It not only tarnishes the year just completed it puts a cloud over the year yet to come. I've got next to nothing good to say, so feel free to ignore what follows if negative assessments tick you off.

The good news is the defense managed to not let the wheels come off in this game.  The bad news is the axle broke, the engine dropped out, and then the car burst into flames and exploded.  I want to say I was shocked by what I saw from the defense yesterday, but in truth I was only disappointed.  I simply saw more of the same sieve-like performance that our pass defense has exhibited throughout the season.

In UF's first three games against D-1 opponents they surrendered 281, 263 and 310 yards passing.  In 3 of the last 4 games they gave up over 300 yards.  In the middle of the season we had the low-light of Woodson's 415 yard, 5 TD, 70% completion performance.  And it wasn't just the play-off-the-ball-and-they'll-get-minimal-yards-in-front-of-us kind of failure as 5 of the final10 Gator opponents each had at least one completion of 50 yards or more.  There was no sustained recognizable improvement during the course of the year.  There may have been spots of good play, even a game or two that gave false hope, but the stats don't lie - this pass defense was weak and generally ineffectual.  That shortcoming was displayed in all its glory for everyone to see in Tuesday's game.  The pass rush was ineffective - no sacks in the second half.  The linebackers took drops that seemed designed to allow Michigan's receivers to catch the ball for first downs.  The DBs were helpless and hapless.  The improvement I foolishly expected to see as they gained experience was not in any way evident yesterday.  The performance in game 1 and 13 and all the games in between were on average very similar.

 But let's not ignore the run defense.  Mike Hart is a slightly better than average back - no more.  Yet the Gators allowed him to run for 129 yards and a 4.0 average per carry even though his last two attempts were mere 1 yard dives into the line to eat up the clock.  If he hadn't fumbled twice at the goal line he would have rivaled Henne for player of the game honors with 4 rushing TDs.

 Ohio State held this Michigan squad to 3 points for an entire game.  UF couldn't hold them to 3 points for a single quarter. 

In the bowl history of UF football only the 62 points rung up by Nebraska exceeds the 41 points Michigan registered and no QB has ever thrown for as many yards vs UF in a bowl game as Henne did.  It brought the Gator's recent bowl record to 3-6 in the last nine bowl games.

Why we were unable to spread the ball around a little more is perplexing.  We hear how we have all these weapons at receiver yet Ingram, Caldwell, Murphy and Hernandez combined for the exact same number of catches that Harvin got by himself while they also accounted for 15 more yards and two more receiving TDs.

The offensive line was average at best in pass protection.  We had no completion over 20 yards as Tebow rarely had time to go down field.

The special teams were poor.  The missed KO to start the second half was inexcusable.  I have to believe locating the ball ought to be a primary concern.  The punting was average.  The short kickoff that let them start at their own 40 was stupid, because they - unlike us - actually found the ball and didn't let it sit on the turf for us to recover.

The pregame taunting was disgraceful and an embarrassment to Gators everywhere.  There is no excuse for this kind of behavior.  Talk all you want after you win, but put an end to the idiotic shows of bravado that aren't backed up.  It makes the team look stupid, thugish, and clown-like.  Meyer needs to put an end to such foolishness.

This was a good year that ended badly.  There will be justifiable doubt as to the overall quality of next year's team until they actually play at least some average overall defense vs a quality offense.  While before this game I had confidence next year would be a great season for the Gators I now have only guarded optimism that we can contend for the SEC East.  This defense is going to have to show me before I jump back on their bandwagon.  I don't want to hear how they're going to work harder, watch more film, stay late to work on technique, or that they've matured now that they have a year under their belts, etc.  Results are the only measuring stick that matters and the results have been mixed at best.  The defensive scheme, effort, coaching, and personnel all need to be examined very closely.   Defenders need to break on the ball.  The few times it has actually happened this year were such a thrill because of their rarity - like seeing Haley's comet.  We have to generate a consistent pass rush, one that actually hits the QB.  In the second half yesterday not only did we not sack Henne we rarely even touched him.  When we blitzed it seemed as if we were confused about the desired goal and prized running as far past the line of scrimmage as possible without any concern for whether we were actually getting near the QB or not.  When they blitzed they got in Tebow's face and made him move.  Michigan's defense looked faster than ours did.  Whether that is because our guys are thinking instead of reacting or because they really are slower concerns me not, I only know that it has to change or we will be sitting here a year from now lamenting another bowl loss to a team we put serious points on and should have beaten, but simply couldn't stop.