Are They Really This Good?

Two weeks ago I was at a friend's house in San Francisco watching Cal play Tennessee. Somebody asked me who I was rooting for. I stated that I would usually root for an SEC team, but that I hate Tennessee. I felt compelled to repeat that with emphasis: I hate Tennessee.

So I really enjoyed watching Florida crush Tennessee yesterday. I found myself wondering: Is Florida really this good? I mean 59-20 !?!?

In all fairness, Florida got lucky. It was 28-20 when Tennessee fumbled the ball and Florida ran it in for a touchdown. Tennessee seemed to really fold after that. But isn't that how any blowout goes? There's some back-breaking play and the loser folds? One of the hallmarks of a great team is sensing this and jumping on it. That's exactly what Florida did yesterday.

Are they a great team? Hard to say. I will say this, barring some kind of awful injuries, Florida's offense is great. I thought they would be great next year, but we didn't have to do wait. When Urban Meyer came to Florida, every Gator fan thought "wow what would this guy's offense look like with the kind of athletic talent the state of Florida grows?" Certainly this had to be part of what Meyer wondered too when he accepted the job at Florida after turning down the Notre Dame job.

Now we know what the answer is. It's not the speed option anymore, it's the supersonic option. It's like watching a kick return on every play. There's so much action going on. And oh man, how it opens up the passing game! Did you see the 49 yard pass from Tebow to Harvin from the Florida 1 yard line? What made it so ridiculous was that it was play action. Play action from your own end zone? Unthinkable normally, but not when you can do play action on a three step drown and not involve the running back. The play action was to Tebow. He faked like he was going to run. Truth be known, that play should have gone a TD. A year from now, you can be sure it will, but Tebow was a little excited on that play and his throw wasn't as accurate as usual.

Harvin is the real key. His health scares me at times. He seems a little fragile. He's as talented as Reggie Bush in my opinion. He is such a perfect fit for Florida's offense. He makes the running game scarier, not to mention the passing game. I can't wait to see what LSU tries to do against him.

And of course that's when we really find out how good Florida is. LSU is such a hard place to win at, and their defense is ridiculous. I'm not too scared of their offense though. It's going to come down to strength against strength.