Gators 62, Buccaneers 3
Gainesville – If there were questions surrounding the outcome of this game, they were never about who was going to win it. For Florida, the scheduling of Charleston Southern was driven far more by financial motives than competitive ones – and both programs clearly understood that and both programs benefited. This game was, by design, never meant to be much more than a glorified scrimmage – and it lived up (or down) to the hype.
Florida’s goals for this game were threefold: make a lot of money by selling out a home game – which helps fund one of the few athletic departments that is actually growing; get the team into a comfortable game day routine; and get significant playing time for the back up players, the future stars of the program.
Charleston Southern’s goals can be reduced to one – pick up a very large paycheck.
Caleb Sturgis of the Gators launched the opening kick straight out of bounds, giving the Buccaneers great field position at their own 40 yard line. After an initial first down, they were forced to punt to the Gators’ Brandon James who fielded it inside the ten and returned it for a minimal gain.
Tim Tebow was two for two on the opening drive, first connecting with Aaron Hernandez, who went for a short gain and first down and then with Riley Cooper, the six foot three inch senior wide out, for a 67-yard gain on a beautiful spiral that traveled 45 yards in the air. Jeff Demps busted through the middle of the line for the game’s first score, 7-0 Gators.
The Gators forced another quick punt; this time James didn’t have a play on the ball.
On first play of the second possession, Tebow perfectly placed another long ball right into Deonte Thompson’s breadbasket – which promptly fell to the turf. A couple of false starts, a six-yard gain from Emmanuel Moody and an errant pass resulted in the first punt for the Gators.
After two first downs, the Buccaneers were forced to again punt.
Chris Rainey then took a handoff, patiently bounced outside and then exploded for a 67-yard touchdown run on the first play of that series. Speed kills and the Gators have plenty of it. Gators 14-0.
Charleston Southern picked up two more first downs but was then forced to punt.
Tebow, normally the brutish runner, quietly eluded an oncoming pass rusher and then delivered a strike to Cooper, who picked up another first down.
Tebow’s throwing motion is shorter and appears to be more efficient as he’s not allowing his left side to fly out like it has in the past, plus his footwork appears to be more compact and quiet, Although not all of his passes were picture perfect spirals, they were almost all delivered to the perfect spot.
End of the First quarter.
The first play of the second quarter resulted in the second dropped touchdown pass of the night – Brandon James dropped what will likely be the easiest touchdown chance that he will ever get. And then Tebow cleans up the dirty work from a couple of yards out – his 44th rushing touchdown of his career; 21-0 Gators.
A quick defensive stand forced another punt. At this point, Brandon James appears to be pressing his returns as he has taken chances that he normally doesn’t.
The Brandon James experiment as a slot receiver could be very useful, depending on how defenses choose to line up. Riley Cooper is one of the best blocking receivers in the nation; putting James on the same side will make for some interesting bubble screens.
A couple of Tebow pass completions and another Demps touchdown run result in 28-0 lead with 11:39 left in the second quarter.
Major Wright picked up his first interception of the year on a poorly thrown deep pass, giving the Gators the ball
Three straight completions to Cooper, one to Nelson and two more to Hernandez result in another touchdown pass for Tebow, and the score is now 35-0.
This is when the starters began to find their way to the bench.
Charleston Southern put a nice drive together, mixing in a couple of trick plays to put them in field goal position – and then executed perfectly, 35-3.
Brandon James returned the kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown – 42-3. Surprisingly, this is the first kickoff return for a touchdown in ten seasons for the Gators.
Another quick punt by Charleston Southern resulted in good field position for the Gators.
Tebow’s night is done as John Brantley has taken the field – and the Gators promptly go three and out.
A few nice offensive plays from the Buccaneers eat some clock and the half came to an end – 42-3.
Halftime.
At this point, I will change from micro to macro in terms of the game coverage, as the particulars are no longer of much importance.
- Emmanuel Moody had several nice plays, breaking tackles and cracking heads – he’s finally showing why he was the PAC-10 Freshman of the Year at USC. He will be the power option and will likely get plenty of chances this season.
- RB’s Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps are most always going to be the most explosive players on the field – they are amazingly fast and elusive.
- Neither the Wildcat nor the I formation were seen this evening, which have been discussed at length as new wrinkles in the offense.
- OT/OG Carl Johnson was injured as someone rolled up on his legs from behind, he is the most flexible of the linemen and, if he is lost for any length of time, the Gators will certainly feel his absence.
- The hurry up offense was unveiled, in small part, with Tebow at quarterback; I would imagine that this becomes a familiar site throughout this season.
- WR Deonte Thompson had a false start and a dropped pass that surely would have resulted in a touchdown for the Gators, not the start that Urban Meyer was looking for from him.
- True freshmen linebackers Jelani Jenkins and Jon Bostic both played well, making tackles and demonstrating the speed that made them such highly sought after recruits – they looked very good.
- It is very easy to see what the coach’s love about John Brantley; he has an absolute cannon of an arm, is very accurate and is a good athlete who is very nimble on his feet.
- Other than a few early first downs given up, the Gators defense looked fine.
- Aaron Hernandez showed his speed, elusiveness and hands – he’s a great, great tight end.
This game played exactly as how was expected – a name your score kind of game, a blow out.
Superhuman Impact:
Tim Tebow has been and continues to be the dominant force on any field that he steps on; his impact on this game was both direct and conclusive, finishing the game 10-15 for 188 yards and a touchdown pass. Further, he had a rushing touchdown bringing his career total to 44 – he’s now just five behind the SEC’s all time record.
Grievance and Gripe:
Perhaps the only gripe that any of the Gators could have would be from John Brantley, I’m sure he would have like to have played with the first team offense.
Gambler’s Lounge:
The Gators failed to cover the 63-point line. Of course, if you found yourself tempted to bet on a game like this the only numbers you need to concern yourself with is the phone number to Gambler’s Anonymous.