Podcast: Recapping the Florida Gators 44-28 win over Georgia

GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we recap the Florida Gators 44-28 win over Georgia on Saturday in Jacksonville.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre look back at the keys of the game and how the Gators were able to pick up a huge SEC East win.

Andrew and Nick also look ahead to what’s ahead of the Gators going forward, and what they have to do to get ready for Arkansas.

TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, we’re back. Gators pulled out a big one and kind of did what we thought they would do, and that is kind of control the game from a defensive standpoint. When I say we expected that, we expected that they were going to force Stetson Bennett to beat them. We expected them to go out and say, if you’re going to win the game, you’re going to win it with his arm, and he couldn’t. Gators walked out with a 44-28 victory, and Kyle Trask had an impressive day.

Nick:                         I’m working on a story about the defense. Let’s just say the last two weeks. The last two weeks I think the defense has really stepped up, specially on 3rd down. Yesterday Georgia was 2 of 13 on 3rd down, 1 of 3 on 4th down. Defense really stepped up. Just such an important win for Dan, for the Gators. Then a deeply personal win for a bunch of the guys. Look at a lot of these guys, they’ve lost three in a row. This is Kyle Trask’s fourth time playing Georgia. Second time really playing against Georgia, but his fourth time in the rivalry and his first win. Really important win for a lot of reasons.

Andrew:                 We talked about it. It was Mullen’s turn to step up and say he was for real in this war against Kirby. We knew Georgia’s offense was bad, but they were bad. We’ll get into this in just a few minutes when we start to really nitpick the game, but Georgia had their opportunities on offense, several wide open receivers running wide open, and they don’t have a quarterback to get it there. Their quarterbacks ended up 9 of 12 for 112 yards, two touchdowns, and 3 interceptions.

We always look at it, and you called it on Wednesday when you said you thought this was going to be the year that bucked the trend of whoever won the rushing attack won the game. You were right. If you take out the first play of the game that went 75 from Zamir White, Florida ends up winning the rushing attack. I thought overall Florida really did a good job of bottling up those guys on the running game and just saying, Stetson, if you’re going to beat us, beat us, but we don’t think you can. He showed it. 5 of 16. The other ones weren’t even close. It was just bad, and D’Wan Mathis is a noodle arm. Ridiculous.

Nick:                         Maybe we’ve been reading the stats wrong. Maybe it’s not rushing per se. Maybe it’s whoever has the most yards from the running backs, because Florida’s running backs had 10 catches for 212 yards. The only person that covered a wheel route yesterday was Kemore Gamble when he intercepted one that was intended for Dameon Pierce. My goodness. At some point, realize what’s happening. Credit to Dan Mullen.

Andrew:                 Here’s the thing. That’s exactly what Georgia did to Florida the last two years was say, guess what, your linebackers cannot cover the wheel route. We’re going to do it. Florida didn’t adjust for two years, and Georgia didn’t adjust. It didn’t matter if they had Monty Rice. It didn’t matter who they had on it. It was pick on city, and at times Kyle became a little overly aggressive of wanting to throw it that he almost threw a mistake or two in that, because it was one of those things where he felt the running back’s going to be wide open.

Nick:                         Listen, credit to Dan. Dan said, you’re going to stop it before I stop calling it.

Andrew:                 And they never stopped it.

Nick:                         Yeah. It didn’t happen.

Andrew:                 One thing, Nick, and we’ll get into this more in a minute here, but a Kyle Pitts-less offense is a less exciting offense in a lot of ways. Kyle Pitts took a shot. Lewis Cine was ejected for targeting, and I think we can both agree that Kyle Pitts probably didn’t know if he was in Jacksonville or Gainesville, and that’s why he didn’t return in the game. It was like eight minutes to go in the second quarter, and the offense just never really got in full rhythm going forward after that, especially in the second half. They had six points, should have had nine. McPherson with a rare missed field goal, but still the offense in general did not look good in the second half without Kyle Pitts.

Nick:                         That was just a nasty hit. Cine knocked himself out.

Andrew:                 I know some people have said it was a nasty hit and a dirty hit and a cheap shot and this, that, and the other. I’m going to be that person, Nick, who says that’s just old-school football. I mean, is it targeting by the letter of the law? Yes. It is. Should he have been ejected? Yes. But at the end of the day, that’s what hardnosed football used to be about. Again, I get it. He has to be ejected. They’re trying to protect everybody. I don’t think it was a cheap shot or a dirty hit. I think it was just an old-school safety coming across the middle, knowing that in order to make Kyle Pitts not catch the ball you legit have to hit him square in the chest and knock the ball away.

Nick:                         It was targeting. It’s definitely an old-school hit. That was just a hit that would have been on Jacked Up on ESPN on Monday morning or Sunday night, whenever that aired. A lot of the stuff just happens. When you’re about to get hit, your natural instinct is to kind of tense up and curl up, and your head drops a little bit. We see it a lot. I don’t think it was dirty. When I said nasty hit, I just mean like …

Andrew:                 I know what you were saying.

Nick:                         Knocked both guys, that kind of nasty hit.

Andrew:                 But you see people talking about it was a cheap shot, and it was him getting at Florida, who he doesn’t like. I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s any intent there. Kyle Pitts had just big boyed everybody around on the field all day. It was one of those that he came across the middle, and he was trying to catch the ball, and Lewis Cine said, I’m going to put ball to helmet and jar it away. Then they ended up hitting each other in the head, and he gets ejected.

Nick:                         Yeah. They didn’t send him out there and say, Kyle Pitts is killing us, go give him a concussion at all costs. I don’t think that was the intention.

Andrew:                 Old boy got a concussion in the meantime.

Nick:                         Certainly changed the way that Florida’s offense was running and executing to that point. Man, you look at the drives. Florida kind of spots Georgia 14 real quick. Spots them 14 real quick, and then comes back and scores two. It’s like, restart the game. You calmed down now. Then Trask throws a pick six, and that’s unfortunate, but after that, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, field goal. It’s like Florida’s offense just went into hyperdrive, and it was fun to watch.

Andrew:                 It showed who was the better team on Saturday. That was for sure. And it really showed how good Kyle Pitts really was. Georgia for the most part did everything possible to keep the ball out of Kyle Pitts’ hands. I know he still ended up with the two catches for 59 yards, and both of them were big catches, but Justin Shorter’s touchdown, they had blanket coverage on Kyle Pitts on a crossing route. They had blanket coverage pretty much all day long on him that they were not going to allow Kyle Pitts to have multiple catches in the game. The two catches he had, for the most part, was pretty decent coverage. He just mossed those guys and made them look silly. He made two guys in Tyrique Stevenson and Tyson Campbell, who are going to make some money in the NFL, and he made both of those guys look silly.

I think that that’s the thing Kyle did well was understand that. The one criticism I will have on Kyle, and there’s not very much criticism you can have on Kyle Trask at all, and that is at times he is anticipates where he’s going to go with the ball, and when it’s not there he still tries to go there. That’s okay with a guy like Kyle Pitts. With other guys, maybe you need to kind of calm down a little bit on it.

Nick:                         Yeah. That’s exactly the thing. One, Kyle Pitts is going to be a freak and going to do stuff on his own, but even when he’s on the field and not catching a pass, he’s getting all that attention.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         Creating one on ones for other guys. Then you just say, we need you to beat your man in one on one, and that’s the impact Kyle Pitts has, even when he’s not making a play on his own. He’s creating just by being on the field, and you have to account for him.

Andrew:                 I thought for the most part Stone Forsythe played really well at left tackle. I thought he had a really good game overall. I think Delance struggled, and Stewart Reese struggled before he went out. Then I thought Josh Braun showed at times some good film I think he put out there. Gouraige at times had some good stuff. At times they allowed the Georgia pass rush to get there, but that’s expected. You knew you weren’t going to keep them down all game. I joke, and we joke all the time about Kirby, but Kirby is a pretty good defensive minded coach. You knew he was going to make some adjustments in the second half, and he did. Just credit overall to the game plan. The game plan very early was noticeable, and that was get the ball to the backs and mismatch and let them go.

Nick:                         It’s really interesting. I think Dan Mullen is so smart when it comes to scheming and offense, and I think the same thing for Kirby on defense. You just love to see that back and forth chess match of we’re not doing this, how do we fix it? You’re like, the fix is this. Then they’ve changed this at halftime, how do we react to that? I love watching that kind of stuff.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Dan Quinn used to be a mastermind at that. Zach Carter though in the second half, he came out and he was like, I’ve been a caged animal for the last 20 minutes of this game. He came out and had a really good second half. I thought Kyree Campbell had a really good game. I thought Brad Stewart played well for the most part.

Nick:                         I think you could make the argument that Zach came in, and he’s fresh. I’m like, no. I think that’s just like him. That’s just the kind of impact.

Andrew:                 Bottled up energy that he had.

Nick:                         Yeah. It’s really interesting. Dan made the comment again last night. He’s like, I’m really just hoping that we can get our whole team out there. You look around, and you really were only missing Trey Dean yesterday, or Trey Dean and then I guess Zach Carter. Zach Carter comes in, immediately two quarterback pressures. First drive. Immediately two quarterback pressures. I guess our question was, after Missouri, did Missouri stink, or is Florida’s defense turning the corner. I think I said last week, I think they’re turning the corner, and they certainly looked like it against Georgia. 75-yard run is just you got lined up wrong, and Georgia made you pay as much as they possibly could make you pay. Sometimes you make a mistake, a mental error, and the other team doesn’t make you pay, or the price of it is just like a 1st down.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         Just so happened the price then was a 75-yard touchdown on the very first play of the game, but it was just a mental error. Those are going to happen. You got to clean them up, sure, but you’re going to have mental errors when you’re talking about 18, 19, 20, 21-year-old guys. You have mental errors at the NFL level, and those guys are millionaires.

Andrew:                 I guess, let’s hit the negative part real quick, and it’ll be super quick, for the most part. I said it on the podcast, and obviously with Trey Dean being out it wasn’t possible, but I think I’ve seen enough of Shawn Davis on the field, Nick, to know that there’s better players. His angles are terrible. Good friend of ours, Jim Nagy that runs Senior Bowl, was high on him early in the summertime and stuff, talking about how he could be a high second round guy. I need to reach out Jim, but I think Jim would agree that Shawn Davis just had a really bad year overall.

Him and Tre’Vez Johnson seem to be the two guys. I know we pick on Marco, or people pick on Marco. I think Marco played a pretty decent game yesterday. Those three have been the guys that have had guys beat them deep. Shawn and Tre’Vez yesterday mainly. Three balls, Nick, that if a quarterback’s halfway decent, that was six. There was nobody, nobody whatsoever. The touchdown that made it 14-0, Shawn Davis just quit on the play and didn’t go over to pursue it. To me, that’s the biggest negative is I feel like the secondary needs the young guys to play. I need to see more Trey Dean. I think I’m over watching Shawn Davis play safety.

Nick:                         I noticed that there isn’t the same energy from Marco, after what I thought was a good game against Georgia, as there was after Texas A&M. I’d like to see the same kind of energy. Don’t just reserve the energy for when you’re angry at a player. When they have a good game, let them know they had a good game too.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         But I agree with you. There were a couple plays. Not a couple. There were seven, six times where if Georgia just had a competent quarterback.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         You’re making big plays. I’m watching, like you said, Tre’Vez, and I’m watching Shawn Davis kind of chasing guys. I don’t want to harp on that stuff. This is huge win. But let’s just say, if Jake Fromm is the quarterback, probably makes more of those passes, and maybe we’re talking about something different.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         But he isn’t. We’re not, and it’s a huge win for Florida.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         Not perfect. Not perfect by any means. That first half on offense. Shoot, Kyle Trask, Kyle Pitts, the wheel routes, the running backs. They’re all looking crazy.

Andrew:                 We talked about that last week, and that was getting behind was no big deal to Florida. It was zero problem for Florida to get behind. We saw what happened when Georgia got behind, and that was the panic came out. They tried to do a lot of things that just weren’t what Stetson was capable of doing in the game. You look at then they had to get away from their running game for the most part in the second half, and that hurt them. They had 17 attempts in the second half, and that’s what Florida had, but you look at it after the first quarter, even in the second quarter, they had four rushing attempts in the second quarter, Nick. That’s not going to win football games.

Nick:                         No. Listen, Florida’s not going to be a running team. That’s just not what they’re going to be. 37 rushes yesterday.

Andrew:                 They do enough to keep the defense honest.

Nick:                         Yeah.

Andrew:                 The thing for me, Nick, is this. This is what I tell people all the time. People say, can Florida run? I say, yes and no. Yes, they can, but we don’t know, because Dan doesn’t care to do that. His passing game is good enough that he hasn’t had to rely on it, and to be honest he hasn’t really cared to do it at times. I think at times he just doesn’t care to run the ball.

Nick:                         Yeah. I think when you say he doesn’t care to, it’s not that he’s like anti-run.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         It’s just he looks, and he’s like, this is what we do really well. This is what we don’t do well. We’re going to do what we do well.

Andrew:                 The thing too, Nick, and we talk about this all the time, but Florida does a lot of passing game that’s an extension of the running game. You look at the wheel routes, that kind of stuff. That’s just an extension of the running game to where you have to respect the running game. You have to respect the backs, that kind of stuff. That’s kind of where I’m at.

The thing for me, Nick, and this is getting back to the game, most positives. Has it ever been more clear just how bad of a developer Kirby Smart’s coaching staff is?

Nick:                         I mean, every year. I get it. I think sometimes fans are more concerned about recruiting than they are even about what happened in the season. Unless your team wins the National Championship, you know what I mean? Georgia fans are probably now sitting here pissed off that you lost to Florida, but they’re already worried about the recruiting class. Okay, we’re not going to win a National Championship this year, so what’s going on in recruiting?

Andrew:                 Oh, yeah. I was reading something that said, can we just go ahead and play Carson Beck for the rest of the year?

Nick:                         Right. I’m not saying just Florida. That’s a lot of fanbases that have that kind of attitude. Georgia can win all the recruiting national championships they want. Go ahead and make it 41 years. Add the extra year, because you’re not winning a National Championship this year. If you’re recruiting the way Georgia is, you got to win the SEC or something at some point, my man, because if not, then it’s like what are you doing here? You’re just recruiting?

Andrew:                 Someone asked me, and I think it bares to be asked. Does Georgia have Mark Richt 2.0?

Nick:                         Right.

Andrew:                 I don’t know that you can argue that it’s not true.

Nick:                         Yeah.

Andrew:                 I mean, does it honestly matter what you lose with, if you’re losing with one-stars, five-stars, three-stars, whatever it is? If you’re losing, you’re losing. Here’s the thing for me. This is where I’m at looking at the two programs. I’m not to the point where I say Kirby is Mark Richt yet, because Kirby has gotten into Atlanta, has gotten into the College Football Playoff and everything else.

My thing is you’re in Year 4, right? Or Year 5? Year 4. You’re in Year 4, and your quarterback room is as bad as it is, because you simply cannot develop someone and cannot figure out who the best one is. You swore up and down that Justin Fields was not ready to be the guy, that Jake Fromm was better than him. That obviously has been a lie, or something. You don’t know what you’re doing or something. Okay. He’s gone. You ran off Jacob Eason for Jake Fromm. That hasn’t looked good. You’ve ran off a lot of guys and different things, and your quarterback play is awful. Awful. That’s where I’m at. I don’t know. I don’t even know where you go if you’re Georgia. You’re going to go with Carson Beck next year? Maybe. What if they don’t develop him?

Nick:                         You’ve mismanaged maybe, perhaps.

Andrew:                 100%.

Nick:                         Mismanaged the quarterback room to a degree that, I’m looking at the guys that they have at quarterback, and I’m thinking, how have you won games in spite of these guys? Their quarterback room is a disaster. When you think about the guys that they’ve signed at that position, how has it gotten to this?

Andrew:                 Yeah. I say D’Wan Mathis has a noodle arm, and he does. He has a noodle arm.

Nick:                         He overthrew a couple open guys.

Andrew:                 Any pitcher can rear back and get five miles an hour extra, if they want to.

Nick:                         Trevor Bauer threw one over centerfield in Kansas City.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I mean, his ball, Nick, and a coach told me a long time ago about this. He said, watch how the ball glides through the air. When you watch D’Wan Mathis’ ball, it just looks like somebody shooting it out of the air. It goes, and then it’s just the air comes out. There’s no velocity.

Nick:                         Like a blimp.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         He throws blimps. Kind of just floats there. It’s going to get where it’s going, but it kind of just floats there, and it’s not in a rush.

Andrew:                 Then sometimes it don’t even get there. I don’t know.

Nick:                         You mentioned the offensive line a little bit. I wanted to say that I thought Stewart Reese, before he got hurt, I thought he was having a good game. It was a nasty attitude. I thought he was pulling better. Just I think his best game overall.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I agree.

Nick:                         It’s hard. It’s easy to point out when the offensive line is doing bad, because you see it.

Andrew:                 Right.

Nick:                         So, I try to whenever I think about it or see it in the game, I try to mention it. I thought he had a really good game.

Andrew:                 I thought Josh Braun showed a lot of promise in his pulling and different things during the game. I thought he had a really solid game for a kid who was thrown in the mix against, I know Georgia’s defense is not what they were, but that’s still some quality defensive tackles that he was going up against, and I thought he handled himself really well.

Nick:                         Agree. Agree with that for sure.

Andrew:                 Obviously, you need to get Stewart Reese back. I don’t know. Definitely to me, from the naked eye it looked like his shoulder came out of place, and if that’s the case, then we’ll see where it goes forward. Our good buddy, Jawaan Taylor will tell you that’s not something that you want. You can get it popped back into place and play with a brace and everything else. How it limits his mobility as far as moving his arms and stuff like that goes, we’ll see there.

Then Pitts, I don’t think that anything was serious there, outside of maybe a concussion, and I’m not saying a concussion is not serious. I’m saying I don’t think there was any long-term effect there. I think it’s just getting him out of that concussion protocol.

Nick:                         That’s what it is. I get it. I understand. Please also understand my frustration. I get asked. I was asked 70 times yesterday, what’s up Kyle Pitts? Is Kyle Pitts coming back? What’s up with Kyle Pitts? I’m like, I have told you everything I know. They took his helmet, and if they take a player’s helmet, that means they think you have a concussion. They’re going to put you through concussion protocol. Florida doesn’t answer questions. Kyle Pitts is important, we will be monitoring Kyle Pitts throughout the week, but there’s just protocols that you have to go through when a player has a concussion. If they take a player’s helmet during the game, if you see a player walking off the field without his helmet, probably not coming back that game.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Unless you’re Stetson Bennett, and he went in there and got a magic shot.

Nick:                         Yeah. Andrew texted me during the game, and he goes, I want whatever they gave Stetson, because he looked like he was hurt, and then he comes running back out on the field.

Andrew:                 The man looked like he was dying going to the locker room, and then he comes out, and he’s waving his arms up and down like nothing’s bothering him. I’m sitting here thinking, you got some good stuff, man. You went in and got the good stuff.

Nick:                         Like I said, you texted me in the middle of the game like, whatever he got, send some my way.

Andrew:                 I’m trying to think here. Moon is also out. Not sure of what the injury was for him, but he should be back. From everything we know, he should be back. Who else? Who else went down?

Nick:                         Shoot, everyone went down.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Everybody went down. Who went down that didn’t come back?

Nick:                         Turf monsters.

Andrew:                 That field was rough, by the way.

Nick:                         Yeah. Reese and Pitts. Those are the guys we’re going to be looking at.

Andrew:                 I’m trying to think if there was anybody else. Delance returned, right?

Nick:                         Yes. Delance returned and played. I thought at times he looked okay.

Andrew:                 Dean. We’ll be monitoring Dean.

Nick:                         Ankle. Correct.

Andrew:                 I think that was it. Chester Kimbrough, we believe that’s still dating back to Covid. I’m trying to think. I’m sure there’s somebody we’re missing. If there is, just hit us up and ask us. I think Moon should be good to go this week, and we’ll be monitoring Pitts. I would say Pitts probably would be good by then. To me, I’m sure he was concussed somewhat, but to me it did not look like he was bad as off as some guys you do see.

Nick:                         Yeah. Before we get off.

Andrew:                 We got plenty of time.

Nick:                         Okay. I said on Twitter, and I think I talked about it a little bit last week, to me this was a legacy game for Dan Mullen. You can’t start 0-3 against Georgia.

Andrew:                 You can’t.

Nick:                         I even said, listen, it wasn’t just not starting 0-3 against Georgia. It was all the guys Georgia had out, the team that you have this year. I was like, if Dan Mullen can’t beat Georgia this year with everything that’s going on around this game, he might be the Gainesville Mark Richt. So, since I said that, I just want to come out and say, like if I’m going to make the stakes that high, and if Florida would have lost I would have given it to Dan, so I got to go the other way and say, listen, you showed yesterday that you can develop, that you’ve got a team. I didn’t love the way the second half unfolded, and I think you might have sat on a lead a little too much. At some point, I’m sitting there thinking, is Florida going to score 60?

Andrew:                 I’m laughing, because I’m sure Dan’s heart stopped on a couple of those plays when Pitts threw, and it was almost a pick six.

Nick:                         Trask.

Andrew:                 Trask threw a pick six, or should have thrown a pick six, and the guy broke in front of him. I’m sure Dan was at that point saying, I hate Kirby, but I’m okay just winning.

Nick:                         At some point.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I’m with you.

Nick:                         But I want to give the credit, because we would have ripped him if they would have lost that game yesterday.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         So, I got to give credit. Listen, you’ve got to beat your rivals, and Florida, unfortunately, won’t get to play FSU, because, oh my God, they are awful.

Andrew:                 Who’s worse? Who’s worse, them or Tennessee?

Nick:                         I don’t know, but somebody’s going to get fired up there in Knoxville too. They just gave him an extension.

Andrew:                 Or South Carolina. Boy, Willy, the fans are pissed off up there for Willy.

Nick:                         Nice field goal down 41-0. How’d that help?

Andrew:                 I was talking to our buddy, Chris Clark, about it all, and he was kind of speechless. I’m not going to say what he and I talked about. That’s Chris’ business and everything else. He loves Will Muschamp. I told him, and I’ll say this again, you guys are going through what Florida did before he got fired, and that is the people inside the building love him, but the fanbase is just sick of it. Will went to his usual, I’m pissed off, and you should be pissed off and everything else. Yeah. You should be, and they are pissed off. Guess what? That don’t make it any better. They just looked awful, Nick.

Nick:                         Yeah. Certainly, it’ll be interesting to see if Will makes it out of this year, if Pruitt makes it out of this year.

Andrew:                 If you’re in Tennessee though, can you afford to fire Pruitt?

Nick:                         You just extended him.

Andrew:                 That’s what I’m saying. Can you afford it? I don’t know. That’s bad. To go back on your point, and I’m with you in that. We were tough on the game, saying that this was a must-win game for Mullen, and it was. We look at it, and I think now after seeing the game that it’s even more crucial because just how bad they really are on offense. He showed it, and he bounced back. All the national media who was ripping on the guy for his Halloween costume and for everything else, it didn’t affect his game.

Nick:                         No. Huge win for Dan, and you could see it. I’m sitting there, because everything’s weird now in the press box. Kind of just have to wait. We don’t really go anywhere, so sometimes I’d miss some celebration stuff when we were walking down to go do interviews, but now we’re just sitting there waiting for Zooms to start. I’m sitting there, and I’m just like, Dan’s really enjoying this. He’s running around, and all of a sudden, he’s in the stands. Dan Mullen’s jumped in the stands, like the players jump in and sit in that first row, and they’re hanging out with fans. Dan did that. You don’t often see a coach doing that.

I was just watching him, and I’m like, he’s going to react that happy. He kind of wears his emotions on his sleeves when it comes to that, and he’s going to react that way. I just thought maybe even a little bit more. They didn’t even say it after the game, and coaches don’t say it before games now, because they don’t want to make a game seem big, big and then lose, but Dan Mullen celebrated that one a little extra hard yesterday, and I think that was well deserved. That was a huge win, huge program win. You look at just following some of the recruits on social media, you can already see the buzz that that win on a national stage over a big team, winning a top ten matchup, the kind of impact that it has.

Andrew:                 To me, and more so than Mullen, was to see the energy Kyle Trask had. Kyle Trask is usually kind of an even-keeled guy who don’t really say too much or never really shows too much emotion, but he’s shown some emotion. He did a little bit last week, but especially on Saturday. I thought that was awesome to see the emotion from him and to kind of see him continue to evolve as that leader that we all think he can be. We’ve all known he’s a leader behind the scenes, but now to see him kind of being emotional leader as well is good to see and cool to see. Listen, I know some people said they were celebrating a little too much in the locker room, they haven’t won the East, this, that, and the other. Don’t matter. You’ve gotten your butt kicked for three straight years. Celebrate the hell out of it. You beat your rival. Celebrate the hell out of it.

Nick:                         Absolutely.

Andrew:                 All for it.

Nick:                         He could have brought the Darth Vader outfit out again yesterday. He could have coached in that thing, and I don’t think a dang person in orange and blue would have said a word about it. Listen, you can coach in a Big Bird costume if you’re beating Georgia. We don’t care.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Exactly. We look at it, and it was 44-28. That game wasn’t close.

Nick:                         No. I think some people are probably getting a little worried when it’s a 13-point game late, and then you get some of those. The pick six was bad. Buddy had it in his hands with nothing but green, and like all you have to do is beat Kyle Trask in a foot race, and you’re scoring a touchdown there. Then if you think about that, now you’re in a one possession game. But like you said, Florida was just the better team. They were just a better team Saturday.

Andrew:                 They were a much better team on Saturday. That’s the thing. They were just a much, much better team. It kind of reminded of this. You remember how Florida would always, or not always, but sometimes they would come out in the Muschamp days, and they’d have a good game plan for the first two series, and we would think, Kurt Roper has got it figured out. They would come out and put up a couple points and look good early on. That’s what Georgia looked like. They put every bit of energy to get that 14-point lead, and they exhausted it after that.

Nick:                         Yeah. It just hit me after I said it. It wasn’t too long ago that you and I were sitting here on the Sunday, taping Sunday after Florida-Georgia, and saying there’s just a talent gap. There’s just a talent gap on the field. That’s not there anymore. That’s erased. Florida’s not recruiting as well as Georgia is, so it goes back to what you said. One coaching staff is developing. The other one isn’t.

Andrew:                 I want to ask you this question real quick, and then we’re going to go through our picks. Someone asked me, a good friend of ours, and I won’t name his name here, but he said, is the Saban coaching defensive tree dying because that style of defense is dying and they haven’t adapted like Saban has? I ask you this.

Nick:                         I saw somebody in the AGC wrote that.

Andrew:                 Okay. It was someone else that asked me. I didn’t know the AGC wrote this, but I asked that because it is. When you look at what those guys were able to do with Saban, Saban’s adapted. These guys don’t seem to have adapted. Big linebackers don’t work in football anymore. They just don’t. A true middle linebacker doesn’t work as much in football anymore. Having those guys just don’t. I don’t think that those guys have adapted, and maybe they can’t adapt. Maybe everything they learned from Saban was that, and they don’t know what to do going forward.

Nick:                         Nick Saban literally came out and said this year, defense isn’t going to win you championships anymore. The game has changed. Like you said, he’s adapted. Florida, as the University Athletic Association, they adapted, because they hired a defensive coach, and then they hired McElwain, and that was a disaster, but then you hired an offensive guy. It’s like, listen, the game is changing. It’s an offensive game now. The rules have changed to benefit offenses and to benefit points. Georgia has not adapted to that.

Andrew:                 Right. Exactly. Nick, let’s go. I know I had the first pick, and I went with KT, and my guy, seven catches, 42 yards, and then he had three runs for -2. Georgia just did a really good job.

Nick:                         This is the thing. We say about Kyle Pitts, but I’m going back and watching some clips with a buddy of mine. He’s cutting them up, and we’re looking at plays. A bunch of those wheel routes are getting hit, and I’m watching one in specific right now on my computer. The linebackers didn’t run with the running back, because KT’s running on a drag. In their mind it’s we’ve got to bracket Kadarius Toney, because if he gets this ball, and there’s a little bit of space in the middle of the field, off to the races. All hell can break loose with Kadarius Toney with a couple feet of space. So, he’s in Kyle Pitts territory where he’s been so effective that he is now opening things up for other people. I’m giving you the win, even if he didn’t lead the team in catches. He’s creating for other people just by existing on the field.

Andrew:                 Right. Yeah. My biggest thing for him was he never got down on himself. He continued to work, continued to work. Had that 21-yarder late in the game. I know some people said, it’s the same old KT on that punt, and I don’t know what he was doing on that punt. Kind of like he froze and was daydreaming for a second. I don’t know what he was doing there, but it’s not the same old KT, because KT was out there, and he did what he had to do. Like you said, even if he wasn’t making the plays, he did end up having a big moment of the game. Who was your first pick? I forgot. Was it Pierce, Nick?

Nick:                         Sorry. I was on mute. Yeah. My first pick was Dameon Pierce. 15 carries, 52 yards. Got a touchdown. Also two catches for 41 yards.

Andrew:                 So, that’s close to 100.

Nick:                         Just shy of 100 yards all purpose and a touchdown. Shoot, didn’t even mention him. Bainbridge, Georgia. Big win for Dameon Pierce.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Who was mine? I’m trying to think who my second was?

Nick:                         I got it all pulled up. You had Jacob Copeland. That’s a loss.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         He’s doing his typical Jacob Copeland thing on Instagram Live saying he’s going to transfer and moping after the game. After a win. After a huge win.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         To me, just selfish.

Andrew:                 That was a loss.

Nick:                         Then your third pick was Kaiir Elam.

Andrew:                 That’s a win.

Nick:                         I made a joke online. I said, sad day for Gervon Dexter. He now shares the team lead.

Andrew:                 I saw that.

Nick:                         Gervon goes, no, not a sad day. It’s all good. I think he knows I was joking. Kaiir Elam. Good day.

Andrew:                 Who was yours?

Nick:                         Hold on. Did he have a couple PBUs?

Andrew:                 I know he had another one in the game.

Nick:                         Elam had just an interception. At one point, I was sitting next to Cassidy Hill in the press box, and I was like, are they just ignoring? What side of the field is Elam on? That side of the field. They weren’t even looking his way.

Andrew:                 Yeah. That’s respect. Who was your second pick? I forgot.

Nick:                         My second pick was Shawn Davis. Not going to take one for that. We’ve already talked about Shawn. We don’t need to harp on that anymore. Then my next one was Brenton Cox. Just one tackle for loss, three solos. He’s probably very happy to win the game, but I don’t think.

Andrew:                 We’re not giving out psychological victories here.

Nick:                         Yeah. I think he played better in the second half. When Zach Carter comes back, and he gets to go back to buck. When the game starts, Jeremiah Moon at buck, and Cox is back at end.

Andrew:                 By the way, my guy Princely, half a sack again. Put some pressure on the quarterback.

Nick:                         He’s going to be a dude. Keep putting him on the field.

Andrew:                 That’s my guy. By the way, I want to say this real quick, and then we’re going to get into our picks. I think I’ve seen enough of Xzavier Henderson on the field for a little bit.

Nick:                         Just not ready.

Andrew:                 Not ready. I don’t think he’s ready. Nick, picks. We both had Florida. That was a win. You had Clemson, and that was a hell of a game, but you took an L.

Nick:                         Hell of a game. Yeah. Let me run through all the wins. We both picked Miami. That’s a win. We both picked BYU. That’s a win. We both picked Coastal. That’s a win. What’s going on with your Jags?

Andrew:                 Maybe they’re firing Steve Campbell.

Nick:                         Okay. We both picked Florida. That’s a win. I picked Clemson. Great call for you, picking Notre Dame. That was a tremendous game.

Andrew:                 Yeah.

Nick:                         Then you picked Michigan.

Andrew:                 That’s so bad.

Nick:                         Indiana beat the khakis off Harbaugh.

Andrew:                 That’s so bad. They’re terrible. Terrible. We got to end, and we got to go here, but Justin Fields on the year has 10 incompletions.

Nick:                         Wow.

Andrew:                 The man’s been damn near perfect. Nick, tell everybody where they can find us. We’ll get out of here, see everybody on Wednesday. We’ll talk about Gators and Feleipe.

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. 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 @NickdelaTorreGC. He’s @AndrewSpiveyGC.

Andrew:                 There you go. Guys, we will see everybody on Wednesday, as we get ready to talk Gators and Hogs. Feleipe’s doing well.

Nick:                         Yup. Feleipe’s doing well. Got a big win. It’ll be another emotional game. I talked to Trevon Grimes after it. He’s really close friends with Feleipe. The Florida players are looking forward to seeing Feleipe back again, and you know Feleipe, he loves the University of Florida. He loved being a Gator, but you know he would love to come in and play spoiler.

Andrew:                 All you got to do is turn Brenton and Zach, and five interceptions are coming. Just turn up the heat, boys. Guys, as always, chomp, chomp, and go Braves.

Nick:                         You stay classy, Gator Country.

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.