Passes and Picks

QBs looking for new jobs

How well has Freshman Chris Leak done as the starting QB for the Gators?

Well enough to chase his backups to new endeavors.

Second string Ingle Martin, a redshirt sophomore, is looking to transfer to a Div. I-AA school next year. Martin was 2-2 as a starter for the Gators at the beginning of the season, before being replaced by Leak.

Third string QB Gavin Dickey will be trying out for the Gator Baseball team for the coming season. Dickey is also considering moving to another position on the football team for the upcoming season.

Patrick Dosh, who transferred to East Carolina, was chased out of town by the deep talent at the beginning of the season.

Leak has risen to the demands of starting for one of the highest profile teams in the nation and has looked more like a fifth-year Senior than a Frosh.

Leak is 6-2 since being named the starter before the Kentucky Game, beating top-ten teams LSU and Georgia, and looking as good as he could in the stolen FSU game.

He's completed over 60 percent of his passes and scored 14 TDs in the air and two on the ground.

And he'll be back next year and probably the year after that. It's way to early to say this, but Chris Leak could end up bringing Florida its second national championship and its third Heisman Trophy.

I may have been wrong about Zook. He may turn out not to be the worst coach Florida has seen after all.

But I was definitely right about Leak. He's the QB of the present and the future and he could lead us to the Promised Land. 

Florida 34, Florida State 38. Gators win.

I've been thinking about the headline since halftime. I was hoping the headline would be "Gators beat Seminoles, Refs in blowout."

But it isn't. The Gators overcame the Seminoles but just couldn't beat the refs. Now I hate blaming the referees for a loss. They have a tough job to do and sometimes they make bad calls. But this game was ridiculous.

Just ask the Gainesville Sun's Pat Dooley or the Alligator's Jeremy Fowler or ESPN's reporter.

It was disgusting. Every story on the game gives a different number, but there was a very large sum of misappropriate or questionable calls. I counted at least four that could have been called better from the Saturn blimp circling the stadium.

First, on the opening kickoff the officials called FSU returner Antonio Cromartie down before he let go of the ball, when it was clear to anyone actually watching the game that he had fumbled and the Gators had recovered deep in Seminole territory.

Then what was clearly a catch and a fumble, recovered once again by the Gators, was ruled incomplete. Apparently to complete a pass the receiver must catch the ball, turn and take three steps and sign a sworn affidavit attesting to the fact that he caught the ball. The receiver missed only the last step of the process.

Either of those calls could have turned the tide of the game, but the next two definitely did. With the Seminoles driving inside the five-yard line, Greg Jones fumbled the ball, which was recovered yet again by the Gators. He was ruled down before the gave up the ball. The 'Noles turned that gimmee into a touchdown, a 7 point swing of the game.

Finally, the zebras called one the opposite way and said a player was not down when he coughed up the ball when nearly every part of his body was touching the ground. Unfortunately, that player was a Gator and the "fumble" was picked up and taken to the endzone by a 'Nole. That makes 14 points on the scoreboard for the 'Noles that they didn't actually score.

Then there was another FSU fumble, returned for a score by the Gators that was taken back. An FSU fumble on kickoff return, recovered by the Gators, but the Gators were thrown a late flag for offsides. Then there was the blatant holding by FSU on the game winning TD pass in the fourth quarter. Then there was...

There are always questionable calls by officials. Some games even have blatantly horrible calls. Never have I seen a game with such horrible calls all against the same team.

The score may not reflect it, but the Gators played a far superior game than the 'Noles, and every fan cheering for the team as they went to the locker room knew it.

A record 90,407 saw the Gators outplay the 'Noles on Saturday. I just wish the seven who count the most had actually seen the game.