AM850.com

At the start of the 2009 Gator football season, one could look to see where the bye week was located for Florida and wonder if it was in a good place, coming fairly early in the season.

As fate would have it, the bye week could not come at a better time for a Florida football team that is ravaged by the flu bug, beset with injuries and worried about the health of its star quarterback.

You really like the grit this football team has shown to this point in the year, overcoming every obstacle that has been thrown in front of it but there is no question everyone involved needs to take some time off to regroup and most importantly, find a way to get healthy, both mentally and physically.

Gator coach Urban Meyer and his staff have done a remarkable job of keeping things together despite all the injuries, illnesses and distractions. He doesn't make excuses about anything but I would think even he must be thinking the football Gods are testing his Gators with all that has happened in a season that is only one third old.

As we enter the bye week, the big worry as we write this is of course the health of Tebow. Superman has been so tough and seemingly indestructible during his time here but even he found kryptonite in a vicious blow he got to the back of his head as he was sacked in the third quarter. Hopefully, the injury is not serious but it was so weird to see him just sitting there on the bench, seemingly out it, before he was carted off the field to a hospital for further observation.

As far as the game itself, despite all the illnesses where players were flown separate from the team to the game on Friday, the Gators did the same thing this year they did last year against Kentucky by blowing out the Cats in the first quarter to put the game away. It was 31-0 after a quarter... game over, as the Gator defense held Kentucky to only 179 yards of total offense while the Gator offense cranked out a school record 362 yards on the ground with Tebow gaining 123.

At this juncture of the year, It is pretty easy to see how Florida is winning and this formula may stay the same for the rest of the season. Florida's best attribute offensively is a power running game. The Gators can throw it, but right now, the passing game is ok, not great. But the run game is awesome. Florida is a power running team with a solid seven man rotation on a very good offensive line with three nice backs running the ball.

Gator offensive lineman Mike Pouncey says the offensive line is coming together.

"We're just jelling together up front," Pouncey said. "We practice hard every week, and we've got three great running backs that run the ball real hard and up front we're just pushing them back."

Another part of the winning formula is solid defensive play. A lot was expected of the defense this year with almost everyone back and so far the defense has only allowed two touchdowns all season long. But this group was challenged and chastised all last week after what coaches thought was a subpar performance against Tennessee with a lot of missed tackles and poor pursuit at times of runners. But the defense responded against Kentucky with a very solid effort and interceptions by Janoris Jenkins and Major Wright now give the Gators a pick in 16 straight games, a school record.

And of course, the other piece of the winning formula right now for Florida is solid special teams play. Brandon James is always a factor in the return game and the Gators have not given up a SINGLE YARD in the punt return game so far this year. And the coverage teams have been on target as well.

Despite everything that has happened to this Gator team so far, it is undefeated, number one in the country, and also ready to take a much needed break. If Tim Tebow recovers, there is no reason to think this team will not be really ready to face LSU in Baton Rouge in a little less than two weeks.

But rest up for now Gator football fans...we can all use it!