Podcast: Friday prediction podcast for Florida Gators vs. UT-Martin

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we bring you our Friday prediction podcast for the Florida Gators vs. UT-Martin game on Saturday night.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre continue to preview the game, plus we talk about the three young guys we want to see on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball on Saturday.

Andrew and Nick also predict the games around the country, plus we give you our three guys to watch for the Gators on Saturday.

TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, it’s almost game day. It’s Friday again. We’re going to pick some games, and it’s Gators-UT Martin, but it’s football.

Nick:                         Yeah. Football is back after a week away and a hurricane scare. Football’s back, and it’s a nice little tune up week for Florida. I mean, I shouldn’t say that. You don’t want to end up being Tennessee.

Andrew:                 I was going to say. Is it another Georgia State game coming down the wire?

Nick:                         I would hope not.

Andrew:                 I mean, UT Martin, they’re a decent team. Dan Mullen said it, they run that 3-3-5 defense, and that’s a little bit of a different defense. It’s a defense though that I think if Florida is doing what Florida does, Florida should have a ton, and I mean a ton, of success on the outside. 3-3-5 is kind of predicated on making sure that you block the edges, and as long as you block the edges in this game, jet sweeps should be there. Outsize zones should be there. Your option game should be there. Even some of your little bubble screens, that stuff should be there.

I know when we coached when we went up against a 3-3-5 we wanted our tight ends to get the edge, and we wanted our receivers to get those crack back blocks inside, because after that those edges were free, and you were able to run and get some ground on that outside. While the 3-3-5 is a little different, it’s also it can be very successful in your short game if you’re running and doing fundamentals correctly.

Nick:                         Now, this isn’t a defense that you would implement because you’re looking to get over like a talent gap, right? Like remember when people talked about Georgia Southern or Georgia Tech or the Academies running triple options, that was because they can’t get the same kind of athletes that a school like Florida or Alabama can, but we can run this thing they don’t see a lot.

Andrew:                 Right. No. I mean, a lot of it is just that they’re more of an athletic defense. Some of the better teams in the area when I was coaching ran the 3-3-5, because they had some bigger linebackers, but they were athletic linebackers and were able to just kind of work in space better, I guess is the best way to say it, but no, definitely not a defense that you’re going to implement for one week. It’s a defense that is assignment football. You better be in your assignment, because if not, you’re only playing six men in the box. A lot of bad things can happen if you’re not playing assignment football.

Nick:                         Yeah. I mean, even when you’re playing assignment football, you’re an Ohio Valley Conference football team that is going up against an SEC football team. Their coach, James Simpson, said it on his own. He said, “It’s an uphill battle.” He’s like 1-23 in his time against any FBS football teams. I was unable to go back and find the game that he won against them.

Andrew:                 That’s not good.

Nick:                         No.

Andrew:                 Not good at all. I mean, we can sit here, and we can talk about UT Martin and what they need to do to win the game and everything else, but at the end of the day, Florida plays their game, and this should be a game that’s over by halftime.

Nick:                         I lied. They beat Memphis a couple years ago.

Andrew:                 I say that, and this will be a game that will be the fourth quarter game, because that’s what Florida does.

Nick:                         No. No. This can’t be a fourth quarter game.

Andrew:                 I know that. I’m saying, we say it’s a halftime game.

Nick:                         Remember when Dan Mullen said, maybe nobody knows, maybe Miami’s really good? Maybe we’re really good. Maybe we both stink. If this is a fourth quarter game, you both stink.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I mean, I’m just saying. It should be over by halftime, but as we say that, you know, Florida has some of these games where we say it should be over, and they let it linger into the second half. If in the second half, and this is unfair expectations, but if in the second half you’re still running your starters out there, you probably didn’t do a good job in the first half.

Nick:                         I would fully expect to see Feleipe Franks and Lamical Perine and the starters. You probably leave wide receivers in there.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         And tight ends. But I expect to see the starters just hanging out on the sidelines by halftime.

Andrew:                 Ballcap on their head or towel on their head and relaxing. Let’s talk about that a little bit, Nick. I say this, and I don’t mean this to be mean to these smaller schools, but a lot of your first games, your first two games, and this is the one downside to playing a Miami or a Power Five school Week 1, Auburn playing Oregon or whoever it might be, you don’t get to play a lot of your young guys in Week 1, because of that. These first two games, in my opinion, are where you find out, Mohamoud Diabate or Ethan White or Kaiir Elam, these are guys that are ready to play. That’s where find out if those guys are ready to take that step.

You didn’t get that in Game 1. You got to do this is Game 2, because you got Kentucky coming up, and as bad as Kentucky is or whatever it may be, you can’t guarantee that you’re going to get to play your second and third string in that game. How important does it become to have this game over by halftime to get those young guys so much reps in the second half?

Nick:                         Look at last year, Trey Dean getting the opportunity to play. Trey Dean gets the opportunity to play right before Kentucky, which was the third game of the year last year, and after that you’re playing the rest of the season.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         I 100% agree with you. I asked Dan Mullen that. I asked him that on Wednesday, and I said, “How important is it that you have this new redshirt rule where you can play guys four games?” We saw it last year with Emory Jones and with a couple other people, but I think it’s huge, because now you can go ahead. You don’t have to worry about if I play Kaiir Elam now, what do I have to do the rest of the year? You can play three more games.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         If I play Khris Bogle now, we don’t necessarily need Khris Bogle right now, but it’d be cool if his first game wasn’t the first game next year.

Andrew:                 Here’s the thing with Khris Bogle. Let’s just say Khris Bogle comes out and shows a good burst off the line of scrimmage or whatever it may be. Later in the season, if you need a pass rush, might be a little bit more inclined to say, go get him.

Nick:                         Yeah. It’s great also for, as Dan Mullen said, for the players, in terms of you can get on the field. You can play. It’s also great for the coaching staff to be able to kind of hang that carrot. You might not tell a guy Week 1, but they’re not stupid. They can tell if they’re going to playing or not. We all want to say it doesn’t matter if you’re playing or not, you need to be preparing for next year. Talking an 17, 18, 19-year-old kid, probably not going to see it that way. You know what I mean? He might not take it that way. He might go hard every day in practice. It’s the kind of carrot that you can dangle in front of them as you can still earn playing time.

Andrew:                 Right. It is. Again, it’s a situation where you do have to pick. Khris Bogle, we think he’s going to redshirt, so we need to pick what four games he gets into. You know you got one at the end of the year that he’s going to get into. You got to pick those spots where you think he’s going to get into. Do you burn it early and then say the last four games he could have helped us, but we don’t want to burn the redshirt, that kind of stuff? So, it’s a lot of mismatch. It’s a lot of chess pieces and stuff like that. Only Dan Mullen and his staff really kind of know who they want to redshirt, and maybe they don’t right now. Maybe it’s let’s see how these guys compete. Also, injuries. Injuries will play a big part of that.

For instance, let’s just talk about a guy like Nay’Quan Wright. You and I are pretty confidence in saying Nay’Quan Wright is going to redshirt, but I would love to see what Nay’Quan Wright can do in a few game action this year. Here’s a game.

Nick:                         I’m sure he’d love to see it too. It’s kind of a balancing act. You got to make sure a guy is ready. This game, if it goes the way that you and I think it’ll go, is a game where by the third quarter, by the second half, you’re able to be able to do stuff like that. I think it’s good to be able to play games like this. It’s also really important to these schools that are taking the checks. UT Martin I think will get close to a million dollars, if not a little bit over a million dollars, by playing Florida. They play Florida this Saturday, and then they travel to Kentucky on November 23. That’s their last game of the season. I haven’t looked up that money, but Florida’s paying $500,000. This money pays for new uniform upgrades, facility upgrades.

Andrew:                 Travel.

Nick:                         Help their recruiting budget, their travel. These schools don’t have the same kind of boosters and donors, and they’re not generating the same kind of revenue. We’ll talk about Nick Saban, but for schools like this, if they don’t have these games, that’s a million dollars a year that they’re not going to have coming back in to help their football program. It’s a serious question. Would a UT Martin, would that university be able to have a football program if not for games like this? The answer is no.

Nick Saban thinks it’s bad for college football and thinks that Power Five teams should band together and only play Power Five teams and have 12 of those games a year. There’s a trickle-down effect. There’s a bunch of kids on UT Martin’s team that didn’t get scholarship offers to big D1 schools, but they’re still getting an education. They’re still playing a college sport and probably living out their dream. They wouldn’t have that opportunity without games like this.

Nick:                         Yeah. Absolutely. Let’s face it. These are opportunities for these guys to put some film on tape and maybe get a chance to get picked late in the Draft or maybe even be picked up as a free agent. The New England Patriots have, it seems like, 40 UT Martin or UT Martin quality players on their roster every year and still win Super Bowls. It’s big. Listen, I love, Nick, and don’t get me wrong when I say this, but I love those Florida-Miami games to open the season, because it gives us something to look forward to. It gives us something to talk about. Let’s face it, it was a good football game. LSU-Texas. I love watching those games. Those are big games. There’s nothing better than watching Auburn-Oregon.

But at the same time, not only from a standpoint of these guys needing the payday, but you need some of these games to help you to get these lesser, and I shouldn’t say lesser, but to get your guys who are not going to play, who are going to get lesser playing time than other guys, some experience. It’s needed. I’m sorry. You need one or two of these games a year. Do you need four of these games? No. But one or two of these games is perfectly okay. It’s not going to be great for attendance. It’s not going to be great for recruiting or anything like that, but it’s going to be great for the underclassmen. It’s good for the opposing team, and it’s good for football.

Nick:                         I think you’re going to see more of those Week 0 games, just based on the ratings that it got.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         But Dan Mullen I think has a serious gripe, and I understand it. We talked a little bit about it on the last podcast, but I think Florida, you’re put onto the spotlight, and it’s great, because it’s great for recruiting. It’s great for a bunch of things, for just brand awareness for the program. But you’re getting into a situation where there’s nothing else to talk about the week leading up to your game, and there’s not much else to talk about the week after your game, except breaking down your game. I think some of it from Florida went from being professionally critical to the team just being bashed, because there was nothing else to talk about.

So, then Dan Mullen goes and looks, and after Week 1, he said it on Wednesday. He goes, shoot, if we would have played Week 1, after some of the stuff that happened, we’d probably have a great win instead of they beat a bad Miami team and a first coach, and they struggled, and they looked bad. A bunch of other teams looked bad in Week 1, so maybe we would have looked better if we would have played with them.

I think there’s a gripe, and it remains to be seen. Is Florida going to be rewarded for playing a tough opening game when you have teams, like Auburn played Duke. Cool. I mean, it’s Duke. Sorry, Auburn. Alabama played Duke. It’s an FBS opponent. I get that, but it’s not like you’re going out like Oregon and Auburn playing a game. It’s not like Florida and Miami playing a game. It’s different. It remains to be see for me if Florida will be rewarded for that, or if they should have just scheduled another FCS opponent, won 65-0 and tuned up, and said, look how good we looked. Look how good our offense was.

Andrew:                 I mean, you look at the Notre Dame-Louisville game, and I say look at that game because you’re not going to tell me Notre Dame is better than Florida. You’re not going to tell me Louisville is better than Miami. But somehow or another Notre Dame jumped everybody because after a weekend where it was misery for teams ranked Notre Dame found a way to pull out and then pull away. Okay. Why? So, yeah.

I mean, I get it. I do. I get it. This is the thing I’ll say to Dan. This is the thing I’ll say to Florida fans. This is the thing I’ll say to Florida players. Rankings mean jack shit Week 2. It does. You take care of your business. You’ll be where you want to be at the end of the year.

Nick:                         That’s how it goes. You just got to win.

Andrew:                 I mean, I tell some fans all the time. Fans are griping Florida dropped to 11 in the AP Poll. Guess what? It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. If Florida beats Auburn in a couple weeks and both teams are still undefeated, guess what? Florida’s going to skyrocket through the polls. If Florida’s 12-0 at the end of the year, guess where Florida is going to be? Playoffs.

Nick:                         Playoffs?!

Andrew:                 They’re not going to care that Florida dropped to 11 after Week 1. They’re just not. Not. If Florida’s 11-1 at the end of the year.

Nick:                         Playoffs.

Andrew:                 Yeah. We’re talking about playoffs. We’re in Week 2 now, and we’re talking about playoffs. I’m just saying.

Nick:                         Playoffs?!

Andrew:                 I’m just saying we’re talking about this, and, again, I get the gripe, but at the same time, I’m just saying while the gripe is there, at the same time, I think we all, including you and I, we look at the rankings too much. At the end of the day, you take care of your business, you’re going to be where you want to be.

Nick:                         Yup. Exactly.

Andrew:                 That’s my whole thing. But I get it, like I said. That whole Notre Dame stuff bothers me. It’s whatever, but come on. I do think Florida was maybe criticized a little too much or talked about a little too much in that game. Also, let’s just also say what it is too. Florida didn’t look good. You and I said that.

Nick:                         Sloppy.

Andrew:                 They were sloppy. I mean, the boneheaded penalties. The turnovers. They didn’t look good. I mean, let’s just say what it is too. They didn’t look good. Was Miami a little bit to blame for that? Sure. Was Florida to blame for that? Sure. Was Week 1 to blame for that? Sure. Florida didn’t look good. It’s okay. Notre Dame didn’t look good. It’s okay. It’s Week 1.

Nick:                         I was just looking at some of the notes. For all the things that your boy, your boy, Nick Saban wants to say, he’s got UT Martin on the schedule next year.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I mean, Saban does the same thing. Listen, Saban likes to bump his chest. It’s cool. He likes to play those big games. That’s cool. I’ll say this. It’s great for his pocket. It’s great for the University of Alabama, because when they went to Atlanta for the Duke game, don’t think they didn’t get paid. Just like Florida. Florida got paid for that Miami game. Don’t think they didn’t.

Nick:                         Got paid nicely.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         Saban got paid nicely for playing Duke.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I mean, that’s what I’m saying. I like it. Don’t get me wrong. I like those big games, but I also get the need for one or two of these games. Who does Florida play at the very end, before Florida State this year?

Nick:                         No. That’s a bye week. That last, that very last game. There is another. It’s Townsend.

Andrew:                 Townsend. That’s right.

Nick:                         That’s September 28.

Andrew:                 So, I mean, you get Townsend. That’s your other whatever game.

Nick:                         Here’s the other thing. In defense, I don’t even know if I need to come in defense of Dan Mullen, he had nothing to do with any part of this schedule.

Andrew:                 No. I’ll say this too.

Nick:                         UT Martin and Townsend were on Florida’s schedule long before Dan Mullen was head coach. He doesn’t have any say I this schedule, because these contracts are made up years in advance. Now, next year I’m not sure if Florida has contracts to play anybody quite yet, but in the coming years he’ll be able to have some say in that.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Like I said, usually when you have that game, this is an odd year with the bye week before Florida State, but usually when you have the Townsends of the world or the UABs of the world between Missouri and Florida State it’s needed. You need to give your guys a break. Give them a little breather. It’s okay. I’ll say this too, Nick, and we’ll move on after this.

Nick:                         We do know. Your South Alabama Jags come next year and Eastern Washington. Still not Mullen scheduled games.

Andrew:                 South Alabama game will be fun for me. Again, talk about that. South Alabama is slowly gaining their football. It’s nice to get a little payday. They’re cool with it. They’re building a new stadium.

Let me say this real quick, Nick. We talk about all these schedules, and Dan Mullen said that a little bit on Wednesday, but sometimes when you schedule these teams 10 years out in advance, they were decent then, and then they become terrible. I believe it was Idaho he said was an FBS, and they dropped to an FCS school. That’s not their fault. The schedule’s been made for years.

Nick:                         Like last year, Florida paid Idaho $1.5 million. The reason that was is when the game was scheduled Idaho was an FBS team. Now, Florida could have protected themselves and some schools do, and you put a clause in saying if either of us become an FCS team by the time the game is played, the contract can be void, or you can change the payouts. There wasn’t that protection, which is why you’re paying an FCS team so much money when they eventually come in. Fringe programs like that, there’s real chances that they can move up or down or decide we’re not making enough money, we want to be an FCS team. Stuff like that.

Andrew:                 Right. Like I said, zero problem with some of these there. Let’s move on to talk about this game a little bit. You had a good story, but let’s talk about it some more. Give me three guys on offense that you want to see play. Not starters.

Nick:                         Three guys on offense that I want to see play. I want to see Ethan White. To me, he’s a big guy going forward that I’m interested in seeing play.

Andrew:                 No pun intended?

Nick:                         No. He’s a much smaller guy than when he first got to Florida. Yeah. He’s a guy I want to see play, because he’s someone you might need. If the lineman goes down, I think he’s not the first guy up. I think that’s Richard Gouraige. But he’s another guy that would be in that mix. One that you named would be Nay’Quan Wright. He’s a guy on offense that I want to see. I want to see Keon Zipperer. I don’t know if Florida has a great blocking, they don’t have a great blocking tight end, but I don’t know if they have a guy that you’d even want to be blocking right now. That’s not Keon Zipperer yet, but right now him and Kyle Pitts are the future there.

I kind of know what I’m going to get from Kemore Gamble. I don’t know what I’m ever going to get from Lucas Krull, not to write him off completely. I just think maybe he is just what he is, where we are right now. I’d like to see another tight end. Like we said earlier, not to keep beating it, but this is an opportunity to get those guys in. I’ll go with Nay’Quan, to steal one from you, and …

Andrew:                 Ethan White.

Nick:                         Ethan White. Sorry. Forgot my list already.

Andrew:                 I’m going to go White, just for what you said. Want to see him get in there and get some PT and see what he’s going to do. A guy that’s not a freshman, and you mentioned him, but I want to see Richard Gouraige get in there. I’ll say this. I don’t know that Stone Forsythe and Jean Delance are 100% locked their time stamps in at tackle. They struggled some during the Miami game. Let’s see what Gouriage has got. I do want to see what he can do there to see is he a guy that’s capable of coming in and playing some. Is he a guy that’s capable of pushing one of those guys? Everything we heard when Delance was out was that Gouraige looked good. Let me see that.

Then a guy, Nick, and we talked about it, and I think this is a little bit of a … I’ve lost my word that I was going to say, but it’s a pick that maybe you didn’t expect me to make, and maybe it shouldn’t be made here. Jacob Copeland. I mean, we talked about him. Is he a starter? No. Is he going to play a lot? Yes, so maybe I shouldn’t put him here. I want ot see him play a lot.

Nick:                         If you were to say redshirt freshmen, I would have gone that way too.

Andrew:                 I didn’t say freshmen. I said young guys.

Nick:                         I thought you said freshmen. I was going strictly pure freshmen.

Andrew:                 Oh. Well, I cheated.

Nick:                         Yeah. I think Jacob Copeland will get a lot of playing time this game. I think you’ll see him. I mean, I said earlier that you’re not going to take out wide receivers, but Van Jefferson, Josh Hammond, Freddie Swain, I think those guys won’t be in in the third quarter.

Andrew:                 You’ll be limiting Kadarius Toney’s hits. You’re not going to want to get him killed.

Nick:                         Yeah. I just don’t know. I mean, he’s a guy to me that might get three, four touches a game.

Andrew:                 Right. I’m just saying you’re not going to, what do you get with giving jet sweep to Kadarius Toney and letting him outrun UT Martin? We know he can outrun SEC guys. You don’t really gain much.

Nick:                         Or run backwards.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I mean, he can make some highlight plays here. He can run to the left and let all the guys come after him, and then he’d flip around and go to the right and run around and get everybody there. I mean, that could be fun.

Nick:                         Yeah. That might be a game, I think, but like you said, do we need to keep working that against this team? This is a game where go in with your game plan, and then once the game plan is done, then just get these guys work.

Andrew:                 Agreed. Like I said, I want to see Copeland. I want to see Copeland get there. Give me some defensive guys.

Nick:                         Defensive guys. I’ve been watching QB-1 on Netflix, and Khris Bogle’s quarterback was featured. He’s a guy that hasn’t been, obviously isn’t featured on the show, because he got hurt, but I want to see Khris Bogle play. I want to see Kaiir Elam play, and I want to see Mohamoud Diabate play.

Andrew:                 Okay. Yeah. I think with Diabate and Bogle those are two guys who could at the end of the year or maybe before the end of the year start to get Florida some pass rush. We know next year they’re going to be guys that are going to be needed.

Nick:                         Absolutely. I mean, Greenard and Moon. Moon will most likely be back, but Bogle’s a big guy coming back for you. Mohamoud Diabate, big guy coming back for you. I don’t think CJ Henderson or Marco Wilson are back next year, so Kaiir Elam’s going to be starting next year. So, I think those. Again, I’m going hard by the book, strictly freshmen. There’s other guys that have redshirted that I’m sure we’d love to see as well.

Andrew:                 A guy I want to see is Tyron Hopper.

Nick:                         Good pick.

Andrew:                 A guy that we heard a ton about in fall camp. Listen, I think there’s still some question marks as to can Amari Burney slide out. If he can, you need Tyron Hopper to maybe hop in his spot. Maybe you slide Burney out and slide Dean back, or maybe you slide Burney back and have Hopper play there. I’ve been very impressed with Tyron Hopper since early on in his recruitment. I think he’s a very athletic player overall, so I want to see him.

You said Elam, so I’m going to go with Chester Kimbrough. A guy that we heard some good things about as well.

Nick:                         He’s also been seen on QB-1. His quarterback was featured.

Andrew:                 Yeah. We talk about Henderson and Marco leaving. You’re going to need guys like Kimbrough and Jaydon Hill and Elam, those guys step up. I want to see Chester there, and then I’m going to go with one you already said, and that’s Diabate. Really think that he’s a guy who works hard, all that stuff, and can really come in and make an impact on that pass rush. Those would be my three.

Nick:                         What about most excited to see from that list of guys?

Andrew:                 Hopper.

Nick:                         Just in terms of future, their potential impact on the game. Just most excited to see.

Andrew:                 Hopper. Hopper, in my opinion, has the potential to be a guy that could be an All-SEC kind of guy.

Nick:                         Okay. I think for me it might be Mohamoud, just to kind of see where he’s at. He’s put on a bunch of weight. He’s a guy that was here in the spring, obviously. For me, I think it’s Mohamoud, and I’m really interested to see where he’s at athletically, physically, all those things.

Andrew:                 For me it’s Hopper. Hopper. He has All-SEC written all over him. Nick, let’s go to picks. You got first pick this week. Who you got? Don’t you go with no quarterback.

Nick:                         We’ll do our games. We’ll do our games first.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         Not a great slate of games. I think I picked out the best of the bunch, but not a great slate of games. Let’s start with probably the game I’m tied for most looking forward to.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         Texas A&M on the road at Clemson.

Andrew:                 Dabo.

Nick:                         I mean, I think we’re both going to pick Clemson, but I’m really interested to see how Kellan Mond does and how Jimbo does. Obviously, it’s a familiar opponent for Jimbo.

Andrew:                 Yeah. And a familiar atmosphere that he’s going to go into. I’ll say this. I’m like you. I expect Clemson to win this game, but for me, Nick, this is an opportunity for the SEC to pick up a little bit that they lost last week. Good showing by A&M could really be good. If I remember, Nick, and help me if I’m wrong here, didn’t A&M play Clemson pretty close in the first half last year?

Nick:                         Yeah. They did. Then at that point you’re looking at Jimbo’s first year in the program, and I understand that was a home game, but you’re talking about the eventual National Champions versus a first-year program. So, it’ll be different playing in the fake Death Valley, but it’s a game I’m interested in. Kellan Mond is a much different player now than he was, and we’ll see. We’ll see. I think both of us are going to pick Clemson, but I think Texas A&M keeps it closer than most people would expect.

Andrew:                 I do too. I think we learn a lot about A&M on Saturday.

Nick:                         All right. This is a tough one. BYU traveling to Rocky Top, which as Steve Spurrier said, might be rocky bottom. Both teams coming off of losses. BYU lost a rivalry game to Utah. That was a wild game to watch last week. Of course, the fighting Jeremy Pruitts lost to Georgia State, who play in probably one of your favorite stadiums.

Andrew:                 Yeah. This is such a big win needed for Pruitt.

Nick:                         Oh my God.

Andrew:                 It’s must win. I’m going to go Tennessee, because I think that the pressure is on there for him, but if something happens and they lose, things might get bad quick.

Nick:                         Here’s the deal with Tennessee. Georgia State, that’s a loss already. If you lose to BYU, you’re 0-2. Let’s say you beat Chattanooga.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         Now you’re 1-2. Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Alabama. You’re going to be 1-6.

Andrew:                 Right. Listen, there’s a couple guys on that staff that I really like up at Tennessee, of course. I like Pruitt. I think Pruitt’s a good guy. Know Pruitt very well. I’m rooting like hell for BYU, and I’m sorry, but my love loss for Tennessee is never ever going to go away. I like rocky bottom, but I’ll go Tennessee to win.

Nick:                         I’m picking the Mormons.

Andrew:                 There you go. I like it.

Nick:                         I’m picking the Mormons. Go Cougs.

Andrew:                 I do love rocky bottom. I’m going to take picking seriously, so I’m going to say Tennessee finds a way.

Nick:                         I’m picking the Cougs. I also take picking seriously, and I’m better at it than you. BYU goes on the road and beats a Tennessee team still licking its wounds.

Andrew:                 Phillip. Phillip. Phillip may sweat off 50 pounds up there.

Nick:                         Next game. We got an SEC matchup. I think it’s the only SEC matchup of the week. Arkansas on the road at Ole Miss. Ole Miss did not look great.

Andrew:                 Oh my God.

Nick:                         Arkansas did not look great. Hey, it’s an SEC matchup. We got to pick it, Spivey, even though it might be the dog of the week.

Andrew:                 Trash versus trash. Matt Corral is awful. Good Lord. Where’s this game at?

Nick:                         At Ole Miss. It’s in the Grove.

Andrew:                 Screw it. Whoa, pig suey!

Nick:                         Whoa! Why? Just because?

Andrew:                 Just because. Matt Corral is not very good. Good Lord, Ole Miss.

Nick:                         Yeah. I’m going to go Ole Miss. I’m going to say Matt Corral has a good game.

Andrew:                 Okay. Memphis sucks, by the way.

Nick:                         Yeah. They do.

Andrew:                 But Arkansas works to like the east west directional schools too, so what does that say?

Nick:                         That neither team is very good.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Woo, pig suey.

Nick:                         Okay. You picked it, Spivey.

Andrew:                 Just because I wanted to say woo, pig suey.

Nick:                         Right after I take picking very seriously. I’m picking Arkansas, because I wanted to say woo, pig.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Woo, pig. Burt. Burt.

Nick:                         Oh, I miss Burt. LSU, no, well, we’ll go LSU at Texas. This is probably the, I mentioned already, the game I’m most excited for, along with Texas A&M and Clemson.

Andrew:                 Tom Herman is not up for this game. Tom Herman is not ready for this game. Texas doesn’t have the talent to beat LSU. People compare Sam Ehlinger to Tebow. Are you serious? Tim Tebow takes craps that are better than Sam Ehlinger. Are you serious?

Nick:                         Yeah.

Andrew:                 I mean, wearing DBU shirts? First of all, you’re not even in the DBU discussion. What are you doing?

Nick:                         They’re poking the bear is what they’re doing.

Andrew:                 Geeks the Tigers. Go Tigers. Go Tigers.

Nick:                         I got the Tigers too. To me, I think people are just, I mean, it’s in Austin.

Andrew:                 People are believing Tom Herman’s hype.

Nick:                         Yeah. They got Sam Ehlinger.

Andrew:                 Isn’t that what he told, Zach, hook ‘em or whatever? Well, whatever, dude. Not happening.

Nick:                         All right, all right, all right. I’m taking Texas. Matthew McConaughey is in Austin, the guest picker. He’s about to overtake Bevo as the mascot of the University of Texas, but I’m going to go with Sam Ehlinger. I think it’s going to be a higher scoring game than people might thing with these two teams. I’m just not sold on Ed O.

Andrew:                 Listen, Ed O.

Nick:                         I don’t know if I’ll ever be.

Andrew:                 Ed O. listen. I have something for you. Run the damn ball.

Nick:                         I don’t think he’s going to. I think he’s going to throw with Joe Burrow.

Andrew:                 Texas can’t stop you, won’t stop you. Run the ball. As Sandra Bullock says, run the ball.

Nick:                         Run the dang ball.

Andrew:                 Run the dang ball. Just run it. Run the ball. Go Tigers.

Nick:                         Okay. Hook ‘em. Man, we have not picked the same. We’re going to have some separation this week. 0-1 Miami and Manny Diaz hits the road. They’re playing Mack Brown, who just beat up on his understudy from his days back at Texas.

Andrew:                 Listen, this is tough for me to say, because I hate Miami, but North Carolina isn’t very good.

Nick:                         No.

Andrew:                 North Carolina is not very good. Give me the U.

Nick:                         I’m going with the U too. I knew you were an uncover Canes fan, Spivey. I knew it all along.

Andrew:                 You’re not going to tell me that North Carolina is good.

Nick:                         No. I will tell you that you have Manny Diaz pajamas though.

Andrew:                 Let me tell you. Let me tell you about some Manny Diaz. Manny Diaz is a joke too.

Nick:                         You’re just a mean person. Mean.

Andrew:                 Whatever. It’s okay. Whatever. Give me the U.

Nick:                         We both take the U. Those are all the picks. We’ll get Florida-UT Martin. I mean, we’re both going to pick Florida. We’ll talk about the spread. We’ll do that after we do our picks though. You went first last week and went 0-3.

Andrew:                 No, I did not. I got a win for Van.

Nick:                         No.

Andrew:                 Yeah. We did, because Van got the turnover. We agreed Van got a win.

Nick:                         Okay. I had three noes written down for you. See, I can keep you in check now. I got my notes pulled up right here.

Andrew:                 You were 2 for 3, and I was 1 for 3.

Nick:                         Okay. We’re giving out gifts. No problem. I’m going back to the well. I went with him last week and didn’t get it. I think Feleipe Franks bounces back. I think he tells everyone to shut up. I think he keeps talking to the camera on the sideline. I think he’s being himself. I’m going to go Feleipe Franks as one of my three stars of the week.

Andrew:                 Here we go.

Nick:                         I promise you, everyone listening, I promise you, I don’t think I’ve ever picked a game correctly where I picked Feleipe Franks to say he had a good game, and then he did have a good game. So, if he doesn’t have a good game this week, I’m done. I’ll stop picking him. I’m obviously hurting him.

Andrew:                 I just wanted to watch a good football game, Nick. Now you’re just guaranteeing me that I’m going to have to watch him struggle.

Nick:                         No. This beats the curse.

Andrew:                 Okay. I hope so. Please just tell him to stop alienating himself from the fanbase. That’s my thing. I’m going back to the well again. It should be Perine time. He might not get 100, but he’s going to get some TDs. He going to eat in the endzone. 251. Gets some touchdowns. Last first game as a senior.

Nick:                         That’s true. Last first game of the season. You went with him last week. Didn’t get him. I think is a team a that they can run all over. But I did my research, UT Martin gave up 387 passing yards last week to only 96 rushing, obviously playing Northwestern State. I know I always joke and say you’re playing Northwestern Southeastern State. UT Martin actually played a team called Northwestern State last week.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         I don’t know what state they’re from, but I’m guessing they’re in the northwest region of that state. So, for me, I’m sticking with the passing game because of those two reasons. Trevon Grimes. I think he gets in a little screen pass. He’s a big boy, and he can run a little bit. I’m going Trevon Grimes.

Andrew:                 Okay.

Nick:                         I’m doubling up on the passing game.

Andrew:                 Okay. Sounds good. Maybe Emory Jones will get him a few touchdowns. Maybe. I’m going to go back to the defense. Marco Wilson had a game maybe he would like to forget a little bit. UT Martin’s going to have to throw the ball, and that’s bad news. Marco.

Nick:                         I’m going to round out. The guy I’m rounding out with, he’s not going to be a starter, but as we said, I think it’s a time where you get guys into the game late, and those guys end up playing a bunch, maybe even more than the actual starters. So, I’m going to go Zack Carter to have a big game for himself.

Andrew:                 Okay. I like that. I’m going to go back to the receiving thing. I’m going to go Josh Hammond. Give me some hot sauce.

Nick:                         Hot Sauce Hammond.

Andrew:                 Yup.

Nick:                         He catches everything. If you’re listening, and you’re on Twitter, every catch I’m hashtagging, #HammondCatchesEverything.

Andrew:                 I’m just going to #hotsauce. Just get it going. Maybe he can get a chant going whenever he makes a catch. Hot Sauce. Hot Sauce. Maybe.

Nick:                         Maybe. Do something.

Andrew:                 Do something. Nick, any final things? We’ll get out of here. Running short on time here. One thing I will say is Florida’s going to have some recruits in town. The two big 2020 targets coming into town are Alabama defensive tackle commit Tim Smith, and then receiver Xavier Henerson is coming in. Those are both two of Florida’s bigger targets. So, to get those guys in for the UT Martin game is huge. Lot of underclassmen and commits are coming into town. Should be a good weekend. We’ll be back on Monday. We’ll recap it, talk about all the good stuff, and then get ready to head to Lexington.

Nick:                         You got it. I’ll be in Lexington. This time next week I’ll be in Lexington. Send me your Lexington, Kentucky recommendations. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been there, so just let me know what you got for me there. I’ll have a coverage Saturday night after the game. Tune in. Let us know. Let us know the podcast. Subscribe there and leave us a comment this week. Let us know what we’re doing. Give us a rating. Five star is appreciated. I’ll sign us out.

www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. The podcast is there in audio and transcript form. You can find the podcast wherever you consume your podcast. Just search Gator Country. Subscribe. Never miss an episode. Do your social media thing. @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. I’m @NickdelaTorreGC. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC. Check out my Instagram. I’m 26 followers away from 1,000. That’s just @NickdelaTorre.

Andrew:                 There you go.

Nick:                         I send pictures of empty stadiums after football games.

Andrew:                 There you go. Big weekend for my Braves as well.

Nick:                         Stop it.

Andrew:                 The Nats come into town. Magic #17, as we’re taping this on Thursday. Go ahead and clinch this bad boy up pretty much this weekend. Yeah. Guys, as always, chomp, chomp and go Braves.

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.