OK--Gotta face it, call it what it is: Ten hours from now is the Kick Off to what is a "Classic TRAP game": A team we "should beat", on the road and sandwiched between our first really huge victory over an elite SEC opponent, and NEXT week's struggle at home against the team that replaced it ahead of us at #3 and what is likely our top competitor in the East, South Carolina--and though there are a host of apparent reasons why we should beat them, this is STILL an SEC-opponent that traditionally plays us tough (as they did last year when we barely beat them late in the SWAMP!), and one itself still searching for a "signature win". Even as a Gator team that this season appears to have finally broken its recent trend and truly become a full-game competitor that gets stronger as the game wears on, even with a charismatic, hard-nosed Head Coach who has the respect, love and attention of his players, it is only human that young men sometimes lose focus and fail to take repeated warnings regarding ALL of these pitfalls to heart. I'm not saying that's going to happen, necessarily--in fact, I have come to trust and believe in this Coach and staff, their level of thorough planning and attention to detail--only that we've seen it happen to other teams this season, in fact just last week, so here's hoping that my growing faith and confidence in this team's level of high energy and calm yet thorough preparation continues to be well-warranted.
...All of which is a real slick way of saying, "Don't BLOW it, guys!" We can expect to enter a relatively jazzed-up stadium to find ourselves facing an excited and determined group of Commodores in the 1st qrtr. Going by our early game performances thus far, we ourselves may start slow once more, maybe even find ourselves down a score as late as the early 2nd qrtr. Sure, I'd like to see us get a better start, play a more complete game from beginning to end, but at least we know now that we are resilient, can recover and reassert our dominance as the game goes on, no matter how unevenly we play in the early going. Do NOT underestimate that, either the ability to come back OR the simple and calm certainty-from-experience that we can do so.
We have already begun to discuss here at GE and elsewhere the various potential weaknesses in our team, the dangers facing us in this game and the remainder of the season ahead. In order to get this Game-thread discussion going (and to get MYSELF out of it, at least for now) I'm going to throw out a multi-leveled, open-ended question designed to draw out all of your by now hardening hopes and fears regarding this contest: What are the biggest dangers and pitfalls YOU see in this game for us, what should we be doing to prepare for this team AND our own potential let downs, and what sorts of approach and/or overall game plan do you feel gives us our best chance to get out of here with a comfortable win (or, for that matter, any win at ALL)?
...All of which is a real slick way of saying, "Don't BLOW it, guys!" We can expect to enter a relatively jazzed-up stadium to find ourselves facing an excited and determined group of Commodores in the 1st qrtr. Going by our early game performances thus far, we ourselves may start slow once more, maybe even find ourselves down a score as late as the early 2nd qrtr. Sure, I'd like to see us get a better start, play a more complete game from beginning to end, but at least we know now that we are resilient, can recover and reassert our dominance as the game goes on, no matter how unevenly we play in the early going. Do NOT underestimate that, either the ability to come back OR the simple and calm certainty-from-experience that we can do so.
We have already begun to discuss here at GE and elsewhere the various potential weaknesses in our team, the dangers facing us in this game and the remainder of the season ahead. In order to get this Game-thread discussion going (and to get MYSELF out of it, at least for now) I'm going to throw out a multi-leveled, open-ended question designed to draw out all of your by now hardening hopes and fears regarding this contest: What are the biggest dangers and pitfalls YOU see in this game for us, what should we be doing to prepare for this team AND our own potential let downs, and what sorts of approach and/or overall game plan do you feel gives us our best chance to get out of here with a comfortable win (or, for that matter, any win at ALL)?
