(puff puff puff...ok, lemme catch my breath) Made it...1 hour to go before ko time, and I'm back at the hotel, not even properly set up here yet, but time to spare as it turns out.
Could have called this one "Put Up AND Shut Up Time", as in someone's gonna put up some numbers here, Kentucky and their fans are convinced it'll be them, that this is IT--their time has come, the streak will end, "It'll be fun to rub their noses in it down there" a la Jojo (and their fans, to judge by the smack they're talkin' online). Look, sh*t happens: this kind of streak cannot be infinite. Kentucky WILL beat the Gators eventually, has to happen, especially the way they are coming on talent- and coaching-wise (not to mention the crazy crap that can happen on a football field, at any level). It just won't be this year. There were some things that could have set us up for that, but Wildcat players and fans I think pretty well booted that away:
It's my feeling, my PREDICTION, if you like, that the Gators are wide awake, focused directly on "the next opponent" alone, just as the coaching staff were/are preaching for this team's approach throughout the season ahead. Look for a hyped up, themselves driven and focused Wildcat squad to play hard fast and loose, give us a good game the better part of a half...by which time we begin to establish full control of the line-of-scrimmage in both directions, and start to show it on the scoreboard. Gators pull away in the 2nd half. Oh, as usual I'll be fretting and bitching in the early going, maybe right into the 2nd quarter, as I say...I am one paranoid and pessimistic Gator fan under the best of circumstances, all the more so after last season--not to mention the injuries that have begun to count up on us again, let's face it. That still looms darkly, a nagging ache-in-the-gut when we DO turn our attention to that first road trip looming next week. We can't worry about that now--and like our team, I'll have little trouble setting it aside:
We can, and WILL take care of the business at hand. Eat 'em UP, boys!
Could have called this one "Put Up AND Shut Up Time", as in someone's gonna put up some numbers here, Kentucky and their fans are convinced it'll be them, that this is IT--their time has come, the streak will end, "It'll be fun to rub their noses in it down there" a la Jojo (and their fans, to judge by the smack they're talkin' online). Look, sh*t happens: this kind of streak cannot be infinite. Kentucky WILL beat the Gators eventually, has to happen, especially the way they are coming on talent- and coaching-wise (not to mention the crazy crap that can happen on a football field, at any level). It just won't be this year. There were some things that could have set us up for that, but Wildcat players and fans I think pretty well booted that away:
It's my feeling, my PREDICTION, if you like, that the Gators are wide awake, focused directly on "the next opponent" alone, just as the coaching staff were/are preaching for this team's approach throughout the season ahead. Look for a hyped up, themselves driven and focused Wildcat squad to play hard fast and loose, give us a good game the better part of a half...by which time we begin to establish full control of the line-of-scrimmage in both directions, and start to show it on the scoreboard. Gators pull away in the 2nd half. Oh, as usual I'll be fretting and bitching in the early going, maybe right into the 2nd quarter, as I say...I am one paranoid and pessimistic Gator fan under the best of circumstances, all the more so after last season--not to mention the injuries that have begun to count up on us again, let's face it. That still looms darkly, a nagging ache-in-the-gut when we DO turn our attention to that first road trip looming next week. We can't worry about that now--and like our team, I'll have little trouble setting it aside:
We can, and WILL take care of the business at hand. Eat 'em UP, boys!