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Speaker 2: And here's your host, Jason Collers.
Speaker 1: We have reached October here on the Florida Football Insiders podcast.
Appreciate you finding us. We are part of the College
Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. We are and we're
here to recap. Hard to believe. We are already heading
to week six of the college football season. Five weeks
of college football are in the books. I'm your host,
Jason down in Tampa. Appreciate finding us. First and foremost
want to wish all of our listeners who may have
been affected by Hurricane Helene. I hope you're doing okay.
I know we were affected here in the Tampa Bay
area significantly during the storm. A lot of terrible flood, flooding,
water serge, stuff like that. And again, all the folks
up in northwest Florida in the Tallahassee area Perry that
were affected by the direct hit, and obviously all of
our potential listeners in Georgia and North Carolina Tennessee. I know,
again a lot of water damage and a lot of
water issues in in those states as well. So just
know we're thinking of you. I hope you're hanging in
there and doing okay, and want to try to give
you a little a little football relief here as we
go through this tough, tough period of time here if
you were affected. So all right, we're going to talk
about all things again. State of Florida football. We had
some wild, couple wild finishes, We have some NFL stuff
we're gonna hit on as well with all the teams
in the state of Florida. Got a great guest for
you today, former University South Florida head coach Jim Levitt
is going to join us to give us his thoughts
through the first five weeks of the season. We're gonna
recap the Miami Virginia Tech wild finish. We're also going
to talk about georgan Little Georgia, Alabama as well. So
just gonna hit on some various topics for you in
the college Football World. He's gonna give you a little
perspective of having to deal with a hurricane, coaching through hurricanes,
things like that as well, and gonna hit on the
Florida state situation again, some of the challenges that are
going on as far as the transfer portal and all
that good stuff. So again, I appreciate you finding us.
Let's get right to the recap of last week. Let's
start in Miami Friday night. Last Friday night, Miami, Virginia
Tech Wild finish the Hurricanes win thirty eight to thirty four.
You didn't see the game. The Virginia Tech is dominated
most of the game. They were winning virtually the entire game.
Really good job by Virginia Tech, coming out strong, playing
well on the road. A couple of turnovers early by Miami,
but give cam Ward credit. Cam Ward through for three
p forty three, four touchdowns, two picks. They score late
to go up four. Virginia Tech drives the ball back
down the field and on the last play of the
game throw a thirty yard pass in the end zone.
Hail Mary type of play, big pile up in the
end zone. Who catches it? Who didn't catch it? Hard
to see obviously in real time at the bottom of
the pile, the Virginia Tech player had the ball. They
rule it a touchdown. They go to replay review, and
after several minutes the call is overturned. Very very hard
to determine. Did he catch it, did he not catch it?
I'm you know, the call is overturned to an incomplete pass.
When he hit the ground, the ball looked like it
moved a little bit in the guy's hand rolled a
little bit, so I think that's where they ruled it
an incomplete pass. So a wild, wild finish in hard
Rock Stadium. Miami wins thirty eight thirty four. A couple
things in this game. One Virginia Tech was up, believe
at least ten, and they ran a fake field goal
that was stoned by Miami. I thought that was a
big play in the game. Had they kicked, had they
kicked the field goal added to the lead. I think
that was not a smart play to run a fake
field goal at that moment in the game. He had
all the momentum. You kind of gave Miami a little
bit of life when they stopped him. So I didn't
like that That move by Brent Priye in Virginia Tech.
And then as far as the replay goes, you know,
you hate to want to think this, but with the ACC,
you know, ACC being involved, there was you know, hard again,
was it conclusive that he did not catch the ball,
because remember they ruled it a touchdown on the field.
Instant replays got to have in conclusive evidence that he
didn't catch it. I don't know if there was that
much evidence. I don't think he caught it. But was
there incontrovertible evidence to say he didn't catch that. I
don't know. And again, nobody will ever say this. It
will would never be made public at all in people's
thought processes. But did the ACE did at the ACC
command center, was there a thought of this is a
this is a team that we think could potentially get
to the play will get to the playoff, could win
some games in the playoff, and from a national championship perspective, Uh,
you hope that was that didn't come into play, But
it would not shock me if some of that thought
process came into play on that replay review of Miami
as kind of our meal ticket in the ACC this year,
you know, as far as to make a deep run
in the potential playoffs to get to the playoffs, and
you know the call was ultimately overturned incomplete pass. Miami
wins thirty eight thirty four. Miami heads to Cal next
week University California. Interesting long road trip, kind of sneaky.
Cal has been sneaky good this year, got a good defense.
So we'll see how Miami reacts after the wild finished
traveling across country. But the Hurricanes are now five and oho,
so we will see if they can continue their good play.
And again cam Ward continues to play really well. Three
forty three, four touchdowns. He's definitely top three in the
country for the Heisman Trophy at this point, so we'll
see how that goes. All right, next next game, let's
go to Orlando, Colorado, Central Florida. What a job by Colorado.
Colorado comes in and smokes in spank Central Florida forty
eight twenty one. Just a dominating performance. A lot of
people around the country thought UCF was gonna put it
to Colorado, especially in the running game. That did not
make he realizes should or Sanders throw for two ninety
and three touchdowns. Colorado did whatever they wanted to do,
run the ball, They threw the ball. They played pretty
decent defense, So give Colorado and Dion Sanders full credit
for coming into Orlando into a raucous environment at the
Bounce House, the Fox knew the Fox pregame show was there.
But just a not a good, not a great performance
by Malazon and the Knights. kJ Jefferson threw for two
eighty four, two touchdowns and two picks, but again this
was more about Colorado how well they played. Just a
very balanced, well well constructed game by the coaching staff
there and give them all the credit, but they nobody
thought they would go in there and win the game
like they did, but they did. Shoudore Travis Hunter. Again,
disappointing loss for Central Florida. A lot of there was
a lot of opportunity in the Big twelve potentially, so
we'll see how that goes. But again disappointing loss for UCF.
UCF will now go to the Gainesville next Saturday this
coming up weekend to play the Gators, who are coming
off of a bye week, so it'll be very interesting
match up there with with Florida coming off the bye week,
played pretty well at Mississippi State, UCF is vulnerable in
the past game, and I think you're gonna see Graham
Mertz throw the ball a bunch. He played really well
at Mississippi State throwing the ball, So I would anticipate
that will be a battle of throwing the ball by
Florida versus UCF trying to get back to the running
game where they've been so good this year. And Florida
has been has struggled against the running game with the
front seven on defense especially, So we'll see if the
we'll see how that. That's a very interesting game. And
UCF is actually a favorite in Gainsville, which is a
little surprising to me. But UCF will play in Gainsville
Saturday night. Again, big, big, big game for Billy Napier
as well. If if you're Billy Napier and you want
to have any chance of salvaging the season and the job,
you got to win this game. This would not be
a good look on the as well if you lose
to Central Florida as well, even though Central Florida is
a good team, this is a game you gotta figure
out a way to win. So if you're if you're
Billy Napier, So all right, F s U S m
U again, very poor performance by the Seminoles. Seminoles fall
to one and four. They lose at s m U
forty two sixteen, just getting manhandled into in Dallas. Uh, DJ,
you hurt through three interceptions. Uh, there's not a lot
of not a lot of good things to say about
this game. That again, Florida State's in full free fall.
DJU is going to be out for a while with
a finger injury. He was he had to have been
on his last leg any way of playing, So it's
not not you know, We'll see what Mike Norvel does.
Who he chooses to be the quarterback. Is it brought Glen?
Do they go to the other freshmen? Do they go
to the freshman? We will see. Clemson comes to town
to Tallahassee this Saturday night. Again, I would not expect
it to be any any rosier in Tallahassee. Clemson is
playing really well there are They've been scoring a bunch
of points. They need to continue to score a bunch
of points and continue to win convincingly from an acc
title situation. So I don't anticipate this being any better. Again.
Florida State has been the biggest disappointment in the country
at one in four and then they are looking like
they're not going to a bowl game. They still got Clemson,
they got Miami. They go to Miami and they go
to Notre Dame. So they they they have a brutal
road ahead to even potentially get that's gonna get them
seven losses if they lose those three games, this could
be a disastrous year in Tallahassee for Mike Norvel. Be
very can see how this changes the philosophical way of
of what Florida State's doing from a recruiting perspective after
this year. Again, I don't Norvel's probably not in any
danger of losing his job because of the buyout, but boy,
this is going to be a major black eye on
his on his coaching resume and the seminole mojo that
was that had developed the last couple of years. So
not much else to say in this one. Boy, Just
brutal times up in Tallahassee, and we will see if
they can at least produce a competitive effort here against
Clemson Saturday night at home. All right, USF Tulane again,
another another very disappointing performance by USF. They fall to
two and three. They lose to Tulane forty five to ten.
They were down twenty four nothing at one point, down
thirty one to seven. They gave up five hundred and
twenty eight yards thirty first downs to Tulane. And I
know Tulane's decent, but they're not forty five to ten
over USF that kind of decent. Just a again, this
is a shot in the arm. This is a gut
punch here to Alex Golish in the Bulls after the
Miami game where they were competitive for a half against Miami,
got beat pretty soundly in the second half. But to
come back following that game and throw this kind of
performance on the board is not a great sign Byron
Brown laboring to throw the ball. You know, the rumors
are he's injured to some degree, so we'll see what
his status is moving forward. But again, the USF just
not able to throw the ball with much effectiveness. The
running game has been okay at best, but again, down
twenty four thirty one seven, you lose forty five to ten.
Just not not a scenario that that you should be
dealing with here at USF and not not a good
not a good performance there by Alex Golish. You got
Memphis coming to town, not this week but the following
Friday that potentially had had the chance to be a
really good game. It's gonna be on TV. But now
with USF losing two in a row and not looking
very good doing it, you wonder what the momentum will
be in at the USF football facility lead into that
game as well. So just not a good performance there.
Two and three. Again, USF's off this week. A week
from Friday, they'll play home to Memphis. IU moves to
two and three, beat Louisiana Tech seventeen to ten. They're
at Liberty next this weekend, So good job Matt Mike
McIntyre getting the Panthers back on the winning in the
winning docket. Two and three. FAU moves to two and
three forty one to ten over Wagner. Omari Hayes six catches,
one thirty seven, CJ. Campbell fifteen carries one forty five
and two touchdowns. So good job by Tom Herman to
get back on the winning ways down in Boca ratone
and FAU is off this week, and like I said,
FIU goes to Liberty as well. Quick little buckal little
NFL recap around the state of Florida. Miami falls to
one and three. They lose on Monday night, thirty one
twelve to Tennessee at home. Tyler Huntley starts the game.
All kind of penalty issues, all kinds of issues with
lining up with Tyreek Hill. You wonder how again, how
that how that the locker room is gonna hold itself together,
All kind of struggles at the quarterback position. Can't find
anybody to move the ball. We don't know the status
of tuas have yet, still got a couple more weeks
for sure that he's going to be out, but we
don't know after that. So again all kind of disarrayed
down in Miami with Mike McDaniel. Defense ain't is not
very good either, give up thirty one points to Will Levis,
who got injured in the first quarter. And then Mason
Rudolph comes in and leads them to a bunch of
scoring drives. So just lots of trouble in Miami as well.
Can't score. Defense isn't very good, So challenge galore for
Mike McDaniel. All right, Jacksonville, they fall to oh to four.
They lose at Houston twenty four to twenty. They played
much more competitively than they have been. Remember they get
killed at Buffalo on Monday night forty seven to ten.
They come back and play competitively twenty four to twenty.
Had plenty of opportunities to win the game, So this
is not you know, plenty that had the ball twice
in the last five minutes a chance to ice the game,
had the whole game twenty to seventeen for much much
of the fourth quarter. They have the ball twice in
the last five six minutes to run the clock out,
can't get enough first downs. They punt the ball back
to CJ. Stroud, who then goes the distance and scores
a touchdown in the last thirty seconds to win the game,
twenty four to twenty again to four for Doug Peterson.
Major issues here in Jacksonville.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: You wonder how long how long the leash will be
for Doug Peterson. Trevor Lawrence continues to struggle. Didn't play
terrible on Sunday, but didn't play great, didn't play winning
football for a guy they just paid all that money
to so big, big problems in Jacksonville.
Speaker 4: At oh to four.
Speaker 1: They'll be home to Indianapolis on Sunday lucky, lucky to
have thirty thousand people in that building. On Sunday, they're
in Jacksonville, so we'll see, all right. The best team
in the state of Florida and the NFL's circuit is
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They moved to three and one,
a emphatic, impressive, tremendous victory over the Philadelphia Eagles thirty
three to sixteen. Granted, the Eagles were missing a couple
of receivers aj Brown Devonte Smith, but a boy, the
Buccaneers came out flying, scored on the first two possessions,
really played well. Baker Mayfield three touchdowns, three forty seven passing,
you know, Mike Evans involved, Trey Palmer involved, the running
game was back on track. Just an all around team
efforts sack, jail and hurt six times, a couple turnovers.
So a very impressive bounce back performance by Todd Bowles
and the Buccaneers after the Denver loss. So kudos to
the Buccaneers. They will now travel on a short week
Thursday night. This Thursday, they're in Atlanta on the Amazon
Game with Al and Herb Street Divisional matchup. The Falcons
win at the Gun over the Saints on the weekend
with a young way kup fifty eight yarders. So a
pivotal divisional battle. If the Bucks can get to four
and one and you knock the Falcons to two and
and you got the division matchup already in your bag
on the road, would be tremendous. I expect it to
be a very good game. Again, Mayfield and the offense
played really really well. Liam Cohen dialing up the plays
may feel much more decisive in the passing game this
week played really well and again the running game came along.
And we will see as far as the injury injury
situation where the Bucks are injury wise. Vida Veya returned,
but they did lose a receiver, Trey Palmer, who concussion.
They lost the linebackers Savasi A Dennis, so we'll see
how that goes. But again, very interesting matchup Thursday night
in Atlanta Bucks Falcons. Bucks three and one leading the
NFC South. So there's your recap State of Florida football.
Speaker 3: Again.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you finding us. You can find us on ex
and Twitter at JPO Sports. Also on YouTube, you can
find my video interview with coach Levitt at on YouTube
Jason Powers Sports Channel and again preciate you finding us.
Check out the UH Again check out the Powers on
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the live or on demand replays, and again appreciate you
finding us. Florida Football Insiders podcast part of the College
of Great Iron Coast to Coast podcast network. Have a
great week. Stay safe. Everybody affected by the storm. Just
know we're thinking about you. I had family members affected
by the storm big time here in the Tampa Bay area,
so I'm right here with you, and again, take care
of yourself. And coach Jim Levitt coming up in just
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back to the podcast. We are through five weeks of
the college football season. Things are starting to develop in
the big conferences. We got some great stories all around
the country with the naval academies and the service academies.
We've got some good storylines throughout the world of college football.
No better person to talk to than a guy who
has been in that world for a long long time,
former University of South Florida head coach Jim Levitt, all
time winning his coach at USF, been in a lot
of different places around the country. We'll be able to
get some great insight about what these coaches and coaching
staffs are thinking through five weeks and welcome back to
the podcast.
Speaker 4: Coach, Good morning boy. How about all this stuff going
on around here too. You gotta Hurntaine and uh, you
know we're kind of pulling out of that.
Speaker 3: But uh, football isn't great.
Speaker 4: I don't know, distraction, you know, And you said five weeks,
it's amazing. I remember when I was anticipating this season
and all of a sudden, now we're almost halfway through it.
Speaker 1: Crazy, somebody give give the adds a little perspective for
somebody that you obviously you you coached here a long
time and a lot of storms and things like that
now through during the football season. Talk about how that
affects you guys as a coaching staff, who all have
families obviously, kids who have parents at all live all
over the state of Florida. I mean, there's been a
lot of devastation in Florida and North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia
in the last week. Just talk about how that how
these kind of these scenarios and the storms really can
affect a football program.
Speaker 4: All right, huge, You know, I went through three or
four hurricanes. You can't practice, especially a South Florida. We
didn't have an indoor so we had you walk throughs
to an old gym and uh and then nobody you know,
then you play and it's it happened to me many times.
And and you're right, the players. You don't think about
the players and their families because most we didn't have
any money to recruit out of state.
Speaker 3: Fortunately we didn't have to.
Speaker 4: But my point is this, all the families are in Florida, right,
so all the hurricanes, obviously it's not like you have
not like you're in Tennessee and all your families just
different places. I mean, it's ah, it was a challenge
and then you know, trying to make sure there's paid
for that they're not distracted. And I don't blame them
to be distracted. I mean, your family is much more
important than a football game. And uh, I remember playing
and Southern Misprins. Southern mist was really good. They're not
real good right now, but they used to be really good,
right you know, say twenty five years ago, and.
Speaker 3: I remember having a we beat TCU.
Speaker 4: At TCU, we could not fly back because of a hurricane.
Speaker 3: We had to fly back on Tuesday, and we had
a game on a Thursday. We had one day.
Speaker 4: Of practice for the miss We lost that game. It
was a very close game, game down to the end.
But we won the game against TCU in double overtime
and we come back for one day of practice and
play again. It was wrong. I battled that whole thing.
But you know, TV.
Speaker 3: Takes precedence, right, you know, and money and all that.
Speaker 4: So it's a challenge, it really is, you know, you know,
I mean there's some games canceled. I saw app State
and then they canceled their game with Liberty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so East Tennessee got stranded in a bus trying
to go to the play the Citadel, and the Citadel
didn't want to move the game. And there were people
having to deliver waffle house to the East Tennessee kids
because they were stranded didn't get back. They couldn't get
back to East Tennessee. And just those kind of you
know stories that you hear are just you know, tough.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but you know what, just like when my mailbox
opened that morning after the storm and the mail was delivered,
We're like, mailman, we keep going right.
Speaker 3: I was shocked. I couldn't believe got garbageery where you have.
Speaker 4: People hers are on the streets giving away, Like we
talked about millions of dollars of furniture and here comes
the mail truck.
Speaker 3: Crazy.
Speaker 5: But football, it just keeps going on. All Yeah, life
goes on for all of us. We got to go
to school the next day, I gotta go to work.
We gotta coach football.
Speaker 1: Whatever it is, right, I mean, it's just it's it's
all right. Five weeks into the college football season, coach,
I know you watch a lot of games these first
five weeks. Give me a couple of themes or narratives
that you've kind of noticed some storylines, whether it's coaching
programs that you that have surprised. Give me a couple
of things that have caught your attention.
Speaker 4: Well, in the American Conference, you we brought up and
mals go to right now, Navy an Army. Why can't
Army or Navy make it into the twelve playoffs? I
think that would be awesome. I'd love to see Army
in there playing against you know whoever. You know it's Miami, Yeah,
you know, I mean it's gonna be I hope one
of those SURRS academies gets in there. And but you know,
the one thing that would help the other teams playing
Army or Navy, they would have more time to prepare.
Unless Willis Servis Academy won their first round and they
played the next week, then that would be a challenge,
right who ever had to play a service.
Speaker 3: Academy because you got to have time.
Speaker 4: You know, It's like when we I've played against Navy,
I played against Army, have been involved against those academies,
and you always have to work on them in the spring.
You have to cut out two or three days we're
working on that type of offense or you're gonna be
in trouble. And as a coordinator, you got to be
thinking about all the time and when you are gonna
play those teams the Sunday that you usually watched the
last game, you're probably not doing it right watching and
practicing right away, walk throughs over and over and over again,
the discipline and how you.
Speaker 3: Have to stop them. The same with the Georgia southerns.
Speaker 4: I played at Georgia Southers many times and as tame
kind offense, So that'll be interesting.
Speaker 3: As peul happened.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine that Army Navy game at the end
of the year, potentially for all the marbles if one
of those teams were you know, both of them were
ten and one or one of them was eleven and
zero for some reason, there was a potential playoff berth
on the line. Can you imagine that huge?
Speaker 3: And I was I love the coachos at Navy forever?
Can I end up?
Speaker 4: I don't know where he's coaching now, I forget, but
but bore of this new guy has got them going.
I mean, I'm telling you, uh, they're impressive and they're
throwing the ball, you know, like ten or twelve times
a game, which is a little bit more than two
or three. And it's all these wheel routes or these
race type routes off the play.
Speaker 3: Action, and it's it's a challenge. Boy.
Speaker 4: You got to see the releases. You got to make
sure the discipline of your secondary is is great, not good,
but great, because it's gonna happen. They're beating people in
these these type routes and vertical routes. It's never used
the intermediate routes. Sometimes you're going deep. They're going deep
for all the marbles. But yeah, how about an air
Force place Navy this week? So you've got to have
great respect for air Force.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: And those games are different, you know, they really are.
They're just the academy against academy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, that's right, it's it's it would be
a great story for sure. All right, talk about any
big cop. Give me a couple of big conference storylines
that have caught your attention, as far as a couple
of team like Indiana five and oh boy, they are
playing great. You know some of these teams and you
know you got old mis gits upset over the weekend
and the team and you know a guy you know
really well, Mark Stoops. They get they almost beat Georgia,
they get killed by Kentucky, and then they come back
and beat Ole Miss and Oxford.
Speaker 4: Whether they're Kentucky's playing really good defense, yes, and Mike's Stoops,
Mark's brother who is with US at Kansas State is
linebacker coach there. But they are playing really really good
defense and their decordinator is doing a good job with
it with his staff. And Mark's first college job was
in South Florida with me is my DV coach, and
uh so, uh, it's kind of neat to see him.
I congratulate all of them after the game, and of course,
you know, I went to Monte Kiffin's funeral, and you
know they got Chris and the youngest son of and Heidi,
the daughter in Lane. I know all them, and what
a great job they've done. Oh Miss all Miss got
amazing athletes. But Tucky's playing really good defense, and what
a what a great great win for Kentucky And uh yeah,
and then uh you talked about other big games like
Miami Virginia Tech.
Speaker 1: By the way, By the way, would would they have
had to put you in handcuffs after the overturned reversal
if you're the Tech coach.
Speaker 3: That to me, to me, that was so wrong.
Speaker 4: You know, Miami's playing great defense and Lance Goodry needs
needs to get a lot of respect for that. He
was my safety's coach at floor in Atlantic when we
were tenth in the country and defense and uh I
was there one year. But Lance doing a good job.
But Virginia Tech is a lot better than people thought
you were. The loss of Vanderbilt and they.
Speaker 1: Lost another game, Rutgers beat him.
Speaker 3: I think Rutgers is undefeated. How about that one?
Speaker 4: And but what a great what a good team Virginia Tech.
And I mean it's fourth and three and Miami throws
the ball on a drive that they have to they
have to score. The receiver falls down, right, I do
you remember the play? Yeah, and the ball happens to
go into his.
Speaker 1: Hands, right, unbelievable catch.
Speaker 3: I mean the game's over. Yes, on that play. To me,
that was almost bigger than any of it.
Speaker 4: Yes, But then but then you go to the last
play and no matter what the decision is and what
they call on the field, they called it a touchdown
for them to overturn.
Speaker 3: That is sick, right, I mean I watched.
Speaker 4: If they're even eighty percent sure the ball was not possessed,
that's not one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: And if I'm going right by the rule, it has
got to be one hundred percent sure. And I don't
think anybody thought it was. And I got believe that
they're at Miami, they're worried about the fans.
Speaker 1: I don't know, and you and I'll say this coach,
and nobody will ever admit this ever publicly, the acc
knowing that they're they're they're gonna they need Miami to
be in the hunt for the national title. And I
hate to say that, but a call like that keeps
Miami in the hunt from the national title. You know,
in the a SEC relevant.
Speaker 4: You gotta wonder about conspiracies, you know, I mean, you gotta,
you gotta really wonder about stuff. I mean, it's worth
millions and millions of dollars because they can see there's
no other team other than Virginia Tech of Miami.
Speaker 1: Virginia maybe Clemson, but but Miami.
Speaker 3: Quarterback.
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, I agree. I whatever it was, I I
was shocked. I watched that game. I was shocked, and
I felt really bad for Virginia Tech.
Speaker 3: I mean, really that was I thought they outplayed them.
And again, you know, I thought they were the better
team that night. And and then you know, I.
Speaker 4: As a quarterback of Miami, I mean, how fortunate for them.
The story is crazy. From what I'm told, Cam was
being recruited by forced State, right and just tried to
go in the draft. So Florida State took umalay right,
and I heard paid him a bunch of money, a
bunch of money.
Speaker 3: And then Cam decides not to go to the NFL.
Miami gets him. Florida State might be undefeated they had Cam,
how big that is.
Speaker 4: But what disappointed me a little bit about Cam was
when he came out in TV and stead he was
the best player in the country.
Speaker 3: An interview. And I'm sure he's a good kid. I'm
sure he is, but making that statement, I.
Speaker 4: Would videotape that, and I guarantee you every defense that
I'm with, I'm playing that videotape all week long, right,
because he is their offense to me. I know they
got great receivers. I know they got running back, so
they got a good old line, but they ain't gonna
move like it moves right now without that guy. And
what Virginia Tech did, which I thought. I talked to even.
Speaker 3: South Florida a couple of defense coaches.
Speaker 4: So you got to find a way to get pressure
on Cam and it's gotta be early and you got
to hit him or or if he's got comfort in
that pocket, you're gonna struggle.
Speaker 3: And Califorida never did. And it's because keevinman protection.
Speaker 4: And if that happens, you're gonna have to stoff in
your corners and bring an extra guy and you may
be in zero coverage once in a while, but you
gotta get a free runner on a quarterback.
Speaker 3: And if that's what it takes, that's what it takes.
And you know that I thought was a big mistake,
you know.
Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, you might give out the big play,
but I don't know if you're gonna beat Miami if
you don't get that quarterback. At Virginia Tech, did they
hit him.
Speaker 3: They hit him and moved him and made him feel uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: No doubt, no doubt. Talk about the importance again to me.
One of the storylines is transfers and the evaluation of
transfers Camard cam Ward at Miami great great acquisition. Djuw
at Florida State turned out not to be a very
good acquisition. Auburn's had some quarterback issues in the transfer portal,
they can't find a quarterback. Just talk about the world
of of the portal and the and the importance of
coaching staffs making good evaluations of these players, especially at
the quarterback position.
Speaker 4: Well, you know what I find that's interesting is, uh,
nobody realized there's a learning curve. And you know, I
don't know if it affects DJ or now if Florida State,
because he's got a great arm, he's a big guy,
but I don't know how well.
Speaker 3: He's processed the different systems.
Speaker 4: Remember he here a transferred from Clemson to Oregon State,
and Oregon State did a decent job. But Oregon State's
offense is all about running the ball and the two
tight ends and those things.
Speaker 3: And now he goes to.
Speaker 4: Florida State where there they've got such great receivers, spread
out the receivers and go to work. But there's a
learning curve there, and I wonder how much that's affected
at the most important position on your team, at quarterback. Now,
Cam has played started in forty eight to forty nine games.
He also is a double transfer. He went from one
school to Washington State to Miami. But I think the
systems at Miami and the offensive coordinator are very similar
to what I was at Washington State. I don't know
for sure they're not there, but I wonder a question
you have to ask yourself, and.
Speaker 3: It's a big deal.
Speaker 4: When you evaluate quarterbacks, you gotta evaluate them very different
than all other positions because of grabbing Ahold of the
of the offense. I watched Miami Dolphins play last night
and got worked by the Titans, and I kept hearing
the comments at the quarterback at Miami has only been
there two weeks hunting, and he kept and he looked
like he really struggled with learning and knowing everything. Because
in the NFL, especially, you've got that much more going on.
So why wouldn't that be the same for college?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 4: I mean, and here in the NFL, you don't have
to go to class, right, you got them all day.
Because when I was for the forty nine ers, I'll
promise you I picked up some linebackers that I had
to get ready in four days and We were there
till one thirty two in the morning every night with
these because there's no excuses. You gotta get him. Ready,
how much more quarterback who runs the entire offense has
got to learn, you know.
Speaker 3: So that's a big deal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about it all. Right, next topic, I
going to get your thought on. Obviously, you saw the
situation at UNLV where a quarterback left the program three
oh four to zero. The coach he was, you know,
promised allegedly, hey, they're gonna pay me X number of
dollars by an assistant coach didn't follow through, and he
leaves the program. The starting quarterback top twenty five or
eted team Barry Otam. There's the coach out there. How
would you I mean, obviously as the head coach, I'm
sure there was discussions with the kid behind the scenes.
How do you handle that? I mean, and the reason
he did it last week was because that was the
last week he could leave and retain his red shirt year.
How do you handle that? As far as the coach?
And I mean, what point do you just say get
lost or at what point do you try to keep him?
How do you handle a situation like that?
Speaker 4: Well, obviously something was very was incredibly done wrong in
the process. You know, I don't you know, we none
of us know the full story, and it may never
get disclosed. But why wasn't their contract signed? Why why
was it just verbal? And who makes this verbal promise?
And who has the power to make that verbal promise
except the head coach. So if I assisted on my
staff that did that without me knowing about it, that
that relationship might end because that's just not You can't
do that to people.
Speaker 3: And now and the quarterback, why.
Speaker 4: Did he if he got recruited by other people, he's
got leverage, give me a contract, I'll.
Speaker 3: Sign and I'll come there, right, Why in the world
didn't he do that?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 4: You know, that makes no sense. And so it makes
no sense from either party. And now you're in that
situation where it all happens. Barry Odam, who I know,
Barry Odam went to Missouri like I did. In fact,
they congratulated Barry the week before in a game, a
big game that they won, just because I thought they
were doing a great job. I was interviewing for the
head job of you UNLV a long time ago, and
I always thought UNLV could win if they got the
right head coach. However, what's happened in UNLV is now
they got a stadium also, and so you got and
like Raymond James, that was the number one recruiting tool
that I had in South Florida.
Speaker 3: Well now you UNLV.
Speaker 4: They got a great city, they got attractions, and you
got a stadium to recruit to. Right, So that's a
side note, But they're undefeated. The other quarterback came in, Yeah,
against Presno.
Speaker 3: They beat the dog out of them.
Speaker 4: And Barry is a very emotional guy, and Barry is
is can speak, and he got those players to rally
around that whole thing. He used it to rally the troops.
I don't blame the player though, even after three games.
So also, even though you love your teammates, it's about
your life as well. It's just like these players that
don't play these bowl games that are going to be
first round draft picks. Everybody would always yell at him,
and I used to because I'm old school man. Your
team is more important anything, not anymore, not when you're
talking about millions of dollars and maybe having an HCl tair, right,
And I've seen it happen, so many times. In other words,
you gotta look at your own life in some situations. Sure,
so I don't blame him for leaving, and who's.
Speaker 3: To stay UNLV. What I'd be concerned about you and
LV is maybe not the quarterback they got right.
Speaker 1: Now, But what if this one gets hurt the next
you have a third guy? Do you have a third?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 4: And so we'll see how it all plays out. But
good for U n LV for winning, Good for this
kid for doing what he did. I don't have I
don't have ill feelings towards any of it.
Speaker 3: And I understand why it all happen.
Speaker 1: And it's just wild West coach. There's no rules, there's nothing.
Speaker 3: That's the people always have contracts.
Speaker 4: Well that's you know, you and LVD be a little
different probably that level maybe, but uh, you know you're Florida, Alabama.
They're all they're all laced up with contracts, right. You
know you know that these these they got too many
people watching them, so you know that's happening. Uh, you know,
I don't like any of this stuff. I think it's
just really I mean, the viewership is still great, obviously,
you got great games, but.
Speaker 3: I think years from now, we'll see a real disservice
to the players.
Speaker 4: Uh, how well, I'm not real sure yet, but just
something seems wrong with this whole picture.
Speaker 1: Yeah. To me, it's wild and crazy out there, man
with flowing and you know, all right, let's get to
the Alabama Georgia game. What are you thinking three minutes
into the second quarter when it's twenty eight to nothing, Alabama?
Can you believe that? You know?
Speaker 3: This is interesting? You know you what are your priorities?
Watching football?
Speaker 4: Are going to pick up your daughter at Bush Gardens
with guava wan or whatever they call that. My daughter
calls me, I'm in the middle of the game. I
see you at halftime. I say, okay, I'll come pick.
Speaker 3: Up at halftime.
Speaker 4: I had to drive all the way up there, and
I'm racing to get back because I want to see
the end of the game.
Speaker 3: I get back with a minute forty to go. Shocked.
Speaker 4: Alabama was having their way with Georgia. Georgia's quarterback looked
like he was completely lost. He was hit a number
of times, his rhythm was off. I don't know what
happened at halftime. I didn't see the third quarter, but
I want to tell you something you talk about the
foundation of Georgia and what they have built there, their
never never, never ever give up and he rallied the
troops today must have come back and stormed back and
Alabama probably human nature is not over till it's over.
I get back and George is driving to win the
going overtime at least or go for two to win
the game.
Speaker 1: Georgia was winning with two minutes to go.
Speaker 4: They were up one point with two minutes touchdown drive.
Speaker 3: Alabama drove, didn't They one.
Speaker 1: Play seventy five yard touchdown one play after Georgia took
the lead by one point with two minutes to go.
Speaker 4: I saw the replay of that play, but I'm sitting
there on watching the screen. I had like six girls
in his house and I told them all, go somewhere,
don't bother me.
Speaker 3: I gotta watch this, and I could. I could not believe.
Speaker 1: When you're when you're in a game like that, whether
you're the team that's up by a bunch or the
team that's way behind and you're making that run. Talk
about the momentum that just goes through the sideline both
ways good and bad. When you see the tide turning like.
Speaker 4: That I've been in both situations and I I've almost
tried to will either either way for things to happen,
almost training trying to will it to happen. Sometimes you
can create that on defense with pressure or doing something different.
Speaker 3: You've got to somebody's got to make a play.
Speaker 4: You've got to get you gotta get it back going,
you gotta find a way or in kicking game. But
I've been on the other side where team's coming back
and it's like you can't almost stop them.
Speaker 1: You play them, and you coach not to lose and
said to try to win the game. Unfortunately, right, it's
it's hard.
Speaker 4: And when that emotion momentum swings, you got to count
on the leadership on the field. You gotta and you
gotta count somebody making a play. And it's it could
be the most brusttrating situation ever per coach ever. You
just and then it affects most times, right, you know,
defense not playing good than the offense three and out,
you know, and it's it's everybody goes through it. It's
really hard. It's the most press stream position there is.
And I know you know this trains coach well. The
guy over Steez all. The right hand man to the
coach at Alabama was r Is Ronny Mcckeifhley was my
strength coach for nine years of south portal right, and
uh I saw him even straining on the sideline. You know,
when a game gets over and you win a game
like that, you're.
Speaker 3: Just thank God. Something happens, you know, and you become
a very committed Christian.
Speaker 1: You're going to church and Sunday morning for sure.
Speaker 3: That I'm telling you.
Speaker 4: I'm telling you it's it's that's that's why so many
people watch this game and why there's the TV audience
is so strong and people get glued to their TV
and almost live their life to it sometimes, which is sad,
but it's it's all the emotions you can imagine.
Speaker 3: You know, it's hard.
Speaker 1: All right, a couple more things. I'll get you out
of here. Give me a thought about the about the
How surprised were you that, you know, everybody's putting Dion
in the grave and all of a sudden they come
down to Central Florida and they just smack U c
F in a game that everybody thought was gonna win.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that surprised me, That really did, because you know,
the way Central Florida came back on TCU and won
that game, and then they had a week.
Speaker 3: To prepare for Central Florida. Sometimes those weeks, you know something, guys,
I don't really like an off week.
Speaker 4: If you win big, you want to keep playing. The
one good thing about the bye week is you can
get people healthy. But obviously Central Florida lost her edge,
and a quarterback I did not think played very well
at all. And when he was at Arkansas, that's why
I noticed about him. He was very up and down
when he's on. He was really good when he was
and he won, and.
Speaker 3: But I was very surprised by how that game turned out.
Speaker 4: You know, the quarterback, obviously Coloradody and Sunshore is a
really good player.
Speaker 3: Obviously the Hunter is a really good player.
Speaker 4: But a couple of other players played out of their
minds too, and a couple of them transferred there from South.
Speaker 1: Florida, Jimmy Horn and yeah, and you know, there.
Speaker 3: Are probably a lot of kids in that team.
Speaker 4: Of course, Dean's from Florida, and there was probably a
lot of momentum on the Colorado team coming to the
state of Florida and playing well and winning that game. Yeah,
you know, Uh, I would imagine, but they played well.
Their defense got the top when they needed to. Because
their defense hasn't played very well. But they played good enough.
It's gonna be interesting. So now all of a sudden,
that's Dion's.
Speaker 3: Back on top. People.
Speaker 4: You're right when people were kind of writing them off.
But maybe you'll get right off next week if they
lose again. They got some tough teams ahead.
Speaker 3: Uh, but I don't know. They got a little bit
of momentum right now.
Speaker 1: All right, last two, I'll get you last two, all right? Florida, Auburn,
A couple of other places coaching dilemmas, hot seats. Things
are getting turned up with with the with the you know,
coaching situation. How do you handle that? If you're on
the staff, you know things are you know, and you
know it's a tough situation. You you gotta win games.
You're not winning games yet. How do you handle that
at mid season knowing the heat on? You know?
Speaker 4: Fortunately, I coached for forty two years and I'm proud
to say I've never been in that.
Speaker 3: Situation, which is amazing.
Speaker 4: I've never been in a situation where you kind of
felt like you're gonna get fired.
Speaker 3: And I would not change any for me. I mean,
mainly or emotionally.
Speaker 1: I know that.
Speaker 3: And you know you care about your players, and you
care about that senior class. Sure, that's what's really hard.
Speaker 4: You think about the senior class of Florida and they're
looking at their schedule ahead. You know, they're talking and
you know, and that stuffs around that program and it
is a distraction. It was a little bit distraction SMU
when Conny Dykes picked the tcpu job and it got
out three weeks before the end. And in fact, Alaska
me its tolls for the wide receivers one playing for
the Yes, you know, those those guys didn't come out
at halftime the second half of COLSA game.
Speaker 3: Wow. So that was hard.
Speaker 4: And then I was the interim head coach for SMU
when we were supposed to play in Boston. Then Benway
Ball against Virginia and uh uh, and you know that's
always hard.
Speaker 3: So I kind of, you know, I can understand.
Speaker 4: A little bit from that standpoin because a lot of
those teachers didn't want to play the game to the NFL, right,
and Virginia had a very good team. So when Virginia
called to cancel the game because of COVID. The day
we were flying out, I became and I told the
A d rick Hart. After they beat PCU, we were texting.
I said, you know, I'm the.
Speaker 3: All time unblemished head coach in SMU history.
Speaker 4: Want to know and he said, he said, absolutely you are,
because we didn't cancel the game, Virginia did.
Speaker 3: So it's a very difficult situation.
Speaker 4: And uh, you all you could do is when you
face that adversity, it's just keep keep blinders on and
keep focused and do whatever you can for your seniors
because to me, that's how you can rally.
Speaker 3: The players, because the players are gonna care about those seniors,
you hope, right, And that's how you find motivation. To me,
that's your only way.
Speaker 4: To me, and I you know, I lean. I would
lean on the seniors because you know they want to win. Still,
it's her last year that a lot of those guys
will ever played football, right the Auburn I know Hugh
very well. I interviewed with you twice for the defense
coordinator job at ole Miss when he was there, and
in fact I had an opportraity to go to a Miss.
I ended up a long story, but I ended up
going to Oregon instead.
Speaker 3: I like you.
Speaker 4: I know he went through a lot of different things
when he left Ole Miss and all that stuff, but
I like him and I.
Speaker 3: Think he's a good man.
Speaker 4: And now they got the other quarterback and they had
Oklahoma be Yeah and Brent Venables.
Speaker 3: Played for me. Yeah, that was my GA for three years.
Speaker 4: So I'm watching that game knowing both people. And Oklahoma
did a great job on defense, getting the pressure on
a quarterback, on a young quarterback, and that quarterback will
be pretty good.
Speaker 3: He's ficy, might be a little bit of Bo Dick,
you know who. They had overn but I.
Speaker 4: I think hughle whether it's throwing this year, it's gonna
be hard for Auburn to go in there and move
a guy out right away. But it's Auburn, and you know,
but he's a good coach and I believe. But they
spc's tough schedule. Boy, that's really tough.
Speaker 1: Last thing I'll get you out to give me a thought.
Your your guy, Patrick Willis goes into the Hall of
Fame this summer for the forty nine ers. I know
you coached him for multiple years. Super Bowl, Just give
me a thought or two about Pat Willis.
Speaker 3: I was there.
Speaker 4: I know, Pat invited me there, and I brought my
oldest daughter, Sophia with me, and we had a great time.
Speaker 3: I was like a little kid.
Speaker 4: I mean, I you know, I sitting next to me,
and Joe Green, Michael Jordan was right up there sitting
in a row above right next to us. I mean,
all the who's who who were there, and I had
never been to Camp flew into Cleveland, I drove down
to Akron. We stayed at Marriott and Akron, which was about,
you know, twenty minutes from Canton, and went to the
Gold Jacket dinner.
Speaker 3: Which was so cool.
Speaker 4: They had more inductees at at dinner than they have
in the history. They had one hundred of the guys there.
And Dian was there.
Speaker 3: Game showed up and it was unreal. Saw Jim Harball
flew in. My daughter had a fishure with.
Speaker 4: Him and with Patrick and Navarro Bowman, who's a linebacker
coach with the Chargers. Now, of course, my oldest daughter
loves Justin Herbert because you know, I was able to
coach him at Oregon and and Herbert sent Sophia one
of his jerseys, which really neat, but it was overwhelming.
Speaker 3: We had a huge party afterwards. It was surreal. I
was there four.
Speaker 4: Days and I'm so proud of Pat. He is such
a such a special guy, and we've always stated touch.
I was so proud of him. And you know, it
was really really neat. It was a really neat deal,
very powerful, very very neat, so very cool.
Speaker 1: You should be proud. Oh yeah, I'm accomplishing.
Speaker 3: It was a neat deal.
Speaker 1: Well, coach Jim Levitt, great work. We will catch up
as we get to the home stretch of the regular
season here in a few weeks. Keep up the uh
stay safe down here in Tampa. I know you had
a couple couple issues with the store, so I hope
all that works out. Everything. Appreciate the time, and we'll
be in touch rule soon.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, all right, talk later, all right, Mike.
Speaker 1: If you have any buying or selling real estate needs
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estate buying and selling needs. Thanks for listening to the
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