The Practices Are Why Any Bowl Will Do.

THOUGTS OF THE DAY

By FRANZ BEARD

November 2, 2022

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning.

Yes, there are four games remaining and of course, it’s one game at a time for the Florida Gators (4-4, 1-4 SEC), but the importance of winning two more cannot be stressed enough. A 2-2 record makes the Gators bowl eligible. A 6-6 record would put the Gators on the bottom rung of SEC bowls, sort of like last year when UF won its final two games to earn a spot in the Gasparilla Bowl. Should the Gators go 3-1 or even 4-0 in the last month of the regular season, they’ll most likely get to a fairly decent bowl game.

Currently, Jerry Palm of CBS projects the Gators will face Washington in the Las Vegas Bowl on December 17. Kyle Bonagura of ESPN projects the Gators going against Baylor in the Liberty Bowl on December 28, while Mark Schlabach of ESPN has the Gators matched up with North Carolina State in the Gator Bowl.

These aren’t top tier bowl games, but they do serve the important purpose of giving Napier 15 extra practices. It’s like a second spring practice, an opportunity for the coaching staff to gauge the progress of younger players who were redshirted or may not have seen the field early and often during the regular season.

Napier addressed getting bowl eligible at his Monday press conference.

“Well, I think one of the benefits of going to a bowl game is that you get additional time with the players from a developmental standpoint,” Napier said. “More meetings, more walk throughs, more practice opportunity. There’s no question this is a developmental game and you do that in a practice setting.

“Certainly it’s another opportunity for your team to compete and play, so more experience for players, opportunities for player to increase their value relative to their career. And, certainly an opportunity to celebrate some of the positive things that come from the year.”

Napier didn’t address attrition, but the additional practices might very well determine if some of the players on the current roster will be returning next year. With the dismissal of Brenton Cox Jr., the Gators currently have 82 on scholarship with three who will be completing their eligibility at the end of this season. Napier has 22 committed recruits with expectations to add another five or six. That would put the Gators at 107 scholarships if Napier signs 28. Then there are transfers. Judging by depth and areas that need a drastic infusion of talent, it’s reasonable to expect Napier to go after 12-15 transfers.

So, do the math: 122-85 equals 37. It’s entirely possible that 37 – or more – players on the current roster won’t be with the Gators next year. After his first season at Louisiana, there were 39 from his 2018 roster that weren’t with the Ragin Cajuns in 2019.

Richard scores 11 in 15-minute scrimmage at the O-Dome Todd Golden gave the public their first glimpse of the 2022-23 Florida basketball team Tuesday night with a 15-minute scrimmage at the O-Dome. Sophomore wing guard Will Richard scored 11 points for the Blue team as they scored a 34-29 win over the White. Richard nailed three 3-pointers and got scoring help from Myreon Jones (7) and freshman Aleks Szmczyk (7). Leading the way for the White team were Kowacie Reeves (8) and Niels Lane (7).

All 13 scholarship players and walk-ons Alex Klatsky and Jack May played in the game. Asked if there has been a real surprise since fall practice began back in September, Golden said, “Our depth. It’s a challenge for me and the staff to really drill down on an 8-man rotation at this point. To be honest, we can’t and we won’t even try.”

The Gators open their season next Monday night against Stony Brook at the O-Dome.

Three Gators earn SEC weekly swimming honors

Skip Donald was named SEC Men’s Diver of the Week while Aleksas Savickas and Zoe Dixon were selected SEC Freshmen of the Week. Donald had first place finishes in the 1-meter and 3-meter against Georgia. Savickas won the 100 and 200 meter breaststroke events against Georgia to go with a leg of the winning 400 medley relay team. Dixon took first in the 200 backstroke, second in the 400 IM and third in the 200 butterfly.

Parker Valby Women’s National Athlete of the Week

Parker Valby who ran the fastest 6K cross country time in Southeastern Conference history to win the SEC individual championship, was named Women’s National Athlete of the Week by the USTFCCCA. Valby ran an 18:25.87 which not only set the SEC record but broke the previous University of Florida record by 29.11 seconds.

Valby and men’s runner Jordan Shapiro were named to the All-SEC teams.

Vols take No. 1 spot in first CFP poll

With the most impressive resume in the country – 5-0 against ranked teams – Tennessee took the top spot in the first College Football Playoff poll. Georgia, which is No. 1 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls, is No. 3. Three other SEC teams made the top 11 teams – No. 6 Alabama, No. 10 LSU and No. 11 Ole Miss.

College Football Playoff top 25 (SEC teams bold face): 1. Tennessee 8-0; 2. Ohio State 8-0; 3. Georgia 8-0; 4. Clemson 8-0; 5. Michigan 8-0; 6. Alabama 7-1; 7. TCU 8-0; 8. Oregon 7-1; 9. Southern California 7-1; 10. LSU 6-2; 11. Ole Miss 7-1; 12. UCLA 7-1; 13. Kansas State 6-2; 14. Utah 6-2; 15. Penn State 6-2; 16. Illinois 7-1; 17. North Carolina 7-1; 18. Oklahoma State 6-2; 19. Tulane 7-1; 20. Syracuse 6-2; 21. Wake Forest 6-2; 22. North Carolina State 6-2; 23. Oregon State 6-2; 24. Texas 5-3; 25. UCF 6-2

SEC football (Associated Press rankings)

No. 6 Alabama (7-1, 4-1 SEC): Injured nose tackles DJ Dale and Jaheim Oats have returned to practice. Nick Saban says their availability for LSU will be determined in practice this week.

Arkansas (5-3, 2-3 SEC): Backup quarterback Kade Renfro is done for the year after undergoing knee surgery.

Auburn (3-5, 1-4 SEC): Former Gator All-American Ike Hilliard was named co-offensive coordinator along with Will Friend by interim head coach Cadillac Williams. Named as associate head coach was defensive backs coach Zac Etheridge.

No. 1 Georgia (8-0, 5-0 SEC): Georgia confirmed that edge rusher Nolan Smith is done for the year after suffering a torn pectoral muscle in the win over Florida.

Kentucky (5-3, 2-3 SEC): The Wildcats have been plagued by rotten special teams play all season, prompting HBC Mark Stoops to answer “there’s a possibility” when asked on his radio show if he’s considering changes with the units.

No. 15 LSU (6-2, 4-1 SEC): Brian Kelly says the difference in QB Jayden Daniels now and earlier in the season is “he was waiting on those receivers but now he can get the ball out of his hands without the receiver out of his break.”

Mississippi State (5-3, 2-3 SEC): Mississippi State is 5-0 in games that Will Rogers throws for more than 300 yards, 0-3 in games that he doesn’t make it to 300. Mississippi State has thrown for an average of 216 yards in the three losses.

Missouri (4-4, 2-3 SEC): HBC Eli Drinkwitz expects Kentucky’s best game because after the blowout loss to Tennessee, “They’re going to want to atone for last week.”

No. 11 Ole Miss (7-1, 3-1 SEC): Lane Kiffin is thought to be one of three front runners for the vacant Auburn job along with Liberty’s Hugh Freeze and Jackson State’s Deion Sanders.

South Carolina (5-3, 2-3 SEC): In the ongoing issue about tight end Jaheim Bell, who never got a pass thrown his way against Missouri, HBC Shane Beamer said, “To me, Jaheim needs to be on the field more than he was on Saturday. That’s on me. I’m the head coach.”

No. 2 Tennessee (8-0, 4-0 SEC): Wide receiver Jalin Hyatt’s 14 touchdown catches are a school record. Hyatt has caught 11 touchdown passes in the last four games.

Texas A&M (3-5, 1-4 SEC): Prior to throwing for 338 yards and four touchdowns in the loss to Ole Miss, freshman QB Connor Weigman had thrown for 91 yards and zero TDs.

Vanderbilt (3-5, 0-4 SEC):

Our SEC orphans in the Big 12

Oklahoma (5-3, 2-3 Big 12): Brent Venables was unhappy with the Sooners’ offensive execution in their win over Iowa State. Venables said, “You can’t live in second-and-10 all day. That’s not being efficient.”

Texas (5-3, 3-2 Big 12): Running back Bijan Robinson was named a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award. Robinson has run for 920 yards and 11 touchdowns while catching passes for 280 yards and two more TDs.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The last time the Florida Gators won a championship in football was 2008 when they beat Alabama in the SEC Championship Game and followed that up with a national championship game win over Oklahoma. A year later, the Gators seemed poised to repeat but they were derailed by Alabama in the SEC Championship Game and finished the season 13-1.

From 1990-2009, the Gators were the winningest team in all of college football – 202-52-1 – with eight Southeastern Conference championships and three national championships. Since 2010, the Gators are 99-61. That is 58 fewer wins than Alabama (157-18) and 31 fewer than Georgia (130-39). The closest the Gators have come to a championship since 2010 were two SEC East titles under Jim McElwain (2015-16) and a 2020 SEC East title under Dan Mullen. Since 2010, Alabama has won five national championships and seven SEC titles. Auburn (2010), LSU (2019) and Georgia (2021) have won national championships.

The facts and figures of the last 12 years should tell us just how monumental the task facing Billy Napier, who is charged with digging the Gators out of a hole that had its origins long before he was Florida’s head coach. The program that Napier inherited from Dan Mullen was not in good shape. What Mullen did in his first three years on the job at UF were like Novocain. That Mullen made it to three straight New Year’s Six bowls and darn near beat Alabama in the 2020 SEC Championship Game numbed us to the reality that the program had been slip-sliding for years.

When the talent level dipped to astonishingly low levels, even Mullen’s superior Xs and Os couldn’t save him. We can point fingers at Mullen for poor recruiting but neither Will Muschamp nor McElwain before him recruited well enough. There were way too many holes in their recruiting classes. Mullen simply added a few more and now it’s up to Billy Napier to patch up the program by bringing in the kind of talent it takes to compete with the likes of Nick Saban and Kirby Smart.

Restoring the program can be done but just like the program didn’t hit its current level overnight, getting it back to a consistent championship level will take time and more patience than Florida fans are accustomed to showing. The current recruiting class and Napier’s history tell us he is more than capable of getting the job done, but it’s going to take patience.