1. How the mighty have fallen: Hard to believe, but for the first time in more than 30 years, Florida and Georgia enter this game unranked. What confounds me is how quickly it happened – boom! From 4-0 to 4-3. Do you suppose it could be reversed just as rapidly with a win over Georgia?
2. The gloom and doom has been so thick around the Gator football program lately that you could cut it with a knife – some people predicting that this team could go winless the rest of the way. How many wins can you see left among the next five games? I see as many as four, as few as two.
3. Out of any and all of the 87 previous Florida-Georgia games that you can remember, what’s your least favorite and most favorite memory? Just to even the playing field, I’m ruling out the “Run Lindsay Run” and 51-0 drubbing of 1968.
4. Reidel Anthony says one of his favorites came at Athens in 1995 – and it didn’t involve him. “Chris Doering ran the same play three times, and all three of them were for a touchdown,” said Reidel. “Except two of them were called back by penalties.” The play, he said, was called “Semi 7.”
5. Do you think maybe Billy Donovan is trying to fly his team under the radar just a bit? He keeps reminding the returning five starters that they won nothing last year, even though they are ranked 11th in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Four of them were picked on the league coaches’ pre-season All-SEC: Chandler Parsons among nine on the first team; Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker and forward Alex Tyus on the second. Funny how coaches want their teams and players to achieve success, but sometimes cringe when they get the wrong kind of attention. They’d prefer it be earned the old fashioned way on the field or court.
6. Whole lot of folks are putting Auburn on upset alert this Saturday against Ole Miss. I get why, with the Tigers being BCS No. 1, coming off the huge win over LSU and going against veteran quarterback Jeremiah Masoli. But I’m not sure I agree. Auburn looks very together.
7. And can there be any doubt if they voted on the SEC Coach of the Year tomorrow that Gene Chizik would win it? Maybe Dan Mullen would be second, with perhaps Steve Spurrier third – all with ties to the Gators.
8. No Moah Cowbell? Mississippi State has changed its motto from “respect the bell” to “save the bell,” but apparently the experiment for ringing “more responsibly” hasn’t worked and the SEC is thinking of banning cowbells. Another key component is that the more Mullen wins, the more annoying they become.
9. Which leads me to wonder if those Gator Chomps are anywhere near as annoying as they used to be for opponents – just as the Seminoles’ chop isn’t. Except it might be about to become more so to Gator fans.
10. It’s early, but I’d say San Francisco’s Freddy Sanchez got an early leg up on the World Series MVP by becoming the first player to begin Series play with three straight doubles in his first three at bats. The third double by Sanchez was off the usually crafty lefthander Cliff Lee, sending the superstar pitcher to the showers after club record tying six runs in the fifth. Cliff Lee, unhittable?