I don’t want to spend too much time on the Vanderbilt game because to be honest it was fairly nondescript. We won, our defense played great and our offense kind of sucked…sound familiar? It’s kind of a broken record at this point but I want to let you all know that La Esquina has come to accept this team as is. To quote the infamous Dennis Green, “They are who we thought they were” and yes Dennis, we do want to crown them.
Don’t fight it, don’t get upset, don’t pull your hair out the next time you see the dive play up the middle with a running back that weighs 160 pounds soaking wet. Just embrace it. You will be a lot happier for it. I came across this negotiation technique in one of my MBA classes the other day which I think will help. It was called “cognitive reappraisal.” It basically says that you should try to construe a potentially emotion-eliciting situation in a way that changes its emotional impact. In simple terms, that means that if you view situations differently it might affect how you think about them and in turn how you act or feel while going through them.
The example they gave was a college kid nervous about applying to a school and the thought of dealing with rejection. If in fact that kid looks at the admissions process as an opportunity to evaluate and learn about the school, rather than a test of his self worth, he should be more relaxed and is likely to perform better in interviews for instance and will generally not be as distraught if he is rejected. So, next time we get the ball on offense think to yourself, “I hope we have a long drive here that eats up the clock, it will help keep our defense off the field which keeps them fresh and ready to go, and in fact, with our defense, I’ll take a field goal in this drive.” Try it, you will live longer.
The fact is that our guys can win and win convincingly playing in this conservative system. So what if we don’t score a hundred points? Let’s just accept the fact that this year’s team does not have Percy Harvin or Louis Murphy and is built on Defense and Special Teams. I still think we’re good enough to win the whole thing…even with a not so perfect offense…and at the end of the day that’s what it is all about. Championships and rings and 3 in the last 4 years means we are a legitimate DYNASTY. So in a game like the Vandy game you should be saying to yourself, “…the D only gave up 3 points, we won by 24 and came out healthy and ready for the stretch run…great job .” That’s the approach La Esquina is taking…feel free to give yourself ulcers, it’s a free country.
We have a worthy opponent this week. DO NOT SLEEP ON SOUTH CAROLINA. This is an SEC away game against a team with a very good defense and a highly recruited Quarterback finally on the rise. The QB is Stephen Garcia and he may be the best quarterback Spurrier has had in his time as a COCK (that’s Cock as in the South Carolina Gamecocks…not Cock in the Ron Jeremy sense of the word). Sorry, can’t write about South Carolina without at least one gratuitous cock joke. By the way, is there a better visual in the SEC than a hottie co-ed from South Carolina wearing a t-shirt that says Go Cocks? Maybe this…
They also have a guy who is up for SEC defensive player of the year and will likely be a first round pick in the NFL. Eric Norwood, linebacker. Watch out for this guy, he is a monster. He is as good if not better than Spikes, but more of a pass rusher than a traditional backer like Spikes. Carl Johnson and Marcus Gilbert will have their hands full. The gamecocks move Norwood all over the line. Our O-line needs to start getting its act together. Protecting Timmy is a priority or else the wheels are going to come off of the winner’s wagon. It’s been almost a full season, time to step up O-line.
Note that this is also the last regular season SEC game for Brandon Spikes and Tim Tebow and it’s also a homecoming game for Carlos Dunlap who is from South Carolina. Expect fireworks from those three freaks of nature.
South Carolina also has a stud freshman Wide Receiver by the name of Alshon Jeffery. He is a big time recruit and is playing like it. He wears the #1 jersy which as you know in College Football is usually reserved for a premier player (see Reggie Nelson and Percy Harvin). Our corner backs, aka shake (#5) and bake (#1), better shadow him all over the field. These kind of games worry me…remember that a few years ago against a less talented South Carolina team at the Swamp we needed the now infamous Jarvis Moss Cock-Block (one of my favorite UF plays of all time) to win that game in the last second and preserve our championship hopes. This eventually led to the glorious castration of Ohio State and Urban Meyer’s first ring. Great memories. See picture of the Cock-Block below.
In the end, we are a tough team and will win with Defense and Special Teams, as we have all year. Timmy and the offense will make just enough plays, as they always do. 24-13 Gators.
La Esquina leaves you this week with breaking news coming out of Nashville. Three (3) Tennessee players were arrested for arm robbery late last night. They apparently had a fake gun and rolled up on some kids in a car and jacked them. The geniuses were wearing UT t-shirts and were picked up a few minutes later while still cruising around in a Prius nonetheless. Here is the big bombshell, one of the players was none other than Nu’Keese Richardson, also known as Benedict Arnold to the Gator Nation. Another was Janzen Jackson, a 5 star stud recruit who was up for freshman of the year honors in the SEC. Can’t wait to see how the Lane Kiffin spin machine will react. We do know that Volunteer Nation is in sheer panic mode right now. Armed Robbery is a serious offense. It will be interesting to see this play out. If what is alleged is indeed true, I just cannot get over how stupid these kids are.
It’s great to be a Florida Gator.
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12 comments:
Some have requested that I do a mailbag going forward. If you have any questions, ask me here and I will answer in next week's column. Anything you want to know about current players, recruits or otherwise.
I agree that we shouldn't sleep on SC. Every team we face will undoubtedly do their worst to us. When a team plays the number one team, they've got nothing to lose, and play to gain everything. Teams like this (i.e. non-number one/non-Florida Gators) are much like terrorists or UM fans, desperate and suffering delusions of grandeur. And, just like the other teams who have played the Gators in the last few years, they'll play like their relevance depends on it. It'll be a hostile environment there. And South Carolina was the first to secede from the union and still flies the Confederate flag over the capitol, so you know how crazy those bumpkins are.
Speaking of morons, Nukeese is a moron. But that's not news. That was evident when he chose Tennessee over Florida. So, really nothing earth-shattering about his arrest aside from reveling with little-girlish excitement at the detrimental impact Nukeese and Jackson's arrest will have on Kiffin's efforts.
Perhaps UT fans can take some of WSG's advice and look at this as a positive development in the story of Kiffin's grand demise as the head scumbag of Tennessee's football program.
A good, concise edition of La Esquina.
It was a BB GUN, not a real gun. This should go away, slap on the wrist and move on. You people still barely beat us in your own backyard.
GO VOLS!!!
They are lucky all they got was arrested. Someone tried this crap in Nashville just this summer and the cop saw the threat and shot the robber. Real or fake it is a real threat and they will most likely be charged with armed robbery.
And I will take that "barely winning" any day when the game was never in doubt and the visiting team wasn't even trying to win. I cant wait for Kiffykins to deflate the situation by calling out Urban Meyer.
Tennessee fans are still celebrating their "moral" victories...bunch of tool sheds.
I love a good defense and the Gators have a great one.
I wonder if the troubles with the offensive line are stemming from Addazio being both the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Meyer needs to hire someone to take one of those positions. I hope its a new offensive coordinator that can bring back the creativity we lost with Mullen.
Go get excited for gameday.
Go Gators.
for the record, whoever gave this article a "good" rating can suck it. If you ain't clicking on "great" don't click. Get it?
WSG, while I was not the one that clicked good, I still want you to know that "La Esquina" is slipping a little. We used to get a lot more insight into the games. Granted their is nothing to tell on offense except we ran up the middle, I still expect some stats and knowledge on one of the greatest D's to ever touch a college field.
Moving forward, is their anyway we can block all anonymous comments on here. Mr. Tennessee fan, please go kill yourself. And for the record, Cam Newton stole a laptop and was off the Gator team. If Kiffin had any sack, he would throw all three of those players off the team right now.
And in closing, how is it that Firpos received one vote? Did anyone on MGN actually live in Gainesville? This is the ultimate late night slop house of a diner.
Firpo's was bomb.
GO BIG COCKS!!!
Some people thing this make be the Ole Ball Coach's (Steve Spurrier) last season.
I think if that is the case he would love to leave the legacy of messing up Florida's shot at an undefeated season.
More reason to watch out.
Go join Augusta
Go Gators
I was clearly kidding, if you think the article sucks...feel free to express your opinion candidly.
I do admit that this one was light on X's and O's. I wanted to try something differently this week, but I guess the readers are more hard core than I give them credit for. It's tough trying to find the right balance between technical/substantive football analysis and humor. I just feel like I am writing about the same things over and over again too much, so was trying to mix it up.
What will help are the questions. Send in your questions to me on the team, recruiting, individual players, schemes, plays etc. and I will do my best to research the topic and answer them accordingly.
Go Gators.
Only about 6 1/2 more hours until the big upset GAYtor fans!
Please ask Spikes to try and not gauge Garcia's eyes when he throws all over you.
GO BIG COCKS !!!!!!!!
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