Friday’s weekly podcast is back this week as the Florida Gators (4-0, 2-0) prepare for the Ole Miss Rebels (4-0, 2-0) on Saturday night in Gainesville, Florida.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down the key match-ups in the game and what the Florida Gators must do if they are going to upset #3 Ole Miss in the Swamp.
Andrew and Nick also give you three players they think could have break out games this week, plus Andrew brings you a special treat at the end of the podcast.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew: Man, Nick, that was hard to follow, brother. Following behind the man, the legend, the myth, Tim Tebow. I mean, are you ready to ball or what, man? It’s Friday.
Nick: Put me in Coach. I am ready to go. Sir Timothy Tebow has spoken. I am pumped up. I am ready for some Top 25 football in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday night.
Andrew: I wish you could see. I’m doing the Heisman pose right now. It’s like Heisman this, Heisman that. It’s the myth, the legend, superman Tim Tebow. I’m fired up, dude.
Nick: Is your Heisman pose on fleek?
Andrew: Oh, it’s on fleek. It’s fire. It is fire, bro. It’s so much right there. It is awesome. I just wish I could pull as many women as Tebow. It is what it is. Miss Universe now, come on, Tim, making us look bad, brother.
Nick: Yeah. I don’t know if Tim’s pulling the women. He’s very God fearing man, very good human being, on and off the field. It was nice to get a chance to talk with him last week when he was in town for SEC Nation.
Andrew: Can he play this week?
Nick: We can check. I don’t know. I haven’t given him any coffee, so there’s no NCAA violation there. He may or may not be out of eligibility.
Andrew: Coach Mac, if you hadn’t heard Coach Mac is on the coffee game with Nick. I didn’t think Coach Mac was that bad, but he is. Nick, I’m going to say this. I know there is a lot of talk, and you and I are one of them. We think that Ole Miss is probably going to win this football game, but I will say this. Win or lose for Florida, Coach Mac’s done one thing, create excitement around this football team again. Whether it’s here after this game or not will be a test of where this program is, but it really is excitement around this team, around this coaching staff, around the fans again, and that’s really something that the last four years has taken out of this fan base. Would you agree with that?
Nick: Absolutely I would agree with that. I think this is, and I’ve said it a couple times now this week, this is the first Top 25 matchup since 2012, so on a weekly basis in past seasons, maybe even get up for, it’s Georgia week. Will this be the year that we beat them? It’s Tennessee, we got to keep the streak going. On a weekly basis you could get fans up for games, but I think as far as the team as a whole the excitement level of where I believe, you believe, where fans believe that Jim McElwain has this team going is on a completely different level than it had been the past two years.
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, past two years you and I would have sat here and said, they may win, and neither one of us believed.
Nick: I remember my first year at Gator Country we were doing the weekly picks, and I picked Florida to beat Missouri. When they lost that game I said in a moment of brashness, I’m not picking Florida to win another game this year until they do, and it got to Georgia Southern week, and everyone was like, Nick, who are you picking this week? I was like, I can’t go back on my word. Things kind of spiraled out of control. To me there’s no sense, I don’t think Florida wins this week, but I don’t think that’s a setback. It may be a small speedbump. I think everyone expected at some point this year Florida was going to have some growing pains. They were going to get beat. It reminds me of in Little League we had a draft every year for the 11 and 12 year olds, and my dad was the coach. He picked an entire team filled with 10 and 11 year old, and we got our butts beat that first year by some of these older teams, and then the next year came, and our entire team was the old kids, and we went through the entire season undefeated. It’s kind of that mentality where we’re building something for the future. We know we’re going to take some lumps, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to go out and lay down.
Andrew: I think that’s the big thing. It is like this, and I continue to go back and forth on my prediction. I’ve got probably 20 minutes before I have to go on record to say what it is, and I can honestly say right now I’m still thinking in my mind what it’s going to be. I really do think last week was such a monumental win for the staff, for the players, just the belief factor that we can win football games when we’re not supposed to, or when we’re picked as underdogs, or when we’re from behind. There was that feeling again.
I don’t think you can legitimately find five people outside of Florida fans that believe Florida beats Ole Miss this weekend. I legitimately don’t think you can, especially in the media. They picked Kentucky to beat Florida in Lexington. It is that you against the world mentality, but it’s a you against the world mentality of you’re playing one of, if not the best football teams in the country. Put everything you got to lose out there. You have nothing to lose. My thing is go out there, play competitive football. See where the chips fall. If you lose 28-21, you lose 28-24, you put your best foot forward, and you played good football. Don’t go out and lay an egg and lose 44-0 like they did against Missouri two years ago with Muschamp. That, in my opinion, would be the step backwards that this program doesn’t want.
Nick: Right. I think a lot will be made, if Florida does lose, a lot will be made of how they rebound from losing, how they handle it on the field. There’s a saying in sports, you win and lose with grace, and it’s don’t rub it in when you win, and don’t sulk and throw a temper tantrum when you lose. I think we’ll learn a lot about Florida win or lose this weekend, and maybe even learn a little bit more about them in a loss, where a win would be huge. It would be a win over a Top 25 team, the first in almost two years. So it would be a huge victory, but I think you might even learn a lot about a young football team in a loss.
Andrew: Yeah. It is. Sometimes they say losing is the best way to get better. There’s a lot of times in baseball, in basketball, there’s certain times where you say you need a loss to really determine how good you’re going to be. It is. Here it is again. I’m not writing this team off by any means. I know you are, and that’s fine. I understand your point of view. It is a tough game. I do legitimately think there is some spot Florida can take advantage of, and I think they’ve got to play a near perfect game. I do. I’ll admit that. I do think that this team has the opportunity to win, because of where they’re at with the leadership they have and after last week’s win. I think last week’s win could help this team tremendously for that. We’ll just see. The Swamp should be rocking again. Last I checked I think it is a sellout, or very close to a sellout, so that should be good.
Nick: I’m not sure. I don’t know if they’ve released if the game is sold out or not. I know that some students were complaining because they didn’t want to spend $15 in the summer to get season tickets, and now student tickets are being sold for $40, $50, $60, $70 a seat. They’re all mad. If you would have just clicked a couple buttons online and paid $15 way back in the summer you wouldn’t be in this issue, so don’t complain. Don’t cry now, and stop leaving the game early.
Andrew: I’m ready for Jim McElwain to come out with the Nick Saban thing of if you leave we’re taking your tickets. I’m being for real though. Last week was very embarrassing for the students. That was very embarrassing for the students.
Nick: If you follow me on Twitter you know I give the students hell for leaving early. First off for showing up late and leaving early.
Andrew: It is embarrassing. I’ll be honest. I do think there should be some repercussions for that. If you leave early, your ticket gets booted. Period. End of discussion. Don’t come back next week. You may come back in two weeks. If you do it again, you don’t come back for a year. I think it should be some repercussions for being like that. Now that Florida is better those tickets are in high demand. You and I have seen several people ask us on Twitter, is there any tickets left? People can’t get tickets, because some dumb-dumb decides he doesn’t want to go and is mad. That’s just not cool.
Nick: Yeah. I expect a very spirited crowd this week. I was surprised going back through our photo gallery from 2008, there were a lot of Ole Miss fans at that game. This is not a very often played rivalry game, so to see how many Ole Miss fans are in attendance will be interesting to me, because there were a ton of Tennessee fans there last week.
Andrew: They travel really well. I don’t want to say it’s a small community of Ole Miss fans, but in reality it is. Oxford is live and breathe around their football, and it’s a select few of diehard fans that travel. Kind of like you get with, not Tennessee fans, because there’s so many. Auburn fans have a small group that travels a lot, and it’s a good environment. If you ever get the chance to go to Oxford and their walk of champions.
Nick: The Grove.
Andrew: Their little walk of champions things. I had a lot of people tell me it’s a spectacular environment to go to, but their stadium sucks. It’s like a high school stadium a lot of people say. Their fans like to experience bigger stadiums.
Nick: Okay. That’s enough about the fans. Let’s get down to what will matter on Saturday, this matchup. Ole Miss comes in at #3 in the AP Poll. It is the second time Ole Miss has reached that ranking. It’s the highest ranking in school history. I think the last time they were ranked #3 was 1964. So it’s been a while. Surprising note for me was Ole Miss actually leads this series with Florida 12-10-1 and the really surprising part was they lead the series in Gainesville with a 6-3-1 advantage.
Andrew: Yeah. It’s kind of interesting, last four games Ole Miss is 3-1. It kind of caught me off guard a little bit, because you think, but Florida didn’t play Ole Miss a lot in Spurrier’s days and Urban days, so I guess it kind of goes back deeper than that. You go back, and you think there’s only a brief period of time in the 90s where Ole Miss was good, when they had Deuce and Eli Manning. It was kind of like I thought it would be a little bit better record, but only the next on matters, as Jim McElwain says. You do your thing on Saturday, and nobody remembers the last of them.
Here’s what I wanted to get to real quick. We talked about last week the offensive line play. You and I had a little interesting conversation last night about Martez Ivey playing a little left guard in practice. A couple people told me, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the offensive line shake up this week and see Ivey and Thurman play some guards together, but Ivey was practicing at guard just in case Trip’s shoulder really banged up in the game to where he wasn’t able to go. Everybody I’ve talked to expects Trip to play. It’s just one of those things where he’s a senior, redshirt senior, no real need to push him with a bad shoulder. My question is this. For me, I think that’s a great matchup this week. Martez Ivey is a man. He’s going to hold his own, and if anybody on the team has a chance to block Nkemdiche and those guys I like my chances with Ivey and Sharpe more than I do with anybody on this team.
Nick: Yeah. It’s tough. He is very talented. Martez Ivey is very talented, has a lot of upside. I think you and I both agree that he’s got All-SEC, All-American type of potential down the line. Robert Nkemdiche is a grown man, and he is going to test anybody, whether it’s a freshmen or a senior in front of him. In my opinion, I don’t think you see a shake up in the starting line, unless Trip Thurman is not healthy enough to go. Right now, as of Thursday, he is healthy enough to go on Saturday. What getting Martez Ivey first team reps in practice really does is two things. One, you’re getting Trip some time to rest his shoulder, and he’s not going to reinjure that shoulder in practice. So you’re a getting veteran guy who you’re not worried about missing out on some reps in practice, because he’s been around for a while, you’re getting him some time off, some time to rest.
The second thing it does is it gets Martez Ivey time to gel and time to work at a new position with the other four starters on the line. We talk about the offensive line. You and I have both complained about how much they rotate the linemen, and that being probably the biggest position on the field where you have to play together, where five guys have to play as one to be successful. So not only are you getting Trip Thurman some rest and making sure he doesn’t re-injure that shoulder in practice, but you’re getting Martez Ivey work, good on good work, in practice at a new position so he can get comfortable with that, and so he can start building a relationship at a new spot with different people.
Andrew: I see your point. I don’t think they make a starting adjustment to the line, but does it need to be. I’m sorry. I’ve harped on it and harped on it. Antonio Riles is a great guy, but that right side of that line is awful. It’s awful.
Nick: When you look at Kelvin’s 2 touchdown runs.
Andrew: Left.
Nick: Left. I was watching the game again today. They were playing it on SEC Network. Gary Danielson after Kelvin’s second touchdown even mentioned, “Man, Trip Thurman and David Sharpe really cleared out that left side and left Kelvin Taylor a ton of room to run.” That’s not something you’re going to hear many people say about the right side the way they’ve been playing.
Andrew: Yeah. Again, I hate to say that, and I hate to continue to call somebody out, but it is bad.
Nick: Stop picking on him.
Andrew: I’m not. I’m really not.
Nick: I’m messing with you.
Andrew: I’m really trying not to pick on it, but it is the weak spot, and one bad link on the offensive line kills it all, and it’s showing. I don’t know how good Mason Halter is. Do I think Mason Halter’s All-SEC? No. Do I think Mason Halter’s as bad as he’s shown? No. I think he worries about the inside guy, and he helps sometimes too much and doesn’t get out on his guy. With Riles you just see guys running right by him, or them drive blocking him completely in the back field. To me, that would be a major step for me for this Ole Miss game is to see somebody else at right guard. Just try it out. That’s my thing. Try it out. They can’t do worse.
Nick: Okay. I actually think the offensive line played better.
Andrew: They played a lot better.
Nick: It’s always an area where there’s room for improvement. Some fans didn’t like when we talked to Mike Summers last week, and he said, this line might not be where we want them to be until the season’s over. That’s just the truth. It’s a very young offensive line, and they’re only going to get better the more they play. Florida’s offensive line might be a bowl game when there’s no other games coming down the line. This line is going to get better, but I agree with you. It might be time to start making changes. I don’t know if you’d want to make those changes necessarily this week with this Ole Miss defensive line. Making those changes might be a little easier to stomach going up against Missouri’s defensive line.
Andrew: Yeah. Maybe so. Again, here’s my thing. This is my last thing I’m going to say about this real quick. If you can find five guys that can play the game against Ole Miss, and I say play the whole game against Ole Miss, if that is Sharpe, Ivey, Dillard, Thurman, Halter or Fred Johnson, let those five guys play, and let them get used to playing against that. I think you would be better in the 4th quarter than you were in the 1st quarter, because those five guys would be out there. I see their point. They like to rotate guys. They don’t want to leave Fred Johnson at right tackle all day. I see that. I just see that they need some kind of comfortability with those five guys on the offensive line. That’s where I’m at. I think Florida needs to rush the ball some this game. I think they need 70 yards rushing in this game, 80 yards rushing in this game if they’re going to win the game. They’re not going to be able to stand back there and throw the ball all day long and expect to win the game, because if not Nkemdiche’s going to pin his ears back and be putting Will Grier on a back brace, if they’re not careful.
Nick: That is a scary, when Jim McElwain said, “There are some glass eaters and fire breathers coming down the line,” I think he was talking about Robert Nkemdiche, because he is both of those. You mentioned that Florida’s going to have to play close to a perfect game. Ole Miss, that land shark defense leads the SEC with 10 turnovers, 7 of those coming in by way of interception. With that defensive line, who we both expect will get pressure on Will Grier. How important is it for Grier to make smart decisions, throw the ball away when he needs to, know that a sack or a ball that I throw away is better than an interception. Throwing the ball away and punting is better than giving them momentum with an interception. How important is that? Can Florida win this game if they don’t win the turnover battle?
Andrew: If it’s 1-0 Ole Miss, then maybe. Maybe. It depends. Here’s my thing. I do expect Florida to get an interception on defense. I do think Chad Kelly will try his luck one time and figure it out. Florida does need to create some turnovers. There’s no doubt. They need to create short field position for themselves. Florida cannot have multiple turnovers in their own territory. If they do, we may be looking at that 40-0, 40-10 football game, because Ole Miss quick strike offense will be very bad news for Florida. Laquon Treadwell jump balls in the end zone, there’s nobody in America, NFL or college football, that is going to stop Laquon Treadwell four times in a row on jump balls.
Nick: Yeah. It’s really not even just Laquon Treadwell. They’ve got so many talented guys at receiver, all over the field really. It’s kind of like when, I feel like when people talk about Ole Miss’s receivers the other guys get looked over, like when people talk about Florida’s secondary. It’s Vernon Hargreaves, and you’re like, Marcus Maye’s playing his ass off. Keanu Neal’s playing great. Quincy Wilson and Jalen Tabor aren’t too bad themselves either. I feel like those other four receivers who all have over 100 yards receiving, a touchdown, and 10 catches on the year, they spread the ball around really well. I feel like those guys are kind of in Laquon Treadwell’s shadow when they should be.
I have no idea how to say his last name, but Adeboyejo is actually leading the team with 5 touchdown catches on the year. There are a bunch of guys that Florida needs to be worried about. I was watching the Ole Miss vs. Alabama game again. Chad Kelly has a rocket, and he’s not a scrambler like Josh Dobbs is, but there were a couple times in that game where he showed that he can move and get out of the pocket and hurt you with his legs when he needs to.
Andrew: Yeah.
Nick: Kind of like Will Grier where you wouldn’t mistake him for a Michael Vick or a Cam Newton, but every once in a while he’ll rattle off something, and you’ll be like, I forgot that he can run a little bit.
Andrew: The thing with Chad Kelly that does concern me if I would be Ole Miss, or is good for Florida, is he makes some wild throws that are like, what the hell? What are you doing? He had two of those against Alabama. One of those was a drop pick, and the other one hit Treadwell’s helmet to go to Damore’ea Stringfellow for a touchdown. Then he had one of those at Vandy where Vandy picked it off and almost took it back to the house. Florida’s defensive pressure against Chad Kelly will be huge. No doubt. They will be huge. If Florida can hit Kelly multiple times, guess what? He’s going to start throwing the ball up. Florida’s secondary’s got to go.
This was interesting. I was listening to Mike Golic this morning, and he had a good point. He said, “Whoever wins the Treadwell/Vernon Hargreaves matchup will go a long way in helping their team win.” I thought about it for a second, and I said, “Ole Miss has other receivers.” Then I went back, and I thought about this. If you take Amari Cooper out of that Alabama vs. Florida game last year, Florida’s in the football game. Am I right though? If Vernon does a better job against Amari Cooper last year Florida’s in the ballgame. Agree or disagree? Not winning, in the ballgame.
Nick: If ifs were fifths we’d all be drunk.
Andrew: Right, but what I’m saying is…
Nick: Maybe they would, but maybe if you find that you can’t get the ball to Amari Cooper you find a different mismatch. You know what I mean? It’s we found a mismatch, let’s just abuse it.
Andrew: Right. What I’m saying though is to bring that to this point is if Vernon, he’s not shutting down Laquon Treadwell. Let’s not mistake me here. If he’s able to contain Treadwell, then let’s see what happens. Let’s see what happens.
Nick: My bold prediction will be that Quincy Wilson and Jalen Tabor cover Laquon Treadwell just as much as Vernon Hargreaves does, and we’re going to get a situation where people who aren’t as close to the program, don’t watch it as closely as we do, are like, why didn’t they just put Vernon on Laquon? I thought that was going to be a more featured matchup. To me, I think you don’t shadow Vernon Hargreaves. You keep him on one side of the field, whether Laquon Treadwell’s on that side of the field or not.
Andrew: Again, if it’s Quincy Wilson on Laquon Treadwell, if Quincy’s able to contain Treadwell, let’s see. Then you have a better match up for Florida with Vernon against Stringfellow or the weird dude’s name. Over there you like Vernon much better against those guys then you do against Treadwell. Agree or disagree?
Nick: I honestly think that a player like Laquon Treadwell is going to get his.
Andrew: No. You’re missing my point. I’m telling you, Treadwell’s going to get his yards. Don’t let him go for 15 catches, 245 yards, 2 touchdowns. Let him go for 8 catches, 75 yards, 8 catches, 80 yards, no touchdowns. What I’m saying is if Quincy’s able to hold Laquon to that, don’t you like your chances better if Vernon is covering Stringfellow or the weird name guy? I like my shot of Vernon taking that guy out.
Nick: The weird name guy.
Andrew: I don’t even know how to say his name, and I’m not even going to…
Nick: I’m struggling. It’s Quincy Adeboyejo, something like that. To me it is this. Laquon Treadwell leads all receivers for Ole Miss with 22 catches, but after that it’s 14, 10, 11, 10, 5 for Engram, 6 for Walton, the running back. Taking Laquon Treadwell out of the game, to me that is just you’re taking one bullet out. Is it maybe the most lethal bullet? Yes. But Ole Miss just has so many playmakers in the way that they run their offense it’s not dependent on one guy.
Andrew: I think you’re missing my point though.
Nick: I am, because I see a lot of dangerous people that aren’t Laquon Treadwell on this team.
Andrew: Let me break it down for you like ABC kindergarten.
Nick: We need to move on from this. We’ve spent too much time.
Andrew: I’m going to give you this real quick. Laquon Treadwell’s the best receiver on the team. Agree or disagree?
Nick: Yeah, probably in the country. Yes.
Andrew: Okay. Are the other two guys as good as Treadwell? Yes or no.
Nick: No.
Andrew: You made my point. Let’s move on. Will Grier…that’s it. We’re done. Grier, in my opinion, this is my thing for Grier, moving to the offensive side of the ball for Florida. It’s coming. The pressure is coming. Guarantee it. Mark it down. I don’t care if five offensive linemen block them all or not. It’s coming sooner or later. It’s coming. That mental clock you have in your head in seven on seven football damn sure better be here this week. It’s coming. If you’re first, second, and third read or first and second read ain’t coming, get the hell out of dodge. Period. I think Florida’s going to go with a lot better of short stuff, more of that crossing stuff, more of the slants, more of the little pop passes, that kid of stuff. Will needs to be able to make his decision, but here’s my key thing this week. Florida’s receivers and running backs and tight ends have done an awful job of running their hot routes on blitzes. We saw Worton last week get hit in the helmet, because he’s not paying attention. Florida better be on point with that this week, or things will get bad. Blitzes are coming, like it or not. They’re coming.
Nick: Yeah. Get the ball out quick, because that defensive line will be in the back field. You really want to keep Will Grier healthy. This is a very scary defense with some serious teeth. Their bark is not worse than their bite. Their bite is pretty devastating. Protecting Will Grier is important. I’m not sure. We talk about Robert Nkemdiche a lot, but Denzel Nkemdiche, his older brother, is not a bad player at all. Leads the team with 29 tackles. That’s averaging 7.5 a game. He’s had double digit tackles in both SEC games that they’ve had. He’s a guy that covers that middle of the field very well, but I do 100% agree that Florida needs to hit those slants, those pop passes, and also agree that when Will Grier checks me into a hot route, it’s hot for a reason. That’s not a nickname. It’s hot, because that means the ball’s coming out hot, coming out quick. Make sure you’re looking at the quarterback. Make sure you’re looking where the ball is coming from.
Andrew: Agreed. It is a hot route for a reason. Catch the ball and go. Here’s the thing. After Ole Miss’s defensive line, I think the rest of the defense is good, but not great. I think there are some secondary weaknesses, especially with Tony Connor out. Alabama exploited those weaknesses, and I know you’re going to say Alabama, but let’s face it, Alabama right now is going through a struggle with receivers with a young Ridley, without their best receiver in Robert Foster. They’re playing a lot of young guys, like Florida is, and they were able to get past the secondary as well. Jacob Coker’s not that much better of a quarterback than Will Grier, in my opinion. Find a way to get the ball out and get your playmakers going against their secondary, and then let’s see what happens.
Nick: Yeah. That’s going to be the key on offense for Florida. I think it’s going to be, in my opinion I think it’s going to be very difficult for Florida to move the ball consistently and to score points. If this game turns into a shootout that’s not a game Florida’s going to win. So I think you’re going to try to, it might not be pretty, but you’re going to try to control the time of possession, limit the amount of snaps, the amount of drives that Ole Miss’s offense gets by keeping your offense on the field, and that might be 3 yard pass, 4 yard run, 3 yard pass, we got a 1st down. Let’s keep it going.
Andrew: Let me ask you this. This is something I’ve been meaning to ask you. What happens if this game turns into a Florida Kentucky game? Does Chad Kelly get antsy in the back field and try to make things happen? Here’s the deal. The Alabama game was a close game, but it was a shootout of offense, offense, offense. You saw that in the Vandy game last week where he had a couple of bad passes when he was trying to force things. He forces things against a good Florida secondary, I’m just saying.
Nick: Yeah. I hold Chad Kelly despite his rap career, I hold him in higher regard than I think a lot of people do.
Andrew: I have no respect for the guy.
Nick: You and I kind of, we follow recruiting closer than a lot of the writers, and a lot of casual fans get what they know about teams across the country from writers. A lot of people didn’t know Chad Kelly, because when you go [inaudible] people kind of forget about you, but I remember him as a prospect. I remember he was [inaudible] was high on him. I thought that Ole Miss was a very good football team last year, but [inaudible] inconsistent. So this is probably Chad Kelly’s second biggest test of the year.
Andrew: Here’s the thing for me with Kelly. He’s a good player with a lot of outside factors that have made him into who he is. A, I don’t like the way he left Clemson. I don’t like all the crap he did in juco and that kind of stuff. Supposedly he cussed out his coaches, that kind of stuff. Don’t like that. Don’t like that at all. My thing is what do you do when the pressure’s on you? That’s my question. What do you do when the pressure is on you? Do you fold like a guy that has not done a lot of things in his life, or is he able to rise up? I think this is a very big game for Chad Kelly, very big to see what he’s made of truly in a road environment again in a game that’s not built up like the Alabama game is.
Nick: I think, obviously playing in Bryant-Denning Stadium is a huge test, and Ole Miss was able to pass that test, but a lot of factors went into being able to get up from that game. Last year, beating Alabama when they were ranked #1, the fans coming down on the field, tearing down the goal post, carrying the goal post through Oxford. All that stuff, to steal a line from Jim McElwain, that stuff’s pretty cool, and you remember that going from one year to the next. Can they get up for Florida? They haven’t played Florida in seven years. Can they get up and have that same kind of intensity for this week?
Andrew: Yeah. That’s my point. I have a lot of question marks about that overall. Just to see what it is. Is Chad Kelly able to do well against a good defense? The same question can be made for Will Grier, completely understood. I guess I just want to see how good Ole Miss truly is. I think they’re a good football team, but I’m ready to see them go up against Florida, then LSU to call them a great team. They beat Alabama, and I give them complete credit for beating Alabama.
Nick: Would you agree with me that that is the best win any team in college football has right now?
Andrew: Probably, but that Utah vs. Oregon game, that was a good one, or Michigan State beating Oregon. Those were good. Here’s my question though. I don’t know how good Alabama is. That’s my biggest question. You know me. I’m usually the biggest Nick Saban supporter there is. I just really don’t know how good Alabama is. Their offense isn’t good. Their defense isn’t really good. You and I, you were joking with me the other day when I said that I didn’t think Alabama’s defense was as good as years past. I don’t even know that they’re as good as a lot of teams in America right now. They’re just not performing really well as a unit, and I’m not sure exactly what that is. Nick Saban’s even challenging those guys. I do give Ole Miss credit. They went to Alabama, and they spanked Alabama on everything except for the scoreboard where they barely hung on to win. Now they did give up a 22 point advantage twice in the 4th quarter. That’s scary. That’s Tennessee stuff.
Here’s the thing though. This is back to where I think you see a lot about this team. Is the team able to, is the Ole Miss team able to come into Florida with that thing? That’s what separates the greats. That’s what separates Alabama from everybody. Nick Saban’s able to get his team up from one game to the next game, whether it’s Vanderbilt, whether it’s Kentucky, whether it’s Ohio State, whether it’s Nebraska, whoever it is they’re able to get up. That’s what you need to see from Ole Miss this weekend.
[inaudible]
Nick: You argue that Will Grier won the game for the Gators. My third pick might be the player that actually won the game for the Gators, Brandon Powell, the blocking extraordinaire, Brandon Powell. I think that he’s a guy that the coaching staff wants to get involved in the offense, maybe hasn’t been as involved as some of us thought, maybe not even as much as he thought or the coaching staff wants him to be yet, but what I do know is that coaches see those kind of plays. Giving of yourself for your team and for your teammates, coaches see that, and I think they will reward Brandon Powell this week with a bigger role in the offense. It’s not just because he can block. It’s not like we’re giving Latroy Pittman 10 opportunities, because he blocked well. Brandon Powell can make stuff happen on offense.
Andrew: Jim McElwain.
Nick: What do you mean?
Andrew: Was that Jim McElwain or Nick de la Torre talking right there?
Nick: I don’t know.
Andrew: That sounded very much like some Jim McElwain talk right there about rewarding players, yada, yada, yada.
Nick: Just call me Coach.
Andrew: Just call me Coach. There you go. I like that. My last pick is going to go to the guy that has had nobody talking about him this week, because of Ole Miss’s receivers, Demarcus Robinson. There’s going to be a lot of scouts in attendance in the Swamp this weekend. Opportunity. Opportunity’s knocking for the big guy, #11 gets the third prediction from Andrew. Make me proud, D Rob. Go get some. Take over. Make yourself into a playmaker.
Nick: Huge weekend for the Gators. Huge weekend for Ole Miss. Huge weekend, and this is something you haven’t really been able to say about Florida in a while, Florida’s in a huge game with major SEC implications. That’s nice to see. It’s nice to be back in prime time again. I’m sure the fans and the team will be excited to get back under the lights in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. It’s been seven years since these two played. As always, throughout the week we’ve had a ton of stuff on GatorCountry.com. Make sure you’re tuning in there. Thank you for making it this far.
Andrew: Hold on. Hold on. You’re not getting away from this. It’s prediction time.
Nick: Oh yeah.
Andrew: Give it to me. I want to hear it, because I am telling you right now, buddy, I’m about to make you eat dust next week with this predication. Go ahead with your prediction, because I want to make you feel bad next week. Go ahead.
Nick: Ole Miss is coming into this game as a 7.5—
Andrew: No. Don’t sugarcoat it for anybody. Lay down the facts, Nick. You picked Ole Miss all week. Lay down the facts, buddy. Give it to me. I want to hear it. Go ahead.
Nick: I’m not changing my pick.
Andrew: Don’t sugarcoat it, buddy.
Nick: I’m not sugarcoating it.
Andrew: I don’t want you to rub my back. Just go ahead and stick the knife in it. Go ahead.
Nick: Saturday’s total over under is 51. Florida’s a 7 point dog, so that means Vegas thinks it’ll be close, maybe a 10 point game, because the home team usually gets some points. I am picking Ole Miss to win. They will cover the spread. I think Ole Miss wins by 14.
Andrew: Any score?
Nick: Ole Miss wins by 14 is my score.
Andrew: I want to hear some numbers.
Nick: I think I’m going to go with 31-17 Ole Miss.
Andrew: 31-17.
Nick: They win by a little more than 14. My math’s not that bad. 31-17, Ole Miss.
Andrew: Okay. Here we go. Let me sit down here and think about this for just two more seconds here. Nick, I’m taking shots at you, buddy, but Ole Miss 31, Gators 24. Grier throws a pick six in the 4th quarter and ends the game Ole Miss 31-27 in an electric environment, but it’s hotty toddy this week. Sorry, Gator fans. You know I like to pick you, but hotty toddy this weekend.
Nick: You’re breaking hearts, Andrew.
Andrew: I’m breaking hearts and taking names, but Nick, I have a surprise for everybody here. I broke hearts real quick, but I have something to say. It is, as you heard at the beginning of this podcast, time for the promise. Andrew’s about to deliver a promise to Gator fans all across the country. Nick, I’m dropping the mike when I finish this. What do you have to say before I finish this?
Nick: Gator fans, enjoy the Spivey promise. Stay classy.
Andrew: To the fans and everyone on Gator Country. I’m sorry. I’m extremely sorry. We were hoping for an undefeated podcast. That was goal, something Gator Country had never done before. I promise you one thing. A lot of good will come of this. You will never see a podcaster podcast as hard as I will podcast the rest of the season. You will never see someone push the rest of the podcast as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season. You will never hear a podcast play harder than we will the rest of the season. God bless.
Entertaining podcast. Andrew we will hold you to your promise. Disappointed that one of you guys did not step out there with the upset prediction.
We’ll be eating crow on the Monday podcast.