On November 6, Florida actually kicked off before Penn State. Their game was a nooner and ours vs. Northwestern was at 3:30p. This may only be interesting if you consider that Ohio State had the day off and wonder what Terelle Pryor and friends' garage sale negotiations looked and sounded like ('Fool, do you know who I am? TPeezy's shared ring don't go for less than two gees, and you KNOW this!') In any event, the unranked 6-3 (4-3 SEC) Gators traveled to Nashville to take on the 2-7 (1-5 SEC) Vanderbilt Commodores and their first-year head coach Robbie Caldwell in front of an announced 'crowd' of 33,848. They then thrashed them soundly, 55-14.
There's just no way a recap of this game could get anywhere close to as interesting as marveling over the performance of some very key Buckeyes (seriously AD Gene Smith?: These young men went into the decisions 'with the right intent, to help their families.'), but we'll plug along. Florida had an offensive field day. On 24 first downs, they racked up 480 yards (277 passing / 203 rushing) and 8 (eight!) touchdowns. They still managed a fumble and an interception, and they were flagged for a whopping 11 penalties for 68 yards. Chris Rainey (remember that guy?) was actually a star on the day, blocking two punts and catching a 40yd touchdown. Track star Jeff Demps remained out.
About the only other thing I found possibly interesting for us as an upcoming opponent was Urban Meyer delivering on his promise to get Jordan Reed, a 4* FR QB who's listed at 6'3", 240, some more passing work. Reed finished 11/19 for 120, 1 TD, 1 INT in relief of John Brantley, who went 11/18 for 156 with 2 TDs, 0 INTs. We did dig up a few quotes though:
On if he saw this coming:
"Shoot, no. If I did I wouldn't tell you. I knew Florida was that good and knew they had an opportunity. They are playing some young people and got them fitted into the right slots now. They used [Trey] Burton and played fast to try and confuse us. It was very difficult. The officials did a good job today keeping things under wrap. We were able to adjust and do some things." - Vanderbilt coach Robbie Caldwell
On his first touchdown pass since the Kentucky game:
"It felt good. I mean it was a heck of a catch by Rainey. It kind of floated on me and slipped out of my hand. I'm not used to this cold weather, but it was a great catch by Rainey and all my other receivers did a great job." - Florida starting QB John Brantley
"I paid for my tats. Go Bucks.' - Terelle Pryor
On the Ohio State Athletic Department's rules-education practices:
"We were not as explicit with our student-athlete education as we should have been in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years regarding the sale of apparel, awards and gifts issued by the athletics department," Smith said. "We began to significantly improve our education in November of 2009 to address these issues. After going through this experience, we will further enhance our education for all our student-athletes as we move forward." - Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith
"I suppose the older you are, the more you understand the difficulty of what’s gone into having a chance to earn those things. I don’t know what's in the minds of a 19-year-old. It might be, 'I'm going to win four more of these, so I’m going to help out at home [by selling] this one.'" - Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel