Gators play as advertised against W Kentucky
Pulling out every chair in the house in front of the big screen, banging on the keg, burgers sizzling on the grill, setting up the beer pong table…ahh the sights and sounds of another Gator football season. College football is back. It never fails to bring a smile to my face. The Gators kicked off their 2007 schedule against Western Kentucky at the Swamp last Saturday. University Avenue came to life for the first time since January. Everything went according to plan with the Gators coming away with a 49-3 victory in a weather-shortened game. In general, I was very happy with the way the team played.
The offense was definitely on point. In the first start of his career, quarterback Tim Tebow showed how well he can throw the ball. He threw for 300 cheap yards and 3 touchdowns while going 13-17. Sophomore wide receiver Riley Cooper had a big game catching for 122 yards including 2 touchdowns. Andre Caldwell and Percy Harvin also had good catches. Especially in the first half, it seemed almost too easy for the Gators, as the Hilltoppers couldn’t keep up on defense. Hopefully we can still be as explosive in the Tennessee game in two weeks.
On the other side of the ball, you really can’t complain when your defense loses only 3 points in the entire game. Still, they could have played a little better. They scared everyone in the first quarter when it looked like the Hilltoppers might be the first to score after a long drive down the field. Fortunately, our youngsters were able to make a great save on a 4 and 1 play to end the drive. Urban Meyer said after the game that the defense missed a lot and needed to improve. This was the first game though, so hopefully now that they’ve gotten their feet wet they’ll be able to take advantage of their mistakes.
The next game is this weekend at home against Troy. While many fans probably aren’t very familiar with Troy, they’re actually not as bad as they seem. I heard they played FSU very hard last year. Speaking of FSU, thank you so much for losing to Clemson in their season opener last night and giving the Gators even more evidence that we are the only elite team left in the state of Florida.
I appreciate any feedback, there will be more Gator Football talks next week.
-Tim aka T.laves