I'm a Florida graduate and fan who often reads and enjoys the various SEC blogs around here. I haven't posted before but feel compelled to now, mainly because parts of the Florida assessment of the Spikes situation are embarrassing. I cross-posted to the 3 blogs where I thought it was applicable, I apologize if that isn’t supposed to be done and feel free to remove if that’s the case.

Unlike what mlmintampa says, I believe it most definitely IS Meyer’s responsibility to suspend someone for something like this. This is not a chop block or a facemask in the middle of a full speed play, this is digging at someone’s eyeballs. Everyone needs to stop trying to rationalize and downplay this. And the result of the action, whether or not Ealey actually got hurt, doesn’t change the action itself and means absolutely nothing here.

I understand both Tebow and Spikes had their eyes poked badly during the game and had to be treated. I understand Ealey took a cheap shot at Ahmad Black’s neck. I understand Georgia did this and Georgia did that. I understand this stuff "happens all the time." I understand that if this had happened the exact same way, with the exact same camera work, in the East Carolina Memphis game on Tuesday, we probably would have never heard about it. None of that makes it the least bit excusable.

I don't care if it "happens all the time," never gets caught, and always goes unpunished (which I believe it more or less does). Fact is, it did get caught this time and needs to be firmly punished, because one day it may result in someone having a life-altering injury. Being #1 in this day and age means you are constantly in the spotlight. It also means many people hate you, even more than they otherwise do (if they otherwise do), even if they only reason you give them is winning football games. They will look for, and find, anything you do like this and blow it up. You are held to a higher standard, and you should WANT to be held to a higher standard. And just like people use you as an example with regards to all the things you do so well, you should expect to have an example made of you when you engage in a behavior, common or not, that needs to stop.

The CBS broadcast does not show beyond a shadow of a doubt anything Georgia did that was quite this egregious (of course with the focus towards the ball at the end of the play, the usual almost immediate cut-away from the big picture in between plays, etc., it definitely doesn’t prove that something this bad didn’t happen the other way either). If UGA players really were intentionally trying to cause serious harm to you or your teammates, you should stand up for yourself and your brothers, and do it well. But there are ways that you can very firmly stand up for yourself without trying to cause serious harm in return.  “Butbutbutbut they did it first!!!” is not an excuse for doing it yourself, whether or not they did. And Georgia’s lineman would not be a terrible teammate if they didn’t “put a helmet into Spikes knee” in return, they’d be a terrible and dirty sportsman. Again, stand up for yourself and your teammates the right way.

So you think Georgia players have been acting more than a little cheap and dirty lately. Fine, let them act that way. Think about the 41-17 scoreboard, the 17-3 record the past 20 years, and how pathetic it is that they are now resorting to uniform gimmicks and other nonsense in a hopeless attempt to gain some traction in this “rivalry.”

I put “rivalry” in quotes because . . . well its 17-3 in the past 20 years for goodness sakes! Georgia is 17-3 against Vanderbilt in the past 20 years. They are 17-3 against Kentucky in the past 20 years. Does Georgia consider Vanderbilt an arch rival? Does it consider Kentucky a vaunted nemesis? Of course they don’t.

If Georgia players are really gouging you and your teammates in the eye, if Ealey really spit in your face, whatever it is, just smile and remember that he might as well be playing for Kentucky or Vandy, if that’s what it takes to calm down. You, and the football program you joined, have (has) proven yourself (itself) far better than him and the football program he joined, and you should be better than him in how you conduct yourself between plays and off the field as well. There is no need to come down to his level and act like a thug just because you think he is acting like a thug. And that message should have been sent by Meyer with at least a full game suspension.

Although Spikes has participated in his fair share of foolery (see 2008, the punt vs. LSU, the bit of extra-curricular activity with Moreno, etc.), this is a first-time offense for this sort of far more serious act, and he is not “Junior-Rosecrans dirty”. Trust me, if stuff this bad had happened before, it also would have been all over youtube, with the same calls for the electric chair from the more dramatic of the Florida haters. I also understand it was in the heat of the moment and wasn’t an isolated incident, and you have to evaluate in context and with provocation in mind, whether or not the provocation was the same act of eye gouging or was spitting, trash-talking, or whatever. I’m sure the film (not the CBS broadcast) that Slive and Meyer have paint more of the provocation picture, or lack thereof, than we’ll be allowed to see.

22-year old kids do some dumb *&#$. With the first-time nature and context in mind, I would be personally satisfied with a full game suspension, harsh internal punishment (I know someone who works in the athletic department and has seen it, you don’t want any of Meyer’s private internal punishments, trust me), and an ultimatum that another such incident results in immediate removal from the team, because this type of behavior doesn’t reflect who we want to be. I’d feel the same way if it was Spikes or Sorrentino.

If someone wants to argue for 2 or 3 games, we can amicably agree to disagree. If someone wants to argue for less than a full game for something of this nature, or for something extreme like removal from the team, considering the context, I won’t agree to disagree with you, I think you are wrong. And I think Meyer is wrong here, no matter what prior provocation he saw on the game tape. This is just a little too serious of an act for a slap on the wrist.