Gator Country brings you a new podcast as we recap the Florida Gators big win over Georgia on Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down the keys to the Gators win, plus look at how great the defense really did against the Dawgs.
Andrew and Nick also talk about the offensive line and how they’re improving over the last weeks, plus look ahead to Arkansas week.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, what a fine Saturday it was, my friend.
Nick: Some would call it a perfect Saturday, if you are a Florida Gator fan. FSU goes down. Tennessee goes down. Miami goes down. Doesn’t get much better if you’re a Gator fan.
Andrew: Should we save it, or should we go ahead and just talk about the big balloon in the opening?
Nick: Will Muschamp is 14 and 19 against SEC opponents. If you take out his five consecutive wins against Tennessee he’s a 500 football coach against SEC opponents. 5-0 against Tennessee. 5-0 against Butchy.
Andrew: Butchy. Butch Jones. Let’s just dissect this for a minute, because, quite frankly, the world might have heard me laughing from Jacksonville, Florida last night when watching this game. What a joke. This guy calls himself a good football coach. This guy called himself a national title contender. The alien called himself a Heisman trophy candidate. You’re out of the top 25. You’re on a three game losing streak. You lead the league in interceptions. You ain’t nothing but a false fiction book, a chapter in a book. It was embarrassing for Tennessee and a great day for myself, Nick. Great day. It should just prove it, Nick. Think about this. Butch Jones is Del Rio not getting hurt and a Hail Mary away from being 0 wins in the SEC this year. Think about that for a second. Winless in the SEC.
Nick: Who leads the SEC in interceptions?
Andrew: It’s Dobbs, right?
Nick: Josh Dobbs with 11.
Andrew: That’s what I said. He went from a Heisman trophy to leading the SEC in interceptions with 11.
Nick: Yeah. He’s not having a good year. It’s kind of like what we said before the year. He’s not a good quarterback. Tennessee gives Florida breathing room. I don’t know how Will Muschamp does it. He’s not a good football coach, not a good head coach.
Andrew: Neither is Butch Jones. Why do people continue to say he’s a good football coach? Nick, I’m asking you this nicely. What in the hell do you see in him that makes him a good football coach? I don’t see it. It’s all hype, no results, Nick. It’s simple facts. He’s an 8-4 football coach. End of discussion. An 8-4 football coach, no matter how you look at it, how you toss the numbers, how you look at the previews, the preseason hype, whatever. He’s an 8-4 football coach in the fall. Now, in the off season he’s a national championship coach.
Nick: He’s a very good recruiter.
Andrew: Three star U is what we is. According to Florida fans, that’s no good.
Nick: Currently Florida is the only bowl eligible team in the SEC East, which you might as well call the SEC least. It’s pretty terrible.
Andrew: I am not done yanking on Tennessee. So I need you to stop.
Nick: Tennessee is 2-3 in the conference.
Andrew: 2-3 in the conference.
Nick: On a nasty three game losing streak.
Andrew: I just would like, what do Tennessee fans keep him around for? I don’t understand. Here’s the thing. I am smart enough to admit that Tennessee has talent. They have talent, but you’re that bad of a football coach, of an in game manager. What are you doing? How bad can you be? You’re just a terrible football coach. I understand he wants to resemble his buddy, Mark Richt, because he’s an 8-4 coach on a four game losing streak. Both of them can’t win a big game, but South Carolina might have three NFL players, maybe, on their roster.
Nick: South Carolina’s trash, and they lost Chris Lammons early.
Andrew: He’s trash too, but also the big play of the game was from the 251, Mr. Jamarcus King, cornerback. We 251 boys, we don’t like Tennessee.
Nick: I don’t know. Let’s not do this. Tennessee, I said they wouldn’t lose another game, because the rest of their schedule was trash.
Andrew: What did I say?
Nick: You pick Tennessee to lose every single game.
Andrew: No. What did I tell you? Stop yourself. You’re going to eat crow on this. I said this on Twitter. You’re going to eat crow. What did I tell you? It was either Friday or Wednesday. I said, “Nick, they’re going to lose another game,” and you said, “Tell me which one.” I said, “I don’t know which one they’re going to lose, but they’re going to stumble down the stretch and lose one more game.” You said, “Have you looked at their schedule?” I said, “Yes.” You told me I was crazy. Did you not?
Nick: Yeah. I think you are. I think you were crazy. Let’s not sit here and act like you said, “South Carolina’s beating Tennessee this week.”
Andrew: I did say they were going to lose, and you told me, and I know you weren’t drinking the Kool-Aid this year.
Nick: I was not drinking Kool-Aid this year. No, no.
Andrew: I know. I’m just letting you know.
Nick: They should not have lost. South Carolina’s bad. South Carolina’s going to get five wins this year now, maybe.
Andrew: Tennessee’s a bad football team too.
Nick: They beat Florida. Decisively. That’s gets into me, when fans say stuff like, “Your team’s trash. Our best win is over your team.” It’s like, “If our team is trash, then why is that your best win?” Tennessee fans will say Florida sucks, but that’s Tennessee’s best win is Florida. I don’t get when fans say that. Tennessee’s a good football team. They didn’t play like it. The most inexcusable part, they had a bye week last week. You had two weeks to get ready for a South Carolina team that has lost to Georgia, 28-14, A&M, 24-13, lost to Kentucky, lost at Mississippi State, and Mississippi State’s a dumpster fire. Is South Carolina going to mess around and beat Missouri? Missouri doesn’t have an SEC win this year. Are they going to beat Missouri, and then come into Gainesville looking to be bowl eligible against the Gators?
Andrew: No. I mean, they can. I don’t think they beat Florida though.
Nick: South Carolina? South Carolina shouldn’t be anybody. They’re terrible.
Andrew: That’s what I’m saying. I don’t think they have a shot. Here’s the thing for me, Nick, and then we’re going to go. We’re giving Butch too much time. Tennessee’s not a good football team. You say they beat Florida decisively, and in the second half, absolutely. It was a difference of two halves. Florida dominated the first half. Tennessee dominated the second half, and they won on the scoreboard, where it matters. I do think it’s a different game if Del Rio plays, and it’s a different game if you’re not playing in Knoxville, but that is what it is. Florida’s done their business outside of that. Tennessee hasn’t. Let’s move to Saturday. That was just an old fashioned downright defensive football game.
Nick: Before that, Mark Richt, after their collapse against Notre Dame, was asked, “You guys have lost four in a row, where do you go from here? What do you do from here?” Do you know what Mark Richt said?
Andrew: What?
Nick: “We play Pittsburgh.”
Andrew: That is true.
Nick: That was not the question, sir. That was not the question that was levied your way. That was not what that reporter meant.
Andrew: Here’s the thing. He’ll win against Pittsburgh.
Nick: Maybe.
Andrew: They’ll win against Pittsburgh, because they won’t be on big time TV.
Nick: Maybe. Who knows? Four in a row.
Andrew: It’s four conference games too, right?
Nick: Yes.
Andrew: That’s insane. Let’s go to the Gators. Nick, if I tell you that the Georgia Bulldogs would have ran for 21 yards on 19 carries, you would have probably admitted me to the psycho hospital, right?
Nick: Yeah. That was our key. That was our key to the game. You’ve got to stop that rushing attack.
Andrew: You and I, and we’ll eat our crow, we both said we thought they would get 100, and we said, “They get 100, and Florida will be fine.”
Nick: They would need four more games to do that.
Andrew: That defense with Ivie back, Sherit back, Bryan Cox back, Jarrad Davis playing. I don’t know how Jarrad Davis played. Nick, you and I had people telling us beforehand that as of Friday night he wasn’t going to play. I don’t know what he did in pregame and everything else, but he told Mac he was ready to go, and, quite frankly, he looked like he was fine.
Nick: He showed up meetings, or the press conference after, and had a bag of ice, little limp, but yeah. It’s like I said, should have emailed me, tweeted at me, stood up, if you wanted to stand in front of Jarrad Davis and tell a kid from Kingsland, Georgia that didn’t get an offer from his state school, “You’re not playing against Georgia the last time you get an opportunity to do it.” I would have given you his number, and would have directed you to him to let you be the one to deliver that news to him.
Andrew: For real. You and I all week we were very positive, and I won’t even stick this on you. I’ll stick it on me, but when we posted on the message board that we thought he was going to be limited that was because we had people saying Friday night his ankle was killing him, and we’re not going to push him out there. That was what people were saying, “We’re not going to push him out there.” Mac has that whole philosophy of not letting someone play if they’re going to hurt themselves worse, but he went out there and did it. I’m sure today is probably not a good day for Jarrad. I’m sure he’s hurting today, but that was a heck of a performance by him.
Sherit and Ivie, Joey Ivie is such an integral part of this defense, and it doesn’t show in stats. It doesn’t show at all on the stat line how important he is. Not only for himself, but for Brantley. The whole defense really, but Brantley being the biggest one. I’m looking at the stats here. One tackle is all Joey Ivie had. One tackle and one quarterback hurry is all he had in the game, but you can’t measure how important him and Sherit are. Look at the rush defense. It was pitiful last three games. Against what I call a good Georgia rushing attack, nothing.
Nick: Yeah. Real quick, I want to go back. We kind of said that. We said that all week getting those guys back, and I pointed out as soon as you lost those two guys, Sherit and Ivie, look what happened to the rushing defense. You get them back, you see what you do. Listen, two years ago Nick Chubb had almost more rushing yards that Georgia was able to put up as a team yesterday. He had 156 rushing yards as a freshman against Florida, and Georgia put up 164 total.
I want to get back to Jarrad Davis. Some of the quotes he gave after the game, the guy’s just a warrior. He said, “Pain is temporary. Felt it initially, but once the game starts going, bullets start flying, you don’t really worry about pain.” He brought up the movie Major Payne, and in Major Payne one of the guys gets shot in his leg, and the main character, Damon Wayans, he walks over and says, “What’s wrong?” He says, “My leg hurts.” Breaks the guy’s finger. The guy starts screaming, and he’s like, “What did you do that for?” He says, “Now you’re not thinking about your leg.” Davis brought that up.
Really I think him just saying that once he came out and felt the environment, felt pregame warmups, felt the energy in the stadium, he said he knew he had to play. I said, “What did you tell Jim McElwain?” The training staff had said it’s up to him, and Jim McElwain was waiting to hear what was going to happen. What was Davis going to do? Jim McElwain knows the type of game this is going to be and the difference that having Davis on the field, what that would mean to his team, and Davis said, “I just told him I was ready.” He goes, “I looked him in the eyes, and he knew. He felt I was ready.” So it sounds like there wasn’t very much conversation at all, just like a look of, “Hey, Coach, 40’s going to be on the field. Don’t worry about it.”
Andrew: You might as well just go ahead and let me go. If not, you might as well go ahead and cuff me, and sit me in the locker room in a corner, chained to the locker, because he was going to go if possible. You have to love that intensity on that. Just in general I thought the intensity was better. You and I have been really hard on the offensive line, and you and I will agree, the offensive line played much better. The line of scrimmage, at times it looked like Perine and Scarlett were caught in the backfield, and you and I would look up, and we’re like, they got a three yard gain. Then you look up on the screen on the TV, watching the replay, and it’s like the line of scrimmage was three yards in front, because the offensive line was doing well. Martez Ivey might have had his best game as a Gator on Saturday.
Nick: Yeah. To me, I do my half time Q&A, and I just have fun with that, but I’m like, why are you bitching about play calling? This is probably the offensive line, I kept turning to you and being like, “Look, the offensive line, they’re actually creating a new line of scrimmage. They’re three yards up the field.” The play calling, Deandre Goolsby there were a couple plays, two or three plays where he’s just running wide open.
Andrew: Perine, Brandon Powell.
Nick: Perine, the check downs to Perine were open, and Del Rio’s just not seeing that. When guys are running wide open, that’s great play calling. That’s good play calling. When you run a sweep that you’ve never run to Antonio Callaway, and he goes in for a touchdown, that’s great play calling. When poor Brandon Powell has run 37 miles in meaningless pre-snap motions and taken a fake handoff, and then he finally gets it in the seventh game of the season, finally gets a handoff, you’ve been setting that up for two months now with what you’ve been doing. That’s good play calling. Stop blaming Nussmeier. Stop blaming the coaches. You can’t see everything when you’re watching on TV. If we’re telling the quarterback is missing open guys, the guys are open, because the play calling is effective.
Andrew: Right. Someone said that to me on Twitter. They were like, “So and so is saying that it’s on the OC. Why is it the media guys?” First of all, you and I, Nick, we don’t even pay attention to what anyone else says on there, but that person was watching it on TV. You don’t see things. It’s very clear when you see it that it’s not. Here’s the thing. I said this to you in the 3rd quarter. I said, “Mac may tell Nussmeier not to put the ball in the air again.” When Florida went up 21-10 I said, “He may tell Nuss not to put the ball in the air again.” It was simple. It’s old school football. Florida was up by two scores. The defense was dominating. Let’s go. Run the ball. You were getting two or three yards. Run the ball. Grind out a victory.
Nick: That’s what it gets down to at the end of the game.
Andrew: Grind out a victory. At the end of the day, a win’s a win. We all make fun of it, but look at Wisconsin/Nebraska. It’s not pretty, but right now it’s not going to be pretty for Florida. They’re still developing an offense. It’s not going to be pretty, but a win’s a win, and that was there. Nick, you just cannot talk about this defense. This defense, in my opinion, is great. It’s not just good, it’s great. It’s special.
Nick: I think the only defense that is better is Michigan, to me right now.
Andrew: I say that, but then again I can’t say that, because when you face Michigan State, they’re not good.
Nick: I don’t like doing it, but if you want to do like best win, Michigan beat Penn State, who beat Ohio State. Michigan beat #8, Wisconsin, who beat LSU. What’s Florida’s best win this year? I think Florida’s got the second best defense in the country. I don’t feel like I’m being disrespectful to them in saying that. I just think Michigan’s defense is out of control. Michigan’s losing 11 starters on defense after this year. I think they’re starting 10 seniors and Jabrill Peppers, who’s going to leave. Florida’s playing a ton of young guys. I think Michigan’s defense is better than Florida’s at this point. Michigan is playing Big Ten competition, but I think they have better wins than Florida does at this point. Michigan’s defense right now is giving up 11.6 points per game. Florida, 11.7.
Andrew: Wait. Say that one more time. 11.6 and 11.7?
Nick: 11.6, 11.7.
Andrew: Okay. It’s pretty equal.
Nick: It’s a tossup. Florida has a better rushing defense. Michigan is 15th in the country, giving up 111 per game. Florida is 9th, giving up 105. Passing defense, Michigan’s #1, 120 yards a game. Florida’s #2, 134. Then total defense Michigan’s also #1 there, 231. Florida’s #2, 239. I think Michigan has more turnovers created.
Andrew: Yeah. It’s a tossup, like you said, I guess. I don’t know. It’s close. My thing is this, and that it’s special. Nick, I’m going to say this now, and this is going to be crazy. I mean, for people that watched the game it won’t be crazy, but for some it will be. Florida’s best defensive end is JZ.
Nick: I can’t say you’re wrong.
Andrew: It’s not just one game, Nick. It’s game after game after game. Nick, he was in the backfield almost every play last night, Saturday.
Nick: If Leonardo DiCaprio had held onto Rose at the end of Titanic like Georgia was holding on to Jabari and to the rest of Florida’s defensive line, I think that movie would have had a different ending. Rose and Jack would have had a happy ending.
Andrew: The Rhode Island kid, Catino or whatever it is that transferred to Georgia, he must be wanting to go steady with Cece, because all night long he was hugging him.
Nick: Holding him tight.
Andrew: He was holding him tight. He’s going in for the kiss. It was bad. It was that bad. It was really bad. I want to switch gears a little bit and go to the running back position. Cronkrite’s gone. Mac can say whatever he wants to, Cronkrite’s gone. He’s gone. Not coming back. Mac can say he’s figuring it out. He’s not figuring it out. He’s gone. Mark Thompson, I don’t know what Mark Thompson is. I person would think Mac probably sits him for this Arkansas game. I’m not sure. That’s just my opinion as we’re taping this on Sunday.
Nick: Does he make the trip?
Andrew: I don’t think so. This is us taping this Sunday at 4:15, and we’ll hear more on that on Monday from Mac. The running game was fine with Perine and Scarlett.
Nick: More than fine.
Andrew: That’s your two best players at running back.
Nick: That’s it.
Andrew: The only reason Mark Thompson should make the trip is an emergency case.
Nick: Then at what point, so if you’re trying to make a stand and say you can’t ride around with weed in your car, and these are the consequences. Then at what point does your bark not have any bite if you’re saying, “You’re punished, but we’re going to bring you just in case.”
Andrew: Here’s the thing. Who was with Scarlett in the dorm room in December?
Nick: I don’t remember.
Andrew: Was it just Jordan? There was two suspended, right?
Nick: I can’t remember right now.
Andrew: Hell. Anyway, I think it was two of them, but whatever. Scarlett technically was only suspended one game. Now, he wasn’t pulled over and arrested like Mark was, which I know he wasn’t arrested, but he was kept by the campus police until they came and picked him up. Is a one game suspension all it is, and if that’s the case then Mark served his one game suspension. I don’t know. I don’t know what it is. The thing is you’ve seen what the two horse race is, I mean what the two horse carries are in Perine and Scarlett, and they did well. The two things those two guys have in common is first person hitting them is not bringing them down. Might be the only player on the team that does that consistently are those two.
Nick: Yeah.
Andrew: Deandre Goolsby still isn’t. I really think he won’t go trick-or-treating on Monday night, because the first person to touch him will make him fall.
Nick: Here’s the other thing. People are like, “You need to eat crow, because C’yontai Lewis broke a tackle and scored a touchdown.” One play does not make whatever we said wrong after watching the first seven games. Did he break a tackle? Yeah.
Andrew: He made a hell of a play.
Nick: No. The touchdown play wasn’t as good as the first catch. That first catch on the sideline, that toe touch, that was a hell of a play.
Andrew: You got to give credit where credit’s due. That was a great play.
Nick: It was a great play. I mean, it wasn’t like a guy wrapped him up, and he threw a guy off of him. The guy dove from behind, and then he used his speed. He’s a fast 6’4” tight end.
Andrew: He did what he should have been doing all year.
Nick: That’s where our criticism comes from is that’s what he’s capable of.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: That’s what we’ve seen, and that’s what we’ve been waiting to see. So our criticism comes from knowing that that’s what he’s capable of and not seeing it.
Andrew: Right. Someone tweeted me that as well, and I’m like, “What?”
Nick: I just ignore that.
Andrew: I know, but me, I have to respond. I’m sitting here, and I’m like, “First of all, I didn’t say anything about C’yontai. I was talking about Gooslby, and Goolsby still hasn’t proved me wrong. That’s there.” You got to start doing that as well. You got to start breaking tackles.
Nick, let’s go ahead. Let’s start looking at Arkansas. You’re going to look at this Arkansas team, and you know what they’re going to want to bring to the table. They’re going to want to run the ball, and they’re going to want to play action. It’s going to be basically Florida’s offense all over again. That’s going to be what Arkansas wants to do in the game. Personally, with Ivie back I feel pretty good about Florida stopping Arkansas.
Nick: Arkansas runs the ball 56% of the time, and they have the SEC’s third best passing offense. It’s not as unbalanced as you would think, but it’s like you said. They use the run to set up the pass.
Andrew: If they don’t get the running game going.
Nick: If you don’t get the running game, and if Florida can get a scenario of what happened last week where you’ve got Jacob Eason, putting the game on Jacob Eason’s arm, then that’s a good deal. That’s a good deal for Florida. Austin Allen is having a little more success than Eason this year. He’s got 18 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, with three of those 7 coming against Alabama, and two of them coming in his first game.
Andrew: Arkansas is twelfth in the SEC in rushing. They’re only averaging 160 now, after some very bad games. If you’re Bret Bielema, that’s not what you’re looking for.
Nick: Only Ole Miss, who doesn’t pretend to run the ball, and South Carolina, who’s atrocious at everything, except beating Tennessee, are worse at running the ball than Arkansas right now. You’ve really seen a decline, other than a big game against Mississippi. I mean, you had 120 against A&M. You had 73 against Bama, and 25 against Auburn on 31 carries.
Andrew: Right. Then Arkansas on the flip side, defensively, they’re the third worst defense in the SEC. They’re twelfth. They’re giving up 428 yards a game, and they’re giving up right at 31 points a game on defense. Not what you’re looking for, compared to Florida giving up 11.
Nick: Arkansas’s rushing versus conference and nonconference opponents is drastically different.
Andrew: On offense or defense?
Nick: On offense.
Andrew: I was talking defense.
Nick: On offense right now. The attempts are pretty similar, 158, 165. 418 rushing yards on 158 attempts against SEC opponents, 2.65 per carry. They have 865 yards at 5.24 per clip, and eight touchdowns, against nonconference opponents. The yards per game are half. The attempts are half. This just has not been a good rushing offense against SEC opponents. Florida comes in with a very good rushing defense. You almost have to kind of like throw away those games that you didn’t have your full team there. Even with that Florida comes in with the third best rushing defense in the SEC, giving up 105 yards a game. I think Arkansas will struggle to get the running game going.
Andrew: I do too. I think when you look at Arkansas defensively, they’re giving up 221 yards a game rushing.
Nick: That’s bad.
Andrew: Then passing they’re better, they’re fourth in the conference, giving up 206.
Nick: See, that’s the problem. You could have a good pass defense, but if you can’t stop the run, nobody needs to throw the ball on you, and you never get to see that.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: That’s where Florida’s defense can feast. You throw the ball well? They like teams that throw, as we’ve seen. You run the ball, Georgia, that’s what you want to do? You have a freshman quarterback. We’re going to see what that freshman quarterback can do with his arm, because you’re not going to run the ball on us.
Andrew: Right. I’ve got to get off track one second. We’re talking Arkansas, but I got to say this, and we forgot to say this. Hats off to Duke Dawson. I’ll admit, I’ve been a little critical of his play this year. I knew he was better than what he was doing. Best game of Duke Dawson’s year this year on Saturday. Two really great PBUs, pass breakups, and just had a hell of a game. They tried to pick on him, and he was ready for it.
Nick: Yeah. Jim McElwain said it. They’re going to start picking on Duke or Maye or somebody, but they tried to pick on Duke, and he came up with two huge plays there at the end of the game to really seal it.
Andrew: That wasn’t exactly a good move for them.
Nick: You got to pick on somebody. I don’t know who.
Andrew: Where do you go? Real quick, Isaac Nauta, only two catches for eight yards.
Nick: Somebody we pointed out as somebody that could maybe give Florida problems. Certainly didn’t give Florida problems.
Andrew: No. Didn’t give Florida problems at all. That’s where that is. This Arkansas game, you look at Florida. Florida is down the stretch. They got that Arkansas game on the road this coming Saturday at 3:30. Need to win that game and the Carolina game, or have Tennessee fall again, which right now I’ll even say, who knows what happens with Tennessee? They won’t lose next week an SEC game, because they don’t have one. They’re playing Tennessee State or Tennessee Tech, Tennessee Western, somebody like that. So basically Florida’s matching number to clinch is two. Any combination of two wins by Florida, or a win by Florida and a loss by Kentucky and a loss by Tennessee, gets them in.
Nick: Well, don’t sleep on Stoops in Kentucky.
Andrew: That’s what I said. They would have to lose too. Florida’s magic number is two.
Nick: I think this is what Donald Trump is talking about. I think he looked at the SEC standings, and he said, “Kentucky’s second in the East? No. We need to make the SEC great again. It can’t be.” I was talking to somebody yesterday, and I said, “Kentucky’s second.” He’s like, “Why are they second in the SEC?” I was like, “No. We’re not talking about basketball. I’m talking about football.” He goes, “That doesn’t make any sense.” But that Kentucky/Tennessee game is a little more interesting now.
Andrew: Still, if Kentucky loses another game and Florida wins another game, then Kentucky’s out. If Tennessee loses another game, and Florida wins another game, Florida clinches. That’s what I’m saying. Florida’s magic number is two, no matter who you look at, how you look at it.
I don’t know if you’re talking about the same guy. There was some guy from Saturday Down South up in the press box, and this guy was the most annoying guy ever. He wanted to talk about how boring it is, and I wanted to say, “You’re getting paid to watch football. Take your ass home if you’re going to bitch.” That’s all he did. He sounded like a child who didn’t get candy at the candy store.
Nick: It’s a pretty cool job. I enjoy it. So Florida needs to win two of three. That’s it, no matter which two. You can lose next week, win two of three, or the losses. Just win your games.
Andrew: Just win your games, and you’re there.
Nick: That would send you back to Atlanta, and Auburn’s making things look interesting. If Auburn can win out, maybe Florida doesn’t play Alabama again.
Andrew: So it comes out today, and I was reading this just a few minutes ago before we got on the air, if it’s a three way tie between Bama, Auburn and Texas A&M, then Alabama goes, because Auburn’s eastern opponents are Georgia and Vanderbilt, and they’re having atrocious years this year.
Nick: Who does A&M play the rest of the way?
Andrew: They have LSU down the stretch.
Nick: Right now in conference Alabama is 5-0. A&M is 4-1. Auburn is 4-1. LSU is 3-1. Not worried about LSU.
Andrew: They’re going to be 3-2 after Saturday.
Nick: I’m pulling up all three. Texas A&M plays at Mississippi State this week, Ole Miss, and then they finish with LSU. Alabama this week at LSU, 8:00PM game. That will be the CBS game. Then Mississippi State, and then Auburn, of course. Auburn finishes with this week is Vanderbilt, and then Georgia. Auburn’s going to run through Vanderbilt and Georgia.
Andrew: Exactly. It’s interesting to see how it goes down. Bama with LSU, they need that, or it would make things a lot easier if Texas A&M lost another game, and then Iron Bowl meant winner take all.
Nick: That would be cool. That would be really cool.
Andrew: That’d be pretty cool for sure. I don’t think it gets that. Bama’s not losing. Nick, we did okay in the picks, or I did okay in the picks. You picked Miami.
Nick: I did. I did pick Miami.
Andrew: When are you going to stop believing in that retard?
Nick: I mean, it wasn’t him. Notre Dame is what? 2-5, 2-6?
Andrew: At some time or another you have to start talking about the football coach. Stop ignoring the obvious, Nick. Stop ignoring the obvious. You continue to pick Tennessee with the bozo at head coach. You continue to pick Miami with a bozo coach. Sooner or later you got to put the burden on them, my friend.
Nick: You just said that they’re going to win this week.
Andrew: What did I say?
Nick: You said Miami’s going to beat them.
Andrew: Yeah, because it’s not a big game. It’s not even on big TV. Notre Dame was on big TV. If it’s on big TV, Mark gets scared. I mean, it happens. Nick, what was the other picks? We had Auburn/Ole Miss. Right?
Nick: I’ve got it pulled up.
Andrew: I picked Auburn. I mean, I picked Ole Miss, I believe.
Nick: I’m pulling it up. You’re trying to avoid the players, but we can do picks first.
Andrew: We’re going to do players. I’m going to take a big fat L on the players too.
Nick: There it is. My reasoning for picking Miami, I’m reading through the transcript now, Notre Dame’s badder. Let’s see. We both took Florida. We were right there. I said Clemson. You said Clemson big.
Andrew: I did.
Nick: That was not big.
Andrew: No. It started out like it was going to be big.
Nick: Yeah.
Andrew: Then what?
Nick: We both picked Wisconsin over Nebraska, which was correct. I did not pick South Carolina. I picked Washington.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: As did you. We both picked Washington. I’m trying to see, what was the other game? I picked Auburn to win. That was the only other game that was different. Auburn and Ole Miss.
Andrew: So we tied.
Nick: Yes.
Andrew: Okay. That’s cool. Then our players were Del Rio, I got a fat loss for that. Just didn’t put up any numbers. Perine, he had a decent game. I mean, he had 15 carries, 33 yards. That wasn’t very good. He had three catches for 15 yards. He did alright, not enough for a win. Anzalone, Nick doesn’t want to give me a win. He was second in the team in tackles, and he had a sack and two quarterback hurries, and was just about in on every play, but Nick doesn’t give me a win.
Nick: You can get a win for Anzalone. He had the sack, half sack.
Andrew: I think he’s a guy that the stats don’t show. I was reading something on Sunday that said, “If it’s a big play you can almost expect 34 and 57 to be there.” Then I got one, and then that’s what you’re going to get is a one.
Nick: I got Jordan Scarlett.
Andrew: That’s a win.
Nick: I had Jalen Tabor and Quincy Wilson.
Andrew: Those are both Ls.
Nick: I think Quincy Wilson had a very important, at the time, fumble recovery.
Andrew: You’re not getting a win for that fumble recovery.
Nick: I think I should get a win for that.
Andrew: He doesn’t even get it in the stats sheet as a fumble recovery.
Nick: That’s a fumble recovery. Johnny Townsend had just pinned, I almost said Tennessee. We talked way too much about Butch. Had just pinned Georgia down on their side of the field. Florida’s defense gets off. Antonio Callaway’s inexplicable punt return troubles, mishaps continue happening. That would have been like a 30 yard pass, a 4th down, 30 yard pass.
Andrew: You’re not getting a win for that. Sorry. You’re just not getting a win for that. Tabor, outside of the sack.
Nick: First sack of the year, and gave up no passes.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: That’s fine. You have to let people catch the ball and get tackles to get wins.
Andrew: You called two pick sixes.
Nick: I called two picks. I got no picks.
Andrew: Yes. So that’s there. We’ll get back on the road on Arkansas. We’ll get some things moving in the right direction. Big week again for Florida, and we’ll have Monday, Wednesday, Friday will be our podcast, and then we’ll be live from Fayetteville on Saturday. First time for both of us to be in Arkansas.
Nick: Yeah. First time in Fayetteville. Hit me up with any and all food recommendations.
Andrew: Lord. Nick, tell the people where they can find us. We’ll get out of here, and we’ll see everybody on Wednesday. Maybe Butch and Mark won’t lose again before then.
Nick: www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gators news. That’s where, if you are not an iTunes user, that’s where you can find the podcast in audio and transcript form. If you are on iTunes, search for us there @GatorCountry. It’s @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. I’m @NickdelaTorreGC. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC. Follow me on Instagram, @NickdelaTorre.
Andrew: I guess they can follow you. I mean, I don’t know if they should or not, but go ahead. Follow him. Guys, we appreciate it for real. Let us know if you got any buy or sell next week and any questions for Wednesday. If not, we’ll see you guys on Wednesday. As always, chomp, chomp. Go Braves. Butch and Mark, got them Ls.
Nick: You stay classy, Gator Country.