FOUR BITS: Defense resilient; Tebow not Heisman worthy; Soccer wins, in 2nd; Donovan overlooked

By Adam Silverstein
October 23, 2009

1 » In the unit’s worst performance of the season, the Florida Gators defense gave up 357 yards and 20 points to the Arkansas Razorbacks last Saturday. Distraught after the game and with a line ravaged with injuries, the defense is still keeping its head up and looking forward. “Our defense was crushed after that game,” head coach Urban Meyer said. “There’s only a couple of ways to analyze it: Are you winning games and are you statistically doing a good job? I think they’re doing great. I think there’s a defensive coordinator [Charlie Strong] that has very, very high expectations, a defensive staff, and more importantly, some players who felt like we could have played much better, and that’s kind of cool. I like that.” Gator Nation does too, Coach.

2 » While Florida senior quarterback Tim Tebow is the leader of his team, tough as nails when it counts and a media darling, he is not deserving of Heisman Trophy consideration right now, writes Israel Gutierrez of the Miami Herald. “This isn’t a knock on Tebow,” Gutierrez contends. “This is more a criticism of the system that defines a Heisman candidate. Tebow can be the best player in college football. Not many would argue he isn’t. But it doesn’t mean he is having the best season.”

3 » The No. 12 University of Florida soccer team (12-4-2, 6-1-2 SEC) took it to the No. 17 LSU Tigers (10-4-3, 6-2-1 SEC) on Thursday, shutting them out with a 4-0 victory at home in James G. Pressly Stadium. The Gators scored a pair of goals in each half and, with the win, have moved to second place in the SEC standings. With only two games left on the league schedule (at Arkansas Razorbacks on Oct. 26 and vs. No. 10 and SEC leader South Carolina Gamecocks on Oct. 30), Florida is within striking distance of first place being only two points back.

4 » With his team missing March Madness in back-to-back seasons, a lack of luster surrounding the program and attention being paid to newly crowned head coach John Calipari and his Kentucky Wildcats, Gators basketball head coach Billy Donovan is no longer the media darling he once was at the SEC Media Day.

6 Comments

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  2. Kaity says:

    This year’s Heisman race is playing out like the 2007 season. Eventually somebody will win it, but that’s only because somebody has to. I’m underwhelmed by everyone.

    But, I suppose we’re only half way there – so you never know!

  3. Mr2Bits says:

    My biggest gripe is that the Heisman has become about sexy stats and not leadership anymore. Case-in-point, the fact no defensive players are even considered anymore. Seems like this decade is when the turn towards who has the most TD’s started.

    At the end of the day, Israel can post his opinion but unfortunately most of his fellow writers don’t agree. Seems to me that he hasn’t watched too many UF games as nobody would take anyone else over 15 to lead the team in the 4th quarter. Plain and simple, we don’t win last Saturday without Tebow. Not to mention, has everyone in the nation forgotten Tebow’s concussion? A concussion which would sideline most players for 4-6 weeks yet Tebow comes out to lead his team to a W in a stadium that hasn’t seen an evening loss in 30+ games? A game that nobody but Herbstreit thought UF could win. He just keeps proving everyone wrong week after week. It’s clear Israel needs to remove his foot from his mouth as he has forgotten Tebow’s body of work this season and has written his article on our poor showing against Arkansas.

  4. miamigator says:

    I was looking for some GOOD NEWS…..like Addazio’s resignation. The 20 pts given up by the Gators wouldn’t be so bad if the Gator offense had produced as expected! 45-20 or something like that…..

  5. Good post, Mr2Bits, I agree. Are you aware of how Tebow got absolutely screwed out of the trophy last season? Also good point on defensive players not getting consideration and a lot of people taking the Arkansas win and extrapolating it like it is an example of the Gators whole season.

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