SEC Tournament

Our Men's Basketball team is currently facing the Missouri Tigers in the first round of the SEC tournament. Missouri, the 8 seed, has a 9-9 SEC record. When the Gators faced the Tigers back in February, Florida won 68-58. The winner of our game will advance to play the winner of the South Carolina V. Tennessee game.

Tipoff was scheduled for 1:00.  You can catch today's game on ESPN U. We're 18-0 with more to go!  GO GATORS!!

BEAT VANDERBILT!

After Syracuse's two losses last week, Florida is looking pretty good in the national rankings.  I'm not going to say anything outright, but this basketball season feels like it could be 2006 or 2007.

Tomorrow our Men's Basketball Team will travel to Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores.  Florida Basketball is on a 19 game win streak, boasting a 25-2 record.  After two exciting wins over Auburn and Ole Miss, the Gators have a lot of momentum going into Tuesday's matchup.  Vanderbilt is currently 15-11 overall and 7-7 in the SEC.  Tuesday's game will tip off at 7:00 and can be seen on ESPN.

Finally, keep tweeting at Justin Timberlake to bring him to Gainesville for the Kentucky game.  JT's twitter handle is @jtimberlake.  Be sure to use the hashtag #BringJT2UF

Florida Basketball!

Go Gators! Beat the Eagles!

Tomorrow at 2 p.m. watch as our Gators storm the Florida field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to rebound from a disappointing string of losses to try and earn a victory over the Eagles of Georgia Southern. As I've said before, injuries have been a problem for our team all year, and there is a chance that third-string quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg will be under center for the Gators again this weekend.

After the impressive outing we had against South Carolina in a hostile environment last weekend, which ended up as a close loss, there is no doubt that we should easily be victorious in this game. Georgia Southern, who is 6-4 on the year, is just lacking the kind of skill that an SEC team possesses. However, Georgia Southern is doing good things with their program. They are upgrading next year from the Southern Conference to the Sun Belt Conference. UF payed the program $550,000 to come play us in the swamp tomorrow.

The line favors Florida by 27.5 points in the matchup tomorrow, and I believe that our Gators can cover that spread. Our strong defense should have no trouble slowing down the Eagles' defense all day tomorrow. We need to get a victory on the board to gain some confidence for the powerful Florida State Seminoles that are visiting next weekend. This game should be a good game to prepare us for our biggest rivalry game of the season, which this year happens to be against the No. 2 team in the nation. Make sure to tune into ESPN3 or Sun Sports to watch. Have a safe weekend and go Gators!

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Go Gators! Beat the Gamecocks

Saturday, the Gators head up to South Carolina to take on the Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia in front of an expected sellout crowd. For South Carolina, this game means everything: they have an SEC East title on the line. If the Cocks can beat the Gators, Auburns beats Georgia and Missouri loses one of their next two games, then they will have clinched their second SEC East title in their 21 years in the league. This will send them to Atlanta to most likely play Nick Saban and Alabama for the Southeastern Conference Championship.

For us Gators, we are playing for pride. Florida has suffered 10 season-ending injuries this year, including seven to starters. Injuries along both the offensive and defensive lines have caused the Gators to temporarily lose their physical dominance on both sides of the ball. The offense continues to struggle, and a loss at South Carolina Saturday night will not help Coach Muschamp's case if he wants to continue to be the head ball coach at the University of Florida. Brent Pease is most likely feeling a lot of pressure also, knowing that he is in charge of not only the worst offense in the SEC, but one of the worst offenses in college football. Fans and analysts around the country have been discussing Florida's offensive woes, and many believe that they need to change the entire offensive scheme to bring back the exciting spread offense of years past, when Tebow was the man running the huddle. Regardless of what is to come for the Gators in the near future, they are focused on playing the spoiler role on Saturday night at seven p.m.

With Tyler Murphy suffering an injury and playing sub-par football as of late, Muschamp announced Thursday night that redshirt freshman Skyler Mornhinweg will most likely take his first snaps of college football as the starting quarterback for the Gators Saturday night when he faces off against the 10th-ranked team in all the land. Make sure to tune in the to ESPN2 to watch our Gators try to use their powerful defense to slow down the Gamecocks and grind out a victory. Go Gators!

War for the Oar! Florida-Georgia Weekend

This weekend marks one of college football's greatest traditions: the Florida-Georgia football game held annually in Jacksonville. It has also recently become known as the "War for the Okefenokee Oar," a name created by the student governments of the universities in 2009 after they announced the trophy would be a 10-foot-long oar. 

The trophy was anonymously donated to the University of Florida, and has the logos of each school carved into it. The oar was carved from the remains of an old cypress tree that grew in the Okefenokee Swamp, which lies on the Florida-Georgia border. It is presented to the student body president of the winning team each year, but is not given out at the game itself. Being one of the greatest, most historic and traditional rivalries in college football, it is a shame that there has not been a trophy representing the game up until recently. Hopefully, the Gators will be bringing the oar back to its original home this year.

The game will prove to be an interesting one this year as both teams come in banged up and missing multiple starters that are out with season-ending injuries. This is the first time in a while that Florida-Georgia has been a game between two unranked teams. Each team comes in with three losses, but due to a Missouri loss last weekend at the hands of South Carolina, both teams are still alive in the hunt for the SEC East title. 

When traveling to Jacksonville this weekend for the game, make sure to be safe! In one of the biggest cities in the nation by land area, it can be hard to get from place to place in Jacksonville. However, that problem is solved this year with the implementation of a company called Uber in the city. Uber is a smartphone app that links riders to on-demand private rides, usually in classy black sedans or SUVs. I have personally traveled to several cities that feature Uber and can vouch for the ease of use, reliability and safety improvements over traditional transportation options. With this app, the cars go to the riders, which eliminates having to wander around desperately trying to find an available taxi. 

Download the Uber app and use the promo code GoGators to recieve your first ride of up to $20 for free. It will ensure your safety as you get from place to place in a big city on its busiest weekend of the year. I hope that everyone is safe and enjoys this weekend, as it always proves to be one of the most fun and memorable of every fall semester. Hopefully, I will be presented with the Okefenokee Oar this year as well. Have fun and go Gators!!

GO GATORS: Beat Mizzou!

Good afternoon Gators! This weekend our team will travel to Missouri to play the Tigers in a situation very different than what most of us here in Gator Nation hoped for. When the season started, most fans probably looked at this game as and instantly marked it up as a W in their heads. However, that is far from the truth. The Gators, ranked 22 in the country, will head to Missouri as the underdogs when they play the 14th ranked Tigers.

The Gators are coming off of a tough loss at the hands of LSU last weekend, while the Tigers are coming off arguably one of their program's biggest wins in the recent years when they beat the Georgia Bulldogs last weekend in Athens. It was a victory that shocked the football world. While the Gators held their own against one of the best teams in the nation, their offense implanted many doubts into our fans' heads. The Gators were unable to score even a single touchdown during the loss in Death Valley, although Tyler Murphy proved once again that he was relatively poised and calm for a player with as little game experience as he has.

The bright side is that Florida was able to move the ball up and down the field against one of the better SEC defenses, but problems arose when they got into the red zone all day. The last drive at the end of the game where our offense failed to score any points after getting inside the 20 yard line was hard to watch. Something else that will help us is that Mizzou will be playing without their star quarterback James Franklin, who is the leader and anchor of their offense. If the Gators can protect Tyler Murphy better than they did last week and can actually make some explosive plays on offense, then we could walk away from Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri as victors.

The Tigers are favored by 3.5 points going into the game, so it should be a close battle. The game is set to start at 12:21 eastern standard time, and will be aired on SEC TV. Hopefully our beloved Gators will prove to the nation that they are still contenders in the SEC East and are a force to be reckoned with. This would be a huge bounce-back win for our program. Make sure to tune in and watch Saturday. Go Gators!!

GO GATORS: Beat Kentucky!

Good afternoon Gator fans! Tomorrow our beloved Gators travel to Kentucky to face the Wildcats at seven p.m. This will be the Gators' first night game of the season. Judging by the past, this is a game the Gators should definitely be able to win.

Saturday night the Gators will look to extend the longest winning streak in the SEC. The Gators have won the last 26 matchups against Kentucky. Even in years that the Gators weren't as dominant as they typically are, they have still found a way to cruise past Kentucky. Tomorrow night, they are favored by thirteen points.

However, there are a few question marks for a Gators team that has already been riddled with injuries early on in the season. With the loss of starting quarterback Jeff Driscoll for the remainder of the season, Tyler Murphy has been forced to step into the role as the leader of the offensive unit. He looked great in his first game under center, but going on the road will be a true test for the redshirt sophomore.

Florida also lost a leader on defense for the season this week in practice when Dominick Easley went down with a torn ACL. This unfortunately means we have probably witnessed Easley, a highly-rated NFL prospect, play his last game in orange and blue.

Make sure to tune in to ESPNU Saturday night to watch the Gators hopefully climb to 3-1 on the season. Have a great weekend and Go Gators!!

Florida vs. Tennessee: Go Gators!

Tomorrow at 3:30 our beloved Gators football team will attempt to defend the Swamp for the second time this season. Last season, the Gators went undefeated at home, an accomplishment that puts fear in the thoughts of opposing teams.

The Tennessee Volunteers (2-1) and the Florida Gators (1-1) meet every season for what used to be an important rivalry game in the  Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference. The game used to typically decide the team that would represent the East in the SEC Championship game. However, in recent years the Gators have dominated the series. Tomorrow when the two teams meet, Florida will be looking for a ninth straight victory against them.

Both teams come into the game off of tough losses. The Gators are looking to rebound off a tough, surprising loss to Miami a couple of weeks ago. The Vols will attempt to bounce back after a crushing defeat at the mercy of the mighty Oregon Ducks last weekend. This game has major implications on the direction that either team will head for the rest of the season.

The weather is supposed to be 88 degrees and sunny at kickoff, so make sure to stay hydrated, wear sunscreen and bring a hat! The Gators' home field advantage of sweltering heat will be in full effect tomorrow afternoon.

Our 19th ranked Gators are favored by 17 points in their first SEC matchup of the season tomorrow, and will try to get a big win to help their status in both the AP and USA Today Coaches' top 25 polls. I hope everyone is as excited as me to get back inside the Swamp, where the girls are the fairest and the boys are squarest of any old state down our way. Go Gators!

Saturday in the South: Gators vs. Canes

This weekend our Florida Gators head 324 miles south to face the Miami Hurricanes, an underrated rivalry game that occurs only once every five years. In honor of tomorrow's game, I wanted to provide some history of what used to be the biggest rivalry in the state. The sun is supposed to be blazing when they kickoff at noon on Saturday down in Miami in front of an expected sellout crowd.

The Gators are favored by three points going into the contest, which is not surprising considering the two teams’ very even history. In 54 total meetings, the Gators have gone 26-28 against the Canes.

From 1938 until 1987 the Gators and the Hurricanes met every year, and many considered the game the biggest rivalry in the state of Florida. After SEC requirements changed in 1987 requiring that each SEC team play 8 conference games per year, the rivalry between Florida and Miami was forced to come to a halt.

Saturday marks the sixth time the teams have met in the last 25 years. The last time they played was in The Swamp in 2008, and the Gators routed the Canes in a 26 to 3 victory. Hopefully Saturday will yield similar results, as a heavy showing of orange and blue is expected in Sun Life Stadium. Make sure to tune in to ESPN Saturday at noon for what should be a great matchup! GO GATORS!