GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we continue to preview the Florida Gators game against South Carolina on Saturday in Gainesville.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre are joined by Chris Clark of Gamecock Central to get his thoughts on the game and he gives us his take on this year’s South Carolina team.
Andrew and Nick also breakdown what Dan Mullen had to say on Monday about last Saturday’s win over Ole Miss.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, we are here. It is Dan Mullen vs Will Muschamp. The fighting South Carolina Gamecocks come to town for a noon kickoff. It’s kind of weird to say that early in the year. Usually we’re thinking end of the year for South Carolina, at least not Game 2. But here we go, Game 2. It’s Mullen vs Muschamp.
Nick: Will Muschamp comes in where he typically is, on the hot seat.
Andrew: He lost to Tennessee, which to me says it’s over with, because, as you said, he usually doesn’t lose to Tennessee.
Nick: It’ll be interesting to see what our guy Chris says about Willie and what’s happening up in Columbia. The honeymoon, I’m sure, is over. It’ll be interesting to see what South Carolina looks like. They did show some fight. They were down big to Tennessee and made a little comeback. Ultimately, you fall short by four points, lose 31-27 to Tennessee. Start the year 0-1. What is the rest of the schedule? They got Florida this week, and then they get Vandy, which is okay. Then after that Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M.
Andrew: Going to be tough. We’re going to be joined by our good friend, Chris Clark, of Gamecocks Central up there here in just a minute. Get his thoughts on everything. It just seems like every year it’s the Will Muschamp hot seat. Kind of brings that question of do you get rid of him during the pandemic and all that stuff. We’ll talk more about this with Chris, but it just seemed like they got Mike Bobo, maybe they’re going to get the offense going. I guess they did. They scored 27 points, but the defense gave up 31.
I kind of relate it a little bit to my Falcons, and I guess I shouldn’t, because South Carolina didn’t blow consecutive 20-point games. It seems like every time there’s a big moment Muschamp seems to fail. You talked about this, I think, on Sunday, or on Monday’s podcast, kicking a field goal that late in the game when you’re down by 7. It’s like, what are you doing? It’s some of those moments that are just headscratchers for Will Muschamp.
Nick: Yeah. It’s almost like he just can’t get out of his own way, you know what I mean?
Andrew: Right. Yeah. Exactly.
Nick: He’s been a head coach for a decade, you’d think by now he would have figured that out, but nope.
Andrew: Let’s go to Chris. Let’s talk to Chris. We’ll get Chris’s thoughts on everything, and then we’ll come back and break down what Mullen had to say on Monday and give Florida’s side of things here, as we head into the game on Saturday. Let’s go to Chris, get his thoughts. We’ll come back and break it down.
Guys, we’re joined by my man, Chris Clark, here. Chris, first of all, how’s it going? I have to ask, did you think there was going to be football this year?
Chris: Man, I’m doing well. It’s good to be back on with you guys. I appreciate the opportunity, first of all. It depends on what time of year you asked me. We decided very early on we were getting so many questions, as I’m sure you guys were, and we had to tell people, look, it’s okay to say I don’t know this year. We had to say that a lot. When everything first started getting shut down from a recruiting standpoint and a team activity standpoint, a lot of the people we talked to across college football, whether it was coaches or administrators, were very concerned about whether or not there’d be a season, whether it’d have to be moved to the spring, whatever it may be. Those all seemed very real possibilities, because there was a lot we didn’t know.
Then as things progressed, it seemed like it was back on track. Then there was one time, maybe a few weeks before the Big Ten shut down and the Pac-12 shut down, people were really sounding the alarm across college football and very concerned again. That wasn’t really fear mongering on the part of anybody who was reporting that stuff, in my opinion. It was just administrators were thinking that, even in the SEC, which has been certainly one of the more steadfast groups. They were concerned internally as well. Obviously, things ended up proceeding.
I’ll tell you, man, it was really good. I was able to go to the game in Columbia the other night, and it was different, but in some ways it was the same. It was an SEC football game, and it was really awesome to see. I’m glad that we got to the point and hope that it can continue, and everybody can stay safe and healthy and the season can continue without a hitch. That’d be awesome.
Andrew: Nick and I said that.
Nick: I think being at Ole Miss, I think I missed the pageantry of college football, that stuff that makes each individual university unique and special. Once the game starts, if you were at home watching on TV, you probably didn’t feel like any different, like any other week.
Chris: Right.
Nick: Little quieter if you’re at the stadium, and you miss some of the traditions and stuff, but once the ball gets snapped it’s regular football.
Chris: It really was. Talking about Ole Miss, I’m sure the Grove and all that, all that was different at South Carolina.
Nick: I don’t want to talk about that.
Chris: The tailgating was way diminished at South Carolina. I’ll tell, where I was actually sitting at South Carolina the other night, when South Carolina scored was it as loud as an at capacity crowd of 80,000 people? No. But it was still pretty loud. They were piping in some ambient noise from near the student section where they got some speakers, just sort of that lull. When they would play that, it sounded like you were just in the stadium. It felt fairly normal. Some of the stuff was different, but you’re exactly right. You’re just sitting there. You’re watching the action. The angles, the camera angles that they were using on the SEC Network were a little bit different. They were a little bit more zoomed in, which actually makes it a little bit harder if you’re trying to rewatch stuff. Overall, it was football, and I’m glad it was there.
Andrew: That’s exactly what it was for Nick and I, just glad it was there. Props to the SEC for taking that wait and see approach. Nick and I said this in our preview, poor Will Muschamp. The guy every year seems like he’s on the hot seat. Nick made the call the other day that Will Muschamp does not lose to Tennessee, and then they lose to Tennessee. I think what some of us are calling headscratchers. You kick a field goal down seven. What did Muschamp say about that decision of kicking that field goal? I guess, hindsight. What did you think about that call?
Chris: First of all, I understand what people thought about that call. I actually understood both sides of it. I think the reason that South Carolina lost that game, they had two turnovers to Tennessee’s nine. They outpassed Tennessee. They had a very small margin of less yardage in the game. They possessed the ball for longer. They put up more offensive points. Tennessee, one of their touchdowns was a pick six. That was obviously a huge mistake. They had the mistake at the end of the game on special teams.
Actually, on that same drive that you’re referencing, Andrew, they got back up, because they had a false start. They had a second 15, and they had a pass a little bit out in front of the tight end, hit him both hands. Should have caught the football. Right there they’ve got a first down. So, they shouldn’t even be in that position, but they made too many mistakes. They had some critical mistakes throughout the game that hurt them.
As for that call, I think, and Muschamp didn’t get this specific, but what he mentioned was they felt good about the field goal. You go kick the field goal. You get the ball back. Of course, that’s a calculated risk. It worked out, because they did get the football back. Tennessee lost a bunch of yardage. They get the ball back. Then the punt happened. So, it is easy in hindsight to look back it. I think probably what they were going for there is instead of playing for the tie, which maybe you go score there. You would have had to convert a 4th and 12. If you get it, and you go kick a field goal or score, whatever it may be, but I think they were probably going for a field goal. Then you’re banking on kicking off, getting the ball back, if your defense can get a stop, and then trying to go get a field goal or score again. You’re sort of playing for the win.
It was actually, arguably, a more aggressive move. I don’t know. It depends on how you look at it. Really what it was is they just shot themselves in the foot with a false start penalty, and then not hitting a guy on a 2nd and 15, where you got a chance to be right at the sticks for a 1st down. Then the unfortunate play, the special teams play where your guy was trying to hold up a gunner and give a return a chance at bounce. As soon as the ball bounced, it looked like trouble, whether Jamie Robinson might come up to field the ball. Would have been a dangerous play. If he didn’t, it’s going to bounce all over the place. It would have been a tough proposition with no timeouts there, less than a minute and a half to go drive the field.
But they did have some explosive plays on offense. We actually had more than Tennessee. It’s all a hindsight sort of proposition. The bottom line is they made too many mistakes to win the game, and we knew that would be the case. These are two pretty evenly matched teams, as the score indicated. If those teams play 10 times, you could see it going either way really. South Carolina just made more mistakes, and that was the bottom line.
Andrew: Breakdown the new offensive style under Bobo. I said this to Nick. I thought Bobo was kind of the OC that Will Muschamp needed.
Nick: How many OCs did he go through when he was here at Florida? Bobo was always on our short list of guys that we had to watch when he was looking for a new OC.
Andrew: Yeah. Was he kind of what you thought it was going to be? Do you kind of feel like he’s that answer for South Carolina?
Chris: I think what Bobo is, and you guys know this, Bobo’s the most experienced guy. You can count Charlie Weiss, obviously. That was a disaster for many reasons.
Andrew: Sitting on the Gatorade bottle?
Chris: He had a lot of experience, but Mike Bobo is a proven guy. He coordinated the offense at Georgia from 2007-’14. I know they typically have a lot of talent, but guess what, any good offensive coordinator typically has talent to work with. It shouldn’t be any sort of strike against him. Even at Colorado State, the head coaching tenure didn’t work out. Defensively they weren’t very good, but they were always pretty salty on offense. They got multiple guys who either got to the League or will be in the League who played for Mike Bobo. He really diversified things at Colorado State, even at Georgia, where he implemented some more spread principles.
We sort of wondered what the game plan would look like, because he’s never worked with this personnel before, so how much would they do out of the I, how much would be spread, etc.? You got Colin Hill from Colorado State who has a lot of knowledge in that offense, almost 20 games at Colorado State. He threw over 400 passes in that offense at Colorado State, so a lot of experience. I think what it was for Muschamp, a lot of people looked at it as a safe hire. That’s sort of what he needed, right? He needed a guy who has proven experience in the SEC.
Second half play is something they really struggled with last season. They were better in 2018 in that. They scored 20 points against Tennessee in the second half. The offense scuffled. They scored on the first drive, so everybody’s like, here we go. Then they don’t score again in the half, so then everybody’s like, here we go again. In the second half, they come out and score 20, and they do enough to win the game. They didn’t score 20 points in a half all year last season, except for the Charleston Southern game, where they hug, I can’t even remember, 70 I think. A really bad football team, to be honest. I think there was some encouraging signs.
He does not have a lot of talent to work with. He’s got Hill. The running back situation is sort of unsettled. It’s sort of by committee. They had some guys do some pretty good things there. Receiver, they got Shi Smith. I thought he did an awesome job of getting Shi Smith. He caught 10 balls, and everybody knew he was Option 1, so he schemed him open a lot. He just don’t have the skill guys. There’s not a Deebo Samuel, Brian Edwards, and Shi Smith all on the roster at the same time. Even then, they struggled offensively.
Bobo knows what he’s doing. There’s diversity in the attacks. You could tell he kept Tennessee on their toes sometimes with some of the play calls. The question will be whether or not they can sustain that and whether they can clean things up, because the schedule does not get any easier. I don’t if we know if Tennessee’s just average, or if they’re a little better than average. They just made too many mistakes, but I think Bobo showed some really good things to where if they can stabilize it, and if they can start getting more skill talent, you can see where he could be really good for the Gamecocks.
Andrew: When you look at Colin Hill and what he was kind of able to do in the game, to a lot of Florida fans, we’ve had this question–
Nick: First off, when you look at Colin Hill, do you not see Jake Fromm and Gardner Minshew? As if you just merged them into one person.
Chris: Yes. I can see that. I haven’t thought about that one, but that’s a good point.
Nick: You’ll never be able to unsee it now.
Andrew: Yeah.
Chris: No. You’re right.
Andrew: When you look at them, we’ve had a lot of people say, what is Colin Hill? I guess, describe Colin Hill’s game to the person who hasn’t seen him play a ton.
Chris: Colin, who’s originally from South Carolina, he played at Dorman, signed with Bobo in the 2016 class at Colorado State. He’s definitely a pocket passer. He was a little bit more mobile in high school, but he’s torn his ACL three times at Colorado State. So, that’s been a question. Can he stay healthy? He stayed fairly clean against Tennessee. There were a few sacks, but nothing that looked really bad, and he came out totally healthy. That’s always good. He’s got that history with the injury.
One thing that Mike Bobo mentioned is that every other time he’s come back from the ACL when he’s come back he’s been tentative, and now Colin Hill has come into it with, look, I’ve torn this thing three times. I’m good. I’m going for it. So, he hasn’t looked tentative in the preseason, after he got cleared this summer for contact and everything, full go. Didn’t look tentative to me the other night either. So, definitely a pocket passer. He knows where to go with the ball. That’s caused a lot of people to give him, you know how it is with cliches in football, he’s a game manager, but at Colorado State he would push the ball down the field. They had some vertical threats, and there wasn’t a lot of that the other night.
I think some of that might have been by design, given the personnel. Just find some safe throws. At times maybe he was a little too safe. He tried. The pick six was a little bit behind Shi Smith on a shallow cross. Still should have been caught. It was a little bit behind him. It bounces off his shoulder pads into Henry, the linebacker’s name I can’t pronounce very well.
Andrew: Tuatuatua-something.
Chris: Yeah. Something. So, it bounces into his hands, and then it’s returned. He had a tight end open on that play. Some people have picked at, well, he had a guy open on this play, that play. I think overall he played pretty well. He took care of the football. The pick six is hard to put on him. If he would have gone to the open man, it probably wouldn’t have happened, but it also bounced off a receiver’s shoulder pads. He was under duress at times. I thought he did a good job of sort of taking what was there. He looked really comfortable within the offense and really ran and operated things well. With an offense with some young players and a lot of unproven guys, just overall, even if they’re veterans, a lot of unproven guys, I think they needed that steady hand. He’s a guy that’s got some arm talent too. He can make the throws.
He’s not going to be dynamic in the pocket. I think that’s a concern, particularly when you look at Florida and some of the people they’re going to face up front. Tennessee’s D line is by no means going to be the best that they face, probably not close. So, when you look at some of the guys Florida and some of these other teams are going to be able to unleash on him, his movement in the pocket, around the pocket, those are going to be some things to watch. I think they did a good job, Mike Bobo did, of moving him around a little bit outside the pocket, just to sort of get rid of some of that pressure just within the pocket. That’s sort of a quick breakdown, maybe not so quick, of his game and what he’ll bring.
Andrew: Nick?
Nick: Also, not to make excuses. We’ve talked about this a bunch. People listening to us probably are sick of hearing it, but you had a new offensive coordinator trying to learn player’s names and meet players and install new stuff over a computer screen all offseason. That was their first go at it in a live football game against somebody else. I think you’ll probably see better play. We’re talking about Florida. I counted 22 missed tackles and stuff like that. On the offensive side of the ball, it’s all the same. It didn’t matter. The coaches have been together for more than a decade. The quarterback started 10 games last year. You had a bunch of continuity, and South Carolina didn’t have that. A bunch of teams in the SEC didn’t have that. I think you’ll see better football throughout the year.
You did mention that schedule. I pulled it up before we got you on the call, and I was like, Vanderbilt next. That’s not bad. Auburn, LSU, A&M. Never mind. It gets rough there for South Carolina quick.
Chris: Yeah, man.
Nick: Just getting back to my buddy, Will Muschamp. Where is he? Seems like he’s in his normal seat, that’s rather hot. This is Year 5, I think? Right? It seems like he’s back on the hot seat. What does he need to do? What’s the set minimum among fans with Will? What does he need to do to kind of keep his job this year?
Chris: Here’s the thing. What’s happening right now, normally there’s not panic after a season opening loss. People would be frustrated. What has happened is the end of 2018 in which South Carolina was shutout against Virginia in the Belt Bowl in Charlotte. They opened the 2019 season with a shocking loss to Mack Brown in Charlotte, the same place they just had the bowl game. Blew that game. Then they somehow beat Georgia, but then they blow the lead against Florida. Had a chance to turn the season around. They were winning against Florida, ended up dropping that game. Things just completely went off the rails. Injuries, the offense completely fell off a cliff, and they go 4-8. Then you open the season with a very important game against Tennessee, and they drop that. So, things have sort of snowballed.
Here’s the thing about the hot seat. It’s a weird position. In reality, he’s not on the hot seat. Y’all may say, you’re crazy. He’s really not, because every hot seat in the country has had ice cold water poured on it this year, because the reality of the situation is that people don’t have money to pay buyouts.
Andrew: Right.
Chris: South Carolina and other schools, South Carolina’s not the biggest athletic department in the world, but they typically operate in the black, which is sort of rare, honestly.
Nick: Yeah.
Chris: They’re looking at a $50-$60 million shortfall. You’re going to pay $20 million for a buyout and then command $5 million just for a head coach, which would be market value, and a new staff?
Andrew: Right.
Chris: No. You’re not doing that. You know it, guys. Every week is a season in college football. If Dan Mullen loses to South Carolina next week, there will be people saying to fire him. Right?
Nick: I will avoid our message board for a couple days.
Chris: Right. There will be people saying to fire him. He could have won the national title last year, and people will say to fire him. Every week’s the season in this league. Which is great, there’s a lot of fan passion. But what I’m saying is that’s maybe the fan perception, but the reality of the situation is– Now, if South Carolina went 0-10 this year, would something happen? Boy, there would be a conversation, and that would be a very difficult spot, but the reality is at this point, even after last season, even after dropping a season opener, #1, the season hasn’t been played, #2, this landscape is just so much different than normal.
There’s also an appetite in the South Carolina administration to stick with a coach. Now, there’s a limit to that. That doesn’t mean they’re going to give Muschamp 10 years, if they won five games every year. Nobody’s saying that. But when he got to South Carolina, it was widely thought that they needed six years or so. They’re in Year 5. At some point things have got to trend upward. He just brought in his best recruiting class, even if with a 4-8 season, somehow. Which call it for what it is, that was an outstanding job. Yeah. They got to turn it around on the field and start trending back upward at some point. It’s sort of hard to put a handle on, but I really, just calling it like it is, I just don’t know that he’s really on the hot seat.
Now, when we get to 2021, if things were to go south then, there’d be much more of a conversation about it at that point. This year, and this is across college football, not just South Carolina. I can’t really see there being a lot of coaching changes this year, because the finances are just in such a precarious position.
Andrew: That’s kind of what Nick and I–
Nick: I’ve always wondered if it’s, because Florida from what I was told, is going to lose $50 million this year. I’ve wondered is that like a perceived loss? I still think they’ll operate probably in the black, but it’s a perceived $50 million loss from where we were projecting our profits to be. It’s not like we literally lost $50 million this year. We were operating $50 million in the red. It’s a perceived loss from where you were projected to make to that. It’s still $50 million.
Andrew: That’s kind of what Nick and I talked about with Mike White and the basketball program. Everyone has said if he doesn’t go to the National Championship game pretty much that he should be fired, and that’s kind of what Nick and I have said as well, and that his can you in this age where the daily families around the country are losing money, can you really go out from a perception standpoint and say, we’re paying you $10 million not to coach our football team?
Chris: Exactly. You’re exactly right, the perception. Coaches have taken pay cuts. South Carolina, I believe it’s all the coaches in the major sports, football, basketball, women’s basketball, because Dawn Staley’s very highly paid, and I think baseball, if I’m not mistaken. I’d have to double check that. All took pay cuts. Lot of employees are being furloughed or open positions not being paid. It’s just a difficult thing to do. We have seen some extensions being given or raises or whatever it may be, being given at other schools. From my conversations, and that’s really the best I can go on, with people familiar with how the administration’s thinking at South Carolina, there just doesn’t seem to be any appetite to even consider some type of buyout.
Now, talk to me. If we get through the season, and there was some doomsday scenario, where South Carolina’s 1-9 or 0-10, the fanbase would be hot, and maybe something different is there.
Nick: If South Carolina’s 0-3 on October 10th, around 3:30, 4:00, that means losses to Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Florida with Auburn, LSU, A&M coming up. Then you’re probably thinking, okay. Listen, we’ll figure out how to make this PR nightmare of firing a coach during a pandemic work, but we need to figure it out.
Chris: Yeah. Losing to Vanderbilt this year, that could change a lot maybe. We’ve seen things change during the pandemic. We’ve seen things change with the perception of a coach on the hot seat, or even what the administration actually thinks about the coach on a hot seat. You see those things change all the time. It’s just with where things are at right now, and this is not counting any sort of doomsday scenario, it just really seems like unless it just gets completely untenable, South Carolina wants to stick with it and try to see if things get stabilized.
If so, what if the team goes and wins five games this year? That’s pretty good against this schedule. They just won four on a 12-game schedule. It’s a really difficult schedule. They just brought in a really good recruiting class. They got one of the country’s best quarterbacks committed in ’22. Muschamp may have finally found the offensive coordinator he needs. If they go 5-5, I would say he has. Maybe. I think you can’t just look at what’s the worst-case scenario. I think you do have to let the season play out. I understand why people are looking around, Gamecock fans, and they’re going, I don’t see anything different here. I totally get that and understand it, but you have to wait and see it play out. I don’t think anybody saw 4-8 coming last year.
Andrew: Right.
Chris: Nobody saw Carolina going down to Athens and winning. You do have to let it play out and just see.
Andrew: Plus they got one of the best recruiting coordinators in Drew Hughes on staff, and that’s still showing in Gainesville with the guys that are playing on Saturday in Kyle Trask, Kyle Pitts. All those guys were Drew Hughes kind of guys. Nick.
Chris: Exactly. Go ahead.
Nick: Go ahead, Chris. We’re going to get your prediction after this, so go ahead and say what you were going to say.
Chris: No. I was just going to say that’s been the interesting thing, the recruiting. The class that Muschamp brought in looks like a really good class. Guys, South Carolina hasn’t signed two five-stars since 2002.
Andrew: Wow.
Chris: And they did it in 2020 going 4-8. And that’s another point of frustration for the fans. They go, who cares? They’ve got to win. I’ll tell you. Steve Spurrier, and I’m not comparing Muschamp to Spurrier, because the resumes, even at this point, Spurrier obviously was a legend by the time he got to South Carolina, so it’s not an apples to apples comparison at all, but what I’m saying is he sort of floundered. They sort of just were around the first few years. They had some signature wins. They went down to Tennessee for the first time ever. They beat Florida that first year with Urban Meyer, before they were a powerhouse. They beat Clemson, before Clemson was a powerhouse, here and there.
What really changed is he made some changes to his staff, and they brought in, really it started in the 2009 class with Stephon Gilmore, Alshon Jeffery, some of those guys. What happened is some of those freshman that they brought in became the tone setters and leaders of the team, and then they built on that. Then they went and signed Marcus Lattimore. Then they went and signed Jadeveon Clowney. Now, I look around the state of South Carolina, I don’t see a bunch of those guys. They got Jordan Birch out of the state last year. They got MarShawn Lloyd.
What I’m saying is if they can stabilize it this year, if they can stabilize it, and if they can build, bring in a 2021 class, hope it’s better than it’s ranked right now, and move towards 2022, they still do have a chance to establish some momentum. They have brought in some good players. Again, there does have to come a point where more on field wins than loses. That’s more evident in terms of progress.
Nick: I think the betting line in Vegas is not putting a lot of faith in South Carolina, but this is the point where we ask you for your prediction. If you’re going to be siding with Vegas, then my question would be if South Carolina wins on Saturday it’s because they did blank.
Chris: I think, first of all, I’d pick Florida to win this game. I think offensively they’ve got too much firepower. I don’t think Florida’s offensive line is as good as Tennessee’s, to be honest. At least coming into this year that was the perception, and I haven’t been able to watch the entire Ole Miss game yet, but that’s sort of what I thought off the bat. I do think Florida’s quarterback play and their skill position play and what they do offensively is going to cause you a lot more problems. Just keeping pace with Florida in terms of scoring points I think is going to be difficult.
For South Carolina, can they replicate even what they did last weekend? I really liked some of what Florida is going to have on defense. You’re playing on the road. I think it’s a really tough ask. If South Carolina wins, here’s the one thing they’ve got to do. They were really good in 2016, and especially in ’17, under Muschamp they won by forcing turnovers, because they weren’t good offensively either of those years. They were the best in the SEC those first two years at forcing turnovers. The past couple years, they have not been nearly as good, for whatever reason. They lost that battle to Tennessee 2-0. They were evenly matched, so they ended up losing.
They’ve got to win that turnover battle category against Florida in a big way, I think. They got to be +2, +3. Some weird stuff may have to happen. I think they got to hit some explosive plays, control the ball, get some turnovers. That’d be their formula. Otherwise, it’s tough. It’s tough to see South Carolina keeping pace with Florida, who’s much more established offensively, who has less questions in the football team.
Andrew: Got it. Chris, we appreciate it, man. Tell everybody where they can read everything for you and South Carolina.
Chris: Sounds good. GamecocksCentral.com is where you can find us. If you want to check out some of our YouTube content, youtube.com/gamecockscentral. On Twitter, @GCChrisClark is where you can find me. I really appreciate you guys at Gator Country for allowing me on the podcast today. It was a good time.
Andrew: Absolutely, man. We appreciate it and look forward to seeing the game on Saturday.
Chris: Sure, man. Thanks a lot.
Andrew: Nick, good stuff from our man, Chris. I think Chris has a good point on the whole Muschamp thing. We’ve talked about this with Mike White a little bit. As much as people want to harp on Mike White and say he’s got to be gone this year. First of all, I think Mike White’s better than a lot of people give him credit for. I think he’s done a good job. I think it’s going to be tough around the country in general, including my boys down in South Alabama, who should have never hired their coach in the first place, but I think it’s going to be tough on everybody to fire and hire coaches during all this, simply because of the money situation and the perception.
Nick: Yeah. I like kicking Will while he’s down. Maybe that’s just me. That’s certainly something that I probably let slip my mind when I was thinking firing Will Muschamp. All the coaches might be getting a pass this year.
Andrew: Yeah. We’ll see there. It’s should be a good game to see a test of Mike Bobo, to see kind of where they’re at. Then it should be a good game for Florida to kind of test to see where they are, how much they improved defensively. That was kind of the talk of Monday’s press conference with Mullen and Kaiir Elam and those guys. Took responsibility for terrible play on Saturday defensively. Mullen said basically what we said on the podcast, and that is the defense is definitely ahead of offense. We kind of expected that a little bit. What was kind of your takeaway from talking to Elam and those guys just on the defense?
Nick: Talking to Mullen, it’s the exact analogy that I used on our Sunday podcast. It’s like baseball. When everyone gets to spring training, it takes a while for the bats to catch up to the pitchers. Right now, because you haven’t been tackling, it’s going to take a while for defenses to kind of catch up.
The most impressive one to me was Kaiir Elam. Obviously, as a sophomore now, we really didn’t talk to him much during his freshman year, but he comes up and pissed off might be putting it lightly as his mood. It wasn’t pissed off that he had to be doing media. He was pissed off at himself and pissed off at the defense. Basically, almost like a filibuster, he just kept saying, that’s not acceptable. What we did is not acceptable. Yes, we won the game. That’s fine, but what happened is not acceptable. He goes, we’re DBU, that can never happen. We’re supposed to be an elite defense, that can never happen. He said, “We won the game, but defensively it felt like a loss to us. That’s not the Gators’ standard. We had some above the line plays, and then we had a lot that were below the line. Defensively, this USC game means a lot to us.”
You know when you say, Alabama lost to so-and-so, or Alabama barely beat a team that they should have beat by 30, I would feel bad to be the next person on Alabama’s schedule, because they’re going to take out some frustration on whoever it is. I feel bad for South Carolina’s offense if everyone on Florida’s defense has that mentality that Kaiir Elam has.
Andrew: Yeah. It’s kind of what we said a little bit on the podcast, and that was they needed that mentality of this isn’t acceptable. To put it fair, this was supposed to be the strength of your team, and this is a team that has aspirations to win a national title, to play in the playoff, and if you have that defense playing like it is on Saturday, that doesn’t happen. So, I’m glad to see that. I kind of wouldn’t expect anything less from Kaiir Elam. I kind of put him as that little bit of, I don’t want to say he’s the captain of the defense, but pretty much is kind of that focal point and has that swag kind of mentality about him there. It’s going to be interesting to see and see who steps up on that defense to really make those plays.
Then, like you said, they should feast on this South Carolina offense. It’s not a very good offense. You’re definitely not facing Matt Corral in general at quarterback, so you should have a good game there. How do you perform, and who steps up?
Nick: Yeah. Like I said, I think this South Carolina offense is probably the exact prescription the doctor ordered for this Gator defense, but you still got to go out and play. Still got to go out and make the plays, but I feel much better about Florida’s defense. I don’t think the performance Saturday is indicative of the quality of defense they are, but you know what they say, you are what your film says you are, and right now Florida’s defense’s film is a dumpster fire.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: I think they’re going to come out, and they will play really well this week. I was just trying to think yesterday, in between press conferences, and even while we were talking to Dan Mullen, because a lot of the questions were very offensive centric, about Kyle Pitts and Trask. I think you’d have to go back to some of the Urban Meyer, Dan Mullen teams to find an offense that is this electric, and it’s got me excited. Like you said, we thought Florida’s defense was going to be the strong point, and the offense would figure things out, after losing a bunch of guys. But this offense is electric, man.
Andrew: I think we all thought the offense would score points, but we definitely didn’t think it was going to be a shootout style.
Nick: I don’t think they’re going to score 51 every week.
Andrew: No.
Nick: But this is a fun offense that can hurt you in a bunch of different ways.
Andrew: This is going to be an offense that you’re not going to go into a game and say, how are they going to score points? That kind of brings me to my next point of Jordan Rogers, SEC Network analyst, had a really good video that showed Florida ran the same passing concepts, basically the same play, 10 different times. Kyle Trask was 9 of 10 and had two touchdowns in the formation.
One of the things that I think Jordan Rogers hit on that we don’t talk about enough, but some smart OCs back in the day have told me, when I was coaching and stuff like that. Certain coaches say, I have 500 plays. Then other coaches say, I have 500 plays, but it’s the same play run out of 50 different formations, with different motions and that kind of stuff. That’s exactly what it was with Dan Mullen. You look at it. It was the same passing concept, but it was run 10 different ways out of 10 different formation setups. To show that, when you look at that it shows just how good of a coordinator, play caller, Dan Mullen is and how simple the offense is, but also complex the offense is. But it also shows to me, Nick, how good of a player and a leader and a quarterback Kyle Trask is. When you look at some of those plays, and you read some of the things, he was reading the defense like he should before the play call, or before the snap of the ball.
Nick: It reminds me of one of my favorite movie coaches, Herman Boone. “I run six plays, split veer, like Novocaine. Just give it time. It always works.” I agree with you. I also think that it takes your very last point there. It takes a certain quarterback. I watched that entire nine minute from Jordan Rogers, and the second or third play he goes, this is Kyle Trask’s fourth progression in this circus concept. He went through and got through and got the ball to where it needed to go.
Dan Mullen said there were a couple passes that he’d like to have back, a couple decisions he’d like to have back, but Dan Mullen’s offense is very easy for quarterbacks, but then when you see someone break it down like that, you’re like it also takes a certain quarterback to make it as successful as it was last Saturday. Making those decisions and making sure the ball is going to where it needs to go.
Andrew: Yeah. You look at that breakdown. Yes, it looked very easy, but when you see what Trask was doing before the snap of the ball, and that’s what great quarterbacks do. When you look at Peyton Manning, and I’m not calling Kyle Trask Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, but when you look at those guys and they’re able to check off and know where they’re going with the ball before the snap of the ball, that’s kind of what separates you from being a good quarterback to stepping up to being an elite quarterback. That’s what he was able to do. When you have a guy like Kyle Pitts it definitely makes it easier, for sure.
Maybe not you and I, because we’ve been on the Kyle Trask train for a while, but people I think take for granted Kyle Trask, saying he’s just more of a game manager, like Chris kind of said it, and that being a bad word, but it’s not. What he’s able to do is able to run a system very effectively and run everything Dan Mullen wants to run. Not that Feleipe Franks didn’t, but Feleipe Franks wasn’t the same style of quarterback Kyle Trask was, from an understanding and from a smartness of the position. Would you agree?
Nick: Absolutely. Despite not having played until, I’ve lot track of what he was supposed to be last year, a redshirt junior. Despite not having played for four years, doesn’t look like it. He’s technically a grad student right now, and he looked like a grad student, someone who’s been in the system. He looked like a guy who, Florida’s got a four-year starter, like a fourth year senior starter. That’s what he looked like, not like a kid that’s starting his twelfth game.
Andrew: I think that goes to the point that we always talk about, and that’s a big reason why Dan Mullen likes to have veteran quarterbacks running his system is because of that. Knowing that kind of style of play. Kind of goes into that. Nick, kind of running out of time here. This went a little longer than expected with Chris. One thing I wanted to hit on real quick was Kyle Trask did pick up the honor being the Earl Campbell Player of the Week. Ventrell Miller was SEC Defensive Player of the Week, and Brett Heggie was Offensive Lineman of the Week. Good start to the year for Florida there. Get ready for South Carolina on Saturday in the Swamp.
Nick: Absolutely. Looking forward to it. I’m going to go walk today. By the time you’re listening to this, I’ll have my story up on it already. We’re walking through the Swamp today with some of the people from the UAA and getting the rundown of how everything is going to work. If you’re planning on going to the game, there’s still tickets available, but if you’re planning on going to the game, check out Gator Country, because I will have a story up with all the safety precautions and everything you need to know about what your game day experience will be like.
Andrew: Tell the people where they can find us. We’ll get out of here. We’ll see everyone on Friday for another prediction podcast.
Nick: Find that and more at www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. You can find the podcast there. You can find the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Just search Gator Country. Hit subscribe. Never miss an episode. Do your social media thing. @GatorCountry on Facebook and Twitter. @TheGatorCountry on Instagram. I’m @NickdelaTorreCG. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC.
Andrew: There you go. We’ll see everyone on Friday for prediction podcast time, and we’ll get ready for Willie Muschamp coming to town. As always, chomp, chomp and go Braves.
Nick: You stay classy, Gator Country.