Florida Gators swamped

Thanks to the magical millions of Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, former Florida Gator coach Steve Spurrier bounced. Enter Ron Zook.

Zook believes that his Gators can be as prosperous as the team from the previous year that won the Orange Bowl and finishing 10-2. However this season, the Gators are not having a season worthy of Disney World. In fact last Saturday's match-up against the Ole' Miss Rebels was more like Splash Mountain.

Florida entered the contest ranked eighth in the nation with only one defeat on the season to the undefeated, returning national champion, the Miami Hurricanes. The loss to the Hurricanes was not a letdown in any fashion, as no team has defeated the Canes in the last two seasons. But a loss to the hands of Ole' Miss would be a letdown, so with the table set, Florida did the unthinkable _ it disappointed.

All the tangibles were set for another Florida win. The halftime score was 14-2 Gators, Rex Grossman was the game's leading passer with 205 yards and Ernest Graham led with 52 yards on the ground. What the numbers did not show is Ole' Miss' 15 point explosion in the third quarter to sedate the Gators for good.

This was completely unexpected as star Rebel QB Eli Manning only tossed for 154 yards and is usually the pulse of Ole' Miss (4-1). Defense was the key for Ole' Miss as Grossman completed two passes in the third quarter to Rebel defenders. The second of the two was returned for the go-ahead and game-winning touchdown.

Although Manning did not throw for a touchdown, the Rebel defense pushed the Gators to a 17-14 loss and into a second place tie for the SEC East crown. Ole' Miss is 2-0 in the SEC and tied for first in the SEC West.

In case readers have forgotten, the Wac-10 still sucks. Last weekend's games illustrated that Pac-10 football is still very competitive, but that the teams still fail to be top-notch.

The California Golden Bears are quietly putting together a good season. After going to Michigan State and handling the Spartans, some were still a bit skeptical. After this weekend's victory over the now 18th-ranked Washington Huskies, the Bears might be as legit as any Pac-10 team can be.

Cal showed just how grizzly they are by scoring in every quarter, staying one step ahead of Washington all game. On a positive side for the Huskies, QB Cody Pickett threw for 399 yards in the losing effort.

Also in non-interesting fashion USC QB Carson Palmer tossed for a game high 381 yards for the loss. The Washington State Cougars had a touch more juice than the Trojans as they dragged out an overtime victory 30-27. The Cougars, who have the tightest uniforms in NCAA Football 2003, upped its record to 5-1 and a perfect 2-0 in Pac-10 play. USC plays one of the toughest schedules in the country and have emerged 3-2. The Washington State victory has them ranked 13th in the country and USC dropping to 24th.

The Texas Longhorns have been ranked second all season, so with nothing to lose Oklahoma State proceeded to play balls to the wall and came within two points of upsetting the National Championship hopefuls. Texas' pre-season All-Americans, QB Chris Simms and running back Cedric Benson had big days, but the Cowboy defense managed to keep the high-powered offense out of the end zone.

Some believe the Longhorns left its stomach exposed by looking ahead to next week's showdown against conference foe and third ranked Oklahoma Sooners. Texas is now 5-0 and Oklahoma remained undefeated at 5-0, setting up a huge showdown this weekend in Austin, Texas.