In the attempt to get a feel for this contest, a lot of folks are pointing to the last time the Tide and Gators had it out on a football field: 2005, when Florida--owner of an unblemished record and feeling pretty darn good about itself under Urban Meyer's leadership--strolled into Tuscaloosa, only to be thumped out of the top ten with humiliating ease. In many ways, Meyer's team never recovered from the force of that blow; the rest of the season would become clouded with doubt and hesitancy in Gainesville, as Meyer and offensive coordinator Dan Mullen could never find an offensive package that was perfectly compatible with Chris Leak's skill set.
But while 2005 provides some nice storylines and obvious parallels, it is not the year in the history of the Gator-Tide series that should be referenced in the week leading up to kickoff. No, 1999 is a much more appropriate year.
1999, after all, was the last year Alabama came to the Swamp in Gainesville. On that day, Florida figured to roll over the Tide in a game that, on paper, did not look to be particularly competitive. The Gators, on home turf, looked to be settling into a groove: after big wins in the Tennessee-Kentucky September double, that Steve Spurrier-coached club appeared to be turning the corner in that particular season. Alabama, meanwhile, wasn't generating much of a buzz, as then-head coach Mike DuBose had yet to achieve much of anything as the successor to Gene Stallings.
That Autumnal Saturday in 1999 also had a basic pregame outline: Bama had to max out in order to merely be competitive, while Florida had to be markedly inconsistent and mistake-prone for the Tide to have a chance. Darned if that isn't exactly what happened. From start to finish, the Gators made a number of blunders, big and small, that gave the Tide--and a running back named Shaun Alexander--multiple windows of opportunity. And after a Darrell Jackson muffed punt in the final minutes, followed by a missed Jeff Chandler extra point in overtime (think Leigh Tiffin would love the chance to win this game with an extra point on Saturday?), it was the Tide who pulled out a 40-39 shocker that ended a five-year winning streak for the Gators in the cozy confines of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Seven years later, the echo of that game reverberates as Bama and Florida prepare to get it on in Gator Country.
If the visitors are to have any chance, they have to play to the fullest extent of their capabilities. The Tide can try to run against Florida's front seven, but that will prove to be an imposing task; as a result, John Parker Wilson will have to take--and hit--repeated downfield shots to D.J. Hall and Keith Brown to dent the scoreboard while--just as importantly--opening up the ground game and putting Bama in position to keep the ball away from Florida.
And for the Gators--who have more speed than the Tide along with a more imposing assortment of offensive weapons--the avoidance of mistakes must be paramount in this contest... as was the case back in 1999. That brings the discussion to Florida's starting quarterback, Chris Leak.
One might as well come out and say it: Chris Leak is the Alex Rodriguez of college football. One hastens to add (and clarify) that this is not a slam on the Gator quarterback, but a mere comparative observation. Think about it: Leak has tremendous career numbers; he doesn't offend anybody (and for what it's worth, Leak's persona is much, much more authentic than A-Rod's somewhat manufactured image; still, the larger point is that A-Rod is not what one would call particularly abrasive or rude); Leak's almost startlingly quiet for someone so prodigiously talented; you'd clearly like to have him on your team and in your corner; Leak's passes are described as "pretty", much like A-Rod's physical appearance and smooth swing; and yet, through it all, Leak--like A-Rod--has puzzlingly, mystifyingly, almost eerily, not won a championship, as though murky and invisible forces are conspiring to leave him without a piece of hardware. In the career of Chris Leak, one finds the strangest and most confounding confluences of realities. The A-Rod comparison is about the easiest way to try and make sense of a hard-to-pin-down career that has been so decorated and unfulfilling at the same time.
But all sports comparisons aside, Leak's priority--in this game and, frankly, the rest of the season--is to avoid turnovers. Leak has an impressive toolbox of football attributes, but if there's one general weakness in his game, it's slowness. Slowness in making reads (though that problem has gotten better over time), slowness in running, and--most concerning of all to anyone in the Gator camp--the slowness with which he throws a lot of his pretty passes. Leak has thrown interceptions against Tennessee and Kentucky that, if thrown with more zip and faster timing, would have been completions or, at the very least, incomplete passes. With the Gators embarking on the toughest portion of their season--the four-game middle third against three SEC West opponents and then Georgia--Leak needs to get in the habit of playing with more forcefulness and adding velocity to his passes when the situation demands as much. Against faster defenses, Leak's pretty but slow balls will continue to get picked, and Urban Meyer's dreams of a second-year offensive juggernaut (like the ones he had at Bowling Green and Utah) will not come to pass... literally.
Some might point to 2005 in setting the scene for this battle between Bama and Florida, but 1999--and the memory of the Gator mistakes that gave the Tide life--is the year that truly offers the appropriate historical backdrop for this contest. Bama's ability to bomb Florida's secondary, along with Leak's ability to avoid mistakes, will tell the tale in a contest that will push each team forward into even bigger battles as this season continues.
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