One month, folks! One month, I tell ya! Okay, so it’s actually five weeks. But with Hawaii edging closer and closer, I have an overactive imagination.

From a statistical perspective, where will Tebow’s numbers stand with the greatest Gators in history? These predictions assume that Tim stays through his senior year and plays 26-28 games in his two remaining seasons.

Starting with the most important left arm in Gainesville.

Passing

Career yards: Tim already has 3,644 in two seasons (358 as a freshman, 3,286 as a sophomore) Regardless of his PR with students, Chris Leak leads with 11,213.

Thus, in order to break his record, Tim will need to average 3,785 yards over his next two seasons. Which probably isn’t happening, especially not in the SEC. And throwing an average of 3,616 to pass Danny Wuerffel (10,875) for second doesn’t look all too feasible, either.

However, with two good 3,000-yard seasons, he could very well pass Shane Matthews for 3rd on the list. And he only needs 2,761 each year to pass Rex Grossman for 4th. In other words, barring injury, he is a near lock to be one of the Gators’ five greatest passing QBs, but that’s not all.

Remember, Leak and Wuerffel were four-year starters. So Tebow’s place on this list is all the more impressive considering the year he spent as Leak’s understudy.

Touchdowns: Wuerffel is first with 114 bombs, and Leak is a distant second with 88. Tebow has 37 in two years, including 32 last season. Rex Grossman and Shane Matthews have 77 and 74.

He’ll need to throw 34 over each of the next two seasons to pass DW, which is a stretch. But he only needs 52 (26 each year) to pass Leak for second, which is realistic.

I call 2nd place when it’s all said and done. Remember, Wuerffel had four years.

Efficiency: He hasn’t had enough completions yet, but it’ll be a close one between him and Wuerffel.

What the heck, he’ll probably finish on top. Thirty-two touchdowns to only six interceptions speaks for itself.

Interception percentage: Leak has the lowest number with 2.88%. Tebow’s in really good shape with 1.83%, even without the 500 attempts. He’s doing so well that he could have 4 more picks and still remain on top.

Maybe my vision is faulty, but I just don’t see him not finishing on top. After all, he’s never had multiple interceptions in a single game.

And now for something completely different. Something all you chaps will love.

Rushing

Yardage: Whaddaya lookin’ at me for? He’s already UF’s career leader in rushing yards by a QB! (Really.)

He’s got 1,364 through two seasons. At that rate, Errict Rhett (4,163) is hopelessly out of reach. He’ll need 796 to pass Jimmy DuBose for 10th. Otherwise, he ain’t makin’ a serious dent at the record.

Thank goodness. It’s about time somebody made a ruckus about it!

Touchdowns: Entirely different story. He’s broken the plane so many times on the ground that he’s already tied with Fred Taylor for fourth on the career list. Yes, that Fred Taylor.

He only needs two more scores to tie Earnest Graham for 3rd, three more to match Rhett for 2nd, and six to break Emmitt Smith’s record of 36. Since he still has at least two dozen games left in his Florida career, he’ll likely break the record by the time he graduates, even with the Gators’ tailback problem solved.

And chances are good that he’ll break it this year.

Yup, that’s it for rushing. All together now!

Rushing and passing

Yardage: It’s no accident that Florida’s top four passers are also their top four yardage gainers. Chris Leak leads with 11,350, Danny Wuerffel has 10,500, Shane Matthews has 9,241, and Rex Grossman has 9,031. Tebow is 10th with 5,008.

With two good 3,000 yard seasons, look for him to pass Wuerffel for 2nd and pose a serious threat to Leak’s record soon afterward.

Touchdowns: Wuerffel has 122 (114 pass, 8 rush), Leak has 101 (88 pass, 13 rush), Grossman 83 (77 pass, 6 run), and Matthews 82 (74 pass, 7 run, 1 receiving)

Guess who’s in fifth and poised to beat the last two guys this season? Yup, he could finish at the top of this list if he gets 55 more by his last game.

Conclusion: Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

1-3. Twenty-five percent. One out of four.

That was Florida’s record last year in games decided by a touchdown or less. With a lot of experience and a little luck, the championship Gators from two years ago went a perfect 5-0. They might have needed a Tim Tebow run at fourth down against Tennessee and a field goal block by Jarvis Moss against South Carolina, but the 100th edition of the Orange and Blue knew how to win with the game on the line.

The only close win last year? Ole Miss, where Tebow himself shouldered the burden of melting the clock in Oxford. Alas, such is the mark of a youthful squad in the SEC.

And hence we come to a weakness of last year’s team, one that cannot be blamed on defense alone. They have not owned the fourth quarter, with miscues ranging from allowing Auburn to get in field goal range to failing to score on last-minute touchdown drives against LSU and Michigan. Nevertheless, possibly excluding Georgia, UF has remained competitive in every single game. They might be green, but their ceiling is high.

Why is this important? For any good team, there WILL be close games in the season. Big matchups lie in wait on the horizon. Bowl berths and poll rankings hinge on last second plays. Heismans are won and lost on these big games.

And for this squad, one Saturday lies circled on the calendar: November 1, 2008. When they travel to Jacksonville, they have the opportunity to exorcise the demons of last year’s loss to the hated Bulldogs. An SEC East title would be within striking distance. A national championship berth? Certainly plausible. Maybe even another Heisman on the horizon.

But with a loss, there will be talk of Florida’s lost swagger, of only two wins in the last five years. Fairly or not, critics could question Tim Tebow’s ability to lead a team to the promised land. Lindsay Scott’s ghost could haunt this team.

And for those who still consider Florida nearly invincible, consider the cautionary tale of USC West three seasons ago. Led by the dynamic duo of Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, SoCal was looking for their second straight undisputed BCS title. The Trojan offense was so prolific that they only played in two really close games that entire season. They beat Notre Dame 34-31 after Bush shoved Leinart across the goal line for the game-winning possession.

But as everybody knows, they lost to Texas in a Rose Bowl shootout that remains one of the best games in college football history. To this day, one could still divide Trojan football of the Pete Carroll era into two halves: the juggernaut before the loss, and the highly competitive yet less powerful team after it.

This team could be so close. And yet, they could also be right there. Only time and fate will tell.

Ed Stefanski has brokered a deal with his first-round pick. I quote Steve Karp from the Las Vegas Review Journal:

Shortly before he drafted Marreese Speights with the 16th overall pick in last month’s NBA Draft, Philadelphia 76ers president and general manager Ed Stefanski decided it was time to make a pact with the 6-foot-10-inch forward from the University of Florida.

Not a financial deal but a philosophical one.

It was fairly simple: Speights would play hard every time he stepped onto the court, then come over to Stefanski, look him in the eye, shake his hand and let him know he gave his best effort.

That might sound corny. But Stefanski’s point was to let Speights know he can be a great player if he’s willing to work at it.

At first glance, this sounds great. Since he left the Gators, Mo has averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds in 5 NBA Summer League games. Topping it off, he’s averaging 33 minutes per contest; at UF, he clocked 33 only once in his career - a February 5 loss at Tennessee. That he’s getting close to 20 and 10 attests to his potential.

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Just a youth movement and a lot of raw talent, thanks to two devastating injuries in the offseason.

Dorian Munroe and John Curtis each had at least two or three years of experience at UF. I feel that Munroe’s departure hurts us a lot more. In short, this means that Major Wright and Will Hill may very well be under pressure to stay healthy the entire season.

And that’s not all. To provide depth, Coach Meyer may have to convert athletes of similar build to the position, possibly sacrificing talent at cornerback or special teams. Sigh, Tim Tebow may very well have to take both sides of the field at this rate.

Here’s hoping safety remains decent.

I haven’t had any access to the Web in several days. Ideas for blogs just suggested themselves. Watching “Around the Horn” on ESPN just got to me.

Okay, got that out of my way. Unlike in some of my previous blogs, I’m taking a more generalized approach to my topics today. We start in Kobe Bryant’s birthplace.

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Right? Where else do you have the Gator Slam (2 basketball and one football championship in just over a year?)

Former Florida Gator Teddy Dupay was charged with rape stemming for an incident in Deer Valley, Utah at the Stein Eriksen Lodge.  According to the Park City newspaper Park Record (http://www.parkrecord.com/):

“[She] stated that Mr. Dupay took her by force and raped her on the floor of Room 119-2,” charging documents state. “Prior to raping [her,] Mr. Dupay kicked and struck [her] numerous times.”

The woman had bruises on her arm, shoulder and thigh, scratches on her back and a swollen left eye, investigators claim, adding that the victim also suffered two fractured ribs.

“Additionally, there was dried blood around her lips,” charging documents state.

She accused Dupay of hitting or kicking her about 150 times.

“Mr. Dupay forced her under the desk in the room and would not let her leave and told her that if she attempted to leave he would catch her and kill her and her family,” according to Summit County prosecutor Paul Christensen.

Dupay was a star guard at Florida and part of Billy Donovan’s first Final Four in the 1999-2000 season.  He was later dismissed from the team for gambling.  He was caught in a police sting as being involved with a bookie, although he claims he never placed any bets or fixed any games.  Dupay says he just gave a friend inside information about the state of his own team (still an NCAA violation). 

Dupay was later arrested by University Police for Battery and Disorderly Intoxication in July of 2002.  Florida kept Dupay on scholarship after his suspension.  Dupay, who once dreamed of coaching someday, ended up playing on exhibition teams, the ABA and eventually in South America.  His ultimate goal of coaching was essentially crushed with his dismissal from the Gators.  Eventually, Teddy ended up as a telemarketer in Utah.

There’s nothing quite like the New York tabloids when they smell the blood in the water from a messy celebrity divorce.  The only thing that can rile these media sharks into an even greater frenzy is if one of the victims is a hated sports athlete like Alex Rodriguez.  Now I’m not saying that Alex, aka A-Rod, hasn’t made his share of mistakes professionally, personally and in his public image.  What I will say is that I have never understood the kind of venom and distaste that Yankee fans have regarding A-Rod that they never carried over to other so called “cash mercenaries” like Roger Clemons, Curt Schilling, Jason Giambi, and Johnny Damon (other all-star players lured by the Yankees big pocketbooks).
 
A number of theories have popped up to explain A-Rod’s poor public perception including the fact that he has had several poor outings in postseason play, he is bi-racial, he is good looking, he plays for the most hated team in sports (Yankees) or that he is the highest paid player in Major League Baseball (MLB).  Whatever the reason, he plays next to Derek Jeter who is espoused as a deity by Yankee fans. The fact that A-Rod and Jeter were once close friends who have since become distant seems to have caused Yankee fans to believe they must choose a side when it comes to their team favorites. 
 
New York City sports fans have never been considered the brightest banana’s in the bunch so petty team loyalties are not my concern.  Personally, I have never been much of a Jeter fan after I heard he gave Jessica Alba herpes (tsk, tsk, tsk).  I wonder how Mariah Carey, Scarlet Johanson and Jessica Beil, all former celebrity girlfriends of Jeter, felt when they heard that news?  Of course one has to admire Jeter for more than just his conquests; Derek Jeter is smart enough to remain a philandering single celebrity while A-Rod made the decision to marry his girlfriend.  This also created a change in lifestyle for A-Rod that might have contributed to the deteriorating relationship between him and his once close friend Jeter.
 
In 2001, Alex Rodriguez made several statements about Jeter that Derek took personally.  He stated that Jeter would not get the same contract that A-Rod had with Texas because he wasn’t a power hitter or as good defensively.  But perhaps the biggest wound that Jeter suffered was the statement ‘’He’s never had to lead. He can just go and play and have fun. He hits second - that’s totally different than third or fourth in a lineup.”  While these statements might have been true given the presence of clubhouse leaders Bernie Williams and Paul O’Neil, Jeter’s ego was bruised and he seems to have kept the grudge to this very day.  Given the very close nature of their previous friendship some call 2001 the date of his “first” divorce (with Jeter). (more…)

With two years like these, it’s bound to happen.

After Florida fans (and LSU, Georgia et al.) watched the pastings that the Gators and Tigers gave Ohio State, they saw the reputation of the Southeastern Conference validated on the BCS stage.

However, I want to look at some basic assumptions that fans of SEC schools have as a whole. Mark my words, this probably isn’t going to be the last post that I do on the subject.

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With countless media pundits predicting that University X or College Y will win the national title, I feel compelled to write about various sports dynasties throughout history as it relates to this season of Gator football. More specifically, this is a discussion of the life and (somewhat far away) death of Urban Meyer’s juggernaut.

Much has been made of Tim Tebow’s stiff arm through the Gator record books; conversely, after his graduation, much will be made of the beginning of the end of the Gators’ greatness.

However, after Tebow takes his last snap in a Florida uniform, I feel that the program is in good hands. Some may make this out as heresy, but think for a moment.

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