GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we start to preview the Florida Gators match-up against Missouri on Saturday at home.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre start to preview the game on Saturday as we look at the key players for the Tigers on Saturday night.
Andrew and Nick also update on what Dan Mullen had to say on Monday, plus we update the injury report for the Gators.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, we’re back, and we finally get to talk about a football game coming up. Florida-Missouri should be able to kickoff at 7:30 on Saturday, barring any craziness that happens here soon.
Nick: It’s been a long strange two weeks, but Florida was back on the practice field Monday. They’ll be on the practice field Tuesday. We’ll get into some details about that, but they’re back. Two weeks off. Missouri actually had two weeks off as well, but I’d probably take the two weeks Missouri had over the two weeks Florida had.
Andrew: Yeah. They were able to practice.
Nick: Yeah. That’s a little different. Buckle up, because Florida’s got a game from this Saturday every Saturday until December 12th. Lot of football coming your way.
Andrew: Some positive things that you and I have heard. Most everyone is back on the field. Did hear that there was a lot of hands on the hips, tired guys, maybe a little out of shape from two weeks of non-practice. I think that’s going to be a concern going forward on Saturday, especially against a Missouri offense that does like to kind of go up tempo. Let’s face it, Florida’s defense hasn’t been good at full strength. What’s it going to be when they’re half strength, per se, and not really in game shape?
Nick: Listen, if what Andrew just said surprises you, that when Florida gets back on the practice field after two weeks of dealing with Covid and not practicing and all that, then you weren’t listening to the podcast or reading anything that we were writing. That was always going to be the case. I guess the big question is how does Florida get ready in a shortened week? Here’s one thing. I’ll go ahead and read this. It’s the SEC’s timetable for returning from a Covid-19 positive test.
When you’re in isolation, no exercise. The reacclimation period. Day 1 you have to get all the testing, including an echocardiogram, which Florida is doing, to check to see your heart, because there have been some studies showing that there can be some heart damage if you have Covid. So, Florida’s doing all of that. Day 1, 25% intensity. Day 2, 50%. Day 3, 75%. Then finally on Day 4, 100% full intensity.
Even if a guy gets out of quarantine Wednesday, Wednesday would be 25%. Thursday would be 50%. Friday would be 75%. Even if a guy gets out of quarantine on Wednesday, they could potentially play on Saturday. Don’t know effective they’re going to be, like you just said. I don’t know, but they could potentially play.
Andrew: Right. Then you go into the how ready are they and all that stuff. Does the risk of them playing and possibly getting hurt, is that bigger than the reward? Hammies, cramps, that kind of stuff is going to be something to definitely watch on Saturday, especially early on in the game.
Some good news out there though is Ethan White returned to practice. We’re hearing that he’s going to try to get at least some snaps in the game on Saturday to get his feet wet before the Georgia game. Emory Jones is back at practice and should be able to go on Saturday. Then Kyree Campbell’s back and working his way into game shape. We expect him to get some reps on Saturday as well. Will he play 40 snaps? No, because he’s going to be working his way back into game shape, but he should play quite a bit.
Nick: That’s kind of what we said. Is Kyree Campbell a defensive tackle like, who is the old boy from Houston? Ed Oliver. Like is he that kind of game changer? No, but putting Kyree Campbell at defensive tackle lets Zach Carter slide from tackle to strong side defensive end. It lets Brenton Cox slide from strong side defensive end to buck. Just from the standpoint of getting him there gets you three players back into the positions that they were supposed to be playing all year long. So, it’s a huge addition to Florida’s defense to get Kyree back. It’s also he’s a senior leader. He came back this year, certainly hasn’t gone the way he thought it was going to be.
Then I think kind of both with Kyree, or less than Kyree, with Ethan White I was told basically the coaching staff would love for him to go this week if he can. This was supposed to be Florida’s bye week, the target for him to get back was always going to be this week, but Florida didn’t have game. You’d kind of be able to ease him into it and then see if he can go against Georgia. Should be ready to go against Georgia. They’ll see if he’s good to go this week. Then again, I would like to see that. We can talk about it. I don’t know who would play right tackle, because I think you slide Ethan in at center, Heggie back to left guard, and you keep Stewart Reese at right guard. Does Richard Gouraige slide over to right tackle? How do you handle that?
Andrew: From everything I’ve been told, and I’m sure you have as well, it’ll be a competition, but right now it looks like Gouraige would go to right tackle and be that guy there. You would rotate some. I think that that’ll be a little bit of a rotating line this week. Like I said, I don’t think Ethan White gets a ton of play. I think maybe he does get 15 or 20 snaps, and that would be great for him going into next week. So, you’d have a little bit of a rotating line, but I think you would take that rotating line just to get Ethan some snaps and have him ready for next week, when you’re going to face a really good defensive line.
Nick: Yeah. That Georgia team, that will be the big test for Dan Mullen and them, but we’ll get to a big Georgia next week. This Missouri team may be unassuming, because Eliah Drinkwitz, new coach. It’s still Missouri, and they had to play Alabama to start the year, and it’s supposed to be Florida and Georgia. This is no slouch team coming into the Swamp this week.
Andrew: No. You and I talked about it. Florida comes into this game, and they’re not ready, then you could be up for some trouble.
Nick: Florida’s not going to be 100% Saturday.
Andrew: No.
Nick: Even if, which they won’t, have everyone, because there was another positive test last Saturday, so that player will still be in quarantine. They’re not going to be at full strength, and even if you’ve got your starting 22, I don’t think Florida will have every starter this week. Even if a guy is out of quarantine, it’s kind of like you said. I was told a starter on Monday made it three plays, and then couldn’t continue to practice. It’s just the side effects of having Covid. Florida’s not going to be at full strength Saturday.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Just not going to be.
Andrew: Again, this is an offense that’s pretty good. They’re averaging 5.7 yards per play, 418 yards per game. In typical Missouri fashion, they’re an up-tempo kind of team. Pretty evenly split, 269 through the air and 148 rushing. That’s not evenly split by any means, but pretty, the word I’m looking for, Nick, is they’re comparable, I guess is the best way to say it. So, this is going to be a team that’s going to put your defense to test. They’re going to keep you guessing as to what they’re going to do. They’ve got some decent players. We were joking off the air. It seems like Larry Roundtree’s been running the ball for them for 17 years, and he’s back and having an okay year. 408 yards through four games. He’s not playing bad. Three touchdowns on the year.
Nick: To me, where has Florida been really bad on defense?
Andrew: In the middle.
Nick: They’ve kind of been gashed up the middle. Missouri is averaging 148 yards rushing a game, but they’re averaging less than four yards a carry. I just had it pulled up.
Andrew: 3.6.
Nick: Yeah. Where does that rank in the SEC?
Andrew: Not sure. They’re eighth overall in the SEC in offense in general.
Nick: Then they’re at 3.58 yards per carry. That’s tenth, behind LSU, Georgia, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Alabama. Florida actually, they’re 4.75 yards per carry, only behind Texas A&M. Look at Missouri’s schedule. You had to open up with Alabama, obviously that’s not a blowout loss, but you lose 38-19. Lost to Tennessee. Did not look good in that game, 35-12. That kind of made people think Tennessee’s good, and Tennessee’s not good.
The other thing I wanted to talk about here was LSU. They beat them 45-41, and then they beat Kentucky, and I thought it was going to be a good Kentucky team, but 20-10 beats Kentucky.
Andrew: I told you Kentucky wasn’t good.
Nick: In their two wins they’ve showed, 45-41 against LSU, we can win like the way Florida’s going to have to win games this year, we can win in a shootout.
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Then the week after that, 20-10. They held Kentucky to just 36 plays on offense, and that’s obviously the book is already out on Florida. People know what to do against Florida. What do you do against Florida? You keep the offense off the field. Sustained long drives. You can do that, the defense has shown that they’re going to allow that to happen, and you keep Florida’s high-powered offense off the field.
Andrew: Like I said, it’s weird, because Missouri likes to get up to the ball and go tempo, but they’ve shown in their wins that their best game plan is to keep the ball and have long sustained drives. You kind of got to go against your normal strength or your normal preference and do that. It’ll be interesting to see how they can control the ball in this game. I think if you’re going to win this game for Missouri you definitely need to keep Florida’s offense off the ball, because Missouri’s defense is pretty trash as well. Let’s see here. Given up 31 points a game. Giving up only 242 through the air, but giving up 122 on the ground. Not overall good defense. LSU torched them. Like you said, Tennessee did as well.
Florida shouldn’t have any problems scoring points. It’s going to be the story of the year, can Florida stop Missouri? I don’t know. You look at A&M. You look at Ole Miss. Ole Miss was completely shut down by an Arkansas team, and Florida and Bama looked terrible against them.
Nick: I’m pulling up the quote right now. I got a real big non-answer from Dan Mullen yesterday.
Andrew: What’s new?
Nick: When I asked him about that. Because I asked him, Missouri showed last week, because he had mentioned that they won a shootout versus LSU, which they did, but they showed last week that if they need to hunker down and play a slow methodical game, they can win football games that way too. So, I asked him. Where is it? So, I asked him, have you identified ways to create turnovers and ways to get your defense off the field, because Missouri looks like they’ve already executed the game plan that is the game plan most teams will have against you?
He said, “Usually Kentucky’s that team that controls the clock.” So he said, “Maybe that was some of just two teams trying to do that to each other.” But he basically just said, “We need to efficient offensively, because that’s going to be what they try to do to us.” Okay. You can efficient offensively, but if you get eight possessions, and you score six touchdowns, punt once, and kick a field goal, and your defense gives up seven touchdowns, guess what? You lost the football game.
Andrew: Ole Miss found out the hard way against Alabama about that. Look at the A&M game, if you need any proof as to what happens if you miss one scoring drive when your defense is as bad as it’s been. Again, we’ll see. You’re talking about a defense, and maybe they did get some more visual reps and more film, but they haven’t played. They were already very slow looking, in my opinion, before all this. What’s the outcome going to be there? Again, you’re going to face a Missouri team that has a little momentum and a Missouri team that has typically played Florida pretty tough.
Nick: Man. We’ve had some weird Missouri games since they’ve entered. Put this one up there with it, Spivey. Put this one up there with it, even before the ball gets kickoff. The game is moved back, and there’s a string of more than two dozen Covid cases at Florida. Just add this to the list of weird Florida-Missouri games.
Andrew: Yeah. It’s going to be weird, for sure. They’re a team that’s going to be decent to watch on offense. I think you can get a little bit of confidence, if you’re Florida, defensively, if you can make some stops, because this isn’t just a rinky-dink offense. You need something to generate some momentum and some positivity for this defense heading into next week. Is it going to be easy this week? No. I think you can do it against this team, just as much as they could score 50 against this team. I just feel like with a young quarterback that you have an opportunity, if you can just play solid defense, that you could get your defense turned around in this game. I don’t know. We’ll see.
Nick: We will.
Andrew: I’m not betting on it.
Nick: As strange of a year. Florida’s the 13-point favorite.
Andrew: That was weird.
Nick: Coming into the game. We’ll see. Again, I think Florida’s a better team, but everything we got, everything I heard from the first practice was not good in terms of, I said it I think on our last podcast, is this the MJ flu game?
Andrew: Right.
Nick: Where he comes out, and you play inspired, and you rally around the adversity that you came through, and you come and look great? You leave it all out there and play a great game. Or do you come out and look like a team that hasn’t done anything in two weeks? From all the accounts that I got from Monday’s practice, they looked like a team that hadn’t done anything in two weeks.
Andrew: Again, we’re looking at this, and there’s nobody that can tell you how these guys are going to react and everything else. My biggest question mark is are we overreacting, or are we pretty spot on as far as the Covid stuff goes and being in shape? I feel like from everything you just said and everything we’ve heard we’re pretty spot on that guys are struggling a little bit about that, getting back into game shape. That, for me more than anything, I think is going to be the biggest storyline heading into the game. Just how long Florida guys can stay on the field. Maybe it does do some positive and you get an opportunity for some young guys to play, because maybe a starter or whatever needs some extra breather, and maybe they shine. Maybe you gain some depth that way. You never know.
Nick: Yeah. You never know. Shoot, with McElwain it was a couple injuries happen, and then all of a sudden, you got to play TJ McCoy, and then TJ McCoy plays really well.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: Maybe it’s a guy that hasn’t been doing enough in practice or whatever the case may be gets a chance to play because the starter is out or can’t play the normal amount of reps. Maybe you find something this game.
Andrew: I don’t know. I’m just trying to take some positives from that overall. Just kind of see. There’s so many question marks. I’ll say this. I think it is a great thing, and I know I’m stating the obvious here, that you’re getting a game before Georgia. You would not want the Georgia game to be your first game back from this.
Nick: Yeah. No. That’s true.
Andrew: We’ll see. I feel like the guys are ready, and I feel like having Kyree back is going to be big. I think we did not emphasize this enough. We emphasized it a lot, but I still don’t think we emphasized it enough, just how much him being out caused the defense just to be moved around. You talk about moving Carter back inside, moving Brenton Cox to his natural position of buck, and moving Zach back to D end. I think too, from a standpoint of now you can have more fresh bodies in there, as far as you can rotate Bogle in more. You can rotate Jeremiah in. You’re going to have a lot more fresh bodies for a pass rush now that I think hasn’t been there.
Nick: I agree with that. I think we’re going to have to see, just as a product of everything we’ve been talking about up to this point, I think you’re going to have to see more rotating. That’s probably at every position, other than quarterback.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: Offensive line, if you’ve got healthy bodies that you trust, I think you’re going to have to rotate. The offensive line room was hit by these positive tests, so you’re going to have a bunch of big bodies, like Chris Rumph said about defensive line. He said, “I learned at Alabama those big guys only have one gas tank, and you don’t refill it up during the game.”
Andrew: Exactly.
Nick: Offensive line, defensive line, linebacker, safeties, corners. There’s going to be some rotating.
Andrew: Right. I think too, Nick, and we’ll see on Saturday, but I think that’s another key for having Ethan White back is to have him in there to rotate some. What percentage of Ethan White we get, I don’t know. How ready is he? He did have a knee injury, so that’s something to watch for an offensive lineman for sure. I think that’s another positive having him back is just the opportunity to have another guy who you trust. You and I have said it before. Florida obviously doesn’t trust their backup offensive linemen enough, because we just haven’t seen them.
Nick: If you trust them, you would have seen them by now. That’s a good thing for White is that you’re probably going to have rotating guys just as a normal game plan. We don’t need you to come back and play 60 snaps. You can come back and play 25, 30 snaps. That’s good.
Andrew: Right. Just get out there. Get your feet wet. Get the blood flowing here. Get a little bit back into shape, as much as you can. Then get ready for next week when the team is going to need you a ton, and that’s going to be your game that probably decides who’s going to Atlanta.
Nick: Yeah. I texted you the question yesterday. I was like, if Florida loses to Missouri, are they out? Well, even if Florida loses to Missouri, that’ll be their second SEC loss, but Georgia already has one SEC loss. Now you’re looking at it, and you’re like, what happens if Florida beats Georgia, wins the rest of their games? They each have two losses, first tiebreaker is head to head.
Andrew: Right. If Florida wins in Jacksonville, they’re looking good. Is it done? No, because of having the LSU game postponed and having no more bye weeks before that. It’s definitely not easy, but like you say, you would be in the driver’s seat. I don’t know that Florida loses this weekend. I think at the end, like you said, they’re just a better football team overall. I just kind of wonder how they’re going to be shape wise and just in general. Nobody really knows the effects of this virus and what it does on people. Like you said, it was a big group, like the offensive line group. Those are bigger guys that got to get their strength back and everything else. You usually have a Sunday workout and all that other stuff. You don’t. Now you’re in kind of a cram week. The good news is you’re at home, so you can spend Friday, and you can even have a solid walkthrough on Saturday to get you ready.
Nick: The big that we were asking about on Monday was is this like a restart? Dan kept saying, it’s kind of just like a bye week. I’m not really buying into that. I know as a coach you want to put a positive spin on it, but I’m not buying into that. Missouri’s had two weeks off. I wouldn’t say they’re restarting. I would say they’ve had two weeks to prepare for Florida. I would say that Florida hadn’t done anything in almost two weeks. They literally went two full weeks between practices. You can Zoom meetings, and you’ve got like a PhD in Zoom meetings now after the spring and the offseason that we had, but it was not a bye week for Florida.
Andrew: I don’t know what the answer is to that. I don’t know that anyone has an answer. Just because you haven’t been through it. From a standpoint of having two weeks off and having no practice time. Like you said, a bye week you would have practice time. For once, I agree with Dan, or I don’t agree, but I don’t disagree with him, and I don’t know that he’s telling a story. I just don’t think he knows, to be honest. I don’t think nobody knows. This is the first time for everything. I think you hope that the guys just treat it like a bye week, and that they come back out ready, but like we were just saying, guys are not making it through the full days of practice, because they’re exhausted from having it, that kind of stuff.
The one thing too I think, Nick, and that is we can speculate and say what we hear, and that is a lot of guys weren’t too sick by the whole thing, but what’s too sick? Who’s making that judgment? Is it it was a typical cold that they were good, or was it minor flu symptoms? You know what I’m saying? Who is making the judge on how sick these guys were?
Nick: Right. Do you leave it up just to the kids? Who knows your body better than you?
Andrew: Right. Again, when you see in the game, you’re going to be able to judge. He’s got his hands on his hips, everything else. Again, this is the time you’re going to need your full allotment, and like you said, you’re going to be down some guys still. You’re going to hope that some of those young guys step up, and some of those young guys that were battling for time are there, and you get the injury guys back. I don’t know. I don’t know that there’s a right or wrong answer for the whole was it a restart. I don’t like that word restart, but I also see your point in that it wasn’t a bye week.
Nick: Yeah. I don’t see it as a bye week. There’s just so many unknowns. We’ve talked about unknowns all year long. Just as we’re taping now, imagine being in the Big Ten. The Big Ten’s got an eight-game schedule with no bye weeks, and Wisconsin’s quarterback just tested positive for Covid. They have a 21-day quarantining policy.
Andrew: Who’s that again?
Nick: Wisconsin’s quarterback.
Andrew: And their third-string quarterback is out.
Nick: 21-days. You’re out for almost half the season.
Andrew: Their third-string quarterback’s got it as well from contact tracing. You hope not, but if you’re Wisconsin you’re at such a disadvantage. I know you’re third string, but let’s just say what happens if their second-string quarterback, who is now their starter, loses a helmet for a play? Now you’re going to potentially a walk-on. That’s where I’m at the point, and I get it that the games aren’t supposed to be called off for competitive reasons, but at the same time, it is football. You are playing the sport. I don’t know. I feel like it’s just terrible that you’re playing the game. Think about it. If Florida had lost Kyle Trask and Anthony Richardson, and they had just Emory and a helmet came off. Who’s their next quarterback?
Nick: Kyle Engel, probably. He is a walk-on from the St. Thomas Aquinas High School in South Florida.
Andrew: That’s what I’m saying. If that was the Georgia game, how would that be fair to Florida in that case? You know what I’m saying? How would that be there? I don’t know. I will say this though. It was a fun weekend for Big Ten football. My man Justin Fields, dude’s legit.
Nick: I know it’s all been Trevor, Trevor, Trevor, but hey. I think Justin Fields was like, don’t forget about me. He got that first pick in the NFL Draft. I know everyone’s saying Tank for Trevor, and maybe there’s not an alliteration that works with Justin Fields, like Tank for Trevor or Tank for Tua, but Justin Fields is going to make his case for the #1 overall pick.
Andrew: Whoever gets the second pick needs a quarterback sure isn’t getting a bad consolation prize.
Nick: No. Second pick is like, sure, whatever. Do what you want to do at one. We’re fine at two. We’ll take the other guy.
Andrew: Take the other guy.
Nick: Sorry. Go ahead.
Andrew: I was just going to say, we all joke about the Big Ten being this, that, and the other, laughable, but they had some good games. That Indiana-Penn State game was a good football game. That Ohio State game was a good game. They had some decent games. Again, I think Ohio State’s really good.
Nick: Yeah. As we’re taping this, I just got my email about the positive tests. Football, since student athletes returned, they’ve had 68 positives on campus. 37. That’s six new positive cases for football since we knew of 31. 19 was the number Tuesday, before they shut down before LSU. We knew of 31 before the weekend of LSU. So, six more since two weeks ago, since the LSU game.
Andrew: Those are the guys that will not be available this weekend.
Nick: The six new guys. Yeah.
Andrew: Those will be the guys not available. That’ll be something to watch as well. Like you said, we’ve heard it could potentially be another starter for the team. If it’s who we hear it is, it’ll be something that’ll test the depth for Florida at that position. Again, you’re at a point where still, even though you’ve had 14 days, you’re still dealing with Covid.
Nick: That’s probably the nature of it. I wanted to ask you. How much, if any, do you think we see from Emory Jones this Saturday?
Andrew: I don’t know that you see a ton. Listen, I’m an Emory fan. I think high of Emory, but it’s one of those things where, I don’t want to say I don’t want to see him, but it’s one of those things where it’s like I don’t want there to be a game plan to dictate when he comes in the game. We’ve talked about this a ton before. I feel like let the game dictate when he comes in, not a play sheet or not this is the script, and he has to go in this series. I feel like at times that works against Florida when they’re driving and certain things like that. When your defense is as bad as it is, like you said, you need every point you can possibly get. Would you agree with that?
Nick: Yeah. I hadn’t heard that he was in Covid protocol, so maybe he’s ready to go. From his hand injury, maybe he’s ready to go, and he gives you an added element to the offense. Obviously, offense hasn’t been your problem. Quarterback hasn’t been your problem. But if he’s healthy, I’d like to see him a little bit.
Andrew: You know what I’m saying. I hate to see it when he’s like pushed into a certain role. You got to go now, or it’s your series, go. Kyle Trask is 12 for 12 for 150 yards in the second quarter or first quarter, and you say he’s got to go and disrupt the offense. Offense is such a key to being in rhythm that you just don’t want to see that. Again, I would love to see Emory get out there and get more of a role and be able to throw the ball some, but they also need to get ahead in games. That’s for everybody.
Nick: That’s for everybody. You certainly go ahead and get ahead in games. I’m going to be interested to see what Florida looks like on Saturday. 100%.
Andrew: We can continue to talk and break it down all we want, but I don’t even know. I just don’t even know that anybody can say what’s going to happen, just because you hope to get the guys in better shape, but how much are you pushing your guys this week, and then they’re going to be dog tired on Saturday?
Nick: That’s a valid question.
Andrew: I don’t know, Nick. Tell everybody where they can find us. We’ll get out of here. We’ll see everyone on Friday, and we’ll do our predictions and get ready for a game finally.
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 listen to podcasts. Search Gator Country. Hit subscribe. Never miss an episode. Do your social media thing. @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. I’m @NickdelaTorreGC. He is @AndrewSpiveyGC.
Andrew: There you go. Guys, we appreciate it, and we’ll see everyone on Friday. As always, go Braves and chomp, chomp.
Nick: You stay classy, Gator Country.