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the podcast a look at college football news, analysis and insight from around the
Sunshine State. This is Florida Football Insiders, a part of the College Gridiron
Coast to Coast podcast. Now and here's your host, Jason Tylers. I've
been Florida Football Insider's podcast and your coach, Jason down in Tampa. A
wild week of action in the State of Florida. A couple of double overtime
thrillers involving State of Florida teams, which we'll get to in just a couple
of minutes, and had a lot of close calls around the country. A
lot of highly ranked teams playing in field, your talent escape with their Chinny
chin chin, including Texas Washington. Some controversial officiating calls in games around the
country, and more questionable coaching decisions. Why these coaches continue to go forward
on fourth down in their own territory is beyond me, But we'll get to
all that and more as we get through the State of Florida. And we
preview the cocktail party which will take place in Orlando and Jacksonville. Excuse me,
this coming Saturday, between Florida and Georgia. We've got two great guests
for you. I'm gonna talk to Kevin Brockway from the Gainesville Sun. He's
gonna preview the Florida side of things, both Florida and Georgia coming out of
a bye week, so we'll get all the inside information as far as the
bye week, about where where each team stands, injuries, all that kind
of good stuff. Again, Kevin Brockway, Gainesville, Son And we're also
gonna talk to Mark Weezer from the Banner Harold, who covers the Bulldogs day
to day, so you'll get a good sense of the Georgia team if you
haven't been following Georgia much. Obviously the number one rated team in the country,
they lost their big All American tight end, brock Bowers, right before
the bye week at the Vanderbilt game. So we'll get a breakdown of where
does Georgia go from here post brock Bowers being injured, the strengths of Georgia
and all that stuff. And the same with the Gators got the emergence of
Graham Mertz. Team is playing better coming off of bye week after a big
win at South Carolina. So we will preview that the cocktail party here in
just a few moments. Before we get to the cocktail party, let's do
a little couple news and notes from around the country. Yet Alabama Tennessee.
Alabama comes back from down twenty to seven to beat Tennessee again. Coaching decisions.
Josh Hipel third quarter, up twenty to seventeen in Tuscaloosa, goes forward
on his own thirty five yard line on fourth and two. What are you
doing, Josh? They don't make it. Alabama goes down, puts the
dagger in them, takes the lead, and never looks back at these coaching
Your defense was playing pretty good. These coaching decisions on these teams going for
it is just mind boggling to me that they don't have much sense of game
awareness of what's going on. You go for it in your own thirty five
run, a terrible play, get stoned, and the entire game changes after
the decision, and there's a Florida coach that's not going to get exonerated.
I'm going to talk about that here in a couple of minutes that one of
the State of Florida coaches did the one of a similar thing in their game
that almost led to disaster, but it didn't. They were fortunate got out
of it and got very fortunate that it didn't come back to roost out West.
You had Washington with a near miss loss, very controversial finished against Arizona
State, a controversial pass interference call that was not called. They escape,
they survive. You had Texas survive against Houston. Texas loses yours for it's
gonna be a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury, so be interesting where
the long Horns go. Do they go to Arch Manning potentially as a starting
quarterback, or do they go to Malik Murphy. It'll be interest to see
what Texas does here because it sounds like yours will be out a couple of
weeks at least with the shoulder sprain, so we'll see what happens. They're
Oklahoma, which we'll talk about here in just a couple of minutes with Central
Florida and again teams escape. This was we obviously Michigan rolled, but teams
around the country, some of the high profile teams escaped. Oregon was in
a very good game against Washington State. USC got beat by Utah which eliminated
them. Which, again, if you're Caleb Williams, can you please stop
talking so much? Can you please? In a bad, bad look for
USC making none of their players available to the media post game, Are you
kidding me? That ought to be That is an indefensible move there by the
USC football program. That's just a shameful, pitiful move by the use by
USC athletic and USC football though you cannot do that under any circumstance. Home
game, you lose to Utah. Two losses in a row. That is
just piss poor by Lincoln O'Reilly in that football program doing that in the Pac
twelve, I know they don't have much meat left as far as they're do
anything about it, but that ought to be something that ought to be addressed
with a reprimand or something from the Pac twelve nationally. So all right,
So there's some headlines from around the country. Let's get to the state of
Florida. Let's start in Tallahassee had the high profile game Florida State Duke Florida
State Beach Duke thirty eight twenty. Riley Leonard returns for Duke as the quarterback.
Remember he got hurt in the last play of that Notre Dame game,
came back and missed the last couple of games, came back and started this
week, and Duke got off to a great start. Up ten to nothing
and back to a coaching decision. Mike again on his own thirty thirty five
yard line, goes forward on fourth and one, fourth and two in the
first quarter, doesn't make it. Duke goes right down the field, leads
to a ten to nothing outcome, and this game was very much in doubt
going to the fourth court. Duke was up twenty to seventeen. Going to
the fourth quarter. The Duke quarterback Leonard re injured his ankle late third quarter.
Florida State scores three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win the game thirty
eight, twenty turning point in the game. In my view, the big
play of the game it was seventeen to seven Duke late second mid to late
second quarter and Florida State following the seventeen to seven, which was a result
of a pick six by Jordan Travis. The following play after the pick six,
an extra point Florida State runs a kickoff back for a touchdown, so
the score then goes to seventeen to fourteen, a huge moment in the game.
Duke had all the momentum. Florida State was floundering, not playing well.
Travis Jordan Travis. That's a twenty seven to thirty six, two sixty
eight and two touchdowns, and he rushed for sixty two more yards and a
touchdown as well. So Jordan Travis played really well. But this Florida State
team is not playing on all cylinders. Give Duke credit. Duke is a
very good football team, very good defensively, and had Riley Leonard not got
hurt, that game would have gone deep, deep, deep into the fourth
quarter before we'd have had a before we'd have had a winner determined. So
give Duke credit, but again give Florida State credit. They figured out a
way to get through and now their path should be pretty good there. Obviously,
they're gonna play Miami in a couple of weeks and then you're gonna see
probably the number two team in the ACC, which now has got some flux
in it because North Carolina got upset by Virginia. So right now is of
today Louisville is the number two team in the ACC. Still a long way
to go in the conference, I get it, But again, Florida State
should be in a pretty good spot here to get to the ACC title game
unscathed again of Miami, which will be a competitive game, and then you'll
have and we'll talk about the Hurricanes here in just a minute, but then
you'll have potentially Florida at the end of the year. But you may have
to I don't know if Florida State can absorb a conference loss and still be
in the college football playoff hunt because of the all the parody around the country.
Other big headline from the weekend, obviously, was the Ohio State Penn
State game, where hot Penn State just laid a complete egg on offense in
Ohio State figured out a way to get it done twenty to twelve. Terrible
job by Franklin and that offense and the quarterback there zero for fifteen on third
down. But so that's just gonna make again it's gonna be Ohio State,
Penn State. I mean, Ohio State, Michigan, you got potentially Texas,
Oklahoma, you got Washington out West, potentially Oregon out West, and
obviously have Georgia potentially and Alabama potentially. In the South. You got a
lot of teams fighting for four spots, and I just I worry that if
Florida State loses a game before the ACC title game, they may be in
some trouble to get to a college football playoff berth. But we will see.
Still got about, you know, still got We're going into week nine.
College football still got several weeks to go, four or five weeks to
go here as we wrap round out the month of October. So the Seminoles
survived. Next up is at wake Forest on Saturday. Again. They struggled
at Boston College early the year, hard fought win at Clemson. So we'll
see how if Florida State can be professional and do their business and take care
of wake Forth who they should who they are way better than and should beat
Handy. But we will see all right, on to Miami Saturday night.
In Miami, a clutch win by Mario Chris why much needed w after a
two game losing streak, Miami beats Clemson twenty eight twenty in double overtime.
The story here Miami moves to five and two and one and two in the
ACC story here was the sudden non availability of Van Dyke Tyler van Dyke the
quarterback. So Emery Williams, the backup quarterback, steps in plays very well
twenty four to thirty three for one fifty one in a touchdown. Had some
wild plays in this game. Clemson drops to four and three. Clemson fumbles
on the goal line, then Miami runs the next playback eighty yards for a
touchdown, and that the Miami running back fumbles on the one yard line at
the end of that run were covered by an Miami wide receiver. So we
had some wild plays in this game. The game goes to overtime, double
overtime in the Hurricanes get it done in double overtime twenty eight to twenty A
must win game they had to have for Mario Christobal, so give him credit
and then give that team credit for hanging in there. Clemson foreign three.
He's done in the ACC, one in three in the Conference, major major
down year at Clemson. A lot of expectations that you're at Clemson not very
just watching Clemson, they don't have very much dynamic players on that team,
whether it's offensive leader, defense. Good team, but not anywhere near the
Clemson teams of the last six seven years. So it'll be very interesting to
see how what Dabo Sweeney does post end of the year coaching wise, potentially
in the transfer portal. Remember, Clemson has been very slow to participate in
the transfer portal, so be very incient to see how they handle the transfer
portal moving forward. But again, a big win for Miami and a much
needed win for the Hurricanes as they go to five and two. Give you
one second, I'll tell you who Miami plays next. Let's see here,
give me as I find that. Let's see. Okay, Next up for
Miami they host Virginia Saturday three point thirty. Again, the same Virginia team
just went to Chapel Hill and stunned North Carolina. Undefeated North Carolina, Drake
May and company a huge upset there. So again, if you're Miami,
you got to be on your p's and q's and take care of business.
This just shows you what the the the calamity of that Georgia Tech game.
They'd be two and one in the conference, they'd be number two in the
ACC right now, but they're not there. One and two with Virginia coming
to town on Saturday, afternoon. So we'll see if Miami can put a
little win streak together before they go to Tallahassee in mid November. All right,
Florida Atlantic FAU. They lose thirty six to ten to UTSA. They
fall to three and four, two and one in the AAC. Just a
little bit of a lackluster performance after the drugging they put on South Florida the
week before. You know, UTSA is one of the top teams in that
league. But again not a great performance by FAU the Owls. They will
go to Charlotte this week in conference play. Again a winnable games. Charlotte
stoping not very good this year, but again they down performance there for Tom
Herman and the Owls and they lose thirty six to ten to UTSA. South
Florida they have a hard fought twenty four to twenty one win at yukon some
blustery weather, cold weather rain. South Florida moves to four and four,
two and two in the conference. Again, if you asked South Florida fans
and they if they would take being four and four after eight games, they
would be thrilled. Not the most pretty performance in the book. Star of
the Game here was Nae Kwon Wright twenty six carries, one to eighty six
and two touchdowns. The Bulls had two hundred and sixty yards rushing on the
game Byron Brown. Another good game. Mike Brown Stevens had nine catches for
ninety two yards, So a good win for Alex Golish in the Bulls Following
two straight really poor performances against UAB and FAU to bounce back, the Bulls
go away much needed bye week this week. They will go to Memphis on
November the fourth, and again they got two more winnable games that they can
get Bowl eligible here in with Charlotte and Temple later on of the year.
So a real opportunity for the Bulls to get Bowl eligible this year at six
and six, which would be a tremendous feat for where this program has been.
So again they much again, much needed bye week for the Bulls.
After eight straight games, they moved to two and two in the conference respectable
again good good job coming back. They were down in that game, so
again good give the Bulls credit for hanging in there and winning the game on
the road against the Yukon team not very good, but still it's a road
win up in Stores, Connecticut, so good good for Alex Goalsh and the
Bulls to bounce back to four and four FIU. They moved to four and
four in the conference with a thrilling double overtime win of their own last Wednesday
night at Sam Houston State. The highlight of this game was FIU converted a
fourth and eighteen to get the game to score the tying touchdown to be able
to get the game into overtime thirty three to twenty seven winners over Sam Houston.
Start of the game on defense, Reggie Peterson nine tackles in an interception.
Peterson was named the CUSA Defensive Player of the Week. A nice win
again, a nice job there by Mike McIntyre to get to four and fourt
eligible, potential to be Bowl eligible, and again hard fought win for the
Panthers of f i U as they go to have another weeknight game later on
this this week, they're gonna play on Wednesday night again that they are the
Kings of Wednesday night football. They will play. They're playing tomorrow night,
Wednesday, the twenty fifth, against Jacksonville State. Hosting Jacksonville State, Rich
Rod and Company from up in Jacksonville, Alabama, comes to town, comes
down to Miami, so and again another opportunity for some national TV exposure.
You're gonna play another game against the TV, which is good for the program.
But the Wednesday Night Warriors, which are the Panthers, have a nice
win last week, double overtime at sam Houston. Say it's a good job
Mike McIntyre and crew. In the last game we'll talk about before we get
to Kevin Brockway and Mark Weezer, Mark Wiser, excuse me, previewing Florida
Georgia will be the UCF Knights. UCF loses a heartbreaker in Norman thirty one
to twenty nine to the Sooners. We talked about a lot of a lot
of scares for the top rated teams this week. This was the top of
the list here. Great job by Central Florida going to Norman. Had the
lead for much of the game, got off to a slow start, but
they really dominated the game in the middle two quarters, second and third quarter,
and the game was right down to the wire. They have a two
point conversion at the end of the game to potentially tie the game. That
try to run a trick play a double pass kind of deal. Didn't like
the call. You know. You know, obviously, if you run these
trick plays on these two pointers, if they work, your your golden If
they don't, then there's always gonna be some question. But when you're running
trick plays things like that, you know, it's it's it's it's tricky.
And maybe that's their best two point play. I don't know. But they
come up short at the end at the gun in Norman, lose thirty one
to twenty nine in the first year. And the Big Twelves just had some
heartbreaking big twelve losses. Remember they blew the thirty five to seven lead to
Baylor, they lose, They lose again, obviously the heartbreaker here at Oklahoma.
They get beat pretty soundly at Kansas, and you know, but so
UCF three and four in the conference RJ. Harvey. They're running back twenty
three carries for one oh one Javon Baker five catches, one thirty four and
two touchdowns. Key stat here four of sixteen on third down. Not great.
Uh, you know, John Reee Plumbley did return, so they ran
the ball pretty good. But again, a tough, tough loss for Gus
Malsan company. As they as they go to Norman lose thirty one twenty nine
to the Sooner. So uh and let's see, let's find out you I
should have this and I apologize Central Florida UCF. UCF will host West Virginia,
another another middle of the pack Big twelve opponents Saturday in Orlando at the
Bounce House twelve o'clock game. That should be a pretty competitive game and I
think uc has like a seven point favorite, but West Virginia comes to town.
So UCF will be another competitive game with West Virginia as they come to
town to see the Knights, to see if the Knights can bounce back after
again a heartbreaking loss in Norman to the Sooners on Saturday. So there's your
Florida recap again. We're gonna preview Florida Georgia with Kevin Broadway Gainesville Son and
Mark Wiser from the Athens Banner. Harold here in just a minute. Just
appreciate you find us if you haven't already done so, hit subscribe on your
podcast platform. You can find us on Twitter and x at JPO Sports.
Love to hear your comments. You can find the YouTube interviews with Kevin and
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are part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast feed. If you want
to hear podcasts about the Naval, the service academies. How about Air Force
seven to zero they beat Navy over the weekend. Podcasts about the Big Twelve,
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You'll find this podcast there as well as several others. Again, if you're
a college football fans, a great outlet for you to get information from all
over the country. So appreciate you finding us on the Florida Football Insiders podcast.
And we'll be back in just a minute with Kevin Brockway and Mark weser
Weiser preview in Florida and Georgia and the Cocktail Party, and now a word
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four zero four. All right, Welcome back Power or Florida Football Insiders Podcast.
We are now going to preview game of the week in the state of
Florida. The annual cocktail party in Jacksonville, Florida, Georgia. Number one
rated Georgia, number one team in the country, playing a both teams coming
off of a bye week, playing a kind of a little bit of an
improving Florida Gator team, and no better person to talk to all things Florida
Gators than Kevin Brockway from the Gainesville Sunny covers the Gators, the Gator Beat
and welcome back, Kevin. It's good to be back as always. And
yeah, big week obviously for Florida, Number one Georgia. I mean it
doesn't get bigger than that. This is kind of again the can define a
season if Florida goes out and plays pretty well and can somehow, you know,
shock the college football world and pull off an upset. Yeah, the
Gators coming in five and two again, they win a shootout before the bye
week in Colombia forty one thirty nine over South Carolina. Encouraging performance from me
from an offensive perspective, that they were able to match keep scoring points and
all that gives up first question I want to ask you about. Talk about
the emergence of Graham Mertz in the last three or four games. He's really
starting to play better. Uh, the offense is really starting to move a
little bit give me a little sense of what the what the coaching staff and
and and the Gators think, how how Merch is progressing. You know,
I think Billy Napier made a good point after the South Carolina game and being
in that you know, they're playing better around him. Now. Listen,
the offensive line still has a few holes, and we'll see this week of
Kingsley Agakin can come back. You know, he's been banged up all season,
but they have rest of him, you know, the last couple of
weeks, and I think the offensive line still has a few holes here and
there in some inconsistency. But you look at the receiver position. You look
at what Ricky Pearshall is doing. Eugene Wilson being back and providing that playmaking
threat the speed and Arlo sporting him the tight end and Hayden Hansen have both
given Florida, uh you know, a receiving option at the tight end position
that that they have not had in the Napier area before. So I think
it's a combination of those things. And obviously Graham is you know, he's
a very intelligent kid. He's a very accurate thrower. He showed what he
had to make some throws downfield. He did, you know, Khalil Jackson
did kind of stumble on one of them, but he came up with one
and he's playing a little better too. And you know, they're without Caleb
Douglas, who was you know, one of their better receivers coming in.
But some other guys have stepped up around Graham Mertz and have played well.
And I think Graham has certainly done a great job of moving the chains and
keeping the offense going going into this buy week. What is kind of what
are the one or two things that that coach Napier and and the staff has
tried to get out of the buy week? Obviously health we we always understand
we always want to get healthier and all that. But schematically or just personnel
wise, is there anything that that coach Napier has mentioned about the benefit of
the bye week? Yeah, I think in most areas they're just kind of
looking for gradual improvement, fundamental improvement, you know, you would think.
I think the defense has slipped a little bit from September, and maybe some
of that is, you know, getting more film and figuring some things out.
I think the past defense in general has kind of lagged here and there
over the last few weeks, and some of the tackling too hasn't been as
crisp as it was earlier in the season. So I think that that's some
areas too on that side of the ball that they need kind of maybe to
work and refocus, and again maybe the rest will play into that and they'll
get back to playing more physical, you know, to the path rush on
this team right now is not very good, and I think that's an issue
too in terms of, you know, their last in the SEC and sacks.
They're just not getting to the quarterback consistently enough to affect them. And
a guy like Carson Beck who has come on and played really well, I
think you're gonna have to do that to kind of rattle them, you know,
to keep Georgia from from you know, you know, scoring points.
But it also starts with stopping the run, and that's very I think with
Shamar James and Scooby Williams and some of their interior guys, Cam Jackson,
where they've they've been pretty good in the front seven stop in the run.
Another guy I want to mention it's really come on, it's really been a
big impact player. For the games the last month or so, it has
been the kicker tray smack. He's he's really solidified that position. He made
a bunch of long field goals. Was it the South Carolina game? I
believe he made a what four field goals over forty forty four yards something like
that. But he's had a great run the last month. Talk about how
just the confidence level knowing when you get in the red zone you're most likely
going to get at least three points. Yeah, he has been a nice
revelation. And I think don't forget last year, you know, I do
think he had kind of a growing issue, so he was banged up a
little bit. So that's why they went with Mahallak and Trey was handling kickoffs.
I mean, I was told in practice last year probably a little inconsistent
with his field goal, but he seemed to have found it. But he's
got the big leg. He's got two fifty four yarders this season. He's
two for two from beyond fifty, which is for a college you know,
kicker, that's pretty a five for six overall from beyond forty and the one
was blocked against South Carolina. That was the only one so he has certainly
brought some consistency of that position. He's brought a big leg and you know,
special teams wise, the last couple of weeks, they haven't really had
any major miscues. I think they've been growing and progressing in that area.
They have a lot of young guys on the return units and in in in
coverage, and they've probably done a better job and grown as the season has
gone on to you know where you know, before it was a weakness and
now I wouldn't necessarily say it's a strength. But they're they're not doing things
to really hurt themselves there. Right, What do you see just what's what's
the recipe for an upset this week? What's what are the two or three
things that if the form does these things really well, this game will be
a game in the fourth quarter. Well, I do think that they're gonna
have to force some turnovers. I think that's the best way to stay with
the team that's probably more talented than you is to you know, cause miscues,
cause mistakes. I wouldn't necessarily say that this is a turnover. You
know, that's another area too, with the defense, I wouldn't necessarily say
this is a big play turnover defense. But I think they're gonna have to
find a way to generate that to get some momentum in the game. And
I think for you know, offensively, just balance, you know, established
a run a little bit. But I think Graham Mertch in the passing game
have shown the last couple of weeks that they've been able to be effective through
the year. I mean, it's certainly coming in with a lot of confidence.
You know, you score, you know, thirty eight against Vanderbilt,
forty one against South Carolina. I think you've shown the last two weeks that
you know, you can put points on the board. And if you know
Gator fans, they like seeing points on the board. That's kind of their
other. But this is certainly going to be a test facing you know,
one of the best defenses, if not the best defense in the country,
and two pretty good defensive minds, and Kirby Smart and Will much Cham the
Gators that have a little benefit. They knew they knew brock Bowers wasn't gonna
play for two weeks, So that's that's it. From a scheme and a
game planning perspective, they've been able to game plan this for a couple of
weeks. Obviously, Bowers is the guy you have to get you had the
game plan against. With Georgia, they don't. They've got good players other
places, I get it, but they don't have the elite all American kind
of guy that they have that they had a tight end. How do you
think that will dictate how it will Austin Armstrong be a little more aggressive as
far as blitzing, not afraid to play man the man a little bit more,
or do you think it'll they will stick to kind of what they've done,
whether Bowers was in the game or not. Yeah, I think that
you could see a little bit more pressure on the quarterback, but they never
really blitzed a lot that they're more of a you know, they bring the
you know they called the creeper defense. They bring a lot of simulated pressures.
So you could see some more pressures from the linebackers, from the defensive
backs as well to kind of throw some things off there, you know,
without necessarily the receiving thread at tight end that you have with Brock Bowers.
You might be able to afford to do that a little bit more. But
I still think, you know, you take a look at you know,
Ladd mccaukeey, you take a look at you know, some of the other
receivers that they have. You know, certainly it's gonna be uh, it's
it's you know, it's still gonna be a lot of tough covers. And
I think that you know, Carson Beck has really shown yeah progress this year
that he showed he has been pretty much on point for most of the season.
And talk about the rivalry a little bit. Obviously, this is probably
one of the Yeah, I don't know what if Gator fans think the Seminoles
or the number one rivalry if it's Georgia, probably Georgia when it comes to
an in conference a SEC opponent, George is the rivalry. Just talk about
the Roberry a little bit and what the Gator nation thinks of this rivalry being
in Jacksonville and the excitement level that this game brings to both both programs each
year. Yeah, it's great. You know, it's great to see in
the stadium, you know, half and half and you know, certainly,
you know, you go in the parking lot, there's a lot of revelry
and it's it's really big for the city of Jacksonville. I know they want
to keep it, you know, certainly, you know, there could be
some renovations in the stadium the next couple of years there, and if there
is, then you might see it cap the site a few years. But
financially they're poning up, pooning up to keep it in Jacksonville because it just
means so much for the economy there, and it means so much for the
hotels and and everything else. And I think the alums in South Georgia,
you know, certainly in Brunswick and Savannah like it there too, So I
think you're gonna you're gonna see it stick around there. But yeah, it's
really you know, it's amazing how cyclical it's been. When when you think
about from nineteen ninety to twenty ten, how how Florida dominated. In the
nineteen eighties Georgia dominated, right and twenty ten on it's been lately it's been
Georgia dominated. It's been a little bit of a mix, you know,
twenty ten to twenty fifteen, but well in the last six or seven years
it's been pretty much all Georgia. So I think Florida would like to,
uh, you know, tip the scales and see if they can get this
going. I get Billy name Beer is a Georgia guy. He's you know,
from a small town in North Georgia, so you know, he's got
a lot of families there, so he's got a personal connection to it.
So I think that that adds to it a little bit as well. And
say what you want, it's a big opportunity for Florida. If you win
this game, you're gonna have a leg up in the East. I mean,
you're gonna have the head to head with Tennessee and Georgia. So,
I mean, I know most Gator fans, you know, people around the
country don't think this potentially could be a great game. But if Georgia,
if Florida can win this game, they have a real opportunity here to to
pull a stunner here in the East. Yeah, you know, And I
saw the points spread last week gone down or something like twenty two or twenty
three. I think that's a little high. I do think Florida's gonna give
him a game. I'm not saying they're gonna upset him, right, it
could be a one or two score game in the fourth quarter. I think
that, you know, certainly, with Bowers being out and I do think
Florida is gonna get up for this game. And you know, both teams
have to buy, but I do think that they'll they'll give him a tough
contest. You know, maybe maybe I'm wrong. No, don't take it
to the bank, but yeah, no, I mean, but it's it's
a good point. With Tennessee losing over the weekend, you have, you
know, this is this is an opportunity here for the Gators and again another
opportunity for a massive signature win for Billy. Napery beat Tennessee earlier in the
year, you beat Georgia, you can really make the statement, hey,
we're pretty close to being back, and you know there's been some good recruiting
news and any any good recruiting nuggets the last three or four weeks. Yeah,
well, certainly, McCrae. I mean, that's a huge get for
Florida in the pass rusher and I think he h, he certainly adds a
lot to this class in terms of you know, when you look at the
number of pass rushers in the twenty twenty four class, and that's really where
Billy is building it, you know, on both lines of scrimmage. So
that is that is definitely a big, big get. Lorente McCrae from DAYTONA
Beach, five star edge rusher. That's only to add to you know,
the talent. But you know, you even take a look at you know,
Billy Daperish class last year, and you know, you look at Kelby
Collins, you look at TJ. Searcy, They're contributing on the field.
Look at you Gene Wilson arguably one of the best freshman receivers in the country.
So I think that I think Gator fans are definitely on board with how
Billy Napier's recruiting. I think, you know, the big question is,
you know, the play calling, the coaching. That's kind of the next
step to see, you know, if he relinquish his play calling duties or
not, and you know how the offense is going to run moving forward.
Sure, all right, I want to ask you one more question. We'll
get you out of here. Basketball question. I know, basketball season getting
ready to tip off here in a couple of weeks. Give a little just
a quick synopsis of the Gator basketball team. I saw a nugget where they
played maybe a practice scrimmage game against Miami and beat my or beat Miami down
down south. Did I read that right? Yeah? Yeah, eight nine
eighty nine. They went down there and they eat him. You know,
and listening Miami was the final fourteen last year and they're bringing back three starters
from that team, so certainly impressive. You know, I think Riley Coogle
going into a sophomore year. You know, he showed at the end of
last year that he's the guy that can create his own shot. He's an
exceptional offensive player. So I think, you know, he's what he's what
you build around. He and Will Richard are kind of the nucleus coming back.
But you look at some of the transfers they brought in. Tyree Samuel
is a big man. He is a very skilled guy. You know,
he had nineteen points. I like what I've seen from him in practice.
Alex Conon, the freshman from Australia, is another guy. I think he's
going to contribute and be pretty good. You know, they got a seven
footer and Micah han Log and so they've got some size and depth in the
front court this year that they didn't have last year. And then you know,
certainly Coogle in the backcourt and Richard and then a couple of transfer cards.
They brought in Walter Clayton from my own who played under Rick Cattino's very
savvy player, can shoot. And also Zion Pulling from UC Riverside. You
know, he's got a little NC suspension thing for playing at Port Smith the
first three games of the season, but he'll be on board. He'll be
an offensive threats. So I think you've got some building blocks there, five,
six or seven guys for a decent rotation. Well, Kevin, you
do a great job man covering the Gators both basketball and football for the Gainesville
Sun. Tell it right where they can find out your great work online.
Yeah, gaorsports dot com and Gainesville dot com and Kevin will be in I'm
sure Kevin will be in the building on Saturday in Jacksonville covering the game.
So enjoy the cocktail party and have a great weekend cover the Gators and the
Bulldogs. Yeah, appreciate it though, Oways, thanks for having me.
All right, We'll be right back with Mark Wiser from the Athens Banner.
Harold, give me a little Georgia preview as well. Stay tuned well.
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com for all of your ticket needs this fall. All right, welcome back
Florida Football Insiders podcast. You heard from the Florida side of things for the
Florida Georgia rivalry. Now it's time to talk to Mark Wiser. He is
a beat writer for the Athens Banner Herald up in Athens, Geordan. He's
gonna talk to us about the Georgia side of things. For the allegedly no
longer supposed to call it the cocktail party, but we're gonna call it the
cocktail Party. Mark, welcome in, Welcome back to the podcast. Mark.
How you doing doing well, Jason? How are you? I appreciate
it. I'm doing well, Thank you, sir. Well Georgia coming off
of bye week seven and oh four and oh in the conference, just give
us a little sent through seven games, kind of just a quick summary of
the Georgia team. And for those maybe they haven't seen Georgia play much or
haven't seen him in a couple of weeks, give us a little sense of
where the Georgia team is now through seven weeks and coming off of bye week.
I mean, most seasons, if you're seven and oh four and on
the SEC, you're thinking, this is an incredible season, and you know
you're number one in the nation. But you know, this Georgia team is
compared to the twenty twenty one national champions, of twenty twenty two national champions.
You know, the winning streak is like twenty four in a row something
like that, right, But they're not they're not playing at that level of
I mean certainly they can win the national championship because you know, there's not
really a clear cut elite team. I guess maybe Michigan, but there Michigan's
schedule has been kind of soft, and you know they'll have their their biggest
test still to come, you know, but George has had some some games
that you didn't expect to be as tight, you know, going to Auburn,
right, even Vanderbilt was a little bit you know, it took a
while to or it just took a while to put them away. I guess
basically, you know, they're their best game and that game that they looked
the closest to the level that they've had in the last couple of years was
the Kentucky game where they just dominated. So you know, it's uh and
you'll lose brock Bowers for several weeks now, so that that's gonna be a
big obstacle for Georgia to deal with. Let's talk about We'll start on the
offensive side first, then we'll get to the defense here in a few minutes.
Talk about new offensive corner Mike Bobo. How similar or how different is
his A lot to be your scheme than it was with with Todd Monkin.
Is it the same scheme, just a different guy calling the plays. Give
us a little sense of new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo versus what you had previously
with Todd Mankin. Yeah, it's the same scheme, it's the same offense.
I mean, Kirby, you know, made sure that you wide mess
up something when you have a really good thing that they had the last couple
of years with Todd Monkin, who you know, they would have been happy
to give him a lifetime contract as an offensive coordinator at least Georgia fans would
a guy that comes in and delivers a national championship, you know, along
with all those great defensive stars that they had. But Bobo was here last
year. He's the former head coach of Colorado State, he's the former offensive
coordinator at Georgia and quarterback here and you know, had some not great years
as offensive coordinator at South Carolina and Auburn in between. But last year he
was on staff as an offensive analyst and kind of soaking up exactly what Todd
Monkin was doing. So, you know, it's always different when you have
a new play caller. You know, it's sort of a touch and an
art to that. But I think like Bobo, you know has probably you
know, done better than expectations if you look at I was just pulled up
their national stats before I came on here. I had looked at it since
the off week they did. Their numbers didn't change in terms of you know,
yards per game and points per game, but their rankings did. They're
now third in the nation until offense, fifth in the nation, and passing
offense seventh in scoring offense. George is throwing the ball more now as a
percentage of pass to run since like nineteen ninety four, I think it was
with Eric Zeier, somewhere in that range. You know, they're doing it
because they've had a lot of injuries are running back, and they have a
lot of good talent on the outside. You know, you could say brock
Powers an outside player because he lines up a wide receiver as well as as
an in line tight end. But and they have a new quarterback cars from
back that's not necessarily the type of runner that Stetson bet it was. So
you know, Bobo gets high marks for what he's done so far this year.
Speaking of Carson, Carson Beck, he's come in, He's to me,
he's gotten better and better every week. For the most part. I
think he's had He's not at a disastrous game. You know, he played
really well in the Kentucky game. I think it's a guy obviously following Stetson
Bennett and the expectations and he was a big recruit and all that stuff.
How would you grade Carson Beck through seven games. I think the guy has
done a really good job and has gotten better and better every week. Yeah,
I mean, first year starter, you know, his first seven games.
You know, probably the vander Big game. Last game, I don't
I don't remember what his quarterback rating was, but you know, he had
a fumble that he lost. He had an interception that would have been a
pick six. He tackled a guy at the one yard line and injured him
for at least a couple of weeks. So with kind of an unorthodox tackle,
but he chased it down. But you know, he had three straight
three hundred yard passing games against Algurn, Kentucky and U A B before that,
So throwing the ball at a very high completion rate. Uh, you
know, running when he needs to, not running it as much as Stepson
Bennett, but pretty good touchdown interception ratio. I think Kirby Smart would like
to see him maybe, you know, have a little bit less, maybe
take a sack, more, throw a ball away, more, settle for
a punt and maybe throw a risky type of ball. But you know,
he's done a good job for his first year. Talking about brock Bowers,
obviously when you played Georgia Gold before the injury, he was the guy you
had to scheme around, you had to defend, You had to scheme up
how to defend him, double teams and all that. Butfuff, especially in
the red zone. How will Georgia will they change anything what they do formationally
with him not in the lineup, or do they have you know, you
know, I don't know if there's another skill guy on on the on the
outside that you had to you have to really defend against. I mean,
they've got good players, but there's not a there's not a Randy Moss kind
of guy, another not none, not another brock Buyers. How will how
will the no brock Bowers in the lineup effect that they're just their schematics and
how they how they attack defenses. Well, I mean that it came during
the off week or with two weeks between games is obviously a big benefit for
them. They don't they don't have to scramble as much to to kind of
figure out exactly how they want to, you know, shift things around a
little bit. Lost and Lucky is there now. Number two tight end.
Oscar delp is another highly rated guy that came in. He's a new tight
end one, uh and he's been a very reliable kind of second option at
the tight end position. With Bowers. I think will kind of slide in
there. They're not He's he's not gonna do with what brock Bawers did,
and you might see less two tight end sets. I would imagine you will.
You know, they played the second half of the Vanderbilt game without Bowers.
You saw Dominic Love at the Missouri transfer getting a lot more targets.
I think ro Rod Thomas is a guy that was already kind of becoming more
involved in the passion game. He brings a deep threat. You know.
Arion Smith is a guy that that they haven't really been able to unleash as
a deep ball threat. Him and Carson have kind of had some misconnections.
Carson's overthrown him a couple of times. And you know, Aaron has couple
drops. So I think the big guy to watch would be lat McConkie,
who's you know, three or four games back now from a back injury.
He really hasn't played as many snaps as you would expect as they're taking it
easy with the back because it kind of acts up and you know, limited
him in terms of how many snaps he got the last game out. But
he was one of their top receivers the last couple of years during these national
championship runs. So you know, if they can keep him on the field,
he's already been kind of a third down guy that they really can count
on to make the big play. Yeah, McConkie's been a huge contributor for
them. Like you said, critical situation, third down, red zone.
That kinds of let's go to the defense quickly. Talk about the defense.
Obviously, they've lost so many guys to the NFL the last couple of years.
They don't have the star power maybe that they had last year with Jalen
Carter and some of those guys. Give me the position group on defense that's
kind of been the strength of the defense through seven weeks and kind of where
the defense is going with what five six weeks left in the year. It's
definitely the secondary. I mean you have Malich Starts that was a freshman All
American last year, you know, could be an All American. He's having
that kind of type of season. You know. It doesn't make too many
mistakes and coverage and it's you know, very good and you know, making
plays, you know in the run defense as well. You know, Tyke
Smith is a guy that was really quiet his first two years Georgia. Came
as a transfer from West Virginia. He was an apl American like thirteen when
he came here, battled injuries. He's got four interceptions you know for Georgia
this season. And Javon Bullard is a guy that shifted from the star position
to one of the safety spots. We missed a couple of games with an
injury, and you know, I think he's the kind of guy that you
could watch to have a really big second half of the season. And Kamari
Lassiter is kind of an unsung hero as a cornerback. Maybe it doesn't make
as many flash plays, but is very reliable as your number one cover cornerback.
So that's your best area. Of the team for Georgia, even though
the fact that they don't really have the kind of guys on the defensive line
to apply the pressure in the passing game for opposing quarterbacks, they're very solid
on the back end. Looking at the schedule, you get you obviously got
Florida this week, you got Missouri, which is now all of a sudden,
a big game in the East. Missouri is playing great, and they
come to Athens. I believe it's is it next next week? There are
two weeks excuse me, come to Athens and then you go you go to
Tennessee and mid November. Do you do you see obviously you never know what
can happen with injuries, and then obviously you can potentially see Alabama in the
in the championship game. What where do you see this schedule and you see
this is is a I would say, ho hum, But do you think
it's pretty pretty safe to say they're going to get through these games unscathed?
I don't know if that's safe to say. I mean, with that,
Broan Bowers, let's see exactly what Georgia is. I mean, this could
be a deal with the team rallies around and and plays better everywhere else,
you know, knowing that that they don't have as much more roge and for
error and those teams you mentioned. I mean, that's not an easy slate,
considering that the teams that they've already played in the SEC were on the
softer side. And we look at a South Carolina team that's really struggled.
Albert probably played that there, you know, their best game of the year
against Georgia. Kentucky didn't obviously, but you know, and you didn't mention
all this. That's kind of in between there squeeze between Missouri and Tennessee,
and that might be that might be the best game on Georgia's schedule. We'll
see, you know what what almost brings to Athens. But all these teams,
you know, were formidable enough that you know, Georgia could win all
these games by three touchdowns or more, and they also come down to the
wire. I think, uh, you know, especially game at Tennessee.
I don't know if that's gonna be a night game there or what it might
be probably CBS, but you know, going to Knoxville is not gonna be
easy. It's gonna be tough. If Tennessee doesn't play probably as well on
the road, although clearly had a great first half against Alabama. We'll see.
I mean, certainly Georgia is vulnerable. I would say it's possible that
that, you know, some one of these teams could sneak up and and
you know, get them. All right, two more questions, I'll get
you out here. Give you the one position group throughout the roster that you
think really this last half of the years, if they can improve, you
know, whether it's consistency, whether it's production, all the above. What's
the one position group that, if they improve, George is going to be
in a great spot moving forward. Well, I mean they've already started to
improve. Dejon Edwards has been very good at running back, but he's kind
of been a one man band in terms of guys that they can rely on
because Kendall Milton hasn't remained healthy. He got banged up again in the Vanderbilt
game and didn't play at all in the second half. You know, we'll
see if they get Roderick Robinson back, another scholarship tailback. But you know,
you wonder if they in this stretch of games, you know, can
they gave Dajon Edwards twenty carries like you had against Vanderbilt. They've been working
in Cass Jones as a walk on running back and you know, offer some
things in the passing game as well. And Dylan Bell is a wide receiver
that's been playing some running back as well. So I think keeping those guys
healthy and maybe finding some help for Dejon Edwards, you know, doesn't have
to carry the load too much. You know, it's probably one area then
of course stephensive line. Uh, you know, Kirby doesn't Kirby smart doesn't
necessarily need Georgia to kind of ring up that the amount of sacks. They're
like ninety fifth or something in the nation in sacks, but they certainly could
use maybe some more. They haven't forced a fumble all season that they have
a bunch of interceptions, but they haven't turned the ball over with you know,
knocking the ball loose and change in the field, short field that kind
of stuff. You know, there's no Jailing Carter, there's no Trey Vona
Walker. So maybe if a guy like Mikel Williams on the defensive line can
really kind of emerge as a five star sophomore and be a guy that can
bring those kind of difference making type plays that would be great for Georgia.
Last thing, talk about the rivalry with Florida. Obviously, I don't know
what what do what rivalry do Georgia fans think is their biggest Is it Auburn?
A lot of people think it's Georgia Auburn. Is it Georgia Florida?
And you're in your mind and you're talking to the to the Bulldog nation?
Is this the their rivalry game? Biggest rivalry game with the gate is obviously
it's an every year deal. That's a neutral site game and been that way
for a long time. Let's talk about the rivalry game with Florida. Yeah,
I mean I think I don't think there's a doubt. I think it's
Florida Georgia is the rivalry game we're on this side. I guess you would
say Georgia Florida. I mean Auburn game. You know, George's had their
number for a good bit the last couple of fifteen years. I guess it
is, you know, except for that SEC championship season in twenty seventeen where
Georgia lost the first game at Auburn and came back and won the championship.
You know, Georgia Tech is a game. Georgia's just dominated, except for
some Paul Johnson triple option teams that got him in Athens a few times.
But it's Florida, I mean Auburn, I mean Alabama is not an annual
game. So you know they clearly, you know, Georgia winning that national
championship game against Alabama. They are a rival. They're gonna play again next
year in the new schedule or the new sixteen team league. But it's Georgia
Florida. And you know, if Napier can get this thing, you know,
obviously five and too is a pretty good start. You know, if
they can, if they can keep it going there, that will bring more
back to the rivalry. All right, Mark, I appreciate the time.
You're gonna enjoy Jacksonville. You will be there on Saturday. It'll be the
CBS game, three thirty Eastern time. Enjoy the festivities. I know you
will, and we really appreciate the time. Tell everybody where they can find
all your great work online. Cover Georgia Deb's online affins dot com check it
out and got coverage this week as the Gators and Bulldogs go with it well,
Mark, We appreciate the time and enjoy it and have fun covering the
game. Good to be with you, see you okay. Thanks for listening
to the Florida Football Insiders Podcast as part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast
podcast Network. Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review if you've not
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