Florida runs the spread option and they also lead the SEC in rushing. The video below breaks down the spread option offense and Florida runs it to perfection. For Alabama to win Saturday they will have to defend the spread option and most importantly play assignment football. Assignments will be the key…Alabama players must know who they are defending and stick to it. They can’t veer from that or Florida will make them pay. If you can knock the center or guard off route on the offensive line Alabama will force Tebow to do something other than the play he has planned and although he is good at running himself, this will provide Alabama with the best chance to win.
The SEC has been a power conference this year. It is clear to see why SEC fans take thier football so seriously. This video is hilarious and shows just how seriously football is in the South.
Bobby Bowden announced today his retirement after 55 years in the coaching profession. Remaining at the same school for 33 years is an accomplishment in itself, but let’s take a look at his career and his many other accomplishments some on and off the field. A true champion and a living legend, Bowden will be missed on the sideline at FSU where he was a fixture for so long.
Bowden’s love of football began when he was a child around thirteen when he was diagnosed with rheumatic fever. He was bedridden for a year and listened to World War II coverage on the radio and to Alabama Football on Saturday’s. He fulfilled his lifelong dream when he played quarterback for Alabama in college before transferring and graduating from Howard College.
Howard College is where Bowden began his coaching career in 1954. He went on to coach at South Georgia College (head coach), Florida State (assistant coach) and West Virginia (assistant coach). He took the head coaching job at West Virginia after the 1970 season when the head coach left. One fact many may not know….Bowden was in his first year as a head coach at West Virginia in 1970 when the Marshall plane crash occurred. He originally was the top candidate for that job he has said. After the crash, Bowden contacted the NCAA and asked to let his team play Marshall’s last game of the season and wear Marshall jerseys to honor the fallen Marshall football team who all perished in the plane crash. The NCAA denied his request, but he had the WVU team wear a green cross with the letters MU on their helmets in honor of those who died. Bowden is also credited with helping Marshall Football recover from the loss. He granted the new Marshall coaches with all access and gave them game film and playbooks to help them with the “veer offense”.
In 1976, Bowden returned to Florida State as the head coach this time where he remained the rest of his coaching career. In his 33 years as head coach of the Seminoles he only had one losing season which was his first season. He has compiled a record of 315-97-4. He won National Championships in 1993 and 1999, finished 14 straight seasons in the Associated Press Poll top 5 and is the only Division 1A coach to accomplish 14 seasons with 10 or more wins.
It is clear Bowden lived a life of football and conqured more than most coaches could ever dream of doing. His story will continue on through his peers, former players and fans. One can be sure he will continue to make an impact wherever he is in whatever he does. Good Luck Coach Bowden…enjoy your retirement. You have definitely earned it.
This weekend a pre national championship game of sorts will be played. Many have been looking forward to this game for several weeks. Florida and Alabama have both held the 1 and 2 spots in the polls much of the season and if it wasn’t for a SEC playoff game, these two would most likely face each other in a national championship game. Only one of these teams will play for the actual BCS National Championship and the probable opponent is Texas. Florida and Alabama have two of the best defenses in college football this season. Florida has the advantage on offense because of Tim Tebow. The thing about Tebow that makes him a true player is not the way he throws the ball or his technique, but his will to win. He will not let Florida lose. So will his will to win be enough to beat Alabama who has a more one-demensional offense? This game is sure to be a battle and both teams deserve accolades. It is a shame either team has to lose!
Starting defensive end for the Florida Gators, Carlos Dunlap, was arrested early this morning on charges of driving under the influence. This is horrible timing for the Gators with the SEC championship game this weekend. Dunlap leads the team in sacks and is just an all around play maker for the Gators. It remains to be seen what his punishment from Urban will be. Will he sit Dunlap for the SEC championship game? One can only imagine what is going through Meyer’s mind right now, but people do make mistakes so let’s hope Dunlap will learn a valuable lesson from this.
All the BCS National Championship contenders remained undefeated. To determine who is going to play for the national championship Florida and Alabama will face off in the SEC championship game. Texas still has to get past Nebraska. Cincinnati has to lay Pittsburgh and Boise also has to win. TCU has already finished it’s season unbeaten. Cincinnati has the toughest game this week for the Big East title and Pitt coming off a loss from last weekend. The championship picture is shaping up and some will say the BCS worked. I will argue when you finish the season with three or four unbeatens it’s hard to justify leaving anyone out of the national championship game that finishes the season unbeaten. Just a BCS game seems like a consolation prize.
Colt McCoy’s performance against Texas A&M helped him continue to surge in the race to the Heisman. According to Tim Griffen the last few games his numbers have been better than at the beginning of the season and at this points most likely places him in the number one position. Nebraska is his next opponent against a defense that may have been somewhat underrated. Can the Longhorns win this weekend? They should and as long as McCoy keeps his numbers up and finishes strong he should finish atop of the Heisman race. The only certain when talking the Heisman, he has proved himself a worthy candidate.
Christmas is just around the corner. Here are some great gift ideas for a football fans that have practical uses as well. Who has all thier Christmas shopping done?
If you haven’t seen The Blind Side it is one of the best football stories to be told. There are lot of great football stories portrayed in movies, but this one goes deeper. The Blind side tells the story of Michael Oher who played football for the Old Miss Rebels and currently plays for the Balimore Ravens.
Oher was born in 1986 to a mother who suffered an addiction to crack cocaine. Due to his mother’s addiction he received little attention as a child. He attended eleven different schools during his first nine years of school and repeated both first and second grade. He also was in and out of various foster homes and having no permanent address until he was sixteen years old. Oher was estranged from his father who was murdered while Oher was a senior in high school.
Oher stayed with Tony Henderon at one point and Henderson initiated his admission to Briarcrest Christian School. Henderson was sending his son to the school in order to fulfill the dying wish of the boy’s grandmother, and thought Oher might as well come along. Although the school’s football coach was interested in Oher, School administrators did not feel that Oher was capable of handling Briarcrest’s academic workload due to his minimal educational background; He was eventually admitted to Briarcrest. Eventually, Oher moved in with Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy who had two children that attended school with him. This was a move that would change his life. After becoming aware of Oher’s personal struggles and his background, the Tuohy’s began taking care of his needs and started to shape his life. His grade point average was a 0.6 when he was admitted to Briarcrest and with the help of the Tuohy’s a tutor and pure self determination his GPA rose to 2.52. He was eventually adopted legally by the Tuohy family.
Oher was recruited by many major colleges and received scholarship offers from Tennessee, LSU, Alabama, South Carolina and Ole Miss. He chose to attend Ole Miss where he graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice. He was selected in the 1st round of the 2009 NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens as the 23rd overall pick. He remains on the roster today.
Not only is the story of Michael Oher amazing, but recognize the Tuohy’s for thier amazing selflessness. They had a choice and they chose to change the life of a child so much in need not even knowing what his true potential was. It is clear to see now that the sky was the limit for Michael Oher once a family of his own believed in him and loved him completely.
