Friday prediction podcast for Florida Gators vs. Tennessee

Gator Country brings you our Friday prediction podcast for the Florida Gators vs. Tennessee game this Saturday afternoon in Knoxville.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down the keys to the game, plus look at what Florida’s offense plans to do with Austin Appleby at the helm.

Andrew and Nick also give you three players to watch this weekend, plus predict the Gators game against Tennessee on Saturday.

TRANSCRIPT:

Nick:                         Friday. The day before Florida/Tennessee. College Game Day is there. The streak is there. Andrew Spivey and myself will be there. Andrew, say hello to the people.

Andrew:                 It’s Friday! It’s rivalry week. Nick, that smoke is getting a lot darker in Neyland Stadium. Sources say at about 7:00, 6:30, Neyland Stadium is going to be very quiet, very empty, and a lot of 12s are going to be going up in the air. I’m not referring to 12 like Quincy Wilson used to wear. I’m referring to 12 in a row. I just finished watch that highlight video from last year, and, as my man Nick Hubert was saying, it was bedlam in the Swamp last year when Antonio Callaway caught that ball. To see the reaction on those guys face, to see Butch and his alien quarterback pop out like they had won the game with the field goal, didn’t happen, and it ain’t happening again. Quite frankly, 27 points ain’t happening for Tennessee this year.

Nick:                         There are new 12s on the roster this year.

Andrew:                 Who is 12.

Nick:                         The starting quarterback, Austin Appleby.

Andrew:                 Sure enough. My fault. I’m sitting here referring to Del Rio being 14. My bad. I guess 12 with Appleby could be the number. Damn, Nick, that’s a damn good idea. I should have thought about that before I got on here, because I could have said that. The Gators play #12 for the 12th year in a row. That would have been awesome. Damn. Got to do my homework more.

Nick:                         I don’t if that makes sense, and I don’t know if you doing your homework would make our podcast better or worse. I think we like you just flying off the cuff.

Andrew:                 It is what it is. It’s Tennessee week. Shit, I don’t have to do homework. It’s facts. As my man, Jalen Tabor said this past year, it’s facts. Every year the Gators beat Tennessee. It is facts. It is what it is. Butch says he doesn’t prepare for a big game, and you have to prepare for an enemy. You have to know an enemy. When you don’t prepare for a big game, you don’t get your team up for a big game, how do you expect them to bring more energy? You don’t bring the same energy you bring for Ohio to this Florida game, because if you do, quite frankly, you’re going to get beat. It is what it is. Facts say you will get beat, because the Gators will come out on Saturday full of energy. Their quarterback has been taken out. They’re pissed off about it. They hate Tennessee as bad as I hate Tennessee, and they have a coach that is pissed off as well. Energy is there. Butch, you better change it. If you’re listening to this podcast, which I suggest you are, you should. You should get your team pumped for Saturday.

Nick:                         I think if Butch Jones had ever listened to our podcast he probably stopped listening after the 30th time when you said, Butch, you suck.

Andrew:                 Maybe he should have got the point, Nick. Maybe he should get the point. 1-21 against top 25 teams. Win some football games, Butch, and you won’t suck. The last guy we went after, Nick, he got fired at Georgia in Mark Richt.

Nick:                         I do have a question.

Andrew:                 It better be good, Nick.

Nick:                         You’re fired up today. If Butch insists that no game is bigger than the other, what are all these gimmicky things that he does? Two years ago, checkerboard Neyland. Last year against Oklahoma, checkerboard Neyland again. That’s a big game. This year, smoke gray uniforms. They’re trying to checkerboard Neyland again. How are you going to talk out of both sides of your mouth and say every game is the same? Why didn’t you checkerboard Neyland for Ohio then? What makes this game different.

Andrew:                 He doesn’t do it. That’s his marketing department. A guy like Butch Jones ain’t got the brains to come up with it. He sure as hell didn’t think about the smoke that he caused with the gray uniform, because that ass kicking is coming on Saturday after the gray uniforms.

Nick:                         Those uniforms are fire.

Andrew:                 Those uniforms are shitty looking. They’re not even gray. Where do you get gray in orange and white? That would be like the Gators saying, I’m coming out in all black on Saturday.

Nick:                         That’s very divisive, but I would agree with that. Might be a little hot for a black uniform. Might want to pull that out for a night game, but I would love an all black uniform.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I don’t know. It just doesn’t make sense to me, Nick. It really doesn’t. I hated Will Muschamp for this, because…

Nick:                         I was going to say this, go ahead though.

Andrew:                 You have to have…

Nick:                         You have to have a different mentality for this game.

Andrew:                 Yeah. If your team doesn’t see you hyped for a rivalry game, what is a rivalry then? A rivalry game is three games a year for Florida. Tennessee has what? One? Do you consider the Tennessee/Vanderbilt game a rivalry? I don’t think so.

Nick:                         I think they do, just because they like to win a rivalry game every once in a while. So they put that as a rivalry game, and then they can at least win one after they lose to Florida and Alabama.

Andrew:                 Yeah. If you don’t have your team pumped and jacked for this game, and here’s my thing. If I’m Tennessee, I’ve got 11 plastered everywhere. When homeboy is sitting down taking a crap in the bathrooms, 11 should be staring him in the face. When he’s outside reading in his dorm room, 11 should be staring him in the face. Piss your players off, Butch. That quote with Quincy Wilson, you didn’t even know about it? Why didn’t you start practice on Thursday or Wednesday with that quote? Butch, this ain’t the MEAC or MAC or whatever Cincinnati played in when you were there, because they weren’t in Conference USA. This is SEC football. There’s a reason you’ve lost 11 in a row to the Gators, and 7 in a row to Alabama, because you don’t get your team up. 1-21 against top 25.

Nick:                         First off, I will accept no MAC slander on the podcast. MACtion is a thing, and I love the MAC.

Andrew:                 For Tuesday nights when we’re bored.

Nick:                         I love Tuesday night MAC football, and there will be no MAC slander on the Gator Country podcast.

Andrew:                 Yeah, on Tuesday night when we’re bored and baseball season ain’t going on. Let me say this. Do I watch the Braves, or do I watch Butch Jones at Cincinnati? Shit. That ain’t even a question mark.

Nick:                         You would watch the Braves over your brother’s wedding.

Andrew:                 Probably not, but it’s close.

Nick:                         You’d be up on the altar holding your phone, watching the game.

Andrew:                 Maybe have one of those detective earpieces in. Yeah. I don’t know.

Nick:                         Here, so I asked Jim McElwain on Wednesday about the importance of a rivalry, and is he personally stressing the importance, because this game isn’t the same. This game, what you do against Tennessee, that’s more important than playing Ohio. That’s more important than playing Presbyterian. McElwain said he thinks it’s passed on in the locker room, that it starts from the players, and the players just tell each other that this game is different. You’re going to Knoxville. You’re going to be hated more than you’ve ever been hated. We can’t lose these games. Jim McElwain, after last year, said, “I told the guys, you just don’t lose to Tennessee, and they didn’t.” I asked Jordan Scarlett on Tuesday, “Did Mac reiterate that?” He said, “Yeah. When you’re at Florida you just don’t lose to Tennessee.”

Andrew:                 Yeah. I’ve seen people say, tell Quincy Wilson, tell Tabor, to shut up. No. Don’t tell them to shut up. When you’re confident in your abilities, you talk the smack. If the game is won by talking smack, then, Nick, you and I need to reevaluate the game we watch. If Florida loses and Tennessee wins because Quincy Wilson guaranteed a win, we all have problems. What Quincy Wilson said was for the fans. Now, I do like the duck pulling the truck, because that is kind of what Tennessee is, a sitting duck right now. They’re just waiting for the fire to come to Gainesville on Saturday.

I just don’t know how you don’t stress the importance of this rivalry game. This rivalry, and Nick I think you will agree with me here, in the late 90s, early 2000s, really even early 90s, this was the game that decided the East. This was the game. This was the first CBS game of the year back then. This game decided the East. I don’t know. There’s a reason Will Muschamp was so terrible in rivalry games. There’s a reason Butch Jones is so terrible in rivalry games. The only two things, well they have a few things in common, but only thing that I’m thinking of at this moment they have in common is they don’t talk about it. Do you think Nick Saban doesn’t talk about it? No. He puts video running of the rivalry game when it’s a rivalry week all around his locker room. That’s how bad rivalries mean to Nick Saban. Bill Belichick has said that he would put Peyton Manning’s stats in Tom Brady’s locker to piss Brady off. You do things that are different for that stuff.

Nick:                         That’s funny. I didn’t know that.

Andrew:                 It is what it is. You get the rivalry hyped up. There is a reason there’s so many personal fouls in rivalry games. They hate each other from the week buildup. Mac’s main thing this week is I can’t wait to go in through 100,000 and get booed. Are you telling me Mac ain’t hyped?

Nick:                         Yeah.

Andrew:                 I’m hyped, because I hope that they boo us, when they let us walk out. I’m hyped to see them boo everybody. I’m hyped to see the trash talking.

Nick:                         It is really fun. It was hostile. As hostile as you can imagine it being, it was a little bit more than that. The only way I can really describe it, after being down on the field, standing in the crosshairs, standing in between Tennessee fans and Florida fans, so I can hear both sides, if it isn’t hate, then I don’t know what hate is. There’s just sewage spilling out of the stadium, out of the stands, and it’s all directed towards Florida, towards the team. 100% things that will get us kicked off iTunes, so I won’t repeat them, but it is fun. It’s a really intense environment.

That’s why Jim McElwain loves college football. He mentioned the short time that he was in the NFL one of the things he missed was rivalries, and this special kind of hate. We’ve seen it all week on social media. It’s been bad, but it kind of just makes you laugh and just say, yeah, this is what I’ve been missing. We were happy about Opening Day. We were happy about Kentucky’s coming in, and it’s the first SEC game. We weren’t happy at all about North Texas last week. This week is different. You can tell it by the fans and how much it means to the fans. It should mean that much to the football players, and Jim McElwain’s doing a good job of stressing that.

Andrew:                 If a football player doesn’t get jacked for this game, they’re in the wrong sport. They need to go to soccer, or they need to go to tennis or something like that. They need to get out of this sport if they’re not jacked for this. Nick, me and you always joke about the hatred FSU fans spilled over to Dante Fowler his junior year, when they said, “You suck. You’d have had a national championship if you’d been here,” and Dante Fowler just turns around and I believe he threw the middle finger at them. Then there was last year when LSU fans were dogging Caleb Brantley and Bullard and those guys. College football is about the rivalries. The Florida/Florida State game, the Michigan/Ohio State game, the Alabama/Auburn game, the Florida/Tennessee, the Alabama/Tennessee, the Florida/Georgia rivalry. Those are rivalries that are hated. I know people talk about the Florida/LSU rivalry. That rivalries a little different, because, I mean the fan bases don’t like each other, but they’re not a hatred rivalry, because they’re not in the same division.

Nick:                         Yeah.

Andrew:                 I don’t know. Alright, Nick, it’s time to go game talk. Let’s start with this game. Here we go. Callaway, he’s playing. Mac can say he’s going to try run; he’s playing. Mac says on Wednesday Appleby’s the guy, that he’s getting reps for Trask and Franks. That’s simply in practice. I don’t see either one of those guys getting much. You may see some packages for those guys. Nick, you and I both heard that Florida’s got a lot of different packages coming out this week. As we said on Wednesday, Mac’s going to bring out everything he has to do to win this game, and that’s a lot of different packages. I expect Tyrie Cleveland to play in this game as well. I’m still feeling like Appleby can be serviceable in this football game.

Nick:                         Serviceable might be the right word, but I see a lot of people kind of dogging Luke Del Rio for how he played last week. That’s on you. If you were dogging Luke Del Rio for how he played last week, that’s on you, because you got in your head something that he wasn’t. You built him up to something that he wasn’t. He’s an average to above-average quarterback. Like I said weeks ago, before the season, he’s going to have games like he had against North Texas where he’s missing receivers, where he’s not making the throws. He’s going to have games like that. He’s going to have games where he’s 17 for 20 for 250 and three touchdowns. An average to above-average quarterback is going to have those highs and lows. The elite quarterbacks aren’t going to have those lows, and that’s what separates them. That’s the differentiator between them. That’s what you were going to get from Luke Del Rio. So if you thought he sucked last week, no. He just wasn’t his best game, and that’s the kind of swing you’re going to get.

There’s a reason that Austin Appleby had only gotten snaps in blowouts and then after Del Rio got hurt. There’s a gap between those two. So it’s like last year when people kept telling me, it can’t get worse than Treon, put in Josh Grady. I’m trying to tell you, it gets worse than Treon. The guy that couldn’t play quarterback at Vanderbilt isn’t better than Treon. If he was, he’d be playing already. If Austin Appleby was better than Luke Del Rio, he’d have been playing already. So to the people saying, I don’t see a huge drop off, I don’t agree with that.

Andrew:                 I don’t agree with it.

Nick:                         I’m not saying that you were saying that. I’m saying on social media all week I kept seeing, I don’t see a huge drop off. Then you’re setting him up in your mind for failure, because you’re expecting him to be as good or better than Luke Del Rio, and he’s not. He would have won the starting job if he was.

Andrew:                 I said it all week, and I’m going to continue to say that Mac is not going to put Austin in too many positions to lose the football game. I say that, and I think he’s going to get him comfortable. I do. I believe Appleby can help the Gators win this football game and be manageable. I do. That’s simply the trust that I have in Mac and his coaching staff.

Nick:                         Now we’ve talked about the important of rivalries and how these games are different. What happens, where is your confidence in Appleby if the game dictates it? If the game dictates that it’s a tie game, Florida’s down three, it’s 3rd and 7 on Florida’s 40? You’re not in Eddy Pineiro kicking range.

Andrew:                 Hold on. Everywhere is Eddy Pineiro kicking range. You’ve seen YouTube.

Nick:                         Alright. You’re down four. So Eddy can kick it from his own 20 through the goal posts, but it doesn’t matter. You’re down four. Two minutes left. That’s Austin Appleby. You can’t lean on the running game. He’s got to make plays. Do you think he can lead a two minute drive 70 yards, a four minute drive 70 yards, when you need more than three points? I just don’t.

Andrew:                 I don’t know.

Nick:                         I have confidence that Luke Del Rio could manage that. Austin Appleby I just don’t have that confidence, and I admit, and I always admit, I have a very small sample size from watching spring practice, from the Orange and Blue game, from watching fall practice. I have a very small sample size of seeing Appleby throwing. In my opinion, from what I’ve seen, there’s a gap there between Del Rio and Appleby.

Andrew:                 I think there’s a gap there. The thing that I’ll say is this. I don’t judge him off of Purdue stuff. Purdue’s a bad football team.

Nick:                         Listen, man. First game out of the gates last year at the road on Marshall, playing a bad Marshall team, and you throw four interceptions.

Andrew:                 But then again, you have to think about everything. Did the pocket collapse? He get hit on the throw? Did the receiver run the wrong route? Did it hit the receiver’s hands? You and I haven’t watched every interception Appleby had, so that’s my thing. I’m not judging on Purdue whatsoever. I just think, Doug Nussmeier, Jim McElwain, know the limitations of Austin Appleby, and if it’s a two minute drive and Austin Appleby has to lead it, if Mac knows Austin Appleby cannot throw the ball to the middle of the field, he’s not going to do that. He’s not. I have more confidence in Mac and Nuss to do fine with Appleby. I do. First of all, I don’t think it comes down to a two minute drive. If that’s the case, then Florida’s defense played bad.

Nick:                         Yeah. I was just trying…

Andrew:                 I know what you were trying to do. You’re trying to give me a scenario.

Nick:                         Yeah. In the beginning of it, 100% on board with what you’re saying. Jim McElwain and Doug Nussmeier, when the score is 0-0 or even if you’re down 7-0, the game isn’t dictating to you what you can and can’t do. So I was trying to create a situation that could happen in a game where the game is now dictating you as a coach what you can do, because of score, time left, factors like that.

Andrew:                 Right. Here’s the thing. Appleby has a rocket of an arm. It’s accuracy.

Nick:                         He does. Out of the four quarterbacks Luke Del Rio has the weakest arm.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         It’s probably Franks, Appleby, Trask, Del Rio, but it’s really Franks, Appleby/Trask, and then Del Rio, like there’s three groups there.

Andrew:                 Right. We’ll see on that. I wanted to hit on this, and Daniel Thompson brought this up to us. He said, “What happens if Josh Dobbs has a good game? What do the Gators have to do to win?” I thought about that for a second, and I think it depends. If Josh Dobbs runs, I think Florida’s okay with that. Now, they don’t want him to get 150 yards, but I don’t know. I think Dobbs has to throw the ball well for Tennessee to be successful on offense.

Nick:                         Is he capable of that?

Andrew:                 See, I don’t think so. That’s my thing. I don’t think he is, so that’s what I’m saying. I don’t know. I just don’t believe in Dobbs. Then, Dan even asked how Florida should contain Dobbs, and I think we’ve went on this a lot, Nick, in saying that they must keep a spy on him. The ends of JZ, Bryan Cox, Sherit, who am I missing? Bryan Cox, Sherit, JZ. Who am I missing, Nick?

Nick:                         Bryan Cox, Sherit, Zuniga.

Andrew:                 I’m missing one. Who am I missing?

Nick:                         I don’t know. We’re missing somebody.

Andrew:                 Who am I missing?

Nick:                         What’s wrong with us?

Andrew:                 I’m drawing a blank on a Friday. Anyway, whoever it is must contain, must keep the containment on the edge.

Nick:                         Sherit.

Andrew:                 I said Sherit.

Nick:                         Never mind.

Andrew:                 They must keep containment on the edges. They must stay in their lane as defensive tackles and Anzalone and Davis have to keep an eye on Dobbs. That’s the way you contain this. You plan man up. You let it be. Now, when you play man up you damn well better do your job up front, because that means the field is wide open for Dobbs if he breaks one tackle.

Nick:                         Yeah. A lot of people talk about why is Geoff Collins playing zone, and you just said it. When you’re playing man you’re not looking into the backfield at all. You’ve got your one guy. They run four verts, you’re 30 yards down field. Josh Dobbs breaks an Alex Anzalone tackle, Anzalone’s turning from the ground and yelling, “Turn around, guys.” So there is a reason why Florida has played some zone, even though you have guys who can play great man to man coverage in Dawson, Teez and Quincy.

Andrew:                 Before we go to our buy and sell segment I want you to give me a key for the Gators defense and a key for the Gators offense, and I’ll do the same.

Nick:                         What had been the theme in this series? The theme in this series had been whoever ran the ball better would win the game?

Andrew:                 That was broken last year, correct?

Nick:                         That’s what I was going to say. Whoever won the rushing battle won the game. Last year Florida only ran for 109 yards. Tennessee ran for 250. The year before Tennessee ran the ball 29 times for 28 yards. I’m going to say the key for Florida is Austin Appleby, and it has nothing to do with Austin Appleby, with him as a player. What I mean by that is it’s managing situations. That means winning 1st down. You don’t want Appleby throwing in a lot of 3rd and 10, 3rd and 12, 3rd and long, situations. So it’s managing 1st down, and it’s those 10 guys making it easier for Appleby to do his job, so we don’t get into that scenario that I talked about earlier, the 75 yards, two minutes to go, you’re down four. Don’t get into that. It’s creating manageable situations so that you don’t have to put the game into your fifth year graduate transfer quarterback’s hands during his first start in front of 100,000 people.

Andrew:                 Your key on defense?

Nick:                         Key on defense is to make Tennessee one dimensional, which they might do just by taking the field.

Andrew:                 My key on offense is Antonio Callaway. I say that in does Callaway need 150 yards receiving, does he need five touchdowns or three touchdowns, or even a touchdown? No. Callaway needs to be productive on the field and garnet that extra attention that he garnets every time he touches the field. That helps Powell, Hammond, Swain, CJ Worton, C’yontai, Goolsby. It helps everybody on the field when he gets double-teamed. I’m looking at that. Callaway being healthy coming back. That’s another key to the North Texas game we’re not talking about, him not being there. So I think Callaway’s the key for me on offense.

Defensively it is discipline, being disciplined as a team. This Gator defense has shown me they’re very disciplined.

Nick:                         Have to be disciplined when you’re facing a team like this. Stay in your lane. Stay in your gap.

Andrew:                 Here’s the guys that it mainly applies to, and when you think about the age and the veteran leadership of these guys you feel good about it. Jordan Sherit, Alex Anzalone, Jarrad Davis, Caleb Brantley, Bryan Cox, those are your guys that are your main guys that have to really be cautious and disciplined. Those are smart guys, veteran leadership.

Nick:                         That makes sense. I agree with that.

Andrew:                 Let’s go buy and sell, Nick. First question, throw it to me.

Nick:                         First question. Joshua Dobbs, buy or sell that he has 100 yard rushing day?

Andrew:                 Sell. Sell. Florida’s discipline, as we just spoke about, will be better. Florida does not want that alien running all over them. The Gators hold him under 100.

Nick:                         I also sell. He will be under 100 yards rushing. Buy or sell, Tennessee as a team rushes for 200?

Andrew:                 Sell again. No way does Tennessee get 200. Florida’s not giving up 200 yards rushing to Tennessee. Jalen Hurd does not exist for some reason with Tennessee. They just will not give him the ball consistently enough. So I’m selling that. I think Dobbs goes for under 100. Tennessee goes for probably 100 maybe, somewhere right around there.

Nick:                         Okay. We didn’t talk about this one, but because you sell that, Florida has held all three teams they’ve played this year to under 200 total yards.

Andrew:                 That’s close. I’m going to buy they get 200 yards.

Nick:                         You cut me off. I was going to say there’s no way that, not no way, but Florida’s probably not going to hold them to 200. So to make it trickier I was going to move it up to 250.

Andrew:                 250? That’s tough.

Nick:                         Here is it, for the record. Tennessee as a team, buy or sell that they have 250 total yards of offense?

Andrew:                 That’s tough. I don’t think much of this Tennessee offense, but 250 yards is difficult for any team to hold an SEC team under, and I know they held Kentucky.

Nick:                         So then you think that they’re going to pass? If you have Josh Dobbs under 100 yards rushing, you have Tennessee under 200 yards rushing.

Andrew:                 I think they get down and they start throwing little underneath passes. I don’t know.

Nick:                         You don’t want to buy anything that has Tennessee doing anything.

Andrew:                 Hell no.

Nick:                         That’s it. This is why it’s a good thing.

Andrew:                 I’m going to buy 260, and, damn, Lord’s going to strike me dead for it.

Nick:                         You don’t feel good about it.

Andrew:                 No. I don’t.

Nick:                         Buy or sell—

Andrew:                 Wait, what the hell, are you buying or selling on that?

Nick:                         Oh, I’m buying that. I bought 200 rushing yards. So of course I’m buying 250 total.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         Buy or sell, Florida has four sacks?

Andrew:                 Buy.

Nick:                         That Tennessee offensive line…

Andrew:                 JZ gets at least one.

Nick:                         That Tennessee offensive line has looked like hot garbage. I’m buying that too.

Andrew:                 Dobbs is going to get out of the pocket, and JZ, he hunts aliens for a living.

Nick:                         Goodness. The poor kid has alopecia.

Andrew:                 Who?

Nick:                         Buy or sell, Austin Appleby has 200 passing yards?

Andrew:                 Buying that.

Nick:                         We already know what I’m, sell.

Andrew:                 Buying that.

Nick:                         I’m selling.

Andrew:                 Buying that. I think the rushing attack helps it out. First of all, I think a big play happens on play one to Callaway.

Nick:                         I’m still saying they run that rock first play.

Andrew:                 That’s why you don’t get paid the big bucks like myself.

Nick:                         I need to talk to our boss about that.

Andrew:                 Lordy.

Nick:                         Last one, the Florida Gators will have not one, not two, but three running backs with 50 yards or more.

Andrew:                 Yes.

Nick:                         Buy.

Andrew:                 I buy that. I think they will. Still not a very good Tennessee rushing defense.

Nick:                         No, it’s not. That’s our buy or sell segment there.

Andrew:                 Here’s the thing. Hold on, I want to say this, Nick. You see Tennessee and some other teams talking about Florida’s defense hasn’t played any. Nick, the numbers Florida’s defense are putting up would be good for high school football.

Nick:                         Listen, listen. Are the numbers inflated?

Andrew:                 Sure.

Nick:                         Yes. They’re inflated, because they haven’t played great teams. Is Florida going to hold every single team they play this year to under 200 yards? That’s ridiculous. That’s stupid. Are the numbers inflated? Yeah. It’s like we talked about with Will Grier and high school. He’s playing some of the worst competition I’d ever seen in my life, but what’s he doing? He’s dominating it. Florida, the players can’t help but to play the guys in front of them. They’re not involved in scheduling.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         Tennessee went out and, other than Virginia Tech, who still looks pretty terrible, hasn’t played anyone, and has looked like trash. So don’t tell me those numbers are inflated. So Tennessee’s terrible numbers are also inflated? So it’s going to get worse? Don’t tell me that they’re inflated and that they’re not sustainable. Sure they aren’t, but Florida’s doing what they’re supposed to do. Will you give up more yards against Tennessee than you did against North Texas? Yeah, but I don’t see Tennessee getting 500 yards. It’s not like this is just a façade. This is a very good defense.

Andrew:                 Tennessee against the 70th ranked defense in the country scored 28 points. That was Ohio.

Nick:                         Are the numbers inflated? Yes. Are they irrationally, disgustingly inflated? No. This is a very good defense, a nasty defense, and like we said earlier, they’re playing confident as hell right now.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Confident as hell, and I go back to what someone told me the other day, a confident Quincy Wilson and a confident Jalen Tabor is scary as hell. Those guys are scary. Alright, Nick, let’s go pick some games this week. Nick, I’m running them off of my phone, so they’re in no order whatsoever.

Nick:                         Of course. Why change up the formula now?

Andrew:                 That’s right. First game is #11 Wisconsin versus #8 Michigan State, up in Sparty.

Nick:                         Wisconsin’s a bad team, and the worse Wisconsin plays the rest of the year the worse it’s going to look for LSU. Michigan State, no way they’re losing to Wisconsin at home.

Andrew:                 Sparty rolls. Why they’re only a five point favorite is crazy. Five points, whatever. Sparty wins outright. Alright, down in Tampa, a game that I don’t think many would have had the spread at five points happened. #13 Florida State travels down to Tampa to Raymond James to play the South Florida Bulls. Nick, neither of us are going to pick South Florida. Five point advantage? How close do you think this game is?

Nick:                         I think Florida State is going to dominate USF.

Andrew:                 Really?

Nick:                         It’s not even going to be close. I don’t know where this upset alert is coming from. I think Florida State wins handily by 17, 20 points.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         20 or more maybe.

Andrew:                 I was going to say 14.

Nick:                         I think at no point in the second half is Florida State fans worried about the game. Might even like change the game towards the end, because it’s over.

Andrew:                 Does Dalvin Cook’s janitor get in at safety this week?

Nick:                         Is Ermon Lane, did they really move him to defensive back?

Andrew:                 Yeah. He really moved to defensive back. That’s what I’m asking. Is Dalvin Cook’s janitor…

Nick:                         When did that happen?

Andrew:                 Yesterday. That’s how shitty their secondary is, but they say Marcus Maye doesn’t play in it. Does his janitor play, yes or no?

Nick:                         No.

Andrew:                 I mean, he can’t catch, so he might as well play DB.

Nick:                         No.

Andrew:                 Can’t catch, and he does have those long dreds, so maybe.

Nick:                         He cut his hair.

Andrew:                 He did? So he no longer looks like a DB. He looks like a janitor.

Nick:                         Jeez. FSU wins.

Andrew:                 FSU wins, unfortunately. That’s just gross. Georgia goes to Ole Miss, who you got?

Nick:                         This one’s tough for me.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         I don’t know why it’s tough for me, because Ole Miss has given me no reason to think that they can play a full 60 minutes of football.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         But I’m also going back and forth with Jacob Eason on the road.

Andrew:                 Georgia has won 10 straight against Ole Miss.

Nick:                         Yeah. I’m going to end up going with Georgia. I was about to bring that up. I’m going with Georgia over Ole Miss. I think Ole Miss continues to slide here.

Andrew:                 Hotty toddy, gosh almighty, they get a win. Georgia doesn’t have a good secondary. Ole Miss, Kirby Smart has a three game losing streak to hotty toddy. His defense hasn’t figured out a way to beat Ole Miss, and it continues. Swag Kelly gets some. Last, but not least…

Nick:                         Arkansas and A&M.

Andrew:                 I was about to give you a woo pig suey, and the 12th man at 12th man. Who do you got? You got Bert, or you got Sumlin?

Nick:                         We’ve got spread offense versus Bert going to pound it down your throat. I’m taking big boy football. Arkansas, woo pig suey, woo pig. Go Bret. Go Bert. Arkansas wins.

Andrew:                 12th man, Miles Garrett eats alive that Arkansas…

Nick:                         He is a monster.

Andrew:                 Monster he is.

Nick:                         Miles Garrett sleeps under the bed of children. He is the boogeyman. He is scary.

Andrew:                 He’s scary, and he will take apart woo pig suey. A&M wins in the rivalry matchup that they want to call it now, because they’re supposedly the two closest teams together. Alright, here we go. Gators/Tennessee, who do you got, Nicholas?

Nick:                         Florida. Last year I was talking up Tennessee all week, talking them up, talking them up.

Andrew:                 Let’s just cut to the chase.

Nick:                         I drank the Kool-Aid, but then I flipped, and I picked Florida to win. I can’t pick Tennessee. I think I might throw the football better than Josh Dobbs does, and you know I got a good arm. I’ve said it for too long now. I’m not going to pick Tennessee until they beat Florida. They haven’t beat Florida. There’s no way I can go against that. Florida wins. Take the points that Vegas is giving you. I don’t know why they’re giving you points, but they’re going to give you some points, and take the under. It’s going to be a low scoring game. It’s going to be ugly. There’s going to be a bunch of complaining about fans about what’s going on and how it’s going on, because it’s not going to be the prettiest football game to watch, but Florida will win. The streak goes to 12. Florida finds a way.

Andrew:                 What’s the under?

Nick:                         Last I saw it was like 45.

Andrew:                 Okay. You know why Josh Dobbs doesn’t throw the ball well, Nick?

Nick:                         Why does Josh Dobbs not throw the ball well? Because there’s no gravity in space.

Andrew:                 There you go. The alien from wherever he’s from. We still haven’t figured out what planet he’s from, but there is no gravity up there. So he just runs, and when he runs he acts like he’s flying. I guess that’s why he’s not very fast either. That’s goes back to, I’ve started to take some things from Coach Mac. You know that unuseful knowledge that he has that he likes to build up? That’s what I’m starting to do.

Nick:                         Do you have any useful knowledge?

Andrew:                 Several.

Nick:                         Several things?

Andrew:                 I just said that Florida must play disciplined to win this football game.

Nick:                         That was useful.

Andrew:                 That makes me smarter than 90% of the people that try to talk about this team. That’s very useful. Now, let’s just cut to the chase. That’s very useful.

Nick:                         So, question. This is going to be, I got the experience, the chance to go, two years ago.

Andrew:                 You’re not making me pick the game?

Nick:                         Go ahead. Give us your pick for the game. This will be a surprise.

Andrew:                 Gators 31, Tennessee 10. 31-10, Gators roll. Neyland Stadium I don’t have to hear shitty Rocky Top much.

Nick:                         You are going to hear Rocky Top all day and all night.

Andrew:                 Every time I hear Rocky Top I’m just going to think, the aliens are coming to town; the aliens are coming to town.

Nick:                         I had the opportunity to go two years ago, so I kind of know what to expect. What are you looking forward to most, just as far as an experience?

Andrew:                 I just love it. It’s one of those things, Nick, where you just walk, when you walk a little bit on campus, you walk and you see Gator Walk, and you feel the intensity. You feel that intensity that’s in the air. I know that’s kind of cliché to say, but you feel that intensity. That’s what I’m looking forward to seeing, looking forward to being on the field.

Nick:                         You’re looking forward to see Gator Walk?

Andrew:                 No. I’m just saying the intensity that comes about. You can the intensity when the guys step off the bus. You can tell the intensity around the stadium.

Nick:                         I’m going to try to drag you over to it, but Vol Walk is something else.

Andrew:                 Hell, no. I don’t watch aliens walk. Hell, no.

Nick:                         Vol Walk is something else. We’ve had one good crowd for Gator Walk, but Vol Walk is gigantic.

Andrew:                 I don’t watch aliens walk. If I’m going to do that I’m going to watch TV. We got about five minutes. We got to go pick ‘em with our players. I got the first pick. I’m going with Alex Anzalone, big game. Knock Josh Dobbs one time for me and tell him to go back to space.

Nick:                         I got Marcus Maye. I think he’ll be playing down in the box more. Marcus Maye, my first pick.

Andrew:                 Does he sign All Day Maye this week?

Nick:                         I’m not going to go out and make that predict-, I am going to go out and make that prediction.

Andrew:                 Go big or go home. It’s a big game.

Nick:                         Marcus Maye signs the board this week.

Andrew:                 Don’t act like Butch Jones. My second pick is AD, Antonio Callaway. He may not have a big day on the stats sheet, and I’ll take the loss, but the man will be a big determining factor in this game. Mark it down, AD, 81.

Nick:                         Thank God you did not call your third punt return, four touchdown of the year, because that was getting a little ridiculous.

Andrew:                 There is, hold on now, Tennessee/Florida has had some history of it, as Gator Zone football tweeted, the awesome Brandon James punt return.

Nick:                         Jordan Scarlett, my lack of confidence in Austin Appleby and the passing game is well-documented this week. I think Jordan Scarlett leads the Gators in rushing yards.

Andrew:                 The first time I’ve done this all year, I’m sticking to my third pick. The man comes with confidence, and a confident Quincy Wilson is a dangerous Quincy Wilson. I’m going with 6 to get a pick of the alien, because Quincy Wilson is from Earth.

Nick:                         My last pick, Duke Dawson. I’m picking two from DBU this week. I’m coming strong. Duke Dawson is my third. Duke Dawson has been making people question whether they want to continue playing football the way he’s hitting them this week. I think he will meet Mr. Hurd at some point in this game, and I think he’ll get the better of that.

Andrew:                 Absolutely. I think it’s going to be a good game. I’m so pumped, Nick, for real, just the atmosphere, everything. Tell the people where they can find us on Saturday. We’re getting out. We’ll see you on Saturday, I promise.

Nick:                         You got to give me one more woo after I’m done with this.

Andrew:                 Woo!

Nick:                         www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gators news. Thank you for tuning into the podcast, whether you’re on the website or on iTunes. If you’re on iTunes, we’d love a comment, a rating, and hit the subscribe button. You’ll never miss one. @GatorCountry on Twitter and Facebook. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. I’m @NickdelaTorreGC on Twitter. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC on Twitter. Fun week. Thank you all for tuning in.

Andrew:                 Woo! Let’s go. It is. It’s time, for real, Nick. It has been a great week, really has. We appreciate it. Nick, I’ll be honest with you for real, this week wouldn’t be cool without everybody that follows the podcast and just follows along, because social media is social media. We mess around with it a lot. I enjoy it. I love it, and this week wouldn’t be good without everybody kind of playing around. Guys, we really appreciate it. We’ll see you guys on Saturday. As always, go Braves and chomp, chomp.

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.

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