One Eyed Observations: Florida/LSU, Bobby Bowden, and Tim Tebow’s Brain

We’re batting maybe .500 when it comes to getting Wednesdays with Willy up on an actual Wednesday. So here’s an exciting new name change. As before, I ask the questions;

Will the winner of Florida/LSU go on to play for the national title? Being able to predict if either of these teams can win the national title is incredibly difficult mainly because either of these teams will first have to go through Atlanta and the SEC Championship Game and we all know that winning that game in some ways is harder than winning the national championship. So let’s rephrase the question…“Will the winner of Florida/LSU go on to play for the SEC championship?” The answer to this question is yes IF AND ONLY IF Florida beats LSU, but not if LSU beats Florida. This is Florida’s game of the year. If Florida wins it, especially if they win it without the help of Saint Tebow, I don’t think they lose a game the rest of the regular season. But even with an LSU win this weekend, I still don’t think they will be the favorite to make it to the SEC Championship Game out of the SEC West. I still think they are going to have a lot of trouble with Alabama and Auburn (and maybe Ole Miss to a lesser degree). So if Florida wins, I think we are on our way to Atlanta and possibly to Pasadena. If LSU wins, I think they are on their way to the next game on their schedule.

The way the Bobby Bowden situation is being treated, right or wrong? Should Jim Smith have kept everything inside the program? I think both Bobby Bowden and representatives of FSU are handling the divorce of the legendary coach from the program about as bad as they possibly can. It is no secret what Bowden has done for the game of college football in Tallahassee, in Florida, and throughout the country. Before he got to FSU, the three major Florida teams were not on the national college football radar. Bowden is the single biggest reason why Miami had success in the late 80s and early 90s, why FSU had success throughout the 90s and why Florida had success in the late 90s and 2000s. He almost single-handedly brought college football to the State of Florida. With that said, Bobby has held on about five years too long. I truly believe he is at the point in his career where he is actually doing a disservice to himself, his players and his university by sticking around. He should have realized by now that his career as a head football coach is behind him and should have had enough respect for the program that he built to step aside.

With that said, no Trustee at FSU should ever talk bad about Bowden in public. If the Trustees or President of FSU feel that there needs to be a head coaching change, they should have enough respect for Bowden to talk to him behind closed doors and out of the national spotlight. When I saw what Jim Smith said scroll across the bottom of ESPN I truly felt really bad for Bowden. After all he has done for FSU, to have a Trustee (who we all know only got to have that position because he is ridiculously rich) say something like that about a guy who has done more for FSU than Jim Smith will ever think to do is completely uncalled for and absurd. Not to mention, what good would it do to fire Bowden in the middle of the season? It’s not like he is really doing all that much coaching as it is or that they have some young Hall of Fame caliber coach waiting in the wings. What they should have done was announce at the beginning of the year that this was going to be Bobby’s final year as head coach. That way he could have a “farewell tour” like he most certainly deserves.

By the way, I did a little research on the great Jimbo Fisher to see how he stacks up against the often cursed Jeff Bowden. And would you believe that the win/loss record and offensive production of FSU under Jeff Bowden was actually better than it currently is under Jimbo Fisher. Jeff Bowden was OC from 2001 to 2006 (he was fired after the Wake Forest game in 2006). During that time period, FSU went 49-25 overall (0.66 winning percentage) and 34-14 in the ACC (0.71 winning percentage). In addition, the offense during those years averaged 29.5 points per game. Jimbo Fisher took over OC duties in 2007. Since then, FSU has gone 18-13 overall (0.58 winning percentage) and 9-9 in the ACC (0.50 winning percentage) and the offense is putting up on average of 28.1 points per game. I know the ACC is more difficult than it once was with the addition of Virginia Tech and Miami, but I am not so sure that the future looks bright under the watchful eye of Mr. Jimbo Fisher. Don’t you think that maybe, just maybe, Jimbo was a highly sought after assistant coach more so because he coached under Nick Saban than because he actually is a good coach?

Knowing what you know right now, should Tebow play? Or is it best for him to sit out? If Tebow is 100% cleared by doctors and cleared to play than he certainly should play. If Tebow isn’t cleared by doctors than he shouldn’t play. That sounds simple – mainly because it is simple. I am not sure why some people are saying that even if he is cleared he shouldn’t play because of this reason or that reason. I am going to assume that the medical staff at UF knows more about brain injuries than I do. So if they ok Tebow to play (which means that he has not only recovered from the concussion but can’t hurt himself more by playing), I think without a doubt he gives us our best chance to win and therefore he should play. John Brantley is a good QB right now and has the chance to be great, but he is certainly no Tebow at this stage of his career. I truly believe that if Tebow is able to play, he will not only play at LSU but he will have one of the best games of his career. Tebow is just that guy!