Most Hoss Ref Ever?

Jason Fraxedas Graduates From Law School!!!!

Hey everybody-- This afternoon, Saturday December 20, Jason graduated from Stetson Law School (Florida's First Law School) with a Juris Doctor. The weather was as beautiful as the ceremony. Jason won a number of awards and was prominently mentioned in several places in the program for his service and achievements during law school. Congratulations, Jason! Somehow you managed to make the right picks before donning the cap and gown since you are leading the Bowl Pickem. I'm proud of you! Love, Dad -- More pictures on the right

Heisman...again?

Why my Heisman vote went to Tebow

By Matt Hayes - SportingNewsDec 10, 2:26 pm EST

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Here’s the easy answer to why I voted Tim Tebow for the Heisman Trophy: He’s the greatest amateur player in a team sport. Ever. But Sam Bradford had better numbers, you say. Tell that to Texas, Mr. 45-35.

Today is the deadline to send Heisman ballots. Here is mine, emailed Monday morning:

1. QB Tim Tebow, Florida: So his numbers aren’t as good as they were last fall. That’s like criticizing Michelangelo because his latest masterpiece wasn’t the Sistine Chapel.

2. QB Sam Bradford, Oklahoma: Huge numbers, even better kid.

3. QB Colt McCoy, Texas: Fair or not, he got lost in the Tebow/Bradford shuffle.

15th Week Recap

The Recap for the 15th Week of the principal blog participants:

• USC 28 UCLA 7 - USC wins Pac-10 - Again! The goal at Southern California is the same every year: Win the Pac-10 championship and play in the Rose Bowl.

  Fast Facts

  

  • Following an eight-game losing streak in the series, the Trojans take home the Victory Bell for the eighth time in the last nine years.

  • USC clinched its seventh straight 11-win season while handing crosstown rival UCLA its first eight-loss season since 1963.

  • The Trojans defense gave up a total of 93 points in 12 regular-season games. The 7.8 points per game average is the lowest since 1988 Auburn (7.2).

  • USC has outscored opponents 342-56 during its nine-game winning streak and will become just the third team to appear in four straight Rose Bowls.

  -- ESPN research

  Mark Sanchez passed for 269 yards and two touchdowns, USC's hard-hitting defense stuffed UCLA at every turn, and the fifth-ranked Trojans won their ninth in 10 games between the crosstown rivals.

  The win assured USC (11-1, 8-1 Pac-10) of an unprecedented seventh consecutive BCS bid, seven straight 11-win seasons and seven conference championships in a row. They'll make a fourth straight appearance in the Rose Bowl game, against No. 8 Penn State. CONGRATULATIONS TROJANS!!!!!

• Florida 31 Alabama 20 - Last night Florida beat #1 'Bama to take the SEC Championship. It was one of the best football games I have ever seen. When the chips were down, Florida showed the world that it is as tough and as gritty as it is fast. Total yards in the fourth quarter Florida: 130, Alabama: 1. Victor, you like statistics. This simple statistic says it all. And we played without our major offensive weapon, WR Percy Harvin. And without two starting defensive linemen. Tebow is simply legendary. He put on display one of the most amazing exhibits of willpower, hitting on clutch-play after clutch-play late in the 4th quarter, threading the needle with laser passes against brutal defensive backs like a man possessed. The truth is, when the going got tough in the 4th quarter, Alabama --a truly great team--- was outplayed, overpowered and out coached by an extraordinary quarterback and and an extraordinary team. Under Tebow's leadership, a number of players stepped up to the challenge. WRs Louis Murphy, Carl Moore and David Nelson were amazing. TE Aaron Hernandez, and Riley Cooper were awesome and made incredible catches with DB's all over them. But no one, no one I have ever seen on a football field, generates the electricity and the sheer heart-thumping passion that Tebow generates on the field. It is palpable. I am extremely proud of my Gators. OK, enough. It's time for me to start worrying about Oklahoma!

Worries

OK, I know Victor's going to say I've been doing this every week lately. I worried about Georgia. I worried about South Carolina. I worried about FSU. And all for nothing. We creamed all those teams. But this time I'm really worried. So, if only to keep up with tradition and not incur the wrath of the gods of football, I will say it once more: I am really, really, really worried about Alabama. Here are just a few reasons: 1.) Alabama is undefeated and the number one team in the country for a very good reason: they are a terrific football team. 2.) Alabama has had a number of top recruiting classes since Saban got there and it's beginning to show. They are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. And don't fool yourself, they've got speed. Specially on defense. And, boy, are they big. They are HUGE! They got a defensive lineman who weighs nearly 400 pounds, heavier than Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps put together! 3.) For some inexplicable reason, Alabama is a 9.5 underdog going into the SEC Championship. This is terrible. Absolutely terrible. Florida should be at least a 3 point underdog. I don't like going against the number one team in the country and be considered a ten point favorite by Vegas. Something is awry here. 4.) Injuries. We are seriously banged up in some of our top positions. WR Percy Harvin, our number one offensive weapon next to Tebow, suffered a high ankle sprain in the FSU game and is questionable for tomorrow's game. Chris Rainey, another major offensive weapon, has a groin sprain. He's cleared for the game but will play hurt and will need surgery post-season. Two of our starting defensive linemen are out with injuries. D lineman Matt Patchan has a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee and is out for the season. Defensive tackle Brandon Antwine suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament on his knee and is also out for the season. Last I heard Alabama is healthy. 5.) Also, last I checked, Gator fans are being seriously outnumbered around the Georgia Dome by a Tsunami of red clad 'Bama faithful overwhelming every square inch around the Dome. You'd think it was the second coming of The Bear! I don't like it. I don't like it at all. 6.) Last time we played a serious, real power, meat and potatoes, team in a championship game we got creamed. Nebraska killed us in the '95 National Championship game. Spurrier's Fun 'N Gun didn't help us a bit. (Notice I said a real power. Ohio State was a fake). Anyway I could go on and give you a hundred reasons why I am worried. I probably won't be able to sleep tonight. Except... We got Tebow. Yeah! We got Tebow and they don't! Maybe I'll be able to catch a few winks! Good night, y'all!

Click Here For Video Discussion Between 'Bama & Fla Sports Writers On The Game!!!

Gators' speed vs. 'Bama's power in SEC title game

By JOHN ZENOR AP Sports Writer

Published: Friday, December 5, 2008 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, December 5, 2008 at 3:54 a.m.

Don't get caught up in a race with those Florida Gators, who can dart to the edges and wave goodbye if a defender doesn't react awfully quick.

Then again, it might not be a good idea to try to go toe-to-toe with Alabama, which can pound teams into the ground with massive front lines and hard-nosed tailbacks.

Saturday's Southeastern Conference championship game is shaping up as a classic showdown: Speed vs. Power. Although neither team is ready to concede the edge in either category.

"They have a lot of speed," Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. "They have probably three or four players that are unique space players in terms of speed and quickness. They have some good runners. They have a lot of speed. They have a lot of speed on defense.

"I think we have pretty good team speed."

Alabama (12-0) just doesn't have an arsenal of offensive speedsters like Percy Harvin, Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps.

Then again, this is football - not a foot race.

Though on the Georgia Dome turf, both teams could look speedier than they already are.

"It's not just guys running fast, it's guys blocking and the team you're playing," Florida coach Urban Meyer said. "I am very eager to have those guys get up there. And that's going to be a fast track, but the team we're playing is going to be fast as well."

Both the speed and power games have produced stellar results for the top-ranked Tide and No. 2 Gators.

Alabama's Glen Coffee has rushed for 1,235 yards and nine touchdowns behind Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy finalist Andre Smith and his cohorts.

Florida (11-1) has Rainey, Demps and Harvin - all averaging at least 8 yards per carry. The Gators, in fact, lead the SEC in rushing and have run for 40 touchdowns; 'Bama is second and has 30 TDs on the ground.

It looks like a made-for-TV match.

"This is the most intriguing matchup I've ever done and basically it's because of the styles," gushed Gary Danielson, who will help call the game for CBS. "This is Frazier versus Ali. This is ugly versus pretty. This is new versus old. This is spread out versus tight."

Meyer said Alabama has the most physical offensive line the Gators have seen the last few years. The Tide has rushed for 200-plus yards six times and fell 2 yards shy of that mark in a seventh game.

"I think the offensive line is very good, but we're going to have to find a way to get an extra defender in the box like most people do defending the run," Meyer said. "We're going to have to have a little movement up front so they can't just tee off on you with their size. That's my worst fear. That's a big part of it."

Some of Alabama's biggest runs have come up the middle. There's not even that much finesse in the passing game, led by 6-foot-4, 210-pound receiver Julio Jones and the tight ends.

"They're not really secretive about what they're trying to do," Meyer said. "They're going to try to pound you and they have the personnel to do it. It's not so much the running game, it's the personnel behind that run game. No, we've not faced anything like that this year."

Florida will play the game without injured defensive linemen Brandon Antwine and Matt Patchan, potentially making the task of stopping Coffee and company even more difficult.

But while the Gators are fast, that doesn't mean they won't be a challenge for an Alabama defensive line that features nearly 400-pound nose tackle and run stuffer Terrence Cody.

"They have a direct run power game that is probably as good as anybody we played against all year," Saban said. "To control the line of scrimmage is going to be a really critical factor in this game."

Florida's biggest man in the running game just happens to be quarterback Tim Tebow, who has run for 12 touchdowns. Tebow says the Gators are hardly just a finesse team.

"I think they're a powerful team, but I think we've got a little power, too," he said. "I'm looking forward to the matchup. People are always going to think of us as a spread team with speed. We're not too bad in the short-yardage stuff, either."

BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II: US Ranked 4th

A buddy sent this to me...got a good laugh out of it: After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II. "Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work--including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule--our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking." Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated "The US only had two major victories--Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren't influenced by head-to-head contests--they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event." German Chancellor Adolph Hiter said "Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks." Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn 'style points' to enhance Germany's rankings. Hitler protested "Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces." The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented " France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2." Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines

BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR 2

BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II US Ranked 4th After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II. "Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work--including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule--our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking." Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated "The US only had two major victories--Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren't influenced by head-to-head contests--they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event." German Chancellor Adolph Hiter said "Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks." Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn 'style points' to enhance Germany's rankings. Hitler protested "Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces." The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented " France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2." Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines