So how many times did you get grief  over playing Charleston Southern last week? The guys over at Orange & Blue Hue ask if anyone wants to complain about the schedule now? Simply put Georgia,Virginia Tech, and Oklahoma fans all wished their teams played cupcakes in week one.

Where did Uga's Mojo Go?

Mark Bradley of the AJC after watching the Dawgs for two years sees  something missing at UGA, and it isn’t talent. Maybe that slice of Time-Out Pie that Coach Urban Meyer served them up last year took some of their mojo away. The season is still young, so the Dawgs can’t be wrote off. Reading some of the Bulldog sites a lot of them have already done just that.

After the first game all the buzz was about Riley Cooper showing he was ready to be number one target for Tebow, and also for yaking after catching three passes in a row.

Coach Meyer said after the game, “Riley played like he practiced. He’s playing as good as he’s ever played. I know it’s been one game, but the way he practiced, I knew he was ready for a breakout game.”

Tim Tebow played less than a half, but both Olin Buchanan and the Rivals.com Fan Poll still has him in the lead for the Heisman Trophy. Yes that is a Heisman Trophy poll after the first week of the season.

On to week two, with the Troy Trojans paying a visit to The Swamp. Florida Coach Urban Meyer says not to take this team lightly, and they have more NFL talent than “several” Southeastern Conference teams the Gators will play this season. It may be easy to over look Troy after they got off to a bad start to their season with one of Coach Meyer’s old teams in Bowling Green.

The flu has hit the Gators this week just like many football teams across college football. Urban Meyer is monitoring his players’ flu situation closely. Right now Brandon Hicks and Nick Alajajian have been reported to have the flu.

Jelani Jenkins looks like he will be out due to an ankle sprain. While the defensive line could get a boost as Lawrence Marsh was able to practice Wednesday. Also Carl Johnson after limping off the field in the CSU game will be ready to go against Troy.

GatorsNow is spanning the internet to see what the reactions were after the Charleston Southern game. The Gators were able to kick their 2009 season off and try and answer some of the questions facing the team.

A lot of them were answered in a short period of time. First the running game is legit, the Gators were able to rush for 369 yard with a lot of big plays from Rainey, Demps, and Moody. The Gators did show some of their quick strike offense after a 68 yard pass to Cooper then a quick snap for a 9 yard TD by Jeff Demps.

Cooper looked great hauling in 5 passes for 105 yards, and at one point catching 3 in a row. Deonte Thompson and Brandon James did drop what would have been 2 TD passes by Tebow. The Gators need the WR to step up and show they are SEC ready.

The Gators defense played a lot of base D and didn’t show a lot of blitzs. At times CSU was able to move the ball with quick passes, and hit a couple deep balls over Wondy Pierre-Louis who was filling in for Janoris Jenkins. Jenkins was sitting from his summer fight and run in with the law. Also Jermaine Cunningham did not play. Coach Meyer would only say, “He wasn’t ready to play.”

ESPN/AP reported:

Although Florida opened its most anticipated season in school history with a near-perfect performance, it came against an overmatched team from the Football Championship Subdivision.

“It’s hard to evaluate that game,” coach Urban Meyer said.

Florida, an overwhelming favorite to repeat as national champs, accomplished everything it wanted to in the opener, though. The Gators unveiled some new wrinkles, won the game in convincing fashion and avoided any major injuries.

Andrea Adelson of the Orlando Sentinel had these nuggets from the game:

On Riley Cooper, who had five catches for 105 yards, “Riley played like he practiced. He’s playing as good as he’s ever played. I know it’s been one game, but the way he practiced, I knew he was ready for a breakout game.”

John Brantley had a solid outing, going 8-of-12 for 67 yards with 2 TDs. He also ran six times for 44 yards. “It was fun watching him and being able to encourage him,” Tebow said.

LG Carl Johnson injured his knee, but Meyer said he was hoping it was just a bruise and listed the player as probable for next week.

Pat Dooley Grades the Gators:

OVERALL: A-

Not much opposition but the usual stars showed their stuff in the blowout victory for the Gators.

Read more for the full box score of the game.

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Mr. 2 Bits Will Be Missed

Two Bits! Four Bits! Six Bits! A Dollar! – All for the Gators Stand up and holler! It is time to hear this echo throughout The Swamp, but this will be first time in a long time that Mr. 2 Bits is not leading the cheer. Will this give Charleston Southern what they need to bet the Gators? Well Pine Riders Anonymous found four Ways Charleston Southern Can Beat Florida. If you buy into this I’ve got some ocean front property in Arizona up for sale.

Florida voted for its 2009 team captains this week. Brandon James, Joey Sorrentino, Brandon Spikes, Ryan Stamper, and Tim Tebow will be this year’s captains. Spikes, Stamper, and Tebow are returning captains from last season.

Dan Shanoff over at TimTeblog.com looks deeper into the question of Tebow making it at the next level. He comes to the conclusion that it will depend on the NFL coach for whom Tebow plays. No matter what Tebow does at the next level, a ton of people have already labeled him the greatest college football player (or at least used Tebow and greatest in the title to get readers to read more). Let’s take a look at this long list of such articles:

• MSNBC Sports - Tebow greatest college athlete of all-time
• NCAA Fanhouse - Tebow May Be Greatest of All Time, but Not of Any Time
• The Biglead - The greatest player in college football history, Tim Tebow
• ESPN - Needs to be Discussed: Tim Tebow, All-Time Evaluation?
• CBS Sports - The best? Surely you jest — but Tebow just might be the greatest
• The Sporting News - Shanoff’s WUC: Why Tebow Will Be Best Ever
• B/R - Confessions of a Seminoles Fan: Tim Tebow Is the Greatest of All Time
• St. Pete Times - Is Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow the best college football player ever?
• SI.com - Tim Tebow poised to pass Vince Young as all-time greatest player
• B/R - Tim Tebow: The Greatest College Football Player Ever?
• WJHG - Is Tebow the best college player ever?
• PlayingField - Is Tim Tebow The Greatest College Player Ever?
• Sun Sentinel - Tim Tebow the best ever? Bobby Bowden doesn’t think he’s better than Charlie Ward
• Jacksonville.com - Is Tebow the best college player ever?
• Washington Times - Is Tebow the best ever? Maybe
• YardBarker - The Greatest of All Time

Jarred Fayson would have been a top candidate for Tebow’s go to receiver this year. Adam West (not Batman) takes a look at what could have been in his blog post - SEC blog: Fayson would have been UF go-to guy? I’m in agreement that Fayson would have been able to put up big numbers this year in the Gators’ spread offense, but he should still have a great year at Illinois, puting up big numbers agaist Big 10 defenses.

It is less than one week until the kickoff of the 2009 season. On Saturday, September 5, Charleston Southern University comes into The Swamp to take on the defending BCS National Champs. The Gators are paying $450,000 to get CSU to travel to Gainesville. So who are the Charleston Southern University Buccaneers?

Gators vs Bucs

The Buccaneers are a member The Big South Conference, and have been picked to finish fifth from The Big South media. Head coach Jay Mills, now in his seventh year at CSU, holds a 34-33 record with the Bucs. They are going to have a new starting quarterback when the come in to The Swamp. This with be their fourth starting QBs in as many years.

CSUsports.com reports - “Who starts the Florida game for us will very much depend on the shape each quarterback reports in,” said Coach Jay Mills. “We have great competition and depth at each position, and that is no different at the quarterback spot. We know they have both worked hard and will continue to do so, so our staff will evaluate them daily. It is our policy never to move anyone down in the depth chart, it will be up to the other guys to step up and take the starting role.”

Does this mean they are going to be a complete push over for the Gators? AP writer Pete Iacobelli got this quote from Running back Antwan Ivey, “We’ve got a notion we can shock the world,” he said. “We’re not going in thinking we’ll lose. I want to win.”

I don’t think we are going to see an Appalachian State performance from CSU. Here is how we should judge the game, and what to look for.

1. Does the Gators first team defense completely dominate CSU offense? While they are on the field the defense that returns all starters should not give up any points and we need to see the Defensive Line own the line of scrimmage. We should also keep an eye on Omar Hunter, Troy Epps, Earl Okine, and William Green to see if they are able keep up where the first team left off.

2. Is John Brantley ready for prime-time? The first time the Gator Nation got to see how Tim Tebow would manage a game was the 2nd half of the Western Carolina, so do the Gators put this game away early in the first half and allow Brantley to get the majority of work in the second half of the game? It would even be nice if Jordan Reed were able to get some game action.

3. Does any Wide Receiver want to be the man? Riley Cooper and Deonte Thompson will get the start at wide out, and they need to show one of them can replace Louis Murphy. The Gators Wide Receivers were a question mark all summer long, but in the last week have added new worries. Freshman WR Andre Debose’s hamstring injury is not going away and may be worse that thought. Also Senior Carl Moore’s career may be in doubt due to a back injury.

4. Keep the Injuries away! In a game like this the main thing you want is all the players to come off the field with out any injuries.

The game will air on Sun Sports in Florida and throughout the SEC region on FOX Sports South and FOX Sports Southwest. The game will also be called on the Gators Radio Network and XM Radio.

After the SEC Media Days, we found out one thing about the 2009 College Football Season: it is going to be All Tebow, All the Time. Blogger Dan Sanoff is going to spend all season just covering Tim Tebow on his blog TimTeblog.com. He won’t have any trouble finding content with the crazy media coverage Tim has got so far this year. Who will be the first media outlet to break the news when Tebow shaves his beard?

Future of Gators Football

Did you miss the Big South Media Day? If so, you missed the news that the Gators are opening up against a team picked 5th out of 7 for the Big South.  So with a Division I Football Championship Subdivision team picked to finish near the bottom of their conference as an opponent, how do you gauge any success from the game? If we don’t see the second team take the field right after halftime, then something has gone badly wrong. Maybe the Gator Nation will get to watch a lot of the future after Tim Tebow. John Brantley should get plenty of reps to show Gators fan there is nothing to worry about with him under center.

Jeremy Fowler focuses on how the Young Gators are trying to catch Urban Meyer’s eye the first week of practice. Jon Bostic is already making a push to get in the starting line up on the Gators defense, while Xavier Nixon has Coach Meyer saying “there’s a chance” he’ll get quality snaps in 2009.” Stephen Alli was a nice surprise to the 2009 class, but signs are pointing towards a red-shirt year for him while he tries to figure out the offense and speed of the game. Andre Debose is still nursing the hamstring injury, which has him behind where coaches want him right now.

Just in case the Gators need a change of pace, Chris Low reports:  Haden looking to be Tebow’s backup. Joe played QB in High School and would and natural replacement for Percy Harvin in the “wildcat” packages.

Omar Hunter the “Tim Tebow of the 2008″ class has shown some signs that he is going to make an impact this season. For the first time in a long time the Gators can say there is some depth at Defensive Tackle with Lawrence Marsh and Terron Sanders returning, along with Jaye Howard, Omar Hunter, and Freshman Gary Brown to battle for the back up spots.

A Sea of Blue asked What do Urban Meyer and John Calipari Have in Common? Does the Spread Option and the Dribble Drive Motion offense give them an advantage in recruiting?

Florida Gators prepare to defend the Perpetual National Championship against Charleston Southern September 5th in Ben Hill Griffith Stadium. This will be Florida’s 27th chance at the title, which they’ve won 11 times.

College Football Heavyweight Champs

Charleston Southern University will play for the “Grandaddy of All National Championships,” the Perpetual National Championship, September 5th when the Buccaneers face off against current title holder, the University of Florida. The Gators took the title from Oklahoma in the 2009 BCS game. This will be the 1,359th title game for the Perpetual National Championship. The Gators have played in 27 of those title games and have won or defended the title eleven times. The last time Florida held the title was in 2007, when after winning and defending the title five consecutive times, the Gators lost to Auburn 20-17 on a last minute field goal by Auburn’s Wes Byrum.

What is the Perpetual National Championship?

The Perpetual National Championship is awarded to college football teams in a continuous series of boxing-style title matches. The title is contested every time the holder of the title takes the field. The first title was won by Rutgers in 1869 when they defeated Princeton 6-5 in the first college football game. Princeton won the title back seven days later, beating Rutgers 8-0. The winner of the tittle match wins an award affectionately referred to as The Perp. The All-Time Perp is the team who won or defended the Perpetual National Championship the most times. To determine the All-tIme Perp, teams were given one point for winning or defending the title and zero points for a tie. Since Division I-A college football doesn’t currently have a playoff and relies on voters to determine a championship game, the Perpetual National Championship is the only national championship decided on the field.

The Perpetual National Championship has several advantages over the current mythical national championship determined by the Bowl Championship Series.

• It continues college football’s emphasis on the regular season because the title is contested every time the title-holder takes the field.

• It can co-exist with the current BCS system or any future playoff and will often have a different champion than other national championships.

• It doesn’t rely on biased votes from coaches and assistants, like those of the USA Today coaches poll, or uninformed parties like the Harris Poll.

• The lesser conferences and independent teams get to play for the title anytime a larger school has the courage to schedule them.

To find out more on the Perpetual National Championship visit their website.