Thoughts of the Day: August 29, 2022

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning:

UTAH’S LIFE DEPENDS ON BEATING THE GATORS? That’s what Matt Hayes of Saturday Down South wrote last week about the impending visit by 7th-ranked Utah to The Swamp to face the Gators in the season opener Saturday night.

Hayes writes, “This isn’t about one game or one season. This is about the very life of Utah football.” He goes on to say, “And the only lifeboat for Utah is winning. Big. Not just beating Florida. Not just winning the Pac-12 again. But getting to the playoff and playing so well, the Utes can no longer be ignored. Their football life depends on it.”

In Hayes’ opinion, Utah has to score a big win over the Gators, then go on to have a CFP season that will be so attractive that when the Big Ten elects to expand, the Utah Utes will be an obvious choice. Utah could rake in more than $90 million a year in an expanded Big Ten, which is bound and determined to collapse the Pac-12. If Utah doesn’t get invited, it will doomed to life as a wannabe in an expanded Big 12, which will probably dole out $50 million a year when it goes to 16 teams with a likely media contract from ESPN.

There is no doubt the Utes will come to Gainesville feeling they have something to prove, not only to the world, but to themselves. Are they just another Pac-12 wannabe or are they the biggest thing to come out of Utah since Donnie and Marie did a remake of Puppy Love? It’s hard to gauge when you consider Utah hasn’t played an SEC team since 2008 and has ventured east of the Mississippi River only four times since 2009, the last one in 2018 to face Northern Illinois of the MAC.

Kyle Whittingham is a fine football coach. He’s 144-70 in 17 years, 53-42 in the Pac-12. That kind of record will get you fired in the SEC. Florida has three coaches since 2011 to prove it. Billy Napier, the Gators’ latest coach, makes his UF debut against Utah. He’s got an unranked team with an inexperienced albeit talented QB in Anthony Richardson, so nobody can really get a handle on how good or how bad the Gators will be.

Just know this. There is no pressure on Billy Napier. He has Florida heading back in a championship direction and that won’t change if he loses to Utah. If the Utes take it on the chin – Vegas must think they can since here they are ranked 7th and only 2.5-point favorites – it probably torpedoes their chances to make the CFP even if they win the Pac-12 and makes them a redheaded stepchild that the Big Ten doesn’t want to claim.

So, yeah, the Utes are playing for their football lives here. You can bet the farm Billy Napier has advised the Gators accordingly.

Other Gator news

UF volleyball 3, everybody else 0

The 14th-ranked Gators (3-0) opened their season by taking the Gator Invitational with wins over North Florida, East Tennessee State and Virginia. The 3-0 win over Virginia Saturday was particularly encouraging since UF hit an impressive .521 as a team. Sophomore Merritt Beason was the tournament MVP while Syracuse transfer Marina Markova and freshman setter Alexis Stuckey both made the all-tournament team. The Gators will host No. 15 Stanford Tuesday night at the O-Dome.

UF soccer goes oh-fer Texas

The Gators are 1-3 on the season after a weekend roadie to Texas in which they dropped a 2-1 match to Baylor on Friday and a 3-2 match to Texas on Sunday. In both matches, the Gators gave up the winning goal in the last minutes. The Gators play host to South Florida Thursday and Florida State on Sunday, both matches at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.

SEC football

#1 Alabama: Let the Nick Saban Revenge Tour begin. Utah State, which barely beat a BAD UConn team, will discover that Stars Fell on Alabama in each of the last 13 recruiting classes … The Tide is a 40.5-point favorite. They will cover by halftime. Saturday’s game: vs. Utah State (1-0)

#19 Arkansas (0-0): For She Put the Sin in Cincinnati (that was a chart topper in 1946 by Merle Travis) to have any hope of a second straight run to the playoffs, the Bearcats must beat Arkansas in Fayette Nam. It’s not going to happen. For Arkansas, which is favored by six, it’s another step on the road back to relevance.

Saturday’s game: vs. #23 Cincinnati (0-0)

Auburn (0-0): Allan Greene is cleaning out his desk this week ahead of a Wednesday evening sayonara as the Auburn AD. Former Notre Dame and Duke AD Kevin White (father of Mike) says it is a travesty. Auburn’s dysfunctional fan base begs to differ. Expect Auburn to hustle up a new AD who will hasten the exit of HBC Bryan Harsin and bring in some new coach who will gladly take abuse in exchange for a hefty buyout … TJ Finley will start at QB against Johnny Mercer. Saturday’s game: vs. Mercer (1-0)

#3 Georgia (0-0): Nobody knows Georgia’s defensive personnel quite like Dan Lanning but he’ll be coaching The Oregon Trail (Fred MacMurray was the star of this 1959 classic) and the personnel he left behind in Poodlesville will show no mercy … Georgia is a 17.5-point favorite. Saturday’s game: vs. #11 Oregon (0-0) in Atlanta

#20 Kentucky (0-0): My Old Kentucky Home is breaking in new wide receivers, three new starters on the O-line and will be playing without Chris Rodriguez. For the Cradle of Coaches to win this game, then it will take Woody, Bo, Ara and Col. Red Blaik to rise from their graves to help … UK is favored by 18 points. Saturday’s game: vs. Miami OH (0-0)

LSU (0-0): Brian Kelly has spent the last few months trying convince people he was Born on the Bayou. If he figures out a way to lose Tallahassee Lassie, the folks in Louisiana might be asking themselves what the hell were we thinking when we ran off Coach O? … The Tigers are 3-point faves. Sunday’s game: vs. Florida State (1-0) in New Orleans

Mississippi State (0-0): Mike Leach and the Bulldogs got jobbed out of a win against the Memphis Blues Again last year by horrendous officiating. This year the game is in Starkvegas. Paybacks are hell … Mississippi State is favored by 14.5 points. Saturday’s game: vs. Memphis (0-0)

Missouri (0-0): Call this Eli (Drinkwitz) and the 13th Confession: “We ain’t worried about anything past Thursday night. Our sole focus energy, concentration, everything we’ve got, ready to roll. The best thing that we’ve been able to do through fall camp is prepare in that manner but have all of our game ending scenarios ready – got to have it calls.” Aha. Got to have it calls for 19-point underdog Louisiana Tech. Thursday’s game: vs. Louisiana Tech (0-0)

#21 Ole Miss (0-0): For a team with 20 transfers, most of whom expect to either start or have prominent roles in the rotation, you couldn’t design a better season opener than Helen of Troy. It doesn’t matter who Lane Kiffin starts at QB, this one will over so quickly that The Grove will be the happening place to be by the end of the third quarter … The Rebels are 22-point favorites.

Saturday’s game: vs. Troy (0-0)

South Carolina (0-0): One of the chief topics of discussion among South Carolina fans is the nickname of the rooster that is the live mascot. There is a naming dispute between the chicken’s owners and the school. Is Rooster Cogburn taken? ... No matter what they name the mascot, South Carolina is favored by 12.5 points against the largest school in the state of Georgia. Saturday’s game: vs. Georgia State (0-0)

Tennessee (0-0): The NCAA finally decided Bru McCoy could play immediately. Let’s see. He signed with Southern Cal then transferred to Texas. Before he played at Texas he transferred to Southern Cal where he picked up an arrest for domestic violence. Then he transferred to The Tennessee Waltz. What’s this rule about one free transfer, otherwise you sit a year? Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley because the NCAA rules were meant to be broken … McCoy’s presence won’t matter since the Vols are 33.5-points. Thursday’s game: vs. Ball State (0-0)

#6 Texas A&M (0-0): Haynes King will be the starting QB. You have to wonder if Max Johnson (35 TDPs last two years at LSU) is questioning his decision to transfer to Aggieland. No matter who is the QB, the Bearkats will feel like Sam Houston did at The Alamo. They may play some Whitney Houston classics on the 50-mile bus ride after collecting a $500,000 paycheck. Saturday’s game: vs. Sam Houston (0-0)

Vanderbilt (1-0): The Commodores, who scored 189 points in 12 games last year, hung 63 on Hawai’i Saturday night. Chalk this up to the combination of Vanderbilt being better than last year – how could they be worse? – and the Rainbow Warriors being atrociously worse than anyone expected. The Dores get D1AA Elon Musk Saturday, another beatdown win before they play Wake Forest Gump.

Saturday’s game: vs. Elon (0-0)

Our SEC orphans in the Big 12

#9 Oklahoma (0-0): UTEP is being paid $1 million to usher in the Brent Venables era at Baja Oklahoma … The Sooners are a mere 31.5-point favorite.

Saturday’s game: vs. UTEP (0-0)

Texas (0-0): Even if the Longhorns are looking ahead to big, bad Bama arriving Deep in the Heart of Texas, there will be no problems with Monroe Doctrine, in its second year under the astute coaching of Little Terry Bowden. Saturday’s game: vs. Louisiana-Monroe (0-0)

Football is played elsewhere besides the SEC

Florida State (1-0): The Seminoles ran for 406 yards on Duquesne. The Dukes of Hazard took their beating like men. They were playing for a paycheck to fund the women’s bowling, rowing, lacrosse and acrobatic and tumbling (yes, apparently that’s a sport) teams. After 529 games, this was the first FSU football game in which Gene Deckerhoff wasn’t doing the radio play-by-play.

Nebraska (0-1): Cornhusker fans are thinking Frosty the Snowman can coach better than Scott Frost. When the Fighting Frosts lost 31-28 to Northwestern in Dublin Saturday, it marked the 21st of Scott Frost’s 30 losses decided by eight or fewer points. The Frosts lost nine games in 2021, the largest margin of defeat by nine (26-17) to Ohio State. Either Scott Frost is snakebit or else he needs the Linda Lovelace treatment so that he no longer chokes on the big ones.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: If you check the Houston Texans’ depth chart, you’ll find Dameon Pierce listed as the No. 1 running back. Since day one at the Texans’ training camp, Pierce has been the best back on the team, which pretty much validates the glowing report of Pro Football Focus. Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and Fox Sports wrote back in December that Pierce squatted 705 pounds, benched 390, had a 37-inch vertical and ran a 4.5 in the 40.

With those kind of numbers you’re left to shake your head and ask why didn’t he get the football in his hands more often during his four years playing for the Gators? It wasn’t for a lack of productivity. Pierce carried the ball 329 times for 1,806 yards and scored 23 touchdowns in four years. That’s 5.5 yards per carry. He also caught 45 passes for 422 yards and five TDs. That’s 9.4 per catch, which is outstanding for a running back. Errict Rhett, the all-time receiver among SEC running backs (153 catches for 1,230 yards) only averaged 8.0.

In 2021, Pierce carried 100 times for 574 yards (5.74 per carry) and 13 touchdowns while catching 19 passes for 216 yards (11.37 per catch) and three more TDs. Based on his senior season alone, he should have had a bigger role in the offense. Why he didn’t only former HBC Dan Mullen and former running backs coach Greg Knox know for sure and I’m not 100 percent certain they really have a good answer.

There is one silver lining to Pierce’s four years at Florida, however. Because he was under-used, he has fresh legs for the NFL. The Texans think he’s their back of the future.