Billy Napier paces the Florida sidelines, hoping for answers (Photo by Chris Spears) The people who make the betting lines in Las Vegas made the 19th-ranked Miami Hurricanes 2.5-point favorites to beat the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Saturday afternoon. After the 41-17 beatdown Miami delivered to the Gators we can conclude the following: (1) Given Miami’s ACC schedule the Hurricanes might find it difficult to win fewer than 10 games; and (2) given the difficulty of Florida’s schedule, the Gators are going to struggle to hit the over on the 5.5 wins predicted by the oddsmakers.   Miami looked the part of a team playing with an asteroid-size chip on its shoulder. Miami’s men played fast, physical and angry, particularly on both lines of scrimmage where they took particular glee in manhandling the boys in blue jerseys.   Yes, Miami looked and played like grown men. The Gators, who were supposed to at least look like grown men for the first time in Billy Napier’s time on the job, looked like boys and they played like boys.   They were dominated.   “It’s embarrassing to be quite honest with you,” Napier said.   Montrell Johnson Jr. turns the corner on a 71-yard touchdown run (Photo by Chris Spears) No arguing with that assessment. It was embarrassing the way Miami’s defensive line overpowered what was supposed to be a much-improved Florida offensive line. The Gators gave up 39 sacks and averaged just 4.27 yards per rush attempt a year ago. Other than a 71-yard sprint to the end zone by Montrell Johnson Jr. in the second quarter, the Hurricanes held the Gators to 68 rushing yards on 27 carries. Miami’s defense registered eight tackles for loss of which three were sacks for -18 yards.   Miami was in Graham Mertz’s face all day long before they finally knocked him out of the game (concussion) in the fourth quarter. The left side of the Florida offensive line held its own. The right side did a dandy impersonation of a sieve on an afternoon best forgotten.   Over on the other side of the ball, Florida’s lack of a pass rush gave Miami quarterback Cam Ward time enough to carry on a cell phone conversation with his girlfriend while waiting for Florida’s coverage to finally break down. Florida pass rushers kept bouncing off Miami’s O-linemen like pinballs while Ward drifted left, sprinted right, backed up and often threw sidearm off his back foot. On most of the 11 big plays of 17 or more yards in the passing game, Ward simply had to wait patiently because it was impossible for the Florida secondary to keep the receivers locked down for what seemed like an eternity.   Ward deserves all the credit in the world for waiting for a receiver to break free instead of impatiently forcing the ball into coverage. Without any constant, nagging pressure Ward completed 26-35 passes for 398 yards and three touchdowns. Eleven of his completions went for 298 yards. He was 15-24 on his other passes for 100 yards.   The Gators sacked Ward once for -3 yards and when Kamran James got in his face in the first quarter, the result was an interception by linebacker Shemar James that the Gators converted into a 41-yard Tre Smack field goal that cut Miami’s lead to 7-3. On two other occasions when the Gators sprung a rusher free, flags flew for late hits on Ward. Justus Boone’s first quarter hit negated what would have been a third down stop. Two plays later Ward and Cam McCormick hooked up for a 9-yard TD pass for Miami’s first score of the game.   Miami didn’t exactly set the world on fire with its running game (33 carries, 144 yards) but it didn’t have to. The running game kept the clock ticking, the end result a 34:30-to-25:30 time of possession differential.   Basically, whether it was throwing the ball, running it or defending, Miami didn’t do anything complicated. The Canes lined up, knocked the people across the line from them into next week and then repeated the process.   Over and over again. Offenses and defenses are as innovative as they have ever been, but no matter how sophisticated the game is still decided by who blocks and who tackles better. Saturday, the Gators didn’t block particularly well and they missed too many tackles.   “I think they had a handful of wrinkles that were new,” Napier said. “There's no question about that, but overall I think the game comes down to fundamentals. It comes down to good communication, good execution. At times out there we did not do that.”   There is no denying the Hurricanes are a very good football team, too good to be beaten by a team that can’t execute fundamentals. Miami is talented, fast, physical and well coached. With a schedule that won’t see another tough game until mid-October when they visit Louisville followed by a home game the next week against Florida State, Miami could very well run the table. Miami’s optimism cups should be running over when looking at that schedule.   And then there are the Florida Gators, who were supposed to be much improved in 2024. Florida was supposed to be better in every facet of the game, but the only area in which the Gators looked competent was the kicking game where Jeremy Crawshaw averaged 47.6 yards on five punts and Trey Smack hit his only field goal and both extra points.   Instead of improved, the Gators looked like a re-run of the past two years. The same problems that plagued Florida’s offensive line a year ago reared their ugly heads against Miami. The Gators couldn’t protect Mertz nor could they establish the running game. Defensively, it was like 2022 all over again because the Gators couldn’t get off the field on third down (Miami converted 5-10), missed a lot of tackles and couldn’t pressure the quarterback, which led to 15 big plays (11 in the passing game, 4 in the running game good for 63 yards).   Had this been a close, competitive game, there would be room for optimism that Napier indeed has the Gators on the right track. One loss doesn’t doom a season, but a beatdown in game one in which signs of progress are few and far between is a red flag that seems to signal Florida is in for more of the same problems of the past two seasons.   That’s not to say the season can’t be salvaged but there is very little in the way of wiggle room. With only 11 games remaining the Gators have to go 7-4 the rest of the way to guarantee a winning record for the first time since 2020. That is a very tall task.   Of the 10 Division I games remaining on the schedule, seven have already won their season openers by a combined 375-16 margin. This is a schedule that includes No. 1 Georgia (34-3 winner over No. 14 Clemson); No. 4 Texas (52-0 winner over Colorado State); No. 6 Ole Miss (76-0 winner over Furman); No. 15 Tennessee (69-3 winner over Chattanooga); Kentucky (31-0 winner over Southern Miss) and UCF (57-3 winner over New Hampshire). No. 13 LSU plays Southern Cal tonight. In two weeks UF plays host to No. 20 Texas A&M (lost to No. 7 Notre Dame, 20-13).   The only game on the schedule that seems a sure thing is next week’s encounter with D1AA Samford, a 38-29 loser to West Georgia Saturday. West Georgia was playing its first D1AA game in school history after toiling for years in the Division II Gulf South Conference. Under most circumstances this would be considered a get well game for the Gators, but Mertz might miss this and some games into the future if his concussion doesn’t heal rapidly. That would mean playing true freshman DJ Lagway, who got the Gators on the scoreboard after Mertz went down, taking the Gators 58 yards on nine plays. Lagway showed off a quick trigger release (3-4 passing for 31 yards on the drive) and big time wheels (2-17 including a 16-yard scramble) on the drive, but it’s not like a game was on the line. Lagway is a magnificent talent, but he’s still a freshman and the Southeastern Conference is famous for chewing up freshman quarterbacks and spitting them out.   No matter who plays quarterback, the Gators look fragile right now. In his post game press conference Napier didn’t go on any rants or point fingers. He didn’t make a hundred excuses for everything that went wrong. It wouldn’t have done any good because 90,554 in the stadium and a national television audience on ABC saw a Florida team that had the look of a team heading for troubled waters.   “I think that I felt strongly that we would perform better,” Napier said.   Everybody did including the oddsmakers in Las Vegas. The Gators aren’t the only ones who look silly about now. When the spread is -2.5 and the final outcome is a 24-point differential someone in charge got it very, very wrong. That will work to Miami’s benefit, but it will sow seeds of discontent among a Gator Nation whose confidence in the head coach seems a bit frazzled right now. The team leadership, of which Napier has spoken in glowing terms the entire offseason, and the coaching staff have their work cut out to restore belief that this is a team capable of winning.   “I would tell you that I still have confidence in our team,” Napier said. “I think we've made progress … I think today is disappointing, not only for myself but for the entire team and organization and for our fans and for all the people that care about this place. Like I said before, I've got conviction about the young men that we have on our team. I think we have better football in us. But we have to go prove that. We have to go do that. Ultimately there's a lot of football left, and we'll have an opportunity to prove that over time.”   Time is growing short. They need to hurry.

Hurricanes were better than advertised. The jury is still out on Florida By CARLTON REESE GatorBaitMedia.com Columnist Losing to Miami was always in the cards, even a tolerable scenario though disappointing, not terribly shocking. But this, this sort of embarrassment with a cadre of filthy ‘Canes fans strutting down University Avenue as though they had anything to do with the drubbing that took place just an hour earlier, this did not fall within the range of tolerable. The Miami Hurricanes  were not simply as good as the “experts” claimed. No, they were much better. The speed, the talent level, the strength, the swagger and the poise no one has seen at Miami in 20 years – this looked very, very different. Perhaps this team rolls through the Atlantic Coast Conference and is a top-3 team heading to the national playoff (based on what Clemson, Virginia Tech and Florida State have shown, Miami can sleepwalk to that title). In that case, perhaps everyone will look back at what happened opening week in The Swamp as a harbinger for Miami’s future and less of a conclusion of what Florida is. That stated, a 41-17 home loss to Miami was not a good look for Florida and a worst-case scenario for coach Billy Napier, who it’s fair to say is “embattled” at this early juncture of the season. Losing a close, competitive game to Miami would have in no way been a moral victory, but would have at least kept the buzz surrounding the program in a more positive tone. What everyone sees now is an enormous gap between Miami and Florida, which means the gap between Georgia and Florida must be the Grand Canyon. Such are the sentiments that come immediately after such an ugly opener -- the small sample size yields numbers that skew reality to a degree. This notion comforting? Didn’t think so. Everyone knew before this game, that one coach would emerge through the other side with a vote of confidence while the other would face the brunt of criticism and be forced to endure a few more degrees on that hot seat. Right now, it’s Mario Cristobal returning home to a hero’s welcome while Napier casts his phone into Lake Alice. At one point, an obviously sad and disappointed Napier walked the sideline, looking up at the stadium scoreboard – it was a flashback to Ron Zook absent the pen, pad and furious note taking. This notion discomforting? Thought so. Dissecting this game is nearly pointless. Miami was just much better, more prepared and ready to rise to the occasion. This seemed pretty clear on the ‘Canes’ opening possession when the interior pile seemed a mudslide in the direction of the Gator defense. The destruction up front combined with some ridiculous personal fouls that kept Miami drives alive spelled a long afternoon ahead. A loss this lopsided means patience wears thin much more quickly and makes that daunting schedule even more scary than previously thought. Based on what everyone saw in The Swamp Saturday, it looks like one more top-10 opponent is on the slate than was originally thought. There are two questions to be asked: 1. Is Miami as good as we saw? 2. Is Florida as bad as we saw? For the former, there is little doubt the answer is a resounding yes. This is the closest Miami has looked like the Miami we all remember in a long time. As for the latter, it’s way too early to bury the Gators. Florida has a lot of experience and some good talent that can beat some good teams on its schedule. Insert cliché here about mature teams responding to adversity. As Gator fans wake up Sunday morning, the sky seems to have fallen not because of the loss but because of the style of loss. Humiliation was not in the cards. Some fans are no doubt screaming for the head of Billy Napier while the increasingly-lower percentage of rational Florida fans still believe this team has potential to win more games than it loses. That’s strong faith at this point, mind you. The medicine goes down in a rout of Samford next week – not a nailbiter, but a rout the same way Auburn and Arkansas beat up on FCS teams this week. It won’t prove a thing, but it will feel good. In this manner, style points DO count, just as they counted against Miami. Then, it’s virtually a must-win situation at home in Week 3 against Texas A&M.  The Gators are a bit like Lefty Grove facing the 1927 New York Yankees: a good team facing a Murderer’s Row schedule. Well, Earle Combs just led off with a home run against you and now you have Mark Koenig up with Ruth and Gehrig waiting their turns. Stewing over how tough it is, solves nothing. Let’s face it, we all knew Miami was good, but nobody thought they were this  good. The Florida Gators certainly didn’t know – where was the film to go on, really? Even the experts who liked Miami had them barely in the top 20, which seemed kind of a stretch. Now, it seems a stretch to not have that team solidly in the top 10 or better. There is no need to pull the rip cord on this Florida team, despite the intolerable result Saturday. It’s a good team, but not a great team which is what Miami is. It hurts to say it, but those transients came through in a big way and all the Miami love was truly grounded in reality. Unlike Florida’s schedule, Miami’s is softer than a newborn’s bottom and two losses seem unlikely – congratulations. As for Florida, Gator fans must all remember 1987. Remember that day in the Orange Bowl when the Gators only needed 14 more safeties to have beaten Miami in the opener? After falling 31-4, the Gators took care of Tulsa then went on the road to face Alabama which was supposed to tear them apart. Instead, a freshman named Emmitt Smith ran all over the Tide and the Gators seemed a completely different team than the one Miami drubbed. It’s time for another freshman to do the same – this time it could be D.J. Lagway carving up Texas A&M and reviving the season. Sometimes it’s nice when history repeats itself. An intolerable result? Yes. A march to the gallows? Settle down, Robespierre, there’s too much football left to play.

University of Florida Football Media Conference  'I think that I felt strongly that we would perform better. But I'm not here to make excuses. We've got to get it fixed." Chris Spears Photo Coach Billy Napier   Miami 41, Florida 17 BILLY NAPIER: They beat us today, and I don't have a ton of excuses. I think we struggled to produce any running game outside of one explosive. Obviously didn't create a ton of explosives, and then obviously we had a couple key penalties, and then defensively, outside of 3rd down, didn't do much. I do think there were a few bright spots in the kicking game, Miami outplayed us, they out-coached us, and give them credit. I do think there are things we can do better. There's no question there were mistakes made. I do think that we had a couple players that were banged up that you'll have questions about. . Q.   Given the experience and how confident you were in this team going into the season, how disappointing and surprising was this performance? BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, I mean, it's embarrassing, to be quite honest with you. That's how I feel. That's how our kids feel. We've got a decision to make. I think we have -- that's what I just told them. There's no excuses. Keep our mouths shut, show up and work. We have to do better. Keep it simple. That's how I feel. I do think that our players will show up and they will respond. Q.   Where do you think the struggles on defense kind of began? Obviously Cam Ward was tremendous. BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, obviously a good player. I do think in the first half in particular we've got a couple opportunities to get off the field. The two roughings were critical. I think there's some misses tackles. I think there's a couple mental errors. But give them some credit. I think they were efficient throughout the day. They did a good job on converse downs. They scored touchdowns in the red area, and they had some balance. They were able to rush it and throw it. I'll be able to tell you more, but statistically they were very successful throughout the day. Q.   Were there signs of some of the struggles that you saw today? Defensively it looked like you guys had a really hard time in coverage generating pressure. Were these evident at any point in camp? Did this surprise you? BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, I would tell you that -- yeah, I think that I felt strongly that we would perform better. But I'm not here to make excuses. We've got to get it fixed. We're going to get another opportunity next week, and we've got to play better and coach better. I'll have more answers for you on Monday, but sitting in here right now, I have no excuses for you. Q.   How is Graham doing? BILLY NAPIER: Graham had a concussion, and he'll be in protocol, and we'll give you an update when we meet with you Monday and Wednesday of next week. Q.   How do you feel like DJ did stepping in in his place? BILLY NAPIER: I think he did a lot of good things, in particular the second drive there we got to some things where he had success. Threw some great individual cuts, some good movement passes, made a few plays with his feet. I thought the players around him played well. It's good. One of the positives was he had some success and we were able to go down and score a touchdown with him in the game. Obviously he's a young player, but he'll continue to work and improve. He's got a bright future. Q.   Coach, you said you guys have been preparing for Miami for a while. Was there anything you saw today that surprised you guys or that you weren't prepared for? And with the confidence you guys had heading into this year, where is the disconnect from that confidence to what we saw today? BILLY NAPIER: Well, again, you've got to give Miami some credit. They've got a good football team. I think they had a handful of wrinkles that were new. There's no question about that. But overall I think the game comes down to fundamentals. It comes down to good communication, good execution. At times out there we did not do that. Yeah, I was surprised, and I do think that we have better football in us. I think that's the message. I think our players feel that way. I think we've got a lot of football ahead of us, and I think ultimately we'll prove over time that we can play better than that. I really believe that. We'll have our opportunity to do that next week. Q.   Coach, I think you guys started 0 for 6 on 3rd down and finished 1 for 9. How do you evaluate the execution and even the play calling there? BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, it was a big part of the game. I think we were 0 for at halftime, and conversion downs are critical. They converted, they stayed on the field, they sustained drives. We weren't able to do that. Ultimately that contributed to where we were at at halftime. We have to do better. We've got to play better and coach better. Q.   You know how the reaction and overreaction is sometimes to big losses. How do you keep your team from getting caught up in some of the negative comments? BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, that'll be part of it. We'll have to navigate it. I think we've got to be men and we've got to show some maturity. Ultimately if you care about the team, you'll show up and work hard at your job. I think this group will do that. But we can't control that. It's part of the job, and it's part of their responsibility to the team. We've got to manage that. It's a big part of what we do, and certainly this group, I think, that'll be one of the challenges that we have going forward. Q.   Was Graham hurt on that specific play? BILLY NAPIER: Yeah. He was. Q.   Devin I think left the game real early -- BILLY NAPIER: Mm-hmm, Devin has an AC joint, shoulder. Q.   Obviously he was flashing well and had built his body up. How did that impact pass coverage do you think? BILLY NAPIER: Well, Ja'Keem is out there playing, and Asa obviously went down, too. But I think Ja'Keem was in good position a lot. I think there were some great throws and great catches. Then I think we misplayed a couple of the stacks in the game. I think that's one of the areas that we can get better. But overall Devin makes our team better. If we've got our job, we've got to have him out there. But we started Ja'Keem today. Devin has been down for a little bit with -- missed a pretty good chunk of time with the sickness that he had. Ja'Keem is a good player. He's a freshman. He's got a bright future ahead of him. I think corner play was fine today. I think there are other issues that we need to address. Q.   When you look at some of the performance up front, particularly stopping the run, is that an issue with some of the strength and conditioning, or is it just technique with leverage and playing with better feet and hand position, things like that? BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, a lot of the runs got to the perimeter where the secondary was forced to make the tackle. We'll see. It's definitely not strength and conditioning. I think good, sound football. I think ultimately when we look at it, there's not a ton of explosive runs throughout the game. I think most of them were manageable. There's definitely some big play passes in the game on some missed tackles that contributed to some of that. Q.   Obviously there was a lot of optimism surrounding this team in recent months. Obviously it's going to be hard to come back from something like this, but what would you say are some of the things you're going to try to do to keep the vibes positive and get this team back on track in the coming weeks? BILLY NAPIER: Well, ultimately I think we've got -- it's a little bit of a challenge, right. I think you've got to be a man and you've got to take responsibility for the things that he can do better, and if you really care about the team, you'll work at it. I think we're going to -- we'll show up tomorrow, the sun is going to come up tomorrow, and we're going to go back to work. Ultimately I think there's not much for us to talk about right now. We've got to go play better. That's where we're going to spend our time. Q.   Off topic, you're revealing injury information. Do you like the SEC's new rule? BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, I think we've been pretty transparent when it comes to injuries. The key is going to be that we standardize it, and ultimately it's all got to do with gambling, right. I think just protecting the players, protecting the people in the organization, having a system so that you don't have any issues when it comes to that. Q.   Obviously offensive line there at times Graham didn't have a ton of time to throw. When it comes to that, are there changes that are going to have to be made to give him or DJ more time to throw, or do you chalk it up to just Miami having a strong defensive line? BILLY NAPIER: I think that when it comes to protection, all players contribute to that, not just the offensive line. I think there's going to be areas where we can separate and get open. There's going to be things the quarterback can do differently. Maybe it's the running back or the tight end that's involved in protection. So I think it's more of a unit thing than a position group thing. Q.   You had quite a bit of conviction throughout the preseason that this team was widely improved. Is this discouraging to any degree to watch how this unfolded and where you guys are at in your first game? BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, I would tell you that I still have confidence in our team. I think we've made progress. We didn't -- I think today is disappointing, not only for myself but for the entire team and organization and for our fans and for all the people that care about this place. Like I said before, I've got conviction about the young men that we have on our team. I think we have better football in us. But we have to go prove that. We have to go do that. Ultimately there's a lot of football left, and we'll have an opportunity to prove that over time. Q.   In regards to some of the smaller details today with tackling and special teams -- BILLY NAPIER: Special teams, what in particular? Q.   I thought you guys were sound today. How would you reflect on just the overall performance from special teams, tackling? What's your takeaway? BILLY NAPIER: Well, special teams I think is an area where we did a lot of good things today. I thought the specialists were strong. The coverage was good. I thought we made some plays in the return game. So overall I think we did do some good things in the kicking game. Q.   I think you touched on it earlier, but how do you -- there was so much buildup to this game and excitement. How do you rebound from this or make sure that this loss doesn't linger with the team and, I guess, refocus? BILLY NAPIER: Well, I think it's one of the challenges that we have. I mean, I think if you play this game, you're going to experience ups and downs. Challenge is all the intangibles you work on building with your team. I think that it's going to require great leadership, not only from the staff and myself but also from the players on our team. I think we've got a group that I think will stand up and go back to work and try to improve and do their job. Burr we've got to go prove it on the grass. I think ultimately we've got to take a good look in the mirror, I think as coaches and players, what can we do better to get a better outcome. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports 147909-1-1002 2024-08-31 23:49:00 GMT

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Eleanor Roosevelt. Laura's favorite advice. By BUDDY MARTIN GatorBait Media Columnist She “scrounged” the Internet, looking for her next level opportunity without much success. It was not her time–yet.  At 25, when she was getting really concerned, the ESPN Network grew up around Laura Rutledge. One day she got a call to meet some ESPN bigwigs at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport which lifted her dampened spirits. “That’s when we found out the SEC Network was launching. I'm sending incessant emails to anybody with an ESPN email address that I could find online,” she recalled. “I mean, I was like, scrounging the Internet for somebody to send my resume reel to. And they wouldn't call me back. Wouldn't call me back. I'd given up. That was a real low point. I was 25 and I'm thinking, ‘God, you know, like I can't get anybody at the national, regional level to give me any attention.’ “I knew I was pretty good at that point. I had a pretty good resume’ reel. There were many things that needed to be worked on, but I thought, ‘You know, for my age I've got a pretty good amount of stuff here.’  “So finally they gave me a call back and they said, ‘We'll do an interview with you in the Atlanta airport. You have to come at exactly this time, we're doing a layover in the Atlanta airport, and we're going to come out of security, interview you, and then go back through and get our connecting flight’. And I'm like, ‘Oh my God. Like, are these people taking me seriously? This doesn't seem, you know, very serious!’ So whatever. I roll up to the Atlanta airport, I think I bombed the interview.” At this point, fresh off a baseball gig as an onpfield and feature reporter for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and then the San Diego Padres, Laura now had a partner. She married Josh Rutledge of the Boston Red Sox. They  met at a tailgate in Tuscaloosa for the Alabama-LSU game in 2011. (They have two children -- Reese, who is already a baby star known for her football picks, and young Jack, who has yet to negotiate his ESPN contract. They live in west Hartford, Conn.) She had started freelancing at CNN International, hosting a show called World Sport, “And it was all about like cricket. You couldn't call soccer, you had to call it football. But I'm like 'what am I doing?' Nobody knows this, but CNN actually offered me a position and I almost took it, in their sports department. And I would kind of freelance on HLN, too.   “And then I decided at that point I should go ahead and keep trying to put my eggs in the SEC network basket. And thank God they called me and they said, ‘Okay, well, we'll hire you. You're going to do a 12-event contract, which was like nothing. And I had a good job in mainstream with Fox Sports. “And I'll never forget going to my husband. We had just gotten married and I said, ‘Hey, I know you thought I was making this, but what do you think about this?’ And he's probably like, ‘Oh golly, you know, this girl, I marry her thinking she's bringing in some cash and turns out she's not.’” It was really a crucial turning point in the career of Laura Rutledge, ballet dancer, young wife and future TV star.  “I did sort of take a leap of faith. I took the uncomfortable turn there. And if you're a fan of Robert Frost, I was kind of taking 'The Road Less Traveled,' because it didn't make sense. I had everything mainstream with Fox. I even had the opportunity at CNN, and here I am saying, ‘I'm going to throw all that away for a big risk,’ because it was obvious that ESPN was sort of having me on a trial period.  “But I tell this story because that first year at SEC network, I was on the 12 events. I did 68 events on a 12-event deal. I told them anything and everything. I'll do it. So it was like gymnastics, softball, college baseball. I mean, everything that they had, every event they had, I said, ‘I'm going to, I'm going to show you that you made the right decision here.’ But it wasn't that easy because then the next year, they were kind of like, ‘Uh, maybe we'll have her back. Maybe we won't.’ They ended up, you know, having me back, but I kind of did the same thing. I felt like I was spinning my wheels. And then fast forward to enter Paul Finebaum.” Finebaum says he’d never heard of Laura Rutledge until she was booked by then-producer John Hayes. Right off they had good chemistry. Even though polar opposites physically, they had the right mixture of silly and serious, somewhat sympatico on weird stuff. They made you laugh. And they would wind up appearing on SEC Nation Saturdays. “We tried her and she was amazing,” Finebaum told me about bringing her on the Paul Finebaum Show. “Simply blew us away. And that was the beginning.”   I was impressed enough to fire off several emails of encouragement to Finebaum. The next thing I know, Laura was doing an hour every Monday and Tuesday on her own time, at her own expense, driving over to Charlotte from Atlanta. Once again, Laura The Vacuum Cleaner was absorbing every bit of knowledge from the sage veteran Finebaum. It toughened up the ballerina/beauty queen and network execs began to notice. And eventually she was picked to co-host NFL Live -- but first had to prove she could hold her own in the sometimes Unfriendly Confines.   To his credit, when some of his hard-core followers made disparaging remarks about her gender, Finebaum did not try to be a knight in shining armor, saving a damsel in distress. There were some challenges, but Paul knew she had to learn to “fight my own battles” as in boot camp. To this day Rutledge is very grateful because “this can be a rough business for a woman.” “He's been one of the great building blocks of my career, and he knows that,” Laura said of Finebaum.. “I tell him that all the time, and we just have a hoot of a time. I mean, he's such a funny person. He kills me. I'll look over there at him when we're doing the show, and I'll see that little glimmer in his eye and I'm thinking, ‘Oh, he's cooking something up.’ I can't wait to see what it is, you know, and he'll look at me sometimes when he's off camera like, ‘You know, come to me.’ I'm like, ‘Don't worry, Paul, I got you.’ I will always go to him because he's the best. “Paul will always be, I think, one of the preeminent voices, names, personalities in college football. And I think all of us will look back and remember that, no matter how you feel about him. Right now, he's got some haters. We'll look back and be thankful that we were around for the heyday of his career.”  Just as Steve Russell and Brenden Martin and others had suspected, there were always going to be big things in store for Laura Rutledge. I asked Rutledge to tell folks in the condensed review of her journey, including the challenges -- how she seemingly showed up at the Swamp one day to become a star on ESPN. She said: "I have no idea how I did that. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm even doing. When when I got there as a freshman, I had been a serious ballet dancer. So I was really focused on that. And I was still taking some classes in ballet, and I needed to pay for the classes. So I got a job at the on campus radio station, and there just so happened to only be one opening. It was in sports. I said, 'I'll take it.' I didn't know what I was doing, I was a disaster. I needed to get all the reps I could. "Thank God a lovely group at Gator Country gave me an opportunity. Buddy, of course, spearheading that with Brenden as well, and that was really where it all started. I had a niche in college football recruiting, which was a little rare at that time for a female, and I think that allowed me to sort of have a platform that would have been a little bit different. And really that was the launching pad for me. I used that to continue on. "I started off with Fox Sports. That was kind of my first job out of college, did baseball coverage, and then when the SEC network launched in 2014, I started there. And ever since, I've just been trying to kind of get the next opportunity at ESPN. Lots of hard work, lots of sacrifice. But it would have never been possible if not for my time in Gainesville.: GatorBaitMedia.com senior columnist Franz Beard recalled how incessantly she was asking “anything and everything” at GatorCountry about how to do her job better. Russell noticed her platinum work ethic right off. “Someone who really wanted to learn and would readily put in the work to be better. She asked questions, too, and was a quick learner and was a totally wonderful person to be around. Just a great person.” Brenden Martin said "she kept hanging around," especially after he converted his garage in Gainesville to a makeshift streaming studio. "She just kept getting better and she would NEVER turn down an assignment." She was on her way with The Golden Ticket. Fast forward to the last week in July, 2024. As Laura prepared for SEC Nation this week, she began to feel the good vibes.   “Woo! I'm excited. We have so many fun things planned for this SEC Nation show. I will be at Plaza of the Americas. And as usual, we're out there from 9 a.m. to noon. We start with Marty and McGee, and then SEC nation comes on. And, you know, it's an exciting time, I think, to be a Florida fan.   “I realize there are great expectations heading into this season. There's a ton of pressure on this game, certainly probably for both teams. But feels like the pressure's a little bit more on Florida, especially knowing that they host this game. They have a huge opportunity to kick this season off with a bang.   “And I think Graham Mertz and company is up to the task. I'm hoping the defense is better. It seems like they will be. And hey, you know, it can only go up from where they were last year. So, I feel I feel excited to see what they're going to look like. "But, you know, just so special for me to come back to Gainesville and to see Florida fans that want to stop by and really anybody to share stories, just to have some fellowship in a place that I truly love and, and really, a place that built me.”

Florida’s defensive line of Caleb Banks, Desmond Watson, Justus Boone, TJ Searcy and others will be huge in stifling the Miami Offense.  By Loren Meadows, GatorBaitMeida.com , Football Analyst Miami Offense   Key Players-#1 QB Cam Ward (6-2,223, Sr.), #6 RB Damien Martinez (6-0, 232, Jr.), #7 WR Xavier Restrepo WR (5-10, 198, Sr.), #3 Jacolby George (6-3, 176, Sr.), #64 LT Jalen Rivers (6-5, 325, Jr.), #61 RT Francis Mauigoa, #30 K Andres Borregales (5-11, 170, Sr.   Matchups To Watch: Florida Secondary vs. Restrepo and George, Florida Defensive Line vs. Rivers and Mauigoa   While much has been made of quarterback Cam Ward and his indoctrination to The Swamp, Miami possesses a roster that is as talented as any in the ACC. Rivers and Mauigoa are NFL talents’ with Mauigoa earning Freshman All-American honors in 2023. On the perimeter Xavier Restrepo recorded five 100-yard receiving games a year ago and Jacoby George is a nice complimentary deep threat. Restrepo lacks ideal size but is savvy in and out of breaks and great after the catch. The two X-factors could be Martinez and Borregales. Martinez was a Doak Walker semifinalist in 2023 where he was second in the Pac-12 in rushing. At 232 pounds he will put immediate pressure on a Florida defense that struggled to tackle the past two seasons. Borregales is on the Groza Award Watch List and has an 83.6 percent success rate on field goals in his career. Miami could manufacture points of his leg that could prove to be the difference.    Despite Ward the matchups are clear. His success is predicated on the effectiveness or asbsence of a Florida defense that managed only 7 turnovers and 22 sacks with 7 of them walking out the door in the offseason. The Florida defense will be challenged to stop both Martinez and Restrepo while pressuring Ward into off platform throws that can lead to mistakes. Florida’s defensive line of Caleb Banks, Desmond Watson, Justus Boone, TJ Searcy and others will be huge in stifling the Miami Offense.  Florida Head Coach Billy Napier (Chris Spears Photo)   Miami Defense   Key Players-#4 DE Reuben Bain Jr. (6-3, 275, So.), #5 DT CJ Clark (6-3, 305, Sr.), #1 LB Francisco Mauigoa (6-3, 230), #31 LB Wesley Bissainthe (6-1, 205, Jr.), #2 CB Daryl Porter Jr. (5-10, 195, Sr.   #6 CB Damari Brown (6-2, 195, So.), #0 DB Mishael Powell (6-1, 210, Sr.)   Matchups to Watch: Reuben Bain Jr. vs. Austin Barber and Kam Waites, Florida Receivers vs. Miami Secondary   Similar to Florida several newcomers are projected to start or play a major role on Saturday. CJ Clark arrives from NC State to bolster a defensive line that many consider the ACC’s best. Clark and Bain will be facing a retooled offensive line that now has Austin Barber healthy but Kam Waites making his first collegiate start. Francis Mauigoa the elder of the Mauigoa brothers led the team in tackles (88) a year ago and provides support to Bain in the backfield as they both totaled 7.5 sacks. The presence or lack thereof of Montrell Johnson could be key to keeping Mauigoa when Miami blitzes. Miami lost two NFL safeties but does return experience in Daryl Porter Jr. and Damari Brown who saw spot time as a key reserve in 2023. At safety, Miami also found support from national runner-up Washington with Mishael Powell who had three interceptions last year playing alongside Florida Asa Turner.    Reuben Bain Jr. has been the talk of the town for weeks when breaking down the Florida offense versus the Miami defense. Will Florida be able to keep Graham Mertz upright long enough to allow him to find open receivers against a Miami secondary with only one returning starter? Will Montrell Johnson Jr. and company find room to run and move the chains? Mertz has possibly the most underrated group of receivers in the SEC when you look at the transfer additions and who is coaching them. The question is will he have the time with Bain, Mauigoa, and Clark fighting tooth and nail to plant him in the ground. Austin Barber was adamant about the ability of this unit in the offseason. Their confidence will be put to the test often this Saturday. Florida Edge Rusher Justus Boone (GatorBait photo)   The Skinny: Who knows? That’s the answer that many use when asked about this in-state showdown. Both teams have coaches who arrived at their locales with reputations of prowess and recruiting pedigree but so far neither has lived up to the hype. Billy Napier sits at 11-14, while Mario Cristobal is 12-13 in two seasons at Miami, with both throwing some head scratching losses in the bag to boot. The rosters for both teams however are improved and they come into this contest with two of the top signal callers the country has to offer. This tale however will be told in the trenches and whether the addition of Ron Roberts, Will Harris, and Gerald Chatman can take a defense that continuously allowed big plays in 2023 can change its fortunes this season. Many say The Swamp is good for seven points for the Gators, and under Napier Florida is mysteriously a much better team at home. Florida gets out early and the defense gets just enough stops to win a close one.   Prediction: Florida 27 Miami 21

Center Jake Slaughter is a huge reason Florida's offensive line will be vastly improved (Photo by Chris Spears) It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Once Charley Pell got the boosters organized and Steve Spurrier awakened what Bear Bryant labeled “the sleeping giant,” Florida football wasn’t supposed to backslide into irrelevance. But that’s where the Gators find themselves on the eve of their 2024 season opener with 19th-ranked Miami Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m., ABC).   Irrelevant. Harsh word for sure but if you’re honest, your head shakes in agreement. What else can you call a football program that routinely challenged for SEC and national championships but since 2011 has lost four times to Kentucky and twice to Vanderbilt? What else can you call a program that has more losing seasons since 2011 (5) than 10-win seasons (4)? What else can you call a program that went 33 years without a losing record that has now posted three consecutive losing seasons? What else can you call a football program that used to send as many players as anyone in the country to the NFL but dipped to one draftee back in April?     What else can you call a program that since 2011 has fired three head coaches and who the national media claims is poised to make it four who have fat bank accounts thanks to generous buyouts?   Irrelevant is the word that comes to mind and irrelevant is what the Florida Gators are right now. It did not have to be this way, but that’s what happens when the people at the top of the athletic department fall asleep at the wheel when it comes to necessary facilities upgrades. It is what happens when you try replacing a head coaching legend who went 65-15 in six years with two national championships and three 13-1 seasons with a head coaching novice, then you compound matters by hiring another replacement coach who can’t find it in the family budget to get his yellow teeth whitened even though he’s making more than $4 million a year.   It doesn’t have to be this way forever. In fact, it doesn’t have to be this way even one more season.         Billy Napier, coach No. 4 since Urban Meyer coached his last game at the January 1, 2011 Outback Bowl, works from upgraded facilities that rival those of any top ten team in the country. Facilities were so bad during Will Muschamp’s four years on the job that he feared star players might suffer catastrophic, season-ending injuries on pothole-scarred practice fields. Things were so bad that Jim McElwain had to throw a hissy fit when a 70-yard indoor practice facility was proposed, then once construction was under way on a 100-yard building there were cost overruns because some genius forgot to add end zones and bathrooms into the plans.   Napier was hired when Dan Mullen was forced to squeeze by with 12 million buyout bucks in his account. The roster Napier inherited was nowhere near top tier in the SEC because Mullen essentially abdicated when it came to restocking his roster with quality recruits. He never quite got it through his head that the same kind of players you can win 7-8 games a year for a rewarding bowl week in Shreveport aren’t the kind of players you can stay relevant with at a school like Florida where expectations are to be in the SEC and national championship pictures. Only 12 players remain from the roster Napier inherited from Dan Mullen. Some ran out of eligibility. Some went pro. Others got the hint that it would be in their best interests if they did a dial-a-team search for a new locker room where they can hang their hats.   Solid recruiting and judicious use of the transfer portal have allowed Napier to find replacements capable of competing with and winning against the top tier programs in the Southeastern Conference. The team he will send out on the field against Miami Saturday is easily the deepest and most talented he’s had at Florida. No longer will the Gators look like big kids when standing next to Georgia’s grown men.   As important as anything Napier has done, he has rebuilt the football culture from the ground up. At Clemson and Alabama Napier learned the value of a distinct football culture where everyone in the building is focused on doing whatever is necessary to winning championships. There is a way of doing things in championship programs where players who can’t conform to the high standards are told don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out of the building.   From 1990-2010 Florida was THE championship level program that everyone in the country tried to emulate. During Spurrier’s 12 years on the job and Meyer’s six during that span, the Gators won three national championships, eight Southeastern Conference championships and 11 East Division championships. In the 13 years since, the Gators have won the SEC East outright three times and tied for the division once but they have yet to win the league championship.   The Spurrier and Meyer teams had what Gator fans call swagger, but what opponents called arrogance. Because the Gators were dominant and the winningest team in the entire country they were the single most hated team in the Southeastern Conference.     Hated but envied. By everyone, and it was truly righteous.   Napier believes a revival of those days when Florida football routinely factored in the SEC and national championship races is entirely possible. Even with the nation’s toughest schedule, he believes the return to relevance can and will begin this year and it starts with Miami.   Here are seven reasons to believe Florida starts shucking the irrelevant label Saturday:     The Gators will have a healthy Montrell Johnson Jr. ready to go against The U (Photo by Chris Spears) 1. Graham Mertz has weapons to work with: When you read SEC quarterback rankings, the knock on Graham Mertz is he didn’t throw downfield enough and wasn’t all that accurate when he did take downfield shots last year. This is one area where the metrics mislead. Mertz had only one downfield receiver last year – Ricky Pearsall – until late in the season when Tre Wilson had the offense down pat. This year the Gators can go vertical with three or more receivers every single play. Wilson will prove to be a superstar, but he’s got company that can flat out fly such as Elijhah Badger, Tank Hawkins and Aidan Mizell. Montrell Johnson Jr. is healthy enough to play and the backups in the running backs room are exceptional. Tight end Arlis Boardingham can be an impossible matchup in the middle of the field. Against The U, Mertz will spread the ball around, keeping Miami off balance from the get go.   2. The offensive line is vastly improved from the 2023 season: The Gators gave up only 13 sacks while averaging more than 200 rushing yards a game during the 2022 regular season. A year ago, the Gators gave up 39 sacks and fewer than 150 yards rushing. With the exception of All-American O’Cyrus Torrence, Florida’s 2024 offensive line is better at every position than that of 2022. That means vastly fewer sacks and a return to a running game that produced 200 yards per game. From all accounts, left tackle Austin Barber and center Jake Slaughter have improved so much both will be candidates for All-SEC by the end of the season. Give Mertz time to throw and holes for Montrell and it will be very difficult for the Miami defense to get off the field.   3. A defensive line that won’t get pushed around: It starts in the middle with Desmond Watson, who shed more than 50 pounds of fat and replaced it with more than 40 pounds of pure muscle. At 6-5, 449 pounds, Watson has the ability to cover the gap on either side of the center effectively. If he can give the Gators 25-30 defensive snaps a game on the nose, it will make running on the Gators seriously difficult. If he can give some push that collapses the middle, then it will make it extremely hard for opponents to give help to their tackles on passing downs when edge rushers have their ears pinned back. Caleb Banks, Cam Jackson and Joey Slackman will be formidable. Against Miami, the D-line will have to clog the running lanes for Damien Martinez. Stuff him and the Miami offense becomes one dimensional.   4. Safeties that will put the fear of God into opposing wide receivers: Remember the name Asa Turner. Think of him the same way you think of Major Wright, Lawrence Wright and Louis Oliver. In other words, opposing receivers are going to be seeing the world through their helmet earholes. The safety rotation that includes Turner, Jordan Castell and DJ Douglas are going to make the middle of the field a no fly zone. Miami’s receivers averaged only 11.85 yards per catch a year ago. Hit them hard and they’ll average less than that against the Gators.   5. Turnovers avoided and forced: The Gators finished tied for last nationally in turnovers gained (7) a year ago – three interceptions, four fumbles. The lack of turnovers combined with only 22 sacks have everything to do with why Napier revamped his defensive coaching staff. Ron Roberts’ Auburn defense forced 18 turnovers a year ago and registered 31 sacks, both numbers big improvement over the previous DC in 2022. In his first spring in Gainesville there was great emphasis on forcing turnovers in the spring and in August. If the Gators force two or more turnovers against Miami, they will win.   6. Crowd noise that will render Cam Ward’s helmet microphone useless: In the past two seasons at Washington State, quarterback Cam Ward was sacked a combined 84 times. He never had to play in an environment anywhere near as loud or rowdy as The Swamp is going to be. Sure, he will have a microphone in his helmet, but as we saw in the FSU game in Dublin, a crowd half the size of what will be in The Swamp Saturday rendered the microphones useless. There will be more than 90,000 in The Swamp Saturday. Ward has played in only two games his entire career with at least 74,000 in the stands. Florida’s crowd will be loud, intimidating and make communicating impossible for the Hurricanes.   7.  When in doubt, blitz some more: While dealing with the crowd noise, Ward will have to deal with Roberts’ creeper defense, which Sam Darnold once said has quarterbacks seeing ghosts. Ward is going to be wishing someone on The U sideline had the 800 number for Ghostbusters. Florida will bring Cam Ward down at least four times and make him hurry another six.   What will happen: Close for a half, but then Florida’s running game begins to grind down the Miami defense which will then open up the passing game. The Gators will score 10 fourth quarter points to put the game away. Defensively, Cam Ward will be rendered dazed and confused by the creeper.   The Sayer says sooth!: Florida 30, Miami 17

LAURA RUTLEDGE: Triumphant Return to Gainesville For The Ballerina WannaBe Who Almost Accidentally Morphed Into An ESPN Star. One Of A Series: Laura lands in Gainesville, needs a GPS for her career and almost “accidentally” stumbles into a pathway to stardom. By BUDDY MARTIN GatorBaitMedia.com Columnist This is the story of what happened to the little blonde moppet from Orlando without a clue of where she belonged or where she was going or what she was going to do, but because she was very smart, relentless and curious, she wound up on a meteoric rise to fame. But let’s stop right there and debunk the myths of assumption that she had an easy, privileged path. The St. Petersburg-born beauty queen to be – she would eventually be crowned Miss Florida –  chose a path to utilize her ample personality, beauty and communicative skills. But she’d have to learn about this thing called sports and carve out credibility with some of the rough-and-tumble good ol’ boys who doubted her credentials. They made a mistake in underestimating her tenacity and willingness to fight back with respect and become a quick study with on-the-job training.  Shame on you if you fell for the stereotypical miscast on how Rutledge shot up the ladder of fame because she was beautiful, smart and charming. She was all that, but contrary to the assumptions, she was NOT discovered while drinking a milkshake at the Schwab's of Drug Store counter in Hollywood. That was Lana Turner.  Laura took a wrong turn at just the right time, eschewing a ballet contract in Nashville in favor of the University of Florida. She didn’t know ditz about sports but wound up doing a sports job at the campus radio station to raise money for ballet lessons, thinking she had signed up for the 5 p.m. shift. When in fact it was 5 a.m. That’s how she launched a career that many of us knew would be rewarding  someday but not without major challenges. And she would prove to be resilient and determined. It all comes full circle this week as the mother of two makes a triumphant return to her alma mater to play a major role in the ABC/ESPN showcase for the most ballyhooed launch in college football history. Among other things she will host NFL Live on campus Friday, appear on the Paul Finebaum Show and then on Saturday host SEC Nation from the Plaza of the Americas. As she was packing to leave for Gainesville where she would be greeted by an almost heroic return, I asked her to take me through some of them. Including an early financial planning misstep her first year at UF.  “I ended up kind of butting up against the money that I had in my scholarship with all these extra classes that were not really part of the academic portion with the ballet stuff,” she recalled of her journey. “And I needed to get a job because my parents were like, you know, ‘We're not paying for this. You need to figure this out.’ So somebody said, the spring of my freshman year, there was an on-campus radio station and ‘you have a great voice. You'd be great on radio.’ I'm like, ‘oh, I love radio. I grew up listening to NPR.' It was always something that was important to my family. We listened to a lot of audiobooks, and I loved the idea of storytelling with the audio medium. Well, I went there to check it out.  “Steve Russell of WRUF says ‘we have one opening and it's in sports. And, you know, we'll take you if you want to do it.’ I'm thinking, ‘oh yeah, I want to do it’. And then I was like, ‘oh my God, what did I sign myself up for? I don't know anything. This is terrible. This is going to be a disaster.’’ Hardly. It was a major step on the right career path where she would discover the camera and the camera would would fall in love with her, starting a mutual love affair. Behind that camera was GatorCountryTV Producer Brenden Martin, who introduced me to this talented young coed and the first comparison that popped in my mind – honest to God – was “Erin Andrews.” (Also a Florida grad.) And I told her that. (Reflecting on that day, Laura said: “I couldn’t even believe you would say my name in the same sentence with Erin. She was, and IS, the gold standard. And I didn’t think it was even remotely possible to get anywhere near that level.”) At the moment she was embarking on a new life, taking on just about every challenge.  “And one of my favorite stories about that time is I thought, ‘Okay, I need to get as many reps as possible because I'm very bad at this’ and I didn't like being bad at things. And so there was a shift that was 5 to 9 (on WRUF) and I thought,’well, shoot, I really love dinner, but I'll just have to miss dinner for this and it'll be fine,’ because all my classes are in the early part of the day and all of a sudden, the first day I'm supposed to start, I'm getting a phone call at 3:45 in the morning, and I'm like, ‘who is calling me at 3:45 a.m.?’ ‘Well, turns out, I had signed up for the 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. shift. I'm like, ‘what did I just do?’ So I had signed up for every single one of those shifts the entire summer because I needed the reps, you know? And so then all of a sudden, I'm in this world where I'm waking up at, you know, 3:45 a.m. as a college student.” One of many obstacles to be struck down by the Unsinkable Laura McKeeman.  Shortly thereafter she attended Gator football practice and saw a guy shooting video and inquired about what he was doing and how it all worked. That was her introduction to Brenden Martin of GatorCountryTV who was about to launch a low-budget show on Cox Cable. “I ended up doing that for a large portion of the time, you know, when I got to work on Gator Country as well. But, you know, so I started on the radio and that was sort of the way that I went. And then we started up our college football recruiting show on Gator Country out of a garage with Justin Wells. “I mean, you think about the things that we were doing and people loved it, really. I mean, I still hear from people during that time, but I think what made the difference for me early on is I started to kind of find my feet in this was having a chance to do so many different things. So I was doing the radio. I was writing for anybody who would let me write. I was doing our recruiting stuff on Gator Country. I was, you know, going around and learning from all.” The lugnuts were loosened on her training wheels. But really she already had the tools. Brenden Martin remembers her willingness to take on most any assignment. “And she was relentless. Wouldn’t quit until she had exhausted every question, source and angle. And she always showed up as promised. Plus nobody had a woman covering recruiting and she paired up with Justin nicely.” Before long she became popular with the recruits and their parents. “I really thought if I'm going to do this – and I started to fall in love with it – and I got to give it my best try. Finding that niche and then having people who were there to guide me. It wasn't like anybody held my hand. It wasn't like anybody babied me, but it was more like I could learn from all of you, and you weren't afraid to share some tricks of the trade, while allowing me to also kind of find my own voice in all of this.  “And I'm just forever grateful for that. I mean, this can be a tough business for women. We've made a lot of progress in that way. But to know that really the people who gave me a helping hand were all men in the business who were not threatened, who didn't say, you know, ‘I'm not going to extend my hand to you’. It was like, ‘no, come on in and show us what you got.’ And and I am truly so thankful that that was my experience. And and certainly there've been some low points, but they weren't at Gator Country. I truly look fondly back on that time.” In NEXT: Laura gets a job brosdasting in major league baseball where she meets her future husband. And then meets a guy named Paul Finebaum .

Florida special teams analyst Joe Houston will use a Twister-like mat on the sidelines to “launch” the kick and punt special teams this season.

"Some guys were asked to give back their rings. Everybody that doesn't have a ring whether it was interns, trainers, players, should get one." -- Pizza Bill Feinberg

And there was this play years later that may have been the most misunderstood and misinterpreted maneuver in Gator history You want Miami stories? I got Miami stories, a plethora of tales garnered along the dusty trail of A Sportswriter’s Life In Black & White, which happens to be the working title of my new book due out in a year. And it will include a verifiable correction of the misnomer of what really happened on that night of the infamous “Florida Flop” in Miami.   There are some remarkable anecdotes strewn across my nearly 70 years of press-boxing for about 30 of those games, plus tidbits from observers in the stands.   First, though, some interesting historical info about the so-called “Biggest Opening Game in History.”   From the Miami website CanesWarning.com :   --Florida has not lost a home opener since a 24-19 win by Mississippi at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in 1989. The Gators have won 33 consecutive home openers since 1990. After a three-hour lightning delay, Florida had its 2014 home opener versus Idaho canceled because of unsafe field conditions. Florida and ---- Miami have played eight times during the Gators' home-opening winning streak. None of those games were in week one.   --Florida and Miami played season openers from 1983 through 1985 and again in 1987. Florida beat Miami 28-3 in the 1983 season opener in Gainesville. That was Miami's only loss in a national championship season. The wins by Florida during its 33-game season home opening winning streak were primarily versus FCS and Group of Five opponents. Florida defeated McNeese State 49-7 in its 2023 home opener. Florida had an impressive 29-26 win over number seven Utah in its 2022 home opener.   --Miami is 22-12 in road openers since 1990, during Florida's 33 game-home opening winning streak. Miami is 1-1 in their first road game of the season during that time at Florida. The Hurricanes won their 2022 road opener 41-16 in Gainesville and lost 26-3 in 2008.   --Miami leads the all-time series with Florida 29-27. Miami leads the series with Florida 12-9 in Gainesville. The 2008 game was the last time Miami played at Florida. Florida has won two of the last three versus Miami. Miami won 21-16 at Hard Rock Stadium in 2013. Florida beat Miami 24-20 in Orlando in 2019 in the last meeting. In November 1963, only a few days removed from the assassination of President John F Kennedy, I took a train ride with friends (Dr. Gene Peek and wife Buggy) and Gator fans from Ocala to Miami for the Miami-Florida game. I will never forget a Miami coach coming on the field 15 minutes before the kickoff, taking the microphone and leading cheers about beating Florida. Which I guess is not against the rules — I just never saw that before or since.   My late friend Bob Whitfield, a maniacal Gator fan from Blountstown, recalls sitting in front of a loving couple at Florida Field in 1966 as Steve Spurrier was trying to find a way to pull out the game against Miami, the week after he’d just won the Heisman (yes they voted before the regular season ended). Bob said they were “lovey dovey” all game — she from Miami and he a Gator fan from nearby — until the final minutes when Spurrier was attempting to mount a comeback drive, which would fall short. Excessive cheering about his quarterback’s failure did not set well with the Gator fan, who vociferously responded in her face. The enraged woman from Miami turned on her boyfriend, who countered her violent reaction by placing his hands around her neck as if he was going to choke her.  I guess they survived that, but I never found out if the wedding was called off. Spurrier did not pull out the win and, ironically, lost his last game at Florida field as a player. Nothing ever approached this next incident for weirdness, however. There was this play years later that may have been the most misunderstood and misinterpreted maneuver in Gator history: The so-called Florida Flop. Everybody talks about it like it was an egregious example of poor judgment. With apologies to Paul Harvey — here’s the “Rest of the Story.”   I know a lot about it because I was standing right there on the Orange Bowl sideline, talking in real time to the players as Miami was attempting to run out the clock -- the only reason being they didn’t want John Reaves to set the NCAA passing record -- which is what Fran Curci was doing on the final game of the season. Otherwise, why do you keep handing the ball off to Chuck Foreman when you’re down by nearly three touchdowns in the fourth quarter?   I liked Curci, but that was cheap, and I remember talking to Harvin Clark and some other players and saying, “why don’t you let them score and get the ball back?” Somebody must have carried that idea to the ultra-conservative Doug Dickey, who had endured somewhat of an embattled year with his one-time “SuperSophs” in their senior season. And surprisingly, that’s exactly what they did, although nobody intended for them to totally collapse on the grass on the snap as 10 of them did. (There is a New York Times photo of it.)   Miami was keeping the ball away from Florida not to win the game but to prohibit Reaves from getting the record – albeit perhaps a little too ostentatious, I’ll admit.   To set the record straight here, it was Curci who pulled the first cheap shot before Dickey decided to let his defense allow the Hurricanes to score. Ironically, it was one of the really most generous, decent acts Dickey did on behalf half of his graduating quarterback, who had been through a difficult last two seasons. PS Reaves got the record anyway on his final pass ever to the great Carlos Alvarez.   I could give you a lot more Miami stories, but something tells me there’s going to be another one for my book after Saturday.

By ROB BROWNE SEC Sidelines Host I've watched Florida football ever since i began following the game as a six-year old. I never could understand why the Gators didn't win like Alabama, Auburn and Georgia.   Charley Pell was the Coach who ignited the passions of the masses, but not-quite-unified Gator Nation. Steve Spurrier was the right hire at the right time. He was able to get everyone on the same page. From 1989-2009, Florida was the winningest team in college football. Now, it's time for the Gators to take advantage of the numerous resources available.   Billy Napier can change the narrative with a win Saturday in the Swamp against Miami. Nothing succeeds like success. It's time.     What We learned on SEC Sidelines last week from our guests.   --Auburn is desperate to get out of College Football Purgatory. After three straight losing seasons, it looks like second year Coach Hugh Freeze is turning the program in the right direction...Expect lots of newcomers to play key roles. A tough schedule will make most games 60 minute battles.   --Jordan Hill weighed in on Georgia. The Dawgs will face a daunting SEC road schedule with trips to Tuscaloosa,Oxford & Austin. Don't shed any tears for the Dawgs though, One of the top three most talented rosters will keep the them in every game.   --Yancy Porter of Rebel Yell Hotline talked about the depth on the DL for the Rebels. Twelve big dudes who will bring pain and suffering to every opponent on the schedule. Lane Kiffin will have another highly capable offense.   --Rodney Orr of Tider Insider says first year Coach Kalen DeBoer won't be fazed by the SEC schedule. Like the Georgia, Alaama has a top three roster in terms of talent and a Heisman worthy QB. After a road trip to play Wisconsin, the Tide will have a week off to prepare for Georgia. The Football world will be watching.   --Ron Higgins talked about the LSU Tigers. He says the opener in Las Vegas against USC will say a lot about where the Tigers are in year three under Brian Kelly.Two straight 10-win seasons are good at a lot of schools, but the Tiger fans are wanting more.    --Ken Capps checked in from Texas and tells us the Longhorns are ready to accept the challenge the SEC offers. He feels like the Sooners will catch on quickly too.    And as Henry Barnett used to always say ... "It's not the doing in life that's so tough. It 's the dreadin'." So here's to Henry and a great season of college football.