Gators going to the BCS Championship!

By JC De La Torre

The University of Florida is now officially on their way to Miami to face Oklahoma for the National Championship Fox Sports announced tonight.

Your BCS Schedule is -
Jan. 1 Rose Bowl - Penn State vs. USC
Jan. 1 Orange Bowl - Cincinatti vs. Virginia Tech
Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl - Utah vs. Alabama
Jan. 5 Fiesta Bowl - Ohio State vs. Texas
Jan. 8 BCS National Championship Game - Florida vs. Oklahoma

We would like to offer our congrats to the Florida Gators and Oklahoma Sooners for making it to the big one. Should be a fantastic championship game.

Gators Take it Easy on the Citadel, Only put up 70

By JC De La Torre

For a lot of the Gator players, this homecoming game will be the final memory of Florida Field as a football player. Some will move on to the Pros, others will find careers in business, science, or law. All of them will remember this was the day that the Gators were charitable, calling off the dogs and even letting their opponent get a couple cheapo touchdowns against the waterboy. The Gators dominated the Citadel Bulldogs 70-19. They could have easily scored 100.

Urban Meyer understood the fine line between making it look good for the pollsters and just being downright cruel. When the Gators pulled Tim Tebow and the starters midway through the 2nd quarter, it was 42-0. Tebow attempted only 11 passes, but had 201 yds passing and 3 touchdowns. Chris Rainey carried the ball just 7 times, but had 143 yds and a score. Percy Harvin touched it just 5 times, yet had 125 yds and a touchdown (his 13th straight game with a score). Before unloading the bench on defense, the Citadel's offensive possessions consisted of four punts and two interceptions.

Eight different Gators scored, and they scored 70 points for the first time since 2001. Florida totaled 706 yards of total offense -- the third most in school history. Gators running backs Chris Rainey and Emmanuel Moody each went over 100 yards on the ground, the second time in seven games Florida has had two 100-yard rushers (previously they hadn't done it since 1997). During their 7 game winning streak, Florida has outscored their opponents 369-82.

Even the ultra-focused Urban Meyer admitted that at halftime he was already thinking about Florida State next week.

So what does this do for the Gators in the polls? Honestly, not much. Despite putting a 70-burger on the Bulldogs and continuing to destroy every opponent they face, the Citadel game actually hurt Florida's strength of schedule. It didn't help that Ole Miss, the bug of the SEC, took down LSU - who is gaspiping the end of this season and hurting the Florida strength of schedule. It does help Florida in that the team that beat them nearly beat #1 Alabama (losing by 4), beat Florida, and now took down a ranked team in LSU. Ole Miss may actually be a ranked team by next week, making the Gator upset all the more legitimate. Florida was also helped by Florida State's dominant victory over a ranked Maryland team, which may allow the Noles to climb back into to top 25 before the Gators head to Tallahassee. Of course, Oklahoma's demolition of #2 Texas Tech has sent the Big 12 in to disarray, it will be interesting to see how the BCS rankings realign. Will Oklahoma jump both Florida and Texas? Will Texas, who had a bye week, move up to #2, Oklahoma #3, and Florida staying at #4? Or will it be #1 Alabama, #2 Florida, #3 Oklahoma, #4 Texas? As I said, its going to be interesting. One thing is certain, the BCS will not have a non-conference champion play for the BCS title. So you will see the champion of the Big 12 face the Champion of the SEC...barring some awful chicanery that may cause a congressional investigation into the BCS.

In any event, no Gator fan cares about anything this week but making Florida State look like the Citadel on Saturday.

South Carolina No Match for the Gator Machine

By JC De La Torre

Steve Spurrier has seen many blowouts at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the place that he nicknamed "The Swamp". He's seen the Gators completely dominate overmatched opponents time and time again. Spurrier has never been beaten in the Swamp the way the Gators unleashed on South Carolina today. #3 Florida demolished the 25th ranked Gamecocks 56-6, churning up 516 yds of offense and limiting Spurrier's offense to 173 yds and 4 turnovers. The fifty point loss was the worst for South Carolina since 1995, when Spurrier's Gators ripped the Cocks 63-7.

The Gators opened up the scoring when Brandon Spikes intercepted SC QB Chris Smelley and returned it for a touchdown to make it 7-0. After receiving the ball back, Smelley would be picked off again, this time by Ahmad Black, who returned it to the South Carolina 26 yd line. From there, Percy Harvin took over, running the remainder for the score and a quick 14-0 advantage. Spurrier thought his team needed a spark, so he called for a trick play on the ensuing kickoff. After fielding the kickoff, Deion LeCorn attempted to lateral the ball to a waiting Chris Hail, but the ball sailed over his outstretched hands, where Gators special teamer James Smith would recover and rumble to the goal line for an apparent touchdown. After review, Smith was ruled down at the one, but it would only delay the inevitable as Florida QB Tim Tebow would plunge it in from a yard out to make it 21-0.

In the 2nd quarter, Tebow would connect with Deonte Thompson 46 yds for a score to balloon the advantage to 28-0. South Carolina would finally get on the board with 2:36 left in the first half with a 42 yd field goal by Ryan Succop. Florida led 28-3 at halftime.

The Gators received the kickoff to start the second half and on their first play from scrimmage, Harvin would take a handoff and race 80 yds for a touchdown - 35-3 Gators. South Carolina responded with their best drive of the game, going 56 yds in 11 plays and capping it with a 44 yd Ryan Succop field goal to narrow the Florida advantage to 35-6. The Gators would come right back, driving 82 yds in 6 plays with Jeff Demps going the to the house on a 38 yd jaunt. 42-6 Florida.

On the first play of the 4th quarter, Aaron Hernandez's circus catch in the back of the endzone capped a 40 yd 6 play drive to add another 7 points to the Gator lead. Chris Rainey would take on another score late to provide the final margin, 56-6.

Florida ran for 346 yards, 167 of those by Percy Harvin with the two touchdowns. South Carolina was the 11th best team in the country against the run, allowing just over 101 yards. Since losing to Ole Miss back in September, the Gators have outscored their opponents 299-63 and has won each game by at least 28 points.

After yet another destruction of a ranked team, it will be interesting to see if the pollsters continue to have Texas ranked over the Florida juggernaut. As I type this, Alabama is struggling with Mississippi State and Florida State is in a dogfight with Boston College. Both may eventually come back to win their games but these are the two teams that stand in the way of the Gators advancing to the BCS Title game.

Tonight, its great to be a Florida Gator.

JC De La Torre is an author of Science Fiction/Fantasy and other realms of Speculative Fiction - check out his latest works at JC Delatorre.com

Gators Have the Road Set for National Title Run

By JC De La Torre

The Florida Gators have sights set on Miami and now know the road to get there. With Saturday's upset of the Penn State Nitanny Lions by Iowa, Florida now doesn't have to worry about that fantastic Texas Tech squad slipping up somewhere along the line. The road is clear for the Gators and their case got even stronger with Florida State's victory over Clemson. Take care of their own business by finishing off with victories over South Carolina, the Citadel (on homecoming), and Florida State, they likely will face Alabama for the right to play for a berth in the National title game.

Florida will be ranked no worse than #4 when the BCS standings are released this evening, putting only Bama, Texas Tech, and Texas in their path to 1 of the 2 spots in the BCS. Florida emphatically stated their case to jump Texas by clobbering the nearly bowl eligible Vanderbilt Commodores 42-14, while Texas struggled early against god awful Baylor before finally getting their bearings and blowing out the Bears 45-21.

The biggest problem for the Longhorns is their remaining schedule, as they face two schools having down seasons in Kansas (6-4) and Texas A&M (4-6). They are in the same division as Texas Tech, so unless the Red Raiders fall to Oklahoma, they won't play in the Big 12 Championship game. Meanwhile, Florida plays South Carolina (7-3), the Citadel, and currently #22 Florida State (7-2, 1st place in the ACC Atlantic Division) before taking on #1 Alabama in the SEC title game. If both teams were to win out, there's little doubt that the Gators would jump Texas.

Of course, if the Red Raiders stumble in either the Oklahoma game or the Big 12 championship game, that opens up a big time mess in the BCS standings that could have Florida playing Texas or USC or Oklahoma or maybe even Penn State gets back into the mix. Basically, the BCS folks are praying to the football gods that the Red Raiders or Alabama can win out and keep this from being a nasty clusterfudge that President-elect Obama may inject himself into to force a college football playoff.

For the Gators, its simple - take care of your own business, avoid any minefield losses like Ole Miss, and you'll get a shot at the Crystal.