Okay, not many people I knew gave the Gators any chance against the Buckeyes, myself included, and I told my Buckeye friend I expected a score of something like 28-20 in favor of the Buckeyes. What has transpired in the first half has undoubtedly left Gator fans in delirium, Buckeye fans in shock, and everybody in disbelief.
Some random notes from the first half: dumb personal foul penalties on the Buckeyes give the Gators excellent field position on their first two drives, big aids in overcoming the electrifying 93 yard kickoff return for a touchdown by the Buckeyes Ted Ginn, Jr.
11 yards total offense for the Buckeyes, and one first down in the first quarter, compared to the 151 and 9 put up by Florida.
Very curious play calling by Jim Tressel: having pulled to within 21-14, three straight incomplete passes kill whatever momentum was created by the quick, fine drive put together by Troy Smith (the Gators scored on the first play of the second quarter to make it 21-7, and the Buckeyes respond in less than two minutes, and then force Florida to punt for their only time in the first half). Florida scored on six of its seven possessions in the first half, and four of those started in Buckeye territory.
Down by 24-14, Tressel, apparently looking for some kind of spark, elects to go for it on his own 29, facing a 4th and 1. The play fails, Florida manages to eke out enough yards for another field goal, and this makes it 27-14 with less than two minutes to go.
Next offensive possession for the Buckeyes, Troy Smith is stripped of the ball behind the line of scrimmage, Florida recovers and runs the ball to the five, setting up an easy final score for the 34-14 halftime advantage.
Chris Leak, the quarterback of the Gators, had a brilliant start to the game, completing his first 9 passes for 99 yards, to several receivers as well. He finished the half 16 of 24, and I counted 4 passes thrown away to avoid a loss.
More later.........
9:00 pm PST edit: third quarter was a battle for field position that the Buckeyes won; it's too bad they couldn't do a damn thing with it, even after forcing a 3 and out plus a 20 yard punt from the Gators right off the bat.
Gotta give Earl Everett credit for making that helmet less tackle on Troy Smith, I'm sure he knew he wasn't gonna be hurting too much after that.
The sack of Smith at the beginning of the fourth quarter was the final nail in the coffin: #94 blowing around the end while #75 for the Bucks just kinda slowly turned around, couldn't believe that he'd already been beaten bad.
84 yards total offense for the Bucks through three, even though Ted Ginn Jr. sprained his foot on the first Buckeyes series on offense, his presence wouldn't have made a difference to the O-Line, who hardly gave Smith any time at all to do anything. The final score would not be any different than it is now.
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