Enemy Blogger Interview: Florida

Gators in the Gator Bowl. Hmph.

The Gator Bowl is only 2 days away Buckeye fans. With that being said, it's time to learn about the 2011 Florida Gators. Andy Hutchins from Alligator Army joins us, and was nice enough to answer our questions about the the Gator squad, and how they match up against Ohio State.

Both Florida and Ohio State did not have the season that either fan bases expected from their team. Will Muschamp and Luke Fickell were both first year head coaches. What do Florida fans think of the 2011 season overall?


In general, Gator Nation's pretty disappointed. Florida's 6-6 record is lower than it ever was, even under Ron Zook, and those years had more exciting offenses and more promise burbling than this year seemed to have.

The Gator Bowl has been called "The Urban Meyer Bowl" for obvious reasons. How do Florida fans feel about Meyer coming out of retirement to coach the Buckeyes, instead of the Gators?


No one has renamed the Gator Bowl but TaxSlayer.com, I think, but Florida fans are in one of two camps on Meyer: Either they have come to terms with him being a mercenary and resigned themselves to wishing him well, or they have taken his decision to coach Ohio State as a defection and branded him a traitor and a liar. I'm more in the first camp than the second.

Basketball Preview: #3 Ohio State vs. #8 Florida

Matta has another talented squad

A lot of teams would rather not have a huge test in their second game of the season.

But that's just fine with No. 3 Ohio State and No. 7 Florida.

"I love playing a game like this," Buckeyes preseason All-American Jared Sullinger said about the Tuesday night showdown. "They have a team that comes in and they like to transition and they like to shoot 3s, they like to score. And they're also physical down low. This really determines what type of a team we are. Are we strong enough to handle the transition 3s back to back and then come down and score? Or are we just going to crumble?"

They met in the second game for each last year, too. In that one, Ohio State's veteran presence on the perimeter showed it was a perfect match with Sullinger, a callow freshman with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the Buckeyes coasted in Gainesville, Fla., 93-75.

"Even though they beat us handily at our place last year, I still felt coming out of that game a lot of things, for us, got exposed that we had to address and get better at. It ultimately ended up being a good game for us," Gators coach Billy Donovan said.

Donovan and Matta might not seem like kindred spirits. But they're best friends, trading calls and getting together whenever possible except for when they're opposing each other.

"He's one of the good guys," Matta said of the coach that beat his Buckeyes in the 2006 NCAA title game. "We bounce things off of each other through the course of the season. We always laugh because we like to get together and talk basketball, but when we're playing each other we don't want to divulge any secrets."

There aren't a whole lot of secrets to reveal. Both teams are defending conference champions. Both are also replacing three starters and have a talented group of freshmen.