Tim Tebow played the role of Achilles as the Gators improved to 2-0 after beating the Troy Trojans last Saturday in Gainesville. The Gators had a pretty amazing first half. They scored on all seven of their first-half possessions and made it 49-7 when they entered the tunnel. It was quite an impressive performance. The Gators were so far up they hardly knew what to do with themselves.
However, I got a bit of a scare when the Trojans came out strong in the third quarter. They outscored the Gators 17-0 bringing the score to 49-24. As I warned last week, Trojans have more impact than many people realize. They played hard against Arkansas last week and almost stole a win from FSU last year. You have to respect the philosophy of Trojans to improve. They are a small school, but they schedule games against some of the best soccer schools in the country. If you want to be up there with the big boys, then you have to play with the big boys. Omar Haugabook played the role of Hector, opposite Tebow, passing for 283 yards including 2 touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown. Troy receiver Austin Silvoy caught both touchdown passes for the Trojans.
Despite their respectable comeback, the Trojans were no match for the No. 4-ranked Gators. The Gators didn’t need the Trojan horse hoax to put the final nail in Troy’s coffin. In the fourth quarter, Joey Ijjas kicked a 32-yard field goal, and Tebow followed it up with a 16-yard touchdown run. The final score ended up being 59-31 in favor of the Gators. Tebow’s final numbers were impressive leading the Gators not only in passing but also in rushing. He passed for 236 yards with 3 touchdowns and rushed for 93 yards with 2 touchdowns. Yesterday he was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week.
Urban Meyer said after the game that he wasn’t entirely disappointed with the Gators’ performance. I quite agree with him. Our offense was excellent even with Percy Harvin limited due to ankle tendinitis. The defense still needs to improve, but hopefully with another game under their belt, we’ll start seeing results soon. One of the bad things that came out of the game was the injury bug attack. Andre Caldwell was injured in the MCL and now it is reported that he will not play against Tennessee. While he would definitely prefer to have him there, I hope the other receivers can step up and I think the offense should be fine. Caldwell will have to provide his senior leadership from the sidelines.
As most of you already know, the Gators will host the Tennessee Volunteers this weekend at the Swamp. Now that we’re getting into our SEC schedule, we should be able to get a much better idea of what the team is made of, especially the defense. With superior talent and home court advantage on our side, I think we should be able to take care of business and draw a tear from Peyton Manning in the process.
I have decided to start a new feature on the blog and from now on I will make predictions about the next game. Here’s this week’s.
florida-38
Tennessee – 21
Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any and all feedback.
Tim aka T.laves