have said more about the women but whatever. Still a great list.

http://www.onmylist.com/category/sports/Its_Great_to_be_a_Florida_Gator_1

Well, today is the day. Christmas? No, better. Birthday? No, that was two months ago. Anniversary? No, that was two days ago. Well what then?

COLLEGE FOOTBALL KICKS OFF TONIGHT

People in other parts of the country THINK they understand football, I did, but it is sort of like NASCAR you don't get it till you've been to Talladega or Daytona on race day. Similarly, you may think you you understand big time college football, but until you've been in Gainesville, or Baton Rouge, or Knoxville, or Athens on a Saturday afternoon, you ain't never been to a college football game.

There are many great teams and towns, but G'ville and the MIghty Florida Gators rule. Why? Glad you asked.

The Alligator Army Diary

mlmintampa — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:19:51 -0000

The beauty of the internet, and specifically blogs, is the sharing of information. With that in mind, we have created The Alligator Army Diary.

In some cases, hopefully not too many, our readers will get wind of a story or hear breaking news before we do. In that case, don't leave a comment on a story. Post a diary entry. Not only will it be listed on the right side of the main screen, but if it's important enough of a story, we'll put it in the main window.

A perfect example of this is Wilbur Marshall being inducted into UF's Ring of Honor. Marshall was done at UF before I was born. I vaguely remember him playing for the Redskins and then Jets at the end of his career. But, if you remember him playing on the Astroturf at Florida Field, then let us know in the diary.