GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we bring you our Friday preview for the Florida Gators vs. Kentucky game on Saturday.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down the keys for the Gators on both offense and defense on Saturday against Kentucky.
Andrew and Nick also give you three players to watch for the Gators on Saturday, plus we predict several games around the country on Saturday.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, day before Kentucky. Time to start a new winning streak. I will say this. I am not as smart this year as I was last year, because I didn’t hear about what was going on in 1987 or 1986, last time Florida and Kentucky played.
Nick: I did some Kentucky radio, and they started talking about streak. I went back into listening to Major League, the movie, and he’s like, “We won yesterday. That’s one. We won today. That’s two. If we win tomorrow, that’s three. That’s a winning streak.” I was kind of like, if Kentucky manages to pull it off Saturday it’s not really a streak. You won a couple, but you’re not streaking yet. But I didn’t have to go back and look what gas prices were back in 1987 or what the most listened to song was. No history lessons this week.
Andrew: Yeah. I agree with you. You and I are big baseball guys, and the thing in baseball is when you win three in a row that’s a winning streak. One or two, that’s not a winning streak. Kentucky, wake me up when you’ve won three in a row. I know you’re not getting cocky, because you only lost, what, 40 straight before then, it seemed like. I will say this. All streaks have to end, obviously. I don’t want to say that it was a bad thing that Florida lost last year. I think that had Florida beat Kentucky last year I don’t know that they finish like they did.
Nick: I just wrote a story about that. I remember the Monday press conference with Dan Mullen. Of course, he gets asked about. It’s literally everyone. Every player or coach from both teams get asked about the streak for 30 years.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: He said on Monday, it’s bound to end at some point. That’s just sports. Then when they lost, I immediately remembered that quote, like you shouldn’t have said that. At some point it was going to happen, whether it was Dan Mullen or whether it was head coach Tim Tebow in the year 2047.
Andrew: Right. It had been close in the past. The Demarcus Robinson touchdown.
Nick: Yeah. I’m already back in Lexington. The last time I was here, if Kentucky covers two wide receivers, the streak ends.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: That Will Grier touchdown, or was it Jeff Driskell? The one in the triple overtime game.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: I think the play clock was zero.
Andrew: Yeah. There was several opportunities that they could have lost, and it could have been over with. Again, I think that you don’t overlook these guys anymore. Listen, I don’t think you should have overlooked them last year either. What Mark Stoops has done up there in Kentucky is slowly build a program that’s respectful. I don’t know that you’ll ever build Kentucky up to be an SEC Eastern contender every year, but I do think that they’re more respectful now.
I will ask you this. This is something that I’ve talked about with a couple of people on radio and different things. Does the transfer portal hurt or help teams like Kentucky more? Hear me out when I say this. Last year’s Kentucky team was so good because of the veteran leadership that they had. They had the senior in Benny Snell, the senior in, what was it? Josh Allen, right? That’s right?
Nick: Yes.
Andrew: Yes. In the portal, does Benny Snell and Josh Allen stay in Kentucky?
Nick: I don’t know. I’m not sure. I think teams like Kentucky, I mean, Dan Mullen, we’ve talked about it a bunch, has had to use transfers or JUCO. I think Kentucky’s getting to a point, and you probably see this all the time, I feel like Kentucky’s the first team to offer some of these kids.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Then they just aren’t able to hold onto them. I think that’s starting to change a little bit, but it’s almost like Kentucky offered someone, and you’re like, I’ve never heard of him. Then all of a sudden, a month later, Alabama, South Carolina, Texas, USC, Ohio State, Florida. Everyone else is offering.
Andrew: Gerald Mincey in the class was a former Kentucky commit.
Nick: Kentucky is like the rest of the SEC’s recruiting service. Credit to their staff. I think that they need to lean on it earlier, but I think what Dan Mullen said, and I think Dan Mullen sees a lot of similarities in the way that he built Mississippi State to the way that Mark Stoops built Kentucky, and I think he’s starting to build a sustained winner. Do I think they’re going to win 10 games this year like they did last year? Maybe not, but once you start having that success, and it’s not just you can tell somebody something in recruiting, but until they see it on the field and they see it actually coming out, then it’s just words, and talk is cheap.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: So, I think, yeah, that it could in the long run. I think they had to to get to this point, but now I think that Dan Mullen’s right, and they’ve built kind of a sustained winner in Lexington. That’ll help recruiting.
Andrew: I think it’s a case of twofold a little bit. When you look at the portal, I think it’ll help Kentucky, but I also think it has the ability to hurt. I mean, listen, Benny Snell is a good player, and I’m just using him for an example. Don’t tell me that other schools would not have tried to pick him away from Kentucky, seeing how they good they were, and saying, listen, you could win a national championship in Georgia or at Florida, or wherever it may be. You’re not going to win one at LSU.
Nick: No. A lot of those guys in the past might have gone to Kentucky just strictly for playing time. I think Benny Snell played as a sophomore.
Andrew: Yeah. So, that’s why I think it can help and hurt a school like Kentucky. Let’s move on a little bit. I think the biggest storyline, and I don’t even think it’s a storyline. I mean, it’s a storyline, because it’s there, but Dan Mullen kind of said the game plan had to be changed a little bit, because of Sawyer Smith playing quarterback instead of Terry Wilson. Me personally, I don’t think that’s a big of a change, because I think Kentucky is going to run what Kentucky runs. I will say that I think Sawyer Smith has a better arm and is probably a better pure passer than Terry Wilson, but isn’t the runner. So, I don’t know if it’s a storyline. I mean, it’s a storyline, but I don’t think it’s a huge one.
Nick: I think it’s a big thing. Obviously, you’re not changing everything you do. You’re not scrapping everything. I think it’s a big storyline because of how successful Terry Wilson was running the ball, how successful he was gashing Florida, making Florida miss, extending not only plays but entire drives with his legs. I don’t think you’re going to see that from Sawyer. For me, the biggest thing is those 100 and something yards that Wilson had, and touchdown, with his feet. I think that takes an added dimension away from Kentucky’s running game. Listen, they’re going to line up, and they’re going to run the ball downhill.
Andrew: I should say this. Let me correct when I say this. I think it’s less of a storyline as far as it hurting Florida more so than it’s helping Florida. I say that, obviously we don’t want to see an injured guy, but I think that Terry Wilson not being able to run the ball is a plus for Florida. It’s not going to hurt them as much. So, I don’t think they had to change the game plan a ton, maybe now they just don’t have to worry about the running aspect of the quarterback play as much.
Nick: Yeah. It’s not like they went from having Treon Harris to, who? Feleipe can still move.
Andrew: Mike Vick.
Nick: Yeah. Kentucky didn’t lose Mike Vick and replace him with Tom Brady.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: It’s not two completely different quarterbacks. I think it’s like you said. I think Sawyer probably throws a better deep ball, probably a touch more accurate than Terry Wilson at this point of his career, and just not the same kind of dynamic runner that Wilson is.
Andrew: I’ll say this. Do not expect Sawyer Smith to be scared. He’s played some big teams. He payed the LSUs of the world, and he’s played in some big games. Don’t expect him to have bright eyes and be intimidated, by any means, on Saturday.
Nick: He’s an interesting guy, because he’s only a junior, so he has two years to play. I think that’s another thing Mark Stoops was asked about and talked about. The really interesting thing to me is that he chose to come to Kentucky when they’ve got an underclassman who just led us to a 10-win season. You’re not going into a situation resigning yourself to be the backup, but you’re coming in and probably thinking this is his, this guy’s job.
Andrew: They’re in the same class though, correct? Him and Wilson.
Nick: Yes.
Andrew: Yeah. Okay. That’s what I thought. It’ll be interesting to see how that shakes out and kind of how Kentucky handles that when Wilson gets back. If Sawyer Smith does well this year, do you potentially let him be the guy? I think that’ll be interesting to see. I think Wilson’s a very good running quarterback. He never impressed me a ton throwing the ball.
Nick: Almost ran for more than he threw against Florida last year.
Andrew: Yeah. I guess, let’s move on and talk. Obviously, there’s a small chance CJ Henderson plays on Saturday. I’m going to say he doesn’t play on Saturday.
Nick: To me, it just doesn’t make sense. You can’t overlook Kentucky. You learned that last year, and I just talked about it. I spent probably too much time talking about what I think Mark Stoops has built. You can’t overlook Kentucky. But, to me, you’ve got Tennessee next week and then Townsend. Then that stretch of football games that you have after that is just a murderer’s row. You’ve got a guy at a skill position. This isn’t a quarterback, who if a certain quarterback has a mild sprained ankle, let’s just tape that thing up, and we’ll tell him not to run. Or if it’s an offensive lineman with a mild sprained ankle, put a brace on it, tape that thing up, and just let him stomp around out there.
This is a skill position guy, someone who is not even knowing where he’s necessarily going to go. A wide receiver knows his route, knows where he’s going. Everything with a cornerback is reactionary, and that’s stopping and planning and turning and moving quickly like that. It’s not anything that you can plan or even think in your head, okay, I’m going to take this cut right now, so let me brace really quickly. It’s all instinctual out there.
I think you’re putting him in harm’s way if you play CJ Henderson. This might be a situation where as you’ve a coach you’ve got to kind of step in and talk to a young player, 19, 20 years old, and say, for your future, we’re not playing you. I know you don’t want to miss a game, but you got out there, and you have a chance of doing something to then miss a month or miss six weeks, or miss the entire season, God forbid. I think you probably have to just step in front of him and say, it’s not this week.
Andrew: Right. It goes to show how big of a competitor CJ Henderson is. Definitely doesn’t want to miss no games his senior year or nothing like that.
Nick: Well, his junior year, but might as well be his senior year, because he ain’t coming back for his senior year.
Andrew: Sorry. Junior year, but his senior year of football. He doesn’t want to miss it, but like you said, would you rather him play against Kentucky, or would you rather him play against LSU? I think you and I both know the answer to that.
Nick: Auburn. LSU. Georgia. That whole stretch. Get him in there for those.
Andrew: Yeah. Here’s the thing. I think if you sit him this week, and maybe he’s good to go against Tennessee and plays a little bit against Tennessee, and then you can rest him in the Townsend game for that. My question though was who do you slide out? Do you slide Dean out? Do you go with one of the freshmen? My personal opinion, Nick, and I don’t think this happens, I think Trey Dean stays inside, but I would like to see Dean outside and one of the freshmen inside. I just haven’t seen Trey Dean be comfortable in that nickel spot.
Nick: I’ve gotten asked this a bunch.
Andrew: I don’t think it happens, by the way.
Nick: The reason I don’t think they make that change is something Ron English told us. Ron English said, you put your best player at that star position. He goes, when you’re a cornerback, you’ve got the safety telling you you’re covering that guy, or the safety telling you that’s what you’re doing, or you’re in man coverage, and whoever’s in front of me, that’s the guy I’m covering.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: When you’re playing that nickel, that star position, you’re playing in coverage. You’re playing against the run. You’re taking on blocks. You’re the guy in change of is the guy next to me, does he know what he’s doing? What are the linebackers doing? When they did it at Michigan, they put like Charles Woodson was the guy that played that position for them. Ty Law played that position for them. Smart, veteran football players. So, to put an Amari Burney, who’s coming back from an injury, which I think is an okay, not anything super special, but an okay receiving core with Kentucky. You’re not putting in one of the freshmen. It’s too much for a Kaiir Elam, a Chester Kimbrough, or a Jaydon Hill. It’s too much for them. Right now, you’re comfortable putting them on the outside, and like what I just said, cover the guy in front of you or listen to the safety.
Andrew: Yeah. I get that. For me, and this is not a knock of any of the young guys, but I feel more comfortable with Trey Dean outside compared to one of the freshmen, just because of what he did. Now, I guess you have to ask yourself, who do you feel more comfortable with inside, is it Dean or Burney or a young guy? I guess the answer to that question is going to be Dean, so that kind of answers the question. Again, like you said, I don’t think either one of the receivers are anything as good as they were in the past, so you should be okay in this game.
Nick: Yeah. To me, it’s just how much responsibility comes with that position. I think, by process of elimination, you’re taking out the freshmen from that equation then, and then it’s really only Amari Burney, and I don’t know, like we talked about before the year, Amari Burney is not like a true nickel back. He would play in running downs at the nickel position when you wanted to get an extra linebacker on the field.
Andrew: Right. Right. That makes sense. That’ll be something to watch in the game, to see if they do get creative at all, if they do move anyone. Then if the game was to get out of hand, who kind of slides in there? I think that could answer some questions as well.
Then Kadarius Toney, obviously, not going to play. The talk all week has been get Copeland the ball out there. So, how comfortable do you feel with him going out there, and how much do you think he plays? Dan Mullen didn’t say that he was going to get all of the Kadarius role. For me, and you and I talked about this, I’m one of the biggest Josh Hammond fans there is, but Josh Hammond isn’t doing what Kadarius Toney’s doing, isn’t going to do what Jacob Copeland is going to do.
Nick: Right. I think that Dan Mullen’s comments about Jacob Copeland were telling. It’s not just what he’s saying, it’s how the reps are shaking out for Copeland as well. I think, yeah, Copeland will fill in some of that role. Maybe when it comes to a handoff, probably not going to hand the ball off to Freddie Swain or Josh Hammond. Maybe that’s one that you would give to Copeland for a little jet sweep or a little pitch out of motion, you do that. I think if it comes down to some of the running routes, or some of the routes that we need them to run, I think you’ll see. I think Copeland’s snap count goes up a little bit, probably more into the Toney range, but I think you’ll see probably all three of those guys filling in for Kadarius Toney. It’s not we’re talking about Toney getting 15 targets a game either.
Andrew: Right. I mean, sometimes it was three.
Nick: Yeah. And he’d run 130,000 meters in those three to pick up 12 yards.
Andrew: I want to see what Jacob Copeland can do. There’s some, I don’t want to say misinformation. There’s a lot of what ifs on Kadarius’ timetable. You and I have heard 3-4 weeks. Some people are hearing 6-8 weeks. Obviously, Dan Mullen didn’t comment, didn’t want to say for sure on that, by any means, and didn’t expect him to. Let’s say that he’s out six weeks, and he misses the Auburn game. That’s when you need that Jacob Copeland or that Kadarius Toney role to mix things up, and I think that that’s why it’s so important for these next few games to really get Copeland the reps to say we’re comfortable with you doing this.
Nick: Yeah. Shoot, six weeks would put him all the way to Georgia.
Andrew: I’m just saying, even four weeks is getting you right back at Auburn. We’ll see. Do I think he could come back? Sure. Absolutely. Florida has first class training and that kind of stuff and rehab. I’m just saying you’re looking at it getting into big-time opponents. Should Florida need Jacob Copeland to beat Tennessee and Kentucky? No. Should they need him to beat Townsend? No. But you’re going to need them to beat Auburn. You’re going to need them to beat LSU, and you’re definitely going to need them to beat Georgia.
Nick: Yeah. 100%. To your point, I do agree with it then. Now is the time to get Copeland those reps. When you look at, I mean, Tennessee, the Titanic over there. Kentucky, figure out the game plan. I think they’re probably still going to be learning how much they can lean on him and how much they can trust him in that role. Then Tennessee, that game should be over by mid-3rd quarter. Then you get Townsend. I think there’s a big opportunity to see, Jacob, listen, here’s your role, and you probably want to do more. You can earn more, just show us. Show us that we can trust you with more and more.
Andrew: Right. Right. That’s something I’m looking forward to seeing. I really am. I’ll be honest, Nick, and I know we’ve said this a lot, but I really think Emory Jones has a role this week.
Nick: Okay. Give me, I guess, like a snap count then.
Andrew: Maybe five. Maybe five plays, six plays. Maybe.
Nick: Little bit bigger of a role than you have.
Andrew: Yeah. I’m just saying I think you see him play. I say five and six, obviously if Florida’s up 50-0 that’s going to go way up or whatever. Still, I think that you see him get a package and maybe some of those short Feleipe was taking the hits, Emory’s in there taking the hits. Could be wrong. Could be.
Nick: I mean, I can see that.
Andrew: I just think that that’s something that Dan Mullen’s been holding back a little bit. Let’s face it, he hasn’t really needed it. They could have used it in the Miami game a little bit, but still. That’s just something I think. I mean, we’ll see.
Nick: It’s interesting, because honestly, unless he has a really bad season, I think Feleipe Franks will at least, at the very least, consider leaving school early.
Andrew: Right. If he has a good season, he’s gone. Don’t even.
Nick: I said unless he has a seriously bad season, then I think he will go.
Andrew: Homeboy tried to go last year.
Nick: He thought about it last year. So, you’re at a point where it’s not even just you’ve got to keep Emory Jones happy. It’s also a point of, shoot, do we want to go into next year with our starting quarterback being Kyle Trask, who’s rarely ever played, or Emory Jones, start getting somebody in it? Then also, like I said, briefly touched on, just keeping him happy.
Andrew: Right. That’ll be a key. Give me your key then on offense and give me a key on defense. Or give me a key on offense. I’ll give you a key on offense. Then we’ll bounce it back.
Nick: Okay. A key for me defensively is to get to the quarterback. I got a little bit of heat on Twitter, because I said I think Florida’s sack stats are inflated.
Andrew: They are.
Nick: I don’t think that’s crazy to say. They’re on pace for 90 sacks, which would be a Florida record.
Andrew: They are.
Nick: 90 sacks is ridiculous. The leader in the country last year was Clemson, and I think they had 60. You’re talking about 30 extra sacks to what Clemson had from a year ago.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: This is going to be the best offensive line Florida has faced this season. That’s not saying much, but I do think Kentucky has a very good offensive line. It might be the second best offensive line Florida faces after Georgia.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: So, get pressure on the quarterback. Don’t put up 11 sacks and then 4 sacks, and then come out and be held sackless. Get pressure on them, whether it’s getting to them and actually sacking the quarterback or affecting the quarterback. Just don’t let Sawyer Smith get comfortable and get into a rhythm. Don’t let him feel, shoot, I’ve played LSU, I feel like I belong. I’m ready. I can do this. Hit from the opening play and make him think, shoot, what did I sign up for? Maybe I should have gone to Townsend or something.
Andrew: You know, one thing to go on your point is you have to remember this Kentucky offensive line is used to a guy who could get away from it. It’s a situation now where Sawyer Smith is going to be looking for this offensive line to keep him up and be able to allow him to stay in the pocket a little bit. So, that’s something to watch for as well is how this offensive line does without a true dual threat quarterback.
Nick: Then offensively, Florida’s got to get the running game going. You have to, have to be able to run the ball. We’re in SEC play now.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: If you’re going to be running the ball, right now Florida’s got 66 rush attempts for 281 yards. That’s a 4.26 average. Only four touchdowns. They’re 11th in the SEC in rushing yards per game. You’re going to have to run the ball. That’s what Kentucky is going to try to make this game, because they’re a physical team. They want to line up hat on hat and run the ball between the tackles with their running backs. If you’re Florida, on the road at a sold-out Kroger Field, you’re going to need to match that intensity. If you can’t run the ball with Kentucky, I think Florida could be in trouble. You’re going to have to establish the run. Lamical Perine is not even at 100 yards rushing yet through two games. So, Florida’s got to get some stuff going right now in terms of running the football. That’s my key offensive. Run the dang ball, Chip.
Andrew: There you go. For me, defensively is stopping the Kentucky run. Stopping those running backs and making Sawyer Smith be the guy who puts the game on his shoulders and see what he does. That’ll be the key for this team. The biggest thing to go with that is wrap up. You got to make tackles. You can’t allow these Kentucky running backs to make second and third and fourth chances happen after missed tackles.
Then offensively, I have to go with what you just said. Be physical. Run the ball. Figure out a way to run the ball in this game. You’re not going to win the SEC, you’re not going to continue to win games with less than 100 yards rushing. You’re just not. You can’t. You can’t in the SEC. This is the time. It’s SEC play. This is where the lights come on. It’s get in or get out time for this offensive line.
Nick: Yup. Poop or get off the pot, Spivey. We’ll keep our everyone rating on iTunes.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: Poop or get off the pot.
Andrew: It is. That’s what it is. You’ve either got to figure out a way, or it’s got to be some changes made. You want to do some player picks now?
Nick: Yeah. You’re up first. Let me pull this up so I can have it and let everyone know where we stand. Right now, I’ve got the lead. Three players picked out of six correctly to your two. I haven’t gone and added up the games, but I’ll add it up before we do the …
Andrew: Neither one of us is running away here with the title.
Nick: No. If you need betting advice, don’t ask us.
Andrew: Yeah. Don’t ask us. I’m going to with my first pick, Nick. I’m going to go with the veteran on the road in Van Jefferson. I think this is a game where Kentucky’s going to allow the throwing game a little bit as they try to shut down the run, and a veteran in Van Jefferson, I like Van’s chances.
Nick: I’m not going to pick Feleipe Franks. I want to, but I don’t want to pick him every single week. I think he will have a good game, and I think his experience and leadership will help Florida in this game. But I’m going to go with defense, to your point, what you said about keys to the game, stopping that run, these are the kind of games that David Reese lives for. You want to run between the tackles? My facemask is going to be right in that A gap. I’ll meet you there.
Andrew: Meet you there. That’s right. I would say Lamical, but …
Nick: You’ve picked him two weeks in a row.
Andrew: I picked him two weeks in a row, so I’m going to let the man go off this week and have it. I’m going to go back to the well though. I talked about him, and the 850 and Pensacola native, Jacob Copeland’s going to get in the zone this weekend.
Nick: Okay. Two receivers.
Andrew: That’s right.
Nick: I’m going to go with my second pick.
Andrew: Now the 850 may get in from the rushing. It may be a rushing touchdown.
Nick: Okay. I’m going to go with a different receiver.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: My receiver is going to be Freddy Swain. I think he also makes an impact on special teams this week.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: I think Florida is going to be able to exploit something on special teams. There’s weird things that happen in this rivalry. I remember back in the day watching when like it was Brandon James. I forget what game it was. He might have blocked like two Kentucky punts and almost blocked like four of them. It was an Urban game. I think Florida will try to get something going and make something happen on special teams.
Andrew: I’m going to go with a guy on defense that hates Kentucky, Nick. You know who I’m talking about. Jonathan Greenard. This is personal for him. I think that he will have a big game, and I think that this is a game where he’ll be able to go against Sawyer Smith and have a big game.
Nick: The L’s up for Jonathan Greenard. We saw a video. They asked him, it looked like after a practice when he was Louisville, they asked him who sticks out to you on Kentucky? He goes, no one. Somebody tweeted that, and he quote tweeted it earlier this week, and he said, nothing changed. Yeah. Personal. Personal game for him. I’m going to do you one up, Spivey, and I’m going to take Lamical Perine.
Andrew: Okay. Well, I hope he succeeds. I mean, you’re not going to find a bigger fan. I hope you get the win.
Nick: Is that the 251?
Andrew: That’s the 251.
Nick: 251.
Andrew: That’s the 251. All right, give me some games to pick.
Nick: We got an awful slate of games in Week 3. My goodness. I found five of them, including Florida, and not really excited about any of them. We’ll start with Standford making a trip to my alma mater, heading down to Orlando. The trees versus the knights.
Andrew: The trees.
Nick: Stanford’s so bad. I’m going with the UCF. Stanford’s so bad. I mean, they just got the brakes beat off them last week. They’re just not a good football team. Down year for them, big time.
Andrew: I need to change my pick. I’m going to go UCF, every bit of me though wants to pick the trees.
Nick: You want it. You want it. Stanford has not looked like, you know.
Andrew: I just want UCF fans to shut up. That’s all.
Nick: See, they’re going to beat Stanford, and even though Stanford’s bad, they’re going to say see, this is what happens when a Power Five team comes down to Orlando.
Andrew: Yeah. I’m picking UCF, but I am begging for the trees. This is one L that I hope I take.
Nick: We move on to USC, just had Lynn Swann step down. They started a freshman quarterback, which I think the fanbase has been calling for. At BYU. I might pick BYU’s games every week, because I love the Mormon Manziel out there.
Andrew: I’m going to go with Clay Helton and USC. I think that he knows.
Nick: Clay’s in the hot seat. His AD’s gone. They’re going to find a new AD. If you don’t win games, I mean, I think Clay entered the season on the hot seat.
Andrew: I agree. So, I’m going to go with Clay.
Nick: Yeah. I’m going to go Clay too. We’re going to pick all these games the same?
Andrew: Maybe. Who we got next?
Nick: The fighting Willie Taggarts are heading to Virginia. Looking for a win after barely squeaking by last week.
Andrew: They have a new DC, Jim Leavitt. Oh, that’s right, he’s not DC. He’s the analyst, but he’s the DC. I’m going with the fighting Virginia Cavaliers.
Nick: So am I. Shout out to Jake McGee. Go Hoos.
Andrew: That’s right. Go Jake. It’s one of those things where until FSU proves they can do something I’m picking against them.
Nick: #dosomething.
Andrew: Do something. There you go.
Nick: That’s the last game, other than Florida-Kentucky. It’s a really bad week of games.
Andrew: What’s the spread on Florida-Kentucky?
Nick: Last one I saw was Florida -8.
Andrew: Okay.
Nick: Eight-point favorite on the road.
Andrew: Yeah. I’m going to Florida to cover, and quite frankly, I don’t think it’s close.
Nick: Yeah. I think Florida covers that spread as well, and I don’t think it’s like when Florida lost to Georgia when Urban was here, Mickey Marotti made everyone do like 42 reps, because Florida gave up 42 points to Georgia. They haven’t had that same kind of thing where they’re rubbing it in Florida’s faces. To your point, and what you said earlier, I think Florida really just learned a lot about themselves and took a step forward as a program from a loss. I think it might even be easier to learn about yourself and to make changes after a loss. It might not be as fun as making changes after a win, but I think it’s easier to make those corrections after a loss, and I think they did that. I’m picking Florida, and I think they’ll start streaking again.
Andrew: I say something like 31-10, maybe. Something like that. I think Sawyer Smith struggles. If Terry Wilson plays, I think they score a little bit. That’s that. Nick, you’re up in Lexington, so everyone make sure to follow along as Nick will up there, and we’ll be covering the game and talking about everything after the game. Then we get ready for my favorite week of the year.
Nick: Butch. The old Butch week.
Andrew: By the way, Nick, I have a question for you. Anything different going on in Florida in the atmosphere this week?
Nick: No.
Andrew: I heard an alien was spotted in Jacksonville.
Nick: An alien?
Andrew: Yeah. Josh Dobbs.
Nick: Oh. What’s that guy’s name? Mayhew?
Andrew: Minshew.
Nick: Minshew. He is a delight. He is a delight. He is fantastic.
Andrew: Only thing he better understand is this. Josh Dobbs can probably make him disappear, so he better be careful.
Nick: Jeez.
Andrew: Nick, tell everybody where they can find us. We’ll get out of here. We’ll see everyone on Monday as we recap this Gators-Kentucky game.
Nick: 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 go to listen to your podcasts. Just search Gator Country. Subscribe. Never miss an episode. Do your social media thing. @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. You can find me @NickdelaTorreGC, and he is @AndrewSpiveyGC.
Andrew: There you go. As always, guys, we appreciate it. Chomp, chomp and go Braves.
Nick: You stay classy, Gator Country.