The Gainesville Sun says that LSU delivered a knock out blow tonight. As someone who has seen a few fights, I have to say that there was no knockout here. On the 10 point must system, UF won the first round and dropped the second. The Gators then methodically won rounds three through six, including a 10-8 sixth round. But LSU found their jab again in the late rounds, piling up 10-9 scores in the seventh round and on. If Florida had won one of the last rounds, the ending would have been different. But Tom Kaczmarek, Jerry Roth, and Chuck Giampa all scored the fight 114-113 for LSU. Handlers for both sides have discussed a possible rematch in Atlanta on December 1st and CBS has said they are willing to broadcast the fight. (UF may have been jabbed into submission, but the fans definitely got a kick in the groin and wherever it is that it hurts on females.)
During the press conference, The Tampa Trib's Andy Staples asked Meyer a question. After a short response, Meyer realized he left one of the better Gator writers out to dry and said something to the effect of, "Sorry Andy, I know you want more." Which is why his game article isn't much. But he does slip in the Meyer "guarantee" quote, which should be this team's rallying cry for the remainder of the season. Of course, if Urban ran the ball late and called timeouts when they were necessary, a guarantee would not be needed.
My loyalty to Tampa means I can't stand anything from Orlando; Disney, massive toll roads, sorority girls from Winter Park, and the Orlando Sentinel sports section. So, I'm not exactly a fan of Mike Bianchi's column today. It's easy to write about knocking the king off his throne. But I have a problem with his implication that no one knows the words to the Fight Song. Next time Mr. Bianchi attends a Gator game in Gainesville, he should walk out of the press box and hang out in the student section. The only kids who don't know the words at this point are the drunks and kids from Miami, who no one likes anyway. And here's a column about Tony Joiner in the Sun-Sentinel written by someone who is apparently a legal scholar. Actually, I think Joiner shouldn't have played because he looked terrible. Either that or Major Wright took away all of his tackles. I can't say anything more about this because I need to start thinking positively for the Bucs and Yankees games.
Finally, if you need proof that UF should have run every chance they got late, look at the box score. On the ground, UF was getting 4.9 yards a rush. Looking ahead, UF has a great QB, great o-line, two great young DBs (Haden and Wright), two great d-ends, and different offensive options (Murphy, CI Baby, and Moore unless he puts the ball on the ground again). This is far from where most two loss teams are. But if we lose to Kentucky or South Carolina (after watching UGa yesterday, we should beat the hell out of them), pretend like I didn't just rattle off who is good on this squad. That said, the coaches need to step up too.
