Gator Country brings you our Friday prediction podcast as we continue to preview the Florida Gators game against Missouri on Saturday.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre talk about Luke Del Rio coming back to start, plus what this game means for the Gators going forward.
Andrew and Nick also predict five games around the country, plus give you our five players to watch for the Gators on Saturday.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: Welcome back, Gator Country. Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, Friday. We’re finally getting to play football on Saturday. It’s a great weekend for some good football games, my friend.
Nick: Good football games. I’m back in the press box. You’re back in the press box. It’s back to work after a week of shenanigans for me. Back to work.
Andrew: I kind of felt a little lost with the whole last week. Nick, this week has just like drug by.
Nick: You can thank LSU fans for that.
Andrew: Thanks, LSU.
Nick: Let it go, Homey.
Andrew: Let it go.
Nick: You can’t make the decision. It’s not your decision to make. Quit talking about it.
Andrew: Quit talking about it. Quit asking about it. Quit everything. Alleva, just take your Aleve and go to bed at night. That was pretty good.
Nick: Sure.
Andrew: That was pretty good. Point for Andrew. Check it out. Mark it down. I will say this though. It’s one of those weeks where it’s like it’s the year anniversary of the wild day where Spurrier retired, Sarkisian was fired, and some quarterback at Florida was suspended. We’ll talk about that quarterback here in a second. Look at this week. You got the LSU/Florida mess going on. That’s a little on the wild side, and then Tennessee is in shambles up there. Their brick by brick is falling. It seems like every day something else new is going on up there.
Nick: When’s the 30 for 30 on this day coming out?
Andrew: For real. It should be marked down as like a day. It’s like if you want to have bad news, you put it out on this day every year.
Nick: It was, man, I can remember everything just go thrown up in the air. It was like, there’s a game this week. It was a mess. It was an absolute mess.
Andrew: It was. I remember that day very vividly. You remember the day. We woke up to a text from a good friend of ours saying, “Did you hear about Will Grier taking PEDs?” We’re like, “Screw you. Get out of here. You’re not Will Muschamp. You’re not going to bring the black smoke back.” Couple hours later it’s true. On Thursday, the story comes out from Bleacher Report, his side of the story. His side of the story is basically McElwain pushed him away from the program.
Here’s the thing, and I’ve always said this, and I’ve always tried to believe this. There’s three sides to all stories. There’s Jim McElwain’s side of the story, Will Grier’s side of the story, and then there’s the whole truth. I’m sure Will’s side has some truth to it, Mac’s side has some truth to it, and then there’s some things that aren’t being told. I think that’s what everyone needs to remember here.
Nick: I think that’s absolutely true. There’s three sides to every story, yours, mine, and the truth. I think the part that is most interesting to me is McElwain made a comment about Will Grier didn’t come, didn’t show up. Players have told us, “I don’t know where he went after, because he was never around us, never around the football team.” The dispute from Grier saying that McElwain told him, “Hey, you don’t need to be here,” and I get where he says, “It’s painful to be there.” You had to sit out a year. You were the starting quarterback since you were in eighth grade, and now you had to sit out a year. You finally get a chance as a redshirt freshman. You play half a year. You’re undefeated.
It’s hard. It’s hard to go back out there, and you can’t do anything. You’re not hurt. I get, “I don’t want to be around that. I want to just remove myself from it, because it sucks to be out there.” I get that. To me, the biggest discrepancy is were you told not to come out, because it seems like that’s what the coach is most mad about is that you weren’t there? Were you told not to? That’s where I think it is the biggest difference in the two stories.
Andrew: The thing about it is you and I can discuss it, discuss it, discuss it, and discuss it more, and neither one of us is probably going to know the truth. We’re going to know what Florida says, and we’re going to know what Grier says, and they’re both going to be totally opposite of what they’re going to say. Unless someone’s got a camera or a voice recorder, nobody’s ever going to know the truth of that, except for those two people.
Nick: Yeah. I liked Will. I liked Will, liked his dad. Got the chance to meet his stepmom, his mom. Never got a chance to meet the brothers, never got a chance to meet Nash or Hayes.
Andrew: You and I got really close to them all.
Nick: Yeah. I met them out in person in the Opening. You met them.
Andrew: Several times.
Nick: On campus. I feel bad for him, and I feel bad for the family. This kind of brings out the part of fans that I don’t like. Fans are quick to love you when you’re scoring touchdowns for their team, but it seems like you don’t give a shit about the actual person. So as soon as they’re not scoring touchdowns, now it’s Will Grier’s lying. He’s doing this, this, and this. He was a cancer. He was terrible. You loved him when he was throwing that pass to Antonio Callaway against Tennessee. He messed up. He goes somewhere else. Why do you have to hate him now?
Andrew: Here’s the thing that I think, you’re right. You’re very right in that statement. I also think that some people feel that he was selfish maybe, I guess is the best way to say it, and that’s where it is. Again, I can understand that. I do. Part of me just wants to look at Will and say, “Just ask the trainers.” That’s my thing. I think that there’s a little bit of both. I think some fans understand that, and then some fans are just, you’re not a Gator, so screw you.
Nick: It’s just how much crap he got from Gator fans, but it’s just like they don’t know you. You’re just a football player on a team they like. I don’t get why everything has to be I either love you or I hate you. It can’t be like, appreciate what you did at Florida; sorry it didn’t work out. Best of luck. It’s not everyone. Not everyone is tweeting at him or saying stuff about him. It’s only some fans, but, to me, he’s a nice kid. It’s a good family. I have nothing bad to say about Will Grier. He messed up. It happens.
Andrew: The one thing I will say is his girlfriend, fiancé, whatever she is to him now, having that comment after the Tennessee game where she tweeted out and quickly deleted it, “I bet you wish you had Will now.” That probably didn’t help Will in Gator fans’ minds. Here’s the thing that I’ll say.
Nick: There’s some truth to that.
Andrew: There is, but you know what I’m saying. My thing is this. Nick, you already know it as well as I do, we’re about to take some heat from Gator fans, because they’re going to come out and say, “You guys said their family’s good people, but dad’s crazy.”
Nick: You don’t know dad.
Andrew: Dad is a dad, and dad is always going to be a dad. Mom is always going to be a mom. Their baby boy never does anything wrong. Never, ever, ever, ever are they going to do anything wrong. You and I both got to know them really well. We would have texts and phone conversations with them. They’re good people, really good people. Lorenzo Spikes on the board is close to them as well, talks about them being good people. They are good people. They are in the spotlight now because of the two younger brothers, but at the end of the day they’re good people. They made a mistake. Life goes on. I think we’ll end it like this, Nick. Best of luck to Will at West Virginia, and if ever was to call me and say, “Mind doing me a favor and tweeting this out for me?” I wouldn’t hesitate.
Nick: Yeah. I hope he wins his appeal, and he can play Week 1 against whoever they play, Week 1 for West Virginia. I’d love to see West Virginia and Florida get matched up in a bowl game. I’d love to see that.
Andrew: We’ll move on quickly from that. Moving on. Gators/Missouri here. 4:00, SEC Network, Gainesville, Homecoming. Steve Spurrier speaking to the team this week. Luke Del Rio is your starter. Shocked, I know.
Nick: Yeah. It was pretty shocking news. Floored me. I almost fell out of my seat at the press conference.
Andrew: Just didn’t get the breaking news over ESPN.
Nick: It should be on the ticker.
Andrew: Yeah. It is. Everyone knew what it was going to be. I think things are going well. Nick, I’m going to tell you something, and this is what is concerning to me. I know I have turned into kind of the negative guy of the two of us, and I don’t like that. You know that. Nick, I’m going to ask you this and see if I’m just coming out of here being crazy. Did it not seem like Mac was almost being a cheerleader a little bit of trying to rile his guys up on Wednesday?
Nick: No. I just thought he was in a bad mood Wednesday, honestly. I just thought he was pissed off.
Andrew: I don’t know. Part of me seemed like he was trying to be a rah-rah, trying to rile them up a little bit, and I like that in a coach, but if Mac’s really having to do that in Week 6, those questions I had about the team are real. I’m really concerned about putting this LSU game back and going forward with Missouri and seeing where things are. Jalen Tabor said it this week, and that is that, “Florida must respect DBU.” DBU has to step up. It’s something he tweeted about, and that’s something Mac said as well. It’s time for DBU to step up, and it’s going to be a big test for Drew Lock. Florida should do well, but I’m still back to Wednesday’s comments. Florida needs to be impressive.
Nick: My comment is about McElwain. You said you thought he was trying to rile his team up. I say that I think he’s just mad, and when we get him in that setting, when he comes straight off the practice field, I think that it’s maybe hard to check. I start wondering, “What happened at practice? Did something happen at practice that put him in a bad mood?” You know what I’m trying to say here? Maybe what you’re saying is the team isn’t responding well, and that’s why he comes in in the mood that he was, the mood that he’s in now.
Andrew: You know what I’m saying? It’s Week 6.
Nick: If you need to tell your team to get up and go in Week 6, then you’ve got problems.
Andrew: That question mark is there. I mean, let’s face it. Florida should go into this game on Saturday thinking, “We control our own destiny.” In reality, if Florida doesn’t win out, this Alabama/Tennessee game on Saturday means nothing. You said it best, Nick, the other day, on Monday. You said you were watching the games, and you saw a couple players watching the game, and they were excited and happy when A&M beat Tennessee. That excitement should carry over to this week. You have an opportunity now to get to Atlanta, something that when you left Knoxville you were unsure of. Make that show up on the field on Saturday, and if you’re needing your head coach to pump you up for that, something’s not right.
Nick: I’ll say it again. Tennessee ain’t beating Alabama this week. I don’t care where they play. They’re at home, doesn’t matter to me.
Andrew: I’m saving my pick for a little bit, because I think I may surprise you.
Nick: They ain’t beating Alabama. So you’re right. Go out and win this week. Then everything we’ve said, after you lose to Tennessee you keep saying, “It’s not over. All of our goals, the SEC, national championship,” which I think is ludicrous, “It’s still ahead of us.” Get up and win this week, and then it is.
Andrew: Here’s the thing that I say to that. Yes. Is the national championship game ludicrous? It is. Here’s my thing to that, Nick. Okay. You’re a one loss team right now. One loss. You keep dropping behind two loss teams, three loss teams, because of your play. You go out and blow Missouri out, Missouri’s a bad football team, but at least there’s a positive mind on voters. At least there’s a positive setting about yourself in the national media heading into a bye week. Then you play Georgia. You put together a good stretch of good games, you wind up in a good bowl. Right now you’re a one loss team, and most of the people that are predicting the SEC are putting you behind LSU, putting you behind Ole Miss, teams that have multiple losses, because they don’t believe in your play. If that doesn’t fire you up, if that doesn’t get you pissed off, then, quite frankly, I’m not sure what does. If that doesn’t get your heart racing, I don’t know what does.
Nick: I hear it.
Andrew: We can say that all we want, but you know what I’m saying? That’s just what I’m saying. I don’t want to say it bothered me that Mac was that way, because that’s part of Mac’s duty is to challenge his team. I don’t want that to sound like I’m getting on Mac, because I’m 100% not getting on Mac. I’m in support of Mac. I’m saying, if he had to do that to get his team to focus or to understand, then I am concerned.
Nick: Basically, I think we’re both entering this game with a question mark. How does Florida show up, and what do they do? This is a Missouri team that you should beat. Not like you beat Kentucky, but this game shouldn’t be in question in the 4th quarter.
Andrew: No.
Nick: If it is.
Andrew: You got problems, big problems.
Nick: That’s tough. That’s a sobering reality.
Andrew: It’s a reality that I have said and still will say, since the Tennessee game. I’m still waiting to be proved wrong that this team has intensity and has a wherewithal to go out and dominate a lesser opponent. There is some truth to bad opponents you do play down for a little bit, but usually that’s only for the first half. I say this, and I hate to always go about this, but this is just a team that I personally grew up if it wasn’t Florida and Alabama I was having to watch Alabama games. When Alabama plays lesser opponents, they may start slow, but at the end of the day the game is without question, and they have shown that they’re the inferior team. I’m still waiting for Florida to show they’re the inferior team.
Nick: Inferior is not the word you’re looking for.
Andrew: What is the word I’m looking for?
Nick: Superior. Inferior would mean worse, weaker team.
Andrew: Superior, sorry. Brain fart. Superior. The superior team against lesser opponents. You can say, “Yes, they were better than UMass,” and they were. They were better than North Texas, but you do look at the Vandy game, and Florida is, on paper, better than Vandy by far, but you look at the score, and it’s a toss-up. It’s reality. It’s a toss-up.
Nick: I think you’ve got to come out, and the offense has to look better. The defense has to continue playing at the level they’ve been playing at, or better. That’s just the reality where Florida is right now. There’s too many questions. I think we could have answered some of those questions last week against LSU, but they’re here now. Answer the questions. Then you go into another bye week after this. So you don’t want to, not saying lose, but you don’t even want to just go out and win ugly against Missouri, and then now have to sit for a bye week and just let that sit there.
Andrew: That’s another thing that I was going to say. Let’s just say, Nick, and I’m just throwing crap against the wall right now, just as big what ifs. Just say you go into this game, and you win 35-10. Let’s just say 35-10. You and I would both be happy, or feel good about this team at a 35-10 win, right?
Nick: It’s like I said on Wednesday. Is that two pick sixes?
Andrew: That’s the offense scoring five touchdowns. Maybe short field a little bit, but the offense punching it in five times.
Nick: Yeah.
Andrew: You would feel good. So would I. If that’s what it is, you go 35-10, you go into a bye week. You’re feeling good about your offense. The question marks around your offense aren’t there. Your offense is maybe able to take a deep breath. If you go out, and you win 24-10 with two pick sixes, you go in, and you’re saying, “This offense is still atrocious. This offense is still bad.” Then you’ve got two weeks of this question mark, and it’s still there. You know what I’m saying? That’s the question marks we’re in.
Nick: Yeah. I just don’t, this is why I feel better about the offense with Del Rio. I think Del Rio’s better at…
Andrew: He gives them chances to improve.
Nick: Where I said that the offense, when Austin Appleby is in, I said, “The offense you have to create 2nd and manageable, 3rd and manageable for Austin to protect him.” I think Luke helps and protects the offense as a whole, because he’s going to move those chains. He’s going to put you in those situations, because he’s smart in the offense. He can check out. It’s kind of like what Jordan Scarlett said. Scarlett said, “A coach won’t even tell us to look out for a certain blitz. Del Rio sees it at the line. He calls a check out. Calls a hot route, changes a route. He’s doing those things.” That comes with the familiarity in the offense. I called Florida the dink and dunk offense, but if you’re moving the ball, it’s better than what we’ve seen the last six quarters.
Andrew: At the end of the day, a dink and dunk offense that scores is a good offense.
Nick: Yeah. The first week I went after Florida, and I said, “It’s just dink and dunk, you’re matriculating the ball down the field slowly.”
Andrew: In reality, that protects the defense from wearing down as well. Kind of what I was saying to you off the air a little bit, and what we’ve been talking about, is Del Rio does things that Appleby just doesn’t. With Appleby I felt like you had to be perfect on offense. With Del Rio I think you can be less than perfect. If Sharpe has an oh shit, watch out block, Del Rio likely knows where his hot route is. Appleby’s thinking about where his hot route is. That’s the problem.
Alright, Nick. Let’s go into buy and sell. Fire off the first buy and sell question you got for us.
Nick: Here we go. First buy or sell, Luke Del Rio with 200 yards and two touchdowns. That’s an easy buy for me.
Andrew: That is an easy buy for me, and if it doesn’t happen, we’re talking about bad offense again next week.
Nick: I would love to stop talking about that.
Andrew: I would love to stop talking about it as well, because, quite frankly, I’m ready to be back to being happy go lucky Goat.
Nick: You’re bringing everyone down.
Andrew: I’m sorry. It brings me down.
Nick: Buy or sell, the defense has at least three turnovers.
Andrew: Three turnovers. You know what? I’m going to buy that, because I think that the defense, Drew Lock’s going to try. He’s going to try and go after the two big boys at corner. I’m going to buy that.
Nick: So you’re thinking maybe like late, if Florida’s up late Lock starts pressing, starting trying to do too much?
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, I think you create a turnover in the first half, probably two second half, somewhere right around there. You definitely will think that, I mean, even Jack the other day said that he gets that gunslinger mentality where he tries to fit it in. Good luck trying to fit it in against Q or Teez.
Nick: Florida leads, is tied with A&M in turnover margin. Florida has two fumbles recovered and eight interceptions. Eight interceptions is tied with Georgia for the most in the SEC. I’m going to sell that though. I don’t think three is the number.
Andrew: What’s the number? Four?
Nick: No. I mean four would be buying it, because I said at least three. It’s buy or sell that they have at least three. I think the number is two.
Andrew: Two? Okay.
Nick: Since the first game, where there were no turnovers, Florida has been on a tear though. It’s been 10 in four games.
Andrew: That’s, I think, another reason that I’m buying. I’m just not a big Drew Lock fan right now.
Nick: I am. I don’t think he’s going to show it on Saturday, but I am a long term Drew Lock fan.
Andrew: I think in a better offense Drew Lock is really good, or with better players around him, I guess would be the best way to say it.
Nick: Everyone would be better then.
Andrew: There you go. Go ahead. Next one.
Nick: Three running backs get seven carries.
Andrew: Negative. Ain’t happening, captain. I mean, I don’t even think it’s happened this year, has it? I know that’s kind of out there, but I believe it’s been like 10, 6, 3, 3, or 10, 7, 3, 3. So no. Sell. Not happening. I’m really holding out hope that this rotation is cut down some.
Nick: What if it’s not?
Andrew: Then it’s not. I mean, at the end of the day, those guys get paid the big bucks. Mac, Nussmeier, Skipper, they get the big bucks. They get paid. So they’re seeing something in practice you and I aren’t. They do. That’s the only thing I can say. They’re seeing something we’re not. I haven’t seen enough to make me believe 24 and 32 should get the ball, but they make the money. I don’t.
Nick: I’m looking it up right now. No. They’ve had games, several games.
Andrew: Really? With three?
Nick: Against North Texas, Cronkrite had 9. Perine, 11. Thompson, 11. Scarlett, 11. Against Kentucky, Scarlett, 9, Thompson, 15.
Andrew: Good grief.
Nick: Perine, 17.
Andrew: Yeah. That was a game that got kind of out of hand. I mean, there you go.
Nick: So it’s happened twice.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: I’m going to sell.
Andrew: Okay. All that work for nothing.
Nick: Yeah. All that work for nothing. I’m selling it.
Andrew: What’s our next one?
Nick: Next one is CeCe Jefferson, and I don’t really know how to quantify this one, but it’s CeCe Jefferson plays better at defensive end. Like how do you phrase that?
Andrew: I would say do we buy that he’s a better end that he is tackle?
Nick: Yeah. I mean, that’s stupid. Yeah.
Andrew: I mean, I think so. I think he has the same problem Jon Jon Bullard did for a while, and that is that he hasn’t bought into it fully, and I think until he buys in fully he won’t be. I think he has to learn how to play at that bigger weight. I’m not sure he can hold that weight and still be the guy he is. I sell. I think he’s a better end until he buys into it. Then I think he can be a decent D tackle.
Nick: So you’re selling that he’s a better?
Andrew: No. I’m buying he’s a better D end.
Nick: Yeah. I don’t understand it. He’s clearly a better defensive end. I agree with what you said, but right now, yeah. It’s not even close.
Andrew: Was that the last one?
Nick: Yeah. That was it.
Andrew: Alright. Here we go. I got one for you. Buy or sell, the offensive line plays better this week.
Nick: Buy.
Andrew: You’ll buy they do?
Nick: I buy that they play better. I don’t feel good about it.
Andrew: This is my weakness.
Nick: You hate offensive linemen.
Andrew: No.
Nick: You just hate them.
Andrew: I don’t hate all offensive linemen. I have a very big, I’m a very big pro for Jawaan and for Tyler Jordan. I’m not sold on the other. Here’s the thing, I think Dillard is a good center, as far as making the calls. I think he could be a little bit more physical. Left side of the line, completely down on. I’m going to buy, and I don’t know why. I’m going to buy, because I’m hoping that me buying it will make them better. I’m probably wrong.
Nick: Buying it.
Andrew: You want to go to our pick ‘ems next, or you want to pick our players?
Nick: Let’s go to players.
Andrew: All right. I don’t even remember who gets to go first this week.
Nick: I was supposed to go. It is an even week, which means you go first.
Andrew: Which means I go first.
Nick: But I got skipped last week, so that would mean that you would pick first two weeks in a row.
Andrew: You got cancelled.
Nick: Or postponed. We don’t know the terminology yet.
Andrew: So what you want to do?
Nick: I don’t care.
Andrew: Well, I’m going first, and I’m going Del Rio. Del Rio has to be the guy. He shows why he is QB1, and he comes out rolling. 250 and two touchdowns.
Nick: I am going with Jordan Scarlett. Scarlett will lead the Gators in rushing yards, and he will score once.
Andrew: Once?
Nick: Once.
Andrew: Alright. My next pick is going to be #6, Q. Q gets a pick.
Nick: Another one.
Andrew: I said they got three picks, or they get three turnovers. Q gets one of them. Pick #2 for Andrew is Q.
Nick: I’m going Antonio Callaway. The connection between Callaway and Del Rio will be strong on Saturday, and Florida’s going to throw the ball.
Andrew: We’ve continued to mess around on this one, but I’m going with it, and I think I get the first win finally for this one. 89, Tyrie Cleveland.
Nick: You’re not getting a win for that.
Andrew: I think I’m getting a win for that.
Nick: You’re not getting a win.
Andrew: I think I’m going to get a win. I think he gets his first touchdown this year.
Nick: Nope.
Andrew: Yup.
Nick: Nope.
Andrew: Yup. 89 gets a touchdown.
Nick: I’m going to go with Jarrad Davis. Davis will lead the Gators in tackles, and I might even have to go ahead and call a pick for Jarrad Davis.
Andrew: So if he doesn’t lead the team in tackles you don’t get the win?
Nick: No. I mean, if he has 36 tackles, but Alex Anzalone has 37, I feel like Jarrad Davis had a pretty good game.
Andrew: But he didn’t have as good a game as Anzalone.
Nick: What are you doing? Get out of my face. Get out of my face with this nonsense. Get out of here. My three stars, Jordan Scarlett, Antonio Callaway, Jarrad Davis. Your three stars, Luke Del Rio, Quincy Wilson, Tyrie Cleveland.
Andrew: Tyrie Cleveland. I really want Tyrie to be that guy, Nick.
Nick: Yeah, man. I want a golden toilet.
Andrew: Why?
Nick: I don’t have one. I’m probably not getting one.
Andrew: Become a king, like myself.
Nick: You don’t have a golden toilet.
Andrew: I don’t want a golden toilet.
Nick: Moving on to our games. First game, North Carolina coming down to Miami. Miami coming off of a loss. Who you got?
Andrew: Miami coming off the loss. Man. I can’t pick him. I can’t pick him. Cannot pick Mark Richt. I can’t, Nick. I can’t. North Carolina, even though I’m not high on it, but I can’t ever pick Mark Richt.
Nick: Miami’s going to win this football game.
Andrew: I think they do, but I’m just not saying that.
Nick: Miami’s going to win the football game.
Andrew: So here’s my pick, not North Carolina, but not Mark Richt.
Nick: Alright. Andrew Spivey picks Mark Richt’s football team to win the game this week.
Andrew: I didn’t pick Mark Richt.
Nick: You just picked Miami.
Andrew: I picked Brad Kaaya.
Nick: So you picked Mark Richt’s quarterback.
Andrew: No. I picked Al Golden’s quarterback.
Nick: That’s Mark Richt’s quarterback.
Andrew: No. I picked Al Golden’s quarterback.
Nick: Andrew goes with Mark Richt. Ole Miss at Arkansas.
Andrew: Ole Miss at Arkansas. Ole Miss. Arkansas is a fraud. I don’t believe in Arkansas. Ole Miss, and wins handily.
Nick: I’m going to pick Ole Miss as well.
Andrew: Handily or close?
Nick: No. They’ll win by a couple touchdowns.
Andrew: Okay. That games at Arkansas, right?
Nick: At Arkansas.
Andrew: Yeah. Couple touchdowns. Arkansas is fading, and fading quickly.
Nick: Ohio State hits the road at Wisconsin.
Andrew: Urban Meyer gets his first loss of the season, finally, to the Badgers of Wisconsin. I think this Ohio State’s what? Second game outside of the state?
Nick: Might be…yeah.
Andrew: Yeah. So, yeah. Going with Wisconsin up in Badger territory.
Nick: You sound ridiculous. Ohio State’s going to win this game.
Andrew: Okay. That’s good for you. Go ahead and get your loss on Sunday, and it’ll be all good. Then you can take back that ridiculous comment, because shit that comes out of my mouth is not ridiculous, Nick. You’re starting to sound like Butch Jones.
Nick: That’s ridiculous. Speaking of Butch Jones, Butchy will be hosting Nicky this week at the big ole football barn that General Neyland built. Alabama/Tennessee. It’s the 3rd Saturday in October. I’m going with Bama. That’s been clear. I think I’ve said that since July that you can go ahead and start Tennessee off, Tennessee could have gotten an extra bye week. They don’t like that Florida got a week off. You could have just scheduled two bye weeks and given Bama a win. Don’t worry about coming over here. We don’t need that mess.
Andrew: I’m going to let this do the talking for me, Nick. Are you ready?
Nick: Ready.
Andrew: I’m going Roll Tide, Roll this weekend, and I hate saying those words, but I will say those words over Butch Jones any day of my life and two times on Sunday. All day long. Alabama rolls. Gators didn’t get it done for the man here, but Nick Saban gets it done for my man.
Nick: Rolling with the Tide.
Andrew: Rolling with the Tide. Only thing I’m hoping for is to make Butch cry.
Nick: We were talking about this before, and I was like, these games are always pretty close, right? Not the case. Last year was, but currently Alabama’s won nine, current win streak is nine years.
Andrew: So they’ve got three more to win, two more to win.
Nick: First year was ’07, 41-17, 29-9. It was close in 2009. That was in Tuscaloosa, 12-10. 41-10 in Knoxville. 37-6, 44-13 in Knoxville. 45-10. 34-20 in Knoxville, and then last year it was 19-14 in Tuscaloosa. It hasn’t even been close in those nine years.
Andrew: No, but it’s like I told you. It always does seem like it’s a close game, because Bama does usually start a little slow against these guys and then pull away, but the closest game there was was the Julio Terrence Cody block a few years ago. What was that ’09?
Nick: That was ’09 in Tuscaloosa, when Alabama was ranked 1 that year.
Andrew: That’s right. As the photo going around says, everyone hates Tennessee, and that is very true.
Nick: I like that. A little Sweet Home Alabama.
Andrew: That’s right. It was. I hate that.
Nick: What do you think, we’re going to pick the last game, which is Florida/Missouri. Florida’s a 13.5 point favorite. I said it’s not necessarily the score, but what we see on Saturday, but I don’t know if what I see, if Florida doesn’t cover that 13.5 points, in my mind like I don’t know what I see that will make me feel good about the offense, if that makes sense. If Florida does something, if Florida lives up to what I think they should do against Missouri, they cover that 13 easily. I guess that’s what I’m saying. If it’s a close game, then I don’t think Florida’s offense has done enough.
Andrew: If Florida was to put up 500 points and put up 24 points, then I would say, “Their offense could have scored a lot more. Maybe they had some self-inflicted penalties, but the offense looked better.” I’m going to say 27-10, Gators, and I feel good about that. I feel like it should be worse, but I’m going to say 27-10, Gators.
Nick: I think Florida wins the game. I don’t know if they cover. I’m going to say Florida wins and covers that spread.
Andrew: I know you don’t like to do scores, but if you were to say Florida scores what amount of points, in your opinion? If you had to say. Gun to your head. Get a million bucks if you get it right. What would you say?
Nick: 35.
Andrew: Okay. That’s cool. We’ll definitely see. Be a few recruits. Anthony Hines, linebacker from Texas, is coming in for his official visit that was rescheduled from last weekend. A few guys coming in. Not the LSU week, unfortunately, but a few guys coming in. Should be a decent recruiting weekend. Should be a good atmosphere. Nick, I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to see that. I really hope Percy Harbin comes back.
Nick: He’s not playing football.
Andrew: Man, that’s such a tragic, those headaches and that kind of stuff, just ruined his career. I’m excited to see that. Excited to see a good recruiting weekend, hopefully. See some good football as well. Really hoping to see that final score with the Crimson Tide on top in Knoxville on Saturday.
Nick: Just to clarify, you did pick Miami.
Andrew: No. I picked Brad Kaaya.
Nick: We’re going to need you, right now you’re saying you’ve picked both teams, so we’re going to need you to get on the record of who you picked here.
Andrew: I picked Brad Kaaya.
Nick: So you’re picking Brad Kaaya to win the football game.
Andrew: I’m predicting his team to win the football game.
Nick: So you’re picking Mark Richt’s Miami Hurricanes to beat.
Andrew: I’m picking Brad Kaaya to win the football game. Mark Richt will have no part in the reason that Miami won the football game.
Nick: Alright. That’s more complicated than it needs to be.
Andrew: Yes. Tell the people where they can find us, Nick. We’ll get out. We’ll see everyone on Sunday. Make sure to check out our coverage. David Bowie will have plenty of photos. I’ll have recruiting, and Nick and Bailey will have football on Saturday from Gainesville. Tell the people where they can find us.
Nick: Www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. Find Gator Country on Twitter @GatorCountry. On Facebook, @GatorCountry. On Instagram, @TheGatorCountry. Find me on Twitter @NickdelaTorreGC. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC. The podcast, as always, is on the website with a transcript and audio. If you are an Apple user, we are in iTunes, on the iTunes store, podcast. Pop in there. Type in Gator Country. It’ll pop up. Hit subscribe. Drop a rating down there. Let us know how we’re doing.
Andrew: You read my mind a little bit on that. I was going to say we hadn’t said that in a while. If you haven’t done that lately, drop a little comment. Drop us a five star. Don’t drop it because of Nick. We know if Nick was getting rated he’d be a one star, but bring the five stars for myself.
Nick: One star with a high ceiling.
Andrew: One start with a high ceiling?
Nick: High ceiling.
Andrew: You’re a Randy Shannon project from South Florida, so you get the Randy Shannon effect.
Nick: That’s fine.
Andrew: That’s fine. Nick, we appreciate it, everyone. We really do. We’ll be glad to see you guys back in Gainesville if you’re in town. Hit us up. We know a lot of people are coming in town for Homecoming, so shoot us a line. We’ll be out at Gator Walk, and we’ll be around. Shoot us a line then. As always, guys, chomp, chomp. Go Braves. Butch, Mark, you suck, and I hope you get losses this weekend.
Nick: You picked Mark. You stay classy, Gator Country.
Andrew: Nick, shut up.