Florida vs. Charleston Southern, what to pay attention to

ESPN or Sports Illustrated (I forget which) has the monopoly on the “what 2 watch 4” catch phrase. Touché. Relegated to a not-so-catchy wording, Gator fans should “pay attention” to a few things this weekend. Yea, that was lame. E-mail me any suggestions for a catchier headline. Anyway, for this first football weekend, pay attention to…

1.       The other competition. Florida vs. Charleston Southern is the equivalent of… well there is no equivalent. This is a mismatch across the board. Charleston Southern is a member of the Big South Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision. CSU is 4-14 in season openers. Head coach Jay Mills is one win shy of having the most wins in school history. Better keep that champagne on ice. Why is this game not “off” on the Vegas odds’ boards? A 70 point favorite? Who wouldn’t take CSU and 70? The

sad thing is, I don’t think I would. This first game will not be close, but for an in-depth preview, see Mark McLeod’s article, a very good read and preview of Florida’s first scrimmage… I mean game. Meanwhile, Georgia takes on Oklahoma State in a difficult road test against an experienced offense. Georgia starter Joe Cox has the flu and traveled separately from the rest of the team. Talk about bad timing. Also, Alabama plays a neutral site game against Virginia Tech in Atlanta. These two games could gauge how difficult the road will be for Florida to steamroll through SEC play on its way to the postseason. Will Georgia’s offense be able to produce points? Can Alabama overcome it’s losses at QB, RB, and OL and regain momentum following a demoralizing loss against Utah at the 2009 Sugar Bowl? South Carolina has opened their season with an, if not so impressive victory, at least an impressive defensive performance against North Carolina State. Does that mean their defense will be able to contain Florida during their November meeting? Oklahoma, last year’s BCS finalist against Florida, opens against ranked Brigham Young University. Will the Sooner’s offense be as potent with the loss of four offensive line starters and the injury to TE Jermaine Gresham? A poor showing against BYU could indicate that Oklahoma and Sam Bradford will have a tough road back to the BCS title game. Gator fans have a lot of time before the 7pm kickoff for Charleston Southern, spend it wisely watching actually meaningful games.

2.       ESPN Gameday. Live from Atlanta for the Alabama – Virginia Tech Game, not only will Gameday provide the best analysis of the day’s biggest games, but they will also be showing the Tim Tebow speech from halftime of the 2009 BCS Championship game. Coming off a slow first half, Tebow’s speech is supposedly (according to ESPN broadcasters who have previewed the never before seen speech) even more emotionally uplifting than his speech following the Mississippi loss last season, which is etched in stone on the side of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. This alone is worth tuning in at 10am to watch on ESPN.

3.       Sportsmanship and Respect weekend. Legarratte Blount, Oregon’s star running back, kicked off sportsmanship week with a sucker-punch against Byron Hout of Boise State, before trying to attack fans in the stand. Sportsmanship and respect week is an initiative that mandates pre-game and post-game handshakes, and a heightened awareness of sportsmanship. Working great so far! Regardless of the pointlessness of this initiative, it will be interesting to see what else happens this weekend, with games such as Miami-Florida State. Blount was suspended for the season for his punch against Hout, who was taunting Blount after the game. I have to question Hout, who was completely unprepared for the punch. Really? You taunt someone than turn and laugh? Not very smart. A lesson to trash-talkers everywhere: stay on point, and expect a reaction…

4.       Assuming you go to the Gator game, pay attention to the backups. The starters hopefully won’t see more than a half of action. Although Urban Meyer has a propensity for leaving starters in late into the game, I’m hoping Tebow and company are pulled early with a big lead. I’d love to see John Brantley’s progress at quarterback, as well as some of the talented defensive players who have not seen much playing time. Also, watch the play of the wide receivers. With Carl Moore and Andre Debose possibly missing a good portion of the season, it’s more important than ever for Deonte Thompson, Riley Cooper, and David Nelson to step up. Chris Rainey should be able to fill Percy Harvin’s role as an explosive runner/receiver, but the real question is who will take Louis Murphy’s role as a true deep threat? Florida’s offensive philosophy doesn’t call for deep bombs often, but it’s always important to have the threat. Also to watch are Florida’s new coaching assignments. Steve Addazio takes over as offensive coordinator, while Scot Loeffler is the new quarterback coach. How will their first game look? In all likelihood, we won’t be able to tell much since much of the normal playbook will be saved until SEC play. Still, it will be interesting to see if there are any glaring differences from Dan Mullen’s play-calling.

College football is finally back. Like a 5 year-old on Christmas Eve, I will barely be able to sleep tonight. As Gator fans, we need to savor seasons like this, because they don’t come often. We have been spoiled over the last three years with high expectations, but college football success is fickle. Luckily, tomorrow is one game not to fret over. Good luck to the Gators and enjoy the game.