Podcast: Previewing the Florida Gators vs. Kentucky game

David: What’s up folks at Gator Country? This is none other than your boy David Soderquist, along with Andrew Spivey. After a couple of home games, Florida will travel away to Lexington, Kentucky to take on the Wildcats, a team that here lately has given Florida some of its closest games and some blowouts in between. The last time these two squared off against each other was in Gainesville, where the first half was pretty close, and Dan Mullen was giving Todd Grantham some of the dirty business on the sideline. Only to come back in the second half and dominate Kentucky, as they should have.

Right now, the spread is at -8 for Florida in this game, which is really kind of odd to me. What do you think about the spread there, Andrew?

Andrew: You look at it, and that would be if you take into account the three points that the home team automatically gets, so they’re technically an 11-point favorite. I will say this. Until Kentucky does it, Kentucky’s not back. Everybody wants to talk about Kentucky is second in the East. They’re the second-best team in the East. Kentucky’s going to go out, and Kentucky’s going to knock off Georgia. When they do it, let me know. Until then, they’re pretenders. Florida has played them close. 33 of the last 34 games have ended in a Gator victory. That’s it. Until that changes, it is what it is. You can call it luck. You can call it whatever you may call it, but at the end of the day, Florida has won the game. I don’t think it’s any different this year. I don’t.

It is a matchup of #9 ranked offense going against the #9 ranked defense in Kentucky. Florida’s rushing attack’s good. Third in the country right now. Kentucky’s defense, their rushing defense, is 20th in the country. It’s going to be a matchup there. You do know Kentucky’s going to play hard in this game. They’ve done that under Mark Stoops. That is one thing that has improved under Stoops is that they’ve been much better as far as coming out and playing physical, and they’re going to play physical football.

This is a team that doesn’t throw the ball very good. This is a team that when they get behind I don’t think they can come back. Is it going to be loud in Kentucky? It’s probably going to be a little loud, but it only holds 60,000. I think they’re planning on bluing it out or something. Whatever. Who cares? Florida should win this football game.

David: No doubt. We don’t have Will Muschamp and Brett Pesce, and we don’t have Doug Nussmeier calling plays and Jim McElwain eating PB&J sandwiches this time. There probably won’t be a lot of close games, although there have been some blowouts in between the close games.

I’ll say this. Kentucky, if you look at who they’ve played, they haven’t really played anybody. Kentucky, they’re averaging 32 points per game, which right now, from where I looked at, is 41st nationally. Their opponent’s defensive statistics, Louisiana Monroe, 87th defense; Missouri, 93rd ranked defense; Chattanooga, not ranked, because they’re a different division, but they’re giving up 19.3 points per game, which is actually pretty good in their division, but they’re not playing in this division. That really just kind of knocks it out. South Carolina, 58th in total defense. Kentucky really hasn’t played any good defenses.

Going and looking at film, and I looked at some of their film, they turn over the ball a lot. Kentucky is -2.3 in turnover margin, 127th ranked in the nation, and Kentucky is 128th in the nation in giving up fumbles, with an average of three fumbles per game. Butterfingers are a huge issue with Kentucky.

Andrew: Offensively they’re just okay. 39th in the country, 443 yards. They’re okay. They like to run the ball. That is something that we talked about it in the Bama game. You wanted to see Florida’s physicality go up against Alabama’s physicality. Florida won that matchup. Held them under 100 yards. Once again, you’re going into this game, and you’re wanting to look at Florida’s physicality up front on defense against Kentucky’s physicality up front on offense. You have to go into this game, and you have to respect it, for sure, but remember this, Kentucky is not Alabama up front. I don’t care what anyone tries to explain to you. I don’t care what anyone tries to tell you. They’re not.

Florida should be fine. They have to bring it, obviously. They have to do the keys. They have to keep an edge set. They have to tackle when they get there. That wasn’t a problem in the Alabama game in the box, in the front seven. That was a major problem when it got to the perimeter, but it was not a problem whatsoever in the box. That’s what Florida has to do in this game is tackle. Make sure you tackle there. Make sure you set the edge there. Don’t allow things to get out of hand. Don’t allow your safeties to get their eyes caught up in the backfield, because a good running team is able to capitalize off of a team sucking in too much. Kentucky does that. That’s what they like to do. They don’t like to just drop back and pass. They like to do their RPOs. They like to do their play action, that kind of stuff. Play disciplined football defensively, and you should be fine in this game.

David: Right. Their quarterback Will Levis, is it Levis like the Levis jeans?

Andrew: I think so. Something like that.

David: Will Levis apparently needs a Levi sponsorship with NILs going around. His statistics are okay. Well, not really. They’re pretty bad. 71.4 QBR. 902 yards total for him, 7 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He’s throwing some picks here. Kentucky is turning the ball over. Their turnover margin is really bad. They fumble more than they throw picks. I think this defense, especially with Kaiir Elam back, as Dan Mullen announced today that Kaiir Elam would be back for this game, I think they’re going to have a field day. I think Kaiir Elam is going to get a couple picks. I won’t say a couple, but he’ll get one. I think he’s going to get one. I think Florida has a chance, especially in this game, to increase their turnover margin. Right now they’re sitting at -.8, which is still not good. You need to be in that plus margin. I think Florida can do it here, especially with Kentucky fumbling the ball as much as they are. They’re very turnover prone, from what I’ve seen on film.

Their run game is intimidating, but, yes, they’re intimidating against teams like South Carolina, Chattanooga, Missouri, and Louisiana Monroe. This is a different team. This is Florida. This will be one of their toughest games that they have played on their schedule. Florida’s third in the East. Kentucky’s second, but I think that changes come Saturday.

Andrew: The biggest difference in this game, kind of like it happened in the Alabama game, but it wasn’t expected to be, and that is you don’t really have to worry about quarterback run. Will has rushed 11 times for 25 yards in the Missouri game, and then 5 for 30 in the South Carolina game. You’re not facing Emory Jones. You’re not facing Anthony Richardson or any of those guys that you’re going to expect to run the ball as well. You’re not really going into that game having to respect it. You got to respect it, but you’re not going into that game fearing it, per se.

The one thing too, and this is something to remember, Kentucky does like to play a lot of backs as well. They’ve had three guys over 20 carries. You got Christopher Rodriguez at 85, Smoke at 29, and then technically quarterback’s at 23, so he’s your third. They like to rotate backs as well, so they’re going to stay fresh. You have to go into this game remembering that and remembering you have to tackle the running back when you get the opportunity to. Cannot allow him to be able to bounce off of it and that kind of stuff. You cannot allow that to happen, because if you do, you’re going to have problems with them breaking away. That’s how you keep a team like Kentucky alive, allow them to have big plays.

It’s happened in the past, where you’ve given them some big plays and allowed them to stay in the game. This is a game where you come in there, and you put your foot down, and you go out 21-0 or 17-0, you should be good. Don’t give Kentucky hope.

David: No. Don’t give them hope at all. Their leading rusher is Chris Rodriguez, Jr. He has 513 yards already for the year, which is actually impressive for a running back. Through four games, and he’s averaging 6 yards per rush on 85 attempts. Their main back, and he’s a big dude. For 5’11” being 224, that’s a big dude to take down, so Florida’s really going to have to be on their heels when that ball gets handed off to him. Obviously, we’ve talked about it the past two games, missed tackles were a huge thing for Florida. They still kind of are right now.

Andrew: Luckily for Florida, it has been more in the perimeter, one on one. It hasn’t been so much in that box with the front seven, luckily. It hasn’t been that bad. I think that’s a key to continue. By the way, I remember this guy from recruiting, but Kavosiey Smoke, I believe. I don’t know how to say his name. Smoke. You get the name Smoke, you better be good.

David: You better be smoking people.

Andrew: Especially if you’re playing running back. He’s doing all right. 29 for 148 on the year. He’s all right.

Again, you have to go into this game preparing to shut the run down. Obviously, they’ve got a couple receivers that are okay. Wan’dale Robinson, he’s 25 catches on the year, 402, averaging 16 per catch. He’s okay. They’re more of your guys that are, I don’t want to say scat receivers, but they kind of are. Robinson and Josh Ali are both under six foot, so you like your chances with Elam, with Helm, with Blades and Perkins and whoever it may be in this game. Again, the key has got to be with your defense keeping your eyes on the ball. Do not get sucked in by the play action. Do not do that. Make sure that you’re playing your game of football, your assignment football, and you’ll be okay in this game.

David: You talk about that defensive interior line there. Kentucky’s currently right now 56th in the nation in sacks given up, giving up an average of two sacks a game. Interior defensive line, can they get more sacks than two sacks this game? I think they can. They have the talent on that defensive line. It seemed like early on in the Tennessee game last week they struggled a little bit, but really actually gave Tennessee fits there after a while.

Obviously, teams have been scheming around Florida’s defensive line. They haven’t really ran up the middle that much. You see a lot of, like we were talking about, dink and dunks. You see the dink and dunk side pass to the sideline, get a receiver or get a running back out there, get two-, three-yard chucks. These teams are going to try to chew up clock, because Florida loves to run the ball and chew up clock as well, so they’re going to try to get more time in possession on Florida than they can. They’re really going to have to scheme around Florida’s defensive line.

We’ve got to be able to set the edge, and I think a lot of teams watching film see that and see the missed tackles. They see the missed tackles from the Tennessee game and Alabama on the sideline, and it sucks not having Ventrell Miller there. It really does, but at the same time, you’ve got Mohamoud Diabate, Ty’Ron Hopper, those guys that have been in there two, three years. You got Trey Dean out there at safety. You got those guys that have been there two to three years. They need to step up, and they need to start making tackles.

Andrew: You got to do that. That’s your biggest thing is you got to go in, and you got to play disciplined football. Offensively for Florida, play your game. Play your game. Your offense, again, has done a really, really good job of getting to the second level from your offensive line standpoint. Even last week, when Reese and Delance didn’t play a ton, and when Reese didn’t play at all, and you were with Braun and Tarquan, they were still doing a good job of getting to that second level. Kingsley’s the same way. Kingsley is apparently good to go, according to Dan Mullen, according to what we’ve heard. He’s good to go. That’s a key in this game.

Again, you know that you’re going to go up against a defensive line for Kentucky that’s going to be good. They’re going to be physical, and they’re going to come into this game knowing Florida wants to line up and run the football down our throat. Just like I say with everybody, if you’re a football team, and you’re a good football team, you kind of get pissed off about that, a team lining up and going right at you. Again, that’s Florida’s MO this year. They’re going to line up and run right at you. You’re going to have Emory. You’re going to have Anthony Richardson back again this week, so you’re going to have a little bit more kinks in the armor to go.

Again, you feel very good, at least myself. I feel very good in saying that I like Florida up front against this team. They’re not as big as they have been in the past. They’ve had some monsters. What’s the guy’s name? There was a big defensive tackle they had two years ago that was like 350 pounds. He wasn’t Des size, but he was a monster.

David: He wasn’t trying to break ankles, was he?

Andrew: No. It wasn’t him.

David: Not like Cash Daniels.

Andrew: No. Not like Cash Daniels. They’re big still. Their nose tackle’s 350. He’s a big old boy. But their depth and their ability isn’t there like it used to be the last few years, so you like your chances still to get there. Again, with those big defensive tackles, I like Emory on the speed option. I like Emory getting to the edge a little bit and running against those guys. If you’re Florida, no need to change your gameplan. Line up, play assignment football, allow your offensive linemen to get to that second level, and you feel pretty good.

David: You said Kentucky was ranked 20th. Some sites got them at 5th in total rush defense, and a lot of people were saying on Twitter, social media, that Kentucky is stopping the run pretty well. Obviously, yeah, their opponents are. I dug up a stat, and this is what I had posted on Twitter. I said, in Florida’s three games their opponents were ranked higher in rushing yards allowed until they played Florida. Before playing Florida, USF was 89th. Alabama was 26th. Tennessee was 12th. After playing Florida, USF was 124th. Alabama was 78th, and Tennessee was 54th.

Take that for what you will. I think the offensive line has proven to be able to take on the best of the best, especially at Alabama, who consistently recruits five-star talent on that defensive line, these guys that are coming out of high school that are like 325 pounds, 350. These really big strong guys. Take it for what you will. Kentucky doesn’t recruit as well as Alabama anyway, but I think Florida’s not going to have a tough time.

Andrew: You have to give Emory the credit, a lot of the credit, there as well, because when the pressure’s getting there, he’s understanding that and either throwing it away or taking off and running. You expect that. If you have a high sack rate with a mobile quarterback, something’s wrong. With the quarterback and with the offensive line, if you have that. You’re good there.

Obviously, you still need the tight ends. I know some people on our website was bothered a little bit by my comment that the perimeter blocking hasn’t been good. That needs to get better. I said this last week, and I’ll say it again this week. Your goal this week is to be better than last week. Whether Tennessee’s better than Kentucky, Kentucky’s better than Tennessee, who gives a crap? Your opponent is yourself. You need to be better than you were last week. That goes for Emory. That goes for Anthony Richardson. You got Richardson back. You want to see him healthy. That goes for the defense. That goes for everybody. You need to be better than you were last week.

Your end goal is not to beat Kentucky, at the end of the year. Obviously, you need to win this game and beat Kentucky, but your end goal at the end of the year is to be in Atlanta.

David: Right.

Andrew: That obviously means beating Kentucky, but that also means getting better this week and this game. Again, does it scare me, worry me, that Kentucky’s 20th in the country or 6th in the country, depending on where you’re looking at, in rushing yards? It’s something to monitor. It’s something for you and I to talk about, but at the end of the day, they’ve played nobody. They haven’t went up against Georgia yet. They haven’t went up against Arkansas or Alabama or any of those other ones. They went up against South Carolina, who is bad. They almost lost to Chattanooga.

Those stats mean nothing to me. They don’t. Obviously, it says Kentucky is pretty good against the run. Cool. So is Alabama. So is Tennessee. Florida had more yards in the Tennessee game against Tennessee than they’d given up in the three games before. Florida’s game is to run the ball. They’re going to be fine.

Obviously, you’ve got to play mistake free football. You want to see how these guys react to their first true road environment. I know they played USF, and I know there was a bunch of USF fans there, but at the end of the day, that wasn’t a true road environment. You want to see how those guys respond. This is Emory’s first start in a true road environment. You’re going to have to do a little silent count, I’m sure. You’re going to have to mix it up a little bit. You want to see all that stuff. Obviously, it’s a good opportunity. This is Kentucky’s championship. Again. Kentucky wants to get to that next level, and they start it by beating Florida.

David: That’s it. Guess what? Somebody’s back for this game that we haven’t mentioned. That is a guy by the name of Anthony Richardson, #15, AR 15. That is a huge get back for the Florida Gators. He’s coming off that hamstring injury. Dan Mullen said that he was 100% good to go. Said his MRI came back great. He said that the last two weeks. To me, hearing him talk in the press conferences, it looks like Anthony Richardson will be back for this game. If he needs to play. I’m sure he’ll put him in the game at some point, but he’s definitely 100%. He’ll be here ready to play. We get Elam, get back Richardson. All is good in the hood at the University of Florida.

Andrew: People have said, what makes you think he’s going to play this week? Mullen said that the last two weeks. No. It’s totally different mindset of what’s being said this week compared to last week. Emory Jones kind of let the cat out of the bag when he said he’s going to play. You expect that he’s going to go into this game, and he’s going to play. I kind of figured from the get-go, when he got hurt, that that was going to be the plan. Dan Mullen said it, and it’s an old baseball analogy, but if you feel 100% today, wait a game, and you’ll really feel 100%. You’ll know for sure you’re 100%. I like that mindset.

Again, would it have been great for Anthony to play in the Alabama game? Sure, but once again, it didn’t mean anything if he was gone and couldn’t play the rest of the year. Tennessee, you didn’t need him. You knew you didn’t need him. Do you need him in this Kentucky game? Probably not, but you need to start working him back, because it’s three games, right, before Georgia? Or two games before Georgia? This game and then two more. Yeah.

You need to start working him back in this game, making sure he’s healthy and ready to go. I fully expect him to play. I think Kaiir plays as well. I think Florida will be good, except for Ventrell, who’s gone for the year pretty much, and Jaydon and Kamar. I think everybody else will be good. I think Kingsley plays. Delance plays. Reese plays. Elam plays, and Richardson plays. You should be good. You should be healthy. It’s an opportunity to go up there and take care of business and an opportunity to shut up some of the media. Kentucky media, I guess they think this is basketball.

David: Yeah.

Andrew: Because they’re wrong every single solitary year about this is the year Kentucky’s going to be good. Bro, it’s never the year Kentucky’s going to be good.

David: It’s kind of reminding me of a UCF vibes with these Kentucky fans out here. We’re going to be good, and then you still don’t wind up in the playoff, and you’re unranked by the end of the year. Same with Notre Dame fans. Same thing.

You’re right though. You got to get Anthony Richardson in this game somehow, whether you’re ahead or you’re not. You got to at least get him in the game. You got Kentucky on the schedule, then you got Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt’s going to be easy as pie. They’re about the worst team in the SEC. Then going into October 16th you’ll have LSU. LSU is down, but they’re not that down to me. I think LSU is more of a team that’s capable of challenging Florida with the talent that they recruit. I know Ed Orgeron isn’t the best head coach out there, but LSU still does have talent. I’m not taking that game lightly after what happened last year. Obviously, if you would have played Pitts.

Andrew: That’s a pissed off game. You got to go into that game pissed off, ready to go. We’ll get there. We got Vandy next week, and that’s a big one at noon. We’ll see where that goes.

Again, just to kind of get things, wrap up the preview per se of this, because there’s a lot of big games we need to talk about. Just you’ve got to handle business. You’ve got to go in there, and you’ve got to play physical football and be more physical than Kentucky. Kentucky is a team who prides themselves on being physical, prides themselves on being able to line up hat on hat and beat you. That’s Florida’s game this year. Florida should take pride and confidence in themselves that they were able to do that in the Alabama game and should be able to go into this game with the confidence that they can do the same.

Don’t let it get to the point where it was the last few times where you had to have some big plays late in the game and some miracles to win the game, because you’re trying to impress the country. You’re trying to impress the national media. You’re trying to impress the college football committee. You’re trying to impress all those guys. Everybody says it’s not BCS era where it’s style points. It’s always style points. Always.

David: I’m baffled by the spread. I don’t even understand why it’s just an 8-point spread. It should be a little bit higher than that.

Andrew: Again, you got to think it’s basically 11, because you get three for being the home team automatically. You get three there, so it’s basically 11. It’s an SEC game. I get it. I’m okay with that. Again, Kentucky has played them close. It has been a one-score game the last few years. You give them that respect per se in that, but again, the spread doesn’t mean anything on the field.

David: Right. Get in the redzone. Kentucky’s giving up points every time they’re in the redzone. Last week we improved our redzone percentage by 90.91%, so we’re not giving up 10% of them. I say we improve that redzone stat too. Let’s hope that Kentucky just doesn’t even make it to the redzone, but if they do, let’s improve that stat. Let’s at least hold them to field goals. Don’t let them get touchdowns.

Andrew: For sure. Any final thoughts, and then we’ll go pick some players?

David: Final thoughts. I think Tennessee’s a better team than Kentucky, if you ask me. If they were to play on the field right now, and I was betting money, I would bet money on Tennessee over Kentucky. That’s just me. What about you?

Andrew: We’ll see. I don’t believe in either team’s quarterback.

David: I don’t.

Andrew: I think both team’s quarterbacks are trash. I don’t think either one of them can throw the ball very well. I think Kentucky may be a little more physical right now, but we’ll see. Obviously, I’m more of an eye test kind of guy. I like to see what Florida does against them, and then you see what Florida did against Tennessee last week and look at it that way. I guess I give the edge a little bit to Kentucky over Tennessee. I think they have a little bit more talent than Tennessee, and that’s sad to say. We’ll see. We’ll see for sure. You’re up first, my man. Who you got first?

David: Elam, man. He’s coming back. Got to get Elam. Kentucky’s turning over the ball a lot. They’re throwing picks. They’re more fumbling than they are throwing picks, but I’m going to pick Elam. I’ll pick Elam here. He’s going to come back, and I think he’s going to make a huge impression. They’ve already had a guy call out, I think call out Elam, a player. That didn’t work out last year against Pitts.

Andrew: No. Who called him out?

David: I don’t know. There’s some rumor going around that some player called him out. I forgot to mention. These six Kentucky players that were arrested for burglary are suddenly able to play now.

Andrew: In March. Yeah.

David: That’s magical, because I remember our credit card scandal, none of those players came back.

Andrew: Yeah. My first pick I’m going to go with Dameon Pierce.

David: Dameon Pierce.

Andrew: I’m going to go back with Pierce. Physical game. That’s Dameon’s game.

David: I’ll go with you. I’ll raise you a running back. I’m going to go with Davis. Davis has been playing pretty damn good. I’m going to pick Malik Davis. We’re going to have a little one-two combo here on the running backs. We’re going to see who gets more carries and who gets more rushing touchdowns and yards. How about this? Whether Dameon Pierce or Malik Davis have a good game or not, which they’re probably going to have a good game. Our offensive line is awesome. Let’s do this with Malik Davis. Whoever has the better stats between Dameon Pierce and Malik Davis gets the victory.

Andrew: Cool. I’m cool with that. Let’s do it. I’m going to go with a guy on defense. I’m going to go Zach Carter. Big game. Zach had a big game in the Bama game. Big games are for big-time players. I think Zach probably plays a little bit more of that defensive end role that he’s very accustomed to. He’s played that a lot, but he rotates in at D tackle. You’re going to go with a bigger front, so I like Zach at Pick #2.

David: I’m going to go ahead and pick a guy that was all over the field last week, Trey Dean. Handcuff time. Trey Dean, #0. He was a madman last week. He played the best out of all the defensive backs back there, so I’m going to go ahead with Trey Dean.

Andrew: Okay. I’m going to go with the easy pick. Emory Jones.

David: Yeah.

Andrew: Guy’s playing ball. Guy’s playing really good ball. I’m going to go with him. I think he continues to show everybody why he is a guy that Mullen trusts and believes in. I’m going to go with Emory. I continue to think that he’s going to continue to play well. I know Richardson’s back, and he’s going to play some, but that takes a little bit of pressure off Emory too. You don’t run the ball and get as banged up with Emory. We’ll see. Interested to see just how they use Richardson this week and how involved they get him, if he’s full on or if they kind of try to slowly ease him back into things.

David: Yeah. See, I was thinking about picking Richardson, but I don’t know how much we’re going to see of him. The guy only needs one or two plays anyway. I like the scenario, before we go to the games, I like the scenario now with Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson. Now Emory Jones kind of isn’t really looking over his shoulder anymore. You almost beat Alabama. You have a good win over Tennessee. You haven’t thrown any picks. He kind of now doesn’t feel like he’s looking over his shoulder as much, I guess. Even if he wasn’t, he may not even have been feeling that from the beginning, but now you got him in. He’s set in there now. Now he’s not going to be as scared now that Anthony Richardson is back, because he’s established himself. He’s done pretty good. That’s all I had to say. Now we can go into the other games, if you want.

Andrew: Yeah. I mean, he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t look over his shoulder right now. You’ve led this team to a good start. Again, he’s not the reason you lost the Alabama game.

David: No.

Andrew: I’m good with that.

David: Yeah. To me, I’m just like if Anthony Richardson was in these games, but that’s another story for another day.

Andrew: You get it in Jacksonville in a couple weeks.

David: Exactly.

Andrew: Let’s go. Let’s start with that one. In Athens, where GameDay is going to be, Arkansas travels to take on Georgia.

David: Noon game. You get to wake up to a top 10 matchup between Arkansas and Georgia. Right now, it looks like they got them at 89.1% to win the game, Georgia, which is crazy.

Andrew: 18.5-point favorite.

David: Jesus.

Andrew: I think we’re both going to pick Georgia here, but do they cover?

David: If I’m betting money, I’m picking Georgia, but I really want Arkansas to beat the crap out of them.

Andrew: I’m saying Georgia wins, but they don’t cover.

David: Yeah. I don’t know good their offense really is. They haven’t played anybody yet. They’re going to play a defense that’s allowing only 144 yards a game, and only allowing 123 rush yards. They’ve played A&M, Texas. Okay. They’ve set a resume, I guess. They had Georgia Southern and Rice, but they beat the tar out of Georgia Southern.

Andrew: They won the big game against Texas, and then they beat A&M, who everyone was high on. Granted, A&M didn’t have their starting quarterback, but they still beat them. I think Georgia wins, but I think Arkansas covers.

David: Exactly. I’ll tell you this. Georgia’s only allowing 5.8 points per game. That’s going to increase after this week.

Andrew: Yeah. 100%. Let’s go to the 3:30 kick. Bama and Ole Miss. Saban doesn’t lose to his assistants. It’s pretty easy for me where I’m going here. 14.5-point favorite, Alabama. I don’t think they cover, but they win the game.

David: I’m thinking this is going to be a barn burner. They’re pretty much even on all spectrums, except for total yards. Ole Miss has 635.3 to their 465 in offense. Ole Miss, if you look at their schedule, they really haven’t played anybody. They had a ranked 11 matchup, but the team, Indiana, they’re whatever. This will be their first matchup. It’ll be their first tough matchup, so it’s going to be hard to tell. If you’re averaging 52.7 points per game. It’s going to be the #1 offense against the #3 defense, or #3 offense. Excuse me, #1 offense versus #3 offense.

Andrew: Two of the top guys for the Heisman.

David: Yeah. Two of the top guys for the Heisman, no doubt. They’re pretty even across the board, if you look at stats wise.

Andrew: If you remember last year, the score looks a little more lopsided than it was, but that was a close game. I think Ole Miss had two turnovers. That was the difference in the game. If you look at that game, that was a barn burner for both teams. They were scoring. Again, I think Bama wins, but I don’t think they cover.

David: I’ll tell you what, if Matt Corral wins, he’s head up for the Heisman. He’s going to be #1.

Andrew: 100%.

David: I don’t blame them.

Andrew: Lane Kiffin may be getting the UFC job tomorrow if that happens.

David: Going back to his old stomping grounds, right?

Andrew: Cincinnati, a two-point favorite as they head to Notre Dame.

David: Cincinnati.

Andrew: That’s me too. I think Cincinnati is good here. I think they win. Little better offense, 437 yards per game, scoring 43 a game. They haven’t played nobody either, but yeah, I like Cincinnati.

David: This is a funny thing too. They got Cincinnati at -2. That’s pretty funny. It’s funny to me anyway.

Andrew: Baylor traveling to Okie State.

David: Baylor and Oklahoma State.

Andrew: 21 versus 19.

David: I haven’t thought about that. I am going with Okie State here.

Andrew: That’s me too. I think I’ll go Okie State. Last one, that’s I think a big one. Auburn, probably with TJ Finley, former LSU quarterback, at night, 8:00 local kick in Baton Rouge. Do you think Auburn pulls it out, or does LSU get back on track?

David: Man, that’s actually a tough one. That is really, really tough. I like Tank Bigsby. I do like him. I think he’s a great running back. I think Max Johnson’s a better quarterback. Actually, they benched Bo Nix. They got the other former LSU quarterback, don’t they?

Andrew: Yeah. Finley’s they’re quarterback.

David: It’s going to be LSU quarterback versus LSU quarterback.

Andrew: Finley is an Alabama native, Montgomery guy, but he gets to return to Baton Rouge.

David: I’ll tell you what. I think Finley is going to be out for revenge, so I’m going to go ahead and pick Auburn.

Andrew: Okay. I got Auburn too. No. I say that. Night game, Death Valley, I go LSU. Night game in Death Valley, that’s tough.

David: If it was Bo Nix at quarterback, I’d pick LSU. He just overthrows everything, even his, what, he’s got that tea sponsorship? Milo’s?

Andrew: Yeah. Tea. Don’t he have Bojangles too? I think.

David: Here’s another game. Oklahoma’s been playing pretty bad. They’re playing against Kansas State. You think Kansas State can pull off this upset?

Andrew: No, man. Kansas State isn’t no good.

David: You sure about that?

Andrew: You’re overthinking it.

David: I probably am overthinking it. Yeah.

Andrew: You’re overthinking it. Oregon and the trees play. Maybe the trees can knock off the ducks.

David: Yeah. Let’s see. What time is that game? It’s at 3:30. I’ll be watching Ole Miss-Alabama. Stanford, I think Oregon.

David: Yeah.

Andrew: I’d hate to be LSU and Auburn though, man.

David: 9:00.

Andrew: Sit in the hotel. Both of those coaching staff got to just be super smart about making sure the guys are up moving around, they’re not just lounging all day. You got to be doing stuff, but you have to weigh out how much rest, because it is a late game. You probably let them sleep till 9, I would say, probably. I’m glad that’s not my team. Those days suck.

David: All you got to do is have Ed Orgeron talk to the LSU guys, and he’ll keep them up all day, because his voice is pretty loud.

Andrew: For real. Do you think Florida covers?

David: Oh yeah. Eight points? Yeah. They’ll cover that eight points.

Andrew: Okay.

David: I think Florida is going to, I always say this. I think Florida’s going to boat race them though. They should. They should boat race them. We’ll say that. No missed tackles. No interceptions. Florida boat races them.

Andrew: 31-17 is what I got.

David: I’m going to go ahead and pick 38-17. I’ll do 38-17.

Andrew: 31-17 is kind of where I go in this game. I think Florida’s fine. Got to go in, handle business, and do your job. That’s the thing. Do your job. Get better this week than you were last week. You still got plenty of mistakes to clean up. Clean them up.

David: I got another big question for you. Does Florida State continue their defeated streak?

Andrew: Against Syracuse. Syracuse is terrible too, man. No. Syracuse wins.

David: Yeah. You think they can beat Jacksonville State?

Andrew: Who’s Miami playing?

David: Virginia.

Andrew: Both teams suck too.

David: Yeah. I’m picking Virginia. I’m just going to pick Virginia, because I don’t like Miami.

Andrew: Probably. I think Miami wins that game.

David: Miami has the better overall talent, yes.

Andrew: Does King play is the biggest question?

David: Tennessee-Missouri.

Andrew: Tennessee should win that game. I say that. Missouri’s not any good though.

David: If Tennessee blows out Missouri, then that’ll make me feel a lot better about the Kentucky game.

Andrew: The issue with Missouri, is that game in Knoxville or in Columbia?

David: It says that this game, let me find it again. It says it’s in Columbia.

Andrew: See, that’s tough. It’s tough to go out there. It’s a long trip that a lot of these guys aren’t accustomed to. Not as bad for Tennessee as it is Florida. I’m going to say Tennessee. Again, don’t put a gun to my head.

Andrew: I’ll be streaming that Braves-Mets series as we get down to the wire. Yeah. Let’s do it. Let’s get out of here. Let’s get ready for Wildcats and Gators. Then get next week, snoozer at noon, with the Gators and Vanderbilt.

David: Florida-Kentucky at an odd time. It’s 6:00, not 7:00, not 3:30, not noon. Not even 1:00.

Andrew: What is the SEC thinking? Outside of Auburn fans and LSU fans, who cares about that game? Why is Florida not a 7:00 kick? You have a great game with Georgia. Everybody’s going to be watching that in the country. Alabama, there’s no way a CBS game is over by 6:00 for a 3:30 kick. No way. They might be at halftime by then.

David: Yeah. I don’t know, man. I don’t get why they do that. I don’t know. I’ll be streaming it though. I’ll be watching a lot of other games, streaming that. You got Arkansas-Georgia, Tennessee-Missouri, if you’re SEC guy. You got Ole Miss-Alabama, Troy-South Carolina, Florida-Kentucky, Mississippi State and Texas A&M. Might be a close one there. I don’t know.

Andrew: Hold on now. My big one is my South Alabama Jaguars host Louisiana Lafayette. Jaguars are 3-0, one of the few teams in the country remaining undefeated.

David: Hopefully they can go 4-0. Hopefully we’ll get Andrew Spivey a victory from the Atlanta Braves and a couple more. That way they can close the season.

Andrew: We’re playing to clinch. Let’s do it. Maybe the Falcons will win again. They surprised everybody last week.

David: How about that Falcons victory over the Giants, man?

Andrew: Neither team know how to use former Florida Gators. That’s for sure. Kyle Pitts, my fantasy team sucks last week because the Falcons decided he wanted to be a blocking tight end, and the Giants forgot that they drafted a man named Kadarius Toney, pick #20, what, 2, 4, something like that in the first round? Pretty stupid.

David: Two first round Draft picks wasted last week.

Andrew: Get us out of here, my man. We will be ready to go.