Tampa, Florida					Monday, September 06, 2010

First Came the Hurricanes, Now This
Sunday, October 31, 2004
TAMPA—First came the hurricanes, a record four of them, that struck Florida—from Charlie to Ivan. Now it has been Bulldogs, Terrapins and Tar Heels. Our idyllic place has never been battered so as it was by the hurricanes of this late summer and fall—ever. And not in all the years of the lives of Florida Gator football players now uniformed, of Florida State Seminoles now uniformed, nor of the Miami, yes, Hurricanes, until this Saturday past been beaten on the same day when the football players of Georgia, Maryland and North Carolina defeated the proud State of Florida big college teams. Back on October, 28, 1978, Alabama beat Florida, Mississippi State beat Florida State and Notre Dame beat Miami, but never since have the three big guys of this college sport been subdued on the same day until Georgia did it to Florida at Jacksonville, then Maryland did it to Florida State in their home and North Carolina whipped Miami at Chapel Hill. Georgia was the favorite over the reeling Gators, but Florida State and Miami were both Top Ten ranked teams and figured to win solidly. Field goals were factors in all decisions. FSU kicker Xavier Beitia missed three. A Florida kicker missed one and the North Carolina kicker, a freshman, hit one of 43 yards with no time left and pressure cooking. Now, while the upsets of the Seminoles by Maryland—a second loss by the Noles—and of Miami by North Carolina were stunners the result at Jacksonville, 31-24, was not only a magical football afternoon of offenses, but ended a six-game Gator win streak over Georgia and beyond that has so many sideshows to it. Florida had fired its interesting head coach, Ron Zook and full staff earlier in the week but he agreed to stay on through this season, and thus added the drama to a football affair that needed no more passion. The Zook Gators played almost exactly as they have all of this season and others under him—unable to keep leads, or to stay in games, almost defenseless—and yet, their imaginative offense under quarterback Chris Leak played with dash and daring and very nearly forced overtime. Many will say the team played well for Zook, and perhaps they did, but the result was as expected, hard-fought and won by Georgia, against a team that may still be head coached by Zook had he made defensive changes this season—like changing defensive coordinators. Zook’s defensive man, Charley Strong, has spend two seasons, at least, surrendering leads. Strong himself had said that’s his team’s knock—the inability to get the possessions of the football back late in games. The Gators are masters of losing games late these Zook-Strong seasons—of not protecting leads and of incompletely covering punts and kickoff returns. The old Prevent Defense so disdained by fans has simply not worked for the Zook-Strong Late Game Plans. And yet, the shortcomings on defense seem not to have been taken seriously enough—even in this final game with Zook as head coach against rival Georgia. Always after such games it was been the Gators are “close,’’ to being a winning team. Now in this 31-24 game Georgia won Saturday with a masterful late	game winning drive—notably to clutch passes—of Bulldog quarterback David Green, Florida’s problem once more was the inability to stop Georgia, not the inability to play offense against the Dogs. Few teams have ever been more imaginative or gambling than were the Gators on this Saturday in Jacksonville. They did it all offensively, but little on defense, hurt no small measure because of the second period loss of all-star linebacker Channing Crowder to an ankle ligament tear. Without him at middle linebacker, the second half could not be the salvation for this Gator team. Now, in truth, Zook surely came out of this game on a high note as the coach. The players said they would play for him and they did, though, again, the result was about the same—close but no cigar. However, he surely left with style and class, saying he understood the decision of his college and his athletic director, Jeremy Foley, who hired and him and who had to fire him this week with four years’ pay assured. The common judgment was that Zook was a nice man but couldn’t finish first. Who ever replaces him—and so many want and think it will be Gator hero, Steve Spurrier—might want to ask him to stay on as recruiter. He is judged to be good at that and would be no threat to his successor. General thinking also seems to be Spurrier would like to return to the alma mater of his heroics as a player and head coach. Told me, with the right deal, it would be mighty, mighty tempting. His son is likely to play his college ball, starting next year, at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Most think, I think, that Spurrier wants the job, he should have a shot at it. Foley said he’ll see. Spurrier sincerely admires and loves his alma mater, this State of Florida, and he is aware the Gator stable of young players is admired. He would do wonders with quarterback Leak, as he did with other Gator QBs, notably, Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel. Now, however, Zook remains the head coach of the Gators whose remaining opponents include South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Florida State, now the loser of two games—Miami and Maryland—while Miami has now lost one, but is no longer on the Gator schedule. With the losses by Florida and FSU Saturday, injuries mount at both schools, that key matchup has become more of a contest than figured at the season’s start. It will be Zook’s last game as the head coach of the Gators, which likely means the Gators will lead late, but little more. The TV guys interviewed a dozen Gator alumns at the Georgia game, and I have visited with many more. The Zook Book seems odds-on in the Gator Nation-- Ron is a fine man but not the man for the job of leading this campaign, and never was, and therefore, he is, like he says of his team, “almost a very good team.’’ Indeed, the events of Saturday afternoon between Florida and Georgia in football seemed to provide a judicious outcome. I once wrote that I could not be the starting quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but that the difference between me and the Buc starter of those days was that I knew I could not be the starter. Not a bad line, eh? Applicable in many ways, I think. ##
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