In this edition of the Gator Country podcast Parrish Alford of the Daily Journal joined the Gator Country podcast to break down the Florida Gators football game vs. Ole Miss on Saturday night.
Parrish joined Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre to break down the key match-ups facing the Florida Gators football team is they host a very Ole Miss Rebels football team on Saturday night.
Andrew and Nick also give you a quick break down of they think will be some match-ups to watch, plus give you an insight on who they think the Gators will cover the Ole Miss receivers.
TRANSCRIPT:
Nick: What’s going on, Gator Country podcast listeners? Nick de la Torre here, back for our Wednesday podcast. You can tell we’ve got a little theme going on, we’ll welcome Parrish Alford of The Daily Journal. He’s an Ole Miss beat writer. He will join us to preview the Florida Gators vs Ole Miss Rebels. First top 25 matchup in the Swamp since 2012. As always, Andrew, who is recovering from his Tennessee hangover, Spivey is here with me. Andrew, feeling better today?
Andrew: Not really, man. I’m not going to lie. I think all my hatred of Tennessee had kind of come back to haunt me, and it’s hurting me. It is there, and unfortunately it’s a game week again, so let’s go. Time to go. I do think this week is going to be a tough week for the Gators overall, but never know what can happen in the Swamp.
Nick: To me it seems like fans are not really taking into account how good Ole Miss is. I understand being confident. There’s definitely not the trash talking that there was last week. This is obviously not a rivalry game like it is last week, but this Ole Miss team is for real. I know a lot of people didn’t pick them to beat Alabama, but I did. I remember watching Chad Kelly in high school, thought he was going to be a superstar at Clemson. Obviously had some issues there, but Chad Kelly is a very good quarterback. He’s been efficient this year. They have wide receivers at Ole Miss that can be on NFL rosters right now. Their offensive line has the third most returning starts from a year ago. That defense is scary. I don’t know why fans are, other than being fans, are as confident as they are heading into this week. This Ole Miss team is good.
Andrew: Yeah. It’s good. Here is where I think you and I differ a little bit. You say they have a good rushing team. I disagree. 92 yards against Alabama, who if you’re going to pick apart Alabama you’re going to say their linebackers are a little weak this year.
Nick: Compared to who?
Andrew: A little weak this year compared to some other teams, compared to past Alabama teams. Still 92 yards.
Nick: Past Alabama teams, come on.
Andrew: There you go. Then just 120 some yards against Vandy. I don’t consider this, I was talking to Barrett Sallee at Bleacher Report Sunday about this, and he was like, Ole Miss is just a team that has never really gotten a good running back, and he said their rushing attack is just not very good. Plus filter in that they’re missing potentially three starters from the beginning of the year on the offensive line in Rod Taylor, Justin Bell, and Laremy Tunsil. Tunsil who hasn’t played this year. That rushing attack’s there.
Here is my thing with Chad Kelly. I was talking to a couple of people from Alabama that were at the game, and they made a point to me. They were like, you got to remember Alabama’s a very good football team, better than Florida, absolutely. Alabama gave the football game to Ole Miss. I can agree with that, five turnovers. The one point they made to me was how long does Chad Kelly get the breaks to fall his way, the throwing it up for grabs and his receivers getting away with it?
Laquon Treadwell is better than every defensive back in the country, in my opinion, probably even better than Vernon. I love Vernon, but I think most receivers are better than cornerbacks, but does Quincy Wilson or Jalen Tabor or Vernon when he throws a ball as he’s scrambling, just throws it up for grabs, does a Vernon or Quincy come up with it? I think there’s opportunities for Florida’s defense to make plays. I’m concerned about can the offense score enough points to win a game, even if Florida’s defense holds Ole Miss to 21, 24 points? That’s where I have huge concerns in this football game.
Nick: Yeah. Part of our job is to nitpick.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Even against great football teams like Ole Miss, like Alabama. You have to find areas where they’re weak, and it’s cause for discussion, cause for debate, but when you start to nitpick Ole Miss, if you bring that over to Florida you start looking and being like, I guess they don’t have a great running game, but what’s Florida’s offense? What’s their running game going to do against that defensive front?
Andrew: Right.
Nick: It kind of goes both ways.
Andrew: It does. Here is my thing though. Florida’s defensive line advantage over Ole Miss’s offensive line.
Nick: I don’t know. I questioned Florida’s defensive line against Tennessee. They shut me up. Tennessee’s offensive line was the best that Florida had faced this year, and that was my question.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: How does the defensive line, who has been great this season, how do they do against better competition?
Andrew: Right.
Nick: They showed up. This is another step. We’ve talked all year about—
Andrew: But three linemen are down.
Nick: We haven’t heard about Tunsil, and I would not be surprised if the sneaky NCAA came out with something on Thursday, and, listen, Laremy Tunsil is not a player that you have to worry about is he in shape? Lamarie Tunsil’s the best offensive tackle in the country, has a chance to be the top overall pick in the NFL draft. The second the NCAA says he’s cleared, Ole Miss puts him in at left tackle and doesn’t think twice about it.
Andrew: But they could very well be missing their two inside guys in Rod Taylor and Justin Bell. Guess what? That’s Bullard and Brantley.
Nick: Right. We’ll get more on that from Parrish.
Andrew: That’s where I’m at is there. I give advantage to Florida’s defensive line, and I give advantage to Ole Miss’s defensive line. What I’m saying is so you look down the matchups, and it’s like there it is. My question is, I don’t think Ole Miss scores 35 points against a very good Florida defense. I would say right now I would say probably 27, 28, in that area. My question is I don’t think Florida can score enough points, so that’s why I say Ole Miss is the winner this week. I don’t say it’s because Ole Miss blows Florida out offensively. I’m just sure Florida’s offense.
Now, let me say this. If Florida’s offensive line takes a step up again and is able to contain a little bit, get a little bit of blocking up front, then maybe Florida stays in the game and is able to score a little bit of points. If Ole Miss’s defense is stupid enough to give the short game to Florida all night long, then who knows what happens.
Nick: You hit on a couple things here. Florida’s defense, if Florida’s offense plays perfect, Florida’s defense can hold Ole Miss to 20 points.
Andrew: Yeah, sure.
Nick: Problem is Will Grier has shown a propensity to throw some picks.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: He runs the ball a lot. His ball security is definitely not where you want it to be. If Florida’s offense starts turning the ball over, because I don’t think Ole Miss would have scored as many points as they did against Alabama if not for the turnovers.
Andrew: The five turnovers.
Nick: But you can’t look at Florida’s offense and say, I feel with 100% confidence that they won’t turn the ball over.
Andrew: Right. I’m with you.
Nick: That’s when you get into situations where the defense is trying to protect a short field, where they’re coming in after three and outs, and they’re not getting time. This isn’t a CBS game. You’re not going to get those 45 minute commercial breaks for time outs. Florida’s defense is going to need the offense to give them some time to catch their breath, because the offense that Ole Miss is bringing in will challenge Florida, and this is the best offense, in my opinion, that Florida has faced this year and will face the rest of the year.
Andrew: Yeah, sure. That is what I say. Alabama turns the ball over on the opening kickoff, and Ole Miss takes over on the 13 yard line. Even Florida’s defense isn’t good enough to stop them from a field goal. It is a game, and I think you can say this about any top 25 football matchup, no turnovers. If Ole Miss turns the ball over six times, damn, I like Florida’s chances too. You can say that as well. If Ole Miss comes over there and turns the ball over a ton, you like their chances.
Nick: It might actually take six turnovers.
Andrew: But what I’m saying is any time a team turns the ball over multiple, 3, 4, 5, 6 times a game, it’s tough to win. It’s tough to win. Here’s my other thing. Florida can’t have the stupid penalties they had in Kentucky. They need to play like they did against Tennessee, smart football.
Nick: You hear this a lot, and you never really want to hear it about your team. I’m sorry about this, but Ole Miss has more talent on their roster. Florida is playing a better football team this Saturday. When you are not up to the talent level, don’t have the same depth as the team that you’re playing, you can’t have mistakes. That’s turnovers. That’s penalties. Not even talking about unsportsmanlike stuff like that, not talking about dumb penalties, false starts.
Andrew: Drive killers.
Nick: I’m talking about any penalties.
Andrew: Yeah, but I mean drive killers were the bad problem in the Kentucky game.
Nick: 3rd and 3, 3rd and short, there’s no false start to make it 3rd and 8. You can’t have that. You can’t have that this week. Florida needs to play as close to as mistake free and as close to perfect as they can, while also still creating some turnovers from Ole Miss.
Andrew: Right. Nick, we can talk about it all day.
Nick: Before we bring Parrish on, I want to say controversial, because I know, you may agree with me, but I don’t think most fans will, and I don’t think Parrish will. A lot has been made of having Vernon Hargreaves matchup against Laquon Treadwell. The two of them went at it at the Under Armor game when they were seniors in high school. Vernon did a little bit of that last year against Amari Cooper, and Amari Cooper set Alabama receiving records against Florida last year, not all of it on Vernon, some of it though, a good portion of it.
I don’t think Florida matches up Vernon Hargreaves and has him shadow Laquon Treadwell all game, and this is my reason why. This is a point that I’m making that I don’t think many will agree with. Vernon Hargreaves has not been the Florida Gator’s best cornerback this year. I think Laquon Treadwell being a bigger receiver Florida feels comfortable having their two other cornerbacks, Jalen Tabor and Quincy Wilson, who are bigger guys, feel as comfortable with those two on Laquon as they do with Vernon. I don’t think you see Vernon shadowing Treadwell at all, and that’s not taking anything away from Vernon. That’s also giving credit to the other two guys.
Andrew: Completely agree. I think that this a tough move. You even say it’s a tough move for big time corners in the league. Darrelle Revis doesn’t shadow.
Nick: Richard Sherman plays the right side of the field. It doesn’t matter who’s over there. They could put a running back on the right side of the field. Richard Sherman’s covering a running back.
Andrew: I mean, Darrelle Revis does it, last year when he matched up against Julio, did not go one on one with Julio the whole game. You can’t. You can’t do that. I agree with you there completely. I think that you play a matchup here. The best thing for Florida to stop Laquon Treadwell is to hit Kelly, hit Kelly, hit Kelly, and hit Kelly some more. Pressure, pressure, pressure.
Nick: Yeah. Now we will welcome on Parrish Alford. He will be able to give us some insight onto some of the offensive line health and suspension issues, as well as give us a little insight into how confident Ole Miss is, how confident the fans are, coming into this top 25 matchup this weekend in Gainesville.
Andrew: Definitely. Let’s bring on Parrish right now.
Nick: Welcoming in Parrish now. Thank you for joining us on the podcast. Big week for Florida fans. This is the first top 25 matchup Ben Hill Griffin Stadium has seen since the South Carolina Gamecocks came in in 2012. I know everyone here in Gainesville is excited. What’s the feeling like in Oxford?
Parrish: There’s a lot of excitement in Oxford too right now. Ole Miss is 4-0 for the second straight year for the first time since ’61, ’62 back to back 4-0 starts. Coming off the big win at Alabama about a week and a half ago now, they feel like the sky’s the limit for this team. They need to get a little healthier. They need to improve in some areas, but they don’t see a game left on the schedule in which they can’t win. Not that they feel like the rest of the schedule is easy, by any stretch of the imagination, but they’re very confident in this program and in this team.
Andrew: Parrish, this is Andrew. Just some talk about the offensive line. Of course, Laremy Tunsil still dealing with his issues. What is the update on him, and then also Rod Taylor and Bell both being guys that are questionable this week? Is there any kind of timetable that Coach Freeze has talked about with those three guys?
Parrish: No real timetable with any of them. I think Justin Bell will play this week at right guard. He was dressed out last week against Vanderbilt, but they were able to hold him out. Rod Taylor is a little bit, he’ll be a week to week scenario there. He sustained an off the field injury about the middle of camp and got a torn labrum out of that. He’s playing through the torn labrum to have surgery at the end of the season. A lot of it with him is about pain tolerance and treatment. I think both of those guys will be ready to go at some level, Bell probably a little bit more. He’s dealing with an ankle.
Laremy Tunsil, they’ve done an excellent job of delivering no news on that situation since they decided not to play him in the first game against Tennessee Martin. They’ve been very quiet about that. For Freeze to come out on Monday and say that, I think he said he got an encouraging report, I forget the exact wording his used. That was the most definitive statement we’ve heard on Laremy Tunsil in quite some time. There was a group from Ole Miss that went up to Indianapolis last week to meet with the NCAA trying to push this along, and so Ole Miss has lawyered up. Tunsil has representation provided by the university, and obviously he’s losing a lot of money as his draft value fluctuates.
He was projected at one #2 on Mel Kiper’s big board of first round selections for the 2016 draft. You start sliding down that ladder you’re talking about a lot of money. That’s what’s at stake for Laremy Tunsil right now. They feel like the issue at the core right now is a loaner car that Laremy was using from a local dealership while he was having work done on his car. It appears that he kept the loaner car for too long, longer than is allowed by NCAA rules, and it’s not clear at this point if that is the only issue or if there’s more or exactly what’s going on there. Doesn’t look like Laremy Tunsil will play this week, but don’t know exactly where it stands as far as when or if he will be back.
Nick: I said this while we were taping our intro here. Laremy Tunsil is the kind of player that if the NCAA comes along Thursday and says, he needs to serve a 4 game suspension, that’s retroactive. He’s served it. He’s now eligible. He’s not a guy that you really question is he in good enough shape. I think Tunsil’s a guy that Freeze would just say, there’s our left tackle. You plug him, and then you forget about it.
Parrish: Yeah. They’ve done a good job of keep Laremy physically fit. He’s not gotten a lot of game planning reps in practice, but he’s out there going through a few light drills. He’s in shape, and if somebody from the NCAA comes back from lunch on Friday and is feeling benevolent and says, Laremy Tunsil’s a swell kid, we’re going to let him play. They’ll plug him right in. They’ll rely on his experience and athleticism to get through it. Maybe he doesn’t take every rep in the game, but he’ll play if that comes to pass, and he’ll help them, specifically because of his ability, but also because they just need some bodies right now. They need some experienced healthy bodies on the offensive line. If Laremy Tunsil is available then all of a sudden Fahn Cooper who is right now the SEC offensive linemen of the week goes back to right tackle. So you get stronger there as well. There’s just a trickledown effect if he can play.
Andrew: Florida’s strength on their team right now I would say is probably the defensive line. Is that a big question mark for Ole Miss right now? Is the offensive line, even with Bell and Taylor possibly playing some, I guess how comfortable is the line? Is that a big concern of protecting Chad Kelly going into this game?
Parrish: The offensive line has played well this year. The only true test they’ve had was against Alabama, and Chad Kelly was a little nervous, I thought, in the first half of that game. I thought they protected him fair, fair to good, in that range. They ran the ball like 95 yards against Alabama. That’s not something that Ole Miss is known for. They’re much better at rushing the football then have been under Hugh Freeze this season. They’ve improved there. 95 yards against Alabama was the most a Hugh Freeze team has rushed for against the Crimson Tide. I thought Ole Miss ran it well in spots against Alabama. They ran it well again last week in spots. Jaylen Walton is really kind of lifting that offense in the 4th quarter when the Rebels needed to run the clock. Ripped off two big gains, and then a 3 yard touchdown run there in the final end of the 4th quarter. They’re better there. I think they’ll be able to run the ball in spots.
I thought the pocket collapsed a little quicker against Vanderbilt than I’ve seen it collapse this year. I think part of that had to do with, look this team just was not into it emotionally and mentally like they have been. Plus the fact that Vanderbilt has improved. Vanderbilt offered very little resistance to anyone last year, but you look at the numbers in that Georgia game. That was a 24-14 game, a 10 point game with about a minute and a half left and the Bulldogs got a pick 6, and it was similar with Ole Miss. Vanderbilt played well defensively. Ole Miss defended well in the red zone. That was the difference in the game. How will they block and run and protect against Florida? The body of work says that they’ll have a chance to be competitive. Last week was not their bright shining moment. They’ll have to improve from that.
Nick: Right. Let’s go to, there’s a matchup that all Florida fans are pointing to, and it kind of goes back to a high school All-Star game. That’s Vernon Hargreaves at cornerback and Laquon Treadwell. Laquon is definitely not the only wide receiver on the roster. Florida also has a very good secondary, not as deep as they were coming into the year, but a very good secondary. Can Ole Miss still pass the ball effectively the way they’ve been able to? Right now leading the SEC in scoring offense, total offense, and passing offense. Is Florida’s secondary a speed bump this week?
Parrish: I think it could be. I think Florida will have the best secondary that Ole Miss has seen. I think Ole Miss will pass the ball well in spots. Now Treadwell is a great player, and he’s going to be matched up against a great player. Lots of times those tend to cancel each other out. I wouldn’t expect either of those guys to dominate, but I like Ole Miss’s chance in the passing game because of the depth at receiver, and then the way that Chad Kelly has spread the ball around. There are a lot of guys making plays, and it’s almost like every week it’s been somebody new.
You’ve got some experience there with Cody Core. You’ve got a junior in Quincy Adeboyejo, who has kind of played behind some people during his career, and this is his time, and he’s stepped up and taken advantage of it. The guy who led a good game against Vanderbilt was Damore’ea Stringfellow, a transfer from Washington, another kind of bigger guy at about 6’3”, a physical receiver, 4 catches for 71 and a touchdown last week. They’ve got a lot of depth. Treadwell, he’ll require double coverage sometimes, an outstanding player, but if you do that and other guys are open there are lot of guys that can make you pay. I think Florida’s missing a linebacker this week. Is that right?
Nick: Yeah, Alex Anzalone, who’s Florida’s middle linebacker, hurt his shoulder against ECU, the second game of the year. He has not played in the two games since, and will not play this week. That is a big loss for Florida. He was Florida’s best cover linebacker, their most athletic linebacker in the middle, and the guys left there really create a hole for that underneath passing game.
Parrish: See that could come into play, because Kelly has brought the deep ball back into the Ole Miss passing game. The vertical game has been a lot more a part of what they’ve done this season, and that has taken some balls away from tight end Evan Engram, a pre-season All-American, an outstanding athlete. If that’s a matchup in which Engram finds some space I think they’ll go to him a lot, and he’ll have a big game.
Nick: To your point about Kelly spreading the ball around, Ole Miss has five receivers who all have at least 10 catches and a touchdown. Engram only has 5 receptions this year for 68 yards, but could be a matchup nightmare for Florida. Parrish, before we get you off here. It is early in the week as we tape this, but do you have a prediction? Ole Miss is a 7 point favorite right now heading into the game this weekend.
Parrish: I see Ole Miss winning a close game. I think they’ll be focused and prepared, and they’ll play better because of that then they did against Vanderbilt this past Saturday. Look, it’s close when you go down there to the Swamp. The Rebels have had some success there, but it’s not like they’ve launched anybody out. I think they’ll take a very talented team there this time. They’ll take a composed team, and a team that will benefit from a better week of practice. Freeze got their attention from the preparation angle after the Vanderbilt game. I think that’ll come into play.
Andrew: Definitely. Parrish, we appreciate you coming on so much, and we will definitely see you in Gainesville this weekend. Maybe even in Atlanta again, as maybe Florida and Ole Miss find their way to the SEC championship game.
Parrish: Maybe so. The Rebels would like to play anybody in Atlanta. They just want to get there.
Andrew: Definitely. Parrish, thank you so much, and we will talk to you soon.
Parrish: Ya’ll have a good day.
Nick: You too.
Andrew: Nick, Parrish came on. He said it. He kind of said a lot of the things we had said before. The one thing that I kind of did find interesting, and something that I hadn’t even thought about, was Evan Engram. That is a scary guy to be mismatched against with Morrison or Davis. I think right now you might need to just tell Morrison to sit home and let Marcus Maye play the dime all day.
Nick: Yeah. Engram really hasn’t been used a ton. Like I said, just 5 receptions on the year, but Kelly has done a great job spreading around. To have five receivers that all have 10 receptions, over 100 yards, and a touchdown on the year, to me is impressive. Then you think that you’ve got a 6’3”, 230 pound tight end. Think of somebody in the mold of a DeAndre Goolsby where not many linebackers are going to be able to run with him or stick with him, so that could be a big problem for Florida, who will be without Alex Anzalone this week.
Andrew: Yeah. Interesting that he doesn’t believe that Laremy Tunsil is back. If Tunsil’s not back that’s a hit. Even though they’ve played all year, that’s still a hit.
Nick: Yeah. I think they’ve kind of answered that. Listen, nobody in Oxford, Hugh Freeze, nobody on that team will tell you, we’re fine without Laremy, we don’t need him. You’d obviously love to have probably the best offensive tackle in the entire country playing left tackle for you, but they’ve done it. They went against Alabama. It’s not a situation where they played the first four games of the year with him, and now all of a sudden, how do we slide these pieces around? They know what they have to do. There’s no experimenting going on trying to fill that gap. It is a huge loss, yes, but I think they’ve gone through four games and kind of figured out how to make things work with him not there.
Andrew: It’s almost like getting a free agent if you get him back.
Nick: Getting Laremy Tunsil would be like getting the prize free agent back. Laremy Tunsil can play some football, and it’s still a shocker to me why he’s not wearing orange and blue.
Andrew: I will say this though, and this is a cheap shot. I’m going to take a cheap shot. I’m Andrew. What that hell. You guys know I take cheap shots at everybody. It is kind of funny though that he does possibly miss the Florida game after Hugh Freeze played dirty to get him. As the good book says, always comes back to haunt you, and this week it’s maybe coming back to haunt him. It is kind of funny.
Nick: When you say the good book, do you mean the Bible?
Andrew: No, I mean the good book of football.
Nick: I was going to say. I don’t know where it says it will come back to haunt you in the Bible.
Andrew: No, the good book of football. It says that recruiting and that kind of stuff, I guess I shouldn’t call it the good book. That does kind of make it sound like the Bible, and I should never do that. Let me just say the football playbook.
Nick: Andrew Spivey’s book.
Andrew: The Andrew Spivey book. A lot of people say that. I’ve heard that being phrased from Nick Saban several times, so that’s where I picked it up. Whatever. Who cares? One thing too also though is if Taylor and Bell are not fully healthy is that a good thing or a bad thing for Ole Miss? It almost might be better to have a fully healthy guy going against those two monsters up front for Florida than it is to have a not so healthy guy. That’ll be interesting to see if they trot out and play or not, in my opinion.
Nick: Yeah. That’s definitely a big thing, and it’s kind of like you would see on Florida’s offensive line. If David Sharpe were to get hurt, maybe not now with Martez Ivey, but before that, there would have been some serious shuffling. Ole Miss shuffles last week, and they get the SEC offensive linemen of the week.
Andrew: That’s a guy that’s played there all year at right tackle with Tunsil out.
Nick: Right. I mean they had to shuffle because of Tunsil.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Now you’ve got a guy who was supposed to play right tackle is getting comfortable at left tackle. Sliding him back to right tackle would be great. Obviously, as we record this we don’t know anything about Tunsil right now.
Andrew: I’m saying is it better to have a 50% Rod Taylor and Justin Bell at the two guard positions or is it better to go with the guys that played fully healthy last week against Vanderbilt? That’s my question. Do you want two guys that are not healthy?
Nick: It’s a situation where if they’re not fully healthy you can get a rotation in, and you get those guys who are your starters, get them reps, but you don’t ask them to go out there and play 70 snaps.
Andrew: Right. That’s my question. They’re going to go against probably two of the better defensive tackles in the country right now in Brantley and Bullard, and that’s my question. Should those two guys be playing if they’re not fully healthy against those guys? That’s my big question for that. Interesting on the Treadwell thing. He thinks that they’ll cancel each other out. I think Florida fans would be very happy if they didn’t see Laquon Treadwell’s name in the stat book. If Laquon Treadwell’s name’s not in the stat book that is a successful day for Florida, because as you see Florida tried to take out Amari Cooper last year, and that was not good.
Nick: That was devastating. It was impressive to watch in person though.
Andrew: It was like, damn, again? Again? Let’s also be honest. Amari Cooper is making NFL cornerbacks look very dumb so far in his first few games. Not like Amari Cooper’s chopped liver.
Nick: No, and I don’t think Laquon Treadwell is chopped liver either. See that’s the thing. You’ve got so many other guys, Cody Core, 14 receptions for 320 and 3 touchdowns. Quincy Adeboyejo.
Andrew: You sound like me right now.
Nick: Yeah, he has 10 receptions for 224 and 5 touchdowns, leads the team in touchdown receptions, and then Parrish mentioned Stringfellow, who had the breakout game last week. He’s got 11 receptions for 175 and a touchdown on the year. Markell Pack also has a touchdown on the year. Then Robert Nkemdiche is lined up, and he has a touchdown reception in the year too. An hour of talking Ole Miss, and didn’t even mention probably the best college football player in the country in Robert Nkemdiche.
Andrew: Here’s my thing real quick. I know we’ve got to end this bad boy. We’re running way over time. My last thing is Florida’s not going to stop their passing game. They’re not. They need to contain it and not allow the big plays. My opinion is that Florida should do okay. I don’t expect Florida to shut them down. I still expect probably Ole Miss to have about 275 or so passing, maybe 300. The key is going to be you allowed that, but don’t allow the running game. It’s almost the opposite of what they did last week where they didn’t allow Tennessee to beat them in the passing game. They said beat us with the running game, and they almost did. Florida’s going to have to do the opposite with Ole Miss this week. Good stuff with Parrish, a very good guy, good friend of ours now. We’ve kind of been able to talk to him now. I did say something interesting, and it kind of came out of nowhere, but Florida and Ole Miss may be in the SEC championship game, maybe not out of the ordinary. Florida loses Saturday and Georgia loses Saturday, then you’re potentially looking at a Florida vs. Georgia winner go to the Georgia Dome.
Nick: Yeah. That will be something to deal with. We got a lot of football until then. I said earlier in the podcast I think Florida fans are too confident heading into this game, and now we’re talking about Florida going to Atlanta.
Andrew: I’m not saying that. I’m saying it’s not out of the question. It’s not out of the question.
Nick: I know you were feeling a little under the weather, maybe you should take a little bit less of that cold medication before we tape these podcasts.
Andrew: Why? People say I’m crazy anyway, so I might as well. Damn, I might as well. Our friend Amy called me a mess the other day in person. That was mean. What the heck, Amy? I thought we were cool.
Nick: Amy strikes me as a straight shooter, a woman that just calls it like she sees it.
Andrew: Oh brother, here we go. My man, Uncle Silk liked my talk. We did get to meet Uncle Silk the other day at the Gator Walk. That was cool. Got to meet our good friend, Gator in Tennessee, and several other good people. Nick, I think you’ll agree with me, we appreciate all the support for our podcasts. Nick and I both did not think it would take off as well as it did, and that’s all the credit to you guys for listening.
Nick: Absolutely. Andrew and I would just be sitting here talking to each other, and it wouldn’t mean anything if you guys weren’t listening, so we thank you for that. We love the feedback that we’re getting, good and bad. Luckily we haven’t gotten a ton of bad yet. Keep listening. Keep downloading, and we appreciate it. Always www.GatorCountry.com for all your breaking Gator news. @AndrewSpiveyGC on Twitter, @NickdelaTorreGC on Twitter, @GatorCountry on Twitter. Follow me on Instagram too, NickdelaTorre, drop the GC on Instagram. Andrew, final words?
Andrew: I know everybody wants to know my lingo for this week.
Nick: Yeah. Do we save it for Friday?
Andrew: I’m going to go ahead and tease it. My word for this week is on fleek. For the people like myself that don’t know what that means, that means on point. I think this week Vernon Hargreaves is going to on fleek.
Nick: On fleek. You’re staying with the times, kind of like Steve Spurrier knowing who Lil Boosie is. Do you know who Lil Boosie is, Andrew?
Andrew: I know the name.
Nick: Steve Spurrier knows more about the rap game than Andrew Spivey. That’s why you guys tune into the Gator Country podcast.
Andrew: Little Kenny Chesney.
Nick: Andrew, you’ve got some homework to do for Friday.
Andrew: Little Florida Georgia Line.
Nick: We will lead off the podcast with the question who is Lil Boosie on Friday, and I expect you to have an answer.
Andrew: I do know that, what is my song? I’m da man, I’m da man. That’s my song.
Nick: That’s not rap.
Andrew: Whatever that is, because he talks about myself. He calls me the da man, and I am the man. Guys, stay tuned to Gator Country. We’ll be back. As always, Butch Jones, you’re still not a head coach. Stay tuned to Gator Country. Nick, say your words. Let’s get out of here.
Nick: Andrew has homework. I will ask him again on Friday. You stay classy, Gator Country.
Andrew: Butch Jones still not a head coach. Talk to you later, Gator Country
Very informative. Challenge noted. We should keep them honest on defense, as mentioned, the trick is can we generate enough offense to be in this game? I hope Mac has some things up his sleeve and a few 4th down conversions scheduled as well. If some kids could come of age…maybe. It’s easy to get caught up in all of this positive mojo and throw logic to the wind. I’m grabbing a handful of logic and throwing it right now :) Go Gators.
Not a fan of listening to podcasts but I love reading the transcripts. Keep em coming.