Speaker 1: This podcast is brought to you by Titan Home Lending
and Drew Fellios are Florida realtor. Enjoy the podcast.
Speaker 2: 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.
Speaker 3: To Coast podcast network.
Speaker 2: And here's your host, Jason Powers.
Speaker 1: All Right, Welcome in week nine edition of the Florida
Football Insiders podcast, part of the College Gridiron Coast to
Coast podcast network. I am your host, Jason down here
in Tampa. Lots of news in the state of Florida.
We have upsets, coaches, fired, coaches getting the proverbial uh.
We're going to assess the program at the end of
the year, comments and all things in between. Usf in
a monster game for a potential college football playoff spot
this week. Lots of doings in and around the state
of Florida. Jaguars get crushed in London, the Bucks get
beat bad on Monday Night, and when will Mike McDaniel
finally get put out of his misery in Miami? Lots
to get into, lots to talk about. We've got two
great guests for you. We're gonna go to Gainesville, Florida
to talk to Kevin Brockway Gainesville Sun to give you
the lowdown on the Florida coaching search. How did we
get to where we are? The inside doings of did
the Boosters have anything to do with this? Was this
a Scott Strickland decision? Who kind of was pulling the
trigger here? And the reasoning behind the timing of it.
And we're also gonna stay here in Tampa and talk
to Joey Johnston as part of the USF Bowls Radio
Network previewing their huge game at Memphis on Saturday, talk
about the future of potentially Alex Golish and Rob Higgins
joining USF Athletic as the new athletics director. So lots
to get into. Let's get right to it. Let's start
last Friday night as I was on the high school
football field, check the score at halftime. I saw Louisville
winning at the half and lo and behold. Following the
conclusion of my high school game, get back on the
phone and I check and I see Miami has been
stunned at home by Louisville. Jeff Bram and company. Miller Moss,
the former USC transfer pull off a huge upset down
at hard Rock beat the Hurricanes twenty four to twenty one.
Story this game was turnovers, Carson Beck, four interceptions, Miami's
inability to run the ball, only sixty three yards rushing
and their leading rusher Mark Fletcher only had eighteen yards rushing.
Major problem there, Just a you know, a game you
always worried about with the Hurricanes. The Louisville is a
good team, not great, but they are a solid, solid team.
Jeff brom is a really good coach. I think this
is third win as a head coach at either Louisville
or Purdue against the top five rated team, so he's
very accustomed to beating these teams. And again, very good job. Again,
but Miami kind of self destructed with four turnovers. Carson
Beck was bad. Carson Beck again. You know, this was
the Carson Beck that we saw at Georgia last year.
Through for a decent amount of yards, but just too
many interceptions. I did not get a chance to watch
this game, but again from all indications, the turnovers were
the factor here. Nine penalties for the Hurricanes didn't help
as well. So the Canes falled a six and one
against no longer have all the cards in there in
there in their hand. As far as the ACC title game,
he got Georgia Tech undefeated, whof Miami does not play.
You have Virginia, you have some other couple of Louisville
who have who has the head to head on on Miami. Now, again,
Miami should still be in great shape for the playoff,
but you cannot have any more of these performances, these
slip ups leading to the end of the end of
the year. Got a home game at Stanford this week. Again,
Stanford came off a big win against Florida State, which
we'll get to in a second here, But again, you
can't mess around. They're gonna be a huge favorite in
that game. Then a tricky game at SMU, who is
playing much better now. They SMU just went to Clemson
last week and beat Clemson soundly in Death Valley, so
that will not be an easy game in Dallas in
a couple of weeks. So Miami has got to get
back to the fundamentals and the and the turnover free
football they've been playing and dominating the trenches like they've
been doing with that with the offensive and defensive lines. Again,
Stanford comes to town should be a game they should
handle pretty easily and I would expect them to uh
lay the wood to the to the Stanford Cardinal. But
again there they can't have any more slip up slip
ups if you're the Miami Hurricanes. Moving forward, let's go
to said said team Florida State. Florida State had another
disastrous performance out on the West Coast at Palo Alto.
They lose twenty to thirteen to Stanford. Just a very
lackluster performance, very disinterested type of performance as well. The
Seminoles are now to four in the ACC. Hard to
believe that four weeks ago they were in a monster
game with with Miami and now four weeks later, three
weeks later, four games later, three weeks later, they're in
this position where they're oh to four, three and four
on the year. Massive questions about Mike Norvel's future. The
Florida State athletics director came out earlier in the week
and said there will be a full assessment of the
football program at the end of the year. That leads
me to believe, uh, they better not lose another bad
game this year. I think Mike Norvell is going to
be out. I think they will figure out a way
to pay pay that, pay that buyout. I think the
out somewhere in the fifty million dollar range, which is
ridiculous the net. Florida State never should have given Mike
Norvel the monster contract extension. They did a couple of
years ago after the undefeated year, but they did, so
they're in this boat. But Mike Norvel just continues to show,
you know, show lack luster results. The one thing that
really alarms me about Mike Norvel is I don't see
any much player development. He has lived nearly exclusively in
the transfer portal. I've seen very little development of freshmen,
the homegrown recruits, things like that. Again, other than Thomas Castelons,
I don't see another decent quarterback on this roster. And
again that's something again, you have to have a big
quarterback and you have to have some camaraderie, in some
team building, in some player development going on. I just
do not see a lot of player development going on. Again,
this is a game at Stanford, playing a backup quarterback,
terrible crowd. You have to go into Stanford and win
that game and for them to be as as lackluster
as they were till midway through the fourth quarter a
wild finish. If you saw the game, Florida State basically
down seven throws a hail mary that's caught at about
the ten yard line eight yard line with two seconds
to go in the game. They're able to get another
playoff there's a pass interference call in the end zone
which gives them another play and then they run a
shovel pass and a controversial replay of did he score
did he not score, which would have tied, potentially tied
the game, replay did not overturn the call on the
field of short on the field, and thus Stanford wins
the game twenty to thirteen, again sending Norvelle to three
and four zero to four in the ACC and again
this will be a massive, massive decision that the Seminoles
have to make and the administration has to make about
whether you keep Mike Norvela or not. To me, it's
going to be whether you can generate rate the money
to buy him out. I think his buyout is strung
out over five or six years. You don't have to
pay it all at one time. But at Florida State
is not the most not the most prosperous program when
it comes to nil money resources stuff like that. So again,
writing that kind of check to a guy who's not
going to be the coach would be a massive thing
for that for that athletic department. And again, remember they're
not getting SEC money, they're not getting Big ten TV
money that some of these they're getting ACC money, which
is substantially less than than the Floridas of the world
are getting in the Big ten coaches the Penn States
of the world are getting. That can make that make
that buyout a little more manageable. So, uh, we're gonna
see what kind of coach Mike Norvell is here these
next four weeks, because he's coaching for his job in
my view in tallahassee all Right's head up to USF
USF manhandles FAU forty eight thirteen. Again they're their Their
next test is obviously this week at Memphis, their huge
showdown with the Memphis Tigers, who got upset by my
UAB Blazers last week in Birmingham. QB from Memphis got hurt.
Fresh backup quarterback had to come in the game finish
the game, and they had a calamity in the inside
the one yard line in the last minute of that game,
but USF moves to six and one. Again, everything is
right in front of USF. You're gonna hear from Joey
Johnson in just a few minutes talking about the Bulls
and their playoff chances, the keys of this game at Memphis,
the areas that they've shown improvement, the future potentially of
Alex Golish. His name has been mentioned in several of
these job openings Arkansas, potentially Florida and some other places.
So again you'll hear a great chat with Joey and
I had concerning the USF program and again their monster
matchup and how their college football playoffs, their path is
right in front of them. You beat Memphis, you're gonna
be favored in the other next couple of games leading
into the game, but potentially at Navy in early November.
So it's right in front of Alex goals. You got
to go do it on the road at Memphis at Navy,
but it's right in front of you if you're USF
and you've got the team to do it, especially if
you have a compromise quarterback. At Memphis this week, you
may be playing against the true freshman quarterback, which is
again a game you should win if you're playing a
true freshman. Byron Brown continues to play well, both throwing
and running. And then you'll again you'll hear Joey talk
about the depth on this roster of wide receivers and such.
Leading into the game. Florida moves to the Florida finally
pulls the trigger. Let's go Billy Napier on Sunday, right
around one two o'clock Sunday afternoon, after their twenty three
twenty one win over Mississippi State to get to two
and five, Florida is on a bye this week. Georgia
on deck. In two weeks in Jacksonville, Billy Gonzalez named
a new interim coach for the remainder of the year.
And again you'll hear and Broackway and I talk about
the Florida coaching search. What are they thinking some candidates,
some realistic candidates, maybe some candidates that were maybe not
thinking about so again check out listen, hang hang out
for just a couple more minutes, and you'll hear my
chat with Kevin Brockway the Gainesville Sun. Kevin covers the
Gators every day of the every day of the year, football, basketball, baseball,
and he is, uh, he'll have some good he has
some good information for you how this decision came about,
and what Scott Strickland was thinking and all that stuff.
Obviously we knew, we saw this coming for several weeks.
We thought I gave you the note a couple of
weeks back that I thought this would be the time
to do it during leading into the bye week of
the Georgia game. One, it gives the interim coach two
weeks to kind of get things organized a little bit.
And two, it gives you a month or five or
six week head start on the coaching hier hiring process,
especially if you're wanting to hire, you know, start those
back channel discussions with somebody who might already still have
a job. Interesting notes here, Florida's a d. Scott Strickland
made it very clear he wants somebody to that he
expects to win championships, which means he's he's big game hunting.
As far as a coach goes, you're not gonna see
a coordinator. You're not gonna see a mid tier, you know,
a Sun Belt kind of coach. You're not gonna see
that kind of guy. And you're not gonna see a
defensive coach. This is gonna be an offensive coach. Number
one on the list is gonna be Lane Kiffin. They're
gonna make him have to say no. They're gonna offer
him a boatload of dough I think to say no.
He may still say no, but Lane Kiffin is clearly
the number one candidate on this on the list here
and again we'll talk with Kevin about some other candidates,
a couple of wild card candidates that you might be
excited for for Gator fans. But again, finally, the end
of the era of Billy Napier at Florida is just
something that had to happen. The malaise and the and
the discontent with the FLA, the fan base was apparent
their fire. Indications were that he might have been told
on Thursday he was and fired. If you watch the
game on Saturday, he kind of took in the aftermath
of that game, you know, kind of knowing what was coming.
So there's I don't think there was any you know,
any surprise of what was coming to Billy Napier. He
is owed about twenty million dollars and again you'll hear
Kevin talk about the buyout situation, how that potentially could
affect the coaching search moving forward. All Right, you see
if nice win four and three, win for moves to
four and three, beat West Virginia soundly at home forty
five thirteen, Tavin Jackson throw us for two seventy seven
and two touchdowns, Jaden Mixon one hundred and sixteen yards
rushing in two touchdowns. They head to Baylor on November first.
They are off this week. A nice job for Scott
Frost get his first big twelve win of the year,
go to four and three, and again, if you if
you're Central Florida, you're trying to get Bowl eligible, this
is a this is a transition here. We've talked about
that you can get to six and six and go
to a bowl. Being very successful year one Scott Frost
and such for the Knights. FAU obviously lost to USF.
We just talked about forty eight thirteen, and they are
give me one second here, I believe they are off
this week, but let me double check here. FAU is
gonna be and I'm sorry, They're playing at Navy on Saturday.
So that'll be another tough, tough deal for the for
the FAU Owls. They head to Navy on Saturday. Navy
coming off a bye week, undefeated, the last non power
for team in the country, undefeated, throwing the ball, running
the ball. It's gonna be a massive test at three
point thirty for the FAU Owls. I would expect struggle
city for FAU as a head up to Annapolis to
face the Naval Academy. Last one we'll hit on as FIU.
They fall to three and four. They played on Tuesday
night this week. They just they lost to kennesof eight
forty six Keon Jenkins two hundred ninety six yards passing
and a touchdown. Keon Owens key John Owens one hundred
and fifty one yards rushing in a touchdown. These two
guys have been the stars of this FIU Panther team.
They fall to three and four. They will head to
Missouri State next Wednesday night, again part of this midweek stuff.
They've been on the midwek circuit for the last couple
of weeks here, but FIU again. Year one. Willie Simmons
falls to three and four after losing to Kensall State
in Miami on Tuesday night on ESPN. So there's your recaps. Again,
you're gonna hear from Kevin Brockway Gainesville Sun, Joey Johnston
USF Bulls Radio Network previewing USF Memphis, as well as
giving you some lowdown on the on the Florida football
coaching search as well. Quick note about the Jaguars. They
got crushed in London thirty five seven as they head
into their bye week four and three, just a you
know over, got totally man handled by the Rams. I
remember Liam Cohen used to coach under Sean McVay with
the Rams. But just not a very good performance leading
into the bye week. But they are four and three
heading into the by the Buccaneers fall on Monday Night
Football twenty four to nine in Detroit to fall to
five and two. Again, give Detroit credit for the defensive effort,
but the Bucks were just a little bit off offensively.
The defense had a couple of turnovers and kept him
in the game. But the big news out of this
game is the loss of Mike Evans broken clavicle concussion
as well, probably gonna be out probably the remainder of
the regular season. I would think you may not see
him again this year, regardless of how far they go.
But just a tough injury for Evans on a long
post route where he landed on his clavicle, broke his
collar bone and again a bad It looked like a
concussion as well. So get well soon, Mike Evans. The
Bucks headed New Orleans prior for Week eight before they
go on by in week nine, so again a critical,
critical game. They gotta you gotta win this game in
New Orleans. New Orleans has been one of the worst
teams in the league. In a game, a game, a
game you should win, even though you have some injury issues.
You got to win this game. I expect Mayfield and
that offense to be much cleaner and crisper in New
Orleans on Sunday. But again, division game always are always
more competitive, and you got to take care of business
in the division. On the road. One thing I'll say
about the Bucks, They've had a lot of road games.
I think this is five. This will be their fifth
road game of the year, so they will have a
very favorable home schedule the back half of the year
following the bye. So if you can win this game,
I believe this actually might be their fifth road game,
fifth out of eight games on the road. So they
actually this. This will be their fifth road game, so
critical game for the Buccaneers not to slip up and
make it two in a row heading into the bye.
You'll get healthier coming out of the bye with hopefully
Godwin coming back, Bucky Irving in company h and and
potentially Looke getticky Miami Dolphins. Last one we'll hit on
the Dolphins. Just a dumpster fire, get crushed in Cleveland,
thirty one six in the rain, two or three more interceptions.
Do I have to check and see when the Miami's bias,
but I would expect that's probably when Mike McDaniel will
get let go. He's dead man walking, There's no doubt
about it. He's not coming back with Labor Day in
the rearview mirror. Finally, the college and NFL seasons are here.
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Speaker 4: All right, welcome back.
Speaker 1: To the podcast. Now it's time to head up to
Gainesville to get all the in tell on the breaking
news over the weekend. Billy Napier finally replaced as the
Florida football head coach. Kind of a move that we
thought was coming. It's just a matter of kind of
win and the win became on Sunday morning when Billy
was relieved of his duties following the win over Misssippi State.
No better person to talk to all things around this
situation that Kevin Brockway, the Gainesville son. Kevin covers the
Gators every day of the year and he's very dialed
into what's going on up in Gainesville.
Speaker 4: So welcome in, Kevin.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Jason.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was inevitable and it, you know, kind of interesting.
It happened over a win. But if you were at
that game, it didn't feel like I mean, they're up
twenty seven in the fourth quarter, almost let the game
slip away. I mean there were fire Billy Chance in
the stadium after they punted the ball back to Mississippi State.
Speaker 3: But give credit to McKai.
Speaker 5: Burrow came up with a big interception late in the
game and they held on and we got that twenty
three to twenty one win.
Speaker 1: Take us back to last week when the reports came
out that there was a meeting between a D. Scott
Strickland and some prominent boosters, and the kind of the
message was either your fire billy now or the financial
commitments may not be where they need to be down
the road. You can give a little sense of how
that came about and just was it a one person
Was it one person kind of making those demands? Was
it kind of a group of boosters represented by one guy.
Speaker 4: Give us a little sense.
Speaker 1: Of how that all happened.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: Scott refuted that on which I thought was interesting, But
I do think that.
Speaker 3: There was some meetings.
Speaker 5: I think the meetings probably had more to do with, hey, look,
you know, if we're gonna have to buy this guy out,
you know, we may need some help because as you know,
you know of that twenty million dollar biot ten is
going to come with him thirty days. So I think
it might have been more along those lines or what
the what the boosters could do to kind of help
this situation. I think Scott kind of had his mind
made up after the Texas A and M game that
you know, this wasn't going in the right direction right,
And basically from there it was just a matter of
you know, thinking, you know, in regards to the to
the bi week.
Speaker 3: I think they wanted to.
Speaker 5: Try to give Billy the full season, but I think
they realized and especially you know the way, like I said,
you know, the crowd situation with them, that it was
just too toxic to go on. And you know, you
figure that you give you know, the interim staff, you know,
the bye week before Georgia.
Speaker 3: To get reorganized.
Speaker 5: From a timing perspective, I think that that works pretty well.
Speaker 1: And it also gives the other big thing that it
allows Florida to openly negotiate with somebody who maybe doesn't
have a job, I ea. John Gruden, somebody like that,
if they wanted to talk to somebody who's not currently
employed somewhere else. And it gives you a head start
on the behind the back, behind back channel discussions and
all the stuff that goes into those things with agents
and all that stuff potentially of.
Speaker 4: Of who you want to bring in.
Speaker 1: Obviously, Scott Strickland made it very much a point in
his press conference to say he wants a guy with
winning with a winning background or a winning you know,
a pedigree that probably eliminates assistant coaches and coordinators that
maybe haven't been head coaches. Give me a sense is
Scott Strickland. Do you get the senses this big game
hunting or do you really think they're looking for the
best football coach.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think what they're looking for is someone
that's gonna win championship. But I do think that it
would be a hard sell if it was like a
group of five guy like an Alex Skulish. I think that,
and I think in the back of their minds they
may realize that.
Speaker 3: And listen.
Speaker 5: I think that Lane is the obvious, you know, front
running choice. You know, he would win the press conference.
But I think they'll do their due diligence in their
background to see what kind of fit it would be.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: I think Eli drin Quitz is another guy that certainly
has had success in the SEC.
Speaker 3: I think in general, you know.
Speaker 5: You need a schemer, you know, I think what what
what the Billy Napier high approved was. He wasn't really
because everything that Dan Mullen wasn't like. Dan obviously was
a very good game coach, but wasn't a program builder.
And they brought him Billy who was a program builder,
without really fully investigating, you know, in terms of you know,
how he would run his offense, the fact that he
called and wouldn't let go of that. And you know,
I think the coaching in this league is too good.
You need someone that's going to be a good game manager,
a good schemer, and then you know, hope he grows
into being a good program builder as well. But I
think what Billy Napier did and stuttying a foundation for that,
I think will benefit the next coach greatly.
Speaker 1: Do you get the sense that there's the financial commitment
from the universe. Obviously it's gonna be a big commitment
to pay off Billy Napier, but now you have to
then come up, come up with the money to be
able to pay Elane Kiffin or whoever you end up hiring.
That's probably going to be in the eight to ten
million dollars a year range at least, plus the nil
resources needed to pay the players.
Speaker 3: Is floored.
Speaker 1: Give us a sense of where Florida is that maybe
relative to other teams in the SEC compared to all
the revenue.
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, I think that's one of the reasons why
he met with They met with the Boosters too, was
because of that, Like, you know, the financial commitment, But
I think it's there, you know, and I think it's uh,
it's tricky, and I mean listen, you know, on top
of that, they're going to be, you know, going full
steam head with the stadium renovation. But you know, this
is a state with twenty two million people, as you know,
the University of Florida, I mean, it's a vast network
of alumnis even throughout the country.
Speaker 3: It has the power and the resources.
Speaker 5: To come up with the money in a state of
twenty two million people to do all this. It's just
going to be a matter of you know, how they
deploy those resources and and and if they can get
the right guy, which you know has eluded them for
the better part of a decade and a half.
Speaker 1: The tricky part is if if you're trying to get
a guy that's got a current job, i e. Elane
Kiffin and Eli Drinkwitz, you may have to wait. I mean, unfortunately,
you may have to wait because they could potentially be
mid December because of a playoff run and all that stuff.
So how much of a timeline. I mean again, do
you get the sense that they're gonna publicly make Lane
say no? I mean, I think Lane's clearly the number
one target. They're gonna probably back channel it and make
Lane have to say no at least once, if not
a couple of times with with whatever offer they're going
to try to put together. How do you get the
sense of how they're going to handle this next six
to seven weeks.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, you know it's gonna be interesting because of
the you know, transfer portal window now is a little
bit later, it's January two, so that works in their
favor a little bit. I think ideally they would like
to hope that you know, a school like an on
miss Herm, Missouri falls out of the college Football Playoff picture, right,
so that they could you know, hire guy like that.
Speaker 3: I'll give you another under the radar name.
Speaker 5: That's interesting, you know, and that I've heard you back
channels that that Florida may be interested in. Is Rent
Lashley at SMU. Another guy, very good schemer, got the
Mustangs to the College Football Playoff last year. You know,
now has power for coaching experience because you know, they
were in the ACC last year. And I think the
spread works pretty well in Florida because of the speed,
and I think that that might be something that maybe
in the back of their minds because Irbert Meyer was
a spread coach. Mullin was a spread coach. And you
look at those two offenses, we're both successful in the
SEC as a result.
Speaker 1: Is this be an offensive head coach in your mind?
Is there any chance there's a defensive head coach?
Speaker 5: I mean, I think that slight possibility if they could
convince a guy like Dan Lanning, right, But I don't
know if there are too many great defensive coaches on
the board really that you can say with with confidence.
I mean Marcus Freeman, right, you know at Notre Dame.
That's a possibility if you can woo him. But I think,
you know, the fans want offense, they want excitement, you know.
I think Billy Napier suffered from very similar to the
Will muss Champ syndrome of you know, thinking you can
win a game twenty seven to twenty four to seventeen
in college football like you can in the NFL. I
just think, you know, with college kids, there's too much
margin for air for that. You know, you've got to
try to score as many points as possible if you
never know what's gonna happen. And I think that was
the problem, was that conservatism, you know, and what will
mustsh Up and Billy Napier have in common both Georgia background,
you know, and that old school background just doesn't work
in today's college football.
Speaker 4: Last couple, I'll get you out of here.
Speaker 1: Is there anybody in the Florida family I A Steve
Spurriy or anybody like that that's Scott Struckland made lean
on for advice, for recommendations for a temperature of the
of the of the fan of the booster bass. The
financial guys that will help fund.
Speaker 5: This Spurrier you know, don't get his advice. I mean,
you know, another interesting candidate if you want to go
that route, would be Jen Fish and Wiscon at Washington.
Excuse me, former spurrier GA has had some success at Washington.
Certainly another very good offensive coach, you know, Brian Schottenheimer.
Speaker 3: Now obviously he's with Cowboys. He's doing decent there, so
that ship may have sailed.
Speaker 5: But yeah, I don't you know, it'll be interesting to see,
you know, who they canvas, how they canvass. You know,
they've you know, also going to get advice from a
search firm called Turnkey as well. So there'll be a
lot of people you know that will consult, but you know,
Scott's man to clear that he's the one that's gonna
make the ultimate decision.
Speaker 4: And then the last one.
Speaker 1: I'll get you out after this one. You know, all
the speculation down here where I'm at in Tampa John Gruden,
do you has there been any scuttle but about you know,
the again home run higher would probably be a pretty
good asset. And from recruiting perspective, we know offensive acumen
he's got, and what has been the chatter in and
around Gainesville about a potential John Gruden.
Speaker 5: I think my one trumpidation with Gruden is like, how
long has it been since he's been a college coach
and it's just different. You know, it's kind of like
the same thing with college basketball coaches going to the NBA,
and then you know, we saw with Bill Belichick it's
not working very well. An NFL guy going to college
that would be my trepidation. I have not heard anything,
you know, specifically about John Gruden, but you know he's
a Tampa guy.
Speaker 3: You know he's inching to get back into the.
Speaker 5: Game, and you know it would be and you know
he's a pretty good offensive schemer too.
Speaker 3: But you just don't know how that would translate.
Speaker 5: I mean, Bill Belichick was a great defensive steamer in
the NFL, and his North Carolina teams can't stop anyone.
So there's a lot to it, and it's a lot
different in dynamic dealing with eighteen to twenty one year
olds and dealing with grown matt as well.
Speaker 4: Brockway Gainesville Son, great job. You can find Kevin's great work.
Speaker 1: He'll be covering this search from start to finish at
Kevin Brockway g One. He also covers the Florida get
A basketball program. Obviously another big year in store there
for the defending national champions and Todd Golden. So check
out Kevin's great work again every day, and as this
search starts to percolate here in the coming days and weeks,
Kevin is the guy you need to be following and
reading up on his great work with the Gainesville Son
and elsewhere. So Kevin, appreciate the time and we'll stay
in touch as this moves forward.
Speaker 3: All right, thank you.
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Speaker 4: Blie, Welcome back to the podcast. Appreciate you finding us.
Speaker 1: We just went to Gainesville to get a little background
on the Florida coaching situation. Now we are going to
come back here to the state of Florida, Tampa, where
the all the news is about, not what's going on
off the field, but what's going on on the field.
The six and one USF Bulls have a big, big
showdown up in Memphis this week against the Memphis Tigers
for the lead potentially in the American Athletic Conference. A
kind of a playoff eliminator type of game. No better
person to talk to than somebody who will be in
the building in Memphis on Saturday, part of the USF
Bulls Radio Network, Mister Joey Johnston.
Speaker 4: Welcome in, Joey, Thanks Jason, thanks for having me.
Speaker 6: Appreciate it all right.
Speaker 1: So six and one heading into Memphis, potentially playing the
Memphis without maybe their starting quarterback. We don't know the
status of their starting quarterback. Give us a little sense
of those of the fans that maybe haven't followed the
Bulls through the first seven weeks. Obviously we know the
Florida game, the big win at Florida, then the Miami loss.
Give us a sense where this USF team has gone
the last three or four weeks.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's in a great place, Jason.
Speaker 7: They're probably playing their best ball that they have not
only this season but many seasons. Playing well on both
sides of the ball. They're leading the nation in turnovers
with seventeen. They're also operating in a very efficient clip
on offense. They've had some injuries, they have a couple
of guys down running backs and wide receivers, but to
continue to churn out the yards. They've been scoring like
nobody's been business the last four weeks during a four
game winning streak. Last week, for example, they beat Florida
Atlantic forty eight to thirteen and rolled up five hundred
and twenty two yards and it just seemed very routine
to get in that five hundred and six hundred yard range,
which is what's going on with them. Byron Brown is
playing his best ball of his career at the quarterback.
He's going to have big numbers he stays healthy and
continues this pace. And the biggest thing, especially on offense,
I would say, is there's tremendous depth at the skill positions.
Certainly some luminaries, some older guys, but man, they're getting
some great play from freshmen and not only in the
backfield but at the receiving corps. So Byron has never
had this many weapons before, and they've got a couple
of guys down, but he still has a plathora of weapons.
So really the best of times for the Bulls, and
they seek to keep it going at Memphis, which is
a place they've always had a little trouble winning at.
Speaker 1: Yeah, again, you mentioned the American conf and Byron Brown
talk about for me, the defense has been so much
more consistent this year as in years pass. They're not
getting gouged and gashed on defense. They're giving up a
few points here and there, but they're not getting either
gotten there. You know, years past they were giving up
thirty five to forty five most every week. Much more consistent,
much more disciplined with Todd Orlando's defense.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and that was the thing from the get go
that we noticed from in the opener against Boise State
was how well the defense played. And that is, for
the most part, carried on throughout. They had some struggles
obviously at Miami with the Hurricanes putting up a lot
of points game a lot of yards, but other than that,
the defense has really been consistent with its ability to
keep games manageable, to play well in the red zone, and.
Speaker 6: To take the ball away.
Speaker 7: The biggest thing, like I said, seventeen turnovers lead to
the country and they've just they've got this unit that
everybody's flying to the ball. You get a lot of
guys around the ball all the time, and they're they're
not putting great pressure on the quarterback, but they've improved there.
They're getting their get into the pocket and get some sacks.
Would like to do it more than they have, but
at least they've gotten better and they are getting a
lot of tackles for loss, a lot of turnovers, as
we said, so a lot of categories that are very
very positive defensively, and that you know, even with the
high flying offense, I'd say that the way the defense
has played, it's probably been the biggest story of the year.
Speaker 4: No, I agree.
Speaker 1: I think the defensive effort is we always know Byron
can can turn ups in yards for that defense is
really all right, let's go to the game Saturday.
Speaker 4: Obviously we don't know the QB situation at Memphis.
Speaker 1: We saw Memphis lose at UAB in a kind of
a pretty good upset last week, so you know they'll
be focused and dialed in no matter who the quarterback is.
Speaker 4: Give me a key or two.
Speaker 1: And what's kind of been what's been USF's issues when
they played at Memphis in years past.
Speaker 7: You know, their issues has really been giving up too
many points and too many yards. I mean two years
ago the score was fifty nine to fifty. The bull
score fifty points and lost. So you don't see that
happen very often. But it happened that day and they
gave up you know, upwards the six hundred yards that day.
Speaker 6: And I know there was.
Speaker 7: A critical point in the game two years ago on
a third down situation where I think they gave up
a touchdown screen pass of eighty plush yards. I mean,
that was, you know, ridiculous to happen in that situation.
So you know, the Bulls last one in the Liberty
Bowl in twenty sixteen. They haven't played every year, but
they haven't once since twenty sixteen. That was when Quentin
Flowers was the quarterback. So the number one thing is
to deal with this Memphis offense. And obviously you touched
on it. Brendon Lewis, their starter was dinged and we're
not sure if he's going to play. But they have
a freshman a J. Hill, who's a big time freshman,
a four star guy from Warner Robbins, Georgia. That's that's
very very good. Alex Gulish knows him well. He was
recruited by everybody in the South, so's he's a great player,
but just not an experienced player. He just played for
the first time last week against UAB. So we're not
going to know who the quarterback is probably till a
day of game. But either way, that doesn't change the
fact that Memphis is also very good at running the ball.
I think they're twentieth nationally. They've got two, maybe three
guys that can really tote it very well. So you know,
it's like the same key every week. You got to
stop the run and then put pressure on the quarterback
here again, that's the same thingables have got to do
in this game, and if they can do that effectively,
then I think they have a great chance to win.
Speaker 1: All right, we've all talked to I mean, obviously we've
been highlighting this game since the Miami game that if
they take care of business, this is the next step
in the ladder. Here, a lot of national attention on
this game. Potentially Game day would have been there had
Memphis not lost. How do you think Alex goals to
the coaching staff and the program is handling They all
know what's at stake. They win this game, then they
know what's next potentially on the wrong How is the
how on the inside there, how they handle the expectations.
Speaker 7: Well, the way they're handling it is the same way
they handle it every week. It's you know, it's all
the biggest game is the next game, and this is
the next game, and they don't want to make it
too big, but certainly everybody you know that follows this
knows this is a critical one. And it's changed slightly
with Memphis losing, probably more pressure on Memphis and Memphis
goes down again and they're really up against it. They
still have Two Lane and Navy on their schedule, so
that they may be maybe cooked if they can't beat USF.
The other end of it is it's a very competitive
American Conference race. Navy is still undefeated, you know, they're
in there. Two Lane is still undefeated in the league,
and they're not on USF's regular season schedules, So there's
still a lot of things to be solved. But if
USF can just continue to win every week, they they'll
be where they need to be again moving forward. On
November fifteenth, they have the road game at Navy that
figures to be even more of a mammoth matchup, and
I know Navy's got Notre Dame and maybe some.
Speaker 6: Others on their schedule.
Speaker 7: Nfy'll be able to be undefeated all the way to
November fifteenth, but it's gonna be a big one. And
again it's at Navy, it's in the middle of November.
Who knows what the weather's going to be like. So
but again Alex Polish is not thinking like this. He's
thinking all about Memphis getting it done and gets Memphis,
And the fact that Memphis lost to UAB it doesn't
change the fact they're still a really good team and
they've got great players, and they beat Arkansas. They're a
very worthy team. They just for whatever reason, stubbed their toe,
which happens a.
Speaker 6: Lot this season.
Speaker 7: As we can see, if you're not ready to play,
you're gonna get beat by just about anybody. So it'll
be a challenge and it'll be definitely a milestone. If
USF can win it, they would be four to zero
in the conference. That has happened just once twenty seventeen
in the history of the program, so can't diminish that.
It would also make for a five game winning streak,
which is the longest one in quite a while.
Speaker 6: So there's milestones falling by the week for this program.
Speaker 7: But the way they've been able to get to the
point is just focus on what what the task is
ahead and not get carried away with anything. I would
say psychologically and mentally, this team has done a pretty
good job of staying in where their feet are for
all season, and that's another reason why they're, uh, you know,
have a good record.
Speaker 6: Well.
Speaker 1: The last layer of this conversation of expectations is obviously
the more they've won. Now your head coach's name is
getting mentioned in other jobs that have now that are
already opened Florida, Arkansas, Virginia Tech places like that. How
is you know, and every and you know, the guys
in that locker room understand that. And Alex Goldish knows that.
He probably hasn't publicly commented much about it, but you
know that's weighing on his mind to some degree. Who
knows how much. How do you think that plays into
this whole equation as well.
Speaker 7: I don't think it's it's played in that much. It's
not like it's some kind of distraction. He did actually
address that last week. Somebody asked him in the press
conference and uh, you know, uh, he said.
Speaker 4: Uh, coach speak, coach speak, coach speak.
Speaker 7: But a couple of things he said, and we'll see
if the true proves true. He said, you know, I
came from nothing, a Russian immigrant. They came to America
with not much money in their pockets. He's grinded his
whole career, worked up from grunt jobs to where he
is now. And he said, I've got more money than
I could have ever imagined right now. So is he
one of the rare people in America that don't let
the almighty dollar decide everything they do. We'll see, we can't.
We can answer that till the end of the season.
But at least that's what he's saying. And the other
thing he's saying is regardless of whatever jobs might be
out there, he's got a good job right now at USF.
And he says, and I believe this to be true,
that he has gotten everything that he's asked for resource wise.
Speaker 6: They're building a new stadium.
Speaker 7: He's got the money he needs to recruit, to take
care of his staff, to build all the infrastructure. So
it's not like this is a bad job. And let's
say Alex Guolish does go somewhere else. This is a
great job for somebody, great job for somebody, And I
think that always will be with with the infrastructure that's
in place, So you know, You can't predict these things.
It remains to be seen. They still have to play
their schedule, they still have to win games. So it's
early in the process. But the fact that his name
is being linked to all these jobs, that's a positive
because it means there's a good coach in place here
in a good staff. So that's that's better than the
alternative for sure.
Speaker 1: A couple more and I'll get you out of here.
Leading into that, that whole process of the program. You
got a new ad on board. Rob Higgins came on
board about them two three, four weeks ago something like that.
Give me a sense. I know you probably know Rob
a little bit. He's from the Tampa Bay area. He's
been involved with Tampa Bay sports for a long time.
Give me a sense of how do you think Rob
Higgins is going to fit into the USF community and
you know what things he will be able to do
from a business perspective and a fundraising perspective and even
make things even better.
Speaker 6: You know, I think Rob's going to fit in great.
Speaker 7: You know, the first time I met Rob, but he
was a ball kid at USF basketball back in nineteen
ninety two. So he has truly come up the ranks,
he became a manager, he became an assistant athletic director here,
and then of course the work he did with the
Tampa Bay Sports Commission as well known, attracting all these
great events to our area.
Speaker 6: Rob is a diehard.
Speaker 7: USF Bowl Green and Gold bleeds it like nobody's business.
Speaker 6: He loves this place.
Speaker 7: I think one thing he'll definitely be able to do,
maybe not immediately, but in time, whatever money, whatever funds
are available in this community to support this program, he's
going to get to him. He's got a contact list
that would blow you away. He knows everybody in town,
and he's loved and trusted by everyone in town. So
I think he's going to help elevate this USF program
to an even higher level. And I know he is
fully aware of all everything going on. In other words,
if there's a coach, a football coach being highly sought,
which there is, he knows about it. He's got a
plan and it's been addressed, so these things are not
left a chance. He's not gonna be caught by surprise
by these things. So I think Rob will He's got
a lot of things on his plate, obviously, but he
will do everything in his power to make sure this
program reaches the highest level.
Speaker 6: I have no doubt about that.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 1: For our fans outside of the Tampa Bay, tell everybody
where they can find the broadcast on Saturday.
Speaker 4: What is it a three thirty game Saturday.
Speaker 7: It's a New Eastern game, which means it's an eleven
am Central game, which isn't great. I mean, I think
the players like maybe get road games. They like to
get to it. And the positive thing that's much different
than North Texas on a Friday night. A few weeks ago,
we landed at four fifteen am, Jason, which was not
a ton of fun. So at least this one will
be we'll be back home at a reasonable hour regardless,
So that's a good thing.
Speaker 6: But we will we will have to.
Speaker 7: We'll fly into Memphis on Friday, get settled in, and
then we're going to go on early on Saturday morning
and we'll be like we're hardly there. Maybe we'll get
a good barbecue in once. That's about it. But other
than that, it's it's it's a speed game we're playing,
and you know, you get sometimes you got to create
your own energy for those early games, and and sometimes
you start slow. The Bulls have got to have got
to find a way to get going quickly because it's,
you know, eleven ams a little early, although they do
practice in the morning, so they're not they're accustomed to that.
But eleven am is an odd time to play a
football game. But that's that's what we have for ESPN
to to accommodate it.
Speaker 1: Last thing, Jim Luck, you're the longtime voice of the Bulls,
just announced that he's going to be retiring at the
end of the year.
Speaker 4: Just give me a little perspective of Jim.
Speaker 1: He's been to this program for a long time since
its inception, and I know you've worked many many a
game with Jim, and just give the fans who maybe
don't know Jim very well little sense of Jim Luck.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Well, I've known Jim for since nineteen eighty three, when
the day he walked in here doing basketball games, and
he has he did basketball for years. But the really
amazing thing is he's done every single football game. He
hasn't missed one since that since the program began in
nineteen ninety seven. He is a true professional. He is
very good at what he does. I work with him.
I'm on the sidelines, and I'm talking to him in
the headset constantly. He wants information, so I'm essentially giving
him a play by play to help him spot the
ball and spot the ball carrier. So we're in constant contact.
But Jim is wonderful at at giving me my space
on the broadcast, and you couldn't ask for a more
fundamentally sound broadcaster and a guy that has done it
for a number of years. So we're all very happy
at all the attention that Jim is getting. Wish him
all the best for beyond this, and I'm hoping that
the football team will cooperate and send him out with
a conference title.
Speaker 6: That would be kind of cool.
Speaker 1: And if you win a conference title, you'll probably be
playing in a playoff game somewhere.
Speaker 4: You might be in South Bend or Tuscal, Looser or where,
but you'll be You'll play football.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's that's the one. That's an amazing thing to
think about the possibilities. But we're not there yet. But
the Bulls are capable of doing if they take care
of business, So we could have some really really cool
stuff ahead for this USF football program.
Speaker 1: Well, Joey, keep up the great work with it with
football and Joey be part of the basketball broadcast as well.
You can listen locally here in the Tampa area Q
one O five on on the radio broadcast. Keep up
the great work, Joey, get a w in Memphis. Don't
need too much barbecue and if you do, make sure
you have UH. Make sure you make sure you take
care of take care of your business before the game starts.
Speaker 6: Enjoying us exactly.
Speaker 4: Enjoy the Liberty Ball and we'll talk soon.
Speaker 8: Okay, thanks a lot, Jason, thanks for listening to the
Florida Football Insiders Podcast as part of the College Gridiron
Coast to Coast podcast network.
Speaker 1: Please remember subscribe, rate, and review if you've not already
done so, and you can reach out to me on
Twitter at jPOS Sports. Love to hear your comments and
feed back about our episodes and any program suggestions moving forward.
Check out our video interviews as well on my YouTube channel,
Jason Power's Sports channel, and we'll see you next week
on the Florida Football Insiders Podcast