Golden has No. 13 Gators on best start since the 2006 NCAA champs

Alijah Martin is one reason the Gators are off to such a great start (Gator Bait Photo by Chris Spears)

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday afternoon:

Two wins over two quality opponents will do wonders for you. Just ask Todd Golden and the Florida Gators. A pair of dominant, decisive wins over Wake Forest and Wichita State to win the ESPN Invitational at Lake Buena Vista last week not only extended Florida’s unbeaten start to the season (8-0) but propelled the Gators to the No. 13 position in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls.

The Gators will be going for their ninth straight Wednesday evening when they face Virginia (5-2) in the SEC-ACC Challenge. Florida’s 8-0 start to the season is the best since the 2005-06 Gators started the season 17-0.

In beating Wake Forest and Wichita State, the Gators played their two best defensive games of the season. The Gators held the two teams to 26.5 percent shooting from the 3-point line and were overpowering on the backboards where they held a 110-60 advantage including 56-30 over Wichita State.

The offense has always been there for Todd Golden teams and this one is averaging 86.5 per game, led by Walter Clayton Jr. (17.4 per game). Also scoring in double figures are Alijah Martin (15.1), Will Richard (12.4) and Alex Condon (12.3). Condon (6.9) and Rueben Chinyelu (6.8) lead the Gators in rebounding. The Gators are fourth nationally in rebounding at 44.6 per game and 10th in rebound margin (44.6-33.8 per game). Defensively, the Gators are holding opponents to 64.5 points per game and 29.2 percent from the 3-point line.

Florida’s surge extends beyond the AP and Coaches polls. The Gators are up to No. 7 in the NCAA Net Rankings and No. 8 in the kenpom.com analytical rankings.  

Associated Press top 25: 1. Kansas 7-0; 2. Auburn 7-0; 3. Tennessee 7-0; 4. Kentucky 7-0; 5. Marquette 8-0; 6. Iowa State 5-1; 7. Gonzaga 7-1; 8. Purdue 7-1; 9. Duke 5-2; 10. Alabama 6-2; 11. Wisconsin 8-0; 12. Oregon 8-0; 13. FLORIDA 8-0; 14. Cincinnati 6-0; 15. Baylor 5-2; 16. Memphis 6-1; 17. Houston 4-3; 18. Pittsburgh 7-1; 19. Illinois 6-1; 20. North Carolina 4-3; 21. Oklahoma 7-0; 22. Texas A&M 6-2; 23. Ole Miss 6-1; 24. San Diego State 4-2; 25. UConn 5-3

Coaches top 25: 1. Kansas 7-0; 2. Auburn 7-0; 3. Tennessee 7-0; 4. Marquette 8-0; 5. Iowa State 5-1; 6. Kentucky 7-0; 7. Purdue 7-1; 8. Gonzaga 7-1; 9. Duke 5-2; 10. Oregon 8-0; 11. Wisconsin 8-0; 12. Alabama 6-2; 13. FLORIDA 8-0; 14. Cincinnati 6-0; 15. Memphis 6-1; 16. Baylor 5-2; 17. Illinois 6-1; 18. Houston 4-3; 19. Pittsburgh 7-1; 20. Ole Miss 6-1; 21. Oklahoma 7-0; 22. North Carolina 4-3; 23. Michigan 6-1; 24. Texas A&M 6-2; 25. Michigan State 6-2

SEC BASKETBALL

Alabama (6-2): The Crimson Tide is No. 10 in the NCAA Net Rankings, No. 13 in the kenpom.com analytics. Tuesday’s game: at No. 20 North Carolina (4-3

Arkansas (5-2): The Razorbacks are No. 43 in kenpom.com, No. 51 in the NCAA Net Rankings. Tuesday’s game: at Miami (3-4)

No. 2 Auburn (7-0): The Tigers hold the top spot in the kenpom.com analytics and No. 2 in the NCAA Net rankings. Wednesday’s game: at No. 9 Duke (5-2)

Georgia (7-1): The Bulldogs are No. 27 in the NCAA Net rankings, No. 46 in kenpom.com. Tuesday’s game: Notre Dame (4-4)

No. 4 Kentucky (7-0): The Wildcats are No. 8 in the NCAA Net Rankings but No. 13 in kenpom.com. Tuesday’s game: at Clemson (7-1)

LSU (6-1): The Tigers are No. 50 in both kenpom.com and the NCAA Net Rankings. Tuesday’s game: Florida State (7-1)

Mississippi State (6-1): The Bulldogs are No. 28 in both kenpom.com and the NCAA Net Rankings. Tuesday’s game: Pittsburgh (7-1)

Missouri (6-1): The Tigers are No. 46 in the NCAA Net Rankings, No. 54 in kenpom.com. Tuesday’s game: California (6-1)

No. 21 Oklahoma (7-0): The Sooners are No. 37 in the NCAA Net Rankings, No. 41 in kenpom.com. Tuesday’s game: Georgia Tech (4-3)

No. 23 Ole Miss (6-1): The Rebels are No. 42 in the NCAA Net Rankings, 55 in kenpom.com. Tuesday’s game: at Louisville (5-2)

South Carolina (4-3): The Gamecocks are No. 77 in kenpom.com and No. 135 in the NCAA Net Rankings. Tuesday’s game: at Boston College (6-2)

No. 3 Tennessee (7-0): The Vols hold the top spot in the NCAA Net Rankings, No. 2 in kenpom.com analytics. Tuesday’s game: Syracuse (4-2)

Texas (6-1): The Longhorns are No. 35 in kenpom.com while No. 56 in the NCAA Net rankings. Tuesday’s game: at North Carolina State (5-2)

No. 22 Texas A&M (6-2): The Aggies are No. 27 in kenpom.com but No. 43 in the NCAA Net Rankings. Tuesday’s game: Wake Forest (7-2)

Vanderbilt (7-1): Vanderbilt is No. 62 in the NCAA Net Rankings, but No. 71 in kenpom.com. Wednesday’s game: at Virginia Tech (3-4)

THE FLIPPER IS AT IT AGAIN

Florida’s surge isn’t restricted to basketball. The Gators have moved up to No. 11 in the most recent recruiting rankings with the flip of safety Hylton Stubbs (6-1, 190, Jacksonville, FL Mandarin) from Miami. A 4-star recruit, Stubbs is the seventh player Billy Napier has flipped in the last two weeks. He joins high school teammate, 4-star QB Tramell Jones (6-0, 190, Jacksonville, FL Mandarin) in the Florida class.

The Gators are still in the running to flip 5-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench (6-1, 190, Jacksonville, FL) from Texas and 5-star guard Solomon Thomas (6-5, 320, Jacksonville, FL Raines) from Florida State. Should Napier flip these two, the Gators could finish with a top five or top six ranking. When November began Florida was in the 40s. A 3-game winning streak and the continued impressive freshman debut of quarterback DJ Lagway have played a significant role in the surge.

The Gators will be very active in the transfer portal as well where they are expected to sign 10-12 players. Expect the Gators to be looking seriously at several wide receivers in the portal such as Eric Rivers from Florida International and Micah Hudson from Texas Tech. Rivers, a junior from Chattanooga, caught 62 passes for 1,172 yards and 12 touchdowns for a 4-8 FIU team. Hudson is a former 5-star recruit who caught eight passes for 123 yards as a true freshman.

The Gators will likely be looking to add one or two offensive linemen, perhaps two defensive linemen, a linebacker, an experienced backup quarterback and one or two in the secondary.  

SEC FOOTBALL: PORTAL DEPARTURES/ARRIVALS

Alabama: LB Keanu Koht (RJR); CB Jahlil Hurley (FR)

Arkansas: WR Jaedon Wilson (RJR) to UCLA; QB Malachi Singleton (FR)

Auburn: DL Gage Keys (RJR); TE Grant Hidalgo (RJR); QB Holden Geriner (RSO); OG EJ Harris (SO); P Gabe Russo (FR)

FLORIDA: DE Justus Boone (RJR); OL Mike Williams (RFR); EDGE Quincy Ivory (RJR); EDGE Bryce Capers (SO); WR Andy Jean (RFR); CB Ja’Keem Jackson (SO)

Georgia: CB Julian Humphrey (SO)

LSU: WR London Ibieta (SO); QB Rickie Collins (RFR); WR CJ Daniels (RJR)

Mississippi State: QB Chris Parson (RFR); WR Creed Whittemore (SO); WR JJ Harrell (FR); CB Jayven Williams (SO) from Kennesaw State; EDGE Ty Cooper (JR)

Oklahoma: WR Jaquaize Pettaway (SO)

Ole Miss: S Key Lawrence (RSR)

South Carolina: LB Bangally Kamara (RSR) to Kansas; LB Mohamed Kaba (RSR); WR Tyshawn Russell (FR)

Tennessee: OG Vysen Lang (FR)

Texas: WR Johntay Cook II (SO)

Texas A&M: DL Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy (SO)

FOOTBALL NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

Florida State: In addition to Gus Malzahn as its new offensive coordinator, FSU will have a new defensive coordinator, too. Monday, Mike Norvell hired Tony White from Nebraska. Nebraska finished eighth in the Big Ten in total defense, 19th nationally at 315.4 yards allowed per game. The Cornhuskers are also 19th nationally in scoring defense, giving up 19.8 points per game.

Florida Atlantic: The Owls hired Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley as their new head coach. The 33-year-old will be the youngest head coach in Division I. Texas Tech is No. 10 nationally in total offense at 459.8 yards per game and eighth in scoring at 38.6. The Raiders average 298.1 passing yards per game. Prior to Texas Tech, Kittley produced record-setting pass offenses at Houston Christian and Western Kentucky. At Western Kentucky, his quarterback Bailey Zappe threw for 5,967 yards and 62 touchdowns, both NCAA single-season records.

Miami: Mario Cristobal says the College Football Playoff committee should “reward wins” when selecting the teams that will participate in the first 12-team playoff. Miami is 10-2 but without a single win over a ranked team. Of the other two ACC teams in contention for the playoff (Clemson and SMU), only SMU has wins over ranked teams but neither of them (Louisville and Pittsburgh) were ranked in the top ten at the time.

COUNTDOWN TO FIRING DAY

The latest casualty is Appalachian State head coach Shawn Clarke, who went 40-24 in five seasons, but suffered through a 5-6 season in 2024, the Mountaineers first losing record since 2013.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The regular season has ended with chaos reigning supreme throughout all of college football. Chaos, yes, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With all the conference realignment, one conference (Pac-12) going the way of the 5-cent cigar and the 12-team playoff replacing the 4-team playoff, it could have been the worst college football season on record, but it wasn’t.

All things considered, even with the chaos, even with a portal that needs some rules and even with NIL completely out of control, college football has never been stronger than it is right now.

The demise of the Pac-12 was a bad thing since a conference that has produced so many national champions is gone. It is resurrecting but the new league, which is poaching from the Mountain West, isn’t going to be nearly as strong as the old Pac-12. Travel for the four teams of the previous Pac-12 to places like Rutgers and Maryland -- and vice versa -- is going to be beastly. Maybe it all works out. The same can be said for the Big 12, which now stretches from Morgantown, West Virginia to Tucson, Arizona. The one saving grace of all the change is that Oregon will play for the Big Ten championship and Arizona State will play for the Big 12.

In the SEC it’s business as usual even with newbie Texas having the best regular season record, even with the entire league cannibalizing each other. The league is the best, gets the best TV ratings and top to bottom in all sports can’t be challenged. All you have to do is look at the AP basketball rankings where half the league is in the top 25.

There are problems that have to be resolved, for sure, but somehow we made it through the regular season. The SEC and every other league was more competitive than ever. TV ratings were higher. Tickets were tough to come by at reasonable prices.

So, to paraphrase the late, great Mark Twain, reports of college football’s demise are greatly exaggerated.