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Moody Makes An Impact On Gators' Running Game

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By MICK ELLIOTT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 21, 2008

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Conspicuous by his absence in Florida's offense in the Gators' opening two games, Emmanuel Moody finally had a chance to run Saturday.

The sophomore transfer from Southern Cal finally got his chance to run Saturday and took advantage of the opportunity to contribute 55 yards on nine carries to lead Florida running backs.

"I feel really good right now but I'm not going to get too excited because it's a team game. The next game I might not ever play, but I'm going to keep on working hard and keep on doing my job."

Moody had admitted huge disappointment after not getting off the bench two weeks ago against Miami. After that game Florida coach Urban Meyer had said Moody "was too good a football player," not to be used. Nevertheless, the former Pac-10 freshman of the year said he had no indication of the opportunities he would get against Tennessee.

After averaging 6.1 yards a carry against Tennessee, Meyer praise the 6-foot, 210-pounder, but also gave an indication for the previous lack of action.

"Moody was very tight with the football," Meyer said. "The first spring practice you could see the top of the football. Now you can only see but elbow and forearm. That's good ball security. I know he's talented. That's not the issue. But a lot of talented guys spill the ball all over the place. Not our guys or you won't play. I though he really took care of the ball. I mean really took care of the ball."

EARLY HIT: Florida landed the first hit before Saturday's game began, as its fans landed a cyber attack on the Tennessee Volunteers.

It seems a Gators computer hacker went on the Wikipedia page for "Tennessee Volunteers football," and performed some hearty editing.

The site was altered to read, "The Tennessee Volunteers football team, known locally as ... The we can't even come close to putting it in the newspaper, are the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), NCAA division I football team. ... Their last national championship was in the 1998 college football season, which was a decade ago, thus qualifying them as 'has-beens.'"

The page was swiftly restored, but a screen grab of the damage was sent to various news sites.

TRUTH IS THE TRUTH: Maybe Tennessee fans are more realistic than they are loyal.

In an Internet poll conducted by the Knoxville News Sentinel that appeared in Saturday morning's paper, 8,356 fans voted for their projected Florida-Tennessee winner and the victory margin.

Leading the way with 39 percent was Florida by 20 or more, followed by 26 percent predicting Florida by 10-19.

DEFENSE DIDN'T REST: After giving up a single touchdown to Tennessee, the Florida defense has allowed three opponents a combined 22 points.

Tennessee, powered predominately by its running game, ran for a net 96 yards on 31 carries against Florida.

"I think we made a statement that the tradition of Florida's defense is back and we want to play well every weekend," linebacker Brandon Spikes said. "Just try to get it done and get the ball back to the offense."

GATOR BITES: Despite an "ESPN GameDay" report that Florida quarterback Tim Tebow had a bet with country and western recording star and Tennessee fan Kenny Chesney that would have required him to sing "Rocky Top" in a public performance had the Gators lost, the quarterback insisted it was not true. The two are friendly, however, with Chesney once bringing Tebow onto the stage to join him during a concert. ... Meyer joined Steve Spurrier as the only coaches to defeat a Phil Fulmer-led Tennessee team in four consecutive seasons. ... Tennessee is 1-2 but the Vols also started last year with the same record and regrouped to win the SEC East.

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