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Florida Vs. Alabama: Notes From The Swamp

By Andy Hutchins
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These notes I took during Florida's 38-10 loss to Alabama have no unifying theme and I can't really extrapolate them right now. So here's Notes From the Swamp, a figurative notebook dump I'll write when I actually attend a game, which is adapted from the notes I tapped into my phone.

  • One CBS-pandering sign that was clearly from a parallel universe:
    Cut Brady Quinn
    Bench Kyle Orton
    Start Tim Tebow
    Bonus points for putting it right next to the "Work 'em silly" sign.
  • The sign that made no sense whatsoever: "There's no Tide when it's Rainey." Rain and tides have nothing to do with each other.
  • There were multiple "Tonight's forecast: Rainey" signs. They're not creative.
  • Alabama running back Eddie Lacy came into the game a bit nicked up, but I didn't notice any braces on him.
  • Even before the game started, the stadium felt electric. I wrote "The Swamp feels like The Swamp" before kickoff, and it got even better, especially early on.
  • Andre Debose's touchdown was the single most "I can't believe that just happened" play I've seen in person. My note: "COMPLETELY BEWILDERED."
  • Note I have no real context for, thanks to autocorrect: "Lichtenstein wears his pants low."
  • After the second Debose touchdown (eventually overturned by review), the GatorVision board had a caption that read "Andre Debose [CHEERING]." Had Florida won, that was going into my recap.
  • Yeah, The Swamp cheered the offensive pass interference call on Deonte Thompson in the end zone, thinking it was a defensive PI call that would give Florida a new set of downs. Sometimes, I wonder about our fans' sophistication.
  • "I don't know if these timeouts are The Swamp or Alabama's young offense." I still don't know, but I'l try to figure it out when I re-watch the game. I might have time to do that in November.
  • "Florida kind of not handling Trent Richardson." Gee, that was prescient.
  • There was a guy who tried to throw a football into a Publix-branded ... football receptacle for Publix gift cards and money. He threw from five, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards away, for anywhere from $500 to $25,000, and he missed all five throws. It was amusing.
  • Jordan Reed destroyed someone with a block on a pass Debose took for a first down in the second quarter.
  • Why, exactly, did Charlie Weis run a play with John Brantley split wide? No one is worried about Brantley as a receiver.
  • From Brantley's pick-six: "Upshaw read Brantley like Hop On Pop."
  • "Dre Kirkpatrick should be accompanied by Nicki Minaj's verse from 'Monster' at all times."
  • Made a note to see if Darius Hanks was Merton Hanks' kid; I can't tell if he is from a few minutes of Googling, which is usually a good indication that there's no relation.
  • Florida basketball greats introduced, in order: Mike Miller, Lee Humphrey, Al Horford, and Joakim Noah.
  • It looked to me like Josh Evans got hurt on a second quarter carry by Richardson; he sort of hopped off the field. That could maybe explain some of his bad angles in the second half?
  • A.J. McCarron pumped up the sizable 'Bama fan contingent after a roughing the passer penalty. You're allowed to do whatever you want, A.J., but Florida fans are allowed to hate you for stuff like that. (There were other Alabama players and coaches who taunted the student section as the night wore on, too.)
  • Matt Elam got all sorts of worked up after that Jonathan Bostic roughing the passer penalty, though it wasn't clear whether it was about the call or the defense getting run over.
  • "Alabama is a damn good football team." I believe it was 24-10 at this point.
  • "Brantley knee kaboomqqqqq." No idea why that required the Qs, but it obviously did. And it looked like his knee in person; it looks a lot different on replay.
  • Alabama's majorettes had really sparkly uniforms. They were very pretty. (Also, I believe that zero of the majorettes were black.)
  • Alabama's band played an Elvis medley at halftime that somehow incorporated "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
  • "Super glad the Jeff Driskel era begins on defense."
  • Florida's defense forced three consecutive three-and-outs against Alabama's offense in the third quarter, and I seriously doubt that has happened or will happen again against Alabama this year.
  • Driskel's 31-yard carry: "Chills and a Tebow moment."
  • Jordan Reed caught an eight-yard pass from Driskel while jumping (via Carl Moore Disease) and got cheered for it. It was third and 14.
  • Still don't know why Florida didn't come after the punt Alabama had to kick from its own end zone.
  • "Richardson is concrete cyanide."
  • "31-10 feels worse than 31-6," meaning last year's loss. Maybe it was being there; maybe it was feeling like there was a chance early on in this one, only to have a mistake and an injury whisk that chance away.
  • Putting Trent Richardson in a wildcat offense is grossly unfair.
  • "Stopped by No. 3, Vinnie Sunseri." Yeah, Alabama had the game well enough in hand that the undersized freshman son of its linebackers coach, Sal, was on the field near the end.