WTF, Dawgs?

Dear Dawgs,

You were ranked preseason #1. You had oodles of returning starters. Matt Stafford had grown into a confident, talented quarterback, and a leader of his great team. And, don't forget - we had Knowshon.

Now, I understand that we lost to Alabama....and now they're ranked tops in the polls. So I get it. They're an awesome team. We were outplayed and outcoached in that game. I get it.

And Florida is a GREAT team too. But we are - or at least I thought we WERE - as good, if not better, than the Gators this year. We came off a great win against LSU, in Baton Rouge, no less. We beat the defending national champs on their home turf, and decidedly so. We were ready for Florida.

But we got ahead of ourselves. And here's how:

!. We turned over the ball. Stafford threw three interceptions and Florida recovered one fumble. That's four turnovers, boys. That's too much to bear, especially when Florida's powerful spread offense capitalized on Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

2. Our field goal attemps were HORRIBLE. Freshman kicker Blair Walsh has only made three of his last eight attempts. Inexcusable. Period.

3. I know that I don't know football as well as many, but the decision to try an on-sides kick with 11 minutes left in the first half was the DUMBEST idea I think I've ever seen. We weren't even behind THAT badly yet...but when Florida recovered the kick on our 40 yard line...we all knew that the inevitable was coming...they were going to score on us. Again.

4. Florida's defensive line knew where our star running back Knowshon Moreno was at all times. Literally. They had him in double coverage the nanosecond after each play began. This killed our running game. And well, if you want to know how our passing game went, please refere to item #1.

So, bottom line...we were outplayed. Outcoached. But this time, we didn't have to be. We played a thorougly crappy game of football on Saturday, and I'm still steamed about it (in case you couldn't tell...).

But - we have three games to go...and they're not necessarily going to be easy. We have to finish strong...and pray to God that Stafford doesn't jump ship to the pros this year.

And dawgs, you know I am not a fair-weather fan. Hell, I stayed with you in the lean years (Donnan) and in the REALLY lean years (Goff). I've hung with you when Vandy beat us in 2006, when we lost to Tech in 1998...I've even been there for you every single year that Steve Spurrier beat y'all like a red-headed stepchild. And I still love you.

But really, WTF?

Love,
Tempe