1. Thank you to Steve, Pat, and Nikki for being such fun, gracious hosts.

2. Campus seems to change every time I go back. The intersection at University and 13th looks nothing like it did when I was in school seventeen years ago.

3. Damn I'm getting old.

4. I've been to many UF-UT games in Gainesville. Never seen so few Vols, though with them having played Oregon last week, and given how the team is playing, it's understandable. The atmosphere was definitely muted.

5. Decent weather day for football, though I'm sure it was hot in the sunny seats. There were a few empty rows at the top of the east stands.

6. Danny Two-Bits = awesomeness.

7. 1st quarter = opposite of #6. Worst quarter of football I've ever seen. Both teams horrible on offense. It's one thing to see two defenses play superbly. It's another thing to see wholesale ineptitude on offense. We were treated to the latter.

8. I feel bad for Driskel, but he's mostly played mediocre football. Last year he'd run out of bounds six yards behind the line of scrimmage when he could've easily thrown the ball away. He did this many times. This year, he hasn't done it once. Instead he's been throwing into coverage. He has not looked poised. He's looked nervous, hesitant, and uncertain. And that's been against very average defenses. It's a shame that his last throw as a Gator may turn out to be a pick six, but it's probably appropriate.

9. Matt Jones has also been hesitant. Instead of hitting the hole with a head of steam, he's tap dancing around going side to side. Where's the brute from last year? We need him back! As of now Mack Brown has won the starting job, imo. He's running fast and hard, and he isn't putting the ball on the ground.

10. Christy had another weak performance. He looks fine during warmups, but boy is he psyched out or something during the game.

11. Now for the good news. Murphy stepped in for Driskel and performed. It took a couple of series for him to settle down, but once he did so he made a bunch of plays. More importantly, he seemed comfortable. The handoffs were smooth. He spotted open receivers and threw to them quickly. He ran the ball well. On the broken plays (and there were a bunch) he did a lot of good things. He bought himself time, then looked for receivers and squared his shoulders in case he found a man. He made good, smart throws on the run. When he tucked and ran he made guys miss--and he slid rather than taking a useless beating. Frankly, he just seemed confident. He sure sounded so after the game. Let's hope it continues.

12. The defense is highly disruptive. Easley and Fowler have serious motors. VHIII covers better than saran wrap. UT broke off a few decent runs. And they should've completed several more passes that were dropped. But we were sitting back in a zone quite a bit giving them some piddly crap. It was fun when our D needed a big play and the crowd got really loud. No zone then, the D just plowed over UT. Those plays collapsed really fast.

13. My opinion on this team has improved, though only slightly, since just after Miami. We have a really, really good defense that will be a match for every team we face. The offense is still struggling to produce, though Murphy's performance was a significant improvement. We're still fumbling the ball like crazy. Absolutely like crazy. Punting is weak. Kickoffs decent. Field-goal kicking mediocre. Penalties down. So outside of the defense, this is an average team. That's why you just gotta love solid defenses like ours. It's the main reason I'm still 100% behind Muschamp. I haven't agreed with a lot that he's done offensively, but I've liked his defenses from the get-go. This defense isn't just going to go away either. We aren't senior-laden. So there's every reason to expect it to be solid for years to come. If you can't get behind that, may you be forced to hang out with Bullishnole!

14. There's nothing comparable to wrapping your arms around strangers at the end of the third quarter and singing We are the Boys.

15. As nice as it can be to watch games in a.c. on HD with a cold brew, live games still kick @$$.