Gator Country brings you our Wednesday podcast and Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio joins us to help us continue to preview the Florida Gators vs. Kentucky Wildcats.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre ask Matt the tough questions about the key match-ups that will decide the game on Saturday afternoon in the Swamp.
Andrew and Nick also break down how big of addition Tyrie Cleveland and Rick Wells are to the Gators, plus break down the latest injuries for Florida.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? Your man back here again, Andrew Spivey, with my man, Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, Wednesday of game week before Kentucky. Are you ready for some SEC football?
Nick: Ready for SEC football. Ready for Kentucky. 29 years in a row Kentucky has lost this football game. I am 27 years old. I have never ever in my life heard the words Kentucky beat Florida.
Andrew: I don’t know. I mean, I’m 29. I just turned 29, so I’ve never seen it myself either. Let’s keep that going here. I don’t think either one of us want to have to deal with the message boards and all that good stuff, but as we continue to break this game down we’re going to dissect it even further this week. We’re going to have our friend from Kentucky Sports Radio Matt Jones, on there. Who? Matt Jones. Yes, he’s coming. He made news on this podcast last year, Nick, when he predicted the upset.
Nick: Florida fans were not happy with us for bringing Matt on, but Matt, he’s a Kentucky fan. He’s a Kentucky guy, and he was good to talk to.
Andrew: I mean, it’s ratings. We’re good. It’ll be interesting here. We’re going to have him come join us in just a second, and be interesting to get his take on what he thinks.
Nick: It’ll be interesting to see how he feels after last week where Kentucky blows a 27 point lead, lose to Southern Miss 35-44. Sophomore quarterback Drew Barker had four touchdowns in the first half, but it was a tale of two halves last week for Kentucky. So it’ll be interesting to see what his feelings are about the team.
Andrew: Yeah, and see if he’s as confident on the Mark Stoops bandwagon that he was. Let’s go ahead. Let’s get some news and notes out of here. We’ll break down how important this is after we talk to Matt, but Coach Mac Monday announces Tyrie Cleveland and Rick Wells are back, and then the news on Tuesday dropped that the felony charges had been dropped. That goes along with what we had told everyone that they wasn’t playing with a felony charge looming over their heads, so once that was dropped.
Nick: Dropped to a misdemeanor. The charges weren’t dropped.
Andrew: Yeah. Dropped from.
Nick: The charges were lessened.
Andrew: Right. Lessened.
Nick: Just a clarification.
Andrew: There you go. Lessened. It’s probably going to end up being probation and paying the fine, which we’ve already been told the fine has been paid, or the damages have been paid. So that’s good. Those two guys are back. C’yontai and Jalen Tabor, they’re back. Chris Thompson, or the “fifth senior”, is still up in the air if he’s coming back or not.
Nick: Yeah. Still top secret there, right?
Andrew: Yeah. One interesting is Daniel McMillian is a little questionable.
Nick: Now, this is interesting. So McElwain wouldn’t say what the injury was, but then later when asked about is he out for the year, McElwain brought up high ankle sprains. He’s like, sometimes those take three years, and I couldn’t tell if he was kind of taking a shot at CJ Worton, because in the past he has kind of given it to people who he thought should be on the field. I remember last year it was Matt Rolin, and he kept saying, “He’s fine. He just doesn’t want to play, doesn’t think he’s healthy.” So I couldn’t tell if he was taking a shot at another player who he didn’t think is maybe as hurt as they’re saying they are, or if he was saying or let slip that Daniel McMillian has a high ankle sprain.
Andrew: Right. I think it was interesting, and then what’s even more interesting for me is he was on the depth chart at one.
Nick: You and I know about the depth chart.
Andrew: Right, but I’m just saying. To me, I don’t know. There was just something weird about that whole incident with Mac talking about it. It gave me an uneasy feeling about it. Now, I’ll say this. You and I talk about Daniel McMillian not being the best player on the field, that’s one tough SOB. He’s a very tough guy, and he does love the game. So maybe he tries there. Duke Dawson should be back with the stinger, and Dre Massey, gone, like we reported with the torn ACL, very tough break for him. As far as that, everyone else is healthy and ready to go.
Nick: There’s really not a replacement for Dre Massey.
Andrew: No.
Nick: In my opinion he is better than Brandon Powell, but that’s probably as far as someone who can do the same things, be involved in the scheme the same way, it would be Brandon Powell, but that’s it.
Andrew: Yeah. Here’s the thing. I’ll say this. Brandon Powell has shown glimpses of being really good. He just hasn’t been able to stay healthy enough to show us how good he could be. Dre Massey probably brought some things a little more different to the table, but Brandon Powell can still be a really good player, as you saw in the few games he played last year, the Ole Miss game being one of them. Even in the game against UMass, he can do some really good things. He could be very key to the offense, and I think he will, but Massey was going to even help Powell be better, because of the mismatches Massey was going to get. We’ll break that down there more here in just a second, but let’s bring on Matt Jones from Kentucky. We’ll hear what he has to say, and we can laugh about how crazy his predictions were, because if I know Matt he’s going to bring something wild to the table.
Nick: We’re joined now by Matt Jones, the founder of Kentucky Sports Radio. We had Matt on last year, appreciated that. Also got to meet him when I went up to Lexington for the first time. Matt, thank you for joining us.
Matt: Thank you. It’s always fun to play Florida. I generally have the belief you can’t beat a team 30 years in a row. So this is the time, right?
Andrew: Nick and I had this question, Matt, and we’ll bring it to you. What do you think, or who do you think has the more pressure on them? Is it Florida to keep the streak alive, or is it you guys at Kentucky to beat that streak?
Matt: If you had asked me last week I would have told you that I didn’t think there was any pressure on Kentucky, because for Kentucky this year there’s one goal, and that’s to get to a bowl game. Like that’s it. That’s the whole thing. Kentucky gets six wins, go to a bowl game, and it would be a big year for Stoops. So when you look at Kentucky’s schedule, they could get to six in a lot of ways, none of which require them to beat Florida. So I thought all along the Florida game was just kind of bonus, that Kentucky is going to beat that streak or not one year at home. That may have changed now, because now that they’ve lost to Southern Miss, a game that they needed to win.
I now think the Florida game is a lot more important. Obviously a win would be huge, but if they go down there and get their tail kicked I think it’s going to be really hard to keep this fan base interested through the end of the season. So I now think there’s a lot of pressure on UK. For Florida, it’s a lot like Tennessee had a 27 or 28 game streak on Kentucky, and eventually Kentucky won, and they won it in the year no one expected. They won it in a year they played a wide receiver at quarterback, because all their quarterbacks were hurt. I think that’s probably what’s going to happen with the Florida series. One of these years Kentucky’s just going to sneak up and beat them. Should have been two years ago. That game Kentucky should have won that game. I still think they did win it if the clock issue had been done right.
I will say that Stoops has played Florida well, and it’s always fascinating to me watching Kentucky coaches, because no matter how bad the coach is, like Joker was like this, they each had a good program they’d play really well. Joker and Rich Brooks always played Georgia well, no matter what. Stoops is kind of doing that with Florida, so we’ll see if it’s like that this year.
Andrew: Nick and I have talked about this a little bit, and that is that we think that the key to the game is the running attack for Florida, and then you guy’s passing attack when you are on offense. Is that kind of what you see as the key points in the game?
Matt: Yeah. I think the whole key to the game is you all’s running game. I mean, Kentucky’s going to score points on you guys. I don’t know how many, but they’ll score. I mean, I think Kentucky’s got a really good offense, remains to be seen, but they got playmakers. They’ve got guys who can get in the end zone, and I think Kentucky’s offense, by the end of the year, is going to be really good. They might have just a God awful defense, but we don’t really know yet. Their secondary they’ve got two guys starting at cornerback that will both play in the NFL. That’s probably never been the case for Kentucky, but their defensive line may be as bad as it’s ever been.
Southern Miss, a team that my guess is doesn’t quite have the offensive line Florida does, absolutely dominated Kentucky in the second half at the line of scrimmage. If that happens again, then UK’s in trouble. If I’m Mark Stoops and DJ Eliot, defensive coordinator, I’m putting as many people in the box as I can, and I’m single covering your receivers, and [say vidas], and if you do, fine. You shake their hand, and say, “Look, it’s been 30 straight years, one of these days we’ll get you.” You don’t want to have happen what happened against Southern Miss. Think about this, guys, Southern Miss ran 96 plays in the game, 96.
Andrew: Wow.
Matt: And they rushed for some like crazy amount of yards. I want to say it was something like 235 yards or something, but they didn’t have one run longer than 14 yards. They just got 6-8 yards on every play, and just slowly pounded Kentucky into submission. They can’t let that happen again.
Nick: They ran the ball 68 times for 262 yards.
Matt: Think about it. So 68 times for 262 yards.
Nick: Florida ran 77 plays last week. Southern Miss almost ran the ball as many times as Florida got a snap off.
Matt: It’s crazy. It was the most plays Kentucky’s had run against it since they played Arkansas in ’03, and it was a seven overtime game with Jared Lorenzen and Matt Jones at quarterback. I mean, that’s how long it’s been. I don’t really know how they stop that, because their defensive line is struggling.
Nick: Florida had issues of their own with the offensive line, and that was against a very undersized defensive line in UMass. My question would be, with the defense, we looked up some stats, and the last 25 games Kentucky has given up 400 yards or more in 14 of them, and 500 yards or more in 6 of those. To me, it’s just defenses talk about if you don’t score, you don’t win. It seems like Kentucky has to score 30 to get a win. What does the defense need to do against a team like Florida, who’s still looking for playmakers on the outside at receiver?
Matt: I think they have to do what they did the last couple years against Florida. I mean, they basically, the defense gave up some points in those games, but we’d get a turnover here or there to stay in it. That’s kind of what happened for Kentucky in the first half against Southern Miss. Southern Miss was driving the ball against Kentucky in the first half, but Kentucky had three interceptions in the first half. So that sort of hid some of their defensive liabilities.
Here’s the problem they have, guys. They got great secondary, a great secondary. I mean, it’s the best Kentucky’s ever had. They’ve got really athletic linebackers, but they’re all very young, very inexperienced, and very sort of, not stupid because they’re stupid, but because they haven’t played a lot. So they make bad decisions. They make bad angles, and then their defensive line is just terrible. So I don’t really know what they do. I mean, I think that’s going to be the test for me going into this week. Regardless of whether Kentucky wins, loses, whatever, if Florida is able to just run it down their throats, then I just think this season is just a wash for Kentucky.
I don’t know what they do, because they just have not shown the ability to even bother teams trying to run the ball the last couple years. I mean, the Louisville game at the end of the last season, Kentucky was up 24-7 at half time, and ended up losing. Think about this for a minute, in Kentucky’s last two games, last game of last season and then this year, at half time in those two games, Louisville and Southern Miss, they were up, let me do the math, 57-17, and in the second half of those games they lost 58-0.
Andrew: Wow.
Matt: That’s ridiculous. Against two good, maybe not great, but good teams. I don’t really know what they do to fix that. So if I’m Florida, just know the second half’s probably going to be better for you than the first.
Andrew: Let me ask you this, Matt. When Kentucky’s on offense, we know about Drew Barker, who is the guy that is going to be the key when Kentucky’s on offense?
Matt: I think it is Drew Barker, but there’s a lot of good playmakers. That’s one thing Kentucky has, and Florida fans should know a couple of them. Garrett Johnson is from Florida and has played well against Florida both years.
Andrew: Right.
Matt: He’s had big plays both years. Juice Johnson, he always looks up to that game. Kentucky’s got a great receiving core. Dorian Baker, Garrett Johnson, Jeff Badet, and now a freshman, Tavin Richardson, those four guys, I mean, I’ll put them up there with anybody. I love Kentucky’s receivers. Their running backs, Boom Williams and Jojo Kemp, who’ve also played well against Florida the last couple years, especially Boom. I mean, those guys can perform, and this is a good offensive line. I mean, the only reason they didn’t score more in the second half against Southern Miss is they never had the ball. I mean, they got it, they went 1, 3, and out, then Southern Miss had it for the whole quarter.
I think what you’ll see is it’ll be like the last few years against Florida. Kentucky had some big plays. Garrett Johnson’s made them. I remember, I guess it was Muschamp two years ago and McElwain last year, both said after the game, I wish we had Garrett Johnson. I think he’s the guy to watch. He’s played well against you all, and he had a touchdown against Southern Miss. I think he’ll probably have a big game.
Andrew: Now, on defense, if Kentucky is able to stop Florida on defense, who is that key? You said the secondary. Is it the secondary?
Matt: It’s the secondary. I mean, I think Kentucky wants to put you guys in passing situations. That’s what I would do, because Chris Westry and Derrick Baity, those two corners, they will both play in the NFL, and I think they’ll both be like top two or three round draft picks. I mean, those guys, you don’t see corners like those guys. They’re like 6’3”, fast. They’re really good. The linebackers will be good, but they’re not good yet. Now, the guy to watch there is a guy named Jordan Jones. He had 19 tackles in the first game, which is insane. I mean, part of that was other guys being out of position, but he’s quickly shown himself to be the best linebacker.
The player to watch for Kentucky, if you want to know how this game’s going to go, #69 is a guy named Matt Elam, and Matt Elam is probably the most criticized player in UK football.
Nick: Gator fans are very familiar with him from his recruitment.
Matt: Exactly. He’s from Kentucky, and he was down to Kentucky, Florida, and Alabama, and he picked Kentucky, which was one of the biggest recruiting crews ever, and he’s been okay, but not great. I mean, it’s a tough spot to be in. He had to play as a true freshman at defensive tackle, which is hard, and he’s been okay. Against Southern Miss he actually didn’t play badly, but I would say watch him. If he has gotten better, and he’s able to sort of clog the middle, then I think the Cats have a chance, but too often he just gets dominated, and if that happens I think it’s a long night, because they have no backup for him. He played at defensive tackle. Think about this, guys, 330 pound defensive tackle. He played 80 plays against Southern Miss.
Andrew: Oh wow.
Matt: 80. Because they just didn’t have anybody else. They didn’t have anybody else they could put in, and that’s the problem they had.
Andrew: Right. Gator fans should be very familiar with Chris Westry as well. He grew up less than 100 miles from Gainesville.
Matt: You guys would do well with Chris Westry. I don’t know how Chris Westry ended up at Kentucky. I love the kid, and I think he’s happy here, but apparently on Signing Day Kentucky had, and I can’t remember the kid’s name, a cornerback who decommitted and went to Auburn, and when that happened Auburn gave up on Chris Westry, and he came to Kentucky. So they just traded cornerbacks. I don’t know who that other kid was, but I can’t imagine he’s better than Chris Westry, because he might be the best cornerback Kentucky has ever had. He is unbelievably talented. I mean, last year when Kentucky was terrible at times on defense, he took every #1 wide receiver they played against, covered them one on one, and shut the guy down, as a true freshman. He’s a star.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: So I guess we’ll get down to it. It’s prediction time. Florida is a 16.5 point favorite. Are you going to go out and say that it can’t happen for three decades? What is your pick in this game, Matt?
Matt: I mean, no, I don’t think Kentucky wins. I think Florida wins the game. My only hesitation is this. I think Kentucky is better than it looks like they are. I mean, that second half was so bizarre, and I think they’re better than that, and I think they’re good. If this game was in Commonwealth I might even pick Kentucky to win, just as a shocker. I will say this. The spread, I believe, is 16.5, I think that’s too high. I believe the week to make money in college football is the second week of the season, because people overreact to the first week. If I were somebody betting on this, I’d bet Kentucky in a heartbeat. With that said, I just don’t see them winning. I think Florida’s going to be able to run the ball pretty much at will, and so I just don’t know how Kentucky wins. I do believe this. Do you think Florida can score 35 on Kentucky? Because I think it’s going to take 35 to win it. I’m just don’t know if Kentucky can stop Florida ever, but if you believe they can score 35, then I think they’ll win, because I think Kentucky will score 20-28.
Nick: I don’t know if Florida scores 35 on anybody with what we saw last week.
Matt: That’s the only reason that Kentucky has a shot is I do think they probably for the first time in the history of this, I won’t call it a rivalry, since you’ve won 30 straight times, but the first time since they’ve played, I think Kentucky’s got better skill players than Florida, and that has never been the case. You guys are just so much better at the line of scrimmage, even though you’re struggling on the offensive line. You’re still going to dominate our defensive line.
Andrew: Definitely. Matt, we appreciate it. Give everyone a chance, tell them where to follow you for the game on Saturday.
Matt: KYSportsRadio on Twitter. I will be very eager and excited, and if by the second half they’re losing I will get very snarky and mean. So it’s a good thing to follow.
Nick: Follow him on Periscope as well.
Andrew: Will we see you on Saturday?
Matt: Yes, that’s right. I’m not coming. I was going to come, when they lost the first game I’m sending my staff. I decided to stay home.
Andrew: Nothing wrong with that. Matt, we appreciate it. We’ll definitely talk basketball with you and talk to you next year.
Matt: By the way, are you all any good this year in basketball? I haven’t heard much.
Andrew: No. No, definitely not. The Kentucky, whatever their win streak is over Florida in basketball, take the points. Take it all. Florida’s not very good in basketball.
Matt: I hate that. I like when you guys are good, but we need to be good in something, so we’ll make it basketball. Thank you, guys.
Andrew: Thanks, Matt.
Nick: Thank you.
Matt: Bye.
Andrew: We’re back. That was Matt from Kentucky Sports Radio, some good insight. Always a good follow for Kentucky. He’s got his pulse there. Whether you agree or disagree with his opinion, he does a good job up there, and we’ll see. 30 in a row on the line, and I’m sure that is being talked about in that Kentucky locker room as no Kentucky player has ever seen a victory against the Gators in his lifetimes.
Nick: Here’s a question I have for you, Andrew, is it more of a distraction for Florida or for Kentucky, the streak?
Andrew: You know, that’s an interesting question.
Nick: Is it more of a distraction, is it more pressure, which team?
Andrew: I think it’s probably more pressure on Florida in the fact of do you really want to be that team that loses and lets the streak go? Then again, it’s like you can say the same thing for Kentucky, because it’s like, how much pressure is it for you to be the team that does get the streak off your shoulders? Now, I will say this. I don’t think it’s as much of a distraction for Florida, because it’s something that is almost like taken for granted for that. Kentucky, I’m sure, is more distraction because people are saying, you lost 30 in a row. So I think it’s more distraction, but I think the pressure maybe is a little bit on both teams.
Nick: I would say it is more pressure for Florida than it is for Kentucky. When you’re looking at 30 year streak, I’m going to go ahead and say I would rather, Kentucky’s not expected to win, and that puts more pressure on Florida, because you’ve got 30 years, 29 years, of your team being able to beat this team. You don’t want to be a member of the team that is the one to lose to Kentucky for the first time in three decades.
Andrew: Right. No, I agree with that. That’s why I say like I think the pressure is there not to be the team, but then the pressure from Kentucky’s standpoint of we want to be the team that does knock them off. Maybe not so much pressure, but maybe more of a situation of anticipation maybe. I don’t know. I don’t know the best word to say there.
Let’s dive into this matchup. Nick, my opinion is this, and this is Kentucky’s going to put up some yards on offense. They’re going to throw the ball. Against Southern Miss, and of course this is Southern Miss, but this is a tale of their offense. They’re going to try to throw the ball probably 65, 70% of the time. Against Southern Miss they had 313 yards passing, 96 yards rushing. For me that’s about where they’ll try to be. That’s where they would like to be. Boom Stanley Williams is going to be their guy and Jojo Kemp. That’s their two running backs, but Drew Barker is going to be the guy on offense. Florida, depth wise at cornerback, or defensive back, is going to big, but my biggest thing for this game is this, and that is Florida should, should, be able to run the ball at will against Kentucky. Kentucky gives up 262 yards rushing to Southern Miss, and Southern Miss is a better passing team than rushing team. I mean, Kentucky gives up 525 yards total defense in that game, total yards. Florida’s offense should have a good game.
Nick: Kentucky has given up 300 rushing yards five times in the last two years. Kentucky’s defense has given up, in its last 24 games, excuse, last 25 games now, has given up 400 yards of offense 14 times. So more than half of the times the Kentucky defense steps on the field, they’ve already given up 400 yards. You just figure out how to get it, because they’re going to give you 400.
Andrew: That’s what I’m saying.
Nick: That’s atrocious.
Andrew: Yeah. That’s really…
Nick: Will Muschamp would have had a stroke if that was his defense.
Andrew: Yeah. That’s what I’m saying. It’s really bad defense for Kentucky, and Mark Stoops is a defense guy, right?
Nick: I believe so.
Andrew: Yeah. Stoops is a defense guy. So that’s what’s even worse. Florida, Jordan Scarlett and the offensive line should be licking their chops right now. Of course, they got to block fat boy, Matt Elan. He might be 500 pounds now at the defensive tackle.
Nick: Listed at 360, and they might be under listing him.
Andrew: He’s not 360. Definitely that. For me, that’s the thing. We talked about Florida’s offensive line struggling last week, and it did. There’s no question about that. They did, but they should do well this week. Del Rio should do well this week. The offense should be fine for Florida this week, because Kentucky’s defense is atrocious. They are bad, bad, bad. They did get three sacks last week. So if you want to look at something that Florida has to prepare for it’s that, but Florida should do well offensively against a bad Kentucky defense.
Nick: Yeah. It’ll be interesting to see, for me, what that running back rotation looks like, because you saw all five last week. It’ll be interesting for me. In my opinion last year Florida used the first three games as kind of a feeling out situation. Everyone got some playing time. It was almost like if you watch the Little League World Series, and they have like mandatory playing rules. Every kid has to play at least three outs and get an at bat. The first three games, to me, seemed kind of like a feeling out process where everyone got to play, and when Tennessee rolls around, that fourth game, sorry. Five running backs aren’t getting carries against Tennessee.
It’ll be interesting to me. Do you rein that in with Kentucky after the way you looked in Week 1, or do you still kind of have that feeling out process against Kentucky? Because in my opinion Jordan Scarlett’s a guy that can carry the ball 20, 25 times a game, and he’s not going to do that if you’ve got four other guys carrying the ball. So it’ll be interesting to me to see that. I also would like to see Lamical Perine get back out there. I don’t like he fumbles in his first carry, and then he doesn’t get another carry. So, to me, it’s kind of like that’s the last thought that a freshman has in his mind. If he goes out there and fumbles again, okay. Maybe it’s time to find the bench, but I would like to see him get a couple carries as well.
Andrew: Let me ask you this, Nick, and this is something we talked about in the beginning with Dre Massey. Some of his packages were wildcat. Some of his packages were different things. Does one of those running backs, whether it be Cronk or Perine, get some of those? Because both of those guys can catch the ball well out of the backfield. Does some of the running backs take over that package for Dre Massey? I think that’s a very likely scenario. We’ll see for that. I’ll say this. I expect all four running backs, excluding Herndon, to play decent amount against Kentucky, because quite frankly you could run the ball 60 times against Kentucky. They’re that bad defensively.
Nick: Do you do that? Because Florida had, despite what Jim McElwain said, it wasn’t that balanced. It was very pass heavy, so maybe you have an opposite kind of game playing going in this week.
Andrew: I don’t believe that they were going to be a more pass happy team. I don’t believe that they’re going to be a pass happy team. I don’t believe that. I think that it was a lot of getting Del Rio some playing time, and getting him some passes to get maybe comfortable in that game. I don’t believe that they’re going to be a pass happy team. That’s not Jim McElwain. That’s that. Now, I will say this. I haven’t rewatched the tape to do game notes on this. I don’t break down the tape, because, as you and I said, we don’t get the coach’s film. Watching it off a TV and going a game tape is not fair, because it’s not accurate, because you’re not privileged to see the whole field. So we don’t do that, but when Mac throws the stand passes to Josh Hammond or throws the little screen passes, those act as run plays. So it wasn’t as pass happy as maybe we say it was.
Nick: I don’t agree with that, because when you’re looking at that play versus we have a significant advantage of size on the offensive line, we should be winning there, let’s run the ball at that size advantage.
Andrew: Alright, but when they’re loading the box, and it’s nine, and you’ve got a mismatch out there with Josh Hammond, and you’re in a run play, and you check to that real quick, that is basically a stretch run, or an outside run, where you’re getting your guy the ball with a one on one matchup. That’s why I call it a run play.
Nick: You’re also a Patriots fan. Those plays to Josh Hammond were not very successful.
Andrew: They got 4 yards about every time, 3 yards about every time. I mean, if it’s 1st and 10, and you get 3 yards, then you’re looking at 2nd and 6 or 2nd and 7. That’s good. That’s a positive 1st down, because 2nd and 6, 2nd and 7 you have everything now. You have run. You have pass. You have everything in your playbook. If it’s 2nd and 11 because you had a 1 yard loss, chances are you’re passing the ball on 2nd down.
Nick: Yeah. I think when you’re giving 50 pounds, when you’ve got a 50 pound advantage on average against a 3-4 defense, run the ball.
Andrew: Let me ask you this, and I’m not saying I disagree with you. Let me ask you this. Are you saying that just against UMass or because it was UMass, or are you saying that in regards to you don’t like the stand pass thrown?
Nick: No. I like the stand pass. I’m saying against UMass.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: I’m saying when I look at their defensive line, they ran a 3-4. Their heaviest offensive lineman was their nose tackle who weighed 270 pounds. Florida doesn’t have an offensive lineman that’s even close to 270. They would be on a two month diet to get down to 270. So when I see that I see that’s a disadvantage. UMass is bad all around defensively, but I see that as a disadvantage and say, run the ball. Don’t hope that my freshman makes a guy miss on the outside.
Andrew: Right. No, I see what you’re saying.
Nick: Hope that my 315 pound offensive lineman can push around a 260 pound defensive end, and I can run off tackle.
Andrew: I thought you were referring to just the stand.
Nick: No, not in general. In general, I like it. The Patriots have made a living out of those short slants, screens, stuff like that. I like that stand pass. No problem with it. It worked for Florida last year. I was just saying in this game against UMass.
Andrew: Okay. Bama almost beat Florida in the SEC Championship game with Mac as OC with the stand pass to Julio and to, I believe it was DJ Hall. I’m drawing a blank. I believe it was DJ Hall, but let’s go back to Kentucky. Getting Tez back this week, Nick, is huge.
Nick: Teez?
Andrew: Teez.
Nick: Tez. I was like, Martez, he played. He was there.
Andrew: My bad. Yes, I was looking at the depth chart. Yes, Teez, getting Teez back is definitely a huge thing, because Drew Barker is going to throw, and they’re going to throw a lot. They’re going to be some tempo. They need Teez and Duke and Quincy and Maye and whoever starts with him at safety, Nick Washington, to be able to start, and then be able to bring Putu and Chauncey off the bench. Those two are your second team corners, and, by God, they better be your second team corners, because if Chris Williamson comes, Drew Barker may throw for 1,000 this weekend. Better go Putu and Chauncey second team corners, and Teez needs to play up to first round potential.
Nick: Yeah. Teez, and it’s like I said, I know I keep beleaguering the point. I don’t even know if I’m saying that right. You got three corners. You’re going to have them all back this week, and that’s good, because you’re going to need them. Teez is one of the best cornerbacks in the entire country. Quincy Wilson is not far behind him, neck and neck with him and Duke Dawson. You saw immediately what taking Duke out of the game plan did, or what UMass did after that. You completely ignore Quincy Wilson’s side of the field, and you attack the other side. So getting those three back and healthy, that’s getting back to DBU.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: That’s the defense that you want to see, and that is going to help Florida when it comes to the pass rush. You’re talking about more time for Caleb Brantley, more time for Cece Jefferson, Taven Bryan, Bryan Cox, Keivonnis Davis, Joey Ivie. More time for these guys, and you get into what you call coverage sacks where Barker doesn’t have anywhere to go with the ball. Hold onto it, hold onto it, sack.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: So we talk about on defense, we talk about it really at all the positions, they all kind of feed into each other.
Andrew: I mean, when Teez and Quincy are shutting down the side, and you’re having to look for your third and fourth option, chances are that defensive line is going to either be hitting you or sacking you. We’ll see. Big game for Cece as well.
Nick: And Kentucky doesn’t have the athletes on the outside to compete with Florida. Garrett Johnson had a very big game, junior wide receiver for the Wildcats, but after that not really scared about Garrett Johnson when you put Quincy or Jalen on him. Then Tavin Richardson and Jeff Badet, there’s just nobody there scares you at the skill positions.
Andrew: Not worried about those guys at all. No way, shape, or form am I worried about their receivers at all. I mean, they’re going to get their yards, probably end up with 200 passing, I would say. Maybe 175, somewhere around in there, but I definitely think that it will be some, but for me it is all about getting that pass rush because of that and shutting down Barker. Make the running game beat you if Kentucky’s going to beat you, because passing game I just don’t see being good enough to consistently beat Florida with Teez and Quincy back being able to play. Now, if one of them gets banged up, yeah, you may have a problem, but I will be interested to see how Chauncey and Putu do in Game 2, because I thought both of them did play well in Game 1.
Nick: I would say if I was making the call after those three I would have Putu on the outside and probably Gardner after him. It would be Putu and Gardner on the outside. Seen enough of 14. I’ve got those two.
Andrew: You’re not as high on Chauncey as I am.
Nick: I’m not as high on Chauncey outside.
Andrew: Okay. I understand that.
Nick: That’s something that you and I talked about even back going back into the Under Armour week on the podcast. I thought he had a nice breakup, very athletic breakup, pass breakup, last week.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: I’m not saying never. I’m just saying I haven’t been convinced yet.
Andrew: No, and I’m cool with that. I mean, there’s questions there. I was very big on him playing nickel or safety, but after watching him Saturday against UMass, granted it’s UMass, I did like the way he was comfortable and was able to flip the hips, of course. So I am a little more comfortable with him than you are, but, once again, I understand that. I definitely think you play both of those before you play Williamson, and we’ll see there. Back to some offense, Nick. Wanted to touch on this as well. I think you’ll see the tight ends get involved a lot more this week.
Nick: Yeah. I think so. When you look at who you’re getting back too, that helps. You get C’yontai Lewis back. That gives you an added dimension. That also opens up things for the entire offense. You can have two tight end sets. You use those guys completely differently.
Andrew: There’s another way to make up for Massey, two tight end set.
Nick: Yeah, a two tight end set you can have, and Florida, when they go in their two tight end sets the motions that they run out of that stuff, that’s crazy. That’s when Brandon Powell starts running like 10km during the game, 6 miles during the game. Getting C’yontai back is big for the offense. Then you get into a situation where you start two tight ends. Now Gooslby motions, and he’s in the backfield, and now you start getting the defense thinking. From creativity standpoint, he’s also a very electric player with the ball in his hands, huge target. That’s interesting to me. I don’t see how, Kentucky just doesn’t matchup with Florida at the skill positions, and it’s kind of what we said last year, and Matt told us last year that Kentucky was probably starting to get close to matching with Florida with the skill positions, and I just don’t see it.
Andrew: No.
Nick: I don’t see it, and I don’t know how Kentucky makes up that ground.
Andrew: Yeah, not sure either, and, I mean, here’s the deal too. I want to see Tyrie Cleveland get out there and play, because I’m just going to say this, and here it is. No bullshit. Whoever, whatever he did, he did. He’s stupid for doing it. How much practice he’s got is cool. Tyrie Cleveland is a physically gifted, dominant receiver. I want to see Tyrie Cleveland play, and I don’t care how much practice he got or anything like that. I want to see Tyrie Cleveland play football.
Nick: Yeah.
Andrew: Let me ask you this, Nick. You watched him at the Under Armour game with me. You watched tape, like I have. Is he not just physically better than most people?
Nick: Yeah. Agree.
Andrew: I mean, we’ve had people tell us all summer long that he was able to go up and get balls against everyone. I’m pumped.
Nick: So I’m getting a lot of this on Twitter and on the message board. Oh, well, we need a deep threat, so we need Tyrie. Well, you need the offensive line to give the quarterback enough time to throw a deep ball. You need to have an offensive line that’s giving you enough time in practice, and gives the coaches confidence to even put that into the game plan, and then call it in a situation when it matters.
Andrew: First play of the game to Callaway was wide open, and should have been a completion there, and the running game sets it up.
Nick: Yeah. The running game can set it up. It’s not, no one player is add him, instant vertical threat to the offense. The offense is instantly this big play threat. That’s not how it works.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Can Tyrie Cleveland be a vertical threat? Yeah, but not if you have two seconds. Tyrie Cleveland is not getting 40 yards down the field in two seconds. Not happening. You have to have time, and then you have to worry about what is, Tyrie didn’t enroll early, so where is his timing? Where is his cohesion with Del Rio?
Andrew: Right. Callaway’s the big play receiver. I mean, let’s just be honest. He can go get the ball. To say you need, and we’re running so short on time here. I’m going to try to make this point really clear, or really quick, and that is to be a deep threat receiver doesn’t necessarily mean you need to have a particular gift. It’s simply are you a guy that was able to catch the underneath stuff to make the defense come up? That’s what Callaway does. That’s what Cleveland does. That’s what Brandon Powell does. Not only that, but the offense in general sets up the big play to those guys. Florida has to set that up. Nick, we’ve got literally like a minute here. Tell the people where they can find us. We’ll get out of here. We’ll see everyone on Friday.
Nick: www.GatorCountry.com for all your latest, greatest Florida Gators news. On Twitter, @GatorCountry. On Instagram, TheGatorCountry. On Facebook, @GatorCountry. I’m @NickdelaTorreGC. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC, and hit the like, share, subscribe, and find us on iTunes at Gator Country.
Andrew: That’s right. If you haven’t joined and come over to Gator Country yet, what are you waiting on? Hit Nick or I up, and we’ll get you a sweet little deal to come join Gator Country. We’ll have a lot of cool stuff. Interns are pumping stuff up. Mark Miller, PD, all those guys are pumping stuff up. Graphics from Kevin Camps. So come check us out at Gator Country. As always, guys, go Braves and chomp, chomp.
Nick: You stay classy, Gator Country.
I wonder if the afternoon hear and humidity will impact the visitors with a 3:30 start