GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we bring you our Friday prediction podcast for games around the country during the Florida Gators’ bye week.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre talk about what Dan Mullen had to say during his teleconference on Wednesday as he updated the status of the Gators.
Andrew and Nick also pick several games around the country from this weekend’s slate of games.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, we’re back. Couple more days and we’ll finally have football back. Dan Mullen did talk on Wednesday. No real change there, except for there was one new positive case on Tuesday, from Tuesday’s test, that was on Wednesday. For the most part, Dan Mullen said everyone’s back, and everyone should be back and ready when they open the facility back on Monday. He said they’re opening it back on Monday.
Nick: Yeah. They’re going to be shorthanded. Florida’s going to be shorthanded against Missouri. It is what it is. Even if you have enough numbers, which Florida will, it’s two weeks for a lot of guys with no lifting, no running, no football activities, only Zoom meetings and going over film on your iPad, and some of them fighting a virus that attacks your respiratory system. Then you’re going to open up the facility five days before a game, and that’s just is what it is. That’s where we are in 2020 with Covid. Do I think Florida is going to be 100% when they play Missouri? No. But that’s the game. Florida literally will play from Halloween until December 12th, every Saturday they have a game scheduled. There’s no more breaks.
Andrew: Right. That’s kind of the same thing for Georgia too. It’s bad luck, but I would say the best news of it all is that they’re playing football and able to do that. A lot of people didn’t think that would happen, so that’s a positive for that. You and I were going through some numbers. We’ll try our best here to explain it. If you test positive, you’re quarantined for 10 days. You’re out of 10 days. You can’t come back to the facility or anything else. If you’re in the contact tracing, it’s 14 days, and you can explain that here in a second, Nick. So, from everything we’re basing our numbers off of, and we’re not subject if they’ve had new positive tests, or when they had the exact positive test, we’re just basing it off of what we’ve been told. Most everyone who’s had a positive test should be back no later than Sunday. The guys who had the contact tracing will probably be out until Tuesday. Isn’t that what we came up with, Nick?
Nick: It all depends on when you tested positive. If you tested positive, let me pull this calendar up again. First, before I get the calendar out, let me explain. If you test positive, the reason why you’re in for 10 days is because they will monitor you while you’re in there. Obviously, if you’re a really bad case, and you’re experiencing severe symptoms, you’ll be in quarantine for more than 10 days, but for the most part Florida’s players are feeling either asymptomatic or very mild symptoms. A lot of it is just fatigue, and that’s another factor of what I said earlier. Are you going to be 100% when you play? No. There’s people who’ve had Covid, and they say, I felt fatigued doing normal stuff for weeks after I was testing negative.
So, it’s 10 days if you test positive. They’ll start testing you again, and then once you get a couple negative tests, and once you’re not exhibiting symptoms anymore, you’re out in 10 days. The reason why it’s 14 days for someone who’s tested negative, but has been in contact with somebody, is that the virus can take 7, 10, 12, 14 days once you get it to really manifest itself inside of a person and then test positive. Most of the question is why is somebody who’s tested negative in longer than somebody who’s tested positive? That’s exactly why. Because if you were just around somebody that tested positive, you might not feel sick for 13 days, but if you’re in quarantine for 14 days, day 13 I’m starting to show symptoms, test you. Now you’re positive. If you didn’t have that two-week period, you’d be sending guys out that have the virus, just haven’t tested positive yet, and now you’re spreading it even further.
Andrew: Right. So, the guys who tested positive on the Sunday before the LSU game are guys that they’ll be back.
Nick: There’s a couple players that tested positive that were in quarantine. The guys that Scott Stricklin and we’ve talked about that said they started feeling symptoms on Thursday the 8th and Friday the 9th, and then tested negative but were feeling symptoms, but then traveled to A&M on the 10th and came back, and then subsequently tested positive on that Monday, they’re out of quarantine. I’ve seen a couple of them walking around. They’re out of quarantine. The guys that tested positive that Monday, so when Florida comes back and they test Sunday, that’s when they have the number six pop up. Those guys that tested positive on Monday, they’re out of quarantine today as we’re taping, Thursday the 22nd. The guys that tested positive, there were 12 more, because we went from 19 to 31 on Tuesday. That Monday testing showed 12 more on Tuesday, those guys that tested positive will be out of quarantine Friday the 23rd.
Now you start to see, when you start looking at the calendar that way, you start to see Florida was never going to play Missouri. I know that when the numbers came out on Monday people were like, what the hell? 31? It’s gotten worse. It’s like, Florida knew what that number was Thursday, October 15th. They knew a week ago, we’re going to be up into the thirties, and we’re not going to get guys back. There’s no way. Technically, tomorrow Florida will have enough guys to play on the 24th, the day they were scheduled to play, but I’m talking guys literally getting out of quarantine on Friday. So, yeah, you’ll have the numbers, but you haven’t done a thing.
Andrew: Right. So, those guys are out. It’s the ones that aren’t. Dan Mullen said he expects most everyone to be back by then. They should be for the most part full strength as far as numbers go. How they’re full strength as far as the guys being well enough, that kind of stuff, I just don’t know. I don’t know. We don’t know. That’s just what it is. Nobody will know until the game on Saturday. I know Dan Mullen’s not going to let you know how those guys are. He’s not going to give Missouri any advantage.
Nick: You never know. They always call it the flu game for Michael Jordan, but if you watch the MJ documentary, he was like, no, it was food poisoning. I had food poisoning. The flu game. You never know. Could Florida come out, and like we’ve had to go through some crazy adversity right now because of this, and do you rally around each other and find some strength, and you come out and have an inspired performance? Or do you come out and look like a team that hasn’t lifted a weight in two weeks, hasn’t done much football in two weeks, and is battling a respiratory virus?
Andrew: Right. I don’t know. We’ll see. Like I said, the only thing we can do is wait and see and go from there. It’s going to be interesting. It really is. I think we talked about this on Wednesday’s podcast. Freddie Freeman was talking about it when he had it, and I know others have said the same thing. They didn’t feel well for close to a month after they had the virus, because they were just so drained from it. I don’t know how that’ll be for those guys. I know their symptoms weren’t as bad, but still, like we talked about before, if you have the common cold, and you’re stuck in the house for three or four days with it, you don’t feel good. You’re tired. Your legs are weak and everything else. I don’t know. We’ll see.
Nick: Honestly, I’m fortunate enough that I haven’t had it, so I can’t really speak on the exact symptoms, but from people that I know it just affects everyone differently. It could affect one guy, at the same position group too. Just hypothetically, it could affect one linebacker different than it did the guy that starts right next to him, or a guy that plays right next to him. You just don’t know. You have to take it on a case by case basis.
I do think, and whether you agree with masks or social distancing, or if you wanted Florida to have 90,000, I think this just goes to show you. This literally started with Florida had done so well, just 10 positive cases in 11 weeks, and all it took was a couple guys who had it to get on an airplane, to then be roommates with them in College Station, to be around them in a locker room. I think it just goes to show how quickly this virus can spread and how fragile this football season that we’re playing really is.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: I certainly, in my mind I started to lax off. I’m like, Florida’s got this junk under control. They’re doing everything right. We’re getting maybe one guys pops positive. We were talking to Mike White, and Mike White said they’ve had to cancel basketball practices. Not because guys were sick, but just if you have the sniffles, tell us, and don’t come in. I think it’s unfortunate, because we talked about on a national scale, we talked about Dan Mullen’s comments, on a national scale, now Florida is just one of the other schools that couldn’t handle Covid. I think the University of Florida has done such a good job. The University Athletic Association has done such a good job in putting systems in place that you don’t have stuff like this happening, and it was literally just one trip. If that was a home game, and Florida’s not doing team hotel stuff this year, so you’re not really sharing rooms, if that’s a home game, I think we only have six guys.
Andrew: Florida is doing the home thing now. They started. They weren’t going to, and then they decided to do it.
Nick: So, they were at the hotel for South Carolina.
Andrew: Yes.
Nick: And now they’re not going to, which is like it doesn’t make any sense, because if these three guys live together, but now they’re in a room with somebody else, three other people, before a game, it just makes more sense. I know coaches want to have control, as much control as they can, but what we’re going through right now just shows you how quickly the virus can spread and completely alter your season.
Andrew: Right. Exactly. We’ll just have to see. That’s all we can do. We’ll get into the Missouri game next week, as we start to dive into that. Missouri had the off week, last week they did, but they’re back. It’ll be interesting to see how both teams come out. Like you said, does Florida come out and rally around it? Does the, I don’t want to say rest, because most of the guys didn’t get to rest, but does the virtual meetings and that kind of stuff help them a little bit on defense? Does the time away make the defense worse? Well, I don’t know if that’s possible, but still.
Nick: Yeah. It’ll be interesting. Is it like a full restart? What is it? You’re not going to be, on Wednesday Dan Mullen tried to kind of downplay it and say, on a typical bye week we only have three practices. I’m like, on a typical bye week you wouldn’t have 31 players in quarantine.
Andrew: On a typical bye week, your guys are working out.
Nick: That’s 31 positive tests, and I’ve reported there’s more than 50 in quarantine. Not just players. That’s coaches, staff, trainers. This thing spread through. When you see that number, 31, that’s only student athletes that tested positive.
Andrew: Right. On a normal bye week, you’re also able to work out. You’re able to do those other things that now you strictly are not. You’re able to get your running in. You’re able to do that as well. I’ll say this too. If it was a normal year, and you got this far in the season and then had it, you could say maybe they needed a break, but they didn’t need a break. They’d only played three games. Again, there’s nothing you can do about it, but to say that it’s going to be a positive, I don’t know that that’s very accurate. Would you agree with that?
Nick: I don’t know how you can spin this to make it a positive. I’m not trying to talk down on it, and I’ve already said maybe they come out and show up, and they look great, and they play inspired. Like I said, like the Jordan flu game. I don’t know how you spin this as a positive. It’s not a positive. I think it’s really unfortunate. I think the best thing we’ve gotten out of this week is Dan telling us for the most part everyone’s got very mild symptoms. You don’t want anyone to get sick, but if they do get the Coronavirus, like Florida’s guys have gotten, you don’t want them to have to be in the hospital or on ventilators and stuff like that. I think the best thing we’ve heard all week, or the last two weeks maybe, is that everyone’s got mild symptoms.
Then the other good one is that Dan’s back at his house quarantining. He’s got a wife and two kids, Canon and Breelyn, so I think it was really good to hear Dan say yesterday too that his wife and his kids have continued to test negative. Poor Megan got kicked out of her own room. Dan said his office and his bedroom, they share a door, so that’s Dan now. That’s Dan’s section of the house, and everyone stays away from him, and he stays away from everyone else.
Andrew: He should be coming out pretty soon as well from the Tuesday test that he had. He should be getting close to coming out of quarantine as well. The rest of the staff members as well.
Nick: We don’t want to speculate too much, but he did sound like a little nasally, a little congested. We asked him, Coach, how you feeling? He said, I’m feeling fine, thanks for asking, appreciate it. Just to me, just my opinion, not speculating, I’m not a doctor, sounded like I would sound if I had allergies.
Andrew: I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night.
Nick: Did you? You got kicked out of the house?
Andrew: No. That’s the commercial. You stay at a Holiday Inn, you’re a doctor. Yeah. It’s there.
Nick: Here’s some other silver lining. Now Florida’s had 60 guys on the football team get it, so should be pretty smooth sailing the rest of the way.
Andrew: Like I said, it’s just the tough part about what if somebody else gets it in the conference and it has to adjust the schedule again?
Nick: Yeah. Florida doesn’t have any other bye weeks. If Missouri somehow gets a case on Tuesday, and they get 20 guys on Tuesday, do they travel? If it happens to Arkansas at some point, if it happens to Vanderbilt. I don’t think it’ll happen to Vanderbilt again. If it happens to Tennessee, any of Florida’s future opponents. That’s kind of what this did, it really just gave Florida no wiggle room in terms of schedule.
Andrew: Now that you’re getting into the later parts of the season, even though we only played three games, it’s for a lot of teams, because a lot of teams have already had their bye week, or are about to have their bye week, so you’re running into that across the conference in general. Got to get smooth going forward, and even the NFL is not keeping it in track. Our old buddy Trenton Brown looks like he might have caused a little outbreak.
Nick: Hopefully that wasn’t from any of the packaging that Florida sent out to the guys, those little gift bags or care packages they send.
Andrew: They sent Coronavirus out too?
Nick: I’m just joking. Probably not even a good joke. Yeah. We got a good week of games. The Big Ten’s back this week. So, even though Florida’s not on your TV, enjoy it. I saw some fans, and they were probably just being sarcastic, but it was like, I got to watch football and not have to worry about how bad Todd Grantham’s defense is going to be on Saturday, and it was nice, because I just relaxed and watched worry free football all week. That was great. I was like, you’re probably just trying to take a shot at Todd Grantham, but it must be nice to just sit there and be like, yeah, just get to watch games. It’s cool.
Andrew: Watch how bad Kirby Smart looked. Jeremy Pruitt looked. Did you see that report though, Nick, where he fired the defensive line coach during the game?
Nick: I didn’t see that. I didn’t see the report. I saw the report that he fired him, but I didn’t see that he did it during the game.
Andrew: Apparently, he did it during the game. Told him, you’re fired, and it will be announced tomorrow you’re fired, but stop coaching the defensive line.
Nick: Goodness.
Andrew: Jeremy’s taking some shots at him this week too. Jeremy said something along the lines of this is the best week of practice we’ve had all year with our defensive line. They’re getting better.
Nick: Why’d you hire the guy in the first place then, Jeremy?
Andrew: Man, what’d that guy do? Did he pee in your Cheerios or something? What did he do to make you that mad, bro?
Nick: Take your dog? What are you so angry about?
Andrew: Jeez, man, you’re mad.
Nick: Big mad.
Andrew: Yeah. Let’s pick some games, and we’ll get out. Then we’ll come back next week and have something to talk about for a change.
Nick: Hopefully. Hopefully get back into some sense of normalcy next week, man. These last 10, 13, 14 days have sucked.
Andrew: Yup. Tell us some games here, Nick.
Nick: We’re going first, Auburn, the Gus bus, which you are the driver of, at Ole Miss.
Andrew: Kiffin. Kiffin by far, man. What you talking about? They’re not going to slow down.
Nick: Lane’s still saying they’ve got Corona tests, Corona positives. We don’t know maybe who is in and who’s out.
Andrew: KJ Britt’s out for Auburn’s defense. Bo Nix and Seth Williams might both have black eyes from punching each other. Gus is running on one tire. Ole Miss.
Nick: I’m going Lane train too. FSU, the fighting Norvells, fresh off a win, at Louisville.
Andrew: I think last week was a joke by FSU. First of all, how is North Carolina #5 in the country is beyond me.
Nick: Couldn’t tell you.
Andrew: That was retarded. I could have told you that from the beginning. Louisville wins.
Nick: I’m picking Louisville as well. Going with the birds. Next game we’re going to pick we’re picking with lines, and we can pick over-under too.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: The third week in October, which means Alabama-Tennessee. Alabama travels to Neyland. Alabama fresh off a huge win against Georgia. -21, a three touchdown favorite on the road against Jeremy Pruitt and his defensive line, which is playing better than ever, he says.
Andrew: Go back and check your schedule. It’s the fourth week of October, and it’s the first time in I forgot how long that it’s not the third Saturday in October that this game is.
Nick: That tells you that it feels like the 57th week of October, and it feels like the 114th week of 2020. Excuse me for getting that wrong.
Andrew: I forgot what it was. It’s a long time that it hasn’t been the third week, but the last time, here it is. Tennessee fans have never been able to post on Facebook, have never been able to tweet about it, have never been able to listen to iTunes podcasts about it. All these different things about Tennessee beating Alabama, it’s been that long, and the streak doesn’t end this week.
Nick: This isn’t the year?
Andrew: No. It might, the line was 21 and Alabama covers.
Nick: Over-under.
Andrew: 66.
Nick: 66.
Andrew: Oh, it’s over.
Nick: I don’t know. Maybe Tennessee will score. I’m going to go Bama covers and under.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: You’re Bama covers over. Big Ten, welcome back. Michigan at Minnesota. They play for, I think, the little brown jug.
Andrew: What was it again?
Nick: Michigan at Minnesota. The Big Ten has all these rivalry game trophies. I think they play for the little brown jug.
Andrew: Okay. That’s what I thought you said, but I wanted to make sure. The brown jug. Okay. I’ll go Michigan with very little confidence.
Nick: You’re making me feel crazy. Yeah. They play for the little brown jug.
Andrew: I thought you said that, but I’m like, the brown jug?
Nick: It’s a little jug, and on one side it’s got the Michigan M, and it’s maize and blue, and on the other side it’s got the Minnesota M, and I’m guessing their color is like a crimson or red and gold. They’ve got, it looks like paint, written every year the score of every year. The winner takes the little brown jug home.
Andrew: They have to have some kind of trophy. They don’t play for regular trophies.
Nick: That’s true. I’m going with Michigan. Jim Harbaugh. This is not a big game, which means Jim Harbaugh will do well.
Andrew: Yeah. What’s next?
Nick: #9 Cincinnati at #16 SMU.
Andrew: First of all, how are either of those teams ranked that high?
Nick: Not a lot of teams are playing. Most of the teams weren’t playing until this week.
Andrew: I’m going to go Cincinnati, but over ranked?
Nick: That’s a 9:00 PM kickoff on ESPN 2. I’m going to go SMU, just because they’re at home.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: And we picked all the same teams.
Andrew: Last has got to be the Buckeyes.
Nick: I didn’t put the Buckeyes down. I still got two more games for us.
Andrew: Go ahead.
Nick: #3 Notre Dame at Pitt. Pitt’s 3-2. Notre Dame undefeated. What are they? Four games?
Andrew: 4-0, 5-0.
Nick: I think they missed a week. Notre Dame is 4-0.
Andrew: Notre Dame’s not even good, but neither is Pitt. I guess Notre Dame.
Nick: I’m going to go with Pitt. I’m going to go again with the upset from the home team.
Andrew: Okay. I hope so.
Nick: That’s why I picked those two. Then we got one more top 25 match. I didn’t even pick the Buckeyes, because I think the Buckeyes are going to win and cover. I didn’t even look at the line. Another top 25 matchup. Iowa State, #17 Iowa State at #6 Oklahoma State.
Andrew: The Cowboys keep rolling.
Nick: I’m going to go with that.
Andrew: Here’s the line for Ohio State. 26-point favorites with a 67.5-point over-under. We’re going to pick this game. Nebraska’s going to cover.
Nick: Okay. That’s fine. I’m picking Ohio State to cover that.
Andrew: No. Nebraska’s going to cover.
Nick: Is it at Nebraska? At Ohio State?
Andrew: Yes. Nebraska at Ohio State.
Nick: At Ohio State.
Andrew: Nebraska wanted this game. They’re going to come in ready.
Nick: What is it? 26 you said?
Andrew: 26 with a 66 points.
Nick: You said Nebraska covers.
Andrew: 67.5. Sorry. I think they go under that.
Nick: I think Ohio State scores 45, 50 on them. Ohio State’s going to get close to the over.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: We got the game locked in.
Andrew: There you go. Anything? Give me some updates from Mike White’s press conference.
Nick: Poor Mike White. I don’t think he was intentionally throwing Andrew Nembhard under the bus, but his entire opening press conference when we talked to him on Wednesday was talking about tempo, and we want to play fast. That’s what you expected Mike White’s teams to do when he got to Florida. It was look at how fast they played at LA Tech, and look at that tempo, and they press all game. Then they run, and they create in open space, and they’re up and down the court. Now, you get to Florida, and I just don’t think Andrew Nembhard, or maybe Andrew Nembhard can do it, but Mike White and their coaching staff did not think that he could do it. So, they didn’t.
Mike White’s whole thing was tempo, tempo, tempo. We want to be fast. We want to be the fastest team in the country and this and that. Maybe it was like veiled dissing of Nembhard. To me, it’ll be interesting. Then, unfortunately, as we finished, they announce that Florida’s playing Virginia in the second game. It’s like, shoot, you just talked about how fast you’re going to be, and nobody is fast versus Virginia. Virginia forces you to not be fast.
Andrew: Yeah. I think the thing with Nembhard is this. Nembhard never came off as a guy who was confident and was turnover prone, so it was a situation where if you got too fast then it was going to be a thing where your defense was then going to be put on the pedals. I just think that the thing with Nembhard just never worked out. Do I think Nembhard can be a very good player at Gonzaga? Yes. I do. Our man Eric has said many times that that was a great pick by him, and I think it will be. I just don’t think him and Florida worked out, for whatever way. When you look at it from his film in high school, it looked like a perfect fit.
Nick: For whatever reason, it didn’t work out. Mike White wishes him the best, and we will see. Florida opens up, is the Mohican Sun in Connecticut? I think it’s in Connecticut?
Andrew: I think so.
Nick: They had a tournament cancelled because of Covid, so they will open up on my birthday, 11-25, against Maine, and then two days later, on November 27th, will play Virginia.
Andrew: Be interesting to see how they get going. Should be fun. Fire Mike White train will probably get up and going in the Virginia game.
Nick: Yeah. That’s going to be like a 40-36 game. Yikes.
Andrew: Yeah. I don’t know. As much as I hate those low scoring games, I actually like them in a way too, because I don’t know. I just like somebody actually playing defense for a change.
Nick: Yeah. Virginia does that.
Andrew: Nick, tell everybody where they can find us. We’ll get out of here. We’ll see everyone on Monday, as we get ready for Missouri.
Nick: www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gators news. The podcast is there in audio and transcript form. You can find the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Just search Gator Country. Hit subscribe. Never miss an episode. Do your social media thing. @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. I’m @NickdelaTorreGC. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC.
Andrew: There you go. Guys, we appreciate it. As always, go Braves and chomp, chomp.
Nick: You stay classy.