Speaker 1: The Florida Football Insiders podcast is brought to you by
Titan Home Lending Ticket Smarter, Ghost Sleeves and Drew Fellios
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 to.
Speaker 1: Coast podcast network.
Speaker 2: And here's your host, Jason Cowers.
Speaker 1: All Right, Welcome into the week eight edition of the
Florida Football Insider's podcast, part of the College Gridiron Coast
to Coast podcast network. I'm your host, Jason down in
a recovering state of Florida down here in Tampa. First,
we want to give a shout out to all everybody
that's going through all the troubles and difficulties following post
Hurricane Milton that ravaged the state of Florida this time
last week Wednesday night into Thursday. Just know we're all
thinking about you. I'm here in the Tampa Bay area.
A lot of damage, trees, power, flooding in certain areas,
flooding in areas that weren't expected to get flooded, and
all that stuff. Obviously, it doesn't sound like it was
as devastating as it could have been, but trust me,
it was plenty devastating enough throughout the state of Florida,
all the way from the east coast to the west coast.
The storm went all the way through central Florida all
the way down. I think it obviously hit land somewhere
around in the Venice area. So again, just thinking about
everybody in the state of Florida, anybody that's been effected.
It's been a rough, rough last two weeks or so
in the state of Florida, with two massive hurricanes hitting
all parts of the state, water surges, flooding, all kind
of massive problems throughout the state of Florida. So just know,
if you're listening in the state of Florida, we're thinking
about you. We're obviously still thinking about the people in
Georgia and North Carolina as well that went through all
the struggle in Tennessee.
Speaker 3: Everybody.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of people around the southeast that are
struggling through a lot of life, major life events here
in the last couple of weeks. I just know we're
thinking about you, and hopefully we'll try to give.
Speaker 3: You a little levity.
Speaker 1: Here with our Florida Football Insiders Podcast, or We're gonna
talk about all things football in the state of Florida,
all the college teams as well as the NFL teams
this week. Hard to believe we're already in Week eight
of the college football season. We had some tremendous games
last week in the around the country Oregon, Ohio State, Alabama,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, which we'll get to, you know.
So we've had a lot of tremendous games. LSU and
Old Miss was fantastic. So we are starting to get
towards the home stretch of the college football season where
the big dogs are starting to separate themselves and such.
So we will see how this all unfolds around the country.
A lot of drama here in the state of Florida
still involving teams, coaching situations and the rest, so we
will get into those things as well. Here. Our guest
this week is gonna be Kevin Brockway with the Gainesville
Son He's gonna talk all things Florida Gators. He was
up in Knoxville last week for the overtime game with
the Balls. Florida loses twenty three to seventeen. We'll get
into that game in depth when we get with Kevin
here in just a few minutes. A lot of controversy,
not a controversy, but a lot of coaching questions about
coach Napier, should he even should should he? Or shouldn't
he and all that stuff. So we'll get into that
in depth with Kevin Brockway Gainesville Sun here in just
a few minutes. So all right, let's go around the
state to a little recap of last week, and then
we will get you to Kevin Brockway here to preview
or to recap Florida and Tennessee, and then we'll preview
Florida and Kentucky in a big game here in the
state of Florida this week. All right, let's start with
the Florida State Seminoles. They were off last week. They
are playing Friday night this Friday at Duke. The Knowles
come in one in five. Duke comes in a surprising
five and one in year one under Manny Diaz, who
we know from his days at the University of Miami.
You know, it's been twenty since nineteen ninety two, the
Knoles have played Duke twenty two times twenty two meetings
since nineteen ninety two. By the way, I was a
part of that Duke game in nineteen ninety two in Tallahassee.
The Knowles are twenty two and zero against Duke since
nineteen ninety two, since they entered the ACC. I was
there on the sidelines nineteen ninety two Dope Campbell Stadium,
playing for the Florida State Seminoles. So I remember I
was there for a year one of that. So but
twenty two in a row for the Knowles. As a
head up to Durham, this is a game where Duke
has a great opportunity here to again continue their great
run in year one under Manny Diaz. Remember Malik Cunningham,
I'm sorry, Malik Murphy. The Texas transfer quarterbacks their quarterback.
They've been involved in some wild games so far in
the year, and obviously FSU comes in off of by
one and five. What I want to Brock Glenn is
making his first road start for the Knowles, and again
for me, I want to see kin Florida State coming
off of bye week, play with some energy, play with
some emotion, play with some togetherness. That has been a
massive flaw of this team. This year is the effort
and the constant effort and the togetherness. I just haven't
seen a lot of chemistry amongst this roster, both offensively
or defensively. Doesn't seem a lot of guys are playing
for the jersey, are playing for the logo on the
front of their jersey as opposed to the name on
the back. So I want to see that the Seminoles
can play with some urgency, play with some emotion, play
with some chemistry as they go up to Duke on
Friday night. So that's again, if they lose here, they're
one and six, they're most likely they're not going to
a bowl. They lose here, they got Miami next week,
which would be a huge rivalry game. We'll get into
that next week. But again, this is an opportunity here
though for Florida State. Again, if you looked at their
talent level at the beginning of the year, you would
say Florida State major advantage. Not so much anymore based
on the performance on the field, So be interesting game here.
I think Duke's only about a three to three and
a half point favorite, which makes you wonder a little bit.
But I do expect Florida State to play with with
some energy and some emotion. They better or it'll be
a full dumpster fire the rest of the year in
Tallahassee in my view. So there's your Florida state update.
The Canes are heading up to Louisville on Saturday for
a twelve o'clocker at Louisville Papa John Stadium. Miami six
and oh three and oh in the Conference against Foreign
two Louisville. This is a tricky game for the for
the Canes coming off off of bye week. Remember they
won the dramatic game at Cal two weeks ago, unbelievable finish,
Down thirty five to ten, they come back and win
thirty nine to thirty eight. Cam Ward was sensational. I
want to see this defense for Miami stiffing up a
little bit, giving up too many points to Cal. You
gave up too many points to Virginia Tech at the
miracle win there on the reversal on replay. If Miami
is championship caliber, their defense has gotta play better. I
want to see this defense coming off of bye week
play better. They're gonna give up some points to Louisville.
Brahm's a good coach up there. They got good players
at Louisville. Tough environment, but I want to see that
defense play a little bit better. I think cam Ward's
gonna play good. Still. They got really good weapons or strepo.
The running backs are good, but can the Miami defense.
If they're gonna be national championship good, that defense needs
to play a lot better here. These last six games
of the year, got a pretty good schedule outside of
this Louisville game, very favorable schedule. You're probably gonna see
Clemson in the title game, would be my guests. But
this is a big road test here for the Canes.
Early start, early kick on the road in Louisville. Keep
it look out here if you're Miami. As Miami heads
to Louisville trying to go to seven to zero USF Bulls,
they fall to Memphis twenty one to three. Remember this
game was moved from Friday night to Saturday and also
moved from Tampa to Orlando due to Hurricane Milton. I
was there in the booth with my guys Drew Fellios
and lij Duzibla Duza Blah doing the game for ESPN Plus.
I was up in the booth. Not a great effort
by the USF. It was a tough week for the Bulls,
the travel, the uncertainty because of the hurricane, and then
pregame Byron Brown, their starting quarterback is ruled out of
the game on crutches on the sidelines. So that makes
me nervous about this week. You know, whether they were
playing Choy or not all week long about his status,
we don't know, but they was talk that he was
going to play. Was on crutches during the pregame, so
obviously that wasn't gonna play. Bryce. Archiet played okay, not great.
Turnovers penalties were an issue too much, you know, just
too much inconsistency of USF. They're two and four, oh
and two in the conference, playing a good Memphis team.
Seth Hennigan played well, but there were opportunities in this game.
And if I'm Alex Golish and you have a backup quarterback,
we got to play a little slower. We cannot expose
our defense. They were getting crushed through three quarters in
time of possession last week. It was like twenty four
to four, twenty four to five of time of possession
in the first half in Memphis favor. Just way too
many plays for that Memphis offense. If you're Alex Golish
and if Archie's gonna play, you've got to slow the
pace down in the game and try to shorten the game.
You're not going again. You're playing UA B at home
this week, who's not very good. Trent Dilfer having massive
struggles up at UAB up in Birmingham, another school that
I played for, by the way, my other school, my Blazers.
But Alex Golis, you can't play it at rapid speed
when you don't have your starting quarterback. I know that's
your style of play, but you got to show me
as a coach you can adjust a little bit again
some time. Some game management issues last week for coach
going forward on a couple times he shouldn't have. I
thought they were down fourteen to three early third quarter.
Nice drive could have kicked him out a forty two
yard field goal, end up going for it, not making it.
I didn't like that to get within fourteen to six.
Kudos to Tanico Grammatica made another long fifty plus yard
field goal, is third fifty plus er of the year,
so that's a great job by the freshman son of
Martine gramatica. But again we don't know the status of
Byron Brown. I would expect maybe not to play again.
We will see if another week of rest helps him.
But if he plays, they should beat UAB easily. If
he doesn't play, they probably should still beat UAB, maybe
not as convincingly, but you better not lose this game.
If you're USF three point thirty kick at Raymond James early,
I mean, sorry, Saturday kick at Raymond James. Then I
don't anticipate there being a big crowd. But again, important
for this run here at the end of the year
to play better football. Even if bright Byron Brown doesn't play,
you gotta play better football. You gotta catch balls, you
can't fumble, you gotta line up correctly and all that stuff.
So important game in my view for Alex Golish. If
the USF bulls all right, you see, if three and
three on the year, one and two in the conference
after their loss at home to Cincinnati last Saturday, they
lose nineteen thirteen. Big story here is kJ Jefferson gets
benched following this game. Freshman E. J. Colson. We'll start
this week at Iowa State. Iowa State's undefeated led by
Tampa product rock O beckt of Anthony Beck. Roco went
into West Virginia last week beat West Virginia in Morgantown
on the night that his dad gets inducted into the
Hall of Fame up in West Virginia. Is a great
job by Roco the Tampa kid again. Iowa State really
really good team. This is probably my favorite in the
Big Twelve right now. Undefeated Matt Campbell, really good coach.
Roco becked again, this is just a well rounded team.
And if you're UCF, you've got to figure out a
way to get back to the running game. kJ Jefferson's
not played well. He's been benched. You won't see him again.
I think they're moving on from him. Just did not
work out again, another portal guy that didn't work out,
similar to what DJU did at FSU. A lot of
expectations just did not work out. RJ. Harvey still running
the ball well, but you got to run the ball well.
And you know they held Cincinnati to nineteen points, but
you can't score thirteen points. That's gonna be a tough
It's gonna be probably cold up at Iowa State this weekend.
The weather's coming in I look for Iowa State. I
think Iowa State it's about a two touchdown favorite. Think
it's gonna be another challenge freshman quarterback on the road
first start. It's gonna be a challenge up up in Ames,
Iowa with Rock Obeck and company.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: FIU two and four lose last week at a midweek
game Liberty overtime thirty one twenty four. Great effort at Liberty,
but they fall in overtime, one in one in the conference.
Keon Jenkins nineteen to twenty nine, two forty five, Eric
Rivers five catches for ninety five yards. They are playing
Wednesday night. I'm actually recording this while they're playing. They're
playing at you. They're playing UTEP tonight, so obviously we
won't have a score for you for the Panthers. But again,
another midweek game, Mike McIntyre and company, two and four,
one in one on the year, FAU will wrap it
up with FAU. On the college side, FAU goes to
two and four. They lose a tough one at home
forty one thirty seven in North Texas Tech. North Texas
moves to five to one, one of the favorites in
Conference USA, but a great, great effort there by Tom
Herman and company, Cam Francher twenty two to thirty three
fifty one and three touchdowns Omari Hayes five for eighty
nine and a touchdown for the for the Owl. So
nice job there. They will go to Utsa on Saturday
to try to get off the snide there of the
losing streak. So there is your Florida recap. We're gonna
talk Gators with Kevin Brockway here in just a minute.
Before we get to that, I want just want to
give you a quick hit. Remember Florida Football Insider's podcast,
subscribe rating, review, Twitter feed at JPO Sports. You want
to check out the video of Kevin and myself talking
in our interview, go to my YouTube channel, Jason Power
Sports channel. You can catch my chat with Kevin Brockway
if you want to see the video portion of that.
Let's get to the NFL. The Florida teams in the NFL.
How about those Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What a job four
and two after they win in New Orleans. Remember the
Bucks evacuated prior to Milton hinting last Tuesday. They went
to New Orleans for the entire week again, all the
dress in drama about not knowing what the situation was
in Tampa. They're in New Orleans all week. They jump
out seventeen to nothing, The Saints come roaring back, take
a twenty seven to twenty four lead at the half.
Basically give up. The Bucks give up twenty seven in
the second quarter, but they dominate the game in the
third and fourth quarter. What a job by Mayfield and
the Bucks. The running game. Only the fifth team in
NFL history to throw for three hundred plus and run
for two seventy five plus in the same game. Great
job by the Bucks running backs Bucky Irving, Sean Tucker,
no Rashad White, Mike Evans was compromised though we played
most fair amount of the game was compromised with some
sort of potential hamstring injury. The defense played well, a
couple turnovers. Remember Spencer Ratler, the rookie started the game
for the Saints. Good job in the second half shutting
him down. But the Bucks with a big win on
the road in Division four and two. Huge Monday nighter.
This Monday night, Baltimore comes to Raymond James Stadium, ESPN
Buckman Buck excuse me, an Akman? Or in the house.
Give a shout out to my guy David Moulton, who
will be in the booth working with those guys as
part of the broadcast. You've heard him on this podcast
as well as my Powers on Sports podcast, and we
will have him on later in the year as well.
So shout out to my guy David Moulton. But the
Bucks got a great opportunity here in the NFC. You
beat Baltimore, you make a statement to the NFL. Mayfield
another four touchdowns, though we did throw three picks, four touchdowns,
three picks over three hundred yards. Again, Chris Godwin was
great over one hundred yards receiving. You had Elijah Cantsey back.
Winfield picks up a fumble and runs for a touchdown.
If this Bucks defense can stay healthy, this Bucks team
is going to be a major thread in the NFC.
Jaguars moved to one in five. They lose, They get
routed by the Bears in London in their first of
two straight games in London. They're going to place the
New England Patriots. Nothing else to talk about. This game
is gonna be a garbage game. Jaguars Patriots, Sunday Morning,
NFL Network nine thirty start. I can't talk a lot
about this game, but I will say this, if the
Patriots loose, if the Patriots beat the Jaguars, would not
shock me if Doug Peterson's fired Monday morning when they
get back to Jacksonville from London. I just think that's
just the gist of it. You saw Robert Salad get
fired with the Jets. Would not shock me if they lose,
which I don't expect them to lose, but if the
Jaguars go down, would not be stunned if Doug Peterson
gets fired Monday morning in Jacksonville. So just Trevor Lawrence
continues to not play well, They can get no consistency
on defense. One of the defensive players basically said they
quit last week against the Bears. Caleb Williams torched them
for four touchdown passes. Just a complete mess in Jacksonville,
one in five. The Jags are all right, Dolphins, last thing,
they're coming off a bye. They play at Indianapolis on Sunday.
Don't expect to see Tua. You're probably gonna see Tyler
Huntley again. But you are gonna see you know, obviously,
you have another two weeks to getting Huntly ready up
to speed a little bit. I expect them to play
a little bit better. Remember they one at New England
before the bye. I would expect them to play a
little bit better. More more, you know plays that Huntley
is good at. Some rollouts, some throwbacks, misdirection kind of stuff.
You're gonna have waddle back, You're gonna have a chain back,
You're gonna have hill. The defense has still been decimated.
Flacco has been playing really well for the Colts. I
expect this game to did a pretty good game here,
Miami at Indianapolis on Sunday two and three. The Dolphins
still in the mix in the NFC, or they excuse me,
the AFC East. They can just figure out to hang around.
We don't know what Tuas status is. There's rumblings that
he's gonna play again this year. Does that mean two
weeks from now, a month from now.
Speaker 4: We don't know.
Speaker 1: But I would expect to see Tua play again for
the Dolphins. But they go two and three, go to Indianapolis. Uh,
And there's your roundup of the National Football League. Two
big trades in the NFL. Amari Cooper goes to Buffalo
in the NFC, East and then you have Davonte Adams
get shipped back to the Jets with his with his
connection with Rogers. So see if those two teams have
solidified their wide receiver situation and the Jets are obviously
going all in with the Devonte Adams firing. Robert sawlall
lose a tough game Monday night to Buffalo. So there's
your wrap up Florida Football Insiders podcast. Check out the
other podcasts on the network, pile the Get Off My
Pilot with my guy Matt Zemich, the Stars and Stripes,
which recaps the service academies and what a job they're doing.
Steve Carney is the host of that. Check that out
as well. Both of them are undefeated. Both of them
are ranked in like the first time in like sixty years.
So definitely check out that Stars and Stripes podcasts with
Price Atkinson Steve Carney. You'll enjoy that stuff as well
as other podcasts as part of the College Gridiron Coast
to Coast podcast network. Again, thinking of all the people
in the wrath of Helene and Milton, we're thinking about you,
keep your head up, keep plugging away. Day by day.
It's gonna get better. And reach out if you have
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Right back with Kevin Brockway the Gainesville Sun. I know
a lot of us, me and cluded have been affected
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dot com. All right, welcome back Florida Football Insiders podcast.
Now to the Florida Gators, a tough, tough loss up
in Knoxville Saturday nights, and a person who covers the
Gators day to day for us for the Gainesville Sun
does a terrific job on all the beats of Florida.
Florida Athletics. Mister Kevin Brockway rejoins the podcast. Appreciate you
coming by, Kevin.
Speaker 4: Good morning, Jason. How are you.
Speaker 3: I'm well, I'm well. First off, anything okay with you
and the hurricane up in the Gainsville area.
Speaker 5: Uh, yeah, we made it through, okay. As a matter
of fact, Helene was probably a little worse than Melton
in terms of the damage caused here, but it was
it was more tropical storm conditions here for Milton. But
certainly you guys down in the camp area. Feeling bad
for you guys. And what are they gonna do about
the rays? I guess obviously the roof being torn apart
there at the Trump That's really.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's all that's been all the talk the last
several days in the sports world here is you know,
what are they gonna Are they gonna move the part
of the game home game somewhere else next year? They're
gonna put the because because obviously the ballpark has been
approved and I don't know if the city wants to
spend all those dollars to redo the roof and then
obviously not to be there in a couple of years.
Speaker 3: So yeah, lots of questions to be answered in the
next couple of months.
Speaker 1: For sure.
Speaker 3: I would think, yeah, you.
Speaker 5: Can make an open air stadium, I guess really for
the last few years, but you probably have a lot
of rain outs there, you.
Speaker 3: Know exactly, Yeah, a lot of afternoon rains.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's that was part of the the issue
with the new stadium and all that the debate. So yeah,
we'll see what they end up deciding to do. But
uh yeah, tough situation for sure with the rays and
because people don't realize that the stadium was being used
as a humongous staging area for all the first responders,
and there was people in there and there were things
and all kind of stuff, so that kind of ruined
that whole that whole thing. So that was multiple issues
in one. So all right, let's get to the football
field first. You were up in Knoxville, correct.
Speaker 4: Yes, I was there for the game.
Speaker 5: It was quite a game and a lot of twists
and turns and obviously a lot of mistakes in the
red zone in the first half that really came back
to bite Florida in the second half.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the atmosphere for those that don't know,
just give me a sense of the atmosphere up in Knoxville.
When Tennessee's Tennessee's got a good team, it's a rivalry
game with Florida, another team they've you know, they've had issues.
You know, they've had a big rivalry at the last
thirty years or so. Just talk about the atmosphere in Knoxville.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, Knoxville's one of my favorite cities, you know,
because the longa Tennessee River, you know, you walk along.
I did that a little bit before they gave me
of the ball Navy out there. Everyone is hyped up
and as you probably maybe saw on TV, they do
a neat thing at Kneeland with the seats where they
have different sections where white and orange, and they create
this kind of checkerboard effect throughout the stadium. That's that's
really cool. So, yeah, the fans were hype, they were
into it. It was certainly uh, you know, loud. It
was a night game, obviously night kickoff, so so fans
are pretty riled up, and certainly for that Josh Hypel offense.
But you know, there were actually a few boo birds
here and there because you know, they've been strug offensively
in the last few weeks and that continued a little
bit against Florida. You can credit Florida's defense as well,
but ultimately they left the stadium happy with that overtime win.
Speaker 3: Yeah, talk, let's talk about Florida a little bit.
Speaker 1: Florida's defense is played better in the last couple weeks,
played really good against Central Florida shut them down, and
again a very good effort in Knoxville.
Speaker 3: Obviously, you get to the end of the game.
Speaker 1: Tennessee, Florida's winning into the middle of the third quarter
of Tennessee scores a couple of touchdown, the game gets tied,
Florida has an opportunity they tie the game, or uh yeah,
they know they they're down seven, they score to go
down one. What was the sentiment in the press box late?
Speaker 3: Do you go for two? Was that the sentiment in
the press box?
Speaker 1: Or do you think that, you know, Billy made the
right call, because remember there was about a minute and
a half left in the game when all that happened,
you think it was the right call to to ultimately
go kick the extra point, not go for too because
remember they called they run, they line up in a
swing gate formation, and I believe Tennessee, did Tennessee or
was it Florida they called the time out?
Speaker 4: No, Tennessee called the time out there.
Speaker 5: And it's interesting because Chris Lowe, you know, National right
for ESPN, He's sitting next to me. He was adamant
that Florida should go for two in that situation. I
was a little more you know, I could see both
sides of it, because I do think Florida's defense was
playing really well. But that being said, I think the
way it worked out was, you know, they showed the play,
Tennessee called time out, and I guess they didn't feel
confident enough that they had another play that was a
short thing. So they decided to kick the extra point
and go for overtime. Listen, you know, damned if you do,
damned if you don't. I did write a column though
that you know, Billy not going for it kind of
continued this risk averse trend. Yeah, hasn't been very endearing
to Florida fans. I think they view him as that
They've always read him as a very conservative guy. And
this was a guy that came and remember, scared money,
don't make money. But you know, this is a guy
that also picked what five field goals in the red
zone against Charlotte last year. This is the guy who
you know, runs basically an offense that's more reliant on
horizontal passes than vertical passes. So it was just another,
you know, one of those decisions that you make that
you know, maybe not as bold as it, but but
I think that tells you a little bit about you
know where Billy Napiers is a coach in Louisiana. Four
years ago, he had it rolling, He had that bravado
that he knew that he could, you know, get that
one yard run in that situation. And now he's you know,
coaching Scarret and for obvious reasons, obviously, with you know,
the results being what they are fourteen and seventeen. So
just another example of you know, kind of the Charlie
Brown tenure of Billy Napier.
Speaker 4: You know, if anything can go wrong, it will.
Speaker 1: I was shocked only because there wouldn't have been a
person in the Florida fan base that would have said
a word. If he'd have gone for two and didn't
make it and they lose by one, they would have probably,
like you said, they would have admired him for doing that,
for being aggressive. Again, there's differently being an aggressive and reckless,
but in this situation, with all the pressure on, I
was shocked he didn't go for two there, because again,
you beat Tennessee and you maybe win another one of
these two games down the road, maybe you save your
job a boy just being and plus if the odds
were that Tennessee was going to probably move the ball
a little bit, they didn't end up getting a field
goal range, But boy, I was I was very surprised
that he didn't go for two there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I could see, you know, and I
guess the book says on the road you go for two, right,
But I think you know, he kind of explained it
was if it was a forty seven to forty seven game,
the way the game was going.
Speaker 4: He probably would have definitely gone for two.
Speaker 5: But the fact that both defenses, let's not forget to
the two defense has been playing really well. He certainly
carried the day in overtime. And I think the Volves
with an interesting stat in the press spots, this is
the first time since nineteen sixty nine that they've held
their first six opponents under twenty points. So that's that's
a pretty good defense over there. They showed it over
the course of the game, you know, certainly, But I
think Florida fans are you know, certainly more frustrated with
Billy Napier obviously with some of the red zone calls
the fourth and inches when you know the line up
in the shotgun and tried to sweep, and then also
you know the field goal, you know, centuries at the
end of the half again indefensible. Can't have twelve guys
out there, had those problems last year, So those things
are very frustrating. The fact that you know, Florida only
was up three nothing halftime and easily could have been
up thirteen to sixty.
Speaker 4: Nothing in that game.
Speaker 1: And the last thing I'll say we'll move on is
is if Florida is in contention for the SEC title,
you play for overtime, no problem. But Florida's they're not
gonna be in the SEC conversation. This was the kind
of game where you can again re establish Maybe you're
not re establish the program, but boy make a stamp nationally. Hey,
we went into Knoxville, won the game. We were aggressive,
we went for it and we and we won the game.
So I was just I was just disappointed in Napier,
given his tenuous job circumstance as it is, that he
wasn't more aggressive. So all right, let's get to the
injury on the field. Graham Mertz obviously but hurts his
ACL done for the year. It's now DJ Lagway's job.
What are the couple things that you're gonna see you
think moving forward that you that you really think DJ
does well, and maybe some things that they're gonna maybe
stay away from.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 5: DJ has got an electric arm, and he throws a
deep ball very well. He's got, obviously, you know, some
dual threat ability, although we haven't seen him run as
much as maybe I thought we would, and but at
the same time, you know, I think this opens up.
But you know, I think they've moved him along really
nicely here, you know the way they've done it in
terms of, you know, having him come in for certain
series during some SEC games. Obviously he started the Stanford
game and had a huge game, but that was Stanford.
But you know, the one thing you look at his
ledger five touchdowns to four interceptions. We had heard, you know,
throughout fall camp that one of the things that was
holding him back a little bit was some of his
decision making. So obviously, and in the SEC, turnovers can
be so you know, critical and crucial.
Speaker 4: I think that's.
Speaker 5: Gonna be the big thing is like, you know, can
you take care of the football? Obviously, you know that
first play he comes in in the third quarter, gets
kind of see when Merch goes out, he throws an interception.
Speaker 4: So things like.
Speaker 5: That, you know, when you play every down in the SEC,
and these coaches and Mark Stoups is a very good
defensive coach. A lot of different wrinkles at the kid.
You know, he's gonna have to take care of the football.
I think that's gonna be one of the keys for
him going forward. But he's got all the tools. He can,
you know, make the throws. He can make the deep throws.
You've got a good You've got a nice stable of
receivers that have some speed too, Premiere d k and
Elijah Badger and now Trey Wilson back. So you're gonna
have an opportunity to take some deep shots. And I
think if if you know, Flora's smart and this coaching
staff is smart, uh, they will try to take advantage
of those opportunities and maybe stretch the field a little vertically.
Speaker 4: With a kid that that's the strength.
Speaker 3: No doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 1: Is he Is he a well white guy in the
locker room as far as is everyone Obviously he's only
a freshman, we get it pretty young. But is he
a guy that everybody's gonna galvanize around you think?
Speaker 4: Yeah, very humble kid.
Speaker 5: Uh, someone that uh you know when we talked to
him after the Sandford game, Uh, somebody. I think he's
got a really good head on his shoulders, a really
you know, good level of humility, which I think is uh,
you know, important in how we handled the situation when
Graham Mertz and how he was very respectful of Mertz
and talked about learning from him. I think he's got
that ability. But again, true freshmen in the f SEC
is tough, flooding. I mean, we saw the Rensert freshman
quarterback from Tennessee, Nico IAmA baila, right or you know
if I butchered his name, you know, I was trying,
you know, last two weeks. But Nico, I mean, he's
struggling right now in the SEC two. So for young quarterbacks,
this isn't the easiest league. And I think he's gonna
have some growing teams, but he's also got the ability
to kind of rise and make big thrones as well.
Certainly he did on that DK touchdown to tie the
game and send it in an overtime.
Speaker 1: All right, And as we're gonna get I'm gonna get
to the schedule here, because the schedule gets the brutal
here for the Gators. After he got Kentucky this week, Georgia, Tennessee,
lsu O miss the next five weeks and this is
a huge six weeks for five to six weeks for
DJ because say what you want, if there's a coaching
change and he plays well these last five or six weeks,
he may be the most coveted free agent in NIL
in the NIL market come this off season.
Speaker 3: If he decides that's something he wants to explore.
Speaker 1: Who knows or who knows the dig But this could
be a very lucrative five or six weeks for DJ Lagway.
Speaker 4: No question.
Speaker 5: And I think, you know, Billy Napier's future is tied
to DJ Lagway, right Like I think if DJ Lagway
goes out and he shows promise and maybe they win
a couple of games, maybe they you know, beat Kentucky
and beat fsu and and steal a win against Ole
miss Rare else you in the swamp and become Bowl
eligible at six and six, and Lagway shows a lot
of promise, I think there's a chance that Florida could
keep Billy Napier at six and six because the fact
that you don't want to lose this kid.
Speaker 4: You don't want to lose DJ Lagway, and he's tied
to Billy Napier.
Speaker 5: So I think this is I think this injury is
interesting because even if Florida had you know, struggled, uh,
you know, and lost to Tennessee, you could have made
the ru you men seven bench Graham Mertz and played
DJ Lagway the rest of the year. I just see
what you've got for the following season. So the injury
kind of necessitated it and made it h and made
it so and and now here's a chance for DJ
Lagway to show what he can do and for uh
the fuck you know, and and and if he does
and they you decide to move on from Billy Napier,
then yes, I mean he's gonna be a guy that
is going to command a lot on the open market
if he decides to go in that direction.
Speaker 3: Yep, all right, So schedule again. This is to me,
this is must win for Billy against Kentucky.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're not gonna probably beat Georgia, probably not
gonna beat Kentucky. I mean Texas, you know, could you
beat LSU or Old Miss one of those two maybe,
but you're probably looking at it best in the next
five games if you if you don't be if you
beat Kentucky, maybe two and three. If you don't beat Kentucky,
you're potentially looking at zero five. I mean, just talk
about how important this game of Kentucky is again from
the from the fan basis perspective, and for probably from
the confidence of the pro internally with the confidence of the.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know what I wrote today, It's amazing how
the script is flipped right from eighty six to twenty seventeen,
thirty one straight against Kentucky, and now they've lost three
in a row against the Wildcats. They're two and four
in their last six against Kentucky, which is pretty amazing
to think about. You know, I guess the good news
for Billy Napier is, you know, he's not gonna have
Ray Davis in his nightmares anymore. Already ran for two
hundred and eighty and also had a big day for
Vanderbilt the year before.
Speaker 4: So and Liam Cohen.
Speaker 5: Who was the offensive fouriera last year of Kentucky, now
he is down with the Tampa Bay Bucks. So it's
a different Kentucky team. But Mark Stoops is still a
grinded defensive coach. They're gonna be a physical team. They're
gonna come down here, play with a lot of physicality,
playing with a lot of toughness. They're kind of desperate
coming up with twenty and thirteen lots against Vanderbilt. So
I expected to be a close game, but I think
Florida is gonna find a way to pull this one out.
It's homecoming, it's a swamp. Obviously, DJ Lagway is gonna
have to limit the mistakes. I think that's gonna be
Creek key because I think back to two years ago
when Anthony Richardson throw that pick six in the Kentucky game,
and that was crucial. So for this game, if DJ
Lagway can kind of you know, play well, limit the
mistakes and the defense can continue the upper couple of weeks,
I could see Florida pulling this out at the swamp
and getting back to four and three and maybe creating
some good vibes for that brutal stretch that will be
coming after their second open week.
Speaker 3: So yeah, you're in.
Speaker 4: You're right again.
Speaker 1: Kentucky's not going to go on and score thirty five
unless Florida gives them a bunch of, you know, a
couple of those points. So it should be a defensive
ori ended game. You shouldn't have to score probably more
than twenty four probably to win. So that's something that's
probably manageable there, all.
Speaker 5: Right to Jason, At one more point that you know,
in addition to losing Graham Murtin, they also lost Montreal Johnson,
who I guess we're hearing this week to week. We're
gonna find out more today. But that's another blow of
the running game too. You know, at one point in
the fourth quarter in that game, you're a true freshman
quarterback in DJ Lagway handing up your true fresh running
back in shadeen Baugh. That kind of tells you they
are right now from an experience and banged up. So
it's certainly not going to be easy, especially if Montreal
Johnson's out for that game as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Last question I'll get you out here is obviously Napier's future. Obviously,
have you gotten any indications that there potentially could be
a move in season or do you think this is
going to run out to the end of the year
before they make.
Speaker 5: A move if they make a move, obviously, Yeah, I
think they want to give Billy Napier every chance to
finish the season. That's the latest that we're hearing is
that they want to give them the benefit of doubt.
Speaker 4: They want to see if you can make a bowl game.
Speaker 5: Certainly if they lose against Kentucky at home and homecoming
the Swamp and that's going to create a lot of
noise in the system. But I do think their feeling is,
you know, as long as the players are playing hard
for him and there's not a lot of they're going
to try to roll with it until the end of
the season or until it becomes so toxic that maybe
they have to make a move. But you worry about that,
You worry about the opt outs, the Rensturch situation as well.
Speaker 4: You know, you don't want it to go that south.
So so we'll see.
Speaker 5: I think it's a week to week thing with Billy,
But I think certainly this is, uh, you know, another
crucial game for his tenure.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think he's got to find a way
to win this one.
Speaker 1: A couple of names again that you know, obviously you're
gonna hear names, and a couple of names. I think
if you're a Florida fan and you're interested in this guy,
Helps is a guy like Lane Kiffin's already lost two
games at Ole Miss, So the odds of them going
to the playoffs are getting slimmer and slimmer by the week.
Speaker 3: You know, you've heard that, You've heard the name John Gruden,
You've heard some other people is.
Speaker 1: You know, it's just gonna be interesting to see how
this plays out, not just in Gainesville, but in other
places around the country. If teams start to lose those names,
potentially could be you know, become candidates if if, if,
if the Florida situation becomes untenable.
Speaker 3: So all right, Kevin Brockway, great work, man, appreciate the time.
Speaker 1: You can find Kevin Brockway's great work at the Gainesville Sun.
You can find Kevin on Twitter at Kevin Brockway g one.
Definitely follow him there for all your Florida football action.
Any updates with basketball, I know they're getting started here
pretty soon, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, SEC media days.
Speaker 5: You know they open against ucfusus F excuse me, camp
a team in Jacksonville in early November, So it should
be should be pretty interesting for Todd Golden's team. Number eight,
number twenty one preseason top twenty five, first time they've
been ranked preseason top twenty five since twenty nineteen, and
pick to finish six in the SEC and the media
polls so out an eighteen team. So Todd Golden has
done a nice job with that program entering year three.
Speaker 3: Cool well, great work, Kevin, keep it up.
Speaker 1: You got a gauntlet you're gonna you gotta cover here,
but start Saturday in the swamp when the Wildcats come
to town for homecoming.
Speaker 3: So have a great have a great weekend, and we'll
talk soon.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, thank you.
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