Since there are still 143 days until opening day, the only football we have to analyze is the Orange and Blue Debut. Many of us hoped that this year's debut would answer some questions. What does the new offense look like under Coach Pease? Who should be the starter on Opening Day--Brissett or Driskel? Is Murphy in the mix? How does the revamped 3-4 defense look? Like the majority of Orange and Blue Debut games, this one really did not answer a lot of questions. Let us look back in time to see what the past debuts did to quench our thirst for answers about the Gator football team.
2002. Ron Zook's first year. Would this team be able to continue the success of Steve Spurrier? Orange led by Rex Grossman led the starters to a 20-10 victory over the Blue led by Ingle Martin. Did the results of this game hint at the 2002 season? I think so. Grossman was picked off only five minutes into the game, but he was still 17/29 for 247 YDS, 1 TD, 1 INT compared to Martin's 14/20 for 145 YDS. I do not even remember Creveling, but this kid only managed 5/12 for 57 YDS and an INT. This team went on to go 8-5 and looked a lot like the team from the O&B Debut--lots of passing yards, lots of interceptions.
2003. The Orange and Blue Debut looked nothing like the season. The Debut featured Ingle Martin and Gavin Dickey battling it out for the starting role with Patrick Dosh in the mix. The featured QB in 2003 was freshman Chris Leak who went on to set the record books on fire on the way to an 8-5 record again.
2004. Everyone expected great things from Chris Leak, and he schooled the Orange team 41-13 by going 15/28 for 335 YDS in the spring game against Justin Midgett's 16/31 for 286 YDS. In the spring, the offense looked great. In the regular season, we lost some key games. Our best win was Zook's parting shot victory against FSU in the Doak.
2005. Urban Meyer's first year generated a lot of buzz with the new offense. The Debut was a showcase of offense between Chris Leak and Josh Portis in one of the highest scoring Debut games, 34-28. The 117 yards rushing were a high for a spring game, which was a sign of things to come with the run-focused Urban Attack. The Gators improved from 7-5 to 9-3 under the new offense, with the stout defense to keep them in games.
2006. All the buzz was about Tim Tebow, the star high school kid from Jacksonville. This was definitely a sign of the good times that were to follow, as Timmy (15/21, 197 YDS) completed his first five passes as his Orange team beat Chris Leak (17/33, 145 YDS) and the Blue team 24-6.
2007. As good as Tim Tebow (17/27, 216 YDS, 3 TD) was, Cam Newton (20/30, 275 YDS, 1 TD) nearly matched his output in the Debut in a closely contested victory by Tebow's Blue team 27-21. This was a good preview of both Tebow and Newton's upcoming success in college. Unfortunately, the Debut also showed some problems the offense had with execution.
2008. The Orange and Blue Debut did not look like the national championship season. Both Tebow (13/21, 200, 3 TD, 2 INT) and Newton (6/18, 51 YDS rushing) looked less-than-stellar as Tebow's Blue beat the Orange 28-14. In all fairness, this team did not look like it wanted to win another game until the infamous speech after the Ole Miss loss. This goes to show the impact that Tebow had in willing his team to win.
2009. Again, the Debut told us little about the actual team's performance in the regular season. Tebow was injured and only threw for 7 of 9 before sitting down, so Brantley played for both teams and looked very sharp behind both offenses. On top of that, the defense looked rather lethargic in the spring, and again against Alabama in the SEC game.
2010. I wish I could erase these memories. Brantley looked like a rock star as he completed 78% of his passes for 201 YDS, and Trey Burton passed for 120 yards in what seemed to be his last passes ever attempted as a QB. The Gators looked impressive in Addazio's first year puppet coaching the Gators, at least in the Debut. In the regular season....well....
2011. Worst. Game. Ever. The regular season was not much better.
2012. The 4th quarter of this Debut resembled the 2007 spring game between Tebow and Newton in terms of being close between two QBs. The first three quarters more closely resembled the 2010/2011 games. What does this tell us?
In summary, what we can learn from the Orange and Blue Debut is not necessarily buried in the scores, but the way the games were played. The 2012 spring game should give us some hope. Maybe this team will start off slow, but once they get into a rhythm, they will be dangerous. Having two QBs battle it out for the starting job is not a bad thing. Maybe we will see both Brissett and Driskel do great things.
2002. Ron Zook's first year. Would this team be able to continue the success of Steve Spurrier? Orange led by Rex Grossman led the starters to a 20-10 victory over the Blue led by Ingle Martin. Did the results of this game hint at the 2002 season? I think so. Grossman was picked off only five minutes into the game, but he was still 17/29 for 247 YDS, 1 TD, 1 INT compared to Martin's 14/20 for 145 YDS. I do not even remember Creveling, but this kid only managed 5/12 for 57 YDS and an INT. This team went on to go 8-5 and looked a lot like the team from the O&B Debut--lots of passing yards, lots of interceptions.
2003. The Orange and Blue Debut looked nothing like the season. The Debut featured Ingle Martin and Gavin Dickey battling it out for the starting role with Patrick Dosh in the mix. The featured QB in 2003 was freshman Chris Leak who went on to set the record books on fire on the way to an 8-5 record again.
2004. Everyone expected great things from Chris Leak, and he schooled the Orange team 41-13 by going 15/28 for 335 YDS in the spring game against Justin Midgett's 16/31 for 286 YDS. In the spring, the offense looked great. In the regular season, we lost some key games. Our best win was Zook's parting shot victory against FSU in the Doak.
2005. Urban Meyer's first year generated a lot of buzz with the new offense. The Debut was a showcase of offense between Chris Leak and Josh Portis in one of the highest scoring Debut games, 34-28. The 117 yards rushing were a high for a spring game, which was a sign of things to come with the run-focused Urban Attack. The Gators improved from 7-5 to 9-3 under the new offense, with the stout defense to keep them in games.
2006. All the buzz was about Tim Tebow, the star high school kid from Jacksonville. This was definitely a sign of the good times that were to follow, as Timmy (15/21, 197 YDS) completed his first five passes as his Orange team beat Chris Leak (17/33, 145 YDS) and the Blue team 24-6.
2007. As good as Tim Tebow (17/27, 216 YDS, 3 TD) was, Cam Newton (20/30, 275 YDS, 1 TD) nearly matched his output in the Debut in a closely contested victory by Tebow's Blue team 27-21. This was a good preview of both Tebow and Newton's upcoming success in college. Unfortunately, the Debut also showed some problems the offense had with execution.
2008. The Orange and Blue Debut did not look like the national championship season. Both Tebow (13/21, 200, 3 TD, 2 INT) and Newton (6/18, 51 YDS rushing) looked less-than-stellar as Tebow's Blue beat the Orange 28-14. In all fairness, this team did not look like it wanted to win another game until the infamous speech after the Ole Miss loss. This goes to show the impact that Tebow had in willing his team to win.
2009. Again, the Debut told us little about the actual team's performance in the regular season. Tebow was injured and only threw for 7 of 9 before sitting down, so Brantley played for both teams and looked very sharp behind both offenses. On top of that, the defense looked rather lethargic in the spring, and again against Alabama in the SEC game.
2010. I wish I could erase these memories. Brantley looked like a rock star as he completed 78% of his passes for 201 YDS, and Trey Burton passed for 120 yards in what seemed to be his last passes ever attempted as a QB. The Gators looked impressive in Addazio's first year puppet coaching the Gators, at least in the Debut. In the regular season....well....
2011. Worst. Game. Ever. The regular season was not much better.
2012. The 4th quarter of this Debut resembled the 2007 spring game between Tebow and Newton in terms of being close between two QBs. The first three quarters more closely resembled the 2010/2011 games. What does this tell us?
In summary, what we can learn from the Orange and Blue Debut is not necessarily buried in the scores, but the way the games were played. The 2012 spring game should give us some hope. Maybe this team will start off slow, but once they get into a rhythm, they will be dangerous. Having two QBs battle it out for the starting job is not a bad thing. Maybe we will see both Brissett and Driskel do great things.
