Gators Have Sir Isaac Newton On Their Side

It’s football. A sport in which the Gators have owned the Wildcats. Seventy-three times these two teams have played football and 53 of those have been won by Florida.

If this were a Bourbon tasting contest or perhaps a basketball game, I might concede Kentucky should be the favorite. And I guess in basketball too, although there’s been some evening out of that series over recent years. But this is college football, Florida versus Kentucky at Commonwealth Stadium on Kroger Field Saturday at noon and, as we speak, the point spread differential is shrinking by the second.

It’s because, after all, this is Florida versus Kentucky. It’s not a bourbon tasting competition. It’s not a basketball game. It’s not horse racing. (Although as a native Öcalan, I don’t necessarily concede all races between the Florida and Kentucky breds to the Bluegrass State.)

It’s football. A sport in which the Gators have owned the Wildcats. Seventy-three times these two teams have played football and 53 of those have been won by Florida. It took until the Trump Era in 2018 to end a Florida winning streak that began in the Reagan Era in 1986.

Only once has Florida lost more than two in a row. Do the math.

This would be a third straight UK victory if the Wildcats win Saturday, tying Bear Bryant's streak.

That just defies college football's gravity — and I don’t think it’s gonna happen.

The bettors are starting to lean that way, too. The line opened with Kentucky a 3.5-point favorite. By Thursday it was down to 1 and trending toward even. Smart money says that by game time Florida could even be favored. (By dark Thursday, the betting line for #Gators visit to Kentucky was down to minus-1)

Why? The Gators are a better football team with an emerging quarterback to go with a tandem of running backs some say are the best twosome in the country. Their young talent at receiver to go with the all-world Ricky Pearsall, plus a quick repair job to the offensive line, strikes a fancy as chain movers. The new-found weaponry of Trey Smack’s foot is a welcomed addition to the arsenal.

Austin Armstrong is a hot young DC in attack mode which will likely bring more heat in the kitchen of Devin Leary than Gordon Ramsay’s TruConvecCovection Cooking System. His exotic pressures are a work of art and the likelihood of them coercing Leary into a sixth pick of the season isn’t actually all that unthinkable.

A close colleague of mine who knows football at the highest level contends that “we are better on defense over last year at all 11 positions."

On the flip side, the offense has to remember the snap count, Graham Mertz must stay ahead in the sticks and continue to not throw to the wrong colored jerseys. And the coaches must get 11 players on the field. The so-called Game Changers who were nicknamed that as special teamers must finally change a game -- for the better.

The consensus is that if the Gators don’t beat themselves they will beat the Wildcats.

A third straight win over Florida? Sorry, Mark Stoops is no Bear Bryant.

As I said, that just defies college football gravity — and I don’t think it’s gonna happen.

I think the prophecy that Florida is a better football program with a better team and that will rule the day. And that Sir Isaac Newton’s law of gravity, first consolidated with a bunch of other theories in 1867, will hold true.