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Speaker 3: A look at college football news, analysis and insight from
around the Sunshine State. This is Florida Football Insiders, a
part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast Podcast Network,
and here's your host, Jason Powers.
Speaker 4: Welcome in the latest edition of the Florida Football Insiders podcast.
We have reached week five of the college football season.
Late September is here on the calendar. I'm your host,
Jason down in Tampa. Appreciate you finding us part of
the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network feed. Definitely
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Speaker 2: Will even sprinkling a little NFL.
Speaker 4: With the Bucks, Jags, and Dolphins as well as we
head the week five. Hard to believe we're already at
Week five, last Saturday in September. As we head to October,
we've got some big matchups. This is a huge weekend
on the college football slate. Not a huge weekend here
in the State of Florida, but a huge weekend nationwide.
You've got Alabama and Georgia, you got Penn State and Oregon.
You've got But we do have a huge matchup potentially
next weekend here in the state of Florida that we'll
get to here in just a minute. But let's give
you a quick little recap and little preview. No guests
this week, so we're just gonna make this short and
sweet and give you a quick recap. We got three
teams on buys this week. We got USF coming off
their win over South Carolina State, we got Florida coming
off the loss at Miami, and then we got Miami
coming off the win against Florida. All three of those
teams will be on buys this week, So no game
for them, but we will again we will preview.
Speaker 2: Who they have.
Speaker 4: Next, and we'll also give you a little quick recap,
a couple news and notes nuggets. Obviously, the Gators fall
to one in three. That's kind of the story around
the south east of the state of Florida. What is
the fate of Billy Napier. Remember, they do have a
second by later in the year, prior to the Georgia game,
And for me, this would probably be the spot if
Florida was gonna make a change in season, that will
probably be where it happens at is probably in that
bye week leading into the Georgia game. If things continue
to to not get much better up in Gainesville with
Billy Napier in that staff. Again, just an inept performance
offensively last week in Miami in hard Rock. The defense
was very admirable, again like they weren't in Batson Rouge
the week before, but that offense just unable to get
anything moving. Whether it's play calling, whether it's players, whether
it's scheme, whatever it is, the offense is just very
very plotting, tough to get any any consistent movement on drives.
And again they lose twenty six to nine in hard
Rock to the Miami Hurricanes. Again, had they got blown out,
you could make an argument that they could have made
a move over the weekend. But again they fought hard,
they played, They played hard again. Seventh six point game
going to the fourth courting was thirteen to seven going
to the four, thirteen to six going to the fourth set,
thirteen to seven going to the fourth quarter. Just a
tough Again, give the defense credit. They played well, They
contained Carson Beck, they kept that Miami offense at bay
for the most part on the evening. They were missing
a couple of defensive linemen as well, the Gators were,
and again full credit to that Florida defense for hanging
in there and playing playing, playing tough with just just
when you're on the field the whole game and the
offense is not helping. It's just very, very difficult to
contain a team that is as explosive as the Miami
Hurricanes are. And they finally the dam finally broke there
in the fourth quarter. Mark Fletcher for the Hurricanes ran
for hundred and sixteen yards in a touchdown twenty four carries.
Again with the Canes, you just see the consistency of
the offensive and defensive lines. That defensive line for Miami
is probably the best defensive line in the country. Rubin
Bain and company. That defense just athletes all over the place.
They're tacklers, they're making tackles, They're not having blown coverage.
Corey Heatherman, the new DC from Minnesota that came over
from Minnesota, doing a tremendous job complimenting what that Miami
offense is doing. Again, Carson Beck was not great in
the game. I think he only threw about one hundred
and sixty yards, but he was consistent, he was solid.
Didn't kill him with it with the horrific turnover. It
was just, you know, just ran the offense. And again
the Florida defense is really good, so give them credit,
and they just grinded out a twenty six to nine win.
Speaker 2: Again, Florida bye.
Speaker 4: Week has Texas next week in Gainesville against Is again
another another big opportunity for Napier. Again, you got arch
Manning coming in not you know, he's gotten it turned
around a little bit the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: But again this is.
Speaker 4: A game that Florida can be in the game. But
again you're gonna be up against another really really good
defense in Texas. They've got to figure out a way
to get DJ Lagway unleashed a little bit.
Speaker 2: And whether it's the.
Speaker 4: Play calling, whether it's the just the movement. Again, rumors
are that he's in a walking boot this week, So
who knows what that means potentially for the for uh
for for the Texas game, Tremmel Jones the backup quarterback,
there's some there's some rumblings that people want to see
him play a little bit. I don't know if Napier
Will I cannot imagine Napier benching uh. DJ Lagway who
he's who, He's tied the wagon to uh going into
this offseason, so I have a hard time believing that.
But if, but if Lagway continues to play poorly in
the game, I could see potentially Tremmell Jones getting some
snaps a series here and there in that game to
see if they can provide a spark in the game.
So uh again, murderers row schedule. You got Texas at home,
you go to Texas A and M. You still have
Georgia Tennessee. You got Florida State on the schedule instead,
just a brutal, brutal run here between now and the
end of the year. Again, my thought is, my prediction
would be, if a move is gonna be made, it's
gonna be made after the during the second bye week
that gives Florida, will give Florida about three weeks to
start their search and.
Speaker 2: All that stuff.
Speaker 4: If if, if, if, truly if they're gonna make the
move again, if they were to get blown out by
Texas at home following the bye week, could you see
Florida making a move there?
Speaker 2: You probably could with knowing they got to go on
the road.
Speaker 4: Uh, But I have a feeling they won't get blown
out by Texas. But we shall say to me, it's
a lot of it will depend on the continued effort
in the locker room. If they give up on Billy Napier,
they get again, they get blown out by somebody really bad,
and then that definitely will speed up the process of
Napier getting fired.
Speaker 2: But doesn't look good for Billy. I hate to say that. Uh.
Speaker 4: We talked to a couple. We talked to Steve Russell
at w r U f UP in Gainesville. It's part
of my my press box radio duties. And you know, nice,
super nice guy as far as off the field for
Billy Napier. But again, the on field performance and the
play calling in the in the in the crew activity
on offense just hasn't been there. Lagway has not played
as well obviously that he did last year. So you
gotta figure it out. Run the ball, Florida. You've got
good running backs. Give Jaden Ball twenty carries and let's
see what he can do. Stop the rotation. So much
of the rotation with your Corey Jackson. Give Jaden Ball
twenty carries. That's how you're gonna potentially beat Texas is
grind one out. You're not gonna out score Texas. I
don't think this is gonna be a game. If you're
gonna beat Texas, it's gonna be twenty to seventeen kind
of game, I think. So you gotta maximize your running backs,
in your running back talent. So again for the Canes
off this week, got the showdown potentially next Saturday night
in Tallahassee. I think that's gonna be a Herb Street
and Fowler game. You're probably gonna see game Day in
Tallahassee next week, barring a calamity by the Seminoles, but
I still think you're gonna see again. It's gonna be
the primetime game next Saturday night. Seven point thirty will
be an electric atmosphere in dope Campbell Stadium, kind of
like the old days in the nineties when I was there.
Speaker 2: So again, give.
Speaker 4: Give Miami and Christa Baul full credit that they've done
what they've got to do there. The offensive lines of
scrimmage have been tremendous so far. The skilled players are
getting better and better each week. Carson Beck, like I
told you in the first week of this podcast, he
does not have to be an All American for them
to be really good. Just play really good foot play
good football, let your let the team win the games.
Carson Beck does not need to win the game by
throwing for three hundred and fifty yards. He's got plenty
of talent around him. Remember their schedule, no no Clemson,
no Georgia Tech.
Speaker 2: That so that helps.
Speaker 4: I know Clemson's not not doing well this year at
one and three, but still you have a very favorable schedule.
You're gonna be favored in every game you play this year,
outside of potentially the Florida State game, which will be
a no more than a two to three point game
point spread game either way, but every other game on
the schedule, you'll be a heavy favorite in So the
balls in Miami's court to go to go to the
ACC title game. This could be a preview of a rematch,
potentially a Florida State Miami in the title game. How
cool will that be? For the first time in forever?
Would they play a second time potentially with the winner
obviously going to the College Football Playoff in the second
and potentially both teams could potentially be going to the
college football Playoff. But all right, next Saturday night Tallahassee.
We'll preview that game heavily next week on the Florida
Football Insiders podcast. We won't, but yes, that's that's the
state of affairs in Gainesville and Miami. Let's go to
UCF an emphatic, an emphatic thirty four to nine win
over Bill Belichick in the Carolina Tar Heels. I did
not expect it to be that dominant. Give give Scott
Frost credit. Scot UCF moves to three to oh Traveon
Travan Jackson threw for two twenty three in a touchdown,
ran for another fifty or sixty yards. Very very impressive
performance by UCF. Again, North Carolina is not very good,
but give give u UCF credit. They took care of business.
They were opportunistic when when when when the scenario presented
itself and they beat down a bad Bill Belichick North
Carolina team UCF heads to on the road start Big
twelve play at Kansas State, who's one in three again,
be careful here, this is a tricky spot Kansas State.
A lot of people thought it was gonna be really good.
They've struggled out the gate. UCF again three and Ozero
heads on the road to Manhattan, Kansas. I think it's
a twelve o'clock kickoff on Saturday, so Big Twelve Conference
play begins. It'd be a good test for UCF to
see where they're at. Most people thought u CF would
be the bottom two or three of that conference. So
we will see if if UCF can keep up the
good play through into into their fourth game of the
year here in Manhattan. So I'd be I'd be little.
I think Kansas State will probably win the game personally,
but but again give Scott from in the Knight's credit.
They've played well through three games, and again in very
emphatic thirty four to nine win over Bill Belichick in
North Carolina.
Speaker 2: South Florida goes to three and one.
Speaker 4: They beat down South Carolina State sixty three fourteen last
Saturday at Raymond James. Not much to talk about here.
USF's on a bye three and one, going into the
by home to Charlotte following following Friday night to start
their American Conference play.
Speaker 2: Again, if you use USF.
Speaker 4: With what Memphis is doing, keep you have to keep
the pedal to the medal here. You can maybe afford
one more loss, but you can't be losing games in
the conference that you're not supposed to lose. USF will
be favored in most of their games. They do go
to Memphis, which will be a really good game. Remember
Memphis beat Arkansas last week, so they're undefeated. So the road,
they've got a couple bumps in the road. If you're
us have to get to a potential playoff berth in
a conference title game. But again, the opportunity is right
in front of you if you're Alex go Ulsh and
the Bulls utilize this bye week to get healthy to
find two and a couple of things. But again, great
start for the Bulls.
Speaker 2: Three and one.
Speaker 4: You win at Florida, you play, you know, you lose
in Miami. You need Florida to win a couple of
games here to make that Florida win a little better.
But I think you're still in a really good spot
here if you can, if you can run the table
and again get to that Memphis game with only that
one loss, I think that'll be a great, great game.
You'll get some national attention at that and during that
game as well. So again, keep doing what you're doing
for USF. Got to be able to run the ball better.
Uh that That's one thing they've struggled with the first
four weeks is running the ball. Got to get that
running game better. Got to get Byron Brown a little
bit better on the completion percentage. But I like where
USF's at, especially defensively. Uh, Todd Orlando's done a really
good job getting that defense structured in organized. So three
and one USF off this week, Charlotte at home next
Friday night. Florida State three and oh beats beat down
Kent State over the weekend. Again, not much to talk
about there. They took care of business. Uh, you have
a tricky Friday night game this week at Virginia opens
up acc play. Virginia comes in three and one, they've
scored a lot of points. Again, this has always been
a tricky spot for Florida State. They've they've had issues
over the years up in Charlottesville. I remember back in
the mid nineties, remember that famous Thursday night game where
Virginia beat Florida State with Tiki and Rendez Barber on
the Thursday night game the first time you had the
FS you had ever lost in the conference. So keep
that in mind there. But it's you know, that'll be
a raucous crowd on a Friday night. Again, if you're
Florida State, if you're if you if you've proved, you're
proving to everybody week by week that you're organized, you're disciplined,
you're accountable. This is this is a great test again.
You have a massive game ahead, potentially ahead next week
at home against Miami. You cannot look ahead here. You've
got to go to Charlottesville take care of business. Castellanos
and you know obviously Norvellen Company, you gotta take care
business up in Charlottesville this Friday night and not mess
around you're the better team here. But again, Tony Elliott's
getting it together at Virginia.
Speaker 2: A little bit.
Speaker 4: They're scoring points again, that defense, Tony White's defense. You
gotta you gotta buckle down and take care of business
and and just put in a professional performance and go
beat Virginia on the road like you should. To set
up the monster Classic Florida State Miami game next Saturday
night in Doe Campbell again will be the ABC primetime game.
Fowler and Herbstreet will be there and all that. So
take care of business, seminoles, don't mess around. Short week
this week, so you had you got to play plenty
of guys last week, so everybody should be there, should
be no fatigue.
Speaker 2: Issues and all that.
Speaker 4: And I'm sure they were probably already doing some game
planning on Virginia last week as well. I would imagine,
so Florida State again three and zero heads Charlottesville Friday
night for their ACC opener. All right, last two games
that involves the two teams that played each other last week.
F IU FAU FIU wins thirty eight twenty eight. Keon Owens,
the running back for FIU, runs for one hundred and
seventy three yards and two scores of great performance. The
Panthers moved to two and one on the year again
thirty eight twenty eight over FAU. FAU was led by
Veldcamp to quarterback through for three forty three and two touchdowns,
but he did throw three picks. Jamari Sans runs for
another one hundred and five yards on the ground for
FAU as they moved to as they go to as
they fall to one.
Speaker 2: And two the Owls.
Speaker 4: So a nice little in state rivalry as both teams
will open up conference play this week. Give me one
second here, FIU will play. They are They're gonna be
off this week as well, so f IU has got
a bye week this week as well.
Speaker 2: They go to Yukon and Jim Moore. Go see Jim
Moore and Yukon.
Speaker 4: Next week on the road, FAU will be hosting Memphis,
a tricky game for Memphis. Be careful here if you're
Memphis because coming off the huge win against Arkansas, they
head down to Boca to see a serviceable FAU Owls
team and a Veldt Camp can be a factor there.
But again, a great opportunity for Willie Simmons and company.
I'm sorry it's not Willie Simmons. See who the FAU
coach is.
Speaker 2: Am I.
Speaker 4: Great opportunity there to to have a American Conference opener here.
Speaker 2: Seven o'clock Saturday night.
Speaker 4: The Memphis Tigers come to town in an American Conference game,
so we I'll see.
Speaker 2: If FA you could pull the ups.
Speaker 4: I think Memphis is about a thirteen to fourteen point
favorite as well, So again, a great opportunity for the
Alls to get off off to a great start in
the schedule beating a conference foe.
Speaker 2: Here in Memphis.
Speaker 4: So all right, there's your previews, there's your recaps again.
Several teams off this week. Most everybody is half the
conference half the Florida teams are all four out of
the seven are not playing.
Speaker 2: But you do have a couple of decent games.
Speaker 4: Florida State at Virginia, you got UCF at Kansas State.
But again, the showdown game is next week in Tallahassee.
The Seminoles and the Hurricanes again should be a top
five matchup at Florida State can take care of business
in Charlottesville, will be the game of the week around
the country next week, and we will have it covered
for you in full Florida Football Insiders podcast. We will
have a guest for you as well to preview the
game again back to the classic rivalry of the nineties.
If we can get there with Florida State Miami back
where that rivalry should be, so good for both those programs,
for stabilizing and getting this rivalry back where it needs
to be. So again, appreciate you finding us on Florida
football in the Sider's podcast. Reach Out to me on
x and Twitter at JPO Sports. One other note, I
want to mention if you didn't see the news the
charges against If you remember a couple of weeks about
a month ago, coach Jim Levitt, the former USF coach,
has was charged with got an altercation and was charged criminally.
Those charges have been dropped. Coach Levitt was scheduled to
go into the USF Hall of Fame or in early October.
That has been delayed. That's not going to happen this year. Remember,
USF just hired a new athletics director, Rob Higgins, who
was a part of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission here
in the Tampa Bay area. He was hired to be
the new CEO of USF Athletics. Rob Higgins and Jim
Levitt did have a discussion in the last week or
so and it was determined that they are not going
to put coach Levitt in the in the USF Hall
of Fame this year.
Speaker 2: They did not rule out him going into.
Speaker 4: The Hall of Fame in future years, but it's not
going to happen this year, and that's probably the right
decision based on the circumstances of what's going on. But again,
hopefully coach Levitt does get into the USF Hall of
Fame for his accomplished accomplishments on the field. Again, there's
a storied history with coach Levitt in the USF program.
Speaker 2: We know that.
Speaker 4: But again we will see where that goes moving forward.
So there's your little bit of off field news as
far as USF and coach Jim Levitt goes. So all right, again,
appreciate you finding US College grid Iron Coast to Coast
podcast network feed at JPO Sports. Love to hear your
comments and any any chatter you'd love to love to
have concerning the podcast. Again, we'll be here every single
week throughout the college football season to recap and preview
future games.
Speaker 2: Get it.
Speaker 4: Let's give you a quick little NFL update. The cardiac
kids down here in Tampa continue to do it. The
Buccaneers go to three and oh beat the New York
Jets over the weekend. Baker Mayfield leads yet another last
minute drive to kick a game winning field goal. Bucks
blew a big lead block field goal by the Jets
run back, but then Baker Mayfield leads them down. Chase
mcglofill kicks a game winner at the horn. Give a
shout out to my guy TJ. Reeves for doing a
great call. Great job on the call. He had to
substitute for Gene Deckerhoff. Jean was ill over the weekend
and we're not able to not not able to make
the trip to Tampa to do the game, so TJ.
Valiantly stepped in and did a great job on the broadcast.
As the Bucks moved to three and oh, Philadelphia Eagles
come to town. NFL Showdown. Brady Burkhart and Fox will be
here on Sunday for the one o'clock game with the Eagles.
Eagles are also three and zero, so again a great
game heading into Week four of the NFL season with Bucks, Eagles,
Jaguars win a hard fought seventeen to ten game over
the Owen three Houston Texans. The Jags moved to two
to one. A great job by the defense up in Jacksonville.
Continuing to stymy that Houston offense, that the Jacksonville offense
did just enough late score by attn Trevor Lawrence did
played okay, that he's still developing into that offense. I
think he's gonna be good with Liam Cohen, but still
not clicking on all cylinders. Gotta reduce the drops by
Brian Thomas, he's got They got to get that connection going.
Other note about the Bucks. Obviously Mike Evans goes down
with the hamstring injury. He's gonna be out probably three
to four weeks for the Buccaneers as well. But again
good win by the Jags to go to two to one,
and then finally the Dolphins they fall to Owen three.
He saw the great, the valiant effort in Buffalo on
Thursday night. McDaniel in that to group, give them credit,
they did play well. I think they lost. Thirty thirty
eight to twenty eight was the final, I believe, But
again bad interception by two at the end that a
chance to tie the game, but a bad interception by two.
But again, give the Dolphins credit. They played well for
three and a half quarters. The defense was valiant, the
offense showed some life. So huge game for the Dolphins
this week. In game you gotta win against the Jets.
If they lose this game against the Jets, then I
think it will be massive, massive speculation about McDaniel's future
going going forward. But again, this is a game the
Dolphins should can win against a decent mediocre Jets team
at this point. But this is a game you gotta
win if you're the Dolphins to get off the three
off the three schneide. So there's your NFL update. Again,
appreciate you finding us. Tell your friends, colleagues, football fans
that you know all things Florida football here on the
Florida Football Insiders Podcast. We will see you next week
for Week number six and Week number five of the
National Football League.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Florida Football Insiders Podcast as
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