Gators have a chance to make a statement at Kentucky Saturday

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning:

It’s fairly obvious that the schedule-makers in the Southeastern Conference have no clue about tradition, otherwise they wouldn’t have scheduled 6th-ranked Florida (13-0) at 10th-ranked Kentucky (11-2) to start league play Saturday (11 a.m., ESPN). Not only that, they wouldn’t have allowed ESPN to schedule the game at 11 a.m.

Florida and Kentucky will only play once this season, breaking a long-standing tradition of home-and-home. Typically, Florida will play Kentucky the last home game of the season every other year. It’s Senior Day and the O-Dome is a zoo. Every other year the Gators have played at Kentucky for the Wildcats final home game, also their Senior Day.

But not this year and what’s happening seems to be the norm for the new, expanded Southeastern Conference. We’ve seen traditional rivalries broken up in football and now we’re seeing it happen in basketball. It’s called progress. I know that, but that doesn’t make it right and it certainly doesn’t mean I have to like it.

If there is a silver lining to this scheduling stupidity it is the opportunity for Todd Golden and the Gators to send another shot across the college basketball bow. Should the Gators win their SEC opener at Rupp is just one more statement that Florida is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Everybody is aware that Florida has this rather well-balanced mix of inside-outside that few teams in college basketball have. The Gators are tall, athletic and intimidating on the inside and so explosive on the perimeter. There are very few teams that can match Florida’s size and when you get to the perimeter, who are you thinking of taking out? Walter Clayton Jr.? Alijah Martin? Will Richard? Denzel Aberdeen? Take one out and the other three will kill you. Try to take all four out and the inside foursome of Alex Condon (6-11), Rueben Chinyelu (6-10), Thomas Haugh (6-9) and Sam Alexis (6-9) will absolutely make you pay.

Golden has also convinced the Gators that you can still be a great offensive team while playing lock down defense. The Gators currently rank eighth nationally in scoring (87.4 per game) while holding opponents to 63.5 points per game, which is 24th. The Gators are second in the country in scoring margin, winning games by a margin of 23.9 per game.

SEC BASKETBALL

Saturday’s games

No. 6 FLORIDA (13-0) at No. 10 Kentucky (11-2)

No. 23 Arkansas (11-2) at No. 1 Tennessee (13-0)

Missouri (11-2) at No. 2 Auburn (12-1)

No. 12 Oklahoma (13-0) at No. 5 Alabama (11-2)

Texas (11-2) at No. 13 Texas A&M (11-2)

South Carolina (10-3) at No. 17 Mississippi State (12-1)

Georgia (12-1) at No. 24 Ole Miss (11-2)

Vanderbilt (12-1) at LSU (11-2)

LET THE WINNING SEASON BEGIN

Perhaps that should be the nickname for sports at the University of Florida once a new year begins. This could be Florida’s most dominant spring ever and there is a legitimate shot at winning the Learfield Director’s Cup. The Gators are top five fixtures but this year the Gators have it in them to make the Final Four in men’s basketball. A national championship? That’s a roll of the dice in March where the best team in the country doesn’t always win the national title, just the only team standing after a 6-game run.  

In addition to basketball, the Gators will be among the favorites to hoist national championship trophies in gymnastics (preseason No. 3), baseball (expected top 3), softball (expected top 2), men’s swimming (currently No. 4), women’s swimming (currently No. 4), both men’s and women’s indoor track (always national title contenders as long as Mike Holloway is the coach), and both men’s and women’s outdoor track (see indoor track). Lacrosse will be highly ranked as the men’s and women’s golf and tennis teams.

The road to national championships in sports other than basketball is every bit as rocky, but this is that rare year when the Gators should challenge to win multiple titles. I believe the Gators will win it all in gymnastics, softball and at least two in track. By adding UCLA transfer Selena Harris-Miranda (5 perfect 10s last year) to go with NCAA all-around runner-up Leanne Wong, Jenny Rowland has a roster that is as talented and deep as any in the nation. Tim Walton brings back pitchers Keagan Rothrock and Ava Brown along with national player of the year Jocelyn Erickson, All-American center fielder Kendra Falby and another generational recruiting class to make a run at the softball title after finishing third last year. Mike Holloway has won 14 national championships in indoor and outdoor track. It seems he wins at least one every year. Why should this year be any different?

THE 12-TEAM PLAYOFF NEEDS SOME TWEAKS  

The 12-team playoff is superior to the 4-team model, but it is in serious need of some tweaks. If you don’t believe it, then consider this: When the playoff began, the top four seeds were 1. Oregon; 2. Georgia; 3. Arizona State and 4. Boise State. They were rewarded with a first round bye while teams seeded five through eight all got home games.

The teams seeded five through eight all not only won their first round home games, but they beat the four top seeded teams that got byes in the second round. That should tell the folks who run the College Football Playoff that there is something seriously wrong with their current format.

Under the current model, the four highest ranked conference champions are seeded one through four. That needs to change. The top four seeds should be the four highest ranked teams. Also, just because a team wins 11 games doesn’t necessarily mean it’s one of the top 12 teams in the country. Indiana and SMU, for example, played cupcake schedules, won 11 games and then got obliterated in the playoff when they had to play good teams. Strength of schedule HAS to be a major factor in choosing teams for the playoff. Indiana played only one ranked team all year (Ohio State) and was destroyed before Notre Dame hosed the Hoosiers in the playoff. SMU played only one ranked team (Louisville) prior to the ACC Championship Game with Clemson. SMU lost to Clemson then was hammered into submission by Penn State in the playoff. Neither Indiana nor SMU deserved to be in the playoff. They weren’t among the best 12 teams in the country.

Why give teams seeded five through eight a home game? Shouldn’t the four highest seeded teams get a home game? After all, they earned it.  

Why is it that Notre Dame, which doesn’t belong to a conference, got a first round home game? If the Irish wish to participate in the playoff, then they should have to join a conference and face the reality of a conference championship game.

Since the advent of the playoff system, bowl games have become more and more irrelevant best evidenced by attendance. The Florida-Tulane Gasparilla Bowl game, one of the earlier games, drew 41,000-plus to RayJay in Tampa. That’s one of the best attended bowl games. Last night’s Gator Bowl between Ole Miss and Duke (Ole Miss 52-20 winner) drew 31,290. The Las Vegas Bowl (Southern Cal 35, Texas A&M 31) drew 26,671. The Pop Tarts Bowl (Iowa State 42, Miami 41) drew 38,650. The Citrus Bowl (Illinois 24, South Carolina 21) was attended by 47,129 and the Reliaquist Bowl in Tampa (Michigan 19, Alabama 13) drew 51,439. The only bowl game that really drew well was the Alamo Bowl (BYU 36, Colorado 14), which had 64,000-plus.

The bowl games aren’t salvagable under the current way of doing business, which is dictated by ESPN. ESPN doesn’t give a rat’s ass about how many people attend games as long as it can fill empty space in its scheduling during the month of December. Fans aren’t exactly inclined to flock to Frisco Texas on a Tuesday night in mid-December to watch a 6-6 West Virginia team face 10-2 Memphis or to Phoenix on a Thursday night to see 7-5 Rutgers against 8-4 Kansas State.

About the only way to salvage the bowls is to expand the playoff and incorporate more bowl games into the format. An expanded 16-game playoff could take the top 14 bowl games and make them relevant. Expand to 24 and play eight first round games with eight conference champs getting a bye. Then eight second rounders, four quarterfinal games and two semifinals. That would incorporate 22 bowl games. Alternate the national championship game between Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles and Miami.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: College football as we know it isn’t terminally ill, but it could get there if some changes aren’t made very soon. The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, is trying to get Congress to intervene and solve the myriad of issues, but someone please tell me the last time Congress got anything right. The current proposal brought forth by dunce in charge Charlie Baker on behalf of the NCAA will reward the conferences at the top level of the sport while forcing those at the mid-and-lower levels to figure out how they’re going to manage to survive.

We need a healthy college game, not one where the only ones capable of surviving financially are at the very top. If the NCAA has its way, it will be simply a matter of time before some football and athletic programs go belly up. Is that what we want or need?

At the heart of the matter are the transfer portal and NIL, which are spiraling completely out of control. As of midnight Thursday (per On3), 2,408 players had entered the transfer portal with only 35 percent committed or signed somewhere else. That’s pathetic.

And then there is the question about NIL money. Can someone explain how or why some college kid deserves to be making millions of dollars to play a sport or why some high school kid who has never strapped on a jock against college competition should get a 4-year deal worth $8 million?

We have both these problems thanks to the NCAA, which under the guidance of Mark Emmert lost every important case it chose to fight in the courts.

So here are my updated suggestions to save college football:

1. Announce plans to form a new organization that is streamlined, has its own set of rules and is headed by a commissioner who (a) actually knows football; (b) has unmatched integrity and (c) is willing to rule with an iron hand to weed out those who cheat or try to flaunt the rules.

2. Make the punishment severe for rules breakers, a combination of multi-million dollar fines, serious losses of scholarships and suspensions for coaches who get caught. Make the punishment severe enough and long enough that no one is willing to do it again.

3. Five years eligibility. Period. No waivers that grant extra years. No redshirts. Just five years. End of story.

4. Players are employees of the athletic association, not the university. Salary caps. Opt out during the season and players are liable for all money paid prior. Opt out for a bowl game, same thing. Players are under contract to play football. Period. Health insurance benefits extended to 10 years after expiration of eligibility. Education benefits extended to five years after expiration of eligibility.

5. Transfer portal opens once a year in May for 21 days. Spring practice AFTER the portal closes for 21 days.

6. Transfer with less than a 2.5 GPA and you sit a year. Transfer and you’re still taking remedial courses, sit a year. Transfer December through May 1 and sit a year.

7. NIL money must flow through registered agents. Any NIL money from non-registered agents results in a 1-year suspension for the player and a 10-year ban for the non-registered agent.

8. Hiring and firing season for coaches is January 1 to February 1.

9. No paycheck games for D1AA opponents. Paycheck games allowed with D1AA teams instead of the typical spring game.