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at LSU UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA SATURDAY, OCT. 6, 2007 TIGER STADIUM (91,600) BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 2007 GATOR FOOTBALL 8:28 p.m. ET Kickoff WEEKLY GAME NOTES RELEASED: OCT. 6, 2007 FLORIDA SET FOR SHOWDOWN AGAINST LSU GATOR STORYLINES Two of the nation’s top ranked teams meet Saturday, Oct. 6, for the 54th time in the history of the Florida head coach Urban Meyer is 10-1 follow- series. CBS’ coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET and kickoff is set for 8:28 p.m. ET. The night meeting in ing a loss. Coach Meyer-led teams have dropped Baton Rouge is the first between the Gators and Tigers since 1997. Florida leads the all-time series, back-to-back games only once during his seven- 28-22-3 and is 15-12 in Baton Rouge. The Gators enter the contest 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the year career (Bowling Green vs. Northern Illinois, Southeastern Conference, while LSU is 5-0 on the year and 3-0 in the league. Nov. 9, 2002, and South Florida, Nov. 16, 2002). COACHING MATCHUP LSU will be the the highest-ranked opponent an Both Florida head coach Urban Meyer and LSU head coach Les Miles were among the 21 current Urban Meyer-coached team has ever faced in the head coaches that started with their current school in the 2005 season. The chart below compares the regular season. LSU has only been defeated twice two head coaches while with their current teams: in Baton Rouge when the Tigers are ranked in- Coach Meyer Coach Miles side the top five (15-7, vs. Ole Miss, Nov. 3, 1962 Total Wins 26 27 and 30-27, OT, vs. Tenn., Sept. 26, 2005). There has never been an underclassman quarterback in National Titles 10 NCAA history to lead a team to a win over a top- Conference Titles 10five ranked LSU team in Baton Rouge. BCS Bowl Wins 11 Bowl Wins 22 Wins at Home 16 16 GAME SETUP Wins Over Top 5 Teams 32THE POLLS UF LSU Associated Press 9th* 1st* Losses to Top 5 Teams 02USA Today Coaches’ 7th* 2nd* Wins Over Top 10 Teams 55* - as of Sept. 30 VS. NO. 1 RANKED TEAMS THE RECORDS UF LSU By leading the Gators to a 59-20 win over Tennessee earlier this year; UF head coach Urban Meyer Overall 4-1 5-0 improved his record against ranked teams while with the Gators to 10-3. Overall, Coach Meyer is 12- SEC 2-1 3-0 3 against ranked teams. TELEVISION The game will be broadcast on CBS. Verne Florida is 2-6 all-time against the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. Both wins earned Florida a national Lundquist (play-by-play), Gary Danielson (color) championship (Jan. 2 ,1997, vs. Florida State, Sugar Bowl, W, 52-20, and on Jan. 8, 2007, vs. Ohio and Tracy Wolfson (sideline) call the action. State, BCS National Championship, W, 41-14). The two are among the five largest margins of victory POSTGAME for a ranked team vs. a No. 1 ranked team in college football history. For in-depth television coverage after the game, the “Geico Gator Postgame Show” airs live imme- Since Jan. 1, 1997, Florida is the only school in the nation to defeat two teams ranked No. 1 in the AP diately following each game on Sun Sports, with poll. Alabama, Auburn and Arkansas own the SEC record for most wins over an AP No. 1 ranked team interviews from outside the lockerroom, press con- in the history of the program with three each. ferences and analysis. Sun Sports reporter Todd Lewis will be on site. Alabama’s Bear Bryant and Arkansas’ Frank Broyles are the only coaches in Southeastern Confer- DELAYED TELEVISION ence history to lead their league team to a pair of wins over the No. 1 team in the nation. There are only Sun Sports , with David Steele (play-by-play), Nat two active NCAA Division I head coaches that have led their team to more than one victory over a No. Moore (color) and Steve Babik (sideline) will air 1 ranked team (Joe Paterno, Penn State, 3 and Dennis Erickson, Arizona State, 2). the game at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 7, on Sun Sports “Breakfast with the Gators” and again Tues- day, Oct. 9, at 11 p.m. (replays available in SEC In the history of college football, the nation’s AP No. 1 ranked team has been defeated or tied 120 territory). times. No team has ever been the one to do it consecutive times before another team could do so and no team has ever defeated the AP No. 1 ranked team more than once in a calendar year. Florida was THE GATOR RADIO NETWORK the last team to defeat the AP No. 1 team with its 41-14 victory against Ohio State on Jan. 8, 2007. The Gator Radio Network team of Mick Hubert (play-by-play), Lee McGriff (color) and Steve Babik (sideline) will broadcast the contest. Scot Brantley GATORS YOUNG IN 2007 joins Babik as co-host of pregame. WFXJ radio Overall, 49 players who have seen action in a game this year are either freshmen or sophomores. (930-AM in Jacksonville) serves as UF’s flagship Eighteen of the 49 are true freshmen this season and 33 are either true or redshirt freshmen. station. The pre-game show begins two hours before kickoff. There is also a 90-minute show following the conclusion of the game. UF returned 10 scholarship seniors and 11 scholarship juniors in 2007. Other than Florida’s 21 combined upperclassmen, there is not a school in the Southeastern Conference and only one in the SATELLITE RADIO state of Florida (FIU) that has fewer than 28 combined juniors and seniors returning and the average Florida football can be heard on Sirius Satellite in the SEC is 34. Radio. Fans can log on to www.sirius.com each week for information regarding specific channels. 2007 FLORIDA FOOTBALL WWW.GATORZONE.COM WHAT’S NEW WITH THE GATORS... classmen: 2007 SEC STANDINGS (as of 9/29/07) QB - 75.0 DL - 78.5 EASTERN DIVISION TE - 33.3 DB - 71.4 Team SEC Pct. Overall RB - 83.3 LB - 100.0 Kentucky 1-0 1.000 5-0 WR - 70.0 K - 50.0 Florida 2-1 .667 4-1 OL - 68.7 Georgia 2-1 .667 4-1 South Carolina 2-1 .667 4-1 Vanderbilt 1-1 .500 3-1 A total of 16 Gators have made their first career start this season (Tebow, Ma. Pouncey, Pupello, Tennessee 0-1 .000 2-2 Hernandez, Henry, Cooper, Cunningham, A.J. Jones, Pierre-Louis, Haden, Munroe, Antwine, Nelson, Hurt, James and Wright). WESTERN DIVISION Team SEC Pct. Overall Entering the Ole Miss game, 35 members of the Florida travel roster had not played in a road game. LSU 2-0 1.000 5-0 Alabama 2-1 .667 3-2 Among the total were 18 true freshmen who were making the first road trip of their careers. Auburn 1-1 .500 3-2 Mississippi State 1-2 .333 3-2 There are 57 players on the Florida scholarship roster that are either a freshman or sophomore (73 Arkansas 0-2 .000 2-2 percent). Ole Miss 0-3 .000 1-4 THIS WEEK IN THE SEC Of the 25 true freshmen on the Florida squad, 14 spent last season on a team that played for a state OCT. 6 championship during their senior season. Kentucky at South Carolina, 7:30 p.m., 10/6, ESPN Vanderbilt at Auburn, 12:30 p.m., LFS Florida returned 38 letterwinners to the 2007 team. The total is the lowest in the SEC and tied with Louisiana Tech at Ole Miss, 2 p.m. six others for the 99th-lowest total in the nation. UAB at Mississippi State, 2:30 p.m. Houston at Alabama, 3 p.m., PPV Florida lost 25 letterwinners from the 2006 national championship team. The total is tied with Georgia at Tennessee, 3:30 p.m., CBS Tennessee for the most lost in the SEC and it is tied for the 13th-highest amount lost in the nation. UT-Chattanooga at Arkansas, 7 p.m. Going into 2006, the Gators brought back 10 players who began playing for UF in the fall semester All Times Eastern of 2002. In 2007, Florida returned three that started in the fall of 2003 (Andre Caldwell, Clint McMillan and Carlton Medder). TRACKING THE OPPONENTS WESTERN KENTUCKY (3-2) Idle Florida Freshmen Notes From 2007 Season Last week: L, 41-21, at Bowling Green UF started a true freshman on opening day for the third-straight year under head coach Urban Next week: at Ball State Meyer. TROY (3-2) at Florida International Last week: W, 24-7, at UL-Monroe UF started three true freshmen on opening day for the first time in school history (Maurkice Next week: Idle Pouncey, Joe Haden and Chas Henry). Haden and Pouncey became the first true freshmen to start on opening day in UF history at cornerback and offensive guard, respectively. Chas Henry was the TENNESSEE (2-2) vs. Georgia Last week: Idle eighth true freshman punter to start on opening day. Next week: at Mississippi State Tight end Aaron Hernandez started the Troy game and became the first true freshman to start at at Ole Miss (1-4) vs. Louisiana Tech Last week: L, 45-17, at Georgia the position since Tate Casey did so against Middle Tennessee State in 2004.