Barrett Sallee previews Florida Gators football vs. Missouri Tigers

The Gator Country podcast is back and this time Barrett Sallee of Bleacher Report joins the GC gang to preview the Florida Gators football game against Missouri this Saturday night in Columbia.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre also ask Sallee what his take is of the Florida Gators football program after just five games under head coach Jim McElwain, plus what he thinks the Gators can do this year.

Andrew and Nick end the podcast by giving you some things to watch from the game and what could help the Gators stay focused against a decent Missouri Tigers team.

TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew:                 Hello, Gator Country. You guys are listening to this Wednesday. That means we’re half way to Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Nicholas, you better be glad you’re going to Columbia, Missouri and not Columbia, South Carolina, because you may need a boat to go to Columbia, South Carolina this week.

Nick:                         I would need my rubber floaties and my duck. Good luck to them. On a serious note, stay safe. Stay out of the water. It will be my first time in Columbia, Missouri. So if you have been to either St. Louis, which is where I fly into, or Columbia, and you’ve got some good food spots, good drinking establishments, let me know.

Andrew:                 You’re going with your father, Nicholas. You’re supposed to be a good boy.

Nick:                         I am 26 years old. He is more than 26 years old. We are both of legal drinking age, and we will enjoy our drinks.

Andrew:                 That’s fine. On a serious note, we’re going to be joined by, Nick, you and I’s good friend from Bleacher Report, Barrett Sallee, great friend of you and I, one of the more knowledgeable guys about SEC football. He’s going to join us in a little bit to preview this game against Missouri. I don’t even want to call it a big game. Coach Mac, he’s sending out some bull crap about it being a big game. Come on, Coach Mac, you ain’t talking this one up for us.

Nick:                         Listen, Jim McElwain has been on big stages before. He coached at Alabama, but at Alabama coordinators don’t talk to the media, and obviously being at Colorado State is not the same kind of stage. Credit to Jim McElwain. He hasn’t had a lot of experience with the kind of media he deals with on a weekly basis here at Florida, but he is savvy. That cat handles the media. Last week it was we’re playing an opponent, probably should beat the heck out of us. We’re playing an opponent that probably doesn’t hold us in very high regard, and this week we’re playing the back to back champs. Missouri has looked like anything but the back to back champs. Yes, the record is 4-1, but let’s be honest. This team has not looked like a 4-1 football team. Maty Mauk, their starting quarterback, is suspended again, second week in a row.

Jim McElwain does a good job, a great job, of getting out the message he wants to get out there into the media, and as we get to know him more and interact with him more I can’t help but kind of chuckle to myself in these press conferences when he says things like, Missouri’s got a great red zone defense. Do they, Coach? They’re 14th in the SEC. They have the worst red zone defense in the SEC. Jim McElwain does a good job of controlling the message each week in these press conferences.

Andrew:                 He deserves a, come on, man. That’s what he deserves right there. Come on, Coach. You’re not on fleek with that authorization of bull crap.

Nick:                         You could have found a different stat that Missouri is good in. Don’t pull out the stat that they are the absolute worst in the conference in and say they have a great that.

Andrew:                 Let me throw out a couple things real quick about Missouri. Let me first say that while Missouri’s stats are going to be looking good, let me run through who they played. Southeastern Missouri, Arkansas State, Yukon, Kentucky, South Carolina. South Carolina and Kentucky are two of your bottom dwellers in the SEC.

Nick:                         Those are two of the three worst teams in the SEC, if you throw Vanderbilt in there as well then you’ve got three.

Andrew:                 Right. I don’t know. Kentucky may be better than Auburn. I don’t know. We’ll see. Let’s just go through this real quick. Missouri is 2nd in the SEC in conference play, giving up on 15.5 points a game, behind your Florida Gators who are only giving up 15.3 points a game. Missouri is a tackle for loss machine and leading the SEC with 48 tackles for loss this year, but in conference play they’re way behind and the Gators are way up there. This is going to be a good defense for Missouri, good, not great like Ole Miss. I consider Ole Miss and Florida to be the two best defenses in the SEC, despite what Florida did to Ole Miss last weekend. Missouri has two freshmen defensive linemen that are playing for them. That should be good for Florida as well, but I think Florida goes in with that game plan they did against Tennessee and against Ole Miss, and that is quick game. I think they’ll be okay. Of course, you do have to worry about Florida’s offensive line in this game, but overall let’s not make Missouri into somebody they’re not. Just come in, do your job, have a good game plan, and Florida should win this game easily.

Nick:                         Part of what Jim McElwain is doing, last week it was building within his team nobody thinks you guys stand a chance, and most of them didn’t. We ate our crow on Monday, so let’s move on from that. This week it’s, we’re playing a team that has outscored you by 48 points the last two times you’ve played them. They ruined your homecoming last year. They think that they can just send you up to be their homecoming opponent and walk right through you. They’ve won the SEC East back to back years, of course they can. It’s Jim McElwain getting his message out into the media and getting his message out to the team, because I think there was genuine concern from McElwain and the coaching staff about how his team would handle such a big win versus Ole Miss. We talked about before how they didn’t handle beating lowly New Mexico State very well, and that carried in and factored into their performance against ECU. So Jim McElwain and the staff I think are concerned. Obviously they’ve had a practice, two practices, since you’re listening to this, but they were concerned on Monday going into this week to see how the team would respond in practice.

Andrew:                 Here’s the thing. Turn the tape on the last two years, Missouri whipped your ass, Gators. 90% of the guys on the team got whipped by Missouri. If that is not motivation, I don’t know what is.

Nick:                         Michael Sam’s NFL draft highlight package.

Andrew:                 Let’s not bring.

Nick:                         Florida’s lowlights. It was just Tyler Moore’s worst plays of his career were just shown over and over as Michael Sam was waiting to get drafted two years ago.

Andrew:                 Do we have to bring up Tyler Moore? I knew that’s where you were going. When you said Michael Sam I knew where you were headed. You were headed to Tyler Moore, because Tyler Moore was abused all night long by Michael Sam. This isn’t the same Missouri team. Here’s my thing. I think that you get a pros and a cons with Maty Mauk not playing. I think Maty Mauk is the better runner of the two. Drew Lock’s the better thrower of the two. Drew Lock’s a freshmen. Maty Mauk’s a veteran. There is advantages to Lock playing for Missouri. There is advantages to Mauk playing for Missouri, and there’s disadvantages to both of them playing. I can tell you this. Bullard, those guys are going to be eating all night long. Is that the word? They eat? Isn’t that the word, Nicholas? They’re going to eat. Did I use that properly?

Nick:                         Yeah. We’ll go with that.

Andrew:                 Okay. They’re going to be eating all night. That’s the new word for this week, eating. They are going to have a big game. I also do think that the offense should have a decent game against the Missouri defense. When you look at Missouri overall they’re a decent defense with the pass rush, but I think Florida can take some shots deep against Missouri and be okay with it.

Nick:                         Missouri’s defensive line is very young, but I think they’ve exceeded expectations because of how young they are. It seems like Gary Pinkel has a damn tree out there in Columbia that he just plucks these really fast, productive defensive linemen off of, and there’s just a new one. Every year it’s, they lost so-and-so and so-and-so, so what’s the defensive line going to look like? There’s a sophomore or a redshirt sophomore or a junior that’s been waiting.

What I am interested in is Vegas, who, make no mistake about it, they don’t keep building these gigantic pyramids to betting out there in the desert because Vegas is losing money. Vegas put the line, the over-under at 40, and Florida’s a 4.5 point favorite. 40 seems kind of low to me, given what you’ve seen from Florida’s offense. They almost scored 40 on their own against a much better defense in Ole Miss last week. I think some of that is lost, I don’t understand fans ever chanting overrated at an opponent that you’re beating. It kind of takes away from you win, in my opinion. I think what was lost in how dominant Florida was is that that was a good football team they beat, a much better football team than the one they’re playing this week. Interesting to me what does Vegas know that I am not aware of yet. I think that over-under’s a low line, but I do think Florida will be able to do some more things this week against Missouri.

The only issue you’re going to get in with Missouri’s offense is what you faced against New Mexico State, against Kentucky, and against ECU, and it’s that quick passing game. It could take away from Florida’s pass rush a little bit. Everyone was wondering about the defensive line after the first game. Where are the sacks? You and I kept saying, the offense is dictating that. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of pressure Florida can get. Missouri is going with a true freshman quarterback who did not get properly welcomed to the SEC by the South Carolina Gamecocks this week, and I am sure that Florida will take care of that for him. A lot of interesting storylines this week.

Andrew:                 Missouri has the worst offense in the SEC, only gaining 318 yards a game, and they’re going up against the best defense, one of the best defenses in the SEC. Not what you want. When you look at Missouri real quick on the year, in SEC play.

Nick:                         Real quick. That number you gave was versus conference opponent.

Andrew:                 It was. It was against conference opponents.

Nick:                         They are still the worst offense in the SEC, even when you include all of their cupcakes at 322 a game.

Andrew:                 Right. Only 597 yards rushing. That is not good through five football games. That is a little over 100 yards, and you’re talking about Northeast Missouri, or Southeast Missouri, Northwestern Kentucky Missouri, whatever they want to call that team. It’s not a good football team. I kind of feel stupid that we’re sitting her talking about it almost, because I feel like, really? Really? This is Missouri. It goes back to the last two years, has Missouri really been that good of a football team, or has the East just flat out sucked? I think the East just flat out sucked.

Nick:                         The East has been pretty bad. The East has been laughable for a couple years now.

Andrew:                 Hold on real quick. Talking about the East. It is a podcast. So that means I do have to bring in my daily thing real quick.

Nick:                         How long did we make it? Almost 20 minutes?

Andrew:                 Yes. It’s going to be one sentence, and then I’m going to let you have it back. Tennessee has the chance to go 4-8 this year.

Nick:                         Just let that sink in.

Andrew:                 Just let that sink in. Okay. Back to it real quick. This could be a game that you see Kelvin Taylor possibly get some good rushing yards here. With Missouri, Missouri their defensive line has the same issue as Florida does, and that is at times they get out of assignment football. Kelvin Taylor maybe can attack some of that with the zone plays he’s been running, a lot of lead and zones that he’s been running, inside zone and some outside zone. Maybe they attack that against an over pursuing defensive line this week. That’s one of the things that as we go into Friday to definitely keep in mind that I think is going to be possibly a big thing for Florida.

Nick:                         Right now Florida’s rushing offense is really bad as far as total yards per game. They’re only averaging 140 yards per game. If you take that down to just against SEC opponents it’s only 104 yards per game. That is struggling. Missouri hasn’t really faced a team in conference that likes to run the football. Kentucky doesn’t run it that well. South Carolina has had to run it more than probably they would like to, but they don’t have the horses back there to do it successfully. Missouri against conference opponents are only allowing 116 yards on the ground. I do think this will be one of the easier rush defenses that Florida has faced this year, and I would like to see Kelvin Taylor get going a little bit. Jordan Cronkrite get going a little bit.

Andrew:                 Yeah. You look at the game plan, and you’re going to find ways that you’re going to get the ball out of your hand quick, so maybe it’s more screens to Kelvin Taylor, that sort of thing there. To look real quick at a couple other things before we get Barrett on. Quick look at the punt returns. Missouri is 12th in the country in punt returns, not very good overall. Kick returns are 13th in the country there, so they’re not there. You’re looking at not really a huge threat in the return game against Florida, but for me this is another test. Mac said that he had one good game in special teams, can they do it for two games in a row? I think they need to improve, because going into LSU special teams is going to have to be good. Get better this week against Missouri, a less than average return team. Get better this week.

Nick:                         Yeah. The return game was a little bit better, in my opinion, last week. It had gotten to the point where you never wanted Brandon Powell to bring the ball out of the end zone. Antonio Callaway reminded me a little bit of Andre Debois with that over the head.

Andrew:                 Please never do that again.

Nick:                         That over the head catch on the punt returns. He’s going to be a special player. He kind of gives you that feeling, and you and I talked about it. When Vernon was back there on punt returns you felt safe, a disaster won’t happen, but you never felt like, I feel like he’s going to break this one. With Callaway back there I feel like he’s got the speed, quickness, and shiftiness, that combination where every time he’s returning a punt in the back of your mind you’re thinking, this one could go. This one could break. Would like to see some of the areas where Florida’s been lacking come up this week. We haven’t said it yet, but this is quintessential trap game. You’ve got an opponent who’s struggled sandwiched in between a big emotional win, an upset win, and the #7 team in the country in LSU, and a guy in Leonard Fournette who is on pace, despite missing a game against McNeese State, where he might have run for 1,000 yards in that game along, is on pace to run for 2,000 yards this game, even though LSU is going to play one less game than they were scheduled to.

Andrew:                 That’s a good point. Callaway though, please don’t catch the ball over your head like that. That is so dangerous.

Nick:                         That’s just swag.

Andrew:                 I don’t care if it’s swag, if it’s fire, if it’s fleek, if it’s on point, if it’s salty, whatever, Little B, Lil Boosie, whoever endorses that, don’t do it, Callaway. Don’t do it.

Nick:                         You’re making so many great strides with your vernacular, with your slang, and I feel like you just threw it all out the window by just throwing all of them out there no how they’re supposed to be used right there. One step forward and two giant steps back.

Andrew:                 I’ve never really been known for being swaglicious or whatever.

Nick:                         We’re going to have to get out of here. Barrett’s going to unagree to come onto the podcast.

Andrew:                 He’s going to unagree. I do have a surprise for the people in New Orleans though. Nick, you said you got your side game, Mr. Andrew has his side game on fleek for Atlanta vs. New Orleans. It is going to be on point, my good friend.

Nick:                         I will put that up on Twitter for everyone to see then.

Andrew:                 You do that, my man. Let’s run to Barrett real quick. Get Barrett on here, get his thoughts, and talk to him real quick about this Missouri vs. Gators game. Maybe Barrett can make this game more interesting than Nick and I have. Here comes Barrett right now.

Nick:                         We’re welcoming in Barrett Sallee. I don’t know what I’ve signed myself up for bringing on another Braves fan here as a lowly Marlins fan. At least we were able to welcome the Braves into the October off season, as we like to call it, down in Miami. Barrett, how are you?

Barrett:                  I’m good, Nick. What’s going on?

Nick:                         Gainesville is still riding high after last weekend. Most fans are not overlooking Missouri based on how the Tigers have been able to manhandle Florida, but also keeping LSU in the back of their minds as well.

Barrett:                  Yeah. It’s a big time to be a Florida Gator fan. 5-0, I don’t think anybody thought that this would be a realistic possibility when Jim McElwain took over, but here they are. Name a complete football team outside of Florida in the country. Utah you could name, Baylor maybe. It’s a pretty short list, and Florida’s on it. I think that win against Ole Miss really turned some heads and folks realized that what Jim McElwain has done at quarterback and on the offensive line has really made this a complete football team, one that is a contender not just for the East but for the college football playoff. It’s a phenomenal turnaround that he’s made, and he did it in such a short period of time. McElwain deserves all the credit, and those players deserve a lot as well for buying in.

Nick:                         I think of what Marcus Spears said on the Finebaum show, and that’s Andrew’s buddy. I don’t listen to the Finebaum a lot, but I know he has you on. Marcus Spears yesterday said you just can’t get behind Florida, and in all five games Florida’s been able to score a touchdown on their second drive of the game, so they’re either keeping the game close or getting ahead early. Florida’s defense is just not going to let you come back. If you’re down 14 points, and now you become one dimensional and have to throw the ball to get back into the game, Florida’s defense is going to make you pay with that front four, front seven, and the secondary is going to give those big guys up front plenty of time to get to the quarterback. I think, kind of like what you said, I think Florida’s a year early in their rebuilding process, but they look like a very complete football team right now to me.

Barrett:                  I don’t even know if they’re a year early, to be honest with you, because it seems like everybody else has been spinning their wheels in the East, even while Florida was down. It’s not like Missouri last year was a juggernaut. Georgia’s always sort of iffy, and they lose an inexplicable game or two each year, so I don’t even know if they’re a year early. I just think that they finally showed back up. In the East it doesn’t take a whole lot to rebuild, because everybody’s sort of a wreck at this point. Certainly they benefited from Butch Jones’ coaching scared and not being up for big game moments, but other than that, Georgia to me is one dimensional by necessity. We know that. Missouri’s a mess right now. Kentucky’s still rebuilding. Tennessee’s obviously got coaching issues, and doesn’t trust their passing game.

I think it was sort of a race in the East as to who would fix their problems best, or at least hide their problems better than everybody else, and it seems like Florida’s the one to do that. They’re the one to step up. I think in terms of contending for a national championship and being national championship worthy Florida may be a year early, but the East was so open I’m not even sure what really the timeline was for Jim McElwain, because so much of that timeline, at least in the division, is predicated on what happens elsewhere and how other teams fix their problems.

Andrew:                 Before we move on to Missouri I want to ask you one question about this as well. It kind of seems like this could have been what the last three years had looked like had Muschamp’s offense been anything productive. Would you agree with that? Then also, the running game hasn’t been maybe great number wise, but to me it’s helped that the running game has been there, whether it’s 2 yards or 3 yards, to help Florida stay in front of the chains. What do you say to both of those questions?

Barrett:                  I think the running game’s been huge. It’s safe to say I think at this point that Kelvin Taylor’s probably playing the best football of his life. He didn’t have a great statistical game last week, but he didn’t have to. He did everything he needed to do. Tennessee he was awesome. It’s huge for Florida to have that, because even when, I think if they had just gotten decent quarterback play under the Muschamp regime they would have been in this situation often. Look back at 2012. It’s not like Jeff Driskel was terrible in 2012. Now he wasn’t great, by any stretch, but he was good enough to lead them into the national championship conversation in rivalry weekend, and then he lost it. That’s sort of what led to Will Muschamp’s demise. I think finding a quarterback like Will Grier who can be a big game quarterback but also play within the offense, and then finding running backs and an offensive line that can play up to a level in which they’re asked to. I think that was the biggest thing the last couple years is while Florida’s offensive line was talented, and the NFL draft sort of proved that, they were not coached properly.

Andrew:                 To look ahead to the Missouri game. Missouri on paper just doesn’t look good. I guess that’s the best way to say. Offensively they’re last in the SEC. Quarterback play is questionable. In your opinion, what is Missouri? Going into the game against Florida, what should Florida fans worry about with Missouri, and what do you think Florida is game planning against against Missouri?

Barrett:                  They have to game plan against Russell Hansbrough, because everything revolves around Russell Hansbrough. When he’s in, and when they’re running well, then everything sort of opens up. Russell’s been sort of in and out this year, and that’s when their offensive really took a nose dive. He was back last week, and that offense wasn’t overwhelming against South Carolina, but they were pretty effective. Nate Brown got open deep, because South Carolina was focused on Hansbrough. They had Drew Lock making his first start, so how well can you reasonably expect him to play? I thought he played okay. You have to stop the run. You have to stop Russell Hansbrough.

Florida certainly can do that and force Drew Lock to beat them through the air, and that ain’t happening. It’s not just necessarily a knock against Drew Lock. I think he’s a talented kid. He’s going to be okay there, but their wide receiving core is remarkably inexperienced. Nate Brown’s pretty good. Zaman Moore’s okay, but if Florida can shut down Ole Miss, Missouri’s going to be a piece of cake. I don’t know what the line is right now, but I think it opened like at 4.5. If you take Florida you should be printing money, because that game’s going to get sideways in a hurry.

Nick:                         The line stayed at 4.5. I found it interesting that the over-under was 40, considering how Florida’s offense has looked, Missouri’s defense. Their defensive line is young, but they’ve been playing well this year. I wanted to talk a little bit about Lock, 21 of 28 last week, only 136 yards, but 2 touchdowns. Didn’t turn the ball over. It’s going to be a different defense coming in this week.

Barrett:                  Yes.

Nick:                         Florida’s defense is a little more bite than South Carolina’s brought in. Two years ago Mauk was put into this situation where he made his first start against Florida and lit Florida up. Is there any way that you can see maybe lightening striking twice between Missouri and Florida there?

Barrett:                  No, because L’Damien Washington and Dorial Green-Beckham are not there anymore. While Florida’s defense was good that year, and they had some talented players in the secondary, you can’t cover those guys. You can cover Nate Brown and Zaman Moore. They’re not nearly as imposing. While Mauk was successful in a pinch, Drew Lock doesn’t have those kind of safety valves, nor does he have a Henry Josey to rely on and an offensive line that year that was really good. They’re okay this year up front, but certainly not what they were in 2013. That was a national championship caliber team Missouri had in 2013. I don’t see lightening striking twice. Missouri to me has been sort of skating along and taking advantage of situations that kind of fall into their favor over the last year, but this year’s team I just can’t trust them. They have been playing well in the defensive line, I’ll give them that, but the way Florida’s offensive line has progressively gotten better I would imagine Florida can handle that.

Nick:                         Then with Florida’s had a chance to face this kind of offense, one that you’re not going to get that seven step drop from the quarterback in reading through progressions. It’s a really fast paced kind of get the ball out quickly. That kind of sent Gator fans at me yelling where’s this defensive line you talked about? Where’s this defense? They’re getting picked apart, and you kind of had to explain to people that an offense can kind of dictate things, especially sacks, tackles for loss, things like that. With Florida still not having Alex Anzalone back again, Antonio Morrison and Jarrad Davis have stepped up, but are they still susceptible to some of that underneath route stuff, maybe getting matched up on tight ends? Can Florida struggle with that short passing game that Missouri will bring?

Barrett:                  Yeah. They can, just because when Missouri’s on I think that they are dangerous, but I think Florida’s athletic enough up front where they can get their hands up and disrupt that short passing game. You mentioned tight ends. I think that’s the one thing that they need to keep an eye out on, because Sean Copeland’s a good tight end, and he is a matchup problem for anybody. I think that’s one issue, but it’s sort of the same thing, you look back at what Alabama did with Ole Miss. Even though they didn’t slow down Ole Miss, they batted a bunch of balls down. I think that’s how you get to Missouri. You get them in situations where they get out of their comfort zone, and once they get out of their comfort zone there’s nobody on that offensive line that can block Florida’s front four, front seven. That’s just not going to happen. I don’t think they’ll have much of an issue with it.

Andrew:                 Barrett, before we get you out of here, we always do it with everyone we bring on. Give us a quick pick on how you see the game coming out on Saturday.

Barrett:                  I think Florida’s going to just absolutely destroy Missouri. That’s probably about a 35-10 type game. They’re significantly worse than Ole Miss, but being at home they may have a little bit of an edge, but it’s going to go in I would say a very similar way. I think Florida’s going to come out hot offensively. They’re going to get the job done, get up, put a little cushion underneath them, and then just lean on them. It gets sideways late. Missouri, I don’t trust that offense. I don’t trust Drew Lock. I don’t trust the defense against a Florida offense that’s as complete as any in college football right now. I think it gets sideways in a hurry.

Andrew:                 One quick look ahead. How do you see Florida shaping the rest of the season? I know it’s very early, but in your opinion what is a good finish for Jim McElwain in his first year? Tough game against LSU, tough game against Georgia, and then a pretty good game to end the year against Florida State. What do you think a good outcome for Florida is, and what do you think is realistic?

Barrett:                  I think a 10 win season is good. I honestly think at this point that 11-1 is not off the table at all, SEC East champs, and conceivably 12-0, because I’m not sold on Missouri. I think LSU is the most overrated team in the entire country. Georgia’s incredibly one dimensional, and Florida can stop that one dimension against Nick Chubb. Florida State’s not all that, although I think they’ll get better as the year goes on. South Carolina’s a mess. There’s a very reasonable chance they go 12-0. I think at worst 9-3, 10-2 is still obviously a solid season. I say at this point, based on what they’ve done and what people have done elsewhere, what teams have done elsewhere, 9-3 at this point might be a disappointment. That’s how good I think Florida is and how bad everybody else.

Nick:                         It’s crazy, because we talk at SEC Media Day, and you’re thinking Jim McElwain’s got a lot of leash. Any sins this year will be passed off to Will Muschamp and what he had done the past four years, anywhere from 6-8 wins would have been that’s good. That’s good enough for recruits. Now we’ve gotten to a point where a win on Saturday and Florida’s bowl eligible and reached maybe a total that some fans thought would take them all year to get to. I think now 10 wins, 11 wins, something I might have scoffed at before the year started, is a real possibility, and I think it’s going to go down to the wire with Jim Harbough and Jim McElwain to see who’s going to win this coach of the year, because they are both doing incredible jobs at their new spots.

Barrett:                  They really are. If Michigan can keep that up he’ll definitely be in that mix. Tom Herman at Houston probably should be in that mix too. I’d say the job he’s done, and some of that’s him, some of that’s just coaching his players properly. He’s done a tremendous job, and I think the best is yet to come. I think that team is going to be in the discussion all the way through rivalry weekend and possibly even beyond.

Andrew:                 Definitely. Barrett, we appreciate you coming on so much. You’re a good friend of ours, and we really appreciate it, and we’ll be talking to you later in the season, and hopefully maybe seeing you in Atlanta this year for the SEC Championship game.

Nick:                         I was going to say. We haven’t seen you much the past two years, but if Florida keeps winning maybe you’ll be in Gainesville more, and then we will see you in Atlanta, in your back yard.

Barrett:                  That’s right. We can smoke some pork butts on the big green egg on the night before the game. That sounds like a perfect idea.

Andrew:                 There you go. Definitely. Barrett, we really appreciate it, and we’ll be talking to you soon, buddy.

Barrett:                  All right. Go Braves.

Nick:                         Oh no.

Andrew:                 Go Braves is right. That is my man right there. Always rooting go Braves. It’s tomahawk chop and go Braves.

Nick:                         Before you went on your Brave rant there I was about to say I made it through pretty unscathed despite being locked in here on our podcast with two Braves fans.

Andrew:                 Nick, I got something for you, hold on.

Nick:                         You’re not going to make any friends here.

Andrew:                 Go Braves, baby. Tomahawk nation. They stole that crap from us. That’s go Braves all the way. Nick, that was some good stuff from Barrett. He helped us break it down a little bit. Any final thoughts before we move on out of here?

Nick:                         Final thoughts is what you want to see from Florida this week is focus. That starts in practice. Jim McElwain, no matter what player you bring up after a game on Saturday or the Monday following a game, you bring up a player that had a good game, and he will always tell you, I saw it on Monday, then on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday, then perfect Thursday. That guy prepared, and he played on Saturday the way he prepared all the days leading up to it. For me, I need to see Florida not take this Missouri team lightly. I need them not to look ahead to Leonard Fournette and a night game Saturday night in Death Valley. You need to focus on Missouri. Barrett did drop a bomb saying Florida might be one of the most complete teams in the country, dropping a bomb there. I still don’t think Florida is good enough to just show up and go through the motions. There aren’t many teams in the history of college football that were good enough to show up and go through the motions. I think Florida needs to be focused all week in practice, carry that into Saturday.

Andrew:                 Definitely. I agree with that. It’s funny to say, but Barrett had a good point. After the LSU game, where is another potential loss? Georgia’s there. Florida State’s there.

Nick:                         Barrett says you can easily stop Chubb, but I think what last year proved to you was that…

Andrew:                 That game means nothing. You could throw…

Nick:                         I’m saying last year proved to you that you have no idea what’s going to happen in the world’s largest cocktail party. Everyone at that game has been drinking since 8:00 in the morning. That game is drunk. Nobody knows what’s going to happen when Florida and Georgia take the field. There was no way Florida should have been able to win the game, especially in the physical dominating way that they did last year. So I can’t count Georgia out of that game.

Andrew:                 You know one thing? One thing, Nick. Mark Richt, he’s not a very good football coach.

Nick:                         The listeners are about to find out that your hatred of Tennessee is only rivaled by your hatred of Georgia and Mark Richt. Andrew, you’re looking ahead. You’re ahead two weeks.

Andrew:                 Listen. Listen to me.

Nick:                         We just told the team not to look ahead.

Andrew:                 It’s okay. Chill out. I can look ahead. Mark Richt and Tennessee and Georgia, they have one thing in common. Both have head coaches that are illiterate, can’t win the big game, and Mark Richt’s fake like Butch Jones. Come on, guys. This game this weekend, Georgia vs. Tennessee, it’s like a heart attack waiting to happen. Who do you root for? Both of these losers shouldn’t win a game. Are you kidding me? I do like Barrett though. He roots against Georgia. I like Barrett. Barrett’s a good dude.

Nick:                         If you follow Barrett on Twitter you will quickly find out that Barrett is a every team in the SEC homer.

Andrew:                 Yes.

Nick:                         Depending on which team you like. What we just said about Barrett is Barrett hates your team. It doesn’t matter which team is your team, he hates your team.

Andrew:                 I do think Barrett…

Nick:                         Unless your team is Florida, because he loves Florida.

Andrew:                 I will say this about Barrett. Barrett is a very knowledgeable guy about the teams, and is very fair with it. He does call a spade a spade, and it’s every team wants to hear their team gets their horn tooted. If you like Florida, listen to me. If you like Tennessee, listen to Nick. It’s just kind of how it is. Nick, we’re running way out of time here, buddy. Say your magic words. Let’s get off of this. Guys, be prepared for Friday, because the heat’s coming on Friday.

Nick:                         As always, make sure you stay tuned to GatorCountry.com. Follow me @NickdelaTorreGC. Follow Andrew @AndrewSpiveyGC. Follow the Gator Country Twitter account and Instagram account. On Instagram it is TheGatorCountry and on Twitter it is just @GatorCountry. We have a ton of stuff coming your way. We will be back, of course, on Friday with our prediction podcast. We both had good weeks last week. We’ll see if we can keep that thing going. For Andrew, I’m Nick, send me on Twitter and on the message boards, send me your food and drink recommendations in St. Louis. As always, stay classy, Gator Country.

Andrew:                 Continue to send me the Butch and the Mark Richt hate, and as always, go Braves.

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.