Podcast: Friday predictions for the bye week

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we bring you our Friday prediction podcast during the bye week for the Florida Gators.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre breakdown some early keys for the Gators vs. Georgia Bulldogs game next Saturday in Jacksonville.

Andrew and Nick also predict several games around the country and some big SEC games this week.

TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, Friday before the bye week. We get to watch football and not worry about anything else.

Nick:                         Bye week is the best week. A great slate of games here, is this the midpoint of the season, or at we like the beginning of the end of the season?

Andrew:                 I don’t know. That’s a good question.

Nick:                         Little past midway. This is a time where games, I mean, every game matters, especially in college football. You can’t lose a bunch of games and want to win a National Championship or get in the playoffs, but once you get to late October, November, that’s when it becomes unacceptable to lose games. You can kind of forget and forgive losses in September, but loses in November kind of get remembered when the committee is picking those last four teams.

Andrew:                 That loss to Kentucky in September is a thing of the past, if Florida continues to take care of business. It is what it is. You know what I mean? Nobody remembers that poor Kentucky loss if you start beating ranked teams. I always say, October and November is when things get crazy in college football. That’s exactly what happened last weekend.

Nick:                         They remember November.

Andrew:                 That’s right. That’s why I tell people, polls mean nothing until November.

Nick:                         Yeah. Lot of people freak out about them, but no reason to.

Andrew:                 No reason to. Zero reason to. All you have to remember is that when the playoff poll comes out that’s when things get interesting.

Nick:                         When does that come out?

Andrew:                 Next week, right? I think it’s right after the Georgia. No, I think it’s after Georgia. It’s the first week in November. I think it’s the first week in November. It’s usually right after the Georgia game.

Nick:                         That makes sense.

Andrew:                 That’s a big one. It makes that game even bigger. Georgia still has every chance in the world to get back into that playoff mix, and Florida does as well.

Nick:                         What I’ve said is that it really doesn’t matter where Florida is ranked, because of their schedule. I mean, their schedule every year, not just this year. If you go and beat the rest of the teams in your schedule, that’s Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, Idaho, FSU, and then win the SEC Championship game, you’re in the playoffs. It doesn’t matter if Florida is unranked this week. A lot of people, I think, were mad that LSU was still ranked ahead of Florida, or that Florida wasn’t in the top 10. Win those games, and you’re in the playoff. Lose any one of those games, and you’re not. It doesn’t matter where you’re ranked now.

Andrew:                 That’s exactly right. First playoff poll comes out October 30th, and that’s the first of five. Again, like you said, as crazy as it may sound to some, but you win against Georgia, you’re favored in every game going forward. You lose to Georgia, I still think you’re favored in every game going forward. Just take care of business.

Some say, well, Kentucky still has to lose to Georgia. Sure, but I’m going to throw this weird scenario out at you. At the end of the day, Florida take care of their business and beat Georgia and win out, they’re doing whatever. They’re sitting in good spot for that playoff spot, no matter if Kentucky does take the shellacking from Alabama in the title game, or SEC title game.

Nick:                         Someone posed this question, and I don’t know really the answer. What if Florida and Kentucky both win out? Then Kentucky would go to Atlanta.

Andrew:                 Then Kentucky would get the shellacking against Alabama, and then I think Florida would probably be the beneficiary of that.

Nick:                         Yeah. There would have to be some crazy craziness to go down. I mean, if you just look at the rankings, you’d have to Clemson would need a loss. Who else? Notre Dame would need a loss. There would have to be some craziness for Florida to backdoor its way into the playoff if they don’t go to Atlanta and beat Alabama.

Andrew:                 I don’t know if I agree with that, Nick. I think you would have to have some question marks there. Right now it looks like it would probably be Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and probably Notre Dame being that top four. You could very easily see some of those teams losing. Alabama is going. They might as well go ahead and book their trip to visit the Fiesta, or is it the Rose? I forgot. It’s one of the two.

Nick:                         I think the playoffs this year are Fiesta and Orange.

Andrew:                 I think so. Anyway, they might as well go ahead and book their ticket to one of those and get the hotel, get that early discount for the hotel there.

Nick:                         You know Alabama fans. They’ve already booked it.

Andrew:                 Oh yeah.

Nick:                         They’ve already booked it. They’ve booked both, and they’ve got the insurance and can cancel one.

Andrew:                 I don’t even know if they have the insurance, because they’ll just give it to Saban and tell Saban to pay it off.

Nick:                         Looking at it, there’s a couple undefeated teams. Cincinnati, South Florida, UCF are all undefeated. They all play each other though.

Andrew:                 The thing about it is Florida would go over all three of those schools in a heartbeat.

Nick:                         Where is the UCF respect?

Andrew:                 There is zero respect. They almost lost to Memphis.

Nick:                         Then there’s four teams, the four teams in the top, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame. I think a one loss Alabama team, Ohio State team, Clemson team, and a one loss Notre Dame team probably gets in over Florida right now.

Andrew:                 Not Notre Dame. No.

Nick:                         Really? Not Notre Dame. I think there’s a lot of just national respect for Notre Dame.

Andrew:                 Notre Dame sucks, Nick.

Nick:                         I’m not saying that. I’m saying I think the committee would pick a one loss Notre Dame team over a one loss Florida.

Andrew:                 I don’t know.

Nick:                         I don’t have a committee vote.

Andrew:                 I don’t think so. I think Ohio State would.

Nick:                         I mean, the rest of Notre Dame’s schedule, they shouldn’t lose the rest of their schedule.

Andrew:                 But they always do.

Nick:                         They play Navy this week. At Northwestern. Florida State, who’s a dumpster fire.

Andrew:                 You watch them lose to Florida State.

Nick:                         Home against Florida State. Home against Syracuse, and then they end the season at USC.

Andrew:                 You watch them. They’ll lose one of those games. Notre Dame always does. Notre Dame is a dumpster fire. They’re always are. They’re one of those teams that I say is the most overrated football team year in and year out in the country.

Nick:                         They always seem to get tripped up somewhere.

Andrew:                 Exactly.

Nick:                         Notre Dame kept Florida out of a National Championship during Will Muschamp’s second year.

Andrew:                 That’s because of fake boy, what’s his name? Manti? What’s his name?

Nick:                         Oh, Manti Te’o.

Andrew:                 Yeah. The one with the fake girlfriend.

Nick:                         He’s still doing his thing in the League.

Andrew:                 With his fake girlfriend. Or has he got a real one now?

Nick:                         I don’t know.

Andrew:                 I don’t know either. Anyway, whatever.

Nick:                         He’s still playing football. Saints are paying him real American dollars to play linebacker.

Andrew:                 Whatever. Saints suck too, so who cares? For real though, we joke about all that, but, at the end of the day, if you just go out and take care of your business and do it, then that’s all you can do. It’s easier said than done, of course. It’s also pretty self-explanatory, but one loss Florida team, and I know some people might say they lost their luster, this, that, and the other. Sure, but at the same time, they still are the University of Florida. I still think that a lot of people respect that brand and would also be okay putting Florida in that playoff mix.

Nick:                         I’d be interested to see what the people listening would say. I’m taking any kind of bias out of it, and I just think in my opinion that the committee would probably put Notre Dame in, if they same record.

Andrew:                 If they put Notre Dame in, that’s stupid. They’re only doing that because of NBC money.

Nick:                         The game wouldn’t be on NBC.

Andrew:                 Yeah. But NBC got pull.

Nick:                         NBC has no say in putting Notre Dame in. They’re not even broadcasting the game.

Andrew:                 They have pull.

Nick:                         This isn’t 1970. Notre Dame is not the only team on TV every week.

Andrew:                 Here’s the deal that I say. I don’t like Notre Dame. I think they’re overrated as shit. Personally, I just think it’s stupid that they’re on there. Phil looks retarded. The game’s on NBC, poorly broadcast. It is what it is.

Here we go. As we look at this, Nick, we’re going to start where we’re going to take the same game plan here as the team does. We’re going to start getting ready for that Georgia game. We always say it’s unpredictable. It’s very, very unpredictable when you get to Jacksonville.

I thought Dan Mullen had some good things to say on the SEC teleconference about this. He said that it’s kind of a double-edged sword a little bit for Georgia. You go into the bye week pissed off. Do you now overthink things? What do you do during the bye week to correct that? Do you overthink things and try to make a drastic haul of a difference? What do you do? At the end of the day, some of their issues I don’t know are fixable. They don’t have Roquan Smith walking through the door. They don’t have Sony Michel walking through the door. They don’t have a lot of those guys that are walking through the door that were very successful last year.

Nick:                         I think the biggest thing for me with Georgia when I look at them, and probably didn’t really realize it until LSU, is that it’s not that same physicality. It’s not that same kind of bully Georgia team that maybe we were used to up front on both lines of scrimmage. Maybe part of that is losing a guy like Roquan. Not just because of how good he was. I mean, he was a tackling machine. But also the kind of guy that would get up and get in somebody’s face and tell them we’re not playing to our standard. We’re not playing that tough brand of football. I saw them get bullied in Baton Rouge last week.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I mean, some can say they got bullied up front a little bit in the Missouri game for a little bit. For a little bit in the first half, Vandy was bullying Georgia. You can talk about a couple things in the games that they’ve had that haven’t went their way. We’ll see how that does now that you’re a team with one loss, and your expectations of going undefeated are gone, that kind of stuff. Does it get you refocused? I don’t know. We’ll see. I personally don’t know.

Again, you go through this bye week now, and there’s question marks about Justin Fields, Jake Fromm. Who’s your quarterback? You and I both know from covering Florida the last few years, that stuff can take a toll on a team. That’s something that I think will be key for Kirby Smart. This is also Kirby Smart’s first real test as a head coach of managing his team. He hasn’t really had that big test of managing the mentality of his team until this week, and this is going to be key.

Again, same thing for Florida that it is for Georgia. You can’t come into this game overhyped to the point where you start to play undisciplined, because either team cannot afford three or four turnovers in this game.

Nick:                         No. There’s no way. Either team gets three, four turnovers, and this game can kind of look like it did in 2017, where it gets lopsided real quick. This is not a game where you can win, or even compete, if you’re -3, -4 in the turnover battle.

Andrew:                 Right. That’s what I’m saying. It’s a thing for me where …

Nick:                         And this is going to be a game, Spivey, that comes down to the punters at some point, because it’s going to be like the Mississippi State game was. I think there will be a feeling out point, and I think there will also be some, not timid, but some conservativeness when it comes to we could for this here on 4th down, but let’s punt and trust our defensive play at field position, field battle game.

Andrew:                 That’s a thing too, for both teams. Do you trust Jake Fromm to throw the ball and test Florida’s secondary? Does Dan Mullen trust Feleipe Franks from the get go to test Georgia’s secondary? I think that, like you said, it will be a feeling out party. I think people may get tired of hearing this from us on a week to week basis, but the running game will be key in this game. It will be. You can mark it down in your books that this running game will determine the winner of this game.

Now, it may not be the team has to run all day, but whoever runs the ball better to help the quarterback settle into the game will be the team that’s successful. Georgia has the same problem Florida does, and that is if you go into that game making Jake Fromm be the guy to win the game, you’re not winning the game. If Florida goes into the game and Feleipe Franks has to be the guy to win the game, you’re not winning the game.

Nick:                         Did the panel last night, and we had Tate Casey on there. I say it all the time, and I think people might be tired of me saying it, but it’s just football. If you want to win this game, you create a situation where it’s not D’Andre Swift and Elijah Holyfield that are beating you. It’s Jake Fromm is beating you with his arm, or Justin Fields, whoever they have playing quarterback. You need to make Georgia one-dimensional, and when they’ve got guys that are averaging 5.5 to 7.5 yards a carry, it’s find a way to neutralize them. If Georgia beats you, it’s because Jake Fromm did it throwing the football.

Andrew:                 I agree. That’s exactly it. I think if you have Justin Fields come in then it’s a situation where then you have to respect his legs. With Jake Fromm, you’re not respecting anything except for his ability to throw the ball. That just is what it is. Jake Fromm on the year is 19 carries for -39 yards. I would expect 90% of that negative is just sacks, but still.

For me though, Nick, again, I guess I’m a little bit down on the rushing game for Georgia, just for the fact that it hasn’t been dominant. They’ve had some good yardage games, simply because of them being ahead and just kind of being able to rely on the run and that kind of stuff. They’re averaging 200 and some yards a game, but it hasn’t been the explosive attack physical running game that they’ve had. I think that’s what’s led to Jake Fromm being so inconsistent on the year. I mean, he’s only completing 66% of his passes. We say only, that’s not too bad, but it’s the wide open passes that he’s missing. It’s the taking the sacks that he’s not, and he’s not been able to throw the ball deep for the majority of the year.

Nick:                         I think a step back from what he looked like last year. I’m still very high on him. I remember following him as a prep. I remember following him in high school and thinking he was going to be very good. I still think Jake Fromm is a guy that can come out and can beat you with his arm. So, even after I say you need to create a situation where if we lose it’s because of Jake Fromm, I still think he has that ability. But like you said, missing passes that he should be making in his sleep this year. To me, it’s kind of been puzzling the way he’s played this year.

Andrew:                 I mean, here’s the thing for me. Jake Fromm, for me, was never as good as people expected him to be, or thought he was last year. I don’t think he’s as bad as people have him to be this year. He is what we call a game manager. People can either like that or not, but that’s what he is. He was never expected to be the guy to win the game up there. That kind of is what it is. I kind of say this jokingly a little bit, but that’s the reason they recruited Justin Fields, to be that guy to go out and win them football games.

Nick:                         I haven’t been following the Georgia media much this week, but is there talk about a switch?

Andrew:                 Yes.

Nick:                         Has Kirby said, Jake Fromm is our guy? I thought last week at a couple different points during the LSU game is it time to give Justin Fields not just a couple plays, but give him a drive, give him two drives in a row?

Andrew:                 Right. No. He’s defended. He’s defended Jake Fromm, and that’s been his thing. He’s defended him, and defended him a lot. I think that there’s a lot of pressure on Kirby to kind of come back and maybe mix it up a little bit, but he’s defending him. That’s a thing that I think is good for Jake as well, but I don’t know how long you can go with that. Let’s just throw this out there, Nick. Fromm comes in, Florida goes up 14-0 quick out the gate. Pressure gets hot for Kirby to serve Justin Fields in the game.

Nick:                         It worked last year. You threw the freshman in last year.

Andrew:                 Yeah. That’s exactly what it is. Justin Fields is just a much, much, much better athlete than Jake Fromm.

Nick:                         I remember you and I saw him, was that Friday Night Lights?

Andrew:                 Yes.

Nick:                         I had said publicly, looking like a real big idiot, I had said publicly I think that he’s not playing great competition and this and that, and then I saw him in person and working out. I was like, you’re an idiot. This guy is like the second coming of Cam Newton. I think he is a stud. He’s going to be a great player and a high draft pick.

Andrew:                 I told you back when he was getting recruited. Guy could have been a first round MLB pick and a first round NFL pick. When you watch him play, he’s special. Great kid, great head on his shoulders, great family, all of that. That’s that.

Nick:                         You said that like you have a little crush on him. He’s special.

Andrew:                 He is special. I like Justin. I mess with him all the time telling him he should have been the shortstop for the Atlanta Braves in four to five years, because he’s an Atlanta boy, and he played shortstop.

Nick, I want to hit up on a couple matchups real quick. The DBs for Florida, when they are going against this Georgia team, Mecole Hardman and Riley Ridley, those are two guys you better focus on, and you better guard their backs out of the backfield. Those are going to be matchups for me. I think Chauncey Gardner is going to be key, and then I also think you have to put CJ Henderson in good spots against Riley Ridley. He’s the guy that cannot beat you. I think Trey Dean is going to be a key in this game as well, because Georgia is going to go play action. That’s how they’re going to get Jake Fromm involved in this game. Guys like Trey Dean, who are youngsters, have got to play disciplined football.

Nick:                         Big game for Trey Dean personally.

Andrew:                 Oh, personally, yeah.

Nick:                         What was his recruitment like when it came to …

Andrew:                 Didn’t have much interest in Georgia.

Nick:                         Was it mutual noninterest?

Andrew:                 He said he never did, and I think that kind of was clear. Georgia never really went full out after him.

Nick:                         How far is Hampton away from Athens?

Andrew:                 It’s not far.

Nick:                         Not far. He’s a backyard kid.

Andrew:                 I would say it’s less than three hours, two hours, somewhere around there.

Nick:                         He’s a little bit south of Atlanta.

Andrew:                 So it’s like three hours, somewhere around in there. I’m sure Ahmad Black helped.

Nick:                         Having cousin be a Gator great doesn’t hurt.

Andrew:                 Exactly. For me, Nick, pick on Tyson Campbell. South Florida boy, big-time guy down in South Florida, American Heritage. Teammates with Marco Wilson for a while, was a huge Gator guy, Gator target. He got exposed in the LSU game. Pick on him.

Nick:                         Good luck picking on him. He’s a good player.

Andrew:                 LSU succeeded.

Nick:                         He’s a good player.

Andrew:                 LSU succeeded.

Nick:                         That brings me to another point I wanted to make about Florida. We’ve got to see some consistency from the receivers beating man coverage and beating press coverage.

Andrew:                 I would agree with you. It’s been a situation where at times Florida’s had really good protection and have taken coverage sacks or had to throw the ball away for coverages, for good coverage. It’s a thing where when Florida is 3rd and 4 and they bring up man coverage into the face, and you’re trying to run a slant route. You’ve got to beat that man coverage off the line of scrimmage and get inside. If it’s a post route, whatever it may be, you’ve got to get off the line of scrimmage.

Nick:                         That will be a big thing, because I don’t think the game plan against Mississippi State was to throw all those screens and quick passes. I think it’s just something that they made the adjustment. They’re playing so far off, this is open.

Andrew:                 When you go back and you watch Dan Mullen’s SEC breakdown show, or whatever that thing is that they do on the SEC Network each week with a different team, he talked about it. He said he gave Feleipe the option at the line of scrimmage to throw that every play if it was there. You would see where they would have the RPO call where it’d be a run play, and Feleipe would pull it and just toss it out in the stand pass, because it was there.

I think that’s one of the smartest things Mullen can do, even in this game against Georgia. If Georgia is going to give you six yards, take it, because the best way to beat Georgia is not to give them the ball. If they don’t have the ball, they can’t score, so hold the ball as long as you can. If it’s a 17 play drive that ends in a touchdown, who cares? Put points on the board, take the time off the clock.

Nick:                         Georgia right now is the third scoring defense, averaging 39 points a game. What if I change that and look at just versus conference? Versus conference they’re even better. They’re scoring 35.8 per game just behind Alabama, who is averaging 52.8 points per game versus SEC teams, because they’re not a human team.

Andrew:                 Well.

Nick:                         But yeah, keeping Georgia off the field will be big. I think the biggest thing is that running game. I’ll probably be harping on that all next week too. Just slowing down those two guys. At least in my opinion, you can tell me if I’m wrong, when I watch Georgia I feel like any time Holyfield and Swift have the ball in their hands that it could be six.

Andrew:                 Oh, 100%.

Nick:                         They’re those kind of guys. Anytime they’re running with the ball, you’re just thinking they could break this. This could go.

Andrew:                 100%. It’s the same question with Florida, and that is which offensive line shows up? Is it an offensive line that can get a good push, or is it an offensive line that doesn’t get the push? I think you can say the same thing about Scarlett and the guys at Florida. Lamical and Damien Pierce, when they get the ball, with their vision and cutting ability, they can make things happen. It’s more of a situation can the offensive line get the running backs open? That’s been the question mark for Georgia that wasn’t the question mark last year for Georgia.

Nick:                         What about another mismatch that I’m looking at here too. Isaac Nauta, as good as we’ve talked about, and we’ve been singing Vosean Joseph’s praises, I think Isaac Nauta can give Florida a little bit of trouble, just because of the tight end that he is. A lot of times, not a lot of times, but there will be times in the game where Jachai Polite, if Georgia’s smart and calls plays correctly, they can get into situations where you’ve got a Jeremiah Moon, a Cece Jefferson, or a Jachai Polite in coverage on Isaac Nauta. That’s what, if I’m Georgia’s offensive coordinator, I’m trying to figure out any way I can get that mismatch.

Andrew:                 100%. But Nauta hasn’t been able to find it. They’re only 13 catches on the year for 176 yards, and just one touchdown. Kind of crazy to me for a guy his size. His ability to catch the ball has been an issue, and that’s something he struggled with for a while. But yeah, Vosean, Cece had a couple times last week, and that’s going to be a thing that Florida’s going to have to watch for.

The one thing I will say is with Georgia playing more of a pro-style offense it will allow Florida to have Chauncey on Isaac some, a safety on Isaac some. It shouldn’t be as much at linebacker on tight end as you would against a Missouri or against a Vandy at times or against Kentucky at times. So, it should be a little bit more traditional in that, but that’s a key matchup as well. I think you can say the same vice versa with Moral and Florida’s running backs against Georgia’s linebackers, who’ve struggled this year.

Nick:                         Yeah. There has really been no answer to Roquan.

Andrew:                 Zero. Zero answers. When you look at the linebackers, Monty Rice is the guy that’s kind of been the leader as a sophomore there. Natrez Patrick is not doing as much as they thought he would do. D’Andre Walker is not doing as much as they thought he would do. It’s been a struggle to really replace those guys.

Nick:                         Nauta had a good game against LSU. He had three for 47.

Andrew:                 That was a good game?

Nick:                         Better than his other games.

Andrew:                 That’s not good for my fantasy league.

Nick:                         If you had picked him, would he have gotten a win? Would you have gotten a win for that?

Andrew:                 No. You wouldn’t have either.

Nick:                         I would have talked my way into it.

Andrew:                 Whatever. Nick, we’re going to move on. We’re going to make some picks for this week. Shorter podcast. This is a bye week and all that good stuff. Be back next week and get more into this rivalry game in Jacksonville. Big game. Big game in Jacksonville.

Nick, go ahead, give us the first pick. Actually, I’m going to give you the first pick, first game to pick out here. Oregon travels up to Washington State. Nick, did you see how jacked their fans were for the College Gameday bus?

Nick:                         No.

Andrew:                 Oh, they had a parade. They had the streets lined. They had the cougar mascot or whatever deal, whatever you want to call him, was running the streets with the Washington State flag. The first time ever that they’ve been in Palmello? What’s the … ? Something that starts with a P up in Washington State. That’s a flag you see every week.

Nick:                         Yeah. That’s been a thing, I think, since the first ever one. It’s Pulman, Washington. I don’t know who it is or how many of them there are. They did a thing about that. On Gameday they did like a story about the flag and it being there every game day. Here’s a hot take for you. Parades are stupid.

Andrew:                 Oh, yeah.

Nick:                         Stand around in the street and watch cars move slowly, watch people walk. No thanks.

Andrew:                 No. I’m with you. I’m just telling you that it was pretty cool the way their fans got excited. Here’s the other thing. Who cares? It’s Washington State. Does anybody even care? I don’t.

Nick:                         All right. Who you taking?

Andrew:                 I am going to ride with Washington State.

Nick:                         Really? After just saying it’s Washington State.

Andrew:                 After just saying it’s Washington State. It’s still Mario Cristobal coaching the other one.

Nick:                         I’m going with the fighting Cristobal’s.

Andrew:                 Of course, you would. The next Miami football coach.

Nick:                         Jeez. Poor Oregon. My goodness. If they have another one leave …

Andrew:                 I mean, I don’t know. That would be, who’s their DC? Leavitt? Would Jim Leavitt be the guy that they call up to be the next one?

Nick:                         I don’t know who they would.

Andrew:                 That’s right. Isn’t it Jim Leavitt? That’s their DC, correct? Yeah. The guy from USF.

Nick:                         Yes.

Andrew:                 Hey, Cristobal at Miami would be a killer.

Nick:                         Mark Richt is not getting fired.

Andrew:                 I mean, I don’t want him to. I like joking on the guy. I already lost Butch last year.

Nick:                         How many questions is Nick Saban getting about Butch this week?

Andrew:                 A lot. Butch, how many guys is Butch in there saying, I recruited that guy, he sucks. I recruited that guy, he sucks. Pick on him. I recruited that guy, he sucks. Keep picking on him. We’ll talk about that game in a second.

Nick:                         There’s a lot of guys he can say that about.

Andrew:                 Yeah. That’s true. Go ahead, Nick. We’ll get to SEC games here in a second.

Nick:                         I’m going Oregon, so that’s our first mix and match pick.

Andrew:                 Michigan and Michigan State. I know who you’re running with.

Nick:                         Don’t steer me wrong, Andrew. Going with the Wolverines. Go blue.

Andrew:                 The fighting Harbaughs suck too. Overrated, #6 in the country. Get out of here. Six in the country. All that and Notre Dame. Go Sparty.

Nick:                         You keep picking against him, and they keep winning.

Andrew:                 Go Sparty. Actually, no. No.

Nick:                         Nope. Already wrote it in. It’s in.

Andrew:                 Podcast hasn’t went live. I can edit it if I want.

Nick:                         No.

Andrew:                 The fighting Harbaughs win. I’m hoping if I pick the Harbaughs that Michigan State will win. I’ll take a loss if they do too. Fighting Harbaughs.

Nick:                         You’re on Michigan State.

Andrew:                 No. Who you got next? What’s the next game?

Nick:                         Next game. Before we get to the SEC we’ll do NC State going to Clemson.

Andrew:                 How pretty would it be for Clemson to get knocked off?

Nick:                         I need that, that fat redhead kid shirtless, standing on top of something, waving his shirt over his head when they beat FSU. I need him to show up at Clemson if they win.

Andrew:                 Oh yeah. Absolutely. Sorry, Dabo rolls.

Nick:                         Yeah. Clemson. Clemson might beat the brakes off them. They might be unranked after this game.

Andrew:                 Yes. The fighting Dan Mullens go to LSU.

Nick:                         No. The fighting Joe Moorheads.

Andrew:                 The fighting Dan Mullens he recruited that team. Goes to LSU.

Nick:                         I got LSU. Night game in Death Valley.

Andrew:                 Death Valley will take over. LSU wins. I am interested to see how Moorhead runs Fitzgerald. Does he stick to last week’s game plan or not? LSU rolls.

Nick:                         Something we talked about a little bit on that panel on Wednesday night was what kind of coach is Dan Mullen? Look at Nick Fitzgerald this year as opposed to what he looked like last year when Mullen was calling the plays.

Andrew:                 Oh, poorly used. Poorly used.

Nick:                         Yeah. Night and day difference with him this year.

Andrew:                 Poorly used. For the cigar, Tennessee at Alabama. We’re not going to just pick this game straight up, because we’d both pick Alabama. 28.5 point favorite for the Crimson Tide, and 57 points is the over-under. I’m going to say Alabama covers, and they may score 57 on their own.

Nick:                         We’re both going to pick Alabama to cover anyway. We tried to make a little bit harder, and I looked at the line and was like, yeah, Alabama’s got that. No problem.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Butch talking bad about his players. Is there another SEC game we were going to pick besides the one that I said I wanted to pick?

Nick:                         Nope. Just Auburn at Ole Miss.

Andrew:                 Here we go, Nick. Auburn at Ole Miss. If Auburn loses, does Gus get fired?

Nick:                         No. No. That’s too much money. I said that with McElwain, and of course that played out differently, and they were able to negotiate that. That’s too much money.

Andrew:                 I think so too. I think Auburn finds a way to win the game though. I think Gus is around next year. That’s a lot of money.

Nick:                         I mean, he’s seven games in to a seven year extension.

Andrew:                 Yeah. That’s why you don’t give it to him. Should have let him go to Arkansas.

Nick:                         He’s making $6.5 million a year.

Andrew:                 He’s like the fifth or sixth highest paid coach in America.

Nick:                         He’s behind Nick Saban, who makes $8.3. Urban Meyer makes $7.6. Harbaugh is $7.5, and Jimbo is $7.5. Malzahn is right after them.

Andrew:                 Exactly. Man. That’s crazy. They’ll get rid of him if they want to though.

Nick:                         If they get rid of him this year, they owe him $32,143,750.

Andrew:                 That’s insane. Anyway. There you go. Nick, tell everybody where they can find us. We’ll get out of here, and we’ll see everyone on Monday as we get ready for Georgia hate week.

Nick:                         I’m picking Auburn in that game as well. I’m going to sneak that in there. I’m taking Auburn. Really excited for a good week at games. I get to sit on the couch and watch them all.

Andrew:                 Let me ask you this. I’m going to throw a wildcard at you. Let me run through this real quick. Give me two seconds. I’m going to run through something. Iowa plays at Maryland. They’re #19. Let’s just not do that. Let’s do top 10. Oklahoma at #9 plays TCU. Alabama and Tennessee. Clemson, we called that game already. Mississippi State and LSU, we called that already. UCF is #10, they play East Carolina. #2 Ohio State plays Purdue. That’s all the top 10 games. Top 10 team most likely to lose or could lose is?

Nick:                         Top 10 team most likely to lose. Who do you have?

Andrew:                 Oklahoma against TCU. I think that’s a game that Oklahoma’s defense is so shaky that TCU’s offense, Gary Patterson. He knows how to coach some ball. If I was going to say a top 10 team would lose it would be them. Outside of Michigan, I still think that Michigan-Michigan State game, it’s a rivalry game.

Nick:                         I was going to say. You picked Michigan State.

Andrew:                 I mean, anything can happen in that game.

Nick:                         You picked Michigan State.

Andrew:                 I picked Harbaugh.

Nick:                         You picked Michigan State.

Andrew:                 I changed it.

Nick:                         Suspect.

Andrew:                 Who do you say?

Nick:                         I think Oklahoma, for the same points that you make there. They’re coming off a bye. Did TCU have a bye last week?

Andrew:                 Let’s see. TCU last week played, yes, they played Texas Tech last Thursday and lost. 17-14. Tell everybody where they can find us. We’ll get out of here and see everyone on Monday.

Nick:                         www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. The podcast is there in audio and transcript form, if you like to read it rather than listen to it. It’s also wherever you listen to your podcasts. Just search Gator Country. Subscribe. Leave a rating. 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. Guys, we appreciate it. We’ll see everyone on Monday and get ready for this Georgia game. Big game for the Gators. Big game for the Dawgs. Big game the college football and SEC East implications. As always, guys, go Braves and chomp, chomp.

Nick:                         You stay classy.

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.