GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we start to preview the Florida Gators vs. Mississippi State game on Saturday in Starkville.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre are joined by Brett Hudson of The Commercial Dispatch to get his thoughts on the game, plus we ask him about Dan Mullen’s time in Starkville.
Andrew and Nick also continue to breakdown the game as they give you their keys for the Gators on both sides of the ball.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, had a little technical difficulties, didn’t get to do the recap of the Tennessee game. We’ll do all that, no worries. It was a lot to talk about, but not a lot to talk about, because it was just another day, beating Tennessee.
Nick: Need to work on getting the good state of Tennessee some internet connection, which caused us to miss our Monday podcast, but we got a good one today. We’ll do a quick review. I know everyone wanted to hear your thoughts about the Tennessee game, so we’ll do a quick review, but we got to move on. Florida’s on the road, going to Starkville, and we got Brett Hudson coming to preview the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Andrew: The whiteout. It’s going to be a whiteout in Starkville with some cowbells. Should be interesting. I have to, in a few minutes after we talk to Brett, Nick, we have to talk about Mullen’s comments about the state of Mississippi, and his wife having to online shop. To me, that was hilarious. That was funny. That was awesome. We’ll have to talk about all that, as you can definitely tell this game is a very important game to Dan Mullen, to his coaching staff. It’s an important game for a lot of reasons. Not only is it important for Florida to win this game, it’s an important game because Dan gets to maybe show Mississippi State, listen, I built it, but I can beat you guys. It’s going to be a good one, I think.
Nick, let’s go to Brett. We’ll talk to Brett. We’ll get his thoughts on this game, get some X’s and O’s breaking down here, get his key matchups, and then you and I will come back and talk a little Tennessee, and then we’ll get into our key matchup as well. It’s going to be a good battle. I think it’s going to be a game that we’ll see who is more physical.
Nick: Joined now by Brett Hudson of The Commercial Dispatch. Brett became a friend during baseball season. We met each other out there in, was it Hoover, or was it Omaha?
Brett: It was Omaha, because they didn’t stay in Hoover long enough for Florida to get there.
Nick: That’s right. They made it to Omaha, despite losing their head coach five days into the season. I mean, that’s a story Gator fans would like to talk about, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about today.
Andrew: Yeah. Brett, let me ask you, what is the atmosphere like? What is the buzz around campus right now? Was the Kentucky game a game that was maybe overlooked a little bit? Have fans rebounded, and is it hate Dan Mullen this week, or respect Dan Mullen this week?
Brett: It is very much hate Dan Mullen this week. There probably should be a little more respect for Dan Mullen. I think there will be in time. I think they’ll eventually come around and realize that a very unfortunate November in his ninth year at Mississippi State probably shouldn’t outweigh the previous eight years and however many months that came before it, in which Dan Mullen did things at Mississippi State that a lot of people, myself included, didn’t think were possible, in terms of sustained success.
I think they’ll eventually come around to that, but now is definitely not that time. This is Dan Mullen hate week. Frankly, from a few days after Thanksgiving until now has been Dan Mullen hate eight months, I guess, whatever amount of time you want to describe it as. It’s been a Dan Mullen hate fest pretty much from the time I spent the day staking out the football complex here in Starkville trying to get someone to tell me that Dan Mullen was actually leaving for Florida. They’ve been pretty adamant in their hatred of Dan Mullen since then. So, I don’t expect any Dan Mullen respect this week.
To get to the first part of your question about Kentucky and overlooking it for Florida, I don’t think there was overlooking it within the program. I could be wrong, but all the coaches and players are saying the right things. They say that they weren’t overlooking that game, they just didn’t play well enough, didn’t play up to their “championship” standards. I do think the fans overlooked that game. I said it a couple places throughout the week. I was kind of using how fans perceived that game, to basically tell who’s paying attention and who’s not. Fans who weren’t paying attention were saying, Kentucky always sucks. We’re good this year, we’re going to beat the crap out of them. Fans that were paying attention were saying, this is a trap game. Kentucky is actually kind of good. This could go south if we don’t pay attention. Then it went south incredibly, incredibly so, in Lexington. There is definitely some overlooking from the fanbase.
I don’t know that the program was overlooking it. I truly don’t think they were. I just think that penalties and a couple of unfortunate breaks elsewhere can really do a number on a team, particular one that’s more talented on the road. I don’t know that they were overlooking it, but there’s definitely no overlooking this one, just because this is the game that they’ve been looking forward to ever since Dan Mullen left. The Auburn game is huge next week for a team that’s trying to be among the top in the SEC West. They lost the Egg Bowl last year. That’s a huge game for this program, but none of those games are being looked at like this Florida game. To the fanbase, this game is the most important one of the year, because they have an opportunity to beat Dan Mullen.
Nick: Not just Dan. Is there some animosity towards Scott too as well?
Brett: Oh yeah.
Nick: Scott’s the hometown boy. Went there, and not only did he leave, but then he comes back a year later, after he leaves, and takes the coach too.
Brett: There’s some animosity for Scott. I always found it weird that you’re supposed to have this loyalty to your alma mater, even though this other school is paying you millions of dollars to do what is best for it. Full disclosure, I went to Alabama, but if was paid millions of dollars by Georgia to go hire a football coach, I would take Alabama’s guy if I could. They’re the ones that are putting me in this nice house and giving my wife and kids all the things they want. That’s kind of where my loyalty would lie. Of course, Mississippi State fans don’t see it that way. That’s kind of the role of the fan, in some aspects. There’s definitely some animosity for Scott Strickland as well. There aren’t many people in Gainesville that are well liked here in Starkville.
Andrew: Let me ask you this.
Nick: Myself included, as of Tuesday.
Brett: Yeah. Everyone hates Nick too. You’ll have banners about you in town before long.
Nick: Can’t wait.
Andrew: Let me ask you this, Brett. We’ll get into this game deeper here, but if you could just describe what Dan Mullen did at Mississippi State. You and I, in disclosure, you and I are both Alabama guys. We grew up kind of seeing what happened to Mississippi State under Sylvester Croom, those guys. Just how impressive was what Dan Mullen did, and just how good did he leave the program? Not only from a talent standpoint, just from a structure of a program of just a university.
Brett: To go back to a point I made earlier, I think that’s what people are eventually going to come around to. I mean, let’s look at the reality of the Mississippi State program, even today. Even with the nine-year run of success that Dan Mullen had, which could pretty easily be regarded as some of the most success that this program has ever seen, even with that, the program still has a losing record over its entirety. To take over a program like that and have a nine-year run like that and still have a losing record kind of tells you what this program was before Dan Mullen showed up and took it over. If you just look at pictures, just the reality of this program when Dan Mullen took it over earlier this decade and what it is now, it’s truly night and day.
If you look at the facility Mississippi State has here, the Leo Seal football facility, that is something that Mississippi State would not have had before Dan Mullen got here. Granted, some of that is because the SEC Network threw just an obscene amount of money into the conference, and the school had to spend it somewhere, so naturally a football facility was going to be in that. Also, you kind of have to give Dan Mullen some credit there, because without some reason to believe success was coming, you might not make that significant of an investment in your football program. They added on to Davis Wade Stadium while he was here. You have to wonder if that happens, or at least if that happens to this degree, if Dan Mullen is not kind of building the foundation for consistent success here. There’s a lot of aspects of this program that really came to be and kind of built a foundation while Dan Mullen was here.
There’s a lot of other abstract parts of that, be it the Mississippi State brand that it has. There’s kind of some recognition for Mississippi State now that there wasn’t beforehand. There’s a lot about this program that is completely changed for the better because Dan Mullen was here. To the point that, say you go hire another Croom like person after Croom is done and you have four or five years of general lack of success, and that person gets fired, you have to wonder if someone like Joe Moorhead really considers the Mississippi State job in that alternate reality.
Because you have to remember, he was an offensive coordinator and going for an offensive coordinator to an SEC head coaching job is a big jump, and it’s enticing, but you have to look at Joe Moorhead’s past. He’s a head coach in the past. He was the head coach at his alma mater for four years and had a great run of success there. I mean, you have to look at it and realize that Joe Moorhead was a pretty highly touted candidate in the coaching carousel, and you wonder if a guy that high on the list nationally takes a jump at a place like Mississippi State if Dan Mullen doesn’t lay the foundation for it to be successful long term.
Andrew: That’s a good point, for sure. Dan Mullen said on Monday that he thought that Mississippi State was one of the most physical teams in the country, and said the defensive line was one of the most physical and best defensive lines in the country as well. I guess, when you look at this game, it’s going to be a hostile crowd. Mississippi State fans are going to be hostile. It’s going to loud. The cowbells are going to be rocking. Is the key to the game who’s more physical?
Brett: It should be. I mean, that’s been the determining factor in all of Mississippi State’s four games this year, other than a pretty obvious talent discrepancy in at least two of them, if not three. I mean, looking at the three games Mississippi State won before Kentucky, they beat Stephen F Austin. They went to Kansas State and won. Then they beat Louisiana Lafayette at home. They were clearly much better on the line of scrimmage in all three of those games.
Against Kentucky, you could kind of argue that Kentucky’s offensive line versus Mississippi State’s defensive line was kind of a wash, maybe Kentucky’s offensive line had a little bit of an advantage there, but clearly Mississippi State’s tackles got whipped by Kentucky’s edge guys all night long. Even in the interior, I kind of view that as a little bit of a wash overall, because you didn’t really see Kentucky push the pocket up the middle. They hit it some, but they didn’t do it as consistently as the edge guys just whipped whatever tackle Mississippi State put in there.
I think that’s definitely where this game could be decided. If Florida is able to collapse Nick Fitzgerald’s pocket from the edge, like Kentucky did all night long, that really just wrecks everything about an RPO offense, because the Joe Moorhead offense is very much run on RPOs. It’s an edge offense. It’s a perimeter offense. It’s a second level and a third level offense. They’re trying to put those guys in conflict, and when those guys are winning their one on one matchups every single time, you can’t really attack the perimeter all that much. You can’t really force teams to defend the entirety of the field, and that’s obviously what Todd Grantham plays on with his reputation as a defensive coordinator.
If Mississippi State doesn’t become that dominating line of scrimmage team once again that it has been for the three weeks prior, yes, they’re very much poised for an upset. Now granted, you wonder if Florida has that ability that Kentucky has, just going back to their head to head matchup. Kentucky had a pretty good line of scrimmage that game too, so you wonder if Mississippi State is up against the same challenge that it was against Kentucky.
Nick: I think Florida’s defensive line can do that, but when you look at a guy like Nick Fitzgerald, or go back to the Kentucky game, Terry Wilson just shredded Florida with his legs. Their aggressiveness is against them. They have so much speed on the outside the tackles are kind of like, that’s cool, I’ll just let you get seven yards up field, and now you’re out of the play. Quarterbacks have had room to run.
I really worry about Florida’s offensive line with Mississippi State’s defensive line. That’s something Dan Mullen harped on Monday. He said this is the best defensive line in the country that we’re going to face on Saturday. To me, Florida’s offensive line has kind of been the whipping boy in town for the last five, six years, and I don’t know how they’re going to handle that. If you’re talking about this game is going to be won in the trenches, and it’s a physical team that you’re facing in Mississippi State, I think it’s gut check time for Florida then.
I want to know about the rest of Mississippi State. Dan spent a lot of Monday talking about the physicality and the offense and defensive blinds being the key, but Nick Fitzgerald is a very talented quarterback. What does State have at the skill positions that you think can cause some matchup issues for Florida?
Brett: This offense is different from Dan Mullen’s, in that it really thrives on challenging teams vertically. It has to have that element if it’s going to work the way it’s designed to. Mississippi State thinks they have those wide receivers on the edge. Stephen Guidry, Osirus Mitchell at the X and Z. Actually, for Stephen it’s the X, and for Osirus it’s the Z. Then in the slot, they’ve got a host of guys that are really well rounded. They can go deep and run dig routes and find holes in zones. They can burn you on a corner, if given the opportunity, and they can do some of the more pro style slot things. They can burn you in a possession style way to move the chains on 3rd and 5, when you need them too. Those guys are Austin Williams, Keith Mixon, and Deddrick Thomas.
That’s something that this offense did not have last year, partially due to injury, partially due to recruiting. They have that this year. So, that’s a matchup that Mississippi State feels good about going into most games. It’s just a matter if they have the time to execute those things.
There’s a lot of skepticism and criticism about Mississippi State’s passing game right now from the fanbase, because of the struggles in Lexington, but what that really goes back to is they ran, what was it, like 28 times for 56 yards, or something stupid like that. No one can pass when you run like that, unless you’re Washington State, who doesn’t seem to care about running the football at all, and that’s perfectly fine. This offense needs to run some to throw. They have the weapons outside. It’s just a matter of if the guys on the inside can give those guys opportunities to hit Florida when they’ve got their eyes in the backfield.
Nick: Sounds like you’re talking about Florida.
Andrew: That’s what I was going to say. It sounds like you’re talking about Florida.
Brett: It’s clearly a Dan Mullen built team, just used in a slightly different way, but not all that different.
Nick: How quickly did they adapt? Because it’s a different kind of offense. We talked to Feleipe Franks, and he and Nick Fitzgerald were at a quarterback camp. We asked, did you pick his brain about Mullen’s offense? He goes, I didn’t really know Mullen’s offense at the time. I wouldn’t even have known what to ask him. He was kind of trying to learn stuff that I was doing. He said, it was more Nick asking me what stuff is, because he was going into such a different offense. How have they adjusted? Because I know Florida four games in you still see that there is growing pains, and they’re still learning the new offense.
Brett: The phrase Joe Moorhead used when he got here to describe the differences between Mullen’s offense and his was same church, different pew. I’m going to steal from him on that one, because I think it’s spot on. Moorhead runs more RPO stuff than Dan Mullen does. Dan Mullen loves nothing in this world more than a designed quarterback run on 3rd down, and Joe Moorhead doesn’t necessarily have that play calling tendency. They’re still spread, run based systems. They still use a lot of quarterback-running back option gain. They don’t go into the triple option game. They use quick gain stuff, those screens and slants to tag off of some of those RPO things. They’re similar offenses. They just go about things in different ways. That’s why some of the statistics can be similar at times. It’s just a matter of how they go about things.
We’re still kind of dealing with a small sample size here, right? When you look at Joe Moorhead’s past, you can see games where the RPO was truly the operative factor, just in the disparity from game to game. There are times in his past where in one game he’ll run for 350 yards and throw for less than 200 and beat the crap out of somebody, and then the very next game he’ll throw for 450 with one guy catching for almost 200 and three touchdowns. They’ll only run for like 125, and they’ll still beat the crap out of somebody. That’s pretty obviously an indication of the RPO. We ran RPOs. The defense told us to run, and we did it. We ran RPOs. The defense told us to pass, and we did it. Those are things that I think will manifest themselves over time that are different from the Mullen offense.
In this small sample size, they are kind of similar. They’re spread, run systems. Joe Moorhead tags more passes on that than Mullen does, but overall it’s same church, different pew. They’re similar. They just go about it slightly differently. Over a large sample size, those things will manifest themselves, but we’re four games into this thing, and we’re talking about a fifth games. A lot of the formations and some of the basic concepts are going to look pretty similar, because they’re good concepts, just in their very core. None of that surprises me, by any stretch of the imagination. I am curious if they’re able to use more of the passing elements against Florida, because they definitely need to, based on what happened in Lexington.
Andrew: Brett, we always ask before we get each person off of the podcast each week if they want to give a prediction on how they think this game will turn out. So, the floor is yours. Do you think Florida has it to go in and get the upset, or do think Mississippi State gets the win? Floor is yours, my man.
Brett: I’m going to put a final score prediction on my gameday blog on Saturday. I’m still kind of trying to mull over the exact number. I’m going to be honest, when we were talking about this game last year, Florida +7 sounded really good to me then. That was back in December. That kind of sounded good to me then. Then over time, I started to realize that that’s probably the safest bet. Then all of that changed in one week, back to where Florida +7 sounds pretty good. A lot of books that I see recently tend to agree.
I think all that is based on what I think is ultimately going to keep Florida in this game is the tackle spots for Mississippi State on offense. The Kentucky game kind of reminded me and reminded everyone that the weakness of this offense is at offensive tackle, left tackle and right tackle. That’s a really bad place to be weak in the SEC, because this conference produces pass rushers like no other. They do it every year. Pretty much everyone in this conference has someone on the edge that can hurt you, if you given the opportunity. That weakness could not have been more exposed against Kentucky last week. I think that Florida’s going to hit that, or they’d be very smart to, and I would imagine, if they do, that’s going to stall this offense a little bit at times. I don’t think it’s going to hold Mississippi State to seven points like Kentucky did, but I think that’s going to stall things.
Ultimately, this Mississippi State defensive line is going to be what wins this game for Mississippi State. You mentioned it, the Florida offensive line is kind of unproven when it comes to matching physically with a unit that talented. I think that that’s ultimately going to be the deciding factor here. I do think it’s going to be close. Florida +7 sounds about right to me. When you’re in a one possession game like that, when emotions are running high, frankly anything is possible. Florida +7 sounds good to me, which means upset territory is right there for the taking. I’m not taking Florida. I don’t anticipate taking Florida, but a Florida win wouldn’t have me floored like a 28-7 loss at Kentucky did.
Andrew: Yeah. The tackle spots are a key for Florida as well. My man, before we get you out of here, tell everybody where they can find your work this week. We’ll get you out here. Look forward to talking to you again soon.
Brett: The easiest place is on Twitter, @Brett_Hudson. You can find me there. The website is CDispatch.com. You can kind of go there and scroll through at the end of the week to catch everything. If you want to get it while it’s happening, everything is on Twitter, @Brett_Hudson.
Andrew: Awesome. We appreciate it so much. Looking forward to a good game, a raucous atmosphere, and another good week of college football.
Brett: Happy to do it, guys. Thanks for having me.
Andrew: Guys, that was good stuff from Brett. Nick, I think what he said explains it best for me, and that is what Mullen did at Mississippi State was special. It was tough to do, and I think, to me, Nick, what stands out the most is he stayed nine years. He stayed long enough to get a foundation built, and I do agree with what Brett says, and that is Saturday he won’t be appreciated, but down the road fans will appreciate him.
Nick: I’m trying to think. It’s like the first couple times LeBron went back to Cleveland when he was playing for the Heat, after he left. It was just bad. Then four, five, six years go by, or I guess he was only in Miami for four. Two years go by, three years go by, and they’re starting to appreciate him again. Okay, listen, in the basketball analogy, we were the center of the world when LeBron was here, and that’s nice, because now we’re nothing again. So, at least appreciate what we had. I think there will be a time where Mississippi State fans will appreciate it, but it’s too fresh right now. It’s still an open wound.
Andrew: Listen, I totally get it. I totally get it. If somebody leaves my Atlanta Braves and comes back, I’m talking shit too. I’m booing him. That’s nature. I totally get it for that. Nick, I think the scary thing for me in listening to that is you’re talking about a mirror image of two teams.
Nick: And one of them has been recruiting for almost a decade to have the personnel to fit the scheme.
Andrew: Right. I’m with you. I agree. I’m with you and agree completely. When you look at what he’s talking about with the offensive line there, no tackles. That’s just bad. Florida has zero tackles as well.
Nick: To me, what’s really concerning is just playing contain. What we talked about all week with Kentucky, because Nick Fitzgerald is as good, if not better, a runner than Terry Wilson and will make you pay, will make you pay bad.
Andrew: I think the difference for me, Nick, between the two guys, is Nick Fitzgerald is more experienced. I think Fitzgerald is a better passer, and I think he’s a smarter runner. That’s not to say Terry Wilson is not, but Terry Wilson was more of an athlete trying to run the ball. I think Nick Fitzgerald understands the offense of when and where is the time to run, that kind of stuff. I think the thing with Fitzgerald too is he’s a physical runner as well. When you talk about this defense, I think you have to start and stop with two things, David Reese being a key, because I think you’ll spy him a little bit with Fitzgerald, and then you have to talk about those defensive ends and defensive lines playing contained football. You have to get pressure, but you have to get pressure by playing fundamentally good ball.
Nick: I think that’s interesting. David Reese, don’t practice this week. We’re going to put your ankle in ice and put you in a hyperbolic chamber, because we need you on Saturday. The last thing we need is for somebody to step on your foot and roll your ankle before this game and not have you.
Andrew: Right. Exactly. Again, I think it’s a key for Florida to play fundamentally good ball. This is cliché to say, and it’s one of those things where you say you got to get pressure, but there’s ways to bring pressure on Fitzgerald without bringing a ton of guys as well. That is if you can collapse the pocket on him, make him get uncomfortable a little bit, while having that spy on him, to make him uncomfortable in making that decision to take off and run. You could get pressure there. It’s not so much bringing seven guys or six guys in there. It’s playing fundamentally good ball, keeping him in the pocket, not allowing him to escape when there’s nobody there. That’s the pressure you can put on Nick Fitzgerald as well.
It’s a lot like an option football team. You never want to bring a ton of pressure on option football team, because some of your guys are going to be out of place when they run it to the opposite side, but you want to have pressure on that quarterback and that running back. That’s kind of how it is with Nick Fitzgerald. You want to have somebody there to put pressure on him and be in space to make the play.
Nick: Right. You don’t want to get pressure on him but have an empty middle of the field, because it took six, seven guys to get pressure on him.
Andrew: Right. He’s going to get outside the pocket. He’s going to. The key is do you have a guy there once he gets outside of the pocket to take him down or force him to throw the ball?
Nick: Then the key with Florida is does that guy there make the tackle? That continues to be a question.
Andrew: Yeah. I think it was better in the Tennessee game, and for me, Nick, and we can talk about Tennessee all we want, Tennessee still has some SEC athletes, and they were able to take them down in the open field. You got to do that again this week. That might be, we talk about playing fundamentally good ball, that might be on the top of the list, making tackles in the open field, and in the backfield. Mississippi State team doesn’t have a ton of negative plays. If you can hit the running back in the backfield for a two-yard loss, a three-yard loss, that’s key. In a game like this with Nick Fitzgerald, every yard may matter.
Nick: Yeah. I agree with you. I’m going to keep bringing it up, because once you show me that you have a hard time tackling, it’s going to take you a while for me to think that’s over. Yes. I do agree. They were better tackling in Knoxville then they had been previously, but I’m still going to keep asking. I’m going to ask the question.
Andrew: I think you and everybody else has the exact right at least to, because it’s a thing of it’s been a problem. It’s not just been a one-year problem, Nick. This is a problem that goes back years for Florida. Now that you look at the injuries that have taken place, and you got some younger guys out there, it’s still taking place. That’s a key for this team.
Listen, there is no doubt in my mind that the combination inside of Kyrie Campbell, Conliffe, Slaton, Khairi Clark, any of those guys, they’re going to get pressure. But what do you do when you get pressure on those guys? Do you miss a tackle? There’s no doubt in my mind Vosean Joseph, Rayshad Jackson, David Reese, all of those guys are going to get pressure, but what do you do when you get in the backfield?
You did it against Kentucky. How many times was Benny Snell and Terry Wilson tackled in the backfield, and would still break out for a three or four-yard gain? You say, it’s three or four yards, but no, it was about six or seven yards when you take back where they were officially hit from. All those yards start to add up. Those 3rd and 1’s would be 3rd and 5’s or 3rd and 6’s. Against a team like Mississippi State, where Nick Fitzgerald can easily get a yard if it’s 3rd and 6, 3rd and 7, that’s differences. When you go into this road game, that’s a key.
Nick: He’s a different type of runner. He is a more speedy kind of guy, but not afraid to lower his shoulder. You wouldn’t say he’s a Tebow, Prescott mold, where it’s just going to be a bulldozer. He’s got more speed than that and can make you miss, but he’s also, like I said, not afraid to put the shoulder down. He’ll run through some people. Different runner than Terry Wilson, and to me, that’s the key. I think, like you said, Terry Wilson is an athlete, an athlete that’s playing quarterback. Nick Fitzgerald is a quarterback, but still not a great passer. I’m not super worried, if I’m a defensive coordinator, about Nick Fitzgerald beating me with his arm. In fact, I’m going to say let’s keep him in the pocket, disrupt him if we can, and if they beat us, it’s going to be because he beats us throwing.
Andrew: That’s where it goes back to playing fundamentally good ball. Guess what? You can’t rush three guys, get no pressure on him, and allow him to sit back there.
Nick: There’s times where Grantham, you can see him be so aggressive. That’s the story. That’s what everyone talks about with him. Then it’s times like an obvious pass rushing situations, and you’re bringing four?
Andrew: Trey Dean is still back there, and Brian Edwards is still back there at corner. Those are your two rotating corners. Again, I have said it before, and I’ll say it again. I believe in what Trey Dean is going to be as a corner. He’s still learning. You still have safety concerns back there as well. They’re allowing guys to go. You’ve got to fix that. Get pressure there.
Nick, to turn around, when Florida’s on offense, my opinion it’s got to be a quick game. It’s got to be quick, quick as far as getting the ball out of Feleipe’s hands, and then finding ways to run the ball. I don’t know how you run the ball effectively in this game, simply because I don’t trust Florida’s offensive line, man to man, one on one, against Mississippi State’s defensive line.
Nick: Is this an opposite game for you, where you need to pass to set up the run? Whereas we normally say you run to set up the pass.
Andrew: I would say that you need to run quick game to set up the running game. That is some of those stand passes to …
Nick: Using the passing game as an extension of the running game.
Andrew: Yes. That’s exactly what it is. Expanding the defense. You’ve got to get the numbers outside the box. This is a game where you easily go four wide and try to get the numbers outside of the box. You do not need extra guys in the box. You need as limited numbers in the box as possible in this game, if you’re Florida, simply because they’re not going to be able to block man to man against these Mississippi State defensive linemen all game long.
It may happen. It may. I haven’t seen enough from this offensive line for me to sit here on Tuesday afternoon and tell you that I believe Florida’s offensive line is good enough to block Mississippi State’s defensive line for four quarters.
Nick: I think I’m there with you on that.
Andrew: In your opinion, Nick, where do you see this offense trying to get things going?
Nick: If you look at the way the game broke down in terms of moving the ball around, I think you saw that number finally kind of shrink. It’s like, these are the guys we’re going to be going with. It’s Swain. It’s Jefferson. It’s Perine, and it’s Scarlett. I think you’ve got that personnel limited down to the guys that you trust and the guys you’re going to lean on, which we’ve been talking about all year. I like what you said about using the passing game as an extension of the running game. I also think you need to still, you can’t let the game get to a point where you’re asking Feleipe Franks to do more than he can and more than you need him to do. You need to continue to create 3rd and manageable. You to stay ahead of the sticks.
To me, I think you’re going to need to play lights out on special teams. That’s Tommy Townsend punting. That’s your punt coverage, your kick coverage, and creating a big play, touchdown or setting up a touchdown, with your special teams.
The environment is going to be hostile. I don’t think there’s any way to prepare for it. I did a blog post with Brett about it. One of his first questions was, does Florida know what they’re coming into this week? In terms of how angry the fanbase is, not at Florida, but at Scott Strickland and at Dan Mullen. I said, there’s no way to prepare for that. There’s no way to prepare for a stadium that you’ve never been to. I don’t mean never been to, like some of these guys that are on Florida’s roster took an official or unofficial visit to Tennessee. They’ve seen that. They’ve never been to a stadium where there’s 61,000 people who all feel like they were left at the altar by an athletic director and by a coach. So, they’re white hot mad. That’s going to play into it as well.
Andrew: The difference, Nick, for this game is you’re playing at a bigger high school football stadium. You’re not playing at a Neyland Stadium, where it’s three decks all around. You’re not playing in Death Valley. This is a different stadium, but it’s loud in its own ways. Listen, those cowbells are going to be rocking.
Nick: Cowbells aren’t quiet.
Andrew: No. They’re paying that fine this week. Then, like you say, this is a game that I think in a couple years we’re not even wondering about the physicality of Florida, just like you’re not wondering about the physicality of Mississippi State, but right now, you are. That is a question mark for Florida. It’s been a question mark for Florida. I say this jokingly, but not jokingly, and that is I think if Florida is able to be as physical as Mississippi State they can win this game. If they go in and play like the Florida’s of the past, they might get ran all over.
Nick: That’s a process. You’ve got to get rid of …
Andrew: It’s a mindset, Nick.
Nick: It’s a mindset, but it takes time. You’ve got four years of Jim McElwain’s recruiting and nonexistent strength program to kind of get that stench out of the program. Mullen’s been here 10 months, but it’s going to take not just a mindset, but also getting some guys in. We still talk about Florida learning to win games. People are like, how is that? Why is that? It’s like, because they were losers for four years.
Andrew: Sorry. I have to interrupt you, because you made me mad. Sorry. You made me mad.
Nick: Go ahead.
Andrew: What’s new? This is not a Jim McElwain problem. This is a mental standpoint from the offensive line, and it’s a mental standpoint of their own. Nick, you’re not going to tell me, and I’ve known you for way too long, and that if another man is standing right in front of you and is willing to beat the crap out of you, that you’re not going to man up, be physical to that person and beat the crap out of him. That standpoint of not being able to be physical when it’s head to head, man on man, men are born that way. It’s a mental standpoint that you have to be better than the man in front of you, and it’s a one on one situation.
I just, it’s so dumbfounding to me that I don’t understand. If you are legally able to go out in front of you and push the guy in front of you on the ground and stand on top of and him and say, now what, and not get in trouble, not go to jail, that you wouldn’t do that. It’s dumbfounding to me, Nick, that it’s a physical standpoint. I understand that you got to go in the weight room and all this other stuff, but it’s a freaking mindset, for God’s sake, that when you stand in front of another man that you can’t push him down.
Nick: So, does Florida have that mindset, or do they not?
Andrew: No. They don’t. I don’t understand it. For me, again, it’s not a weight room situation. These guys are strong guys as it is. It’s a mindset, Nick. The thing that frustrates me the most, Nick, is at times you see that the mindset overtakes whatever is in their minds. At times, Martez Ivey bulldozes people. At times, Fred Johnson bulldozes people. Then at other times, it’s like, I don’t want to say the word that I want to use, but it’s like someone else took over their body for a second and said, I’m not that physical.
Nick: Be careful. Don’t get fired. You’re hot right now. Don’t say the words that’ll get you fired.
Andrew: No. It’s almost like a sissy took over. That’s what I’m saying. It’s just like somebody else took over somebody’s body. For me, Nick, it’s a willpower, and it’s mind over matter. That’s a mindset. I said it before. I said it last year with you. We continue to talk about it all the time. I’ll say it again. When you want to be physical as a football team, you’re going to be physical as a football team. When you want to dominate on the offensive line, you will dominate on the offensive line. This excuse, and it’s not you and I talking about, it’s everyone that continues to talk about that they can’t do it. Yes, they can. Yes, they can. It’s a mindset of an offensive line.
I have seen offensive lines, Nick, you have as well, of teams that suck, that don’t have the talent or anything else, but guess what, they are better, more physical people. How come Army and Navy, and I’m using this as an example for a reason, Nick, their offensive lines are usually two of the better offensive lines in the country. Because guess what, they have that work ethic and that physicality that they’re going to beat the man across the line of scrimmage from them. You’re not going to tell me that an offensive tackle at Army is a better offensive lineman than at the University of Alabama, the University of Tennessee, the University of Oklahoma, any of those other ones. But their physicality, their mindset of an offensive lineman, is better. That’s the key.
Nick: I agree. Those offensive lines at Army and Navy are normally undersized as well.
Andrew: Exactly. Nick, we’ll continue to talk about this on our Friday podcast. I wanted to spend the next four or five minutes here talking a little bit about that game up in Knoxville. You and I didn’t get to tape it, because of Tennessee still trying to get up to the 21st Century as far as technology goes.
Nick, a couple things stood out to me. We talk about the offensive line being physical, all that good stuff, but I really liked the designed runs on 3rd and 1 for Feleipe Franks. I thought it was a much better game plan for him, compared to just the constant designed runs for him that was taking a beating on him. I like the 3rd and 1’s, the goal line situations where they run him with the quarterback power, have the running back fill the hole, lead him in there. I like that. I think that is a staple of Dan Mullen’s offense that you and I would both agree is good. In key situations, let your quarterback have the ball.
Nick: I like that. I think both Jordan Scarlett and Lamical Perine are very good lead blocking for him too. Right now, I think that’s a play that Dan Mullen is going to continue to lean on. I don’t see that going anywhere anytime soon.
Andrew: Nick, for me, there was a couple things that stood out as well. You made this point in the podcast that we were taping, and we didn’t get to put it out because of some technical difficulties. You said you liked the way they finished the game. That had been a problem for them. Nick, we continue to talk about Mullen and trying to get these guys to understand winning. For me, Nick, that is the key, to be able to go on the road, get up big, and not only finish the game with a win, but finish the game with some scores and step on their throat. It’s a physicality part. It’s a mindset of when you’re up, step on their throat. Kick them when they’re down.
Nick: You finally got that from Florida. That’s something Dan Mullen’s been asking for, and it’s something that, quite honestly, if you’re a fan, you like to see that. You don’t like to get up 21-0 and then win the game 24-21. You like to get up 21-0, and then the game is over and it’s 35-2 or 35-3. To me, I really like the way that Florida never got complacent and just kind of stepped on the throat. Never took the foot off the gas. I think that’s something that we’ve been waiting to see from Florida, and it was good to see.
Andrew: It was good to see, for sure. For me, Nick, it’s another step forward in the maturation of this team a little bit, going from a team that accepted losing, accepted those kind of things, to going to look and saying this is a team that’s destined for good things. How long ago has it been that you had fans talking about let’s find a way to get 50 points on the board? It’s been a long, long time for that to happen. Fans were hollering and screaming for 50 points on the board. For me, that’s the stuff that separates you and makes you become a great team, when you’re able to go out on the field and not only get ahead, but then end it up putting the daggers in teams. It’s kind of becoming the Damien Pierce effect. When Damien Pierce comes into the game, he puts that one more dagger in.
Nick: You put a guy who’s hungry to play, and fresh, into the game when it’s at the end. Tennessee, they didn’t think they were out of it, I don’t think, at that point, and then all of a sudden, Damien Pierce runs off and breaks off a huge run. They were out of it. They were out of it there.
Andrew: For me, Nick, the biggest play of the game, or the biggest series of the game, might have been the touchdown to Tyrie Cleveland to start the fourth quarter. That was kind of the score that kind of, I think, put things out of reach. It shut all the momentum down for Tennessee as well. Then you and I cannot forget the CJ Henderson play. That’s a play that very well could have been the gamechanger. You’re thinking about a 14-3 lead that could have very well been 14-10 up there. It was just a good play. That’s a tape that I think Dan Mullen will show everyone. Effort, relentless effort. When you never give up on a play, and CJ Henderson turned on the burners and showed everyone just how fast he really is.
Nick: To me, the big turning point was Brent Cimaglia hit the 32-yard field goal, which made it a 14-3 game, and then Florida goes, I think it was 3 and out, but Tommy Townsend pins Tennessee down at the two-yard line. Then you get a safety, I know it was Cece. Was it Cece and, not Jachai … Anyway, they get the safety, come right back, and then you get the Freddie Swain 65-yard touchdown. Then you get a field goal. All in the second quarter. Right there, that switch from 14-3, now it’s 26-3 going into halftime. Brad Stewart comes down, gets his hand on the football. One play later, Jordan Scarlett scores, and now it’s 33-3. You go from being up 11 points to being up 30 points in a matter of like four series.
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, for me, that’s the maturation process. That is what Dan Mullen’s continued to talk about, wanting the team …
Nick: We watched so much bad football on the first drives of third quarters under Jim McElwain that when Florida came out and immediately was on offense, I was like, what is this? Football teams are allowed to come out of halftime ready to play? It doesn’t take 10 minutes?
Andrew: It was one of those things where, and defensively as well, and that is make adjustments. Dan Quinn and Geoff Collins were two of the better defensive guys to make adjustments at the half. For me, it’s good to see, and it’s a what a football team is supposed to be about. Again, Nick, as we close this out, just a big win as they head into Mississippi State. We’ll be back on Friday. We’ll get our predictions out and all that good stuff. Nick, tell everybody where they can find us. We’ll get out, and we’ll see everyone on Friday.
Nick: www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. The podcast is there in audio and transcript form. The podcast is anywhere and everywhere that you listen to podcasts. Stitcher, Google Play, and iTunes. Wherever you listen, make sure you go ahead and hit the subscribe button. 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. I’m looking forward to the game, Nick. I don’t know if you are. I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere. Then Florida-LSU for that 3:30 slot on CBS, so that should be a good one as well. Great for recruiting for Florida as well. Anyway, looking forward to all that good stuff. As always, guys, go Braves and chomp, chomp. By the way, Nick, we’re National League East Champions.
Nick: They’re going to be out of the playoffs soon. You stay classy, Gator Country.