Latest / A Peek Inside Gators Football: A Show About the Florida Gators / Gators Expert Drops IMPORTANT Info You CAN'T MISS on UF Football
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome back to A Peak Inside Gator Football Alley Peak.
- 0:03Speaker 1: Joined today by Andy Staples. I'm so excited to have
- 0:06Speaker 1: you back. This video is presented by PrizePix. Don't forget,
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- 0:18Speaker 2: Okay, so Andy, you got to be back in Gainesville
- 0:21Speaker 2: on Saturday.
- 0:21Speaker 1: This is not something you get to do that often, right?
- 0:25Speaker 3: Well, I live in Gainesville, but other than that, I
- 0:27Speaker 3: don't get to... Yeah, I don't get to go to
- 0:30Speaker 3: as many games. This was not a game I had circled.
- 0:33Speaker 3: We went to this one because we had a sponsor event.
- 0:38Speaker 3: So we had the Jack and Coke tent out there
- 0:40Speaker 3: before the game. And by the way, everybody was awesome.
- 0:42Speaker 3: We had a lot of fun. But this wouldn't have
- 0:44Speaker 3: been a game we'd normally cover. And so me and
- 0:47Speaker 3: Ari Wasserman are there in the press box. And the
- 0:50Speaker 3: Bailey Stockton TD happens. It's like, okay, this is going
- 0:53Speaker 3: to be kind of a snoozer. Let's go see what's
- 0:54Speaker 3: going on with Nebraska and Indiana. And then all of
- 0:57Speaker 3: a sudden... the dam breaks at the end of the second,
- 1:01Speaker 3: at the end of the first half and toward, you know,
- 1:03Speaker 3: into the second, second half. And it's like, Oh boy,
- 1:05Speaker 3: this is, this is bad, bad for Florida. And Oh,
- 1:09Speaker 3: by the way, Shane Beamer might be saving his job
- 1:11Speaker 3: right now. Yeah.
- 1:12Speaker 1: I mean, I don't, it was absolutely crazy. And you've,
- 1:15Speaker 1: you've covered a lot of college football over the years.
- 1:19Speaker 1: What was your biggest takeaway being there in person that
- 1:22Speaker 1: maybe wouldn't be obvious to people watching on TV at home?
- 1:26Speaker 3: It just feels like they're banged up. it feels like
- 1:28Speaker 3: they're very banged up and that they're not deep enough
- 1:32Speaker 3: to paper over the weaknesses that, that have gotten exposed
- 1:37Speaker 3: in the last few weeks. And, and I think that's,
- 1:39Speaker 3: that's really the problem is I think if you kind
- 1:41Speaker 3: of parse through what John Summerall has said all year,
- 1:45Speaker 3: he was telling you that, but you don't want to
- 1:48Speaker 3: believe that when, when they're winning 52 to 28 against
- 1:52Speaker 3: Ole Miss, like you're like, Oh, he's just, that's just
- 1:54Speaker 3: poor mouth. And I was like, That's like when Lou
- 1:55Speaker 3: Holtz would make Rice sound like a national championship contender
- 1:59Speaker 3: when he was coaching at Notre Dame. You just assume
- 2:01Speaker 3: that's what that is. But no, he really meant it.
- 2:04Speaker 3: They're not that deep. They are thin in certain spots.
- 2:08Speaker 3: The secondary is an issue. The offensive line is an issue,
- 2:12Speaker 3: especially if everybody's not completely healthy. It's not going to
- 2:17Speaker 3: go well if certain people aren't there. Yeah.
- 2:21Speaker 1: And when you say banged up, you know, we look
- 2:23Speaker 1: at the injury report and like this week, there was
- 2:25Speaker 1: one person on it by the end of the week.
- 2:27Speaker 3: I'm wondering, I'm wondering if they got to be a
- 2:29Speaker 3: little more careful with that or start getting fined because it's,
- 2:33Speaker 3: they certainly didn't play like that's what their injury report
- 2:36Speaker 3: looked like. Yeah.
- 2:38Speaker 1: And I also wonder if there's a difference between, you know,
- 2:41Speaker 1: playing hurt and playing injured and, you know, you're playing
- 2:43Speaker 1: hurt is that you are you are battered and bruised,
- 2:46Speaker 1: but you're still able to go, but it's not your
- 2:49Speaker 1: hundred percent out there. And it could maybe account for
- 2:52Speaker 1: some of the stuff that we're seeing. Do you think,
- 2:54Speaker 1: you know, before we hopped on here, we talked about,
- 2:57Speaker 1: you know, the first couple of wins that happened. Do you,
- 3:00Speaker 1: did we overestimate how good this Florida team was? Or
- 3:04Speaker 1: is there really that blueprint out there? And Missouri figured
- 3:07Speaker 1: it out and South Carolina copied it.
- 3:09Speaker 3: Well, the thing is like, if it's, if the quote
- 3:11Speaker 3: unquote blueprint is you destroy blocks and, and you keep
- 3:15Speaker 3: offensive linemen from reaching you on wide zone, that's not
- 3:19Speaker 3: a blueprint. That's what everybody tries to do. Ole Miss
- 3:23Speaker 3: and Auburn knew that was coming too, and they couldn't
- 3:24Speaker 3: stop it. So that's not necessarily it. After the Missouri game,
- 3:29Speaker 3: my thought was, does Florida have a run tell that
- 3:32Speaker 3: Missouri just figured out? Where some offensive lineman is lining
- 3:36Speaker 3: up weird, or Philo's footwork is different on run plays
- 3:40Speaker 3: versus pass plays. I don't think that's it. I think
- 3:42Speaker 3: they were not as good... Blocking because maybe there's, like
- 3:48Speaker 3: we were talking about, banged up, playing through stuff on
- 3:51Speaker 3: the offensive line, and also Jaden Baugh playing through stuff
- 3:55Speaker 3: and is not as effective as he was in those
- 3:57Speaker 3: first couple games.
- 3:59Speaker 1: So let's say that it is then. It's more Florida
- 4:03Speaker 1: than the blueprint. Is that maybe actually a better case
- 4:06Speaker 1: scenario because you're in control then in that situation? So
- 4:09Speaker 1: instead of having to really change what the ultimate goal
- 4:12Speaker 1: is that you're doing, you just have to play better football?
- 4:15Speaker 2: But you know you're capable of it?
- 4:18Speaker 3: Well, I don't know. I go back to what Summerall
- 4:20Speaker 3: said about the secondary after the South Carolina game. That
- 4:24Speaker 3: was as nice of a way as possible of saying,
- 4:26Speaker 3: this is it, guys.
- 4:28Speaker 2: This is all we got.
- 4:28Speaker 3: That's it. I forget how he phrased it exactly.
- 4:32Speaker 1: He talked about throwing all of them out there, trying
- 4:35Speaker 1: all different combinations.
- 4:36Speaker 3: These are the players who are performing the best on
- 4:39Speaker 3: the practice field, I think is the way he said it.
- 4:41Speaker 3: It could be worse. That's it, right. This is the
- 4:45Speaker 3: best it's going to be. I'm sure Arch Manning is
- 4:48Speaker 3: licking his chops because he had a horrible weekend last weekend.
- 4:52Speaker 3: He looked terrible against Oklahoma. And if Florida plays the
- 4:56Speaker 3: way they've been playing the last couple weeks, he's going
- 4:58Speaker 3: to look competent against them, which he's dying for a
- 5:01Speaker 3: game like that. So I think that's part of it.
- 5:04Speaker 3: But I also think if you get Vernell Brown back,
- 5:07Speaker 3: that clearly makes a difference. Vernell is the most versatile
- 5:11Speaker 3: receiver they have. He can beat you deep. He can
- 5:14Speaker 3: catch a pass in space and then make it turn
- 5:17Speaker 3: into a long game. And I think he's something you
- 5:21Speaker 3: have to account for defensively that that they don't really
- 5:24Speaker 3: have right now. And so if he can come back
- 5:27Speaker 3: this week, that'd be great. You know, initially what we
- 5:30Speaker 3: heard when he got hurt was two to three weeks.
- 5:32Speaker 3: This is two weeks. The math, the calendar math tells
- 5:36Speaker 3: you you would try to get him into the open
- 5:40Speaker 3: date so he's ready by Georgia. But if he feels
- 5:42Speaker 3: good and he can play, then you don't want to
- 5:44Speaker 3: try to play him against Texas because I do think
- 5:47Speaker 3: that gives you a better shot against a Texas defense
- 5:49Speaker 3: that frankly does not allow anything. I mean, think about it.
- 5:53Speaker 3: They lost to Oklahoma, but one Oklahoma touchdowns on a
- 5:56Speaker 3: punt block, one Oklahoma touchdowns on a pick six. It
- 5:59Speaker 3: wasn't because Texas's defense was getting scored on. Right.
- 6:02Speaker 2: Well, you know, over here as the punter's wife, I'm like, awesome.
- 6:05Speaker 2: Let's just block punts all game long.
- 6:06Speaker 3: Yeah. There you go. Play a little beamer ball.
- 6:10Speaker 1: That's Florida's path to victory there. I want to talk
- 6:13Speaker 1: about the run game disappearing.
- 6:14Speaker 2: You know, Jane Ball was just putting up.
- 6:16Speaker 1: Such huge numbers early, and he's had 72 rushing yards
- 6:20Speaker 1: combined against.
- 6:21Speaker 2: Missouri and South Carolina.
- 6:23Speaker 1: We talked a little bit about the banged up, but
- 6:26Speaker 1: is this an offensive line problem?
- 6:27Speaker 2: Is it a scheme problem?
- 6:30Speaker 1: Is it SEC defenses exposing something fundamentally wrong about Florida's offense?
- 6:35Speaker 2: This is such a massive change from the first four weeks.
- 6:40Speaker 3: I was trying to see if there was some sort
- 6:41Speaker 3: of magic bullet. I don't think there is. It looked...
- 6:46Speaker 3: against South Carolina and against Missouri, it was defensive linemen
- 6:51Speaker 3: beating blocks. And I always thought the reach block is
- 6:57Speaker 3: the hardest block because it requires a lot of athleticism.
- 7:02Speaker 3: You're kind of already disadvantaged because the guy, the very large,
- 7:06Speaker 3: very fast guy that you're trying to block is already
- 7:09Speaker 3: heading this way and you have to get ahead of
- 7:11Speaker 3: him and then turn. But the thing is, when you're
- 7:14Speaker 3: good at it, it becomes kind of second nature. They
- 7:18Speaker 3: have done a lot of this. They've practiced a lot
- 7:21Speaker 3: of it since Buster Faulkner got there. So it's not
- 7:23Speaker 3: like they don't know how to, and again, you see
- 7:25Speaker 3: them succeeding at it against Ole Miss and against Auburn,
- 7:30Speaker 3: and they've got very capable players too on their defensive fronts.
- 7:35Speaker 3: So I do wonder if it's just perhaps there's some
- 7:39Speaker 3: offensive linemen who are not as physically capable right now
- 7:45Speaker 3: as they were in those first few weeks of sec play.
- 7:47Speaker 3: And that happens. And this is something we talked about
- 7:50Speaker 3: all off season. I remember talking with you guys about
- 7:52Speaker 3: this at sec media days is they feel like they've
- 7:56Speaker 3: got five on the offensive line, but you kind of
- 8:00Speaker 3: need seven or eight, right? If you're going to have
- 8:02Speaker 3: a good season, because there will be guys that get
- 8:04Speaker 3: banged up along the way. And you need to be
- 8:07Speaker 3: able to, to recognize that and have somebody you feel
- 8:10Speaker 3: comfortable putting in the game. And look, that's not unique
- 8:13Speaker 3: to Florida. That's, Most teams feel that way, especially when
- 8:16Speaker 3: they've just made a coaching change. Again, this is kind
- 8:22Speaker 3: of the situation that we were talking about with the secondary.
- 8:25Speaker 3: It's probably not changing now. That's something you probably address
- 8:29Speaker 3: when you're building the roster now. If you want to
- 8:31Speaker 3: go back and relitigate the offseason, you can. Because Florida
- 8:38Speaker 3: did not enter the bidding war for Jordan Seton when
- 8:41Speaker 3: he left Colorado and wound up at LSU. Florida was
- 8:43Speaker 3: not in the bidding war for Jacarius Peek, who they
- 8:45Speaker 3: saw playing for South Carolina. He came from NC State.
- 8:50Speaker 3: You know, Emeka Ugorji, God bless him, had to play
- 8:55Speaker 3: as a 17-year-old against Stanford last year. Tape wasn't good.
- 8:59Speaker 3: And you thought, okay, maybe a year in a college
- 9:01Speaker 3: weight room. His feet are pretty good. He moves pretty well.
- 9:04Speaker 3: But he was getting overpowered last year. And you think, okay,
- 9:09Speaker 3: maybe he can give you some depth. And I think
- 9:11Speaker 3: that they– got him to give them some depth. I
- 9:14Speaker 3: don't think necessarily the plan was for him to be
- 9:16Speaker 3: the starting right tackle. Right. He is. He had to
- 9:19Speaker 3: play against Dylan Stewart, who is a first round talent.
- 9:23Speaker 3: I don't know if his attitude will allow him to
- 9:26Speaker 3: be first rounder because of everything that's happened, you know, on, off,
- 9:30Speaker 3: not well on the field, but also keeping him off
- 9:32Speaker 3: the field.
- 9:33Speaker 2: Right.
- 9:34Speaker 3: But, but from a, from a skillset talent standpoint, he's
- 9:37Speaker 3: like a top 10 pick.
- 9:38Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 9:39Speaker 3: He's going to play against the guy. He sure did.
- 9:42Speaker 3: And so Gorgie's going to have to play against the
- 9:44Speaker 3: guy in Colin Simmons, who is that, but better.
- 9:48Speaker 1: Better.
- 9:49Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 9:49Speaker 3: This week.
- 9:51Speaker 2: Don't love that.
- 9:51Speaker 1: Let's stay on offense. Let's talk Aaron Filo. We've seen
- 9:55Speaker 1: some really promising things from him, but against better SEC defenses.
- 10:00Speaker 1: we've struggled, and we've documented that. But when you evaluate
- 10:04Speaker 1: him against other quarterbacks around the country, do you see
- 10:07Speaker 1: a player capable of carrying this offense when the running
- 10:10Speaker 1: game isn't working, or is Florida just really asking him
- 10:13Speaker 1: to do some things the last couple weeks that he's
- 10:15Speaker 1: just not.
- 10:16Speaker 2: Quite ready to do?
- 10:18Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if he can Superman it like
- 10:20Speaker 3: Trinidad Chambliss can, or I think Austin Simmons probably can
- 10:23Speaker 3: for Missouri. We've seen Kamario Taylor do that for Mississippi State,
- 10:26Speaker 3: and we've also seen what Mississippi State looks like when
- 10:28Speaker 3: Kamario Taylor is banked up. Yeah. So, yeah, there are
- 10:33Speaker 3: certain quarterbacks who you say, okay, we're going to put
- 10:36Speaker 3: all this on you, and it's fine. And in the
- 10:38Speaker 3: SEC right now, the ones I'd be confident doing that in,
- 10:42Speaker 3: Keelan Russell for sure at Alabama, Austin Simmons, Trinidad Chambliss,
- 10:46Speaker 3: of course. and probably Kamario Taylor if he's healthy. That's
- 10:50Speaker 3: the list. You know, like Kenny Menchie, you've seen him
- 10:53Speaker 3: do some really good things the last two weeks for Kentucky,
- 10:55Speaker 3: but I wouldn't say, Kenny, the game's all on you.
- 11:00Speaker 3: You have to do everything. Like, I wouldn't do that.
- 11:02Speaker 3: I wouldn't do that with Sam Leavitt at LSU. I
- 11:05Speaker 3: certainly wouldn't, I wouldn't do that with Philo. I wouldn't
- 11:06Speaker 3: do that with Lenore Sellers, even though his skillset says
- 11:10Speaker 3: he could. He just, he's too inconsistent. So, yeah, I
- 11:15Speaker 3: think Philo is, If you're running the ball well, he's
- 11:19Speaker 3: going to get the ball out on time. He's going
- 11:22Speaker 3: to find the open receiver. But when you're not running
- 11:25Speaker 3: the ball well and they can just come at you
- 11:29Speaker 3: and harass you and you're not protecting him very well,
- 11:33Speaker 3: it is going to be tougher. But the thing is
- 11:35Speaker 3: I don't know that necessarily Trammell Jones gives you any
- 11:37Speaker 3: better hope there. Yeah. Part of it is we haven't
- 11:40Speaker 3: seen Trammell in that situation, so we don't know if
- 11:43Speaker 3: he's capable or not.
- 11:44Speaker 1: Yeah, and I don't really know that Texas is the
- 11:46Speaker 1: place that you try.
- 11:48Speaker 3: To find that out. And you saw that with Tennessee.
- 11:51Speaker 3: So Faison and Brandon gets hurt, and they have to
- 11:53Speaker 3: put George McIntyre in the game. And actually, they found
- 11:59Speaker 3: out they should be confident that both those guys can
- 12:02Speaker 3: play if they need to. And George has had to
- 12:04Speaker 3: come in and play because Faison's arm was pretty messed
- 12:06Speaker 3: up and wasn't really able to throw the ball against Auburn.
- 12:09Speaker 3: So George may end up being their starter at least
- 12:13Speaker 3: this week and maybe the rest of the season. And
- 12:15Speaker 3: so they found out. And that's one of those things
- 12:18Speaker 3: that I don't, I know Florida doesn't want to have
- 12:20Speaker 3: to find out that way. Right. But unfortunately, if Philo
- 12:24Speaker 3: keeps getting hit the way he's getting hit, they may
- 12:27Speaker 3: not have a choice. Yeah.
- 12:30Speaker 1: Defensively, you know, we talked about these DBs and how
- 12:34Speaker 1: bad the secondary has looked. And truly, I think kind
- 12:37Speaker 1: of overall has been alarming as South Carolina converted 10
- 12:39Speaker 1: of 16 third downs and Sellers just, of course, has his,
- 12:43Speaker 1: you know, go off game.
- 12:45Speaker 2: Against the Gators.
- 12:46Speaker 1: But when you look at this defense, how much of
- 12:49Speaker 1: this is the personnel isn't very good. How much of
- 12:53Speaker 1: it is scheme and, and how much responsibility falls on
- 12:56Speaker 1: the coaching staff. And I guess also depending on your answer,
- 12:59Speaker 1: is it something that can realistically be fixed during the season?
- 13:04Speaker 3: The only thing you can do if the secondary is
- 13:06Speaker 3: what it is, which they have, I don't think they're
- 13:09Speaker 3: lying to you there. I think they're telling you the truth.
- 13:12Speaker 3: The secondary is what it is. You've got to dial
- 13:14Speaker 3: up more pass rush. And you have to understand that
- 13:18Speaker 3: that will result in giving up some big plays every
- 13:21Speaker 3: once in a while. But if you're getting home, which
- 13:25Speaker 3: here's a good example of this. Ole Miss was still
- 13:30Speaker 3: in the game. It's one of those things where Florida
- 13:33Speaker 3: goes up 10 or Florida goes up 14, Ole Miss
- 13:37Speaker 3: would score and it'd be a seven point game. And
- 13:39Speaker 3: if Ole Miss could get a stop, then they'd still
- 13:41Speaker 3: be in it. And there was one of those moments
- 13:43Speaker 3: where Ole Miss is trying to score again, and Jaden
- 13:47Speaker 3: Woods comes off the edge one-on-one, hits Trinidad Shamless, he fumbles,
- 13:53Speaker 3: Florida recovers. It changed everything. It turned what was a
- 13:56Speaker 3: fairly competitive game into a blowout. That's what you've got
- 14:00Speaker 3: to be able to do over and over again because
- 14:03Speaker 3: that does create big momentum shifts, big swings, potentially puts
- 14:08Speaker 3: your offense on a short field, and especially if your
- 14:11Speaker 3: offense is struggling to move the ball. You've got to
- 14:14Speaker 3: have some stuff like that. And that's how Oklahoma beat Texas.
- 14:17Speaker 3: Oklahoma beat Texas by turning them over. And you have
- 14:21Speaker 3: to harass the quarterback to do that if your DBs
- 14:23Speaker 3: aren't good enough to cover. And the thing is, if
- 14:26Speaker 3: you're not covering Nick Harbour and you're not covering Caden Lee,
- 14:29Speaker 3: as good as they are, and they're both very good,
- 14:32Speaker 3: Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo are better. Right. So you've
- 14:37Speaker 3: got to get after Arch Manning. And the thing about
- 14:39Speaker 3: Arch Manning is– Like Lenora Sellers, he's a big, good athlete.
- 14:44Speaker 3: He's probably not as fast as Lenora, but he's fast enough.
- 14:48Speaker 3: And so he's not going to sit back there and
- 14:51Speaker 3: let you batter him. It's crazy that Florida sacked him
- 14:54Speaker 3: as much as they did last year. And I wonder
- 14:57Speaker 3: if that was Sark just telling him, stay in the pocket.
- 15:03Speaker 3: Because when he's on the move, he's dangerous. And the
- 15:08Speaker 3: problem is... you just don't know who he's dangerous to
- 15:12Speaker 3: because when he played some backyard ball against Ohio State,
- 15:16Speaker 3: it allowed Texas to come back and win that game.
- 15:18Speaker 3: When you play backyard ball against Oklahoma, it was purely
- 15:23Speaker 3: him floating balls, and he was the reason they lost.
- 15:27Speaker 3: So you've got to get after Arch and make him
- 15:30Speaker 3: be the reason they lose, which is amazing that we're
- 15:34Speaker 3: saying that. But yeah, if you look at Florida's roster,
- 15:39Speaker 3: we look at their, their personnel, where do they have
- 15:42Speaker 3: people who should scare you coming off the edge? Where
- 15:46Speaker 3: do they have people who don't scare you in the secondary?
- 15:50Speaker 3: So go, go get the quarterback. And, and, and you
- 15:53Speaker 3: may have to try to scheme up some stuff where you,
- 15:55Speaker 3: you put those secondary guys on islands and just pray
- 15:59Speaker 3: you get home. Like, I hate to say it. It's,
- 16:02Speaker 3: it may be a little return to the days of
- 16:04Speaker 3: Todd Grantham. To the mentality. Because you've got to get home.
- 16:09Speaker 3: You have to get pressure. If you can't get pressure,
- 16:11Speaker 3: it's over.
- 16:12Speaker 1: A couple of weeks ago, after Florida beat Ole Miss,
- 16:16Speaker 1: you wrote a piece about John Summerall winning like the
- 16:19Speaker 1: head ball coach.
- 16:21Speaker 3: He also loses like him. Great to say it.
- 16:25Speaker 2: Well, you know, the comparisons don't stop then, I guess.
- 16:29Speaker 1: Have you seen anything these last two games that has
- 16:32Speaker 1: changed your opinion at all on Coach Summerall? You know,
- 16:35Speaker 1: do you still fully believe he's the right guy to
- 16:38Speaker 1: get Florida where it wants to go?
- 16:40Speaker 3: Yeah, I've laughed at Florida fans essentially deciding he's Billy
- 16:44Speaker 3: Napier these last two games. Like it's not everything you
- 16:46Speaker 3: liked about him hasn't changed. Yeah. Everything that you enjoyed
- 16:50Speaker 3: listening to this offseason, everything you liked about the way
- 16:53Speaker 3: they won the first four games, that hasn't changed. And again,
- 16:56Speaker 3: you and I just talked about this. He was dropping
- 17:00Speaker 3: the breadcrumbs along the way when they were winning. Yeah.
- 17:05Speaker 3: And I know people are like, he's not as fiery. Yeah,
- 17:07Speaker 3: he's losing, and losing sucks.
- 17:10Speaker 2: Well, and he said.
- 17:11Speaker 1: Something so interesting in his press conference. I didn't listen
- 17:13Speaker 1: to all of it, but I was listening to it
- 17:14Speaker 1: before you popped on. And this is something I had
- 17:18Speaker 1: kind of guessed about in a show I did last night,
- 17:21Speaker 1: but I hadn't heard him say it. And it's essentially,
- 17:23Speaker 1: he says that when they're winning, he feels like it's
- 17:27Speaker 1: his job.
- 17:27Speaker 2: To make sure everybody's head fits in the building.
- 17:30Speaker 1: But when they're losing, he feels like it's more his
- 17:32Speaker 1: job to kind of be reassuring and that he's more
- 17:35Speaker 1: mellow and calm in a loss. And I do think
- 17:39Speaker 1: that that may be something that adjusts over time as
- 17:42Speaker 1: the mental toughness of his team increases. But I do
- 17:46Speaker 1: think we got to think back to the group of
- 17:48Speaker 1: guys that we're dealing with. And I know we want
- 17:49Speaker 1: to say we're paying them tons of money, so this
- 17:52Speaker 1: is a.
- 17:52Speaker 2: Job and they got to be tough.
- 17:53Speaker 1: But they're also 18 to 20-year-old kids who don't know
- 17:56Speaker 1: how to win yet. So do you think that's more
- 17:59Speaker 1: what we're.
- 18:00Speaker 2: Seeing than anything else? And that's basically what he's doing today.
- 18:03Speaker 3: And you look at a lot of good coaches are
- 18:05Speaker 3: like that. Like Nick Saban. Go back to Nick Saban's
- 18:08Speaker 3: post-game press conferences. Did you ever see Nick Saban yelling, screaming,
- 18:15Speaker 3: throwing things, you know, dressing down reporters after a loss?
- 18:20Speaker 1: No.
- 18:21Speaker 3: Hardly ever. I mean, it was always, here's what I
- 18:24Speaker 3: saw that we did well. Here's what we didn't do well.
- 18:27Speaker 3: And kind of very even keel.
- 18:30Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 18:31Speaker 3: The maddest he'd get was when they won and then
- 18:34Speaker 3: kind of farted around with a lead. Like he would
- 18:37Speaker 3: be just breathing fire after those games. But that is,
- 18:40Speaker 3: and I think a lot of coaches, that's how they operate.
- 18:43Speaker 3: And it's sort of like being a parent. Yeah. When
- 18:47Speaker 3: your kid messes up, or let's say that they tried
- 18:52Speaker 3: really hard, studied really hard for a test. And they
- 18:55Speaker 3: got a bad grade. But you know they studied hard.
- 18:59Speaker 3: Are you going to hammer them when they get home
- 19:01Speaker 3: for that?
- 19:01Speaker 2: No, because the effort wasn't there.
- 19:03Speaker 3: You're going to hug them up and be like, yeah,
- 19:05Speaker 3: you did your best here. If the effort's not there,
- 19:08Speaker 3: then by all means, rip them. But if he feels
- 19:10Speaker 3: like the effort's there and they're not getting the results
- 19:13Speaker 3: they want, then he does have to probably manage it
- 19:16Speaker 3: that way and try to build some belief.
- 19:21Speaker 1: And I think is, is all of this, you know,
- 19:24Speaker 1: I know Florida fans are really upset about the way
- 19:26Speaker 1: that Florida lost to Missouri and they lost to South Carolina.
- 19:29Speaker 1: And I think it's more about what it looked like
- 19:30Speaker 1: than the actual fact that they lost. But is that
- 19:34Speaker 1: a normal part of changing a program's culture? And as
- 19:37Speaker 1: opposed to like being something more concerning that we should
- 19:40Speaker 1: be looking deeper into?
- 19:42Speaker 3: I don't know how normal it is. I think it's,
- 19:45Speaker 3: more of a sign of how college football works now.
- 19:48Speaker 3: The SEC is fairly similar to the NFL in how
- 19:52Speaker 3: the week-to-week goes, where you'll see NFL teams that'll have
- 19:56Speaker 3: these lulls in the middle of a season because two
- 19:58Speaker 3: important guys aren't playing. And they'll get back and they'll
- 20:01Speaker 3: look completely different. So I wouldn't be shocked if Florida
- 20:05Speaker 3: with Vernell Brown looks... very different than Florida without Vernell Brown.
- 20:11Speaker 3: Like I think that probably makes a big difference. And
- 20:15Speaker 3: so I think you're going to have, and it won't
- 20:17Speaker 3: be just these guys. There are going to be other
- 20:19Speaker 3: teams in the sec where you see the same thing.
- 20:21Speaker 3: Like I'll give you an example. Camario Taylor and fluff
- 20:25Speaker 3: Bothwell didn't play against Alabama. Like Mississippi state's a 13
- 20:29Speaker 3: and a half point underdog at LSU right now. I
- 20:32Speaker 3: can tell you right now, both, if both those dudes
- 20:34Speaker 3: are playing and are semi-healthy and, Mississippi state should beat LSU.
- 20:38Speaker 3: Like they're probably better. So like, that's just how it,
- 20:41Speaker 3: but if they don't like LSU beating them by two
- 20:44Speaker 3: touchdowns completely within the realm of possibility. So I think,
- 20:47Speaker 3: I think that's what you're going to have to accept
- 20:50Speaker 3: that teams because the depth is not what it used
- 20:54Speaker 3: to be on these teams because, and it's not just
- 20:58Speaker 3: in the sec, it's everywhere. Yeah. Cause the money's spread out, right?
- 21:01Speaker 3: The money's spread out. Like, If you are not going
- 21:04Speaker 3: to start in the SEC, but you are going to
- 21:06Speaker 3: start in the ACC, guess where you're going to go play? Yeah.
- 21:10Speaker 3: It's pretty simple. And so everybody's got depth problems. Everybody's
- 21:15Speaker 3: going to have to do it. And so everybody's probably
- 21:17Speaker 3: got four or five players on their roster where if
- 21:21Speaker 3: they don't have those guys, they are a completely different team.
- 21:24Speaker 3: And I think Florida, you're experiencing that with them right now.
- 21:28Speaker 3: And I'll be curious to see when Vernell comes back,
- 21:31Speaker 3: what does that look like offensively? I don't think it
- 21:33Speaker 3: changes the defense, but I think every game could be
- 21:37Speaker 3: the Auburn game if you're healthy on offense, which you
- 21:42Speaker 3: can lose some of those games, but you're in them.
- 21:45Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 21:46Speaker 1: When you compare Florida's personnel to teams like Georgia and
- 21:50Speaker 1: Alabama and even Texas, how far away is this roster, really?
- 21:55Speaker 1: I mean, we know that we've invested... money in this,
- 21:59Speaker 1: in this, and not only in this staff, but in
- 22:01Speaker 1: this roster, but there's, there's some turnover that still has
- 22:04Speaker 1: to happen. Is there a much bigger talent gap than
- 22:06Speaker 1: people maybe want to admit?
- 22:07Speaker 3: I it's okay. So five years ago, it would have been,
- 22:14Speaker 3: they would have been 20 players away. Now they're probably
- 22:19Speaker 3: eight to 10. Okay. It is something you could actually
- 22:22Speaker 3: close in an off season, depending on how you handle it.
- 22:24Speaker 3: Like it's not that big. And Kirby will tell you
- 22:28Speaker 3: that too. Kirby and Nick Saban's not doing this anymore because,
- 22:33Speaker 3: in part, he knows he can't enjoy that level of
- 22:37Speaker 3: talent gap. He can't enjoy that depth gap that they had.
- 22:41Speaker 3: Kirby's the same way. He knows they've been deep at
- 22:45Speaker 3: running back this year, but you saw that bite him
- 22:47Speaker 3: in the butt last year. You saw when Nate Frazier
- 22:51Speaker 3: got hurt in the Sugar Bowl last year, how different
- 22:53Speaker 3: they got. And So there are position groups on each team,
- 23:01Speaker 3: whether it's Georgia, Alabama, Florida, LSU, where if you have
- 23:05Speaker 3: a couple injuries, it can change everything for you.
- 23:09Speaker 2: So we head to Austin this weekend.
- 23:11Speaker 1: This is probably not a great time to be playing
- 23:15Speaker 1: a Texas team that is going to be pissed coming off.
- 23:17Speaker 2: A loss to Oklahoma.
- 23:20Speaker 1: Neither team is in the spot that they wanted to
- 23:23Speaker 1: be in at this point in the season.
- 23:25Speaker 2: When you look at the matchup, though, does Florida have.
- 23:29Speaker 1: An opportunity in any particular matchup to take advantage of Texas?
- 23:34Speaker 2: And is there a world where an upset is possible?
- 23:37Speaker 3: Get after Arch. Yes. I mean, you saw how bad
- 23:41Speaker 3: Oklahoma's offense was. Yeah. As bad as Florida's offense has been,
- 23:44Speaker 3: it's still probably better than Oklahoma's offense. And Oklahoma just
- 23:48Speaker 3: beat them. Now, part of that is because Oklahoma's defense
- 23:51Speaker 3: is outstanding. And I think that And their special teams
- 23:55Speaker 3: is outstanding too. I mean, like when Tate Sandell walks
- 23:58Speaker 3: out there for a game-winning kick, you are confident the
- 24:01Speaker 3: Lou Groza award winner is going to make that kick.
- 24:04Speaker 3: But I would say Florida's special teams is pretty good too.
- 24:07Speaker 3: So I'm not that worried about them. So yeah, I
- 24:12Speaker 3: think you get after Arch and you have a chance. Now,
- 24:14Speaker 3: Steve Sarkeesian is at the mic as we're recording this.
- 24:18Speaker 3: You want to hear what he just said? Yes. I
- 24:21Speaker 3: want to get your reaction to this. If you took
- 24:23Speaker 3: the name off the back of his jersey and said,
- 24:25Speaker 3: here's Joe Smith playing quarterback at the University of Texas,
- 24:29Speaker 3: we'd be praising the guy.
- 24:34Speaker 2: See, I think you can reverse that.
- 24:36Speaker 3: You'd be calling for him to be benched right now
- 24:38Speaker 3: if his name were Joe Smith. If you take the.
- 24:40Speaker 1: Name off the jersey, he never would have been mentioned
- 24:43Speaker 1: in the Heisman conversation the last multiple years.
- 24:46Speaker 3: I don't know. We would be wondering if Dia Bell
- 24:50Speaker 3: should be starting now. right now for Texas if, if
- 24:53Speaker 3: his last name wasn't Manning. So like if you put his, his,
- 24:56Speaker 3: I mean, I guess.
- 24:57Speaker 2: Props for supporting your guy, but yeah.
- 25:00Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 25:01Speaker 2: I don't know that you're getting anybody to, to.
- 25:03Speaker 3: Buy that, but it's crazy that that's the conversation we're
- 25:06Speaker 3: having that. Yeah. What's Florida's chance to win is, is
- 25:10Speaker 3: make arch Manning cost Texas the game, but that's, we
- 25:13Speaker 3: just watched that happen.
- 25:14Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 25:15Speaker 3: Where he cost them the game against a team that
- 25:16Speaker 3: had a bad offense.
- 25:18Speaker 1: Yeah. And I think like, oh man, what a horrible
- 25:21Speaker 1: position to be in. But then I think back to
- 25:22Speaker 1: the fact that Florida did beat.
- 25:24Speaker 2: Texas last year.
- 25:26Speaker 3: And beat them soundly.
- 25:27Speaker 2: Soundly, yeah.
- 25:28Speaker 3: Because that was the part. Florida against Texas last year
- 25:32Speaker 3: was a very unusual game. Not that they were getting
- 25:34Speaker 3: after Arch because there were teams that got pressure on
- 25:37Speaker 3: him all year last year. The way Florida ran on
- 25:41Speaker 3: Texas just bullied them up front. Nobody else did that.
- 25:44Speaker 3: Like even Georgia, when they beat them badly, didn't do that.
- 25:49Speaker 3: And I was, I was really shocked by that. And look,
- 25:52Speaker 3: we never saw it again from Florida and we never
- 25:55Speaker 3: saw Texas let anybody do that again. So I don't
- 25:57Speaker 3: know what the hell was going on that day. And
- 26:00Speaker 3: I would not count on that happening because this Texas
- 26:05Speaker 3: defense specifically feels very tough to run. They just, they're
- 26:10Speaker 3: not going to let you get anything easy.
- 26:12Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, stepping back and looking at the SEC
- 26:16Speaker 1: as a whole, this has been an incredibly fascinating season.
- 26:19Speaker 1: We've touched a little bit on this Texas-Oklahoma. I thought
- 26:22Speaker 1: the Georgia-Alabama game, you know, watching that, all I can
- 26:25Speaker 1: think of is like, this is big boy football.
- 26:27Speaker 2: These are both two.
- 26:29Speaker 3: They hit differently than everybody else, it feels like.
- 26:32Speaker 1: And truly, I mean, and I don't know, maybe this
- 26:34Speaker 1: is the SEC homer in me, but I kind of
- 26:36Speaker 1: think it's Georgia and Alabama, and then it's everybody else.
- 26:38Speaker 2: I mean, those two teams look like.
- 26:40Speaker 3: Well, within the SEC, it is. I think... I think
- 26:44Speaker 3: Notre Dame and Miami and Indiana may have something to
- 26:47Speaker 3: say about the rest of it, but I do think like,
- 26:51Speaker 3: and it's interesting, like, Oh, Indiana plays Ohio state this week.
- 26:54Speaker 3: I didn't mention Ohio state in that group because I'm
- 26:56Speaker 3: not sure they're in it.
- 26:58Speaker 1: So put Ohio state and Texas in the same group.
- 27:01Speaker 1: When I've looked at this all season, I was cool
- 27:03Speaker 1: with Texas being the number one team in the country.
- 27:05Speaker 1: Cause I thought they had the most impressive resume, but
- 27:07Speaker 1: I don't think they're the number one team in the
- 27:08Speaker 1: country if we're doing eye test.
- 27:10Speaker 3: Well, and their, their fans are kind of off the
- 27:12Speaker 3: cliff right now. Like they're, The Texas people, because they
- 27:15Speaker 3: watch it every week, they're very down on this offense. Yeah.
- 27:20Speaker 3: They're feeling like this offense is wasting this defense.
- 27:24Speaker 1: Yeah, and I still think that there's questions about Sark,
- 27:27Speaker 1: which is, you know, has anybody done less with Moore
- 27:32Speaker 1: than Steve Sarkeesian?
- 27:34Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think his play calling, he's getting the
- 27:37Speaker 3: Billy Napier treatment of, why don't you hire a play caller?
- 27:41Speaker 3: And that's been hot and heavy since last season. I
- 27:43Speaker 3: think before that, people were fine with it, the results.
- 27:46Speaker 3: They were getting much better results than they'd gotten in
- 27:48Speaker 3: the Charlie Strong and Tom Herman era. So they thought, okay.
- 27:51Speaker 3: But now they're in the position where they're supposed to
- 27:53Speaker 3: play for national titles every year, and they're just not
- 27:56Speaker 3: quite getting to that point. And yeah, and he keeps
- 28:00Speaker 3: getting asked, well, would you give up play calling so
- 28:03Speaker 3: you could concentrate on all the other? Because look, there's
- 28:06Speaker 3: a lot to do. And you've had a lot of
- 28:09Speaker 3: offensive play calling coaches. Like Eli Drinkwit says, Missouri got
- 28:13Speaker 3: better when he gave up play calling. That it changed
- 28:16Speaker 3: everything for them. So it just depends on the person.
- 28:19Speaker 3: But Will Stein at Kentucky is doing great right now.
- 28:23Speaker 3: He's letting Joe Sloan call the plays. I didn't expect
- 28:26Speaker 3: that to happen. I thought when he took that job,
- 28:28Speaker 3: he'd be the primary play caller. And his thing was, no,
- 28:32Speaker 3: I don't know if I can do that. Yeah. And
- 28:34Speaker 3: they're looking good doing it this way.
- 28:36Speaker 1: I do think you have so many more responsibilities today
- 28:39Speaker 1: than you did, you know, even five, ten years ago
- 28:42Speaker 1: as a head coach that it makes sense. And it
- 28:45Speaker 1: allows you to be more present in other parts of
- 28:48Speaker 1: the game day environment. I think back to London Montgomery's
- 28:52Speaker 1: touchdown return and watching John Summerall be able to.
- 28:55Speaker 2: Run down the sideline.
- 28:57Speaker 1: And, like, if you are also– being a coordinator in
- 29:02Speaker 1: that moment, you don't have that opportunity to be invested
- 29:05Speaker 1: in that.
- 29:06Speaker 2: And I do think that is a part of this.
- 29:08Speaker 3: Well, Summerall got asked about that today, about is he
- 29:10Speaker 3: going to take over more of the defense? And he said,
- 29:13Speaker 3: I don't have time. Yeah. And he said, I also
- 29:15Speaker 3: trust the defensive staff. But, I mean, you get that
- 29:17Speaker 3: at Oklahoma, because Brent Benable is their defensive coordinator.
- 29:20Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 29:21Speaker 3: And there are questions about, are they so bad on
- 29:25Speaker 3: offense because– He's essentially the defensive coordinator. Ben Arbuckle is
- 29:29Speaker 3: the head coach of the offense. Do you need the
- 29:32Speaker 3: head coach to be presiding more over it globally? It's
- 29:35Speaker 3: a good question. And I think with Sark, he's going
- 29:39Speaker 3: to keep calling plays and he's determined to do that.
- 29:45Speaker 3: This is very much a Billy Napier situation. And the
- 29:48Speaker 3: difference is he's winning enough that It's not really going
- 29:51Speaker 3: to cost him his job. Yeah.
- 29:53Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Billy Napier has a offensive coordinator at James
- 29:56Speaker 1: Madison now.
- 29:57Speaker 2: So undefeated.
- 29:58Speaker 3: How about that?
- 30:00Speaker 1: How about he has a special teams coordinator to like
- 30:02Speaker 1: a dedicated one. So weird how that helps out.
- 30:05Speaker 3: All right.
- 30:06Speaker 2: Well, do you have any prediction.
- 30:07Speaker 1: On how Saturday is going to go for the Gators?
- 30:10Speaker 3: I pick Texas to cover. I'm sorry, but I will
- 30:13Speaker 3: point out. I have incorrectly predicted the Florida result the
- 30:17Speaker 3: last three games. So. When I pick them to lose,
- 30:22Speaker 3: they win. But when I pick them to win, they lose.
- 30:24Speaker 2: It's like the reverse curse here. I like it. I
- 30:27Speaker 2: like it. I actually predicted all summer that they were
- 30:30Speaker 2: going to lose to Missouri.
- 30:31Speaker 1: And then the week of, I drank the Kool-Aid from
- 30:32Speaker 1: watching the Ole Miss.
- 30:34Speaker 2: Game and changed my opinion there. I should not have
- 30:37Speaker 2: done that.
- 30:39Speaker 3: Look, what did they run for? Almost 300 yards or
- 30:42Speaker 3: more than 300 yards in that game. They went 52
- 30:43Speaker 3: to 20. I don't blame anybody for drinking the Kool-Aid
- 30:47Speaker 3: in that moment. Anybody.
- 30:49Speaker 2: I did say it was going to be like 24, 21.
- 30:51Speaker 2: I thought it was going to be close, but I
- 30:53Speaker 2: didn't think Florida was.
- 30:54Speaker 3: Going to, was going to figure it out. Austin Simmons
- 30:57Speaker 3: is that dude. And I'm, I'm very excited to see
- 30:59Speaker 3: Austin Simmons go back to Ole Miss.
- 31:01Speaker 2: There's a lot of interesting story. Like he won Lacey
- 31:04Speaker 2: coming from Missouri.
- 31:05Speaker 1: I don't, I, I think it's an interesting matchup and
- 31:08Speaker 1: I know we always talk about how the transitive property
- 31:10Speaker 1: doesn't work in college football, but like, we beat the
- 31:13Speaker 1: pants off Ole Miss. You know, they beat, Missouri beats
- 31:16Speaker 1: the pants off us. I'm so intrigued to see.
- 31:19Speaker 3: So naturally, yeah, Ole Miss is going to win 42
- 31:21Speaker 3: to 13. Right. And we're all going to be like,
- 31:25Speaker 3: what is going on?
- 31:26Speaker 2: And that, is that the parody in this conference now?
- 31:29Speaker 3: And that's, that's part of it. And I talked to,
- 31:32Speaker 3: to Will Stein, the Kentucky coach earlier today. And he said, every,
- 31:37Speaker 3: not only does every game have a life of its own,
- 31:39Speaker 3: every play has a life of its own. So you
- 31:40Speaker 3: have to accept that. And, that's he's trying to convince
- 31:44Speaker 3: his team that has won two games in a row
- 31:48Speaker 3: on overtime, two point conversion and walk-offs to like, get
- 31:52Speaker 3: back down to earth. Cause we've got to go to Norman, Oklahoma,
- 31:55Speaker 3: where that defense is awesome. And they just won a
- 31:59Speaker 3: game where they're going to be sky high. So like it's,
- 32:03Speaker 3: it's so hard for, for everybody to keep everybody on
- 32:06Speaker 3: an even enough keel so that when they win a
- 32:09Speaker 3: big game, I think part of the reason Florida beat
- 32:12Speaker 3: the crap out of Ole Miss was all of everything
- 32:16Speaker 3: that went into the Ole Miss-LSU game. It was a
- 32:20Speaker 3: classic hangover spot. We may as well call Kentucky-Oklahoma the
- 32:25Speaker 3: hangover bowl this week because both teams should be hungover.
- 32:29Speaker 3: God only knows what's going to happen in that game.
- 32:32Speaker 2: Florida and Texas are hungover for other reasons. They play
- 32:35Speaker 2: their misery on.
- 32:36Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
- 32:37Speaker 2: On Saturday.
- 32:38Speaker 1: But greatest sport in the world. And, you know, pretty
- 32:41Speaker 1: cool that we get to talk about it every single week. Well,
- 32:44Speaker 1: I appreciate you coming on with me. Tell everybody where
- 32:46Speaker 1: to listen to you and Ari and read your work
- 32:48Speaker 1: and everything you got going on.
- 32:50Speaker 3: So you can read me at on3. com. You can watch
- 32:54Speaker 3: me on the On3 YouTube channel. And if you do
- 32:57Speaker 3: not want to look at my ugly face, you can
- 32:59Speaker 3: just listen anywhere you get your podcasts. All right.
- 33:02Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate it. We will be talking to you
- 33:04Speaker 2: real soon.
- 33:05Speaker 3: Thanks, Allie.
- 33:06Speaker 1: As always, guys, I appreciate you for tuning in, and
- 33:09Speaker 1: I appreciate PrizePix for all their support. Don't forget, download
- 33:12Speaker 1: the PrizePix app. If you are a new user, play
- 33:15Speaker 1: a $ 5 lineup and use our code.
- 33:16Speaker 2: It's HMA. If you win, you'll get $ 150 in lineups instantly.
- 33:19Speaker 2: As always, go Gators.