Stanford looking at Gators' Teevans

MIAMI - Stanford has contacted Florida assistant offensive coordinator Buddy Teevens about the job opening created when Tyrone Willingham left for Notre Dame. <br> <br> ``He&#39;s a hot commodity right now,&#39;&#39; coach Steve Spurrier said Thursday. <br> <br> Teevens also was a candidate for the job at Vanderbilt, eventually filled by Furman coach Bobby Johnson. <br> <br> The athletic director at Stanford is Ted Leland, who hired Teevens as head coach at Dartmouth in 1987.<br> <br> <br> <br> HOKE PRAISE: Spurrier hopes defensive coordinator Jon Hoke will return next season. <br> <br> Hoke led the Gators to top rankings in the Southeastern Conference in scoring defense and overall defense this season. He came under fire, however, because of Florida&#39;s poor effort in the 34-32 loss to Tennessee. The Gators allowed 226 yards rushing to Travis Stephens. <br> <br> ``I thought Jon had an excellent year,&#39;&#39; Spurrier said. ``I thought he called a good game against Tennessee.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Spurrier also pointed out that last year, the Gators were in the lower half of the SEC in defense and won the conference. <br> <br> ``This year, we&#39;re first in everything, and we won the Orange Bowl,&#39;&#39; he said.<br> <br> <br> <br> THAT&#39;S THE SYSTEM: At times Thursday, Spurrier acted as though he has moved on from Florida&#39;s disappointments this season. At other times, he dwelled on it. <br> <br> Most bothersome to the coach: The fact that the LSU Tigers won the SEC even though the Gators beat them 44-15 in October. <br> <br> ``They won the championship because we have a playoff in the SEC,&#39;&#39; Spurrier said. ``We don&#39;t have a playoff in the national. <br> <br> ``LSU had their stinking games early in the season. They got it right at the right time. It&#39;s just like in basketball. You can get hot in the middle of the year, play on, and you can win it all. But in college football, that&#39;s just way we do it, and we messed up at the wrong time.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> <br> <br> BERLIN SAGA: It sounded as though Spurrier was subtly saying goodbye to Brock Berlin, taking a few light jabs at the quarterback for his performance as the starter in place of Rex Grossman. <br> <br> ``He wasn&#39;t as poised and confident as I thought he might be,&#39;&#39; Spurrier said. ``I know he hasn&#39;t played a lot. But I thought he deserved a chance to see if he could go in there and tear &#39;em up. But after a while there, it was evident we needed to get Rex in the game.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Spurrier said he was surprised at a few of the throws Berlin made, especially the second of his two interceptions. <br> <br> ``When I saw the coverage, I said Brock will come to the middle guy or the underneath guy,&#39;&#39; Spurrier said. ``The next thing I knew, he threw it right to the safety. I don&#39;t understand why he did that.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Spurrier said he was still under the impression that all signs lead to Berlin leaving for the University of Miami.<br> <br> <br> <br> GRAHAM&#39;S GAINS: With 149 yards, Earnest Graham surpassed the 100-yard mark in his second straight bowl game. He rushed for 136 last year in the Sugar Bowl. <br> <br> Coming back off the knee injury caused by Florida State&#39;s Darnell Dockett, Graham looked good. The Gators improved to 10-0 when he&#39;s in the lineup, versus 0-2 when he&#39;s not. <br> <br> ``Every time we don&#39;t run well, these sports writers think I forget about it,&#39;&#39; Spurrier said of the running game. ``But I know it. With Earnest in there, we can usually run decently.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> <br> <br> GATOR BAIT: The Gators won 10 games for the ninth time in school history, all coming with Spurrier as coach. ... Florida defeated more teams ranked in the final regular-season Top 25 (Marshall, LSU, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida State, Maryland) than anyone else in the nation. ... The Gators snapped a two-game losing streak in bowls. Their last victory was 31-10 over Syracuse in the 1999 Orange Bowl. ... Spurrier coached his 150th game at Florida and improved to 122-27-1.<br> <br> <br> <br> SPURRIER SAYS: ``Some guy walked through one day and decided he wanted him an Orange Bowl trophy. They&#39;ll probably hold it for about 20 years and put in on auction, I guess.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> On Florida&#39;s 1999 Orange Bowl trophy, which was stolen from the team&#39;s football offices and has yet to be found.