Football: Florida-26, Vandy-21 Game Recap

The Gators defeated Vanderbilt 26-21 on their homecoming on Saturday to avoid a 5 game losing streak. They needed a big game out of Jeff Demps and that's what they got. Demps ran for a career high 158 yards and 2 TDs and had a untouched 52 yard rushing TD to pretty much seal the game. Florida were the 1st ones to strike in this game, and led 17-0 at the half. Gators kicker Caleb Sturgis, who missed last week, went 2-3, missing a 49 yard FG but racking down a 40 yarder and a career best 54 yarder. Florida has now defeated the Commodores 21 straight times, the last loss was in 1988. John Brantley went 16/24 with 173 yards and look much better than last week vs. Georgia. On the flip side, Vandy QB Jordan Rodgers, Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers' little brother, went 19/28 for 297 yards and had some resemblance of his big bro. Florida had a pretty strong running game (Jeff Demps and Michael Gillislee) with 32 carries, 197 yards and two TD's. The Gators also had a very strong defense, holding Vandy to 377 total yards and stopping the Commodores 7 times out of 12 on 3rd down. Offensive game ball goes to: Jeff Demps, Defensive game ball goes to: Matt Elam, who had 3 tackles for a loss.

Basketball- Gators vs. Catholic Exhibition Game Recap

Thursday night, the Gators tipped off the 2011-2012 basketball season in a exhibition game vs. Billy Donovan's son's team the Catholic University Cardinals. Last season, Florida defeated Florida Tech in an exhibition match 92-58. This year, the Gators defeated Catholic 114-57. A win that totaled a 57 point victory. The Gators had the lead throughout the whole game, leading 70-29 at the half. Florida looked most impressive behind the 3 point arc shooting a 50% 20 out of 40. Freshman Bradley Beal fouled out late in the game with 20 points. Boynton led the game with a double double at 21 points and 10 assists. Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario had 18 points, Murphy had 16, Walker with 15 points and 4 assists and Patric Young had 10 points along with 7 rebounds. This game just shows how explosive the Gators offense and 3 point shooting can be, and hopefully it can last throughout the entire season with games like Ohio State and Syracuse coming up early in the schedule. Great win for the Gators!

Basketball- Season Preview

(Erving Walker drives in the 2nd round of the 2011 NCAA Basketball Tournament vs. UCLA)

Going into the 2011-2012 Gators college basketball season (which starts tomorrow), Florida has some losses, but also some gains. Some losses include losing SF Chandler Parsons, PF Alex Tyus and Center Vernon Macklin. Parsons ended the season last year with 11.3 PPG, 7.8 RPG and 3.8 APG. Parsons was also the same guy who made 2 buzzer beater game winners in 2009-10, including a 75 footer vs. NC State. Parsons will now play for the Houston Rockets in the NBA after being drafted by them 38th overall. Macklin also moves on to the NBA and will be playing for the Detroit Pistons and Tyus is now playing for Maccabi Ashdod. The Gators enter the season with 8 returns, 2 freshmen and 1 transfer. The returns include Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Casey Prather, Patric Young, Will Yeguete, Scottie Wilbekin, Cody Larson and Erik Murphy. The 2 new freshmen are pure shooter Bradley Beal and Walter Pitchford. The Gators also add Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario. The Gators may have 4, even 5 guards on the court at 1 time- with not many forwards and centers to work with. The Gators play an exhibition tomorrow vs. Catholic University and start the regular season off vs. Jackson State. The Gators then play 3rd ranked Ohio State and 5th ranked Syracuse on December 2nd. It's gonna be hard to predict if the Gators will do as good as last season, when they went 28-9 and lost in the Elite 8. 

Football- 2011-12 Player Review: Chris Rainey

Gators running back Chris Rainey had an OK season last year because of injury, but this year he has been healthy, and with 4 games left to go, he has 526 yards and only 2 TDs on 108 carries. Rainey started off the season very strong in the first 4 games, but once the competition got stronger, Rainey seemed to get weaker. In the first 4 games of the season, Rainey had 381 yards and 2 TDs on 63 carries, in the last 4 games, Rainey had 115 yards and no touchdowns on 45 carries. Obviously, he was doing much better and seemed to be working harder in the beginning of the season. He even may have cost the Gators the game vs. Auburn when he muffed 4 punts, and 1 was recovered by Auburn which led to a Tigers TD. Rainey really needs to play like he did early in these next 4 games, because the Gators are really being questioned about bowl eligibility. 

Football- Next Game, Vandy is a "Must Win."

The Gators, coming off of 4 straight losses, face-off with SEC rival the Vanderbilt Commodores. Last season, Florida defeated Vandy 55-14. This game is very important for BOTH teams, as this game is a question of bowl eligibility for both teams. On Monday, Florida coach Will Muschamp quoted "We're focused on Vanderbilt. That's really it. It's been week-to-week and that's been my approach all season." Well, as of now the system isn't working. The last time the Gators lost 4 straight was in 1988. Florida says they are playing for pride, now that they are out of the Eastern Division race. Florida has been in 20 consecutive bowl games, and they don't wanna end the streak. The Gators end the season @ South Carolina then home for Furman and Florida State, and they only assumed win in Furman. The Gators are 25-2 all time vs. FCS Southern Conference teams. South Carolina will definitely be tough, especially on the road as the Gamecocks are in 1st tied with Georgia, who the Gators just lost to. FSU lost 3 straight early in the season, but has bounced back 3 straight wins now with a healthy QB E.J Manuel. Despite the rough, tough schedule, Omar Hunter quoted this: "It's been a long, tough road these last few games, struggling with these losses, but right now we're not talking about being bowl eligible right now,We're talking about finishing the season off strong."

Basketball- New Comer: Bradley Beal

A lot of 2011 freshman talk and hype has been about shooting guard Bradley Beal out of Chaminade College Prep School. Lots have described Beal as a pure shooter. Some even say he is the "Ray Allen of college basketball." He is questionable to be a started in the beginning of the season, but if he isn't he will most likely be a 6 man. Many experts at the ESPNU roundtable rated him as the #1 freshman to watch, even before Duke's Austin Rivers. Check out Beal's Mixtape here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2lxdNSPDlc

Basketball- New Comer: Walter Pitchford

One of the Gators newest faces is freshman Walter Pitchford. Haven't heard much talk about the newcomer, most of the Gators freshman talk in about pure shooter Brad Beal, but by looking at his highlight reel, he looks like he can be a solid key player of the bench. Check out his highlights here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XINQkyBr3BI

Basketball- Season Tipoff

The Gators tipoff the 2011-2012 NCAA Basketball season on November 11th vs. the Jackson State Tigers who went 17-15 last year. Almost everyone is expecting a Florida win. The first Gators tough ranked challenge is their second game on November 15th vs. #3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. With forward Jared Sullinger coming back, the Gators are gonna have a real tough time defending down low vs. one of the best big men in the league. The Gators also play another marquee game on December 2nd and December 7th vs. #5 Syracuse and #16 Arizona. Their last ranked non-conference game is against #19 Texas A&M on December 17th. Then the Gators go into conference play where they will play ranked teams such as #17 Alabama, #7 Vanderbilt twice and #2 Kentucky twice. Florida definitely have a tough schedule (rated 10 out of 10 by ESPN's Andy Katz). It's hard to tell weather the Gators will do as good last year (29-8, lost in Elite 8 to Butler) without SF Chandler Parsons, PF Alex Tyus and C Vernon Macklin, but then again adding pure shooter Brad Beal, and Walter Pitchford along with sophomores Patric Young and Cody Larson, returnings Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Erik Murphy, Scotty Wilbiken,Will Yeguete and Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario. The Gators, starting out ranked #10, have some challenges along the way, but I still see a successful season ahead. 

Football- Florida-Georgia Recap

The Gators lost to the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday 24-20. It was John Brantley's first game back since Alabama 3 weeks ago. The Gators were the first ones to strike, and ended up taking a 10-0 lead that ended up being 17-10 Florida at the half. Georgia then outscored the Gators 14-3 in the second half to get a 24-20 victory over the Gators. Brantley didn't look very good in his 1st game back, ending with a Completion/Attempt of 12/34 for a good 245 yards and a TD. The Gators rushing wasn't very good either. Demps and Rainey ended for a combined 13 rushes and 38 yards with no TD's. The Gators now suffer their FOURTH STRAIGHT loss and fall to 4-4 (2-4 SEC). The Gators NEED a victory vs. Vanderbilt next week, or they will start to be questioned if their even bowl eligible. 

Football- Florida/Georgia PreGame Analysis

The Gators square off today at 3:30pm with Georgia in the annual rivalry game in Jacksonville, FL. Florida has won the last 3 meetings with Georgia (34-31 OT win last year). The Gators are coming off of a bye week, but before the bye, they had suffered a third straight loss to the Auburn Tigers (other 2 losses were Alabama and LSU). John Brantley, Gators starting QB, missed the Auburn and LSU games, which may have been a big factor in the Gators lack of offense. Brantley will most likely be back for the game today. A main thing the Gators have to succeed at is 3rd down conversions. The last 3-4 weeks, this was the typical Gators offensive drive/possession: Rainey run for 2, Rainey run for -1, Brissett incomplete pass, punt. This needs to stop. The Gators cannot always rely on the running game. Another key for the Gators, is Caleb Sturgis may not play, so punter Kyle Christy will have to step up and kick the FG's. In last years game, that's how the Gators won. Chas Henry (now on the Philadelphia Eagles) made a 37 yard FG in OT to give Florida a 34-31 victory. Well see what happens this year at 3:30pm on CBS.