Gator Fans Grumbling. Again.

Remember this from last year?


Or this?

These are silly things that fans sent to me as they expressed their displeasure with the Gator offense. It was right after the loss to Ole Miss, and suddenly every Joe Plumber on the street had become Bob Offensive Coordinator.

It's happening again.

In regular season games during the four previous years under Urban Meyer, the Gators are 18-2 against teams in the SEC East, and 6-6 against teams from the West. Florida always seems to have an ugly game against an SEC West opponent. Usually they lose that game.

But, this time, they won it.

Even after Tebow's famous "Promise" speech last year, Florida stumbled to a 17-7 lead at Arkansas, only to have the offense finally come alive in the 4th quarter - thanks to Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps - for a 38-7 final score.

Suddenly the stars shined brightly again, and the sun and sky had returned to their proper Orange and Blue alignment.

After last week's game, Tim Tebow was asked how he felt about the Gator offense up to this point, and he said, "I'm the quarterback of a team that's 6-0, and I'm pretty happy about that."

The question for Gator fans is why aren't you?

Stand up and scream like hell. Enjoy it. Because in this age of parity in college football, few teams will ever dominate the way Florida has recently.

The Gators have had a bulls eye on their back from the very first day of the season, more so than at any other time ever.

Do you remember who was #1 in the BCS Rankings at the end of the regular season last year? Alabama. Followed by Oklahoma, Texas and then Florida.

Do you know who was #1 going into the bowl game? Oklahoma. Florida had knocked off previously unbeaten and #1 Alabama in the SEC Championship game, and jumped Texas into the #2 spot while Oklahoma assumed the top ranking.

As much as it may be convenient to forget it, the Gators were the underdogs last year. This year, they are the hunted. They'll be expected to win big despite the fact that they're going to get everybody's best game.

Which leads me to Saturday's game against Mississippi State...

The Gators are winless in their last four trips to Starkeville dating back to 1986. Galen Hall lost there. Steve Spurrier lost there. Twice. Ron Zook lost there - the game that cost him his job.

If you've ever been to Starkeville, you understand how difficult it is to get motivated to do anything besides hurry to catch the first bus out of town.

Starkeville is a place that makes Gator fans nervous, and, this year, they are more nervous than ever.

Here are some things I've heard from grumbling Gators:

The offense is disappointing, if not downright terrible.

I'm going to give you two sets of passing numbers from the Arkansas game. You tell me which ones belonged to Ryan Mallett, and which ones belonged to Tim Tebow.

A) 12 completions on 27 attempts for 224 yards, 1 TD, no INT's

B) 17 completions on 26 attempts for 255 yards, 1 TD, no INT's

If you said the first set belonged to Tim Tebow, you are wrong. Despite all the hype about the Arkansas offense and Ryan Mallett's passing abilities, Tebow had a better day, statistically speaking.

It's not always a work of art, and they're not scoring points in bunches like they sometimes did last year, but Florida still leads the SEC in scoring offense, rushing offense and total offense, and they're fifth in passing offense.

The defense is disappointing, if not downright terrible.

There were some breakdowns against Arkansas, and the defense gave up some big plays, but Lawrence Marsh, Justin Trattou and Jermaine Cunningham played hurt, Brandon Spikes left the game very early with a groin injury, and did not return, and Jaye Howard didn't play.

Injuries will still be a key factor against the Bulldogs - several starters will again be hampered or miss the game entirely - but I expect the defense to play with more intensity against an offense that is still finding its way in the first year of a new system. The Arkansas offense was the best the Gators have seen up to this point, and may be the best they will see all year, at least until championship game and bowl time.

Florida still leads the nation in scoring defense, and is second in total defense and pass efficiency defense.

This is going to be a tough game because Bulldog coach Dan Mullen knows what we're going to do on offense.

Why look at it that way? Dan Mullen and Urban Meyer know each other well. Until this year, they had coached together since Mullen became a grad assistant at Notre Dame in 1999 when Meyer was the wide receivers coach. Don't you think Meyer also knows what Mullen is going to do? You know what they're saying in Starkeville? This is going to be a tough game because Urban Meyer knows what we're going to do on offense. Only they have better athletes and more of them.

I have a feeling that Florida's offense will play well in this game. I know the defense will. Something tells me this one won't even be close. But, even if it is, I'm willing to bet that the Gators will find a way to score more points than the other team.

On Sunday, Florida will be 7-0. And, despite the grumbling, I think Gator fans should feel pretty happy about that.