Buddy Martin Blog: Instead Of Answers, We Are Left With A Bunch Of Questions, Almost 20 Of Them

*WELL, JUST 14 TODAY ...

Before we turn the page and launch Homecoming Weekend, where the Gators are a 38.5-point favorites to win their fourth game, let’s address the obvious. And by the way, there are no right and wrong answers. But I am still a little bumfuzzled.

Usually I try to provide answers in this space. However today I have 14 questions about Florida Gator football which can only be answered eventually by the players and coaches. Meanwhile, feel free to provide some your own to this version of Almost 20 Questions.

When I was a kid, after we got our first TV in the 1950s, there was a show called Twenty Questions with a panel of celebrity guest experts trying to identify the object or person, which always started out with, “Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?” One popular question was, “Is it bigger than a breadbox?” My questions will be more generic and less specific.

Almost 20 questions -- we’ve got six fewer today because it gets hard to follow along.

And since we don’t really have an audience to ask these questions to, except you, let me bring in the three statutes to ask. After all it’s homecoming. So welcome Tim, Steve and Danny. You’re off the hook for answers.

Before we turn the page and launch Homecoming Weekend, where the Gators are a 38.5-point favorites to win their fourth game, let’s address the obvious. And BTW, there are no right and wrong answers. But I am still a little bumfuzzled.

What happened that night in Lexington?

We could spend up all 14 questions on that alone, including why Dan Mullen ate three-time outs, ran out the clock and may have blown a chance for his only other touchdown of the game. We’ll get back to you on that, but so far, we don’t have any real answers. Although apparently Mullen feared it wasn’t worth the risk of trying to score. Which prompts the obvious: Deep down, does the coach trust his starting quarterback?

As critical as the 15 penalties were, the Gators still had a chance to win in the final minutes – but didn’t. Was that lack of execution or bad play calling? Or lacking the proper personnel on the field to pull it off?

Was Mullen correct when he laid the blame at the feet of his offensive line for all those illegal motion penalties because they weren’t “mentally tough,” or was it the coaches’ fault for not preparing them properly for the loud crowd at Kroger Field?

Is Kentucky better than we thought? Or will the Wildcats be exposed this week vs LSU?

Are the Gators’ hopes done for Atlanta?

Hey, is this going to be a wild and crazy 2021 with more big surprises – ask Ohio State, Texas A&M, Oregon, etc. about that. Will Mullen and his staff be able to keep the players focused on the tasks ahead: Vandy and LSU — without peeking around corner at Georgia?

Which of the early frontrunners are most vulnerable to an upset – Alabama, Georgia, Penn State, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Michigan?

Going forward, which quarterback gives Dan Mullen the best chance to win – Jones or Anthony Richardson?

Should AR#15 get more snaps?

Did Dan Mullen and his staff get outcoached? And did he get a little snarky with his answer to our Kassidy Hill? Should Kassidy not have asked that question that way?

And then one about the optics -- Mullen sometimes appearing detached, or even unemotional about the bitter loss, smiling as he shook Mark Stoops’ hand in post-game. Was he?

I think before we sign off and close the books on Kentucky 2021, should we maybe be asking what the Wildcats did RIGHT instead the Gators did WRONG?

Save that last one for the next sessions of Almost 20 Questions when we know a little more about how this season is going turn out.

And finally, does it mean anything that Mullen is 3-5 in his last eight games, even though two of those losses were to Alabama?

These guys didn't provide answers -- but they weren't supposed to. Photo Credit: Chris Spears

I feel I must provide these answers to stay within the game’s regulations. 1. Yes, it is bigger than a breadbox. 2. As far as whether it’s “Animal, Vegetable or Mineral,” I have no earthly idea. Pick one.

P.S.: I’m allowing Tebow, Spurrier and Wuerffel to take a pass this time, instead of throwing one.