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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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.

Here is the news all Gators fans were wanting to hear–Chris Rainey has put on 12 pounds, is learning the offense better, and teammates are beginning to see him becoming a more complete Running Back. In my opinion, Rainey has the best chance of any player on the team to fill the “Percy Position.” He has the same quick step with more top end speed but won’t be able to run between the tackles like Percy could. Gator fans everywphere hope he keeps developing and is  a full time contributor on this year’s team instead of a role player.

Randy Shannon spins to da U of Coral Gables when going after new recruits. I like how he just uses the stats for Coral Gables, a town about 4 times smaller than Gainesville, for his crime rates. If you use the same site Shannon used for his reports for the Miami area you get these numbers: Murders: 70,Rapes: 432, Robberies: 2341, Assaults: 6420, Burglaries: 9381, Thefts: 33802, and Auto thefts: 7025. As a friend told me “Anyone who’d fall for this is too stupid to be admitted to UF anyway.”

There is a Battle at Safety everyday at practice. Coach Meyer breaks it down like this, “The safeties battle is pretty tight right now because we have four guys who can play like starters here.” Will Hill say his goal is to start this season. “If I want to get that job, then I have to be better than the next guy in every little last thing.”

Florida coach Urban Meyer admits he’ll take No. 1 any time. Us Gator Fans will take the #1 ranking anytime as long as the Gators are in the same spot at the end of the season.

“Someone asked me that question and I heard someone say I hope we’re never ranked No. 1,” Meyer said. “I hope we’re ranked No. 1 every year for the next 10. I’ll take it right now. That means we’re really good and we’ve got really good players. That’s obviously not going to happen because of recruiting and who’s going to leave early and all that. We don’t really pay much attention to it, but if someone asks me would you rather be 114 or No. 1, I’ll take No. 1 because that means you have really, really  good players.”

In his blog Pat Dooley wonders about Sitting Tebow. With all the talk about Joe Haden playing QB, and John Brantley getting more snaps what is Tebow going to do? Last year all we heard were questions of  Tebow’s ability to make tit hrough a season without getting hurt. This yearthe question has become one of his  getting enough snaps to put up the stats to be in the running for a second Heisman?

Tim Tebow, Gators welcomes the “haters” - “There are going to be haters, but you know what?” Tebow said. “I don’t really care.” Tim, we don’t either. Nobody hates on you unless you are on the top.

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?