Week 9 pickoff !

Northwestern over Michigan
Penn State over Purdue
Ohio State over Minnesota
Texas over Oklahoma State
Nebraska over Oklahoma*
Texas A&M over Iowa State
Florida State over Maryland
Georgia Tech over Clemson
Miami over North Carolina
Miss. State over Kentucky*
Tennessee over South Carolina
Florida over Georgia

*Sudhan's pick
Last week: 8-4 Overall: 65-31, 68%
Sudhan- Last week: 8-4 Overall: 68-28, 71%

GatorZone
Florida 16 Gawja 13

Keys to the game

Leonard Pope- We struggled last year to tackle this guy. We have to do a better job this year. I expect him to be the go-to guy in critical 3rd downs.

Florida's Special Teams-Even though the D can create turnovers, I have no confidence in our offense to turn them into scores which puts the onus on the special teams. Punting looks good, but punt return looks atrocious. Hetland is going to kick 3-4 fields goals and win this one for us.

Post Wilma

Well, finally power is back in my place. After spending the most part of this week as a vagabond around North/Central Florida, Im back in South Fla.

Wilma woke me up around 530AM Monday with a loud knock on my balcony door and kept me on my toes pretty much during its entirety. I under-estimated the storm bigtime and started panicking as the storm began to unravel. We lost power within an hour and things went downhill quickly from there. Yeah, literally downhill, as my satellite dishes followed by the roof shingles started flying. Wilma picked up more pace after her eye passed over us. But in spite of the higher wind speeds, it felt much better as the winds were uni-directional and were parallel to my apartment.

After Wilma had her way with South Florida, I went around looking for my satellite dishes. I found one of them right underneath my apartment and the other 3 blocks away, floating in the nearby lake. Fortunately, no other damage to report from my side.

In spite of being a lucky few to have the power restored, Im not sure where I will be able to watch the Cocktail party. Comcast is down and most of my buddies dont have their dishes in the right direction. If Bestbuy is open, probably I would buy an antenna. If that doesn't work out, Mick Hubert is the only option out there for me.

Week 8 pickoff !

Georgia over Arkansas
Wisconsin over Purdue
Iowa over Michigan
Michigan State over Northwestern
Texas A&M over Kansas State*
Nebraska over Missouri*
Iowa State over Oklahoma State
Pittsburgh over Syracuse*
California over Washington State

Squeakers of the week
Texas over Texas Tech
LSU over Auburn

Upset special
Tennessee over Alabama*

*Sudhan's pick

Last week: 9-3 Overall: 57-27, 68%
Sudhan- Last week: 8-4 Overall: 60-24, 71%

Week 7 pickoff !

USC over Notre Dame*
Ohio State over Michigan State
Minnesota over Wisconsin
Texas over Colorado
Texas A&M over Oklahoma State
UCLA over Washington State
Texas Tech over Kansas State
Florida State over Virginia
Auburn over Arkansas
South Florida over Pittsburgh*
LSU over Florida*

Upset Special
Michigan over Penn State

Gatorzone
LSU 20 Florida 17

Last week: 7-5 Overall: 48-24, 67%
Sudhan- Last week: 6-6 Overall: 52-20, 72%
*Sudhan's pick

Miss State Game notes

Things I liked-
Dallas Baker finally overcoming his 'Spring King' title.

Things I didnt like-
-Sputtering offense
-Lack of playing time for Manson. Maybe Urban is keeping him under the wraps for the big game at Bayou.

This and That-
-Will Ray McD play just like Crowder making a suprise start in 2003 against LSU ?

-This game, am thinking, will be decided by Jamarcus Russell more than anyone else. If he can limit his mistakes, LSU wins. If Gators force him to make mistakes and turn them into scores, Gators win. If the offense continues to play like the past few weeks, defense and special teams are our best (only?) chances to score. Look for Dee Webb to help us out here.

-If Leak's shoulder feels better, its time to take some shots downfield with Chad Jackson.

Week 6 pickoff !

Texas over Oklahoma
Ohio State over Penn State
Georgia over Tennessee*
Arizona State over Oregon
Boston College over Virginia
Texas Tech over Nebraska
Michigan over Minnesota
Purdue over Iowa*
Texas A&M over Colorado
Missouri over Oklahoma State
Florida over Miss.State

Upset Special
UCLA over California*
*Sudhan's pick

Gatorzone
Florida 34 Miss State 17
Manson-80 yards, Portis 70 yards rushing

Last week: 9-3 Overall: 41-19, 68%
Sudhan- Last week: 7-5 Overall: 46-14, 77%

Alabama Game Notes

Well it seems the Gators wanted to answer some of the questions I had in my last post.

-Can Leak throw when he's under constant pressure ?

Big NO

-When's Manson going to start ?

He better be starting today against Miss.State. After watching him in the Orange & Blue games, I have always believed that he should be our starting RB. Too bad we found this out the hard way. A good running game, as everybody knows, goes a long way in helping to setup the passing game. This would have definitely taken the pressure off Leak and allow him settle down, particularly in such hostile road games.

Other things that doomed us-
-Numerous missed tackles
-On top of his inaccuracy, Leak clearly wasn't zipping his passes sometimes. It took an eternity sometimes for the receiver to catch the ball. I have never seen him throw like that.

Things I liked-
Eric Hetland nailing his only FG attempt. When most of the team was in panic mode, this guy gets it done as always. Coach-Time to give him a scholarship.

This and that-
I cant believe I overlooked my own 'October Jinx' theory. I really thought maybe this is the year we break em. Anyways Coach Im warning you an year in advance. Please watch out for next year's game against LSU which falls on Oct 7th.

Week 5 pickoff !

USC over Arizona State*
Notre Dame over Purdue
Iowa State over Nebraska
Oklahoma over Kansas State
Minnesota over Penn State
Miami over South Florida
Auburn over South Carolina
Florida over Alabama

Squeakers of the week
Va.Tech over West Virginia
Iowa over Illinois
Texas over Missouri

Upset Special
Michigan over Michigan State*

Gatorzone
Florida 20 Alabama 17

Last week:9-3 Overall: 32-16, 67%
Sudhan-Last week: 9-3, Overall: 39-9, 81%

Kentucky Game notes

Things I liked
Leak's third-down conversions

Things of concern
Special Teams

Suprises
Leak starting to run the option quite effectively.

This and That
-I see Casey in motion all the time before the snap. Here's wishing he gets to run more north and south.

-Is this is the year we break all the jinxes? We kind of broke the 'night game' jinx against the Vols. Hey, but how about the 'October jinx' where we lose a road game in the first week of October to a mediocre SEC west team? Maybe Bama is not a mediocre team and this wont happen this week. Lets wait and see.

-Cornelius showed he has better hands than Caldwell. But can he be the guy who takes those misdirectional plays to the house ?

-Finally we got to see Harvey and Jarvis Moss out there making some plays.

-I really don't know when Manson is going to get on the field.

-If Dee Webb catches all those balls that slip through his fingers, he would have more receptions than Chad Jackson

-We know Leak can throw darts when he has ample time in the pocket. But can he do so against a pressure defense like Alabama? We will find out today.