Many rivals will look at Andrews and see a man that coached dirty football. The old, "Play until you hear the echo of the whistle" phrase keeps popping up into my head, but is that really dirty coaching or just bad kids? Neither.
Mickey Andrews style of defense was meant to be aggressive and violent. If you didn't sell out on every play, you didn't deserve to be on this defense.
He was the architect to many of the finest defenses the college world ever witnessed. He had multiple consensus All-Americans and many of his players went into the first round of the NFL draft.
He's the man responsible for NFL greats like LeRoy Butler, Deion Sanders, Terrell Buckley, Marvin Jones, Derrick Brooks, and Peter Bouleware.
His legacy should not be seen as the poor product he's fielding now. I blame it on an old man being stubborn to adjust his defense to today's offenses. You have to evolve and Andrews refuses.
Hopefully this FSU struggling defense will wake up and play for something more than themselves. Something more than the university, the fans, the conference. Many of these kids see Mickey Andrews as their father. Honor him, play and fight for family. I'm not trying to pull a, "Win one for the Gipper" sentiment. I just hope these kids realize what good Mickey's doing for the team.
I guess I'll go ahead and start my rantings with Florida State's shoot out against lowly NC State. It's not like the Wolfpack are a bad team, but they haven't scored that many points all season. Struggling offenses must be salivating when they see FSU on their schedule.
Okay, okay, I'll stop considering I just had a fabulous moment writing about Mickey Andrews.
Offensively, the 'Noles had to play the "score for score" game and did so well. Ponder played hurt, but still had a good game. He wasn't the hero though. Jermaine Thomas, who has been quiet all season, racked up 186 rushing yards on 20 carries. The young man from Jacksonville had his best outing since last season and this should be the spark the FSU running game needs.
Luck was on the Seminoles side too. North Carolina State's defensive ends played back during FSU's swing passes to the wide recivers resulting in multiple batted balls. On one particular play in the 4th quarter, one of Ponder's throws was tipped and intercepted by a Wolfpack defensive tackle. I'm not positive who it was, but an FSU offensive player stripped the ball from the Wolfpack defender giving the ball back to the 'Noles. It was a heads-up, lucky play that most likely won the game for Florida State. If the Wolfpack defender just falls instead of trying to run with it, NC State wins.
How does a team score 45 points and almost lose? Oh, that's right. He's retiring...
Sorry, 'Canes, but I didn't care to watch your game over the Gators game. You won. That's good, right?
The Gators absolutely decimated UGA during the annual "Cocktail, Outdoor" thingy. Florida's defense is going to go down as one of the greatest of all time, without a doubt. It's basically a, "Pick your Poison" and it's not even fair for the opposition's offense.
Now, with that being said, Brandon Spikes, you're as dirty as they get. Like, Rodney Harrison dirty. That's not necessarily bad. Harrison is one of the greatest.
No one can defend what Spikes did. He didn't accidentally shove his mitts into Ealey's helmet. If he did, we clearly would've seen Brandon retract his paws from inside the Bulldog's face mask. Instead, he dug harder.
The excuses are laughable, to say the least. "He was retaliating for getting his helmet knocked off and being poked in the eye." Both of which were definitely accidental. I watched it over and over to help justify the excuse and there's no way.
"They spit in Brandon's eyes." I'm sure he felt it through his visor.
"That stuff happens in pile ons all the time." Pile ons, yes. Too bad Spikes jumped in late. Ealey was already down and that type of cheap play happens at the bottom of a pile on where the refs can't see. Not out in the open.
There is no justifying it. It was a cowardice move by a great player. There's no need for that type of garbage in this sport. I don't care if it is a rivalry, get your head on straight and play the game the right way.
I'm not trying to pile on the kid. He's a solid player that apologized for his actions and he has a bright future ahead of him. I'm just disgusted by the fans actually trying to justify the actions.
And Urban Meyer talking to the fans saying, and I paraphrase, Well, you've never played the game, so you don't know what goes on. Great, Urb. I'll remember to never have a logical opinion when hanging around you. I wouldn't want to offend Lord Meyer. Your half game suspension is a joke. The only reason I'm somewhat okay with it is because you're playing Vandy and the game will be over at halftime meaning Spikes probably won't play at all.
I was happy to see Tim look like Tim again. He was incredible with his passes and runs. He looked like the leader of old. And Riley Cooper, alligator arms, with that amazing grab in the endzone, truly broke the dropping curse for the receiving corp which played extremely well for the first time this season.
UF had it's first complete game against good competition this season and there's no way to slow this juggernaut down.
I was proud to see South Florida bounce back against getting drubbed by Pitt to take down a very good West Virginia team this past Friday night at Ray Jay. USF played a very sound, physical style of football. The defense contained the conference rushing leader, Noel Devine, and frustrated QB Jarrett Brown all night.
Offensively, they mixed it up with runs and passes keeping the Mountaineer defense off balance.
BJ Daniels development continues and the young Bulls QB looks like he's back on the proper football track.
Not much to say on the game. I thought USF played their best football of the season.
It'll be a cold one in New Jersey and I see USF losing to Rutgers, Florida running through ease at Vandy, Miami winning at home against Virginia, and Mickey's farewell tour starts in shame as Clemson annihilates Florida State in Death Valley. Have a great rest of the week and awesome weekend!
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