Sallee joins GC’s podcast to talk Florida Gators/Georgia

Gator Country brings you a new podcast as Barrett Sallee of Bleacher Report joins us to help us continue to break down the Florida Gators vs. Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday in Jacksonville.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre ask Sallee the tough questions about the game, plus get his take on the key match-ups to watch on Saturday.

Andrew and Nick also update you on the injuries for the Gators, plus give you their take on the match-ups to watch on Saturday.

TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew:What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, almost game day.
Nick:Yeah. As we did last year, it’ll probably be my favorite podcast of the year, because we’ll bring in Barrett Sallee, a good friend of both of us, and we’ll talk some Georgia Bulldogs. We’ll talk some Florida Gators, and we’ll refuse to not call the game the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party. City of Jacksonville, grow up.
Andrew:I’m sure, because Barrett and I both share out allegiance of Braves, that we’ll sneak some Braves talk in here.
Nick:I hope not.
Andrew:You hope not?
Nick:I certainly hope not.
Andrew:I certainly hope so. Barrett and I love our Braves. Nick, before we go to Barrett, we’ll bring Barrett on here in just a second, let’s get a quick update. Mac speaks on Monday, brings out the injuries, and surprise, surprise, everybody’s good except for Deandre Goolsby. I think we kind of called that on Monday.
Nick:Yeah. I think the Goolsby one is interesting, because it looked, I was following him on the sideline when he came off, it looked like he had a dislocated finger, and they just popped that thing back into place, and he went back in and played. So, to me, two weeks later, him being in a questionable status for this week’s game is weird, but it’s kind of like we said. How about this? You offer to walk up to Jarrad Davis and tell him, “You’re not playing this Saturday.” See how much confidence you have walking up and telling Jarrad Davis he’s not playing this week, or the same thing for Joey Ivie or Jordan Sherit, any of those guys.
Andrew:Exactly. No. This game, for Jarrad Davis this game is Florida State. This is his Florida State game. This is his rivalry game, because he has buddies that play at Georgia. He has family members that are Georgia fans. This is his rivalry game. This is his bragging rights game.
Nick:Yeah. This means a lot to him, and it’s his last time to play in it.
Andrew:Exactly. You know, Nick, I want to say this real quick, and we got to go to Barrett here, but I think you and I both kind of forgot about the storyline with Del Rio a little bit, about this is a big stadium for him. This is kind of where he grew up. This is where he learned football.
Nick:I wrote about that. Maybe you forgot about it.
Andrew:I’m talking about we haven’t really talked about it on the podcast, you ass clown.
Nick:It’s up on GatorCountry.com, so go ahead and read that.
Andrew:We like to talk about it on the podcast. Nick, are you cool? We going to go on with Barrett, or you got something else you want to say before we go to Barrett?
Nick:Let’s do it.
Andrew:Let’s go to my man, Barrett Sallee. Go Braves.
Welcome back, guys. We’re joined by our good buddy, Mr. Barrett Sallee of Bleacher Report. He hates your team, but he likes Florida right now. Barrett, how’s it going, my man?
Barrett:I’m good. It’s crazy. Florida folks used to hate me, and then I defend Jeremy Foley in the ridiculous LSU/Florida thing, and then apparently I’m a Florida homer. Maybe I’ll be a hater after this week, or this podcast, who knows? People play that card because they have no option, and that tells me all I need to know about their argument.
Andrew:It’s just funny to watch your mentions go from Arkansas hater to Auburn hater to I don’t know if you like anybody, Barrett.
Barrett:See, I like all of them. That’s the thing. I like every team, because they provide storylines, but just because I think Arkansas is terrible, which they’re not good, that doesn’t mean I don’t like Bret. I like Bret Bielema. Bret Bielema’s awesome. What’s not to like about him? I learned long ago, and I’ve been doing this almost 16 years now, don’t take this stuff too seriously, because while a lot of folks think it’s life and death, and treat it as life and death, it is only football. The sooner we all remember that, the more fun we can have, and that’s the point of this.
Andrew:I agree. One question, was Arkansas’s play erotic?
Barrett:Everything Arkansas does is borderline erotic. In fact, I’m going on a podcast later on this week that’s called The Borderline Erotic podcast, that features Arkansas. Bret said that last year at Media Days. I ran out of that room giggling like an idiot, because I didn’t have my phone, and I wanted to tweet that quote out, and he walks into the room that I was in, instantaneously he goes, “You ran out of there so quickly because you had to tweet that, didn’t you?” I said, “Yup. Yes, I did, Bret. Yes, I did.”
Andrew:Yes, it was. That was great. He’s good for Media Days. Moving to Jacksonville, and we’re going to call it the world’s largest cocktail party. I don’t care what they say.
Barrett:That is what it’s called. That’s its name. We’re not calling it anything else.
Nick:They might not put it on the letterhead, but that’s not going to stop us from calling it by its true name.
Barrett:That’s the way it should be. I mean, why do you have to be politically correct with cocktail party? Come on.
Andrew:It would be one thing if it was the drunken party or something stupid, but cocktail, that’s a nice way of saying alcoholic beverage.
Barrett:Vomit on your neighbor and hour before kickoff party. How about that?
Andrew:Barrett, from a perspective of just this game in general, it almost seems like the game is being forgotten about, per say. There’s not a lot of talk about it. I know Georgia’s coming off the Vandy loss, but do you still see this game as a big game in general?
Barrett:I do. I’m 36 years old, and I’ve lived in Atlanta my entire life, except for college. So I know how much this game means. I’ve lived it. I understand it. I remember folks getting angry when Spurrier hung half a hundred on Georgia the night the Braves won the World Series, and Braves fans couldn’t necessarily enjoy their only World Series, which I am still bitter about. In my lifetime there should have been more, but they couldn’t enjoy that because Georgia was getting curb stomped by their rivals. I know how much it means. From a national perspective it’s not there, just because I think Georgia’s had its struggles, obviously, losing 3-4. Florida, whether you think they’re good or not, they’re really hard to watch, because their offense is just so hit or miss, and people just don’t want to trust them as a result. So it has lost a little bit of its luster.
Then on top of that, it’s a huge weekend for games. Florida State/Clemson is huge. Utah/Washington is huge. Wisconsin/Nebraska is huge. There are a lot of nationally relevant games that typically this game has been that in the past, it’s just not this year.
Andrew:I agree with that. I think that it’s one of those things where if Georgia had beaten Tennessee and beaten Vandy we’re maybe talking about a whole different game. Now that you brought up the Braves thing that hurts my feelings and makes my day bad, but we’ll still try to talk about this game. Del Rio, you see him come back. You say the offense is hit or miss, and it is hit or miss, and Nick and I actually had this conversation last week. When you look at Florida offensively, they’re putting up the yards. They’re just not putting up the points. I guess, you’re a guy like us that kind of studies things. Is that kind of what you see? They’re maybe getting better, but you’re not seeing the scoreboard reflect that offense?
Barrett:Yeah. They’re getting decent play, and I think when you get closer to the red zone it makes it harder on quarterbacks, and as a result you see some inconsistencies. On top of that, Del Rio’s footwork’s been sort of all over the place, or at least was in his return. It’s one of those things where Florida is significantly better than they were last year at this time. I think we all can agree on that. Are they championship level in terms of the SEC East? I don’t know. I think it’s still a mystery.
We saw Luke Del Rio for two and a half games to start the season, behind an offensive line that was still sort of developing, and he was alright. He wasn’t great. He was not bad. He was just kind of alright, which is still a vast improvement, but not anything to know your socks off. Then he was just kind of alright against Missouri. Against a good defense, which I don’t Luke Del Rio has played yet, because Missouri is just flat out awful, is Luke going to be the same guy? I don’t know.
I hate to dodge the question, but that’s just sort of where Florida is right now, and I think he’s going to find out this week. Kind of lost in the whole Vanderbilt beat Georgia thing is the fact that Georgia’s defense played excellent for the whole game. They lost the game because of kick coverage and kick returns. It’s hard to like Florida, because of Luke Del Rio’s injury you just don’t know what they are.
Nick:I started to look at Georgia, and it seems like what could hurt Del Rio Georgia doesn’t do well. They’re not really getting to the quarterback, getting sacks, and I think they were low on interceptions as well. I think you need to pressure Del Rio, especially when you’re looking at his knee right now, pressure him and force him to make some of these throws where maybe if there wasn’t pressure, if he had a little more time, he wouldn’t do that. I know Georgia’s defense has played well, but if they can’t get to Del Rio, do you think that gives him time to maybe pick them apart a little bit?
Barrett:It should. I think that’s going to be the key to the game. How much does Georgia get, because there’s been times where for 5, 10, 15 minute spurts they are getting pressure. Last game against Vanderbilt I think it was the 1st quarter. Lorenzo Carter was back there a bunch, and he just sort of disappeared, like he didn’t exist anymore. That’s going to tell the tale of the game. What’s frustrating about Georgia is that you look at that team, and you’re like, “Why aren’t you guys good? Why aren’t you guys consistently good?” That front seven is really talented. Not as talented as maybe some other teams, and certainly not as talented as the one that Kirby Smart came from, but raw talent is there. It’s just not performing at a consistent level.
If they can get pressure on Del Rio, Georgia’s going to win the game big. If they don’t get pressure on Del Rio, then it’s probably going to go in the other direction. A couple of mistakes, especially with these two teams, which I wouldn’t say they’re fragile, but they don’t really have an identity, either one of them in terms of offense, a couple mistakes will go a long way.
Andrew:Flip the script a little bit. Let’s flip the side of the ball here. For me, I think that the key is Florida going up against an inexperienced quarterback in Eason who is tied for the lead in interceptions right now. How does Georgia score if Florida’s able to shut the running game down?
Barrett:It’s a problem, and that was against Vanderbilt too, because the running game was shut down to a point, and Eason actually played pretty well, but they couldn’t punch it in. So if you force Georgia into passing situations, Jacob Eason will take some chances. He’s a good quarterback. He’s shown what he’s capable of at times this year, including against Missouri on the road, and the touchdown against Tennessee with 10 seconds left. His downside though is that he’s a freshman, and he’s going to force some things. If you try to force things against Florida not only are they going to pick him, they’re going to take it in the other direction for six. I like where their future is. I think right now they’re just suffering through some growing pains.
That’s the biggest question I have is if Vandy can shut down Georgia’s running game the way they did, what’s going to happen when Florida plays them? Because Florida’s got better guys in the front seven. They’ve certainly got a better defensive backfield, and they capitalize way more than Vandy does. It’s just a fascinating game, and that’s why it’s kind of hard to pick it, because you kind of look at everything, and you’re like, “Maybe I want to pick Florida.” They’ve got this, this, and this. Then you look at Georgia. You’re like, “Why the hell would I pick Georgia?” They just lost to Vandy, and they can’t run the football, and their special teams are a disaster. So it’s going to be a fascinating game. I think if good Eason shows up, then Georgia can have a fantastic day, but the way that Florida’s defensive backfield plays that’s easier said than done.
Nick:I think everyone is worried. Do I pick Florida, and then second half Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Florida shows up? Because if that team shows up they’re not going to beat many teams.
Barrett:It’s a valid concern. I think part of that was the fact that, especially against Tennessee, they got gassed. Florida defense was flat out gassed against Tennessee. If Georgia can come out and run some tempo and hit you with Nick Chubb a couple times, you’re going to get gassed again. The same problem’s going to pop up. I think the one difference is that Georgia doesn’t have the receivers that Tennessee has. Some of those passes that Dobbs completed, they were good passes, but they were also to guys that had a matchup advantage over Florida’s DBs. Georgia doesn’t have that. It’s going to be kind of like a battle of attrition. There’s nothing great about any of those teams, other than potentially Florida’s defensive backfield and potentially Georgia’s running game, but even those two things have not been consistently great all year.
Nick:Real quick, what is Florida’s chance to run the table through the rest of this schedule, rest of the conference schedule, and make it back to Atlanta?
Barrett:I don’t think they will. I think when you’ve got two West road games against LSU and Arkansas you’re probably going to lose one of those, although I don’t think Arkansas is that good. Maybe it’s LSU, especially the way they’ve improved. Georgia I would say is a tossup game. The folks in Vegas say it’s leaning towards Florida, but that’s okay. Either way it’s still going to be a close game. I think they’re going to lose one of those three. They may lose more than that. I just think that it’s hard to say Florida is outright better than any of those teams, because we haven’t really seen this Florida in the SEC, except versus Kentucky and Missouri, and I know Kentucky’s second in the East right now, but come on. That’s Kentucky.
Andrew:Real quick, Barrett, I wanted to ask this, and I think this is kind of the thing that most people will say, and that is that the jury’s still out. There’s a chance that Florida turns into that team that deserves to win the East, and then there’s a chance it turns into that fluke of a year. Are you in agreement with that that it’s kind of a wait and see against these better teams?
Barrett:Yes. I’m 100% in agreement. It’s hard to tell you exactly what Florida is until they actually play real competition with their roster the way it is, because the only time we saw them against real competition they threw away a three score lead. Granted, they had a backup quarterback, and I get that, but it’s not like the starter’s looked all that impressive at times in terms of going and winning a football game with his arm. I’d say the jury’s still out. I think Florida has well positioned itself, and should be commended for that, but the hardest part is yet to come, and I think they’ll find that out starting this week, and throughout the rest of the season with the way the schedule has sort of evolved.
Nick:Alright. It’s that time. Prediction time. What do you see happening this weekend? After we’ve thoroughly talked about nobody knows, or we don’t know which of these teams will show up. What is the prediction? Who will walk away with the win this weekend?
Barrett:I think it’s going to be Georgia. I think it’s going to be close. I think it’s going to be a 4th quarter battle. It’s probably going to be a pretty ugly football game. I just think the biggest reason they lost to Vandy, besides special teams, is the fact that the running game didn’t really show up, and that’s the one thing about Georgia that I think can be the anomaly, that can be the one thing that’s the exception not the rule. I think they’re going to get a better performance out of those running backs. I think they’re going to get a pretty decent performance from Jacob Eason, and as long as he doesn’t make a mistake that goes the other way for six I think Georgia will win, but, again, I think it’s a tossup. I could sit here and make you a case for Florida and try to sell it to you as fact, and I could probably make it pretty well, but I honestly, no matter which team I pick, it is as much as a tossup game as I can remember, because Georgia’s just as Jekyll and Hyde as they come, and Florida is as much of an unknown as there is two months into the season. I’m just going to say Georgia, because I think their running game will pick it up after a couple of weeks off.
Nick:Will Muschamp beat Georgia. That’s been our line all year. Will Muschamp beat Georgia. So I don’t know what’s going to happen Saturday.
Barrett:Treon Harris beat Georgia twice.
Andrew:Yeah. Barrett, real quick, tell everyone where they can find you on Twitter. I’m sure they’re following you already, but tell them where they can find you, and we’ll get you out of here.
Barrett:Follow me on Twitter, @BarrettSallee. Facebook the same thing. You can yell at me when I’m wrong about this pick, which I’m like 51% sure I’m not going to be wrong, but 49% sure that I will be.
Andrew:Barrett, I promise I will be one of those guys that lets you know, just because we’re friends.
Barrett:I would expect no less.
Andrew:Barrett, we appreciate it so much. We’ll talk to you very soon. Have a good rest of the year.
Barrett:Thanks, guys.
Andrew:Welcome back, guys. Wow. Barrett with Georgia? Should I be surprised, Nick? I mean, he does hate your team.
Nick:No. I don’t think he’s surprised. I think he makes a point. He doesn’t know what Florida team is going to show up. I don’t know what Florida team is going to show up.
Andrew:That’s true. I think we’ve said it before, and we continue to say it, you don’t know which Florida team is going to show up, and then it is Florida/Georgia. You don’t know what’s going to happen with this game. Good luck trying to predict this game. I think if anybody would have told you in 2014 that the Gators were going to beat Georgia and beat them the way they did you would have laughed at them.
Nick:Why can Florida beat Georgia?
Andrew:Why can Florida beat Georgia?
Nick:Yes.
Andrew:Florida’s the better football team in this game. I don’t think that’s a question mark. When you look at Florida defensively they’re better. When you look at Florida offensively it may be more of a push there, but I would take, right now, the veteran quarterback over Eason, just because I feel like what we got in the Missouri game is not what you’re going to get from Del Rio, and that is a ton of turnovers. I feel like in a game like this you trust Del Rio more than you trust Eason, but it just goes back to the defense. Outside of the Tennessee game, that second half, and I think we can call it a fluke, how do you score? I mean, do you know?
Nick:If I’m Georgia, I feel like Georgia would still feel comfortable about running the football.
Andrew:Yeah, but it’s like Barrett said, and it’s kind of what we’ve said before, and that is Georgia’s offensive line is struggling really bad. Vandy, they’re a good run defense. They shut it down. I feel like Florida should be able to shut down the running game for the most part, and dare Eason to beat you. I don’t know if he can, because, quite frankly, I don’t know if Georgia has the playmakers to beat Dawson, to beat Wilson, to beat Tabor, to beat Marcus Maye. I just don’t know. To me, their best weapon is Isaac Nauta, and I think he will cause some problems, but after a couple of catches Florida’s going to be like, “Alright, you’re going to have to go somewhere else.”
Nick:Is that the defensive strategy?
Andrew:You know what I’m saying. It’s one of those things where if he starts beating you with Maye on top of him, or if he starts beating you with Dawson, you’re going to flip it. You know what I’m saying?
Nick:No. If he starts beating Marcus Maye, then you’re in trouble, because that’s your guy to cover him.
Andrew:Right, but what I’m saying is Collins is not going to be stupid enough to let him continue to beat the same person over and over. He’ll make an adjustment if Nauta is beating that person. What that adjustment will be, I don’t know.
Nick:Yeah. I think you would probably start with Duke Dawson covering him, with the thought that if that doesn’t work out we’ve got Marcus Maye to do that.
Andrew:See, I’m worried about Dawson covering him. Nauta’s bigger, physical than Dawson, and Dawson has struggled. So I do worry about that there.
Nick:That’s what I’m saying. I’m saying it’s just Georgia’s not going to run a ton of four wide receiver sets, so your normal guy to be down there already to get him is the nickel.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:If that doesn’t work, then you flip it, but I don’t think you’re going to try Marcus first. Shoot, that didn’t work. We’ll throw Duke in there. I’d say a lot less confident in that than I would be with Marcus Maye, just because of the size difference. Duke’s probably my height, probably about 5’10”. Marcus is 6’1”.
Andrew:Exactly. That’s what I’m saying. No disrespect to the Georgia receivers, they’re not better than Florida’s corners. You can go ahead and mark it down, 31 and 6 are going to have one on one matchups. One on one matchups, they’re going to be locked down, playing press man, and go at them. That’s what’s going to happen.
Nick:Nauta’s just going to be, no matter who they’re playing he’s probably going to be a mismatch, 6’4”, 240, big kid. To me, it’s Florida won’t play straight man the entire game. They don’t do that. They’ll play a bunch though.
Andrew:Right. That’s what I’m saying. For the majority of the game Tabor and Wilson are going to be told, “You see that guy in front of you? That’s your guy.” Maybe you go to what I call a shadow coverage, I don’t know what Collins calls it, with Nauta, where that is you’ll have Anzalone or Davis, or whoever is playing middle linebacker at the time, be your help across the middle, and then that way whoever it is, Dawson or Maye, can set up for the outside, not get beat outside, because they know inside they’ve got help. If that makes sense.
Nick:Yes.
Andrew:So that’s what I’m saying. Anyway, I think with the news, we’re taping this, and we know that Davis and Ivie and Sherit and Cox are practicing.
Nick:We also told you that on Monday.
Andrew:We told you that last week too. You feel like they should do well up against this Georgia offensive line, who’s struggling. That is what I think would be the key. If Florida can definitely get pressure on Eason and can get in the backfield, move that line of scrimmage back, I think you’re okay.
Nick:Georgia, they’ve got those guys, but as far as like a rushing offense, they’re right in front of Florida, 8th in the SEC. They’re averaging 195 a game. You look at Auburn, Alabama, Texas A&M, all of them are averaging over 250 yards a game. They’re not a great rushing defense, so can you stop them? You probably could be able to. It’s just what happens if they have Nick Chubb and Sony Michel all healthy for a full game?
Andrew:Yeah. You have a one, two punch.
Nick:You add in little Joystick Issy, Isaiah McKenzie, then you got a one, two, three punch. I would still not run with him on 4th down with a yard to go. Mr. Chubb, need you to get back in the game for that one.
Andrew:Right. That’s what I’m saying. McKenzie’s been playing more of your slot. With Chubb and Michel you got that one, two punch, but once again it’s all about stopping the run. You’ve got to set a tone that you’re going to push the line of scrimmage back. If you do that, then you like your chances.
Nick:I’m just trying to think. We kind of shut down Tennessee. I’m trying to think of ways that Georgia could win. Maybe someone gets banged up again.
Andrew:I think it’s easy for Georgia. I think the game plan is easy, and I’m not saying it’s going to work out easy, but I’m saying if you’re going to think about Georgia you’re going to think about this. You’re going to go in, you’re going to try to establish the run. You’re going to try to make Eason comfortable with short routes, and you’re going to try to pick on Dawson and anyone not named Tabor or Wilson. I think that is the key is to get up and make Florida come from behind, and if you do that, then I think you like your chances.
Nick:Yeah. This will be the toughest test that the prince of midtown has throwing the ball. I don’t like his chances throwing the ball, unless you can play, Tennessee got away with some of that a little bit where it’s play on Florida’s aggressiveness. I think that’s where, if you can get Florida, they’re not even biting on double moves, but I think that’s where you can get Florida into some trouble is if you can play off of their aggressiveness, and maybe take advantage of that through the air. Jacob Eason, we’ll all say it, has the ability to beat Florida with his arm, but can he do it consistently or do it enough to win a football game?
Andrew:Here’s the thing. He has the ability, but does he have the playmakers to get open? You know what I’m saying? A quarterback can only make his guys that much better. You know what I’m saying? If his receivers aren’t able…
Nick:You’re saying that Riley Ridley is not like his brother?
Andrew:No. Riley Ridley is not like his brother. You know what I’m saying? It’s tough. It’s tough for me to say that, because it’s kind of like Barrett said, and that is that Georgia has the Josh Malone, who I think is really good, and they have some playmakers that are able to get open. That’s there. I want to see this too. I want to see how much Georgia goes with the screen game. That was kind of a staple under Mark Richt. Hadn’t seen that a lot, so I kind of want to see how Georgia does with the screen game. Are they still doing that a lot with the backs? I want to see that.
Nick:Shoot. Starting to talk me out of thinking Georgia, Barrett started to do it. What’s wrong with Georgia?
Andrew:Mark Richt.
Nick:I don’t know. You don’t lose to Vanderbilt. You let them hang in there, but you don’t do that.
Andrew:That’s what I think with Barrett, and Barrett had a good point that is the defense did do good, but that also means the offense didn’t even do enough to get a win. Florida’s offense did enough to get a win.
Nick:Yeah. I get that. They had Tennessee on the ropes too.
Andrew:Yeah. I’ll go back to this, and this is something that I’m going to stick with, and that is this. I do think that Florida’s offense gets better. I think it continues to get better. I think it continues to improve with Del Rio there, and I think this offense looks good. I want to see that. I want to see that happen, and I do feel like this is a game that Del Rio wants a lot, and I’m expecting Florida’s offense to come out and do well.
Nick:I’m expecting, I don’t know if I’ll ever expect them to do well. I’m like shell shocked right now after what I saw. People were telling us two weeks ago, you said they were going to be better. I’m saying, “Yeah. I thought they would be.” I don’t think you can point to the yards. Look how many yards we got. Okay. It’s a bad Missouri team. You’re supposed to have those yards, and you’re supposed to finish.
Andrew:Here’s the thing, and this is what I think you should remember, and that is bad Missouri team, bad Kentucky team, bad whoever, Florida wasn’t putting those yards up in the past. Yes, I agree with you that I want to see them do that, but I’m going to steal your line. You should do that. They did it.
Nick:Right, but they didn’t finish.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:It’s not like these penalties came out of nowhere. Like, man, we had a bunch of penalties against Missouri, we had never done that before.
Andrew:No.
Nick:That’s going to continue happening. I don’t care what you did over the bye week, that’s going to continue happening, because you have an undisciplined football team, and they’ve been undisciplined since before you got there.
Andrew:That’s undisciplined offense. I don’t think you can say that really for the defense.
Nick:Fine. I said, and it’s been that way. It’s not something new that Jim McElwain brought there. It’s just not something that he has fixed.
Andrew:No. I mean, I agree with you. I don’t know. We’ll see. I just think that Florida wins, and I would say Florida wins by 10 points. That’s kind of where I think. I just don’t think Georgia’s a very good football team, and that’s me saying it nicely.
Nick:Yeah. Don’t think they’re a very good football team, and then we get into the is Georgia still complaining about this is not a true neutral site game?
Andrew:I hadn’t heard that in a while.
Nick:Oh. I haven’t seen a lot of Georgia fans this week.
Andrew:Yeah. I haven’t seen Georgia fans. They’re not in the mentions anymore. What happened to them?
Nick:I don’t know. It’s crickets.
Andrew:Maybe Mark Richt took them to Miami.
Nick:It is lovely down there. It is lovely down there this time of year.
Andrew:People are not liking Mark Richt very much either. So maybe they’ll leave Mark Richt down in Miami too.
Nick:After three in a row Miami fans already talking about the 2017 depth chart.
Andrew:They’re already talking about the baseball season down there, basketball. What do they talk about next down there? Basketball?
Nick:I don’t think they care about basketball.
Andrew:It’s baseball season. Nick, I wanted to go to this, and this was something that we had kind of talked about a little bit. Tyrie, I think that that game for him against Missouri was big for confidence, and I feel like, I really do, I feel like he can continue to get better, and him getting better only is going to make Callaway better and Brandon Powell better, and I know Powell’s had a bad year, I guess you could say. I mean, not a great year, but I think that that other weapon to hit it over the top is something that against Georgia could be there. Remember, we kind of go to this all the time, Greg McElroy said this. He said, “In big games Mac throws the kitchen sink out. He has everything there.” Hitting a few over the top with Tyrie, like he did in the Tennessee game, could be there.
Nick:It could be. What about what Barrett said? You look at Georgia’s front seven, and you think, damn, they should be good. They should be better. What if you don’t have that kind of time to hit those deep balls?
Andrew:What makes you think that changed? It’s kind of like what you said about the offense, and that is, what changed? What changed with Florida’s offensive line? What changed with Georgia’s defensive line? I’m sure they will get some pressure. Is that new against Florida?
Nick:It’s not just their defensive line, but like Lorenzo Carter, you and I both thought he’s a heck of a football player since he was in high school. Is it time for him to have a breakout game? I mean, Trenton Thompson’s a monster. There’s just these guys that you and I have known about for three or four years. It’s like, why aren’t they doing more? Maybe it’s because I don’t watch Georgia as much as I watch Florida, and if I watched Georgia more I’d have the answer of it’s not going to happen.
Andrew:Right. I mean, I don’t know. I am in the opinion that Florida’s offensive line still has to show me something. So would it surprise me if they got pressure? No. I’m expecting them to get pressure. I mean, that’s what I’m doing. I’m expecting them to get pressure. So yeah. That’s what I’m expecting. Everybody’s gotten pressure on Florida. Why wouldn’t Georgia?
Nick:Got you.
Andrew:You know what I’m saying? Why not? It would be different if we were talking about Alabama getting pressure against them for the first time. I mean, Florida gets pressure every game. They get pressure in practice.
Nick:Here’s one for you. Talking about Georgia’s offense, Florida’s defense is the only team in the SEC East that has yet to give up 100 points.
Andrew:Really?
Nick:Florida’s only given up 72 points this year.
Andrew:I think that streak continues. I don’t think they give up 28 to Georgia.
Nick:There’s only one team in the West, which is Auburn. Granted, Alabama has played a couple extra games, or an extra game than Florida and LSU have, but LSU’s given up 99. Florida also has scored only 182, which is better than South Carolina, Georgia, and that’s it.
Andrew:Once again, one less game. Is that right?
Nick:One less game.
Andrew:That’s what I’m saying. I don’t know. Here’s the thing, and I’ll go ahead and say this. Jim Chaney’s a lot like Cam Cameron. He’s not a very good offensive coordinator. Kind of one of those things where you get what you got, and that’s Cam Cameron. Coach Mac, Collins, those guys, they know what they’re preparing for with this guy. He’s going to give you the same thing he gives you every game. He’s an old fashioned offensive coordinator. I’m going to run the ball. I want to test the offensive line, and I’m going to be that way. I don’t know. I don’t know what Kirby was thinking there. You would think he would have learned from Saban that you need that, but I’ll continue to be this way until he proves me wrong, and that is that I think that Kirby Smart is the next guy to fail as a Nick Saban assistant. Everybody you talk to at Alabama tells you he’s a very good guy, but he’s very stubborn, and so I didn’t expect him to do well. I mean, so far he hasn’t shown that he can. I know it’s only year one. He’s only six games in. I’m not expecting him to do well.
Nick:Kirby’s a defensive guy.
Andrew:What I’m saying is a lot of people were just in the notion that he was running Nick Saban’s defense, Nick Saban had moved him around. When he moved him around that position group didn’t do well. I mean, let’s just be honest here. Kirby Smart’s never coached his own position. Nick Saban coaches DBs. That’s where Kirby coaches.
Nick:You’re saying maybe he got more credit than what he deserved?
Andrew:Absolutely he got more credit than what he deserved. It’s one of those things. I give Mac a pass for that whole thing, because he was the offensive guy, but when you’re a defensive guy it’s kind of like Nussmeier. No matter what Nussmeier does at Florida he’s going to kind of always be was that his offense, or was that Jim McElwain’s offense? Hell, you and I talk about that all the time. Who is the guy making the offensive game plan? You and I joke about that all the time.
Nick:Yeah. I think that was my question. Going back to last year, that’s what I said. I said, college football’s a business. Mark Richt is good for business. You’re going to win probably floor is 8 games, ceiling is 10, maybe 11 games. That’s great for business. You might have just hired Will Muschamp 2.0, and that’s terrible for business. You saw what happened to Florida. That’s awful for business.
Andrew:It ruins your program. That’s what I’m saying. Here’s the thing.
Nick:A loss to Florida puts you at 2-4 in the conference, if you’re Georgia.
Andrew:That’s what I’m saying. It’s kind of the thing of Mark Richt got you 9. You fired Richt because you wanted national championships. I understand. Mark Richt was never winning the national championship, but did you make a mistake of going to get the hot name who was a former Bulldog in Kirby? You know somebody’s going to say, “You guys are picking on him after a few games.” I’m not picking on him. I’m giving you my opinion, and that is from what people tell me he got too much credit, and we’ll see. He kind of has that Will Muschamp of I’ll get it fixed, and we all know how that worked out.
Nick:He has that swoop, that Alabama swoop haircut.
Andrew:He ain’t at Alabama.
Nick:That’s true.
Andrew:He ain’t at Alabama, my good friend. That’s pretty much everything, Nick. We’ll be back on Friday, finally get our predictions and all that good stuff in. Then be in Jacksonville on Saturday. So if you’re going to be in Jacksonville hit us up. We’ll be around.
Nick:Yeah. Maybe I’ll be able to kick this head cold by the time that rolls around. Until then, you can find this podcast in audio and transcript form at www.GatorCountry.com. If you’re on iTunes, jump into the podcast. Download us there. Subscribe. Never miss a day. On Twitter it’s @GatorCountry. On Facebook, @GatorCountry. I’m @NickdelaTorreGC. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC. Only a couple more days until Florida/Georgia. We need to start making it feel more like Florida/Georgia. I’m thinking it’s just because Georgia’s down this year.
Andrew:It’s because Mark Richt’s not around.
Nick:Mark Richt started the year very well.
Andrew:Yeah, well, you know. I need someone to send me some stuff on Twitter, like some jokes or something. I feel like I’m not doing well. The fan base doesn’t hate me.
Nick:No. I haven’t been able to find them.
Andrew:Yeah. Alright, guys, we appreciate it. We’ll be back on Friday. Got a couple things on Wednesday. Gators have a first exhibition basketball game. Also, Gators will have a running back make an announcement. Gators look good. By the time you’re listening to this, at 8:00 on Wednesday, Gators may have a new commitment. So check us out. We’ll have a couple stories on that as well. Then Coach Mac on Wednesday as well. Teleconference, normal press conference, all that good stuff. Stick around. As always, guys, chomp, chomp. Go Braves. Mark Richt, Butch Jones, you still suck.
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.