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around the Sunshine State. This is Florida Football Insiders, a part of the
College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast evers and here's your host, Jason Tylers.
All Right, welcome back Florida Football Insiders podcast. We are part of the
College grid Iron Coast to Coast podcast feed. Appreciate your finding us on your
favorite podcast platform. I'm your host, Jason down here in sunny Tampa.
As we head into Week three of the college football season here in the state
of Florida. We had a very good week in the state of Florida last
week six and one amongst the seven Division One teams, with the only team
losing being FAU who lost seventeen ten to Ohio. But the remainding teams usf
UCF, Miami, Florida, Florida State, and all with FIU, all
with WS on the week. So we're gonna give you a little recap of
the Florida of the Florida schools games from last week, and then we're gonna
talk and preview the SEC opener and the kind of the best game on the
schedule I think for most on the docket for most people, this week is
not a great week of scheduling wise in college football, but one of the
marquee matchups is going to be in Gainesville at the Swamp on Saturday night when
the Tennessee Volunteers come to town to see that, to visit the Gators in
their annual SCAT Showdown rivalry game of that's going all the way back to the
nineties, obviously, with a great Spurrier and Philip Falmer and Peyton Manning rivalries
and all the great games at Tennessee and Florida have put on for us over
the years. So we're gonna give you a little We're gonna give you a
preview from both sides. We're gonna talk to Vince Ferrara. Vince is the
radio morning host in Knoxville, Tennessee for ninety nine point one, the Sports
Animal. He's also a Florida guy, grew up and grew up here in
Tampa. Vince went to USP, but he grew up here in Tampa,
but verywell versed on the Tennessee volunteers programs. We're gonna talk to Vince,
and then we're gonna get the Gators side of things. We're gonna talk to
Kevin Brockway from the Gainesville Son. Kevin covers the Gators on a day to
day basis. We're gonna get Kevin's kind of synopsis of where the Gators are
at following two weeks. So before we get to those guys, let's give
you a little recap of last week's action. Remember, you can find us
on Twitter at JPO sports and or x these days so and you can also
find the video interviews from with Kevin and Vince and all the interviews we have
on the Florida Football Insiders podcast on my YouTube channel, the Jason Powers Sports
channel on YouTube. So let's get to we had some big out of conference
matchups last week involving Florida teams. Let's let's get through all the kind of
the the bozo games first, the kind of the money games. First,
Florida bounces back after they're lost to Utah and they beat McNee state forty nine
seven UH to move to one and one. Ricky Piersall, the wide receiver
six catches one hundred and twenty three yards in a touchdown. Montreal Johnson Russia's
fifteen times or one nineteen and two scores. Again a ho hume game for
the Gators to get back on track. Uh, not gonna talk much about
that. We're gonna You're gonna hear more from Kevin as far as where the
Gators think they are following two games, obviously after the lost to Utah where
they see themselves so but Florida moves to one and one after beat McNee State
Florida States. They beat Southern Miss sixty six thirteen to move to two and
o. Following their Week one win against LSU the No Tier they had three
hundred and six yards rushing in the game. They they moved to again two
and oh. Kind of a hoo home game against Southern Miss. They start
their conference season next week they go to Boston College and then remember two weeks
they in week four they will go to Clemson to two straight road games.
Acc road games Boston College shouldn't be an issue, but again you never know.
Usually BC's you know, always competitive. Again, Florida State is clearly
the better team this year clearly the team to beat in the ACC. Following
Clemson struggles early, You've had North Carolina, they struggled early, but again
Florida State, this is their conference to lose in my opinion after two weeks,
obviously, we will know much more about Florida State after obviously this week
and next week at Boston College at Clemson. They can get through Clemson,
look out, the freight train will be rolling towards a college football playoff berth
if they can stay healthy and stay on course. But Florida State has looked
really, really good through two weeks. So FIU huge win over North Texas.
They win forty six thirty nine. Coach McIntyre and the Panthers moved to
two and one. We had a j ricketts On gave you a little team
preview of the Panthers last week, so if you missed that, go back
and check out last week's episode talking about the FIU Panthers. They had two
nice interceptions in the game. Again, Casey Thompson threw two picks, so
they I'm sorry Casey Thompson, not for FIU, that's f AU. But
a big win for FIU to move to two and one. Not a lot
of people thought they would win that game. So good for Mike McIntyre.
He's had a good video, had a good postgame clip on Twitter. If
you find that very energetic coach Mac down that FIU and it's a nice win
for FIU to move to two and one. Next week, FIU goes to
Yukon, which is Jim Moore coached by Jim Moore junior road game up up
in stores, so we will see what FIU can do in a conference road
game up at Ukon. So good for the Panthers moving to two and one.
Mentioned FAU. They lost seventeen ten to Ohio. They dropped a one
and one, four turnovers, two fumbles and two picks for f for FAU
for the Owls, Legonta Wooton twelve rushes for one hundred and one yards For
the Panthers, Tom Herman and company moved to one and one on the year.
They have a non conference road game at Clemson this week, so we
will see how FAU holds up to Clemson. Clemson had some struggles last week
early against at the half and then pulled away in the second half to win
their first game. But a you know big road test in Death Valley for
the Owls and FAU and Tom Herman as they head to Clemson this week the
USF Bowls. They even their record up at one and one. They beat
Florida A and M thirty eight twenty four and Raymond James Stadium here in Tampa.
Shout out to my boy Drew Felios on the call there for ESPN Plus.
But uh probably gave up more points than they expected to fam you.
But again they win thirty eight twenty four. They they have their biggest test
of the of the of the of the early season as they host the Alabama
Crimson Tide come to Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, Saturday afternoon. I will
be in the building, me and my guy David Precise, big Alabama fan,
will be in the build. So we'll be in Raymond James. Biggest
home game in USF bull's history coming up on Saturday, so we will see
the It'll be interesting to see what the crowd proportion is of Alabama fans versus
USF fans. But again, biggest home game in USF history coming up on
Saturday afternoon is Nick Saban in the in the Alabama cripton Tide kame a calling
coming off their loss to Texas last Saturday night, so we'll be interesting to
see how how that how they responding to how how USF responds, we'll get
a gauge of where they're at. Again, do I expect us have to
win the game, No, but it'll be interesting to see how competitive they
are in year one with Alice Scolish final approval for the stadium. The new
USF Stadium was put into place last week by the Border Regions, so all
that's a done deal. So congratulations to the USF people on getting that project
on. Michael Kelly, the athletics director over there. So being again we're
interesting with the at this Fearies and Raymond James on Saturday avenoon. That is
a national TV game. That'll be a three thirty ABC game, so it'll
be some good exposure for USF against the Alabama Crimson Tide. So let's and
the last couple of games will wrap up our preview or recap excuse me.
UCF goes out to Boise and gets a hard fought eighteen sixteen win to move
to two and oh the star of this game was Colton Boomer, the field
goal kicker four for four on field goals, kicks a forty yard field goal
at the gun to win the games eighteen sixteen, including along of fifty five
and fifty two fifty yard plus field goals. Very difficult to do. Kobe
Hudson the receiver goes are all for five catches for one hundred and thirty four
yards. Bad news here. John Reis Plumley is injuredy through two picks in
the game, hurt his foot, Gonna be out a few weeks. It
sounds like sounds like Timmy McClain, the former USF quarterback transfer quarterback is gonna
take the helm in Orlando for Gus Malzon. But give Malson credit a very
tough win. On the road, long trip out to Boise, they figure
out a way to get it done again. Colton Boomer will probably be the
Special Teams Player of the week, probably nationally with his performance. Kicks a
forty yard field goal at the at the gun to get UCF to the to
the winner's circle, so a big win. UCF will then come back here
will host Villanova in a kind of a an FCS game. Don't like the
scheduling there, but again following Boise before they head to Big twelve action,
they will see Villanova. The Wildcats will come to Orlando this weekend to face
UCF again. Timmy McClean looks like he'll be the quarterback for the next several
weeks due to the John Reese plum Lee injury. So I've seen McClean play
in person at practice that when he was at USF, got a lot of
ability, can run around, and he's a lefty, so be interesting to
see how Gus Malzon integrates Timmy McClean into the offense in Orlando with the night
So in the last big game of the game of the week here in the
state of Florida from a national perspective was the Miami Hurricanes. They out gunned
the Texas A and m Aggie's forty eight thirty three, a big win for
Mario Christo Baul in Week two. We talked to Joseph Gaki last week talking
about how important this was this win could be for the for the Hurricanes as
far as to re establishing themselves as a potential contender in the ACC. Great
tremendous game by Tyler Van Dyke through for three hundred and seventy four yards five
touchdowns. The Canes also had a kickoff return for a touchdown in a big
pivotal moment of that game in the third quarter Xavier Restrepo six catches for one
hundred and twenty six yards. The Canes defense also had two interceptions of Connor
week when it was a back and forth game Earl but again Tyler van Dyke
showed the promise that we saw two years ago. Did not play it nearly
as well last year, but again a huge day for Van Dyke with five
touchdowns three and seventy four yards and a big win for again for Mario Christo
Ball to kind of get the momentum going in the right direction for the Canes.
The Canes will will will finish up this week. They'll play i think
Thursday night against Bethune Cookman, a game again they should win as they head
into ACC play. So a big, big stepping stone for the Miami Hurricane
program to get a big win against the non big again again against an SEC
team. I think I saw the stat the accs four and one against the
SEC so far this year, So a great start to the year from Miami
two and oh heading to Bethune Cookman should be three and oz with conference play
coming up here, So good week for the state of Florida against six and
one and the record books for the state schools with the only loss being FAU.
Again. We got Tennessee in my Tennessee in Florida coming up Saturday night
in the Swamp seven o'clock kickoff rap following the USF Alabama game which will be
a three thirty ABC game as well. So plenty of doings here in the
state of Florida this week on the Florida Football Insiders podcast. If you haven't
already done so, hit that subscribe button on your podcast platform. Let us
know if you have any comments. Love to hear from you at JPO Sports
on Twitter or x and again, all the video interviews that we're gonna have
with Kevin Brockaway and Vince Ferrara are gonna be on my YouTube channel, the
Jason Powers Sports Channel, so appreciate the support. Again. Go to the
College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast feed. There will be some other podcasts from
concerning some other college football stuff from all around the country, so definitely check
that out. Thanks to my guy Steve Carney for quarterback in the podcast feed
as well as t J Reeves as well. So a couple quick notes in
the NFL. All three state State of Florida. NFL teams won, Bucks
win at Minnesota, Jags win at Indianapolis, tough fault game, and then
they shootout of the week and probably maybe the game of the week was out
in Los Angeles where the Dolphins and Tua through for four sixty six I believe,
and they outgun the Herbert and the Chargers thirty seven, thirty six,
thirty four Tyreek Hill with a huge game at Widger's here for the Dolphins.
So nine in one week for all the State of Florida teams. Keep it
up, and we will start off previewing the Tennessee Volunteers with their visit to
Florida with Vince Ferrara ninety nine point one from Knoxville and Kevin Brockway from the
Gainesville Sun talking to the Gators. Well, the fall football season and fall
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right, Welcome back Florida Football Insiders podcast. We are going to now preview
the game of the week both in the state of Florida and probably the game
of the week in the country. It's not a very good college football slate
this week, but we do have a big SEC showdown a traditional rival a
little Florida in Tennessee at the Swamp on Saturday night. You're gonna get herb
Street and Fouler in attendance for the game. So that tells you that's the
biggest game of the week, because you know they probably wouldn't be doing this
game if there was a bigger game. So kudos to the crowd and games
where you're gonna get herb Street and Fouler. Now that Spectrum is back in
business with ESPN at Disney, we're gonna everybody who's on Spectrum is gonna get
to see it, and we're gonna preview the game with no better person.
A Florida guy, Tampa guy who now is the morning show host up in
Knoxville, Tennessee for ninety nine point one. The Sports Animal, a regular
on this podcast as well as the powers On Sports podcast. Welcome back,
mister Vince Ferrara, Jason Powers Man. I'm good, appreciate it, and
just to clarify you, thank you for the intro. But I'm a State
of Florida guy, not a unificator. Yes, of Florida, you know
where I went to school. That's right, And they got they got their
biggest home game ever this weekend with Alabama coming to town. US How about
that USF that's right with Alex Godlish, former offensive coordinator at the University of
Tennessee back when they were lightening people up. That has not happened so far.
She really though, I will say they played pretty good. In the
first game against Western Kentucky. They were very competitive and they were in that
game in the fourth quarters. I think you think you're seeing a little bit.
You know. They didn't play as well last week against Florida and m
but played much pretty decent in the Western Kentucky gaming. And we will see
what Alex does moving forward. All right, I gotta give you a quick
high school update. Vince does high school footballup and Knoxville on Friday nights.
He does play by play stations up there. On the station up there,
I had your Jefferson Dragons a couple of weeks ago. Okay, they weren't
too they were all right. They got beat but they played. It was
a competitive game, but they did. Okay, So kudos you're Jefferson Dragons.
Hey, okay, it was better when I was there for school.
Man. It was a struggle bus back then. But that was a while
ago. But man, that's great to see them and see have you be
there doing their games. And I did, And you'll like this. Guess
where I was at last Friday night, Uncle t J. I did Steinbrenner.
He and his daughters were in the house, so I did Steinbrenner last
Friday night. I got to see t J after the game. That's awesome,
That is fantastic. Yeah, I saw him with his Steinbrenner shirt with
the family, but I didn't know you were officiating that game. That's it.
That's cool. The connections in Tampa go deep, man, and you'll
like this is another high school story. The team they played Plant City,
which you know where that's at. It's about a probably an hour away from
Steinbrenner. Him in rush hour traffic. The school bus didn't show up.
They didn't have a freaking school bus to pick him up. And we started
an hour late. We started eight third instead of seven thirty because nobody calls
to get a school bus to pick the team up. Wow. Oh yeah,
I know budgets an issue, but come on now, exactly. Hey,
there wasn't a parade at the Jefferson game for me, Like they weren't.
They weren't like the one I wasn't there for wasn't. I mean,
come on, all right, let's get to your Tennessee volunteers. They come
to Gainesville Saturday night two and oh beat Virginia. Kind of a lackluster performance
against Austin p over the weekend. You're three, Josh Hypel, give us
a little just give us a little overview of the Tennessee team coming in two
and oh in twenty twenty three. Well, everyone is talking about how you
reference that the lackluster performance again against Austin p everybody, we do this score
prediction promotion on our stations called score a Ford where a local Ford dealership uh
Ted Russell Ford. They give away a fifty thousand dollars truck if you correctly
guess the score the game. Now you submit those and then one person gets
drawn out of all those qualifiers throughout the week. But everyone, everyone,
they called in and try to guess the score was fifty point margin of victory,
like there was just it was a matter of not only when Niko Yamaliava,
the five star two freshman Quarbette was gonna play, it was like how
long is it gonna play? And they go to the third string Corbett.
That's how it was supposed to go sold out one on one, nine,
one five, and it was really disappointing. How about you never even got
a chance to play Niko, your backup quarterback against Austin P and FCS opponent.
That's how much the game was in balance late in Tennessee could not separate
from them. It was stunning. Tennessee had the largest margin of in their
favor in the first quarter anyone in the country last year and they only managed
three points. One of only three teams in the Hype Era that have held
Tennessee without a touchdown in the first quarter Austin p Georgia, and I think
the other third was like Alabama or Florida. I means just insane that a
classic. Was it a classic look ahead to this week you think most of
it? Or was it actually they didn't play very well. Well, it's
a combination that they depends on who we're talking about. Joe Milton is taking
a fair amount of criticism as Tennessee's first year starting quarterback, taking over for
Hendon Hooker now at the Detroit Lions, and there are some people that were
questioning him going in and now we're hearing from them saying, see, I
told you so. And he's missed on some throws. It hasn't been sorry,
accidentally, it hasn't been all him. Some of them has been receivers.
He's had some drops. Some guys have not maybe been and sync with
him in the passing game and being in the right place. So they just
they didn't did a stretch where they weren't sharp in Game one against Virginia as
well, and then kind of got things settled. So it just has not
been the high powered machine that it was last year. And they've run the
ball terrific. I mean, they're running the ball so well right now,
and they have three outstanding running backs. So the running game is even better
than a lot of people thought. The defense is much better than what people
thought, and then the offense overall slashed. The passing game is not anything
close to what it was that Tennessee would dnk shot over the top on you,
and oftentimes that was done within a minute thirty of a drive time,
and they're just not getting those deep shots. Here's some numbers for you,
Jason, right. This is Tennessee their passing game numbers. Compared to last
year. Tennessee is averaging two hundred twenty yards per game passing last year is
a number one offense in the country three hundred and twenty six yards per game,
So that's one oh six passing less per game. This is light competition
as well. This isn't Georgia and LSU or anybody else. This is light
non conference competition there. Tennessee is averaging six point seven yards per pass attempt
last year, the average ten nine point one yards per completion last year fourteen
point six. Right, so basically three less per attempt, six less per
completion, one less touchdown per game two versus three last year. But you
know what their average completion and attempts twenty two or thirty three this year is
the exact same as last year. So the completion percentage to spawned. Joe
Milton's missed on some throws, but he's still made some others because he's throwing
a lot of the vertical stuff behind the line of scrim or close to the
line of scrimmage and nothing down the field. They didn't have a single deep
shot against Austin p because they're playing none. Do you think do you think
that's play calling saving it for Feard? Do you think it's, you know,
just a product of new receivers, a new quarterback and some of that
stuff. D all of the above. I do think there's a little bit
of holding back. I think they're the receivers who I was really impressed with
coming into the year. I think they have been a little bit nervous,
and I think there's there hasn't been the in game chemistry with Joe Milton at
quarterback when we thought there would be because some of those guys that work together
second team. Here's another factor that it seems like it would be strange and
wouldn't have an impact. But I think it has. And Tennessee hasn't had
its starting center in Cooper Mayze. And you know, having played the game
Jason, that when you have a top notch center that can get you lined
up, that can help your first year starting quarterback with line calls, protections,
protections absolutely take some of the load off. They haven't had him.
They may have him for the Florida game, but they have not, so
I think that is another thing that's kind of folding them back and giving Milton
some hesitation. Milton is taking care of the football, Jason, so he
is not taking unnecessary chances, he's checking down, he's going through his progressions,
but he may be going through his progressions too fast, trying to be
cautious and just throwing it vertically or checking it down things like that. So
it's not what they can be. I think they will be fine, but
it'll be interesting. There's a lot of strategy to it in what Florida will
do versus what Tennessee can do, and what's worked against Tennessee the first couple
of weeks. Let's go to defense. Obviously, it sounds like you said,
you're you're encouraged by the provements on the defensive side compared to last Obviously,
Well, if you're a fan of the sport, you remember what happened
to him at South Carolina. They get torched last year at the end of
the year, kind of blew their national their playoff hopes. What improvements have
you seen on defense? Is it schematic? Is it just better personnel?
What do you see on defense? It's player development. I think some of
it is personnel also, right, because they added in the transfer portal Omar
Norman Lott, who is in the middle of the defensive line next to Amari
Thomas, Who's you know, a first, second or THIRDEAM caliber defensive tackle.
He's been big. Keenan Peely, who started the Virginia game as the
mic linebacker. He got hurt in that game. He has been out for
a couple of weeks. Don't expect him to be available for the Florida week.
Hypel said last week could be out a couple of weeks. That's a
noteworthy loss because they're really young behind him. Now, everybody that was young
they played last week pretty much played well. Elijah Harring, a sophomore,
stepped in last week, but they played a lot of different guys, so
that is something to look for. But man, the star of the defense
this year has been Aaron Beasley. Where's number six? And he was a
beast in the Orange Bowl against Clemson. And I thought that he was a
clear snub in any of the preseason All SEC teams. I didn't understand it.
I voted for him. I don't know why he wasn't first, second
or thirteen. Just ridiculous. But he's even better. We heard about him
being even better at practice. He showed he's doing better. And where does
play? Where does play? He's the will linebacker in their four two five.
He's their will and in fact, he slid in at times depending on
when what young guy came in. He'd slide over to the mic and they'd
have a two freshman in Arion Carter go to that will because he is super
athletic, a real free so he played both in that Austin p game.
How about two sacks, five tapals for lost, nine tackles for Beasley and
getting there with Violent. He's been outstanding right now. He's first team aust
to see linebacker. He's been that good. The secondary has been a little
bit better, but still not sold on them, but they're getting more pressure
on the quarterback so they're not getting exposed like they did in that South Carolina
game. To your point, Jason, and they're getting edge pass rush as
well from a couple of second year guys in Pierce and Josephs That that was
a question going in. They have delivered. I think they have. Let's
say, got seven eleven sacks in the first two games and twenty five tackles
for loss. That's getting it done in the in the front six for them
in at four to five, so you're gonna have a jump in competition.
Nothing against Virginian, Austin PE, but Florida is a little bit better than
those programs. Flard is not great, but they're a better team than Virginian.
Offs to P, how do you think Tennessee's gonna handle the atmosphere of
the swamp, the desperation that Florida is gonna play with after they got pounded
by Utah. You know, it's not an ultra uber talented Florida team,
but they're better than they were last year. We think better, you know.
Obviously the quarterback situation is different with Graham Merch compared to Anthony Richardson.
They played a very competitive game last year in Knoxville. Talk about how Tennessee's
gonna handle going to the Swamp facing ninety thousand against them, where they've had
pretty much a home crowd the first two weeks. Jason to me this game
in terms of wondering if Tennessee is going to win. Tennessee's obviously favorite,
but it's mental for me, and that's what I worry about more from Tennessee
standpoint than the personnel I think. I think Tennessee is more talented than Florida
right now, and they have developed players better. They don't make the stupid
mistakes that Florida does. And you know they've they've checked off a lot of
boxes of things they hadn't done in a long time. This is another one.
This in Alabama haven't wanted either of those two places since two thousand and
three, and there's been some less than stellar Florida teams that have risen up
in beaten Tennessee teams. So that kind of stuff worries some fans. Others
are like, whatever, this is gonna be an easy win because of what
happened with Florida and Utah. But I think it's the mental. I think
it's the crowd. I think it's all those kind of things. Jacob Warren
starting tight End, was asked about it and the street and Highy're goun handle
it, and he's like, we don't worry about that kind of stuff.
I mean, a lot of us have not been around for all of that.
We you know, we hear some people talk about it, but that's
for the fans, Like we're in the here and now, we're trying to
focus on what we got to do now in winning with our group together this
year. So you hope they have that kind of mentality. You just never
know, and it certainly can be nasty and volado and Joe Milton as the
guy has not dealt with that before in a true road environment. His other
Roads start was at Vanderbilt so and then Neutral Side and Orange Bowl. So
those are the kind of things. And look, Milton has kind of reverted
back to his improvements in his accuracy and not throwing his fastball all the time,
a little bit of that kind of stuff. He reverted to that in
the first two games that were pro Tennessee crowds. Is there another level of
him doing that in a hostile environment. We'll see. And I'm a believer
in Joe Milton. I don't want to anyone to think that I'm not.
I've backed him up. I think he's gonna have an outstanding year. Even
if he's not Hindon Hooker. He's different, but I think he's still ultra
talented and he'll be fine. For whatever reason, nerves or chemistry or whatever
just hasn't been there. But it's a it's a question mark. I still
expect Tennessee to win, but you know, there may be some shaky moments
there for Tennessee in this game. What's the one position group that really needs
this after two games, that really needs to play better for this to be
a oh say, comfortable Tennessee win, but where they can show that they're
the better team. Saturday night in Gainesville. Well, it's it's wide receivers.
I think that's probably been the group that I've been most disappointed in,
not that they haven't made plays or they don't have ability, but guys like
Ramel Keaton, who's had drops in both of the first two games. He
dropped a bomb like a beautiful sixty three yard in the air just dime by
Joe Milton in Nashville against Virginia. And if he makes that catch, all
of Milton's throws could be very different after that. And so and don't I
told people this in camp, Jason, I don't know if I saw Milton
dropped more than one ball in all a preseason practice, and I went to
a lot of them, even though we didn't get to every second of practice,
but anything you got his hands on, he caught. So for whatever
reason that has kind of surface in these first two games, pretty much everybody
has had a drop. And I think they're all really talented, so maybe
they'll shake that off and be locked in or whatever, or maybe it's Milton
not throwing his fastball all the time, so they got to help Milton out.
So that's the group I think needs the most improvement. I'd put offensive
line behind that. Cooper May's first game back. By the way, both
teams getting their starting center back in this game, which is interesting. But
if Florida, they don't have any stars on their d line. But it's
a pretty good and physical group, as you know. So I think the
offensive line again to keep Milton clean and help him go through his progressions make
those right decisions. They would be right there also as a number two.
But they've done a decent job. They haven't given up a bunch of sacks,
and they run blocked really well for that stable of three backs. All
right, give me a score. Obviously, we know it's first SEC game
for both teams. They probably hate to say this. They've probably been prepping
for this game for two weeks now. They probably didn't put a lot of
time into McNeice State in Austin, p to be honest, they've probably been
prepping for each other for a couple of weeks now, and obviously during the
off season. It's always a classic rivalry. Third Saturday in September kind of
kind of deal most years. ESPN Night Game. Give me you think you
think Tennessee, you think this is a game in the fourth quarter, do
you think Tennessee is going to be comfortably in control of the game. Gosh,
it's probably Jason, Honestly. I see it maybe somewhere in between where
Tennessee maybe separates in the fourth quarter in Florida's trying to get to within striking
distance and not able to fully come back and do it, partly partly because
games have shortened a little bit, and I anticipate Florida trying to shorten the
game, which Austin he was very successful at, probably not as high as
scoring as I would have picked going into the year. So I'll say Tennessee
thirty one to seventeen, and it's it's real quick as Hypeill still running the
ultra up tempo, trying to snap it as fast as they can. Yes,
but you gotta get first downs to do that, and then he'll slow
it down in the red zone. Watch them when they get in the red
zone, he really backs it off, especially now with Milton in there and
and a lot of new receivers and new offensive lineman. He'll slow it down
because he wants to make sure those plays there's no missed assignments or anything like
that. So he'll dial it down. But when they're converting first downs,
they will go tempo and we'll go as fast as anyone in the country.
Just haven't been able to do it as often because they're not staying on the
field. When you're going three and out and not getting first downs, it's
hard to keep that tempo. It's a thirty one seventeen for Vince. I'm
with you. I think Tennessee wins the game. Tell everybody well I can
find I know you're doing in high school football on Friday nights in the Knoxville
area. Tell all the fans where they can find all your great work,
whether it's radio, whether it's the morning show, Friday Night Football, all
the great stuff you do, man, I appreciate. Jason Yeah of Friday
Night Football is a high school football with three different of three different former Tennessee
football players. Is my rotating analyst. Jay Graham, who will be with
me this Friday Night, played in the NFL. Tennessee great Todd Kelly Junior
who played in the mid two thousands as well at mid to late two thousands,
when Butch Jones is here, done a terrific job. He's been an
analyst. And Kevin Simon played for the Dallas Cowboys in a terrific linebacker of
Tennessee. So those three kind of rotating is my analyst, and all those
games are on our app. Now there's a live stream too, so you
can always pick those games and listen from wherever you're at. So check those
out when you get a chance on Friday nights. And then our morning show
six to nine am Eastern time, that's also available on the app, just
ninety nine point one The Sports Animal and and you can always listen to h
those podcasts on our website ninety nine one The Sports Animal dot com. And
then do a TV show on Sunday morning sometimes on the local ABC station,
rotating in there. And then probably a bunch of other stuff that I'm forgetting,
oh of all network pregame player interview, Yeah, yeah, do those.
Uh, there's just there's a lot of stuff. So at vent Sports
on Twitter to give me a follow, and I appreciate that. Yeah,
man, he does a great job. Again you're looking for great video content,
audio stuff. He does an awesome job with the website as well,
putting clips up for all the Tennessee fans all around the country to check it
out. And obviously if you're in the in the in the Knoxville area,
definitely listened to Vins on the Morning Show early Morning or Early Riser these days.
Back up, earlist, I'm gonna let him go. We're recording this
Monday night and I'm gonna let him get some sleep tonight. Last question before
you get out of here. Have you watched Monday Night Football tonight? Aaron
Rodgers play three? Done? Yeah? How about that? How about that?
Just Jets fans? Man? I work with one one of our hosts,
Tyler Roppins. I mean, you know, they're just they feel snake
bitten. And here it is again. They finally get a competent quarterback and
he goes down after three three buys. Is just brutal. Oh man,
Well, Vince, keep up the great work man. We will be in
touch soon, and we will be in person soon. I am sure have
a great good, good good coverage here Florida, Tennessee and a great rest
of the secason. We'll definitely be back in touch as we move through the
SEC year. All right, JP, love you the man, appreciate it.
You got it. And now a word from Titan Home Lending. Are
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right, welcome back Florida Football Insiders podcast. You just heard the Tennessee side
of the showdown with the Gators, and now we're going to get the Gator
perspective as the Gators come into this game Saturday night at one and one after
their win over McNee State, and we're gonna talk to Kevin Brockway, beat
reporter for the Gainesville Sun, has been a regular here on the podcast and
get the Gator Gator side of things as we enter a pivotal game here for
Billy Napier. So, Kevin, welcome back, Good to be back.
How are you. I'm well, I'm well, well, obviously this is
a kind of a slow week in college football, and so the Gators are
kind of back in the national spotlight again from a couple back from a couple
of weeks ago. They when they kicked off the year at Utah, they
come back and beat McNeice State, and now they're kind of back in the
spotlight a little bit. You've got Chris Fowler and Herbstreet going to be here
from ESPN covering the game. So give me a little sense of give me
a little sense of the Gators through two weeks. Well, I think this
is a huge pivol game for the Napier because obviously, you know, you
lose the game at Utah, but that's not a conference game. This is
the start of the SEC last here in the sect, which is pretty interesting.
This is always been a big rivalry game going back to the nineteen nineties.
And you're at home, you know you've got to sell out behind you.
It's gonna be kind of a blue out game. They want the fans
to wear blue and the Gators are gonna be blue on blue. So it's
gonna be one of those games where you're gonna have the atmosphere a little bit.
But this is still a very young team. Jason and a team that's
you know, certainly got a lot of young promising players, but this is
going to be their first teeth of the SEC. The size of his gality
and certainly Tennessee coming off what they did last year in the Josh Apple eleven
and two and they're two and oh this year, they come in pretty confident.
You get the sense that everybody in the building realizes the urgency of this
game. About this, you know, if you lose both the big games
early Utah Tennessee that it could be a I will say the dull drums could
could set in and gains. As Billy talked about the urgency of this game,
yeah, I think so in terms of and rivals too. You know
the fact that you know last year they were owing for against rivals is the
rivalry game. This is the game where that a lot of Gator boosters,
a lot of Gator fans, you know, take pride in, you know,
beating the rivals and listen, you know, Billy Naprier has not got
that done yet now, you know, really, you know, going back
to last year, you could kind of say Utah was a statement win,
but that statement was kind of a race quickly the following week when they lost
the Tennessee But a lot of Kentucky excuse me, this could be another one
of those, you know, wins. If Florida can get it, that
could maybe change their perception a Billy Naprier a little bit amongst Florida fans,
and you know, uh and nationally as well, because there's a rank team
coming in here, number nine in the country. It's a game really that
you know, could could help maybe get buy in and if you lose this
game that maybe you lose it a little buy in, particularly from the veterans.
I think the younger guys will play hard the rest of the seasons regardless,
but I think if you're one and two, it's going to be really
hard for some of the veterans, some of the maybe holdovers from the Mullen
era. Uh really you know, you know, give it, you know,
to really keep their spirits up for the rest of the season. And
the other part of this is you look through the state of Florida. You
had Miami with a huge win over Texas A and m kind of their their
re emergence. Florida State is doing what they're doing up in Tallahassee. So
if Florida loses this game, just from even from just a strictly of a
State of Florida recruiting perspective things like that, I think they fall one step
further behind what you got going on in Miami and Florida State. Yeah,
it's pretty amazing, right what the a SEC is four and one against the
SEC two, which is something right and you know who would have thought that
to start the season. But I do think that it's been a little bit
of a rough start overall for the conference in some of these head to head
matchups, which which has to be concerning when you you know, look at
the BCS rankings in November and December, it's gonna be uh, it's gonna
be waited. So I think this is really an important I mean, Georgia
is still george obviously, and you know, because they lost at Oklahoma game,
they haven't really they will not really challenge themselves in the non conference schedule.
But yeah, the rest of the league, Uh, it's it's kind
of up for grabs. I think a little bit in terms of you know,
Alabama breaking in a young quarterback. They look vulnerable, you know,
and on the west side of things. So it's it's gonna be a it's
gonna be pretty fascinating when you look at it. But for Florida, yeah,
you know, you know, you know you wanna. I think you
want to have a successful season two because you know you've got the number three
recruiting class coming in next year. You want to hold that class together right
now, you know, get them all signed on the dotted line in December.
DJ Lagway, of course, the quarterback being the most important piece.
I do think Graham m two weeks has done okay, you know, he's
policeman percentage of seventy five percent. Even in the Utah game, he moved
the football. There were just a lot of red zon stakes in that game.
But you know, the offensive line which was played well against McNeice.
Granted McNeese is gonna have to, uh, you know, play well.
They get Kingsley agackin back, which is gonna be big in terms of the
offensive line, having a veteran in there, and they're gonna have to protect
you know, Graham Mertz because you know, Tennessee is a pretty good pass
rushing team and they do it with the four man rush. You don't really
have to blitz to get pressure on the quarterback. Yeah, when you look
at and when you we're gonna get to merch in the offense here in a
second. When you look at the Gators, obviously pearsall had a nice game
against McNeice. Montreal, Johnson ran the ball. Is the running games still
gonna be the kind of the this point where we start this offensive scheme on
Saturday, especially with this high, high powered, potentially Tennessee offense, where
you want to slow the pace of the game down. Yeah, well,
I think you want to establish a run. You would think that in the
tempo situation, but they couldn't establish the running against Utah, So I think,
you know, and I do teams are going to stack the box a
little bit and make Merch speaky with his arms, So I think that's gonna
be important too. I just think balance overall is going to be important.
I mean, if you look at the first two games. Game one,
they threw the ball well against Utah from the yards perspective, didn't really run
it. Game two against McNeice, they ran the ball well and they didn't
really throw it much. They didn't really have to, but he did have
that fifty yard connection late in the game, so he did show that he
could get the deep ball in there. And I think they're gonna have to,
you know, do more of that and just really have have a have
a balanced game where they can you know, run and past and keep Tennessee's
defense stuff balance a little bit. What was the what was kind of the
most encouraging thing that coach Napier took out of the Utah game. Obviously didn't
the result wasn't what they wanted. What were the couple of positive things they
took out of the Utah game that they think can translate to Tennessee and down
the road. Well, I do think that, you know, after giving
up the big play early in that Utah game, the defense settled in and
played really nice game. And they've been much better on third down in both
games five or twenty three. Uh. You know, they nearly pitched a
shout out against McNeice. They probably should have if not for that fumble by
the you know, walk on running back late in the game. Uh.
And for those of a betting interest out there, I saw that was on
bad beats last night forty It looked like they were gonna win forty nine to
nothing. But anyway, regardless of that, listen Austin Armstrong. I think
has this defense playing pretty well. That they're not getting sacks, they're not
getting turnovers, only two sacks, no turners. They're gonna need to do
that, but there's so much better on third down getting off the field,
and I think that really helps the offense from that standpoite complimentary football, you
know, being able to get more possessions for your offense, being able to
create and imbalance some time or possession. So I do think you're seeing you're
seeing some young guys in Jordan Castell, a freshman is starting at safety and
has done pretty well. As how his own schmar Jeans is playing really well
at the you know, linebackers body as nineteen tackles through two games. So
I do think that that's the upside. And if you can, you know,
frustrate Joe Milton, get him into some mistakes, you never know what
could happen. I mean, listen, I'm a Jets fan, Zach will
you know. Obviously Aaron Rodgers was knocked out early our franchises curse. But
what did the Jets do? They forced four turnovers that kept him in the
game, and they, you know, want on a special teams play at
the end of the game. So I think you're gonna have to do that.
I gets Joe Milton, you know, to force him into some mistakes,
you know, get some extra possessions with some turnovers, and you might
have a shot. Interesting thing will be will be interesting See how Austin Austin
Armstrong handles the tempo of Josh Hypel and this teme we know they like to
play super fast. How does do you think that does he think he has
enough depth on defense to be able to handle the tempo of this Tennessee offense
and the and the you know, you might have to be out there for
eighty five to ninety plays in in this game Saturday Night. Yeah, and
you know, but this defense has a lot more has more depth, and
they do rotate a lot of guys on the defensive line, which I think,
you know, certainly helps and the you know, the defensive tackles.
Obviously, losing Justice Spoon early in the season kind of hurts that a little
bit on the defensive line rotation. But you're still seeing them, you know,
rotate in six seven guys and some of the young guys again, Kelby
Collins, t J. Searshi, these guys are true freshman. They're bringing
them in there and there's not much drop off, which is encouraging to see.
You know, the SEC is a different animal, but you say,
you know, there wasn't much drop off, and they brought him into the
Utah game, which is a Power five opponents. So I do think you're
gonna see a lot of those guys were rotated in. And now Mannie Nunnery
and the linebacker spot with Roger Mitchell, Shamar Jeans, Scooby Williams, who
had a sack in the McNeice game, is playing really well early this season
too. So I think they have a lot of pieces that they can bring
in and out and keep guys you know, fresh for four quarters. Last
thing, we'll get you cut out of here. A couple more little things,
you know, talk about the difference between playing at at the Swamping at
a three thirty as opposed to a seven o'clock game, night game. Obviously
we're doing a little something special this week with the all Blue on blue.
Just talk about that atmosphere difference between playing an afternoon game and in a big
game at night. Yeah, well, you know, I mean the afternoon
game, the humidity can come into play a little bit, you know,
for a team like Tennessee coming down there. But uh yeah, it is
an electric atmosphere at night. It's a lot of fun to play in the
Swamp at night. I think the crowd will be, you know, we'll
be pretty hype for this game. And the fact that you know, they
got well against McNee State. I think that inspired from confidence, and I
think there are a lot of questions about them. In McNee State game.
It wasn't a sell up, but it was eighty eight thousand and that was
a legit attendance figure. I mean, it was pretty full throughout that stadium.
So I think for the sec opener, you know, maybe see at
ninety, maybe seeing completely full. And you know, I think Napier was
kind of pleading in the press conference yesterday, Hey, look, you guys
can really make a difference for us if you come out and and you know,
make some noise for sure. And then the Swamp is one of those
stadiums too, where you know, the noise really you know, reverberates from
the stadium and really kind of create havoc for opponent opposing teams. So I
think that they're hopeful that it'll be a good showing and that that atmosphere.
They've got the new lad lights and the whole nine yards, and I think
it'll be a you know, that kind of an atmosphere. But ultimately,
it's gonna come down to have Florida plays two and they're gonna have to play
on the stake three game. They're certainly gonna have to play a lot more
disciplined than they did against Utah and their last Power or five opponent, and
they did that against the Stake two. I mean, four penalties for twenty
yards, buched hold on an extra point, but other than the late fumble
by the walk up, other than that fairly clean game and they're gonna have
to play really clean football to have a chance as well. Last thing,
do you expect this to be a kind of game where Bill you will pull
out something out of the you know, trick plays that kind of stuff to
try to get you know, obviously it's a home it's a home game.
It's a game they need and they really do need the game. Is this
something where you think where Billy could empty the bag as far as some of
that stuff kind of go kind of goes well, you know, it was
interesting because the mcnee's State they game, they did this kind of direct snap
and end around the Egene Wilson. It was an effective play and my thought
was, hey, why not save that for next week? Right? But
we haven't you know, I don't know if Napier is as much of a
trick play guys Dan mullen is, but you know, he might have something
up as sleeve. But I think they're gonna keep it fairly conventional with Grand
Murts. They have a lot of faith in Graham Murtz in terms of moving
the ball. You know, you know, this is a team that's had
a ninety eight yard touchdown drive in a ninety nine yard touchdown two games into
the season, So they're showing the ability to sustained drives. I think it's
going to be a matter of also the red zone execution too. It's like,
once you get inside there, can you punch it in and six or
six against mcnee's State, which was good, but the red zone execution was
not very good against Utah against a tougher defense. So now you're you're facing
another Power five defense in Tennessee. Can you can you really execute in the
red zone and get those scores? Last one, give me the one position
group that if if Florida is going to make some big improvements the next ten
weeks of the year, what's the one or two position groups that really need
to elevate their play so far? Yeah, I think the offensive line for
sure, is going to have to really solidify and come together. I think
they're missing o Cyrus Torrents more than more than people think. And he started
for the bill last day. He looked really good, by the way,
and I do think that, you know, maybe some more threats at wide
receiver. I like Pierceall, Eugene Wilson. It's coming around, but you'd
like to see a few more guys at the wide receiver position emerge and be
guys that that Graham Murtz can count on. All right, you can find
Kevin Brockaway's all of his great work at the Gainesville Sun on exit Kevin Brockway
g one is his Twitter, Twitter and x feed these days, Kevin working.
They find all your game day coverage and stuff with the games will Sun.
Yeah, gatorsports dot com and Gainsville dot com at the two main places,
but I'm all over the state taste. If you're in Naples and Fort
Myers you can get give me on the local website there. If you're in
Palm Beach or Melbourne or Jacksonville, you know all those, All those websites
will carry my work as well. We're looking for a big, big night
in the swamp Saturday night, ESPN seven o'clock. Herb Street and Fouler will
be on the call. So Kevin, enjoy the enjoy the game, and
keep up the great work and the great coverage of the Gators. Okay,
thank you very much, appreciate it. Have a great week, folks,
and we'll see you next time on the Florida Football Insiders Podcast. Thanks for
listening to the Florida Football Insiders Podcast as part of the College Gridiron Coast to
Coast podcast Network. Please remember subscribe rate in review if you've not already done
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Love to hear your comments and feedback about our episodes, any program suggestions
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