GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we recap the Florida Gators 34-3 win over Tennessee on Saturday in the Swamp.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre recap how quarterback Kyle Trask played in his first start against Tennessee on Saturday.
Andrew and Nick also talk about the guys who had big games on Saturday, plus we recap our picks from Friday’s prediction podcast.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew:What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, Gators roll 34-3. You and I thought it might be a little closer than that, but they come out and roll 34-3 and dominated the game from start to finish pretty much. Took a 17-0 lead into halftime and just went into cruise control.
Nick:I mean, even when Tennessee had the ball at Florida’s 3, and it was a 7-0 game, they ended up throwing an interception. Trey Dean comes up with that. At no point Saturday did I feel like Tennessee will take control of this game and Florida will be out of it. Florida was in the driver’s seat the whole afternoon.
Andrew:Yeah. It was like you said. It was one of those where Florida never looked like they were in trouble at all. Tennessee never found a rhythm at all, even went to the backup quarterback, the local kid from Ocala, and then they bounced back to Jarrett. It was very weird kind of how they did the bounce back.
Kyle Trask, 293 yards. Had one of the better performances of a quarterback under Dan Mullen in his career. For the most part, Kyle Trask looked like he was in control. He had the two interceptions, and in those situations it looked like he was trying to do a little too much, but for the most part of the game Kyle Trask just came in and really did was Kyle Trask does and that’s find the open receiver, throw the ball really well. Played well. I did think he threw the one deep ball to Tyrie Cleveland was a little underthrown, or, excuse me, to Trevon Grimes, but that’s Kyle Trask. His struggle is going to be throwing the deep ball. Overall, I thought Kyle Trask did what we expected Kyle Trask to do, and that was be in control of the game.
Nick:Really first extended playing time. I mean, he played in garbage time last year against Missouri, played one quarter against Kentucky, but first extended playing time. I mean, very first drive, that’s the drive that’s drawn up on Thursday or Wednesday. That’s scripted. They couldn’t have shipped that any better. Now, if his pass is better on the first play, or on his very first throw, second play of the game, that might be a touchdown to Trevon Grimes.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:It’s a little bit underthrown, 43-yard gain still. Then the second pass, like we’ve said, if you put it in Kyle Pitts’ vicinity, he’s going to get it.
Andrew:I thought that was something that we had been waiting to see for a long time was to see Kyle Pitts get involved. For the first time, it was Kyle Pitts doing what we thought Kyle Pitts was going to do. Four catches, 62 yards. For the most part of that he was wide open and was a mismatch. That’s exactly what we had heard and thought he was going to do all year, and he finally comes out and does that and looked well doing that.
Still not impressed with the offensive line, Nick. Still a struggle. Had a little bit better game. 128 yards, most of those in the second half. Still, the offensive line is still a struggle bus.
Nick:I liked, they brought in Richard Gouraige, and there was a play …
Andrew:First play he comes in he gets beat.
Nick:No. There was a drive where they ran the ball, finally ran the ball effectively, and they ran it right behind him. I think you’re going to see more Richard Gouraige, because, yes, the offensive line is still not getting the push in the run game, but I think they’re going to start moving those pieces around. I thought Richard Gouraige had a good game overall.
Andrew:Yeah. I mean, I’m not saying he didn’t. He had the one time where he got blown into the backfield by the defensive end there. That was a struggle for that. I do think he was much better than what we had seen. Then you can move Stone to right tackle, get Delance out. Delance right now is probably the weaker of the three tackles.
Nick:Yeah. They got to figure something out on that right side with Bleich and with Delance. I don’t know. I think I said that was going to be probably the biggest question, on the line at least, that right side. I said I felt way more comfortable with the left side than the right, and the answer might be Gouraige played left guard and left tackle. So, you move Stone Forsythe over, and you have Gouraige and Forsythe at tackle. You got to figure something out, and it’s going to take shuffling the pieces.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:We questioned that last week, does it take wholesale changes and moving people around? I think the answer to that is yes.
Andrew:Right. We’ll see how that goes. Pass pro wise Florida was much, much better in the game for them. It was a situation where I thought that they expected the pass, and they still weren’t able to get a pass rush, outside of a couple plays. I’ll say that I think that a couple of the times that Kyle Trask was really pressured, let’s see. He had, what, three sacks? Yeah. Three sacks in the game. I can count off in my head one or two were more coverage sacks and Kyle just holding onto the ball too long. Not knowing I got to get rid of it.
Nick:That’s stuff that comes with playing time and reps.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:That’s something that I think will come and will get better with more experience. That’s the fumble. The first interception I think he threw to double coverage, and you can’t do that.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:The second interception, I think a lot of people are saying it’s double coverage. The safety wasn’t there when he threw the ball. The safety came over after and was there after the ball was tipped. I don’t have any problem with the second interception they threw. He threw a 50/50 ball to a 6’5” receiver in the endzone. Throw that ball. Throw that ball in that scenario. You’re winning. The game’s in hand, not over, but it’s pretty close. I think he’s a smart enough and a mature enough quarterback that he’s not going to throw that ball down seven. In a different situation, I don’t think he throws that ball. In the situation that Florida was in, he’s up, they’re fine, Tennessee’s not moving the ball against Florida’s defense. To me, you’re just taking a shot and giving one of your skill players a chance to go make a play. Trevon Grimes just didn’t make the play. That’s going to happen on 50/50 balls.
Andrew:Right. Again, I don’t think that’s a play that he makes in a close game, against Auburn or something like that. It’s a ball that I think if you ask Trevon Grimes, he’ll tell you he should have came down with it. I think that that was a ball that was thrown right where it had to be. It was a 50/50 ball. I thought it was a decent throw. The other interception, you just can’t throw that ball there. Again, overall, I thought for the most part Kyle went to where he should have. He definitely took the second and the third reads, his check downs when needed, and then he took his shots when they were there. I thought the ball was put on point, and he looked like a poised quarterback. Had you not known, you would have thought that that was a guy who’d been out there several weeks or was a veteran out there.
Nick:That’s what the biggest thing was. We saw in Kentucky, and that’s what I said on the podcast last week is that if Kyle Trask had let human nature sink in, if he had pouted or felt bad for himself and just thought, I got a girlfriend here, and I’m going to enjoy being in college and hanging out with my girlfriend and not take football seriously, because I’m never playing. So, what do I need to be in my book for, my playbook for? What do I need to be going hard in practice for? I’m not going to kill myself, because I’m not playing. You would have seen it on the field. He would have looked unprepared, and it probably wouldn’t have gone the way that it did against Kentucky or against Tennessee.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:You didn’t see that. That’s a complete credit to him, the way he’s handled himself, carried himself the last four years, and probably to his parents for raising him that way, because I know I would have gotten frustrated and either left or certainly wouldn’t have been preparing like I was going to be the starter for four years, while not starting a game.
Andrew:Again, that’s a big credit to him, and it’s a big credit to his family. I thought, again, that it was a smooth transition, as smooth as it could be, in there. Couple of other guys that had decent days. Freddie Swain had a pretty good game. Trevon had a pretty good game. Lamical gets his touchdown, and Damien Pierce I thought played well when he got in the game for Lamical as well.
Nick:Yeah. I think we’re going to see a change at running back in that rotation. Damien Pierce didn’t lose the fumble, but …
Andrew:Malik Davis.
Nick:Sorry. Sorry. Malik Davis didn’t lose the fumble, but you can’t put the ball on the ground. At one he had touched the ball, not touched the ball, but carried the ball seven times and had put it on the ground twice.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:If the Tennessee player doesn’t have a foot out of bounds when he picks it up, then that’s be two lost fumbles in seven carries. You just can’t do that.
Andrew:Yeah.
Nick:Listen, we have been very forgiving with the running backs, because of the way the offensive line hasn’t been able to get a push in the running game, but there’s no, you can’t put the ball on the ground. Then I think Damien Pierce came in. I mean, the numbers still aren’t great.
Andrew:It’s not great, because the offensive line is not getting a push.
Nick:Yeah. He got 11 carries for 39 yards, one touchdown. Perine had 14 for 62 and a touchdown. I think you’re going to start to see Perine and Pierce more than Malik Davis, until Malik Davis can, I don’t even know, show them that I’m not going to put the ball on the ground? I don’t know how you do that, because they’re not going to get a ton of opportunities like that in practice.
Andrew:Well, it’s tough for Malik, because Malik’s a little bit more of a mobile guy, and when you got your offensive line getting zero push, that makes it tougher for guys like Malik to get things going back there. He’s a guy that gets that little gap and makes things happen. That’s where I think that’ll hurt them a little bit, or hurts him a little bit, because of that. We’ll see.
Defensively, I thought that Moon did a really good job of stepping in for Jabari. I thought Jonathan Greenard continues to be that freak there. I thought both of those guys played really well, and I thought Marco Wilson had a comeback game and showed people how good he really is. In my opinion, Nick, probably the player of the game on defense was Amari Burney.
Nick:My player of the game on defense is Jon Greenard, and we’ll get to our picks, but Amari Burney gives Florida that athletic …
Andrew:Versatility.
Nick:Versatile player at linebacker, at star. Remember when I said, Tennessee exposed Florida’s linebackers, took advantage of them in the passing game? They gave them the book. All of a sudden, Dan Mullen goes, by the way, here’s an insert for the book. Try reading this extra chapter we added in now, and the chapter’s called Amari Burney.
Andrew:Right. He showed. Had the interception in the game, and it showed that you’re not able to do the things that you were able to do against David Reese, against Ventrell Miller, against James Houston. You’re not doing those things against Amari Burney. Amari Burney is an athletic guy that is a DB in a linebacker’s body and is able to run with those guys. He comes up, makes things happen, and I thought he played really well in the game. I thought Marco played really well. I thought Shawn Davis and the safeties played well. There wasn’t a ton of plays to be had for the safeties, because, quite frankly, Tennessee didn’t get that far into the secondary, but I thought they played well overall.
Nick:Yeah. I thought they played well overall.
Andrew:Oh, and Trey Dean. I thought Trey Dean had the best game of his season. Not just the interception, but I thought all around he seemed a lot more comfortable.
Nick:Marco Wilson’s been playing with, it’s a dislocated pinkie knuckle on his left hand, so he’s got that cast. I think that why he had to like double catch the interception.
Andrew:Okay.
Nick:Trey Dean’s interception. Talk about focus. Then Amari Burney’s interception, after Marco’s pass deflection. That’s all effort.
Andrew:That was Marco killing the guy.
Nick:Yeah. That’s all effort. That’s all hustle. I was told Marco just got the wind knocked out of him on that play. It wasn’t like rehurting the finger. When he stayed down after that, I thought, shoot, it might be that hand again, but just that. I think Florida all around played a better game. More complete game, and the penalties aren’t bad.
Andrew:No. The penalties weren’t bad. I thought that was a big key in this game, and we talked about this, don’t have dumb penalties. Don’t do things that are going to allow Tennessee to stay into the game. Florida had that couple opportunities in the first half where they didn’t put points on the board, didn’t finish drives, and you thought didn’t finish it there, but just five penalties for 44 yards. I don’t think there was any personal fouls there. No really stupid penalties, in my opinion. Florida finally ran a good amount of plays. Ran 71 plays in the game, total 441 yards in the game.
Emory Jones got a little PT. I’ll say this though. I don’t know if I’m going to like this two quarterback thing. I don’t know how it’s going to work in big games. It just seemed like when Emory came in it kind of slowed everything down. It took the momentum away from you a little bit, because everyone in the stadium knew what was coming when he walked onto the field.
Nick:Yeah. My biggest thing with it was how are you handling when they go in and out? To me, I didn’t like a lot of the times that they would bring Emory Jones in. I didn’t like when they were bringing him in. It almost seemed predetermined. Listen, you’re coming in here, here, and here, and it doesn’t matter what’s happening in the game. It doesn’t matter if Kyle Trask has completed his last 10 passes.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:Well, shoot, we had Emory coming in at this point, so put him in.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:To me, I didn’t like that. It seemed more predetermined rather than putting Emory in with feel, and I wanted to put him in because had a good play call, or we had seen a look. It just seemed to be predetermined and kind of took Florida out of the flow of game, out of the game.
Andrew:Like I said, it was one of those where everyone knew what was coming in that particular instance when he came in. As bad as the offensive line had played, did you really expect to get much? That was the thing. Then you didn’t really see him throw the ball, except for the two kind of swing passes there. It was like deflating almost to the team.
Nick:Yeah. I mean, I think Emory Jones adds a dimension to the running game.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:You definitely see more of the zone read, more of the option, and teams will respect that because of his speed. I mean, he’s four of six passing for 20 yards. I don’t think you’re saving. People are probably thinking, they’re saving his big play action pass for the Georgia game. Okay. Cool, man, but win this game. Let him get those reps throwing now. I want to see what you have in him as a passer now.
Andrew:Right. It’s just one of those things where I think you have to be more creative with him when he comes in. I want to move on to that and talk about it. Nick, I mean, what is the situation with the play calling right now? I know it’s 34-3, and it seems like we’re just nitpicking here, but the creativeness of this play calling just isn’t there right now.
Nick:Yeah. Not seeing it. Not sure why, but it’s not there.
Andrew:Getting under center has just got to go. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t. I mean, you might as well scrap that from the playbook. Everybody knows what’s coming from there when you get under center. You’re not fooling anyone. Quite frankly, the defense doesn’t care if you run the ball. Run it. They’re going to stop it. They’re able to play up a little bit and dare you to play action, because that’s what they’re kind of expecting. They’re not really expecting you to run the ball, and when you do run the ball, you’re doing them a favor.
Nick:Not wrong there. Hey, if you want to do it when you’re down inside the five, all for it.
Andrew:Right. I don’t know. The play calling, the 3rd and 4th down where they missed it when they were under center, it just lacked creativity a ton. I just didn’t see anything that was like this is good play calling. You see Dan Mullen with his sheet and seemingly like he’s a little bit more involved in the play calling, and you just wonder, when is the play calling going to get creative again?
Nick:Yeah. I don’t think it’s on purpose on either, you know, the purposely vanilla to not show anything. I don’t think it’s that. I do want to see some more creativity. I like that they got Jacob Copeland into the game.
Andrew:Yes.
Nick:Got Jacob Copeland involved. I mean, listen, if Jacob Copeland catches the ball, we’re talking about another 70-yard touchdown pass for Kyle Trask.
Andrew:Yeah. That was just a situation where I think if you asked him, he got a little ahead of himself, thought there’s the endzone, I’m about to score. It was good to see them go back to him, even though it was a screen play, but go back to him. End his day on a high note.
Nick:Yeah. I think, at least I am, I won’t speak for everyone else, I think I’m also grading Trask on a curve.
Andrew:Okay.
Nick:Because, you know, and he had to answer the questions all week. Hopefully, we’ve gotten past the answering that, but I’d be interested to see, if you went back and saw how many snaps did he take in three years at varsity level in high school and how many has he taken at Florida, and is that even like a season’s worth of snaps? I think I’m grading on a curve just because of his inexperience.
Andrew:Okay.
Nick:I mean, like giving him the benefit of the doubt for some things, but I thought he had a solid performance. Also, if this was Feleipe Franks, we’re probably just saying decent game, solid game. I guess that’s where I’m coming from saying that I think we’re grading Trask on a curve a little bit is because we’re saying Trask did great, where if this was Feleipe Franks we probably say solid, decent. Which is why I think, at least for me, in my mind, if I try to look inside my head and think, would I have said the same things about Feleipe Franks as I’m saying about Kyle Trask? I’m thinking I might have been a little bit harsher on Feleipe. Then why would I have done that? Well, Feleipe’s played in X amount of games, and this Kyle Trask’s really first start.
Andrew:Right. Yeah. I mean, I get that. I think that, first of all, this Tennessee football team is one of the worst SEC football teams I’ve seen while I’ve covered the Gators. I mean, they’re bad. I knew they were bad. I didn’t know they were that bad. Jeremy Pruitt has a long way to go.
Nick:Your boy’s going to get fired there. That team is terrible. They’re not well coached. There were times that the players were put into positions to be successful.
Andrew:What is Chaney doing?
Nick:Why are they throwing? They threw like 18 swing passes behind the line of scrimmage, and you’ve got the quarterback bouncing the ball there. Stop calling that play.
Andrew:What are you doing Jim Chaney? You were supposed to be brought in to fix this offense. Let’s just face it, and, listen, I’m not comparing these two, but Jeremy Pruitt’s kind of got the bad luck of Will Muschamp right now of this is a team that, I mean, this seems like a thing where it doesn’t matter who’s calling the play on offense. It’s just going to work. You begin to wonder about it. It was just this team is not, I mean, that’s a bad football team.
Again, I’ll say this again, and I would love to pick Trey’s thoughts on this. I didn’t think that they quit, by no means, but that’s not a Jeremy Pruitt type of football team. When I think of Jeremy Pruitt type of football, I think of smash mouth, want to knock you out kind of thing. I don’t think Tennessee quit the game, but, Nick, maybe I’m missing something, but I never got the impression that Tennessee was a physical football team.
Nick:No. I think they’re well coached. I don’t think they have the same level of talent. They’re a long ways away, a long ways away. I mean, Jeremy Pruitt’s lost to Florida now, in his two games, by 20 points each season. Florida’s won 13 of the last 14. They won eight straight against Tennessee in Gainesville.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:I don’t know who Tennessee has coming in, but unless they’ve got the #1 recruiting class in the country, that team ain’t going to be much better last year. That’s a really bad football team. That team we saw on Saturday is worse than Miami.
Andrew:Oh, yeah. Easily.
Nick:And Miami is trash. Miami almost lost to McElwain yesterday.
Andrew:Right. Did North Carolina lose to App State, or did they barely beat App State?
Nick:Lost. Lost to App State.
Andrew:Yeah. That’s what I was thinking. That was, what, a three point or something? How big? North Carolina beat Miami pretty, three or something like that. I don’t know. Anyway, yeah. I mean, I don’t put all the blame on Jeremy Pruitt. I think what you see is that you see a team that that secondary is older secondary guys, and none of those guys deserve to be in the SEC. I think you see a lot of Butch Jones players still playing. Then you see some of the young guys plays for Pruitt that he’s recruited, and I thought they played well. My biggest question is does Tennessee and Philip Fulmer give him the time?
Nick:Phil was in the house yesterday, and Spurrier was in the house, obviously, with the ’94 team. This was not a Phil Fulmer, Steve Spurrier Florida-Tennessee game. This was not one of those. So, I know that’s your boy, but, honestly …
Andrew:Oh, they’re bad.
Nick:I mean, that’s your boy, and maybe he’s a good coach. 14 years ago he was a high school defensive coordinator, so his rise to being a SEC head coach is an incredible story, but they have maybe one realistic SEC win on their schedule, and that’s Vanderbilt. And they lost to Vanderbilt yesterday.
Andrew:Vanderbilt and Mississippi State are the two games that are question marks. I think Mississippi State game is a must win for the team.
Nick:Georgia’s going to beat the brakes off of them. Alabama’s going to beat the brakes off of them.
Andrew:Oh, yeah. Here’s my thing with Pruitt. Listen, I do like Jeremy Pruitt. I do think he’s a good coach. I do think maybe he was rushed a little bit into this head coaching thing. I’m the person, and maybe I’m wrong for saying this, but I just think you need experience elsewhere before you get into the SEC.
Nick:It’s tough. It’s tough to make that your first job.
Andrew:The SEC is not a place to learn.
Nick:No.
Andrew:Not a place to learn. Especially with as bad as that Tennessee program was. I mean, let’s be honest. That Tennessee program was atrocious under Butch Jones. That was atrocious under Butch Jones, so whoever got the job was going to have work to do. I think it just multiples, and people get on that. Also, you can’t lose to BYU.
Nick:No.
Andrew:You can’t lose to Georgia State. If he wins one SEC game, and he wins those other games, I think you’re talking about a different story.
Nick:Yeah.
Andrew:We’ll see. We’ll see how that goes.
Nick:I mean, you lose the first game, and then you lose to BYU. They’re going to be eliminated from a bowl game by the end of October. Before November comes, they’re going to be already out of bowl contention.
Andrew:Right. Yeah. Again, it sucks, because you got that murderer’s row schedule there, if you’re Tennessee. I mean, I get it. Everybody gets it. Florida’s murderer’s row in October is every year. It sucks, but that’s the hand you get dealt in the SEC.
Nick:Yeah. Tennessee’s always kind of starts with Florida, and they’ve got a really rough stretch coming up. I think they’ll be lucky to beat one of the next four teams. I think they go 0-4, but I think they’ll be lucky to beat one of the next four teams, with that being Mississippi State or South Carolina.
Andrew:By the way, wait. We’ll just go ahead. Let’s get into our games that we picked. By the way, did you see the pass that Hilinski, or whatever, did you see how Missouri scored their first touchdown?
Nick:No. I did not.
Andrew:Hilinski throws the ball. It gets tipped, right? He catches it. He throws it again, but backwards.
Nick:I did see that.
Andrew:Yes. Missouri picked it up in the endzone for a touchdown.
Nick:Hilinski. Might be a good quarterback. Obviously, a really tragic story with his brother. Yeah. That was an interesting play. I didn’t know that that was a rule. I thought he was kind of just spiking it, like throwing it down.
Andrew:No. I questioned at first. I was like, is that illegal, because you can’t throw two passes.
Nick:We learned that. Thank you, Treon. We learned that.
Andrew:It was a lateral, so I guess that’s where you get that not being a big deal.
Nick:Yea. Watch out. Missouri is going to have things.
Andrew:Missouri is a team that I think they get the benefit of the doubt a little bit. I shouldn’t say benefit of the doubt, but they get kind of the, I don’t know the word I’m looking for, but teams have to travel all the way to Columbia. Outside of going to Arkansas, it’s the furthest away they go. So, teams are playing different environment. The stadium’s trash out there. There’s no environment out there. You got to be mentally tough.
Nick:I think another thing, like you can see Missouri is figuring it out right now. Florida always plays them in November, and they’ve got it figure out. For some reason, they’ve got Florida figured out. Dan Mullen needs to be like, can we play Missouri first in the year? We’ll play Kentucky later on in the season, and we’ll play Tennessee. Well, you got to play that third week of September, but we’ll move Kentucky later into the year. Can we flipflop Kentucky and Missouri? Can we get Missouri before they figure it all out when we play them in November?
Andrew:Yeah. Let’s see. I got that one right. You got that one wrong. What’s the other games we picked?
Nick:Let me see. First games that we picked. Where am I? Week 4. We both picked the Aggies. That was a loser.
Andrew:Yup.
Nick:We both picked Louisville. Loser. We both picked Kentucky. Did they win?
Andrew:Kentucky. Who’d they play?
Nick:Kentucky lost. No. Kentucky lost to Mississippi State, didn’t they? Yeah. They did.
Andrew:Wow. To be honest, I didn’t pay attention to it.
Nick:That’s three losers. I picked Missouri. You picked South Carolina.
Andrew:No. You picked South. I did not pick. You picked South Carolina, and I picked Missouri.
Nick:No. I absolutely did not pick Will Muschamp.
Andrew:I’m going to go back.
Nick:Go back in the transcript. Go back in the transcript, because I’m looking at it right here on my thing. I would never pick Will Muschamp.
Andrew:Neither would I.
Nick:You did.
Andrew:No. I don’t think so, Nick.
Nick:You did right here.
Andrew:I think we need to go back. I think we need to go back and listen to that audio.
Nick: You can, because you picked South Carolina. You also picked Michigan. How’d that work out?
Andrew:No. I did not pick Michigan.
Nick:You picked Michigan.
Andrew:No. I did not. I said I will not pick the khaki shorts.
Nick:No. You picked the khaki shorts.
Andrew:No. 100% did not.
Nick:You did it.
Andrew:No. 100% I would not.
Nick:You are a Jim Harbaugh fan.
Andrew:Okay. They got blasted, by the way.
Nick:Wisconsin looks like they could be like a black horse playoff team. They’re playing well. They’ve got a great offense, great running back. I like them.
Andrew:Who gets fired first, Harbaugh or Pruitt?
Nick:Pruitt. I don’t know. I mean, Harbaugh is not going to beat Ohio State, which will make him 0-8 versus Ohio State, or, no, 0-5. This is his fifth year. He hasn’t won a big game in five years. I think he’s 1-6 versus ranked AP teams. You got to win games when you’re there. You got to win big games when you’re there, and he’s not. Just simply isn’t.
Andrew:Yeah.
Nick:Pruitt’s your man. It seems like they love him.
Andrew:So, I did pick South Carolina.
Nick:Told you.
Andrew:I’m going back to the transcript, and it says you said, I got the Badgers, Andrew says, the Badgers. That’s what I said. I mean, that’s what I said, I got the Badgers. You said, you don’t believe in the khaki pants? And I said, no.
Nick:Okay. So, I wrote that down wrong. I knew you picked Will Muschamp though.
Andrew:We both messed up on FSU.
Nick:Both picked Georgia. Both messed up on FSU. We both picked Georgia, and we both picked Florida. Not close though. Not close. Didn’t know that Tennessee was going to be that bad. Stinks out loud.
Andrew:I mean, I expected them to come in and at least put up a fight, you know what I’m saying? I just didn’t expect it to be one of those that was just like straight trash, and that’s exactly what it was.
Nick:Yeah. They just rolled over and played dead.
Andrew:Let’s go through our players.
Nick:Players. I got Kyle Trask. That’s a big win for me. 20 of 28, 293. Like we said, if Copeland catches that ball down the Gator sideline, that’s another 70 yards. You’d be talking about a 360-yard performance with three touchdowns. We already touched on the interceptions, stuff like that. Then I got a win for Jonathan Greenard. He had three pass deflections. I think he’s not sure how long CJ Henderson is going to be out, and he’s trying to audition to play cornerback. Also got another sack. I think just one. Did they give him a half sack for something? No. Just one sack. Two tackles for loss. All four of his tackles were solo, and he forced a fumble.
Andrew:Yeah. I give you a win there.
Nick:Not for Van Jefferson though. Van was kind of, I mean people ask me all the time, is so-and-so playing? I’m like, he’s on the field right now. Just because someone hasn’t gotten a touch doesn’t mean that they’re not playing.
Andrew:Right.
Nick:Van Jefferson played most of the game, just wasn’t targeted until late. He ends up tied for the lead on the team in catches with 4, but for 31 yards, long of 11, averaging 7.8 per catch. Not enough for a win there.
Andrew:Right. I didn’t get the win for Hammond. He, kind of like Van, was out there, just didn’t get the touch.
Nick:One catch for 10 yards.
Andrew:Then, like I said with Shawn Davis, he didn’t really have many opportunities. Had the two tackles there.
Nick:Hey, it’s good. It’s good when your safety doesn’t have a lot of tackles.
Andrew:Yeah. That’s what I was going to say. It’s one of those things.
Nick:Last week he had a great game, but it’s because he had to make a bunch of tackles at safety.
Andrew:Yeah. It’s one of those things where if you’re the coach you’re like, I don’t want my corners or my safeties having a ton of tackles, because that’s probably not a good thing. Then Jeremiah Moon is a win. I thought Jeremiah Moon played really well in the game. Him and Jonathan really put the pressure on the quarterbacks all day long.
Nick:Right. Yeah. Moon is definitely having the best year of his career, and good for him.
Andrew:Wanted to say this though. We don’t talk about him a ton, but Luke Ancrum.
Nick:Yeah. Luke Ancrum had a good game. There was another player I wanted to mention too, but go ahead with your Luke Ancrum love.
Andrew:Oh, no. Just I thought he’s had a really solid year, I think. He doesn’t show up in the stat sheet every time, but had a really nice PBU in the game, pass breakup. Then had a few tackles. I just, I really did, I thought he did a good job in the game and has really had a good season overall.
Nick:I think the biggest compliment I have for him is that there was a lot of times that I looked up, because he’s #98, I saw and 8, and I thought, Greenard made another play. Then the PA comes over, and it says Luke Ancrum. I’m like, oh, okay.
Andrew:Yeah.
Nick:That’s probably the biggest compliment, because I think the world of Jonathan Greenard. Another player. So, Ventrell Miller got hurt on the very first drive, and it gave an opportunity to Lacedrick Brunson. I think he continues, when given the opportunity, I think he continues to, not play like All-SEC caliber, but go in there and not make mistakes.
Andrew:Steady hands.
Nick:Yeah. Just fills in and does his role. Plays his role.
Andrew:Just a steady hand. Doesn’t go out there and make superstar plays. He just makes the plays that he’s asked to. Yeah. Good point on that for him. Moving forward, we’ll get into Towson on Wednesday.
Nick:People keep yelling at us for how we say it. Towson.
Andrew:Listen, we don’t do the transcript. We have someone who does it for us, so they hear us saying Tommy Townsend all the time, so they just think that. That’s not how it is. It’s Towson is how you pronounce it this week. Don’t get onto us about the transcript. We don’t write it. Neither Nick nor myself even do it, and we don’t go through it and change every little thing.
Nick:Here’s a cool note for you.
Andrew:Okay.
Nick:Four teams will be the Tigers that Florida play this year. The Towson Tigers, Missouri Tigers, LSU Tigers, Auburn Tiger War Eagles. The Tiger War Eagle.
Andrew:Didn’t know that.
Nick:Four Tiger mascots on the schedule this year. That’s got to be a first. That’s a lot of tigers. Just need a couple lions and bears mixed in there.
Andrew:Yeah. There you go. That’ll be cool. Towson were #4 in their division rankings, so they’re good at their level.
Nick:Playing on a different level Saturday.
Andrew:For sure. Nick, tell everyone where they can find us. We’ll get out of here. We’ll see everyone eon Wednesday.
Nick:Good overall win. Real quick. Florida stayed at #9 in the AP Poll. Notre Dame dropped, but they had Auburn moving up to 7. Wisconsin is at 8. Florida stayed at 8 in the Coaches Poll. Setting up for a top 10 matchup. If Auburn can handle business this week coming up at Mississippi State, which I think they should be able to, we’re setting up for a big game in the Swamp between undefeated Auburn and undefeated Florida.
Andrew:Poor Gus Malzahn is battling for his job though. He can’t lose, or he’ll be out on the streets.
Nick:He’s Coach Boone in Remember the Titans?
Andrew:Yeah. Poor guy. I mean, jeez. Listen, I thought he had to do really well this year to keep his job, but they’re people talking about Bob Stoops taking his job, and he’s undefeated. #7 in the country.
Nick:It’s Remember the Titans. Good luck, Coach Boone.
Andrew:Yeah. Anyway.
Nick:Hopefully we’ll get GameDay. That’d be cool. Get GameDay in the Swamp for Homecoming.
Andrew:There you go. Nick, tell everybody where they can find us. Let’s get out of here. We’ll see everyone on Wednesday.
Nick:www.GatorCountry.com for all your Florida Gator news. The podcast is there in audio and transcript form. Just search Gator Country wherever you listen to your podcast. We apologize for the mix-up on Spotify last week. Not sure what the technical difficulty was there, but if the podcast doesn’t work where you normally listen to it, it’s always on the website. Check it out there. You can check out the audio and listen to it there. 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 appreciate it. By the way, my Braves clinched. Playoff bound. So, as always, go Braves and chomp, chomp.
Nick:You stay classy, Gator Country.