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Enjoy the podcast a look at college football news, analysis and insight from
around the Sunshine Stage. This is Florida Football Insiders, a part of the
College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast. Now and here's your host, Jason Cowers.
Okay, welcome in Florida Football Insiders Podcast. We are in week eight.
Hard to believe we've already hit week eight of the college football season.
Got about five weeks to go. A lot of teams are having their bye
weeks here either last week or this week. Coming up, a lot of
great action in the state of Florida, and we are going to recay app
the action and give you a little little a little preview moving ahead here the
last four or five weeks of the year, as we have some interesting matchups
coming up within the state of Florida. A lot of conference races are starting
to developed. There's some teams in the in the state that are still in
it, and so forth and so on. So let's get to the state
of Florida. Seminoles, Gators, Hurricanes, USF, Bulls, f au
F, I u UCF has some big, big games here as we move
to the back half of the regular season. So no guests this week.
I'm just gonna give you it. We're just gonna recap last week's games,
give you a little preview of this week's games, and give you some news
and notes. This will be a quick listen for everybody this week. We've
got a couple of got a couple of I've got a couple of guests that
I think you will love if I'm on the verge of getting one, in
particular, a former Heisman Trophy winner, a AH stalwart in the state of
Florida. You will love this name, but won't I can't give away the
name yet until I confirm that we've got it, but I think we're gonna
get this this guy here in the next couple of weeks. And he is
a legend in the state of Florida, former Heisman Trophy winner as well.
So just to give you a little nugget there. As we move towards the
end of October to Halloween into November, so I should know something here in
the next few days about that opportunity to present to you a Heisman Trophy winner
here on the podcast. So all right, Florida State sevenoles moved to six
and oh they roll Syracuse forty one to three. Uh, moved again.
They Keon Coleman is kind of the highlight player here. Nine catches for one
for TD. It's clear to see that Keon Coleman and Jordan Travis just have
have developed a chemistry together. One thing about this game, again, this
game was never in doubt. One thing I didn't like though, I didn't
like Mike Norvell's handling of going forward so much on fourth down near the goal
one and the game was still early in the game. He was up,
I think fourteen to nothing. He had fourth and goal from like the four
or five yard line. I didn't like that he went for it. Should
have kicked a field goal. I do not like these coaches that are just
so gung ho about going forward every single time. Here. To me,
that's an opportunity there, you have to kick the field goal. And again,
not that Syracuse was any threat to win the game, but what that
it's gonna do is it's going to dictate how you make decisions later on down
the road in these games that are closer. When you played North Carolina,
when you played Florida, when you play Miami, I did not like too
risky in my view, too much risk, and they didn't convert in the
game against Syracuse. I don't like that these coaches are going so gung ho.
You saw nationally last week another to me, another analytics mistake. Coaching
areas galore. In the Oregon Washington game, you saw Dan Lanning didn't kick
the field goal at the end of the first half on fourth and goal from
like the four yard line. That field goal came back to roost at the
end, went for it late in the game fourth and two on his own
forty three or forty four yard line, didn't make it, led to the
game winning touchdown for Washington. These coaches that are just too aggressive with these
fourth down calls, They have got to have some context of the game.
What your eyes are seeing dictates what you should do in some of these moments,
and not taking the points in a lot of these situations is the wrong
decision. So you know whether it's again Mario Christobal's coaching error, Dan Lanning's
coaching error. These coaches are getting burned left and right by these decisions on
fourth down and game management is so important for these big coach especially when you
have a championship level team like Florida State. Does you know you've got to
get in these coaches ears there. I mean, these coaches have got to
be willing to tell the head coach get the points. Take more way,
more times than not. When you take the points, that's the way to
go. You can, you know, take the freaking points. Coaches take
the points. But Florida FSU is going to be playing Duke this Saturday night.
It's gonna be the ESPN game. Herb Street and Fallat will be in
Tallahassee. We don't know what the status of Riley Leonard is. Duke with
another nice win last week against NC State, I believe Duke's only got one
loss, so we'll see what the status of Riley Leonard is. Again,
very good defense with Mike Elco I could see this game. I could see
this being a game for a half or so. Florida State should be able
to pull away in the second half. But that Duke defense is legit and
Mike Elko is a really good coach at Duke. Johnny Wilson, the receiver,
did not play against Syracuse. Indications are that he will be back for
this game against Duke, but we will see again what the status of Riley
Leonard is will be a big determinate in the outcome of this game. But
again, Florida State, you've got a couple more You got a couple more
games you got to navigate, you got the Duke game, you got Miami,
and you got Florida before you get to that ACC title game. So
you're not out of the woods yet, but you're in a great situation to
be able to get to the a SEC title game undefeated and looking more and
more like than it's gonna be North Carolina. Hear that you're gonna see in
the title game. With North Carolina beating Miami last week, putting Miami at
two conference losses, you got Clemson with two losses, so unless North Carolina
implodes, you're probably gonna see Drake May and North Carolina in the ACC title
game in the first weekend in December. So all right on to Gainesville.
The Gators win a shootout in Colombia forty one to thirty nine. Give Florida
credit. Did not think they were gonna win the game, Florida goes on
the road to Colombia. That's a good win for Billy Napier to go to
five and two, three and one in the SEC. Ricky piersall with a
huge game ten catches, one sixty six, Graham Merch thirty of forty eight
for four to twenty three and three touchdowns. He played really well. He's
playing better and better. Tray Smack the field goal kicker, five field goals,
four of them from forty four yards and longer. He was the SEC
Special Teams Player of the Week. I think Merch won the UH. I
think Merch won the Offensive Player of the Week as well. So that's a
great that's a really good win for Billy Napier. They are off this week,
got Georgia next week in Jacksonville in a game that all of a sudden
gets a little more interesting with no brock Bowers, who's out injured with the
ankle injury ankle surgery. I don't think you're gonna see brock Bowers again this
year because of his draft status. He is a true junior, gonna be
eligible unless he's one thousand percent healthy, and he still might not play I
gotta feel in your you've seen the last of brock Bowers at Georgia here this
during the two twenty twenty three season. But we will see how that goes.
We'll see what George is at at the end to termine what the status
or the decision at Bowers. That's me. But again, a good win
for Florida again, if you're Florida, if you can get to that Georgia
game, which they got two weeks to get ready, if Merch can keep
playing like he's playing, I think with no brock Bowers, you got a
chance to be in the game here. And I think there's an opportunity here
if you're Florida to potentially and we'll get more depth into this game next week.
I'll have a Florida guest on for you're breaking down the game. But
again, good win for Billy Napier as a when they needed to have on
the road. You get to five and two, three and one in the
league, you're right in the mix. If you somehow can beat Georgia,
you've already beaten Tennessee, you will be in the leade. You will be
in the driver's seat in the in the SEC East. But Uh, good
win for the Gators. Good job by Graham Mertz playing a little bit,
playing better and better, and uh good good sign for Billy Napier. All
right, Miami goes down to North Carolina. They lose forty one to thirty
one in Chapel Hill. The Canes fall to four and two Vandyke with three
hundred and ninety one yards, four touchdowns, two picks, Jacobe George six
catches, one to twenty five in a touchdown. Just just not enough.
Defense man the Drake May tes Walker, that the receiver who'd been out for
North Carolina with eligibility issues, came back a week ago and lit up the
Hurricanes on Saturday night in Chapel Hill. You saw the the NFL quality that
tes Walker is a wide receiver. What a difference team makes in that offense.
They could not stop tes Walker. The Miami offense just not enough,
too little, too late. They got way behind in the third quarter.
The game was competitive at the half, but they got way behind in the
third quarter and and just could not. And that just goes to show you
the critical nature of that loss. The week before that Georgia Tech disaster is
why that was such a such a glary because you figured they were gonna lose
either the Clemson or North Carolina. They could probably absorb one loss still with
Florida State still on the schedule, but you can't. Now you're two losses
in the conference and you're all but eliminated from the conference title game. So
bad loss for again, back to the Georgia Tech game, just a disastrous
We don't know, who knows what the mindset of that team was come the
second half of that Carolina game. Once they got behind, obviously it was
oh my gosh, here we go again. But again the Hurricanes go down
loose two in a row in North Carolina. They're gonna host Clemson in Miami.
That game could have been a monster game for Miami, but now it's
just a game. It doesn't have nearly the height that it would have had
had had Miami either either had one loss or potentially been undefeated. But you
do have a two loss Clemson team coming to Miami. I think Clemson's like
a three and a half point favorite in Miami, which is interesting. But
we will see. We'll see what the medal of this Miami team is.
Coming off two straight losses and having to go play another home game in front
of that crowd after what happened at the Georgia Tech game. So big,
big job for Mario Christabal to get this Hurricane team back on track and mentally
back on track following the two losses in a row. So we'll see what
Miami does hosting Clemson on Saturday. I think it's a night game in Miami,
so we will see how that, how that goes for the Hurricanes and
the Clemson Tigers. All Right, the in state game last week that happened,
I was in the building. USF FAU FAU with a very impressive performance
fifty six to fourteen win over the Bulls. Lejohnte Wester was the star here.
He and Daniel Richardson the quarterback. Richardson was thirty one to thirty eight,
three eighty two and three touchdowns. Lejohonte Western ten catches one twenty three
in a touchdown and he had electrifying punt return for a touchdown as well.
Great job by Tom Herman and the FAU. The Owls just thoroughly beat USF
down. The game was non competitive after after you know, late second quarter,
it was it was a game. Second half the game was non competitive.
FAU moves to three and three, two and zero in the conference.
They'll host UTSA, be a very interesting game in uh down in Boca.
This is an opportunity here for Tom Herman, who who we know is a
giant killer from his days back at Houston. So this is a great opportunity
for the for the Owls to make a statement in this in this conference.
Again, quality win in state against USF, and again if you're USF,
you fall to three and four, two and two in the league. They
go to yukon this Saturday. If you're USF, I mean, that's just
a demoralizing loss. I don't know what you know. One thing I don't
watching that game. I don't understand if you're USF, why you keep playing
so fast when your defense is not very good. They've been exposed the last
couple of weeks, give it up fifty six points two weeks in a row.
I don't understand why they keep playing so fast to get that defense back
on the field when the offense has not been great the last several weeks.
Also from a game manager perspective, Alex Goldish kicks a forty nine yard field
goal when it's like fourth and two. I didn't understand why he did that
from about the thirty yard line, thirty one yard line, and you know,
he's he's always been a guy that's been pretty aggressive on fourth down.
To me, that's a time to go forward on fourth down. You were
down in the game, I think it was twenty one to seven. You
didn't. You don't have a strong legged field goal kicker. They can kick
the fifty yard field goals. The kid they got now is good from you
know, forty two and in, but he's but he's not a strong,
big legged guy that's gonna make fifty yarders. I didn't understand why you kicked
the field goal there and didn't go for it. But the defense that continues
to have problems. Uh, The offensive line plays has been very up and
down, very spotty. That's a part again, you play a Yukon team
that's not very good. We will see how that on the road. We'll
see if they can recover again. A couple of weeks ago we were talking
about they had an opportunity to be Bowl eligible in October, the month of
October, but they've lost two bad two games in a row. After they've
lost the games but they've been thoroughly outmanned and beaten badly in both games by
UA B and f AU. You gotta win if you're a USF. If
you want to have any semblance of a good year, you gotta beat Yukon.
Interesting to see what the weather will be like up there. Could be
cold, could be rainy and wet, but again you're playing a Yukon team
that's not very good. Be very interesting to see how the USF Bulls recover
from the two beatings in a row going back on the road to play u
COD. But again give FAU a lot of credit. Wester is a really
good little slot receiver. He probably will play in the NFL at some level,
whether it's as a kick returner or a third or fourth receiver. And
Daniel Richardson played pretty good ats quarterback. It's a very interesting game with UTSA.
The Roadrunners come to Boca this Saturday, and we'll see what they do
there. UCF comes off of bye they go to Oklahoma again. John race
Plumbley's backstarting as the starting quarterback. He's fully healthy following the bye week.
Again, another tough, tough assignment on the road in Norman. You got
the undefeated Sooners. You got Dylan Gabriel with the revenge game against UCF,
I expect a struggle for the Knights in Norman. I would expect them to
lose by a couple of touchdowns minimum maybe you know, I think the spread
is like eighteen or nineteen, But that will be a very tough road to
hoe for Gus Malzon and the UCF Knights. Again, plumb Lee back in
the in the saddle. You got to slow this game down, You got
to minimize the possessions in the running game. With plumb Lee in the running
game. We'll see if they're able to do that, because again Oklahoma's gonna
be up tempo, trying to score, score, score, try to get
a lead here again with Gabriel will be duly motivated here to put a big
number up on UCF, and he will have the green light to do that.
So I don't like UCF's chances for this game to be close, But
we shall see as they go to Norman. Following their by and last but
not least, we're gonna talk FIU. FIU lost twenty seven to fourteen at
home to UTEP. They follow to three and four oh and four in the
conference. They have another Wednesday night game thing as their third one in a
row. They're playing at sam Houston State Wednesday night this week, so they
are on the Wednesday night circuit. Good, good opportunity to get some TV
exposure. But again f IU goes down twenty seven to fourteen to UTEP.
We will see a shout out to my guy, aj Ricketts, play by
play guy at FIU, and we will see how the Panthers respond following a
their zero to four in the conference, and we will see if they can
recover on the road. That's a tough road trip from from Miami out to
sam Houston, so we will see how how that goes for the Panthers at
three and four. So there's your recap of the state of Florida. Again.
Remember, if you're looking for great information again follow up where we're The
Florida Football Insiders podcast is part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast feed.
If you're looking for information about USC the Big Ten, the ACC,
the Big Twelve. We got podcasts on that feed covering all those leagues.
Again, a lot of great talking. Again, had had a huge game
out in Seattle with Oregon and Washington. Check out my guy Matt Zemick.
He off, Get off my Piotei, talks about the Pac twelve. He
also covers USC who got smoked up at Notre Dame and again get off my
Pilin. There's again there's a podcast about the service academies led by my guy
Steve Carney who talks service academies. Air Force is having a great year.
Army Navy in the Air Force Academy again, the Air Force Academy is having
an excellent year. I think they're in the top twenty five this week.
So again give that podcast a look. And then you got some Big ten
action and some acc podcast related stuff there in the Big twelve with my guy
Tyler Jones. So check out the College grid Iron Coast to Coast podcast feed.
The quarterback of our of that podcast is our guy TJ Reeves. So
thank you TJ. And if you're out looking for tickets for any of these
college football games throughout the year, whether it's in the state of Florida,
nationally wherever. NFL college Major League Baseball players were almost in the World Series
time, we're in the Championship Series. The NBA is starting in a couple
of weeks. The NHLC has just kicked off ticketsmarter dot com is the place
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market, whether it's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Dolphins got a huge game in
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tickets on the secondary market, ticketsmarter dot com is the place to go and
use the code powers ten or powers twenty and save money. All right,
guys, appreciate you finding us on the Florida Football Insiders podcast Again. Check
out my u YouTube channel, Jason Powers Sports channel, you can see all
the video interviews from my other podcast, I host The Powers On Sports podcasts,
as well as a No Quarter Given podcast, which is a Tampa Bay
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my YouTube channel. You can reach out to me on Twitter and x at
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next week. We're gonna preview Georgia, Florida. The Cocktail Party will be
back in Jacksonville one more time. We got Florida State coming up. We
got some good games around the state of Florida. Stay tuned, Florida Football
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