Speaker 1: The Florida Football Insiders podcast is brought to you by
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are Florida realtor. Enjoy the podcast.
Speaker 2: A look at college football news, analysis and insight from
around the Sunshine Stage. This is Florida Football Insiders, a
part of the College Gridiron Coast.
Speaker 1: To Coast podcast.
Speaker 2: Nowwork and here's your host, Jason Cowers.
Speaker 3: All Right, Welcome in Florida Football Insider's podcast.
Speaker 4: Thanksgiving lead ndition for good Buddy's having a great holiday weekend.
Speaker 3: We'll we got to get to spend some time with
family and friends, have a little meal and all the rest.
We are in week fourteen of the college football season.
Hard to believe we are at the end of the
regular season. Week fourteen is upon US College Football Championship
games will be next week. We'll have the final college
football rankings next week, which will lead into the playoff matchups.
Some interesting notes for the Florida teams. Miami rated number
three in this week's this week's ranking. Obviously they are
the only team in contention in the state of Florida,
but USF got Bowl eligible.
Speaker 4: The Gators got Bowl eligible this last.
Speaker 3: Week with a nice doing the Gators obviously beating Ole
miss in USF beating beating Tulsa. So congrats to those
two programs for getting bowl eligible. And remember we are
part of the College Football Coast to Coach College grid
auron Coast to Coach podcast network, and we are going
to give you a little recap of the teams. We've
got a good guest for you this week as we
head into the Thanksgiving rivalry between the Gators and the Seminoles.
Got a tricky game from Miami up at Syracuse. Got
USF hosting I mean USF is gonna be on the
road at Rice, UCF hosting Utah, FIU hosting Middle Tennessee,
FAU on the road at Tulsa.
Speaker 4: So uh, a full.
Speaker 3: Slate of games for all the teams in the state.
Give you a little recap of last week, and again,
Joey Johnson's gonna join us talk a little college football
playoff rankings. What he sees there's some opportunity for the
ACC potentially well as the SEC cannibalized themselves. We're gonna
talk about the USF getting eligible for a second straight year,
the impact of Amir Amir Abduah Raheem, the basketball coach
at USF who tragically passed away last month. UH, and
a lot more in about the rivalry of Florida and
Florida State. Joey's covered the UH state of Florida for decades,
been as an award winning writer with the Tampa Tribune,
and he's part of the USF Bowls radio broadcast.
Speaker 4: So you will enjoy that. You'll get a little.
Speaker 3: History lesson as well for some first of Florida Florida
state history and UH and sense of what the Gators
are thinking up in Gainesville concerning Billy Napier and even
a little Todd Golden talk as well. So all right,
let's get to the recap from last week. Let's start
up in Tallahassee. The Knoles beat Charleston Southern in a
meaningless game. They go to two and nine win forty
one to seven over Charleston Southern. Give a shout out
to my former teammate Dennis Decker, who played at Charleston
Southern as a kicker back in the day. Luke Crowmanhoak
threw for two nine and three touchdowns. Again, I'm not
gonna waste much time talking about this game. Again, FBS
opponent shouldn't be playing them.
Speaker 4: It's a joke.
Speaker 3: I'm not a fan of playing these FBS opponents at all.
Speaker 4: I don't care what part of the season it is.
Shouldn't be doing it.
Speaker 3: And again the Florida State, the Gators come to town
next Saturday.
Speaker 4: This Saturday. Excuse me, not next Saturday, This.
Speaker 3: Saturday for the for the for the finale. Interesting game
here with Florida. Again, Florida's about a fifteen point favorite,
which I think that's too many. But Joe Johnson and
I will discuss this game in depth a little bit
here in.
Speaker 4: Just a few minutes.
Speaker 3: All right, Miami, they win, they keep, they hold, serve.
They win forty two to fourteen at home against wake Forest,
setting up their Week twelve or Week fourteen twelfth game,
must win game at SYRAC used to make the ACC
title game. SMU is already in the game. If Miami wins,
there in the game. If Miami loses, clemsons in the game.
As far as to play SMU, this is probably Miami's.
Speaker 4: This is a playoff game for Miami. They gotta win
this game.
Speaker 3: I don't think Miami's gonna make it if they don't
win this game in the college football playoffs.
Speaker 4: To me, this is a must win game. Again.
Speaker 3: Miami came out number three in the college football rankings,
which is a good thing for them, but again this
is a must win game. Cam Ward through for two
to eighty and two touchdowns. The running back Loo ran
seven carries for one to fifteen in a touchdown, and
George the receiver seven catches ninety one yards two touchdowns. Again,
good job taking care of business, not messing around with Wake.
But again, you're gonna have a tough game at Miami.
Speaker 1: UH.
Speaker 3: Kyle mccorden company up in the in the Dome up
in Syracuse will be a formidable test against that vulnerable
Miami defense. Again, if you're Camore, you gotta figure out
a way to get get Miami to the finish line here.
So big game for Miami at Syracuse this week, must
win game for the for the for the Canes f
IU they lose twenty seven to twenty six to Kennesaw
UH they moved to three and eight. Keon Jenkins through
for two h four and three touchdowns. Devonte Lyons sixteen
carries ninety nine yards, Eric Rivers seven carry seven catches
one to twenty five and two touchdowns. Again, Mike McIntyre
and the Panthers fall to three and eight. They're gonna
finish out their regular season home Saturday at Middle Tennessee State.
Speaker 4: FAU falls to two to nine.
Speaker 3: They lose to Charlotte at home thirty nine to twenty
seven under the interim coach.
Speaker 5: CJ.
Speaker 3: Campbell Junior twenty one carries one to fifteen a touchdown
at Tulsa. To wrap up their regular season, fau's got
to find a quarterback of this offseason in the portal
somewhere or recruiting. They are lacking at the quarterback position.
But the Owls fall to two to nine. On the
regular season, UCF falls to four and seven. They lose
up in Morgantown thirty one twenty one to West Virginia UH.
They are home to Utah on Friday Night in the
Bounce House their regular season finale.
Speaker 4: Again.
Speaker 3: Disappointing year for the Knights, will not make a Bowl.
A lot of expectations this year. The quarterback situation was
not great. We will see if they found a.
Speaker 4: Quarterback in this new kid they've rigged. But R J.
Speaker 3: Harvey going to wrap up a great career at UCF.
Sixteen carries one thirty and two touchdowns. He'll be an
NFL player for sure. But again disappointing year for the
Knights in Orlando and Gus Malzam and last the USF Bulls.
They get Bowl eligible, get to six and five. They
beat Tulsa sixty three to thirty. Bryce Archie throws for
three zero five and two touchdowns. Kelly Joyner runs ten
for one thirty one and two touchdowns. So nice job
by USF and Bryce Archie to get back to Bowl
eligibility two years in a row under Alex Golish.
Speaker 4: Again, remember Byron Brown.
Speaker 3: Has not played and it's probably been seven seven weeks now,
so nice job by Bryce Archie coming in and stabilizing
and going the Remember USF was two and four at
one time, so nice job getting to Bowl eligibility. They
finish up at Rice six and five, a winnable game
as well, so again you'll hear Joey talk about USF
the building of the program by Goalish in company. But
USF moves to six and five and they will be
in a Bowl game this year, so good good for them.
And then obviously the Gators. They beat ole Miss to
get to six and five as well. Great job by
Billy Napier to beat ole Miss and LSU back to
back weeks. Again, this was as much about ole Miss
losing the game and the the the blunders of ole
Miss and Lane Kiffin and Jackson Dart then Florida.
Speaker 4: But give Florida credit.
Speaker 3: They played well defensively, DJ Lagway played pretty well in
the game, and they did what they had to do
to figure out a way to win the game. So
the kudos to Billy Napier, and again we'll get into
Billy's future and what made came to the decision to
keep Billy and what the expectations will be for Billy
moving forward here In just a couple of minutes with Joey,
so Gators moved to six and five as well, So
good job the Gator Nation. They headed up to Tallahassee
to see the Seminoles on Saturday again rivalry game. It's
not as straightforward as you would think. Everybody thinks Florida
will go up there and destroy them. I don't think
that's gonna be the case case. I think you're gonna
get a goo effort out of Florida State at home.
Fifteen points if you're if you're if you're a gambler
out there betting fifteen points to me is just too
many points in this game. I can see Florida winning,
but I don't think they're gonna cover fifteen. So there
you have it again, Florida Football Insiders Podcast. Appreciate you
finding us. You can find me on x and on
Twitter at JPO Sports. Reach out to me. Love to
hear your comments for it is to your football buddies.
You can retweet it again. The video will be on
my YouTube channel. Joey's interview with me will be on
the YouTube channel the Jason Power Sports channel as well.
To check that out and have a great Thanksgiving. Again,
be nice to your family and friends if you're dining
with them or celebrating with them. If you're out and about,
be thankful for the people that are out working because
a lot of people have to work on Thanksgiving. So
if you're out somewhere, be a generous tipper if you
can thank them for working. Again, lots of people are
having to work on the holidays, lots of people are
missing family, lots of people don't have family, So again,
be just be thoughtful of other people here on this
holiday as well. So enjoy the weekend of games. You're
gonna have games all throughout the weekend Thursday, Friday, Saturday
and Sunday obvious, and then you'll have the NFL. Speaking
of the NFL, the Buccaneers with an emphatic win thirty
to seven up in New York against the Giants, who
are a dumpster fire. Mayfield had a really good game,
Bucky Irving had a good game. Mike Evans return for
the Bucks. This game was never in doubt. You saw
the Baker Mayfield mocking of Tommy Cutlet's and Tommy DeVito.
So good for the Bucks on their win. The Dolphins
thump the New England Patriots. Very impressive. I told you
a couple of weeks ago watch out for the Dolphins
three game winning streak. Now there is an opportunity there
playing Thanksgiving night in Green Bay up in Lambo, so
we will know where the Dolphins stand after Thursday night.
Huge game opportunity for the Dolphins up in the cold,
up up in Lambeau. My guys got a couple buddies
of mine that will be up in the in the
building in Lambeau, watching their their their their their packers,
their packer fans, my guy, Damon and Brian.
Speaker 4: They'll be up in Lambeau, so check that out.
Speaker 3: That's gonna be I believe the NBC game, the night game,
but again, huge opportunity for the Dolphins they win this game,
look out that. I think the Dolphins have a great
chance to make the playoffs. They can win this game.
As the seventh seed in the AFC two was playing
really well, John new Smith's playing well. Eight Chan had
a great game on Sunday against the Patriots, and that
defense is starting to play pretty good down in Miami
as well.
Speaker 4: So look out for the Dolphins.
Speaker 3: A huge game in Lambeau Thursday night, Thanksgiving Night in
Green Bay.
Speaker 4: Jacksonville was off this week. They'll be back this week.
Speaker 3: They're back playing on Sunday. And by the way, the
Bucks go to Carolina again. A sneaky, sneaky, tricky game
for the Bucks. Carolina has been playing much much better lately.
Dave Canalis for Buccaneer Offhens coordinated last year. Obviously the
familiar with each other. Bowls and Canalis will be very
familiar with each other. Jacksonville is hosting the Houston Texans,
who came off of a brutal loss last week. We'll
see if Doug Peterson can get some effort out of
his guys coming out of the bye week. And like
I said, the Dolphins play in Lambeau on Thursday night
NBC collins Worth and Tarrico.
Speaker 4: So there's your NFL slate for the week as well.
Speaker 3: Again, keep be careful Tampa as you go to Carolina.
They took they took the Chiefs to the limit last week.
You're better than that. You're better than the Panthers. But
take care of business, don't don't take this team lightly.
They know each other pretty well with the coaching situation
and all that. So all right, enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend.
Speaker 4: You're gonna enjoy.
Speaker 3: Joey Johnson here in just a minute, Joey Johnson, part
of the USF Bulls radio broadcast team and again a
longtime writer in the state of Florida here in the
Tampa Bay area, and we're gonna talk a little Florida,
Florida State, little Miami, and a little coaching news as
well up in Gainesville. So appreciate you fys. Have a
great Thanksgiving. See you in just a minute.
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All Right, welcome back Florida Football Insiders Podcast. Thanksgiving Week Edition,
Rob Week Edition. Hope everybody's having a very good week
and again with family. Hope you get to celebrate with
your family and loved ones. I know, again, a lot
of people don't get that opportunity. So if you get
that opportunity, you definitely take advantage of it and cherish that.
And if you can do something good for somebody else,
please do so. This week There'll be a lot of
people working hard. I'll have to be working on Thanksgiving
and Friday. And be nice if you're out shopping this weekend.
Don't be a jerk in the stores and all the rest.
So a guy who's never a jerk, one of the
nicest guys I know. Joey Johnston radio voice play by
play analyst with the USF Bulls football program, basketball entity
as well. Joey's a longtime media member in the state
of Florida here in the Tampa area and just then
all around savant when it comes to college football in
the state of Florida.
Speaker 5: So welcome back, Joey, thank you, Jason. Great to be here.
Anytime I'm described as a savant, I feel like I've
got a lot to live up to, so I hope
I don't disappoint all right.
Speaker 1: So the college foot we're recording this on Tuesday. Now,
the college football rankings just came out. You got Boise
at four, Indiana at eleven, SMU at ten, Miami at three,
Clempson the first team out at thirteen. Any surprises to.
Speaker 5: You, It's interesting to me, how you know. I guess
if the things break right, the ACC could get two
or maybe three teams in the SEC is certainly a
strong conference. I mean, there's all kinds of craziness going
on there with all the upsets last week, so I'm
sure they'll get good representation. But it's just hard to
say what's going on in the Big twelve. Just who knows,
who knows who's getting.
Speaker 1: In for the that's gonna be a one bidder.
Speaker 5: It's a fantastic race, but there's just no way to
predict what's going on. I mean, Notre Dame after that
horrible loss early in the season, they've hung in there.
They're up in the fifth spot. So you know, it's
too more weeks of drama where things could could shake out.
But I you know, it's it's just gonna be cool
to see these on campus games in the first round.
I'm literally looking forward to that and some of them
as they're lining up, you know, northern cities snow weather. Yeah,
so that could be just a crazy, crazy thing. I mean,
I know football fans might have watched the NFL game
in Cleveland last week. That's being like a snow game
on television. It's just really cool. So if we get
one of those in the college football Playoff, it could
be an instant classic, no doubt.
Speaker 1: No doubt, no doubt. Give me a thought or two
about Miami. You saw Miami in person against USF early
in the year. Obviously, we know cam Ward is electric,
probably one or two in the Heisman Trophy. The defense
is a little suspect and average at best. Tricky game
at Syracuse. They got to win this game playing against
the prolific offense Kyle mccorr, the former Ohio State quarterback
now at Syracuse. Always been a tricky place for Miami. Indoors,
it'll be cold, even though it's a dome. Those kids
will be in the cold weather for a little bit.
Give me a thought or two about Miami going to Syracuse.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Well, first of all, Miami on its face at
at We saw them in Tampa probably at their best,
and they were clicking with cam Ward and scored a
lot of points and looked like certainly a national championship contender.
I mean, the big thing with Miami is the consistency.
We saw what happened against Virginia Tech where they nearly
blew the game. We saw the game at Cal where
they probably should have gotten beaten, and they miraculously rallied
losing at Georgia Tech. So you're not quite sure what
you're gonna get with Miami. But if they put everything together,
they could not only get into the playoff, but go deep. Hey,
I'm really curious to see how the Syracuse game looks
because it is a much improved Syracuse team and that
Carrier Dome or whatever they're calling it now has been
difficult for Miami over the years, and when Syracuse isn't
doing well, that place can be quiet. But I believe
it's going to be rocking this week and it's going
to be an up and then for the Hurricane, so
it won't be an easy one for them to get through.
If they get past it, maybe that's a chance to
get a reprieve. And I think if Miami gets into
the playoffs with cam Ward getting hot, they can beat anybody.
Speaker 1: And they'll have a bye week if they if they
win the ACC, they'll have most likely they will have
a bye week. They're not going to be left out
of the by. So you get two weeks to get
ready a little healthier. You're gonna get a home game
in the set, not a no the second round neutral site.
I think they play neutral site in correct, in the quarterfinals.
Speaker 5: So we'lleah the home game right the first the first
four games, the five twelve, those are on campus and
then they go to the bull sites. So the five
through the twelve will be the funky ones where the
home field are really come into play. So, you know,
we never had this before, so we don't know what
to expect. I mean, we can speculate, but this is
this is new ground for all of.
Speaker 1: Us, no doubt, no doubt. Let's let's get the team
you cover on a week to week basis. USUF gonna
be Bowl eligible for the second year in a row
under Alex Golish. Just talk about you know, year two
has been a difficult year because Byron Brown's not playing
a lot in the last six seven weeks. You know,
they've had the labor you had, you had the little
incident at FAU with Alex and Tom Herman, who has
now been canned. You will give it the honest I
don't remember. You know, last year FAU, the thought was
they ran the score up.
Speaker 5: In well, they did run the score up, and the
score was the score was fifty six to fourteen, and
FAU attempted and got an on sidekick, which you know,
we see all kinds of crazy on side kicks, but
at that point in the game, I've never seen anything
quite like that. So, of course, very frosty. After the game,
I think Alex Golish and so many words, told Tom
Herman will be back, and they were and bocratone and
then the handshake, of course, made national headlines. It was
it was actually hilarious to watch. It was you know,
it was internet sensation and you just got to love
these crazy moments like that. So USF got its revenge.
And you know, the one thing is they start USF
started out two and four, playing some really good teams, Alabama, Miami,
two Lane, and Memphis among them. They have since righted
the ship. They've won four of their last five. They're
six and five. Obviously the schedule has been more forgiving. Yeah,
I mean, you can't deny that, but also the Bulls
have played much better. Bryce Archie, who stepped in from
Byron Brown, has got found his sea legs. He's actually
played quite well at times. The offensive line has really
come together well, the backs are playing well, and the defense.
Here's the big thing, the defense, which I don't know,
what's it been five years where we're just begging for sacks,
begging for some havoc, and they're finally creating havoc and
getting to the quarterback. So that's the biggest thing. So
I think USF is playing well at the end of
the season.
Speaker 1: And two things for me is one, you got back
to back years of bowl eligibility, so you get another
ten days or so to practice. You get some national
exposure in your bowl game, which is gonna help Alex
in the recruiting and the portal or high school kids.
So I just think just the momentum back to back,
you stayed again. You came back from two and four,
which was good because it wasn't looking good after two
and four. I was at the Memphis game and it
was that was an ugly loss, and you were worried, Hey,
are they gonna win more in a couple more games? Here,
but give them credit, they've stabilized Bowl eligible again. Year
two of Alex has worked. We're doing well again. You
imagine the coaching staff and for the most part be back,
which is another year stability there so again. And the
new stadium has started because you know, the groundbreaking and
all that's underway. If not all, if it hasn't already happened,
it's gonna happen here in the coming days. Lots of
things going up for USF on the football.
Speaker 5: Side, Yep, they've got a lot to sell now. And
if they can finish with a win against Rice and
win the bowl game, that's eight and five.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 5: That's certainly an upward trajectory by all accounts. They are
going to sign a very good class here next week
with high school kids they've got. We're starting to see
some of the goalish signees get into the lineup now,
the freshmen and the guys that they brought in who
maybe red shirted, and some of these guys are terrific.
I mean, they've got a good core of of young
kids they're going to start taking over, if not now
next season. So it certainly like that looks like they've
built a very very good foundation. People will say, well,
where's the where's the signature win? Where is it? I
you know, I don't see one either. But the difference
is and I guess baby steps. Maybe they are beating
people they're supposed to be the games they're supposed to win. Yeah,
and they were not doing that a couple of years ago.
In fact, they you know, remember when Golish got hired,
they were coming off a one and eleven and that
one was an FCS school, So we're talking about just
the dregs. They couldn't beat FBS teams and they they
couldn't beat any buddy on the road. So if they
beat Rice, they will have a winning record on the
road for the first time I believe since twenty seventeen.
So they are slowly but surely getting this thing back.
They do next year, they open with Boise State in Tampa.
It's an interesting opener. They also go in back to
back weeks to Florida and Miami. So you know, let
your imagination race. If USF can be successful to some
degree in those three games, maybe they're being talked about
in the in the playoff ranking next year. It's you know,
I have to at least admit that's a possibility if
they can continue this trajectory. They do have to win
the games that win the big games, but they'll be
in a position next year again to make some noise,
no doubt.
Speaker 1: All right, before get before you get off yours of
what once you give the adds a thought or two
again the sudden passing of a mere abduor Raheem a
little over a month ago. Just talk about the gut
punch that was for that university, in that basketball program.
We all remember where he's got them off to such
a great start year one, and just the suddenness of
what happened. Just just give the addsible thought about how
that program, the athletic department is kind of working through that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's it's a long process. And the interesting thing
is it's not just the basketball team. It's all the
teams and all the coaches and all the everybody who
touches USF and any capacity. Because one thing a mirror
abdur Raheem did was he included everybody. He was asked
to speak to I think every team on campus by
the coaches of those teams for inspiration. He was that
kind of guy that he would. You know, you went
to the conference golf tournament for the women and he's
out there walking the eighteen, you know, rooting for the team.
So he was not only a really good basketball coach,
but a really special ambassador and the kind of guy
that just touched you in a unique way. Whether you
were a student, president of the university, a sports tried
or anybody. He had that unique ability. And certainly last
year with a conference championship, they got off to a
great start in his first year, and this was going
to be a year where they were going to turn
the corner and be even bigger. So, you know, the
news that came to all of us, I think it
was on a Thursday, late in the afternoon, was just devastating.
I mean, the forty three year old man, a vibrant,
full of life guy. I still in some ways cannot
believe this has happened. But the basketball team is moving on.
They had a very successful trip to Myrtle Beach where
they won two or three games in pluting one at
the buzzer. They've got some tough games coming up and
for people that are watching on ESPN, Memphis looks like
it's going to be pretty good this year. So they
have two games with Memphis and the conference, so I
think USF is again going to be a contender in
the American Conference. You know, they'll have to play against
the likes of Memphis and UAB, but they have a
very talented roster with interim head coach Ben Fletcher and
coach Emir is on everybody's mind. I think every place
we've been he's been mentioned with the moment of silence,
which is awesome for football and basketball throughout the country.
So he's still on our minds. But as we all know,
life moves on and that we're just you know, ultimately,
I guess grateful that we got to have him for
for just one year because it was a special year, right,
it really was.
Speaker 1: He galvanized this community, the sports community, to put us
F on the map and again took them to heights
that they had never really been to ever before, as
far as the conference title and all that good stuff
and national exposure and all that great stuff. So again,
he'll he'll always be remembered. I'm sure at some point
they will probably do a you know, statue campus or
a statue.
Speaker 5: Of something for him. And the one thing they have
done is you know, the one thing that's great is
the student section is still still kicking it in the
In the games they've had this year, the students have
come out and for you know, sort of obscure non
conference opponents, the students have still shown out and they
have named that the Amir Abdu Raheem's Student Section, which
is appropriate because people might remember last year, every time
there was a big win, coach Emir wouldn't just wave
to the crowd and go to the locker room. He
got out there and in the middle of him and
danced and hung out. I mean, he loved those those students,
they loved him. So it's only appropriate that you would
be remembered, you know, in that student section.
Speaker 1: All right, let's transition. Let's go up to Gainesville again.
We're listening to talking to Joey Johnston, USF Bulls football
and basketball analyst again, longtime sports writer in the state
of Florida, covered all these great rivals Miami FSU Florida.
So we're gonna get to Florida here. How surprised are
you that Billy Naper's been able to turn kind of
this around a little bit? You know, seven eight weeks
ago he was dead man walking and now he looks
like he's walking through walking on water here with beaten
LSU and all miss it back to back weeks and
almost beat Tennessee, almost beat Georgia. How surprised you that
they were able to turn the corner there and salvage
you know, his job and kind of a manageable and
a bowl game for the Gators.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm really surprised because these are not things you
see happening in the current climate of college football, with
the Internet, with the scrutiny, with the expectations. In a
place like Gainesville, once you get deep in that pit,
it's tough to climb out. I mean, you hardly ever
see it happen. It seemed like when you reading the
tea leaves that it wasn't when he would be fired.
It wasn't but when yeah, right, and and I you know,
I kept waiting for that moment when we were going
to get the news that never came. I was pleasantly surprised.
I guess that they seemed to be sticking with him
as the Gators were sort of treading water as a
five hundred team. Thought, you know, there's something admirable in
its own right. That teams don't even do even even
lower than Florida. They don't do that. So what what
what the Gators have done in the last two weeks
is remarkable, beating LSU and Old Miss, putting themselves into
a bowl game. Uh dj Lagway, tremendous quarterback. They've got
something to build on. It looks like the recruiting is
coming along just fine. It's it's a testament to patience.
It's a testament to I think Billy Napier uh get yeah,
he just you know, that's a tough deal when you're
when you're the coach and you're being ripped apart like that.
For him to kind of stay the course is admirable.
We'll see how it goes moving forward. But this has
been this has been a remarkable season. If the Gators
can finish out beating f s U and winning a
bowl game, that's that's gonna be something none of us
saw happening. You know, maybe there'll be some changes in
the coaching staff next year at some of the places,
some adjustments to get things going. But boy, they they
have done a remarkable job against an incredibly tough schedule.
They could have and could have maybe should have beaten Tennessee.
Uh play and get hurt. They might beat Georgia maybe maybe.
So I'm I'm standing in an admiration of of just
the gators persistence to get to this point of the season. Obviously,
the expectations do not stop. They'll get even hight free Reprieve. Yeah,
he got to reprieve. So but again, at Florida you
can win and win big. We've seen it happen. So uh.
You know, Gators are one of the teams in the
country that you can you can realistically say, can win
a national championship in most years of all things are equal.
So Billy Napier has that kind of job. And now
as they've gotten to U plus five hundred team and
and and a Bowl win, perhaps that's great, But that again,
that's not the standard in Gainsville. The standard games will
is to win the SEC and the an international championship.
That hasn't changed, and regardless of how he's weathered this season,
that will be the expectation for next year.
Speaker 1: On a different note, how surprised for a guy that
I know you've covered a lot of I won't say scandals,
but just negative things off the field and off the court.
How surprised are you that Todd Golden still the coach
at Florida?
Speaker 5: Well, I don't. I don't have all the information on this.
I just know what I've heard and read. I guess
we'll have to let it, let it play out. I
guess again, without knowing the complete story, I would have
to surmise that the fact that he is coaching indicating.
Speaker 1: He hasn't been suspended at all.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it is the game. It indicates something. So they
must have some information that that has allowed him to
continue with the team. If if if they had some
evidence to the contrary, I feel certain that he would
he would be suspended or or some other fate. So
I think we just have to let this play out
and see what comes about. But again another you know,
how do you predict something like this? Again, when that
news came out, we all think, we all stepped back
and had to just say, what the heck. So we'll
see what happens. But what's been reported certainly not what
you want and not a good look for anybody. Let's
see how it all ends.
Speaker 1: Let's move up to tallahassee the disaster of all disasters
in twenty twenty four. The two and nine Seminoles, you know,
they you know what the top ten expectations this year
for sure, DJU. The whole transfer portal project just a
complete abject failure. They finally a couple of weeks back fire,
the coordinators, you know, they clean house with everybody except
the head coach with his buyout. He's not losing his
job this year. Just talk about how surprised you are
that it was has gone so abjectively bad up in Tallassee.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I'm not sure I could remember a
season among the major schools in Florida that's gone like this.
That that uh, you know, we've seen certainly seasons where
it's gone below expectations, but not like this, not not
like you know, from from a playoff contender to you know,
two and nine. I mean, that's unheard of. We've never
seen it happen before. So the question is, how, how
do how do we go from here? Where is where
the where do the seminoles go from here? In the
transfer portal era, you can get good fast.
Speaker 1: Where you can get bad fast, you can.
Speaker 5: Get bad fast. I think that's what happened. Their decisions
were not good. So they have to do a better
job of bringing in better players for their culture, obviously,
because it didn't work at all this year. You know,
they're they're one, you know, winning streak away next year
from this being a bad memory. But that's easier said
than done. It'll be a real challenge, I think for
Mike Norvel to get it going in a good way
because the way last season ended with the denial of
the of the playoff and the ridiculous Orange Bowl, and
then this season there's been a stain in Tallahassee that
you know, this this proud program is that it places
it hadn't been maybe in three or four decades, maybe longer,
So there's a lot of cleaning coach pre coach Bouden,
there were zero to eleven one of those years. But
again the expectations were nothing. Back early seventies for Florida State,
coach Bowden brought expectations, championship expectations, which will forever be
the case in Tallahassee. So I think I think for
the most part, the the avid Seminole fans must just
be closing their eyes just thinking this is a bad
dream and let let it get over let's start the
whole thing over that being said, Uh, if for some
quirk of fate they could be successful on Saturday in Tallahassee,
well that would be a heck of an end of
this season for Florida State. I'm not saying that's going
to happen, but they have the opportunity to kind of
put some smiles on some faces here.
Speaker 1: That was gonna be my last question for You've covered
a lot of these Florida Florida State games when one
team or both teams have been great and weird things
have happened in this game, and when one team's not
supposed to be in it, they stay in it till
the end or they steal one. Just talk about this rivalry,
how it compares nationally, and again you've covered a lot
of these games in the glory days with Spurrier and
Bowden and urban Meyer. Just talk about this rivalry and
how it compares with others around the country.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, well, you know, for for a long time,
through the seventies and probably early eighties, it was not
anything of a national rivalry at all. It was a
state of Florida southern thing. And then when Spurrier and
Bowden came on the scene. It became a top ten,
if not top five matchup every single year. I mean
we uh we I think we we loved it when
it was happening. I'm not sure we fully appreciated what
was going on, because you know, when when that era passed,
we saw how special it was that this was. This
was the game most years, the.
Speaker 1: Game out of Florida State Miami.
Speaker 5: Yep, for sure. The interesting thing to me about this
game is I did a little looking back into go
back in the in the eighties to the nineteen eighty seven,
eighty eight time when when you know the state of
Florida college football really got humming, and you look at
the Florida Florida State games in Gainesville, it's it's nine
to nine in the last eighteen games, they're tied up.
The games in Tallahassee seventeen of those games, Florida's only
won five of those. So it is eleven five and
one in favorite of Florida State in Tallahassee. And as
we remember, Spurrier had a impossible time winning in Tallahassee
one tie.
Speaker 1: Yes, Florida was crushing them. And then Florida State came
all the way back. That's when I was in school
there by the way.
Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly, So you're right on paper, maybe it's asking
a little too much, but the fact that it's in
Tallahassee at night.
Speaker 1: Maybe more's a fifteen point favorite. That is a big number.
And I know Florida State's bad.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know. And I tell you this though. One
of the games I do remember very well in Tallahassee
thirty one thirty one, for sure, that's one of the
most memorable events I've ever covered. But another one that
was interesting to me was two thousand and four when
they unveiled the Bobby Baden statue and ron Zuk had
been fired and he was coaching out the season Florida one.
So the fired ron Zuke got carried off on the
shoulders of the Gator players and Bobby Baden, who had
a statue, had to had his head down walk out
off the field. It was it was just bizarre, And
that was an example, like you said, of anything can
happen in this series, no doubt, No doubt.
Speaker 1: Joey tellerbrand where they can watch USF and Rice this
weekend as well as USF basketball. They're not in the
Tampa Bay area. And you know whether it's on the
is it the varsity app.
Speaker 5: Where you guys are at, it's yeah, it's on the
tune in app and it's the Balls Unlimited and you
can access it up if you need to. Off the website,
go us F Bulls dot com. The game will be
carried on ESPN Plus. And then of course we'll we'll
be on hand for the Bowl game whenever that is,
you know. And and then looking forward to next season,
we are going to have a signing day show next
week on December fourth, uh, to go over the Bulls class.
So that's another thing you can go to go us
F Bulls dot com for to to see what who
the players are that the Bulls are bringing in for
next year.
Speaker 1: Well, tell me where they can find your great work
is again Joey covers us F. Anybody does other stuff
as well. Tell me where they can find you a
great work on X and Twitter.
Speaker 5: Yeah on x slash Twitter is at Joey Johnston eight
one to three and I do a good bit of
writing and that again will appear on the website. You
go us F Bulls dot com.
Speaker 1: Well, Joey's fantastic. You could definitely read Joey's stuff on
USF and again, this guy's covered so many great events
in the state of Florida throughout the years. He is
a savant. You've already a title.
Speaker 5: Thanks savant. I like it. You like to sound up.
Speaker 1: That's it, Joey Johnson. Appreciate the time. Have a great Thanksgiving,
Christmas Holidays coming up. Stay safe and enjoy the rest
of the regular season in football and basketball.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Jason, Happy thanksgoing to you and all your
viewers as well.
Speaker 1: We are heading to the stretch run of the college
football season, approaching the midpoint of the National Football League.
The NHL season is underway, NBA is right around the corner,
and Major League Baseball playoffs are in full force. If
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