Friday prediction podcast for Florida Gators vs. South Carolina

Gator Country brings you a new Friday prediction podcast for the Florida Gators vs. South Carolina game on Saturday afternoon in the Swamp.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre continue to preview the game as they look at what quarterback Austin Appleby must do for the Gators offense to succeed.

Andrew and Nick give you three guys to watch for the Florida Gators, plus they predict several games around the country for this weekend.

TRANSCRIPT

 

Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, Friday before South Carolina week, and it has been a busy as hell week. Ready to get back in the Swamp.

Nick:                         Last game in the Swamp for a bunch of seniors. Last game in the Swamp for a bunch of juniors. We can project, won’t be breaking anything this week, but we can project there will be a couple juniors playing their last game in the swamp.

Andrew:                 Let me ask you this real quick. It’s something that I’ve noticed some teams around the country have done, and that is that they’re letting the juniors come out if they want for that. Are you for or against that? I’ll give you my opinion.

Nick:                         I’m against it.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         I’m against it. That’s something for seniors.

Andrew:                 See, that’s mine as well. I think it’s one of those deals where that’s the special thing you get by coming back. You don’t get to say, “I’m a junior, so I’m declaring my last game.” No. I’m sorry.

Nick:                         Not even a Vernon Hargreaves, who when his letter of intent came in you knew that was three years. No chance of four. That was three. Not even someone like that. I 100% agree with you. That is a reward. That moment with your family, that moment to be acknowledged, that’s your reward. I almost didn’t even like, they kind of like ran through it last year. I don’t know if it was a McElwain thing, or just the way they did it, but they kind of went, start the game a little bit later. Let these guys get their moment. Someone like Michael Iorio, walk on defensive back, rarely if ever heard his name called. Let him have a minute. Let him have 45 seconds, whatever it is. Let him have that time to be recognized on the field. Mark Herndon, guys like that. Jarrad Davis, probably not going to play. Let him have a moment. Give him the damn mike.

Andrew:                 See that’s the thing too that I think should be special. Give them a second. Let them, let Jarrad Davis soak in that 30 seconds of the Swamp just going crazy for him. Let Marcus Maye soak in that 30 seconds of the Swamp going crazy for him. I mean, we can pick on Ahmad Fulwood all we want, Ahmad Fulwood’s a guy that is very active with the fans. Let him soak it up. At the end of the day, they are guys, and I think it’s cool. I think, Nick, I know you and I have both been through Senior Days, and it’s one of the most special moments you’ll ever be a part of. It’s special. It really is. It’s special. You and I only did it on the high school level, not to mention being in front of 90,000 in college.

Nick:                         Yeah. Jim McElwain kind of got choked up when he was asked about it yesterday. I remember my Senior Night. We didn’t even do it at our field, because our field was getting worked on. I remember my Senior Night. Loved it. Loved being out there with my mom, my dad. Yeah. I think it would kind of take away from that meaning if you allowed juniors to do it.

Andrew:                 I agree. I think it’s one of those deals where, and this is bad to say, for instance Jalen Tabor, I mean, we’re not breaking news when we say he’s heading to the League.

Nick:                         No. What?

Andrew:                 Yeah. We’re not breaking news when we say he’s heading to the League, and Jalen deserves every bit of recognition he gets, but it’s just one of those things where you didn’t stay four years. You didn’t stay four years with these guys. You’re not a senior, and this is Senior Day, not last game in the Swamp day. I think that’s what’s special. I’m against it, but at the end of the day I hope all of them will get their time to shine and recognition. This is a special class for Mac. He hit that on Wednesday about how special it is, but you think about guys like Joey Ivie, guys like Jarrad Davis, Marcus Maye, they’ve just been very special guys to this university, and been through a lot. I mean, let’s just call it like it is. They’ve been through a lot.

Nick:                         This senior class, their first year was what? 2013 was their first season?

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         That was a tough year to be on the Gators. Tough introduction. You signed to a team that went to the Sugar Bowl. You show up, and you go 4-8. This team has seen some stuff. Had a coaching change. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be in the stands, not in the stands. I’ll be in the stadium early to see it, and I hope fans are there early as well.

Andrew:                 I agree. We’ll try to Periscope it as well, or something, for everybody that’s coming, but once again, and I can’t say this enough, guys, if you’re listening to the podcast and you have the opportunity, you’re physically able, you’re able to drive, show up in the Swamp please. It is special for these guys. Florida needs it for recruiting. This senior class deserves a rocking Swamp to go out on. If you’re able, you’re in there, go to the game. Don’t hold out your hatred for the offense on this entire team. The offense doesn’t want to suck. It sucks. Doesn’t want to suck. Come out. Support your team.

Nick:                         The offense doesn’t want to suck.

Andrew:                 I mean, it doesn’t want to suck. You don’t never want to suck.

Nick:                         Suck less. Try not to suck. Go Cubs, go.

Andrew:                 Go Cubs, go. Yeah. Alright, Nick, so injury front. I’m going to run through these, and you tell me what I forget.

Nick:                         Do we have enough time?

Andrew:                 Yeah. Anzalone, out this week, broken arm. Luke Del Rio, out with a noodle arm. Jarrad Davis is probably out for the game with an ankle. Mac says he’s definitely out. I don’t know if you can ever say definitely with Jarrad Davis. Cece, most likely out. That one’s kind of weird, Carl, he’s out. Cam Dillard’s out. Who am I missing? CJ Worton’s out. Am I missing anyone?

Nick:                         Chris Thompson probable.

Andrew:                 Probable. He’s in the concussion protocol.

Nick:                         Tyrie Cleveland has been full go in practice all week, so likely to play. Would be surprised if he did not play.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         Del Rio out, Anzalone, Davis, Dillard, Herndon, another senior who will get recognized before the game, but will not play.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Let’s talk about this quarterback position real quick. I say real quick, it ain’t going to be no real quick. There ain’t nothing real quick about this. Appleby going to get the start. Not surprised. I don’t think anybody should be surprised with it. I’ve had conversations with some people who are at Florida, then some people outside of the program, and they all think that you have to go with Appleby against Muschamp’s defense. I’m not going to say you can’t there. The thing is he says Feleipe is the #2 guy. Nick, I think you and I are in agreement that if Appleby starts shitty, and the offense picks up where it was at in Arkansas, you have to see what you can do. My question to you is this, how long do you go with Appleby before you say, how many 3 and outs can you have, or how many poor offensive drives can you have before you have to say, “Alright, Feleipe, you can’t do no worse, so let’s see”?

Nick:                         So here’s my thing. My thing is I think Doug Nussmeier has been really good when the Gators are on script, and what I mean by that is every football team will come into a game with the first drive, first two drives, first 15 plays maybe.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Usually it’s first 15-20 is usually what.

Nick:                         Scripted. This is what we’re going to run. Doesn’t matter. It’s going to work. We’re ready for this. Then you get off script, and now you’re trying to make adjustments, and counteract what they’re doing. I think that’s when Florida has kind of struggled, but when they’re on script I think they’ve done well. So I would be surprised to see Appleby not start well, but I wanted to ask, but McElwain kind of left abruptly, I wanted to ask, “Is the quarterback situation going to be like it was with Treon Harris and Will Grier at the beginning of the year, where they’ve got scheduled times to go in?” Would you like to get Feleipe Franks in in part of your scheduled 15 plays?

I don’t know. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got him in early when the plays were scripted, and everyone knows what they’re doing, they’ve been practicing those plays all week. Just to get him in and get his feet wet, and not Austin Appleby throws a pick six to start the game, like last week, and now you’re bringing a freshman in down.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         It’s tough. That’s why they get paid big bucks. It’s tough. I don’t know how the quarterback situation is going to shake out. Does Austin Appleby go out and throw for 500 yards, and you never see Feleipe Franks?

Andrew:                 Here’s the thing, and I hit this on Thursday. I was on Chad Wilson’s show, Quincy’s father, who runs Gridiron Now, or Gridiron Studs show, and he made a good point to me, and I guess it’s something that maybe I knew about, but I haven’t really thought about. That is that really since the first half of the Tennessee game, when Nuss dialed it back to go conservative, they haven’t been able to pick the speed back up. I guess, I mean it’s obvious that it hasn’t, but I didn’t think about it like that.

I’m sitting here thinking like, maybe Nuss brings out that same game plan that he brought out in that first half of Tennessee, and that’s his let’s just try to line it up, let’s just try to throw it deep and try to get things going. The thing that worries me is this, and that is if you get the first drive, and it’s three incomplete deep passes, does the offense shut down? I don’t know. I feel like that you can’t exactly take that chance of going deep early on a ton, because of the ramifications of people are going to say, “Here’s the Arkansas game all over again.”

Nick:                         You can’t have that. You can’t even, the offense I feel like is fragile, and you can’t even allow them to get into the feeling of, here we go again, and then they just shut down. Then at some point the defense looks over and goes, “Well, the offense shut down, so, Duke, Quincy, Jalen, you guys got a pick six in you? Because they’re not going to score, and if we don’t score the game’s over.”

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         You get that sense too that the offense, once they start to see things kind of roll negatively, they kind of just, not pout, but get down on themselves, lose confidence, and then it all goes to hell.

Andrew:                 Yeah. It’s an offense that is, like you said, fragile, and let’s face it, in the few games that they’ve done well, offensively, and I would say that is the Kentucky, the Tennessee in the first half, the Missouri game. That was the three games they’ve done well. Do you agree with that?

Nick:                         Kentucky.

Andrew:                 Half of Tennessee, and then the Missouri game.

Nick:                         Half of Tennessee. Yeah.

Andrew:                 What I was going to say was that. That is you see one thing in common in those three games. They had a lot of yards, and the thing that I say to that is, and even a little bit in the Georgia game, that is they were able to get a momentum going to kind of get them in rhythm. They were able to kind of get going, and I think that it’s key that that is what they do. I said this to people all week, and that is whatever it is this week, you’ve got to find a way to leave the Swamp Saturday feeling great about this offense. I mean, not great, good. You have to leave this game feeling confident about it, because, guess what? You’re going to Baton Rouge, and you better be okay going to Baton Rouge.

We’ll talk about LSU next week. There’s some things that we’ve talked about off the air, and I’ll bring it up just real quick, and that is what fire does LSU bring next week? Nobody knows. Their seniors may shut it down too. Leonard Fournette may shut it down. We don’t know, but this offense still needs to go into next week feeling good about themselves, feeling good about the quarterback position, whether that be Appleby, whether that be Trask, whether that be Franks, whoever that may be. They’ve got to go into that game feeling like, “Okay, we can score.” Right now I think they go into the South Carolina game going, “Can we score? We don’t know.”

Nick:                         That’s going to be a tough environment. That’s an 11:00AM kickoff.

Andrew:                 Which is good for them.

Nick:                         Better than a 7:00PM kickoff.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I’m not going to lie. I want to kind of see how drunk they can be at noon.

Nick:                         They don’t need you to challenge them. They will figure that out.

Andrew:                 Are you not interested?

Nick:                         I wish I could join them. That’s for sure.

Andrew:                 Maybe a drunk Nick in the press box would be cool. Maybe I’d actually like you.

Nick:                         Be a good story.

Andrew:                 Maybe. No, I mean, it’s just it is what it is, and it is, you can’t stress it enough when you say that you need to find that spark. That spark, that spark, that spark, that spark. You can’t describe it any other way. You just have to say it that way. I think that, at the end of the day, it’s this, and that is go back to the bread and butter. If that means run the ball 50 times and get booed out of the stadium and win the game, that’s the one thing you can rely on is the running game, the running backs.

Now, what the offensive line is going to do, don’t ask me. Don’t hold a gun to my head, because I couldn’t answer it, but you can rely on the running game to at least get you some yards if Appleby starts to struggle, but I feel like you have to come out, get Appleby comfortable. I think they come out trying to get him comfortable with the running game, then go to the passing game, do it opposite. Most teams do that, they get them comfortable with the running game, then go to the passing game. Nuss likes to do it opposite. I’m thinking Nuss may need to go back to the old ways.

Nick:                         By that you mean run to set the pass instead of pass to set the run.

Andrew:                 I’m just saying, run the ball to get Appleby comfortable.

Nick:                         Run the damn ball.

Andrew:                 Sandra Bullock said it best. Run the ball. Run the ball. Please, run the ball. The thing is this is not a Will Muschamp athletic defense like it should be. We can yank on Will Muschamp all you want to. This will the worst defense Will Muschamp ever puts on the field at South Carolina, because, whether we like it or not, whether fans like it or not, he’s going to bring some dudes on defense.

Nick:                         Will Muschamp is going to bring seven different kinds of smoke. He’s going to disguise coverages, disguise blitzes, bring pressure, put eight in the box. He’s going to show Florida stuff that South Carolina hasn’t put on film all year. Will Muschamp has been waiting for this game. I think if Florida just switches to a triple option offense, and runs midline all game, they’ll be fine, but that’s not what they’re doing this week. They got to find another way to win.

Andrew:                 I said it on Monday, and I think you said it on Monday as well. Win this game 33-31. It doesn’t matter. Put up 33 points, and the excuses will be the defenses just had a bad day, but at least the excuses wouldn’t be the offense had a bad day. Yeah. You got to find a way to score points.

Nick:                         We’ll get into that later. I was about to ask you something. We’ll get into that later. Man, now I’m thinking about that, you know what a midline is?

Andrew:                 Yeah. You know what a midline is? What was that after? That wasn’t after the Georgia Southern game, was it?

Nick:                         Yeah.

Andrew:                 It was after Georgia Southern game.

Nick:                         Yeah.

Andrew:                 It’s funny, because, so I was listening to something today, or on Thursday, and I go back to this, and I was on the Gridiron Studs show with Chad, and before he brought me on he had Nick Saban on there. Nick Saban was going through a rant because a media person up in Alabama said, “Well, who’s going to be the quarterback that’s going to replace Jalen Hurd in the second half when you’re winning big? How much do you want the young guys to play?” He went crazy. He was like, “How do you know there’s going to be young guys playing? Are you saying Mississippi State sucks?” He goes, “That’s the problem. The expectation is that if the young guys don’t play, then we didn’t win.” Then he goes, “It’s just like that Georgia Southern game back a few years ago where we didn’t score very much.” I’m sitting here thinking, “Damn, Georgia Southern’s just a pain in the ass for a lot of teams.”

Nick:                         For everyone, yeah.

Andrew:                 It did kind of go back to Saban had a good point, and that is that you’ve gotten to a point where if you don’t win big it doesn’t matter how you won.

Nick:                         Man, he has built those expectations. I think he just likes yelling at the media.

Andrew:                 He’s Nick Saban.

Nick:                         I think he just enjoys yelling at the media.

Andrew:                 He’s never made the mistake and said he liked you guys.

Nick:                         What are you drinking over there? I hear some ice.

Andrew:                 I am drinking some good old Dr. Pepper over here.

Nick:                         Dr. Pepper.

Andrew:                 Trying to get fired up for this the rest of the way.

Nick:                         Dr. Pepper, sponsor us. We’re part of the SEC over here.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Alright. So I’m going to ask you this, and we can move on to the part. What do you fear South Carolina’s offense against Florida’s defense with Davis and Anzalone missing?

Nick:                         I want to say that a freshman quarterback who should still be in high school is not going to do well against this defense.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         I want to say that. But South Carolina’s pretty terrible at running the football. They’re averaging 3.31 yards per carry, 120 yards a game. That’s worst in conference. It gets worse when you look at it against, when you take out their cupcake games, and you look at just who they’ve played in conference. They’re running the ball for 109 yards a game against conference opponents. That’s terrible. That’s just terrible. I don’t think you can run on Florida.

Andrew:                 No, but here’s the problem, and this is that. You can mark it down in your book. There is going to be a busted play on offense, or on defense, because of the young communication, that kind of stuff. So that’s what I’m saying is I think it will be, I think they’ll run the ball a little bit, maybe not a ton, but I think they will run the ball, because you’ve got to expect that the two linebackers that are freshmen are going to have a brain fart some time during the game.

Nick:                         Well, why did that never happen when Will Muschamp was coaching here?

Andrew:                 It did. It did. 3rd and 25 against LSU. I mean, if it was 3rd and 25, you can mark it down, you could call a draw play, and you were going to get it.

Nick:                         I forgot about that.

Andrew:                 You could get it. Holy cow, great defensive mind and coach, but, damn, don’t give that man 3rd and long, because he was going to figure out a way to screw it up.

Nick:                         There’s your game plan. Florida needs to keep LSU in 3rd and short.

Andrew:                 Yeah. What is your, so when you look at it defensively, I mean, I think, I don’t know. I’ll be honest. I don’t.

Nick:                         We said this last week. You remember? I said last week, I was like, I don’t see how Arkansas wins this game. It’s a bad defense. They just got gouged, and then you get a game like that. Busted plays, I guess. Busted plays and turnovers is how I see South Carolina winning this game. They’re not a good football team.

Andrew:                 No, but they’re a better team than they were. I think that’s the thing, and it is, I’m going say it.

Nick:                         You think they’ve got the momentum on their side with three wins in a row? Two of those are conference wins.

Andrew:                 They’re feeling good about themselves.

Nick:                         You scored 55 points in your last two games.

Andrew:                 I mean, they’re feeling good about themselves. Don’t worry about that. They’re feeling good about themselves, and Florida’s not feeling good about themselves. So that’s what, I don’t know. I do, I expect it to go into halftime being a very close game.

Nick:                         Over/under is at like 37. The over/under is set at 37.5.

Andrew:                 Oh my. Someone told me today that the point spread was 13, and I was like, how?

Nick:                         Is that a point spread or the over/under?

Andrew:                 Yeah. I’m like, how? I just don’t know. I mean, we can break it down however you want to. At the end of the day, it’s going to depend on how well Florida comes out, and if Florida comes out with a spark, if they come out like they want to play football, then they win the game. If they come out dead as a doorknob, like they did against Arkansas, they’re going to get their ass kicked.

Nick:                         You can’t. You can’t come out like that two weeks in a row. Come out like that two weeks in a row, and I start questioning the coaching staff, which I have not done to this point yet.

Andrew:                 Yeah. How you come out flat against Arkansas is beyond me. Here’s the thing, and we can laugh all we want to, but, once again, you have another chance to do your job, and to get back to…

Nick:                         Florida can get to Atlanta this Saturday, with a win over South Carolina.

Andrew:                 It ain’t happening. Tennessee’s not losing to Kentucky.

Nick:                         How dare you?

Andrew:                 Tennessee’s not losing to Kentucky.

Nick:                         Kentucky could.

Andrew:                 Cannot. Where’s the game at?

Nick:                         It’s on Rocky Top, where they really enjoy winning there, but we’ll see. I thought, for some reason it was making me laugh so much. Last week I’m sitting in the press box at Arkansas, and Kentucky was beating Georgia, and I looked up, and I said, “If this score stands, we’re going to wake up tomorrow in a world where the Kentucky Wildcats football team leads the eastern division in November. What a time that would have been to be alive.

Andrew:                 They only have one loss in the division right now? Two now?

Nick:                         Two.

Andrew:                 They would have only had one.

Nick:                         They would have only had one. They would have been ahead of Florida by a half a game, because Florida still is one game back in that. So, yeah, Kentucky would have been 5-2 to Florida’s 4-2.

Andrew:                 Okay. I just don’t know. I don’t see it. Nick, I got a couple buy and sell for us. Do you have a couple? You want me to read them off, or you want to read them off? Nick, did you run away from us?

Nick:                         No. I’m here. I’m looking at them right now. I can pull them up for us.

Andrew:                 Okay. If not, I have them right here in front of me as well. So we can do. Here, I’ll go with the first one. Buy or sell, the Gators rush for 150 yards?

Nick:                         I’m going to buy that. South Carolina not a very good run defense.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         I buy it. South Carolina is giving up 197 on the ground per game. So I buy.

Andrew:                 Okay. I also buy that, because I think that if not, Florida loses.

Nick:                         That’s true. Did you just give away your pick?

Andrew:                 No. No. I didn’t give away. I’m not picking Will Muschamp. Buy or sell, Franks plays more than two drives.

Nick:                         I’m going to buy.

Andrew:                 I am going to sell that. Appleby plays the whole game.

Nick:                         Franks never comes in.

Andrew:                 Franks never comes in.

Nick:                         Make all this big to do about nothing.

Andrew:                 Makes it all about nothing. Buy or sell, Gators win the turnover battle.

Nick:                         Sell.

Andrew:                 You don’t think they do?

Nick:                         South Carolina is the best team in the SEC at creating turnovers. If I’m going with my Feleipe Franks gets in, I’m going to also say he doesn’t stay in too long with some interceptions. Yeah. I buy. Wait, I sell that Florida wins the turnover battle.

Andrew:                 I’m going to buy it, and I don’t want to give away my pick here in a minute, but I think they force homeboy Jake Bentley to cause some turnovers.

Nick:                         Okay.

Andrew:                 Hey now, let’s just be honest. We can talk all the shit we want to about the offense. That DBU is still DBU, boss, and Jake Bentley’s going to come up against them.

Nick:                         That’s true.

Andrew:                 Buy or sell, first team to 14 wins. Do they score 14?

Nick:                         First team to 1.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         Is there a one point play? First team to 1 wins. I am going to buy that.

Andrew:                 I’ll buy that as well. I think so. Buy or sell, the over/under set at 37.5 points is too high.

Nick:                         It seems too high.

Andrew:                 Buy or sell? You’re not running away from this.

Nick:                         Sell. Sell. It’s not set too high. It’s not set too high. That’s a very fan thing to go. Listen, if you’re a gambler, 37.5 that’s damn near nothing. That is super low. It’s not set too high. These are just two pretty terrible offenses.

Andrew:                 I’m going to buy that, that it’s not set too high either. No, I’m going to sell that it’s not too high. I disagree. It’s not too high. If I was doing it I would say it was probably 24-17, somewhere around in there. I’ll make my pick here in a minute. I’ll sell that it wasn’t set too high. That’s all the ones I have. You got any off the top of your head you want to bring up?

Nick:                         Yeah. I don’t know how to word it. I want to know what you think about how many carries Mark Thompson and Jordan Cronkrite will get?

Andrew:                 Why you want to piss me off? Why do you want to piss me off?

Nick:                         I just want to talk about it.

Andrew:                 I don’t want to talk about it.

Nick:                         I just want to talk about it, that’s all.

Andrew:                 I just want to get Andrew’s blood pressure rising up on this Thursday afternoon. I just want to piss him off. Trying to enjoy a great day.

Nick:                         Over/under nine carries for Mark Thompson?

Andrew:                 Over/under nine carries?

Nick:                         Let’s go nine touches, carries and catches.

Andrew:                 Hell, he’s going to get it, even though I don’t want him to get it.

Nick:                         Hell. Aw, hell.

Andrew:                 Aw, hell. He’s going to get it, even though I don’t think he deserves it. He’ll get it.

Nick:                         Over/under seven touches for Jordan Cronkrite?

Andrew:                 Sell. He ain’t getting seven.

Nick:                         Over/under five.

Andrew:                 Sell.

Nick:                         Okay.

Andrew:                 Sell. Yeah. Alright, candy ass, what did you think? Nine for homeboy, or what?

Nick:                         Candy ass, what is this 1990 WWF?

Andrew:                 I don’t know. It just sounded like, I’ve been trying to get creative with my name calling.

Nick:                         Candy ass, bozo. Bozo, Candy ass.

Andrew:                 Ass clown.

Nick:                         Okay. I’ve got under nine for Thompson.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         Over five for Cronkrite.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         I think it’ll all be mostly catches for Cronkrite though. Then I got one other thing. Surprising you here.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         UFC 205 this weekend.

Andrew:                 Yeah, only one more.

Nick:                         Huge fight card. Huge fight card in New York. Eddie Alvarez, the champ, or Conor McGregor?

Andrew:                 McGregor.

Nick:                         I’m going to go with McGregor too.

Andrew:                 I’m just ready for one more week until my gal comes back. One more month.

Nick:                         Allegedly.

Andrew:                 I hope so.

Nick:                         We’ll see if she comes back and actually fights on that card. One of the, I forget her name right now, a woman boxer, famous woman boxer, came out and said she thinks Ronda’s done, not going to fight.

Andrew:                 Joe Rogan said the same thing.

Nick:                         Yup.

Andrew:                 Alright, Nick, picks. You get first pick. What you got?

Nick:                         Picks, going with my dog, STA pride, Jordan Scarlett. Any time I get the first pick, I’m taking him.

Andrew:                 Didn’t work out very well for me last week.

Nick:                         He don’t like you.

Andrew:                 I think he does. I think he does. Jordan, do you like me? You listen to the podcast. Let us know. Do you like me? I think you do. My first pick is going to be 57, Caleb Brantley. We said they’re not going to run the ball. Guess what? 57, Caleb Brantley has a big day. Nick, you and I will be in agreement that we will not go exactly by the stats sheet, but by his play.

Nick:                         Definitely.

Andrew:                 So, 57, Caleb Brantley is my pick.

Nick:                         Led the team in tackles last week. I don’t think he’ll do it again this week, but I think Marcus Maye has a good day.

Andrew:                 If he leads the team in tackles again this week you got problems.

Nick:                         Yup. That’s an issue. He laughed. I asked him after the game, I said, “It’s not usually the best sign when your two leading tacklers are safeties, but you had a good game.” He kind of laughed, and was like, “Yeah, it’s not usually good, but thank you.”

Andrew:                 Yeah. My next pick is going to be the guy that wins the turnover battle for the Gators, Quincy Wilson gets back on track. DBU #6, pick #2.

Nick:                         I’m going to go with Duke Dawson.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         My reason is going to be this, that Will Muschamp knows about Teez, knows about Quincy. T Rob knows about Teez, knows about Quincy, and they also know about Duke, but I think that they’re going to be falling to the same things that the other teams do.

Andrew:                 You don’t have too much of a choice.

Nick:                         Yeah. I think it’s just you bite the bullet and say, “Crap, I guess we’ll try Duke.” I think that’s where Duke thrives.

Andrew:                 I agree.

Nick:                         Also, I think you’re going to be trying to pick on the middle of the field, because of those linebackers, and that’s where Duke will be covering the slot as well.

Andrew:                 Okay. I do too. My next pick is going to be a freshman, Nick. It’s going to be a freshman, and I talked about him probably having one bozo play in the game, but I’m going to go David Reese is my third pick. I’m a big David Reese fan, big Reese fan. So I’m going to say I think Reese fills in. He’s not going to fill Jarrad Davis’s shoes, but he fills in well.

Nick:                         Any chance the Swamp will start a “Reese!” when he makes a play?

Andrew:                 I love that.

Nick:                         I love that, and it sounds like a boo.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         I love that.

Andrew:                 It’s always special. It’s just like, when you hear, and if you’re watching on TV people are like, “Why are they booing?” It’s like, “No, they’re saying Reese.” Yeah. So I think he’ll have a big game. That’s what I’m going to go with is Reese. Didn’t go with any offensive guys for a reason, and that is because until it happens, don’t believe it. Nick, let’s go to some games. Which game you want to pick first?

Nick:                         I almost expected you to be bold and just pick Austin Appleby.

Andrew:                 You did?

Nick:                         Be bold. Yeah.

Andrew:                 I’m not going to lie to you, it did…

Nick:                         Crossed your mind.

Andrew:                 Yeah, it crossed my mind, because I thought maybe, just maybe, he has a big game, and I’m not saying he don’t. He may. He very well may. I do think that we may see them throw the ball deep a little bit and air it out a little bit. I want to see him take chances. I’m not going to lie. If he has four turnovers, and they score 30 points, that’s better than having two turnovers last week and scoring 0 points on offense.

Nick:                         Very true. Alright, on to the games.

Andrew:                 Go to the games.

Nick:                         They got a Friday night game, because Florida State plays high school football. Boston College at Florida State. I hate Friday night college football. What are you doing?

Andrew:                 Yeah. What are you doing? That’s so stupid. That’s high school ball. Derwin James out for the rest of the year.

Nick:                         Out for the rest of the year.

Andrew:                 That’s big news.

Nick:                         That’s great for Florida.

Andrew:                 Boston College isn’t very good.

Nick:                         They’re pretty terrible.

Andrew:                 Florida State finds a way. That’s at home, too, right?

Nick:                         At home, at FSU.

Andrew:                 Oh my God, what are you doing? Friday night?

Nick:                         Yup. Not going to have many recruits there for that, right?

Andrew:                 Yeah, and if they are, that means they suck. I mean, their high school team sucks.

Nick:                         Alright, the Kentucky Wildcats, the fighting Mark Stoops, versus Butchy. Kentucky at Tennessee. I’ve got Kentucky. Kentucky wins by a touchdown. Close game.

Andrew:                 Why did you just pick that?

Nick:                         Kentucky scores a late touchdown to upset Tennessee.

Andrew:                 Why did you just pick that? You jinxed it.

Nick:                         I’m picking it. I’m picking Kentucky.

Andrew:                 I’m going to go with reverse psychology and say Tennessee wins.

Nick:                         Big blue nation, all the way this week.

Andrew:                 I’m going to go reverse psychology.

Nick:                         You heard it here first, Andrew Spivey picks Butch Jones. Andrew Spivey picks not Jalen Hurd. Andrew Spivey picks Butch Jones and Tennessee to win a football game.

Andrew:                 Well, you just heard what I said. So, yeah. We’ll hope and pray. What time is that game?

Nick:                         Shoot, I don’t know.

Andrew:                 I think it’s a 6:00 kick, or a 7:00 kick. It’s either 6 or 7.

Nick:                         That’s a nooner.

Andrew:                 It’s at noon?

Nick:                         SEC Network. Nooner on SEC Network. Kentucky gets bowl game eligible with a win at Tennessee.

Andrew:                 Wow.

Nick:                         5-4 Kentucky. They will get to a bowl game with a win on Rocky Top.

Andrew:                 Wow. Wow. I did not know that was a noon. It could happen where you have the SEC East locked up.

Nick:                         You could know. SEC East could be locked up by 3:30.

Andrew:                 Come on. What’s next?

Nick:                         You sticking with your pick?

Andrew:                 I’m sticking with my pick.

Nick:                         Auburn between the hedges at Georgia.

Andrew:                 Kirby Smart sucks. Auburn wins.

Nick:                         Auburn. I’ve got Auburn as well. Caught me off guard there. Battle for the boot, that is the biggest damn trophy. I’m sure the heaviest damn trophy of any rivalry trophy. LSU at Arkansas.

Andrew:                 LSU’s done. You heard it here. They have nothing left to play for. Orgeron doesn’t get the job, because he didn’t beat Alabama. Arkansas wins, because I think this is going to set up for what I was going to talk about next week, and that is I expect to see a lifeless LSU team. So Arkansas wins.

Nick:                         I’m trying to think. Arkansas has played this game really well the last two years. They won 17-0 in Fayetteville. Won 31-14 last year. I think Arkansas builds on what they did last week, and, like you said, LSU, some of those guys who are seniors, juniors, redshirt sophomores, start checking out. Arkansas.

Andrew:                 Me too. Woo, pig suey.

Nick:                         We’re leaving the conference for this one, but it’s a ranked game. Southern Cal, the USC Trojans, newly ranked in the college football poll, at newly #4 in the college football playoff, at Washington. Southern Cal at Washington.

Andrew:                 Trojans upset, knock Washington out of the playoff bid.

Nick:                         I think Washington continues rolling. This will be the first ranked team they play all season long though.

Andrew:                 No. They played Utah.

Nick:                         Was Utah ranked when they played?

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         Never mind.

Andrew:                 They were 18.

Nick:                         I lied.

Andrew:                 He lied. I mean, what’s new?

Nick:                         Yeah. They were 13. It was 4 against 13.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I knew it was something in the teens. Alright, last game.

Nick:                         Last game, William Larry Muschamp.

Andrew:                 He doesn’t deserve the name Larry.

Nick:                         William Larry Muschamp, old Billy Muschamp, back in the Swamp. Who you got, Andrew?

Andrew:                 I think it’s going to be nasty. I think that’s going to be a slug fest in the trenches of defensively. Gators find a way to put 24 on the board and win 24-13, because like Florida’s best player on offense is Townsend, their best player is their kicker, Elliott Fry. 24-13, McElwain I think would pull his heart out if he, to beat Muschamp. Hold on. Hold on. And Steve Spurrier calls a play.

Nick:                         Steve Spurrier calls a play this week.

Andrew:                 You just won’t know it.

Nick:                         Okay.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         That’s what Zach Alboverdi’s been doing, the Steve Spurrier. He came in yesterday, talked to us, and he does it all the time. He goes, “Okay.”

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         Okay.

Andrew:                 The man can be impersonated like anybody.

Nick:                         If there is one thing Will Muschamp does really well it is lose football games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. He has got that shit down to a science. He has been grasping and digging losses out of the jaws of victory for years at Florida. He’ll do it again. It’ll be ugly, like you said. Florida will win this football game. They’re not covering a 13 point spread. Have you seen a new line on that? What has that gone down to?

Andrew:                 I thought it was still 13 as of this morning.

Nick:                         Hold on. Give me a second.

Andrew:                 Let me say this real quick, and that is, no, it’s 11 right now.

Nick:                         Florida does not cover 11. They do win the football game.

Andrew:                 Okay. Muschamp may get Florida to Atlanta finally.

Nick:                         That’s funny. I’m going to steal that on Saturday. If Kentucky wins, I will steal that on Saturday.

Andrew:                 Can I get credit for it?

Nick:                         No. You get it right now. I stole it from Andrew.

Andrew:                 Lord. Once again.

Nick:                         Will Muschamp finally gets Florida to the SEC Championship, by losing.

Andrew:                 Here’s one more thing that I want to say one more time, and I can’t stress this enough. If you have the opportunity to go to the game, if you’re able to go, you have tickets to go, go. Go to the game. It is needed for recruiting. I want to cover some good recruiting. I need good stories. Go. Go if you’re able to go. Support the seniors. Nick, you can agree with me. This is a great group of guys. Marcus Maye, Jarrad Davis, those guys are the utmost guys. Go support those guys. Let them know what’s up. Go support them. Really, go support them.

Nick:                         Listen to the man.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Would you agree though? This is a great group of seniors. Great group of guys.

Nick:                         Yeah. Marcus Maye is fantastic. Bryan Cox is fantastic. STA pride with Bryan Cox there. Chris Thompson’s a great kid. Really a couple of the group, Chris Thompson is the first group, first recruiting class that I really covered. Great group of guys.

Andrew:                 Great group of guys, and it is Teez’s last game in the Swamp, and a couple other guys, so go support them. Really, go support your guys. Last home game of the year. Won’t get to see Jalen Tabor back in the Swamp again. Just go support the guys. Go support the guys. Can’t say that enough. Nick, tell the people where they’ll find us. We’ll get out of here. By the way, real quick, basketball starts Friday night, as well as soccer. We’re going to have some good basketball coverage. If you haven’t checked it out, check out our podcast with Brent Mechler from Lindy’s. He had a really good preview podcast. Check us out.

Nick:                         www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gators stories. On the message board. We’ve been putting out practice notes. You would have known Feleipe Franks was ahead of Kyle Trask on Monday if were on the message board. Thanks to Senor Spivey over there. Check us out. Hit Andrew up. Maybe he can work out something for you. Also, on iTunes, search @GatorCountry. Subscribe there and never miss a podcast. Podcast is always up Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 5:00AM. Also on the website transcript form, and if you don’t have iTunes, the audio is there for you as well. Do your social media thing. @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. I’m @NickdelaTorreGC. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC.

Andrew:                 That’s right. We’ve got some cool edits for the seniors, so retweet them, get us some love as well. It’s all about the seniors. As always, guys, I appreciate it. Nick appreciates it. We’ll see you guys on Monday, hopefully after the East has been clinched. We’ll say it like that. As always, Butch, Mark you suck, and Butch, take care of business this weekend and do yourself a favor, help the Gators out. As always, chomp, chomp. Go Braves.

Nick:                         You stay classy, Gator Country.

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.