The guys up front helped Jadan Baugh score another TD against Ole Miss (Photo by Chris Spears) “Who are these guys?” – Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy in the classic film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” We could be asking the same question of the Florida offensive line. In their preseason analysis, the fine folks at Athlon and Phil Steele ranked Florida’s O-line number nine in the SEC. Phil Steele had the Gators No. 42 in the nation. With only one starter returning from an offense that put up anemic numbers in 2025 and projections of transfers filling the other four slots, those projections probably seemed like a good idea at the moment. Four games into the 2026 season, it’s pretty clear they got it wrong. Very, very wrong. Florida’s 52-28 win over Ole Miss tells you everything you need to know about an O-line that has found its groove. In 76 offensive plays, the Gators ran the ball 53 times for 302 yards and threw 23 times for 196. The Gators didn’t give up a single sack and Ole Miss was credited with only one tackle for loss, that for a mere -2 yards. This is not a fluke occurrence. The Gators are averaging 260 rushing yards per game and 5.88 yards per carry. They are tied with UCLA for the national lead in rushing touchdowns with 18. Jadan Baugh is second in the nation in rushing and with 11 touchdowns leads the country in scoring. The Gators are tied for fourth nationally in fewest sacks allowed, having given up just two for -7 yards in losses. Not bad for a bunch of no names. For the record, the starters against Ole Miss were LT Bryce Lovett, LG Knijeah Harris (only returning starter from last year), C Harrison Moore, RG TJ Shanahan and RT Emeka Ugorji. Their backups who got into the game were TJ Dice Jr., Jason Zandamela, Caden Jones, Roderick Kearney and Daniel Pierre Louis. So much attention is given – and rightfully so – to first year offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, whose transformation of the Florida offense from last year’s stuck in the mud bunch to this year’s big play looking for a place to happen is a big reason the Gators are now ranked No. 8 nationally, their highest ranking since 2020 and first top-10 ranking since they went to Kentucky No. 10 nationally in 2021. But, Faulkner’s offense doesn’t get it done without Phil Trautwein’s troops in the trenches. Like the hire of Faulkner, Jon Sumrall bringing in Trautwein reeks of pure genius. Currently, the Gators are second in the nation in scoring (53.5 points per game) and fifth in total offense (532.8 yards per game). The Gators average 7.58 yards per play, which ranks eighth in the country. In 281 offensive snaps, the Gators have allowed only 14 plays for negative yardage. THE REST OF THE FLORIDA SCHEDULE When the season began, consensus nationally was anything more than six wins would be a rather stout achievement for first year Florida coach Jon Sumrall. Now that the Gators have emerged from September unbeaten at 4-0, we can throw the six wins projections out the window. With a road trip to Missouri this week and then South Carolina in The Swamp the following week, it is entirely possible the Gators will go to Texas with a 6-0 record. Based on the inconsistency in the Texas offense, that game has the look of a potential Florida victory. Here are the eight remaining games: At No. 25 Missouri (3-1, 0-1 SEC): The Gators are favored by 4.5 points. Mizzou’s defense is vulnerable to the pass and so far stud running back Ahmad Hardy hasn’t played. South Carolina (2-2, 0-2 SEC): The Gamecocks are in disarray with disgruntled fans calling for Shane Beamer’s head on a platter. At No. 1 Texas (4-0, 1-0 SEC): The defense is formidable but the offense is hit or miss. If the Gators can run on the Longhorns, this is winnable. No. 2 Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC) in Atlanta: On paper Georgia looks good but it will be two weeks (at Alabama) before they are tested. Oklahoma (2-2, 0-1 SEC): That contract extension to Brent Venables is looking a tad silly right now. Great defense, no offense. At No. 24 Kentucky (3-1, 1-1 SEC): The Wildcats are better than they were last year and November weather in Lexington can be funky. The UF running game should be the difference. Vanderbilt (3-1, 0-1 SEC): There is an old saying that you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still just a pig. Well, it’s still just Vanderbilt. At Florida State (2-2): Mike Norvell is walking the Green Mile. Will they rustle up the money to buy him out and then hire Jimbo perhaps even before the season comes to an end? THE BAUGH FOR HEISMAN WATCH With his 142-yard, 3-touchdown effort against Ole Miss, Jadan Baugh has run for 600 yards (7.23 per carry) and 11 touchdowns this season. He is second in the country in rushing yardage and leads the country scoring. Baugh has run for 100 or more yards all four games this season and has a streak of five straight 100+ games going dating back to last year against FSU. He is currently 11th all time in rushing at UF with 2,443 yards. With 43 yards against Missouri Saturday he can move past Chris Rainey, Jeff Demps and Lamical Perine into eighth place all time at UF. Baugh’s 26 career rushing touchdowns rank seventh all time. Associated Press top 25: 1. Texas 4-0; 2. Georgia 4-0; 3. Notre Dame 4-0; 4. Miami 4-0; 5. Ohio State 3-1; 6. Indiana 4-0; 7. Alabama 4-0; 8. FLORIDA 4-0; 9. Ole Miss 3-1; 10. BYU 3-0; 11. LSU 3-1; 12. Texas Tech 4-0; 13. Utah 4-0; 14. Iowa 4-0; 15. Oregon 3-1; 16. Mississippi State 4-0; 17. Tennessee 3-1; 18. Southern Cal 4-1; 19. Oklahoma State 3-1; 20. Houston 3-1; 21. SMU 3-1; 22. Boise State 3-1; 23. UCLA 4-0; 24. Kentucky 3-1; 25. Missouri 3-1 AFCA. Coaches top 25 (SEC teams bold face): 1. Texas 4-0; 2. Georgia 4-0; 3. Notre Dame 4-0; 4. Miami 4-0; 5. Indiana 4-0; 6. Ohio State 3-1; 7. Alabama 4-0; 8. FLORIDA 4-0; 9. BYU 3-0; 10. Texas Tech 4-0; 11. LSU 3-1; 12. Ole Miss 3-1; 13. Utah 4-0; 14. Iowa 4-0; 15. Oregon 3-1; 16. Mississippi State 4-0; 17. Tennessee 3-1; 18. Southern Cal 4-1; 19. SMU 3-1; 20. Houston 3-1; 21. Duke 4-0; 22. Penn State 3-1; 23. UCLA 4-0; 24. Michigan 3-1; 25. Missouri 3-1 ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC No. 7 Alabama (4-0, 2-0 SEC): Alabama has opened as a 6-point favorite on the road for Saturday’s game with Mississippi State … Sophomore quarterback Keelon Russell goes into the game on the heels of a 21-27 passing performance that was good for 365 yards and four TDPs against South Carolina. Saturday: at No. 16 Mississippi State (4-0, 2-0 SEC) Arkansas (2-2, 0-1 SEC): The Razorbacks can’t run the football. Through four games they are averaging only 89.5 yards per game and just 2.56 yards per carry. Saturday: at Texas A&M (2-2, 0-2 SEC) Auburn (3-1, 1-1 SEC): In getting the first SEC win for first year head coach Alex Golesh, Tigers bounced back from the Florida debacle by holding Vanderbilt to 311 total yards, just 112 on the ground. Saturday: at No. 17 Tennessee (3-1, 0-1 SEC) No. 2 Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC): Georgia managed only 306 yards of offense against the Oklahoma defense, but the Bulldogs turned the Sooners over four times and got an 85-yard scoop and score fumble return by Chris Cole while holding the Sooners to 2-14 on third down conversions. Saturday: vs. Vanderbilt (3-1, 0-1 SEC), 12:45 p.m., SEC Network No. 24 Kentucky (3-1, 1-1 SEC): Through four games, Kentucky has scored 138 points. The Wildcats scored only 276 in 12 games a year ago. The Wildcats have a very good 1-2 punch at running back in Jason Patterson (326 yards, 3 touchdowns) and CJ Baxter (313 yards, 5 touchdowns). Saturday: at South Carolina (2-2, 0-2 SEC), 4:45 p.m., SEC Network No. 11 LSU (3-1, 1-1 SEC): Linebacker Whit Weeks suffered a leg fracture that will require surgery in the win against Texas A&M. Tight end Tre’Dez Green may be out until week 10 when the Tigers play Alabama. No. 16 Mississippi State (4-0, 2-0 SEC): The Bulldogs have their highest ranking since 2014 when Dan Mullen was the coach and Dak Prescott was the quarterback. Kamario Taylor is drawing Prescott comparisons after a September in which he has thrown for 1,192 yards and 14 TDPs. Saturday: vs. No. 7 Alabama (4-0, 2-0 SEC), noon, ABC No. 25 Missouri (3-1, 0-1 SEC): Missouri’s pass defense was torched for 360 yards and three touchdowns by Mississippi State. The Tigers are ninth in the SEC in total defense (318.5 yards per game), sixth in run defense (100.25 yards per game) and tenth against the pass (218.3 yards per game). Saturday: vs. No. 8 FLORIDA (4-0, 2-0 SEC), 3:30 p.m., ABC Oklahoma (2-2, 0-1 SEC): Fans are putting the blame on quarterback John Mateer, who has thrown four interceptions and looks like he has lost his confidence, but it’s not his fault the Sooners can’t run the ball. They’ve managed just 126 yards combined in their last two games. For the season Oklahoma is averaging just 2.93 yards per carry. No. 9 Ole Miss (3-1, 1-1 SEC): The 302 rushing yards the Ole Miss defense allowed against Florida marked the first time since Georgia in 2023 that the Rebels have allowed 300 or more rushing yards in a game. South Carolina (2-2, 0-2 SEC): There is growing discontent with head coach Shane Beamer. The Gamecocks are off to an 0-2 start in the SEC, which is bad enough, but edge rusher Dylan Stewart got a roughing the passer penalty, later on threw a punch at Alabama’s Josh Ford and was caught in a video of a sideline confrontation with Beamer that has gone viral. Stewart has been suspended indefinitely. The boosters aren’t happy and there is talk of a midseason coaching change if the Gamecocks don’t right the listing ship. Saturday: vs. No. 24 Kentucky (3-1, 1-1 SEC) No. 17 Tennessee (3-1, 0-1 SEC): The Vols allowed only three sacks in their first three games. Against Texas they gave up 10, which plummeted them to No. 129 nationally in sacks allowed. Saturday: vs. Auburn (3-1, 1-1 SEC) No. 1 Texas (4-0, 2-0 SEC): The story for Texas is the emergence of Will Muschamp’s defense, which has given up only one touchdown in the last 10 quarters. In wins over UTSA and Tennessee, the Longhorns allowed a combined 363 yards and one offensive touchdown. Texas A&M (2-2, 0-2 SEC): Quarterback Marcel Reed is slumping. He’s averaging only 5.7 yards per pass attempt and has thrown four interceptions. In losses to Kentucky and LSU, he averaged only 4.56 yards per pass attempt. Saturday: vs. Arkansas (2-2, 0-1 SEC) Vanderbilt (3-1, 0-1 SEC): The Commodores struggled offensively against Auburn, but their defense played extremely well, limiting the Tigers to 279 total yards and two offensive touchdowns. Saturday: at No. 2 Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC), 12:45 p.m., SEC Network

Aberdeen (1), Condon (21), Chinyelu (9) and Haugh (10) will be starting for the Gators (Photo by Chris Spears) At some point the discussion always gets around to Tommy Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu and Alex Condon, the nation’s best front court a year ago, the three of them back and all with the same purpose in mind – win a second national championship in three years. Todd Golden has built a Florida roster that may be as talented from top to bottom as any in college basketball since the 1996 Rick Pitino-coached Kentucky national championship team that eventually sent 11 of its 13 players on to the NBA. That Kentucky team didn’t repeat as national champs in 1997 but got its second national title in three years in 1998, this time coached by Tubby Smith. Golden has a deep, talented 15-man roster that includes four starters from last season – Haugh, Chinyelu, Condon and Boogie Fland – enhanced by the return to Florida of prodigal son Denzel Aberdeen, who spent a year in exile at Kentucky after providing vital minutes off the bench during the Gators’ 2025 run to the NCAA title, the third in school history. As if a starting five with that kind of experience and talent isn’t enough, Golden has a 10-deep bench of seven returnees and three newbies. The college game is 40 minutes, so adjusting to find the right rotations and solid minutes might be the most difficult task for Golden who has created a basketball culture at Florida in which players who could leave for the NBA choose to return for another bite of the apple. “Obviously, the basketball has been really good here for a couple years,” Golden said Thursday morning as the Gators officially began practice for the 2026-27 season in which they will begin as the preseason No. 1 team. “Great academic school. There's just not a lot of better options out there than what we have here and we take care of our guys, and our guys take care of us. So, I think we've created a community that way. That people understand it's good and the grass isn't always greener on the other side. I think we're trying to enjoy what we have for as long as we can.” The three big guys are the face of the program. This will be Golden’s fifth season as head coach at Florida (103-41 record, one NCAA title, one SEC championship, two No. 1 seeds for the NCAA Tournament), his ninth overall (160-77 career record that includes three seasons at San Francisco). Haugh and Condon were practically unknown recruits in 2023. Condon got a few starts as a freshman and has been a fixture in the starting lineup ever since. Condon has made All-SEC each of the last two seasons. Haugh played sparingly as a freshman, was a key reserve off the bench during the national championship run and made second team All-America last year. Chinyelu spent his freshman year at Washington State then transferred to Florida where he will be a third-year starter at center this year. He was the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year in 2026, the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the nation’s second leading rebounder. Haugh (17.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists last year; 1,111 career points) would have been a lottery pick had he gone the NBA route. Both Chinyelu (10.9 points, 11.2 rebounds; 785 career points, 829 rebounds) and Condon (15.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists; 1,181 career points, 782 rebounds) figured to be late first or early second round picks. Instead, they’re back at Florida where expectations for the upcoming season are stratospheric. “All three of those guys could and should be, you know, preseason All-Americans, right?” Golden said. “And now they're going from guys that were on … all three of them by the end of the mock season were first round guys. Like Rueben crept into 25-26 and so my lesson, my message that I have to continue to deliver to them is, like, what they have already proven is good enough, and getting better and better in those areas will continue to help them raise their stock. And, understanding that we have a lot of great players right now in our program, and every night it's going to be somebody else, and just making sure we focus on winning and just being really good at the things we're good at and not focusing on scoring or things that, you know, might catch us up in focusing on things that don't equate to it. And all three of them have done a great job that way. “I think they all understand that they have the individual goals of becoming NBA players, which all three of them will in due time, but the sacrifice individually will help us win the national championship this year, and that's our goal. That's why all three of them came back.” A season ago, Haugh became a hybrid perimeter guy, a 6-9 mismatch who could post up, shoot the three and still have a role in the big man rotation whenever Chinyelu or Condon spent some time on the bench. Condon was a preseason All-America last year but struggled the first two months. Once the SEC portion of the season began the 6-11 Australian adjusted his game and became one of the top players in the country per the kenpom.com analytics. Chinyelu, an imposing 6-10, 260-pound specimen, expanded his game from stickbacks on offensive rebounds into a legitimate scoring presence in the paint. All three worked hard in the offseason to work on individual phases of their games that will make them more effective this year. “I don't think any of them need drastic improvements in any specific way,” Golden said. “Like they have individual characteristics that makes them who they are, that make them NBA prospects and make them the guys that really help our team. I think a lot of it's going to be mental this year. “Rueben is already an NBA defender. He's already an NBA rebounder right? This is something that's not news to anybody. NBA teams already know that about him. He became a low post scorer last year. The back half of the year he was unstoppable down there. Just being elite in those areas. If you can be elite in those areas then his stock will continue to rise. Same thing for Condo. Once he stopped stressing about the three-point shot and being the hardest playing dude on the floor, he got back to being a KenPom MVP in a lot of games. Tommy, same thing. Everybody knows Tommy gave up being a top 15 level draft pick to come back to college. Having the maturity to comeback and continue to be a great hustle, glue guy that makes open threes, straight line drives, plays to win. That's what going to take him into becoming a top 10 pick potentially. So it's just getting a little bit sharper. A little bit more mature and as I said before, understanding that every night is going to be different for us – and as long as we win.” Fland (11.6 points, 3.5 assists) shared point duties with Xaivian Lee last year. He was an exceptional defender whose offensive game was inconsistent. Lee graduated but used the 5-for-5 NCAA rule to transfer to Gonzaga, leaving Fland as the sole proprietor at the point where he figures to show marked improvement. He will be joined in the backcourt by Aberdeen (13.5 points, 3.4 assists), who is seeking an injunction against the NCAA that will give him a fifth year. Aberdeen, the lone survivor from the first recruiting class at Florida for Golden, played only 41 minutes in 12 games in the 2022-23 season. Aberdeen has gone to court against the NCAA where he seems likely to win. Paired together, Fland and Aberdeen are a formidable duo. Reports are that Fland has regained his shooting touch while Aberdeen was a consistent offensive presence as a full-time starter at Kentucky last year. Defensively, they might constitute the best guard duo in the SEC. Golden has a starting five equal or better than any in the country, but he also has size, experience and depth to back them up. Florida’s 15-man roster includes seven big guys, all of them 6-9 or taller, and eight on the perimeter. Up front 6-11 Viktor Mikic returns, joined by internationals Domen Petrovic (6-9, from Slovenia) and Arturas Butajevas (6-10, from Lithuania) and 6-11 freshman Jones Lay. On the perimeter last year’s SEC Sixth Man of the Year Urban Klavzar (9.6 points, 40.6 percent from three) and explosive Isaiah Brown (5.5 points) are likely to be the first two off the bench but last year’s freshmen, CJ Ingram and Alex Lloyd, will factor in the rotation. AJ Brown, who missed last year rehabbing his shoulder, and Alex Kovatchev, were both starters at their previous schools. Brown averaged 13.2 per game in 2025 at Ohio U, while Kovatchev was a part-time starter two seasons at Sacramento State before transferring to UF. So much talent, so much size, so much experience. So high the expectations. After winning the 2025 national championship, Golden had to deal with the pressure and expectations a year ago. Although the season ended abruptly in the NCAA second round, the Gators won the SEC championship outright and were the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Because of the roster he has assembled, Golden knows there is no escaping the expectation to win it all, but he is in a good place when it comes to managing all that is being heaped upon himself and his team. “Let's be honest, right, after you win a national championship … it’s pretty high, the level of expectation you know what’s coming. And we knew we lost three NBA players in the back court, so it takes a little bit to kind of adjust and get new guys comfortable and involved. So, early last year was difficult, but I think we did a good job coming out the other side of it. And this year, I think we're more prepared to kind of hit the ground running that way." THE FLORIDA BASKETBALL ROSTER Big guys: Tommy Haugh (6-9, 215, SR); Alex Condon (6-11, 236, SR); Rueben Chinyelu (6-10, 265, SR); Viktor Mikic (6-11, 260, JR); Domen Petrovic (6-9, 230, JR); Arturas Butajevas (6-10, 235, FR); Jones Lay (6-11, 240, FR) Perimeter: Denzel Aberdeen (6-5, 190, 5th); Urban Klavzar (6-1, 185, SR); AJ Brown (6-4, 210, RJR); Alex Kovatchev (6-5, 195, RJR); Boogie Fland (6-3, 185, JR); Isaiah Brown (6-4, 210, JR); Alex Lloyd (6-3, 185, SO); CJ Ingram (6-6, 205, SO)

Florida's running game will be key to beating Ole Miss (Photo by Chris Spears) The Ole Miss Rebels (3-0, 1-0 SEC) are the No. 4 team in the country for a reason. They have two impressive wins over ranked teams – Louisville and LSU – plus they have what is widely considered the best college football player in the country in Trinidad Chambliss. And yet the Rebels are 3.5 underdogs for Saturday’s close encounter with No. 21 Florida (3-0, 1-0 SEC) at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (3:30 p.m., ABC). The spread opened at 1.5 in Florida’s favor Sunday morning and by Monday morning had doubled, which prompted Jon Sumrall to quip “There’s a lot of good drugs out there” at his weekly press conference. Since then a half point has been added by the folks that set the odds in Las Vegas. Sumrall began downplaying Florida’s chances Saturday night after the Gators knocked off Auburn, 44-39, at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Sixteen penalties – 12 against the offense, four on the defense – obviously irked Sumrall. The Gators had four penalties in their season opening win over Florida Atlantic, doubled that total against Campbell in game two and then doubled up again against Auburn. Sumrall said after the Auburn game, “If we don't get that fixed and get back to how we were in week one, we are about to get absolutely embarrassed when we play high-end SEC teams.” Based on the current rankings, there aren’t too many teams out there more high end than Ole Miss at the moment. Sumrall is right about the penalties. Beating Auburn with 16 penalties is one thing. Ole Miss has far more experience, Chambliss at quarterback and if he’s healthy for a change, running back Kewan Lacy, who ran for 1,567 yards and 24 touchdowns last year. Lacy has a bum shoulder that has him listed as questionable (50-50 chance he plays) for Saturday. His three-game totals this year pale in comparison to last: 39 carries, 191 yards and four touchdowns. If Lacy is healthy enough to carry the football 20 or more times Saturday it will make Chambliss even more effective. Chambliss has completed 77-110 passes for 924 yards (8.4 per attempt) and seven touchdowns. He has run for two more. The over/under on this game is 58.5 points, so the folks in Las Vegas as well as most of the media experts tend to think this game will be settled in shootout fashion. The defenses tend to give that impression. Florida has been effective against the run so far (94.67 yards per game, 3.05 yards per carry) but shaky stopping the pass. Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns even though the Gators sacked him seven times. Ole Miss ranks 15th out of 16 teams in the SEC in total defense at 373.7 yards per game. Florida has plenty of firepower in quarterback Aaron Philo (721 passing yards, 11.3 per attempt, 6 TDPs), running back Jadan Baugh (second in the nation 458 yards, 8.58 per carry, 8 TDs) and wide receivers Vernell Brown III (14-246, 2 TDs) and Dallas Wilson (12-225, 2 TDs). Eric Singleton Jr. is listed as questionable, but if he is able to play Florida will present Ole Miss coach Pete Golding with the dilemma of who do you double up? Rather than try to win this one in a start heaving the ball all over the yard from the moment they step off the bus fashion, the Gators might elect to do it by playing defense with the offense. The way you do that is ground and pound to control the clock. Against Auburn the Gators ran 84 plays, only 23 of them passes, while eating up the clock to the tune of 39 minutes time of possession. When Auburn tried to load up the box to stuff the run, that’s when Philo went over the top. Something similar might be in the works for Ole Miss. The best way to keep Chambliss from one of do that voodoo that you do so well type of games is to keep him on the sideline. There is no better way of doing it than control the clock with the running game. The three-game stats indicate Ole Miss is vulnerable against the run. The Rebels are allowing 159 yards a game and 4.15 yards per carry. Those aren’t outrageous numbers but teams have moved the ball steadily. LSU, which ran for 173 yards last week, got back into the game by running the football after a disastrous 17-0 start. The X-Factor in all this speculation is Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner. He is anything but predictable. He may take the Steve Spurrier approach which is to heave the ball all over the yard to get a decent lead in the first half, then pound it between the tackles in the second half. The other approach could be similar to that of the 1984 Gators who let the Great Wall pound teams into submission and threw it over the top when the opposing safeties committed to the run. This is a very winnable game for the Gators, especially if the Gators can keep the ball out of the hands of Trinidad Chambliss and in the hands of Jadan Baugh. COUNTDOWN TO FIRING DAY EXTINCT SPECIES LIST None so far but things are heating up ON LIFE SUPPORT Dave Doeren, North Carolina State: That loss to Vanderbilt might be the last straw. Doeren has been at NC State for years and he’s won more than he lost, but he has never won a championship. The Moo U alums think that a coach who’s paid more than $6 million a year should at least be a consistent contender. Mike Norvell, Florida State: If Jimbo Fisher is willing to work cheap while squeezing by on the $75 million the Aggies paid him to go away, FSU might have its solution for the Norvell problem. They want him gone. Now. Look for a lot of empty seats at The Great Erector Set this weekend when Central Arkansas comes to town. Bill Belichick, North Carolina: GM Michael Lombardi and Steve Belichick were involved in scandals and so they’re gone leaving Bill to fend for himself. He’s getting paid $10 million a year and so far all he has delivered is bad publicity. Lots of empty seats at Kenan Stadium make matters worse. Open date this week, but Notre Dame next on the schedule. Things are set to go from bad to worse. Dell McGee, Georgia State: He’s 6-21 at a school that has made bowl games so nobody is happy. They don’t have much money, however, so six wins and he’s back another year. Greg Schiano, Rutgers: Rutgers is a surprising 2-1 and with Howard on the Friday agenda, a third win seems rather certain. There might not be another winnable game on the schedule. Schiano is actually a very good football coach, but Rutgers is a graveyard. A nice paying graveyard ($6.5 million a year) but a graveyard just the same. Mike Locksley, Maryland: The Terps are 2-1. It’s difficult to see more than one or two wins in the remaining nine games. UM is so deep in athletic department red ink that Locks probably saves his job if he can get three more wins. Four more and he’s good for another year, maybe two. Odds of that happening? Not very good. Bill O’Brien, Boston College: He’s got the smallest NIL budget among the power conference teams and he’s among the lowest paid head coaches in the Almost Competitive Conference so he’s in an impossible situation. Still, the Eagles are 2-1. If they get bowl eligible the folks calling for O’Brien’s head are going to feel rather silly. Six wins is entirely possible. Seven is do-able, too. Luke Fickell, Wisconsin: The Badgers are 2-1 but they will not be favored to win another game until they face Rutgers the first weekend in November. Fickell must be asking himself what the hell was I thinking when I left Cincinnati for this place? He won big at Cincy. He’s about to be fired at Wiscy. ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST Dabo Swinney, Clemson: Just when people start counting Dabo out he rallies the troops and makes the doubters look silly. The offense stinks and the defense isn’t typical Clemson standard, but the schedule isn’t that bad. Other than Miami, there isn’t a game that the Tigers can’t win. A 9-3 record would send waves of hope through the IPTAY folks. One more thing: Dabo has earned the right to leave Clemson on his own terms. Dave Aranda, Baylor: There is good news and bad news for Dave Aranda. The good news is the Bears have won two in a row with Nate Bennett at QB while DJ Lagway recovers from a high ankle sprain. Lagway is scheduled to start Saturday. That’s the bad news. If Colorado wins this game, Aranda will be On Life Support next week. Shane Beamer, South Carolina: The Fighting Chickens won their first two against lightweights before discovering they couldn’t stop Kamario Taylor and Mississippi State. This week they’re in Tuscaloosa. Buzzards might be circling the football complex on Sunday. He’s paid $8.125 million and for that kind of money more is expected. Joe Moorhead, Akron: The Zips are 1-2 so far, which for Akron is a brilliant start. Getting to three wins would be quite an accomplishment. Chances of that happening? Slim. Very slim. What keeps him gainfully employed is he works cheap. Deion Sanders, Colorado: The novelty of Prime Time as the head coach has worn off. They’re paying him almost $9 million a year and for that kind of money they expect to be contenders, which they aren’t. The Buffs are 1-2 and a second straight losing season is in the cards. They probably won’t fire him this year, but he will be expected to win big next year or he walks the plank.

Something’s Stirring in The Swamp. And It’s Waking Up The Echoes. On Friday, Paul Finebaum brought his TV show to campus and spent an hour ringing some of the sweetest chimes since Century Tower was at its best. By Buddy Martin GatorBaitMedia.com Maya Angelou never sat in the press box at Florida Field, which is probably lucky for her. The coffee was terrible and the view has gotten worse for about 20 years. Still, she probably would have understood this place better than a lot of the people who got paid to fix it. More importantly, she would appreciate the way Gator fans have been feeling in the past few months. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel," she once said. This week in Gainesville, it was about the feeling. For the first time in about a decade, Gator fans feel good about themselves. I don’t mean the Thursday-night kind of good that’s gone by the second quarter Saturday. This one feels real. All week I heard things around town I hadn’t heard in years: “This team is physically tough.” “This coach gets it.” “We look like Florida again.” For a while there, the most optimistic thing a Gator fan could say was, “At least the band was good.” An Hour Worth Remembering Afterward, Paul told me he thought the 3-to-4 o’clock hour was “a really good hour” of television. Coming from a man who has spent decades listening to SEC callers explain how their team got robbed, that’s close to a papal blessing. He also said something I agree with completely: “The HBC was amazing.” Look at who else was in that lineup. Scott Stricklin, the athletic director, who has taken more arrows than Custer and is finally watching the program get up off the canvas. Jon Sumrall, the feisty new head football coach, whose standards already show up in how this team plays. He doesn’t talk much about toughness. He expects it. Todd Golden, who won a basketball national championship and reminded everyone that winning at the very top is still possible here. Both coaches agreed they have struck up a Bromance “ because we coach alike!” Major Wright, the All-America defensive back who hit people for a living on a national championship team. He knows what a real Gator defense looks like, and so does anyone who ever tried to catch a ball over the middle against him. And Steve Spurrier. The Heisman Trophy winner. The Head Ball Coach. The man who put a visor on the program and turned The Swamp into the place nobody wanted to come to as a visitor. Some men get old. Spurrier just gets more Spurrier. Put those five people on one stage for an hour and it stops being a TV show. It turns into a family reunion where everybody finally has good news and nobody has to talk about the uncle who went 4-8. Why It Feels Different Feelings like this get earned. Florida beat Auburn 44-39 in a game that could have gone badly and didn’t. Aaron Philo played like a cowboy. He took hits, got up, and kept throwing. He reminded me of the old gunslingers who would take a shot to the ribs, spit, and find the open receiver on the next snap. When a quarterback won’t stay down, the rest of the team usually stands up with him. Credit Sumrall. He didn’t show up selling snake oil. He brought standards and has made his players live by them. A team takes on its coach’s personality, and this one is starting to look like his: hard-nosed and unwilling to back down. For ten years, Gator fans were told to be patient. They heard about “process” and “next year” until they were ready to throw the remote at the television. The pride never went away. It just didn’t have much to hold onto. It feels like it does now. About Saturday I don’t know what happens Saturday night when No. 4 Ole Miss comes to town to play No. 21 Florida. Nobody does. Ole Miss is ranked fourth for a reason, and good vibes have never blocked a blitz. But I am taking the Gators and laying 3 on my mythical bet. I can tell you this, though: something is happening here. You can feel it in the parking lots and in the texts from old friends who quit calling about football years ago. You can hear it in the way people say “Go Gators!” without wincing first. The folks up in South Bend like to talk about waking up the echoes. Around here, the echoes have a Florida accent. They sound like Spurrier’s visor hitting the turf, Wuerffel’s spirals floating through a September sky, and 90,000 people standing up at once because they couldn’t help it. I’ve heard those echoes before. I’d know them anywhere. Maybe they’ve been in hiding and have been awakened. We’ll get a better idea Saturday. Win or lose, Gator fans got something back this week that they’d been missing for a long time. They remembered how it feels to be Florida. And the people who were there for the good old days found out they weren’t as far behind us as we thought.

Aaron Philo against Ole Miss. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media. By Eddie Gilley GatorBaitMedia.com It was a Chamber of Commerce Saturday in the Swamp, and for the second time in two years, it was déjà vu all over again. When DJ Coleman stepped in front of Trinidad Chambliss's pass at the 5-yard line, longtime Gator fans flashed back to another interception in the Swamp two years ago that saved a struggling Florida team. This one was different. It didn't save anything. It just finished off a 52-28 beatdown that Florida controlled from the opening snap. Jon Sumrall likes to say the margin in the SEC is razor-thin, and that a handful of plays usually decide the outcome. Florida made enough of them to hand No. 4 Ole Miss its first loss of the season. The Rebels are now 0-3 when they visit Gainesville as a Top 5 team. Maybe they should stop coming in so highly ranked. Sumrall didn't list his difference-makers. I will. Play One: The Gamble That Backfired Before kickoff, I wrote a note to myself: the first team to get a stop wins this game. Ole Miss got the first chance to test that theory and blew it. On fourth-and-1 from his own 35 on the Rebels' first possession, Pete Golding kept his offense on the field. Maybe he forgot his best running back, Kewan Lacy, was out. Maybe he looked across the field, saw a Florida offense that had just scored on its opening drive, and decided his defense couldn't hold up. Either way, Aaron Chiles blew up the play in the backfield and forced a fumble. Ole Miss recovered, but that didn't matter. It was still a turnover on downs. The Florida offense went nowhere with the short field, but Patrick Durkin didn't care. He drilled a long field goal, and it was 10-0 Gators. First stop, first real advantage, and the tone was set for the day. Play Two: The Opening Statement Everyone in the stadium knew who was getting the ball on Florida's first snap: Jadan Baugh. The Gators handed it to him anyway, and he ran for 12 yards. After an Aaron Philo-to-Luke Harpring completion, Baugh broke off another 23-yarder. Then he finished the drive himself with a 4-yard touchdown run. The message to the Ole Miss defense was clear: we're going to run it, you know it, and you can't stop it. They couldn't. By the end of the day, Florida had run it 53 times for 302 yards. That wasn't a game plan so much as a hostile takeover. Play Three: Hanks Holds the Line Not every big play makes the highlight reel. This one should. Ole Miss had third-and-4 at the Florida 28. Chambliss looked left for Horatio Fields, who had Ben Hanks III on him in man coverage. Hanks pushed Fields toward the sideline, threw off his route, and the ball fell incomplete. The Rebels had to settle for a field goal, and Florida led 17-6 at the half. Now think about what came next. Ole Miss scored a touchdown on the first drive of the second half to cut it to 17-14. If Hanks doesn't make that play, the Gators could have been trailing 21-17. That's a completely different afternoon. DJ Coleman helped set it up with a hard hit that broke up a pass on second down. The secondary didn't make every play, but it made the ones that counted. Play Four: Duke Clark Breaks Ankles Just before this, Gator fans got a look at what Eric Singleton Jr. can do. Philo threw deep to him in the end zone, and it looked like pass interference to everyone except the officials. Sumrall was so angry that he broke his headset. While he was still hunting for a replacement, Philo handed off to Duke Clark on a run off left tackle. Clark made two defenders miss, leaving one of them with a couple of broken ankles, and outran everybody else for a 45-yard touchdown. That put Florida back up by 10. It was the pattern all day: every time Ole Miss tried to grab momentum, the Gators took it right back. This time they did it with their No. 2 running back, and Clark looked anything but secondary. Here's the part that should get Gator fans' attention. In recent years, a momentum swing like that would have caused panic. This team never flinched. Play Five: The Corner Route On his two earlier deep shots, Singleton ran a streak and a post. On second-and-9 in the fourth quarter, offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner had him break to the corner instead. It was a smart call, and Philo and Singleton executed it. Philo put the ball right on the money for a 38-yard gain to the Ole Miss 2-yard line with 4:47 left. One play later, Baugh scored his third rushing touchdown, and that put the game away. Philo didn't have his best day, and he didn't need to. His job wasn't to beat Ole Miss. His job was to avoid beating Florida with turnovers, and he did that perfectly. The Icing That brings us back to Coleman and the interception on Ole Miss's final drive. For the first three weeks of the season, the national media hammered this Florida secondary. On Saturday, that same unit put the finishing touch on a statement win over the No. 4 team in the country. It was a pick to seal it in the Swamp, just like two years ago. Déjà vu all over again.

Photos by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Florida 52, Ole Miss 28. Chris Spears had the sideline for all of it. Here are his best shots from The Swamp on Sept. 26. Jadan Baugh stretches for the goal line. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media The Gators take the field before kickoff. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Jon Sumrall leads the Gators out. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Baugh dives in for Florida's first touchdown. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Vernell Brown III turns the corner on the sideline. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Baugh celebrates in the end zone, one of his three touchdowns. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Officials at the SEC replay monitor on the Florida sideline. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Aaron Philo (12) with teammates after the final whistle. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Jon Sumrall at the postgame podium. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media The Gators celebrate as the final whistle sounds. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media More: 10 Thoughts From the Sidelines and the full game recap.

A second batch of Chris Spears’ work from The Swamp as the Gators put away Ole Miss 52-28 — pregame, the pass rush, the sideline and the celebration after. Photos by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media The Swamp glows before Florida's SEC showdown with Ole Miss. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Florida's offense goes through pregame warmups. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media The Gators celebrate in the end zone after another Florida touchdown. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Florida players react after finding the end zone against Ole Miss. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media The Florida sideline erupts as the Gators pull away from the Rebels. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Florida's defense swarms an Ole Miss ball carrier for the stop. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media A Florida ball carrier fights for extra yardage near the goal line. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Florida's coaching staff fires up the sideline in the fourth quarter. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Gators players share a moment on the sideline late in the win. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media A Florida player speaks with reporters after the win. Photo by Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Editor’s note: See the first Chris Spears gallery from this game for more, and check back all season for more sideline photo coverage from GatorBait Media.

GAINESVILLE — Jon Sumrall said he barely had a voice left after Florida’s 52-28 win over No. 4 Ole Miss on Saturday night. He used what was left to deliver the message he has repeated all season. “We have not arrived,” Sumrall said. “We have so much room to grow and get better, and we still have to do that or we’re not going to be pleased with outcomes that we have coming up.” Asked whether the beast he has talked about waking is at least stirring, Sumrall drew a laugh. “It’s not asleep, but it ain’t fully awake yet,” he said. “I promise you, I didn’t come here for us to be average.” Watch: Florida’s full postgame press conference (Florida Gators Football on YouTube). “I would never bet against him” Sumrall said during the week that Ole Miss had proven more than his team. Asked after the game what he made of the oddsmakers now, he didn’t back off. “I think they’re still pretty smart. We just played better today,” Sumrall said. He pointed to Ole Miss’ 16-2 record over the past year and to quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. “I don’t bet, but if I did, I would never bet against him.” Florida still rattled Chambliss. Sumrall said Florida kept him off balance, adding that Chambliss has “kicked my butt as a head coach twice last year.” Chambliss threw for 298 yards and ran for two touchdowns, but he was sacked and stripped late in the third quarter and intercepted in the fourth. “Our confidence is high” Jadan Baugh ran for 142 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries, and he still thinks the Gators left points on the field. He said he missed a hole on an early drive that could have been a touchdown. “Our confidence is high,” Baugh said. “We feel that we can put a bunch of points on the board. We feel we left points on the board, honestly.” “I feel that no defense in the country could stop us from putting up points,” he said. “I tell the guys, I’m trying to put up 70, trying to put up 60.” Duke Clark and a broken headset Duke Clark ran for 126 yards on 12 carries, including the 45-yard touchdown that put Florida back up 10 in the third quarter. “I thought Duke played out of his mind,” Sumrall said. “He’s got all the ability in the world. He can be as good as he chooses to be.” Sumrall said he was livid about the play before Clark’s run and broke his headset. The replacement clicked on just in time for him to hear the call. “It’s worth losing a headset over,” he said. Baugh, who calls Clark his little brother, said he stood on the sideline with his hands up for the whole run. “I was just so proud of him,” Baugh said. Injury update Receiver Bailey Stockton took “a pretty significant shot to his back” on the play that drew a targeting flag, Sumrall said, but it “doesn’t look like anything that should keep him out long term.” Stockton came back to return a punt but played little in the second half. Vernell Brown III tweaked a knee late in the second quarter. “Nothing’s substantial, nothing’s torn,” Sumrall said. “Feel pretty good about him being available, but it’s too early to know moving forward.” Eric Singleton Jr., a true game-time decision, played and caught a 38-yard pass. Sumrall said Singleton barely practiced this week. “He’s a tough dude, and a guy I’m really proud of,” he said. The strip-sack Jayden Woods’ sack and forced fumble late in the third quarter set up the touchdown that put Florida up 38-21. Woods said he still needed time to process it. “I kind of blacked out after I came off the edge free,” he said. “His eyes were downfield, and first instinct is to go for the ball.” “Defensively, I thought we rose up, and we battled better than we’ve battled all year to be honest with you,” Sumrall said. Quarterback Aaron Philo was asked how 302 rushing yards help a quarterback. “Makes my job pretty easy,” he said. “I didn’t have to do a whole lot tonight, to be honest.” A recruiting pitch Florida hosted a big group of recruits for the game, and Sumrall tied them to his theme. “[If] we get a lot of those guys to say yes, we’re going to wake the beast up real fast,” he said. Four-star safety Cyion Smith committed to the Gators hours before kickoff. Florida plays at Missouri on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 3:30 p.m. ET. More: the game story and Carlton Reese’s column, Contenders, Not Hopefuls. Quotes are from Florida’s postgame press conference, embedded above. Jon Sumrall’s quotes are checked against UF’s official ASAP Sports transcript. Watch: More from the locker room Jon Sumrall: Jadan Baugh: Jayden Woods: Aaron Philo:

Column | By Chris Spears, GatorBait Media Florida 52, Ole Miss 28. The scoreboard told you who won. The sideline told you what kind of team this is. 1. Florida has an identity again. The Gators want to run the football, and they want you to know it’s coming. Line up, lean on people and find out who still wants to tackle Jadan Baugh in the fourth quarter. Against the No. 4 team in the country, Florida ran for 302 yards. 2. Jadan Baugh is the compass. Twenty-nine carries, 142 yards, three touchdowns. That made five straight 100-yard games, a run only Emmitt Smith and Fred Taylor had put together at Florida. When the Gators need four yards, everybody in the stadium knows who’s getting the ball. He usually gets six. 3. Duke Clark means no intermission. You survive Baugh, he trots to the sideline, and in walks Duke Clark: 12 carries, 126 yards. That’s not a backup. That’s a second problem. His 45-yard touchdown came minutes after Ole Miss cut it to 17-14 and started to believe. “I thought Duke played out of his mind, and he’s got all the ability in the world.” — Jon Sumrall 4. Aaron Philo doesn't have to be the hero. Philo went 16 of 23 for 196 yards, threw a touchdown pass and ran for another. He didn’t try to win every snap. He won the next one. There’s maturity in handing it to No. 13 and getting out of the way. 5. This team takes a punch. Ole Miss punched back. It got tight twice, at 17-14 and again at 24-21, and nobody on Florida’s sideline blinked. The Gators answered with touchdowns on their first five possessions of the second half. Old Florida teams treated adversity like a warning. This one treats it like part of a Saturday. 6. Special teams were quietly loud. Right after Ole Miss pulled within 24-21, London Montgomery returned the kickoff 74 yards, and Florida needed three plays to score. He averaged 42.7 yards on three returns. Hidden yardage like that gets very visible by November. 7. The defense made the plays that mattered. It wasn’t a masterpiece. Trinidad Chambliss threw for 298 yards. But Jayden Woods’ strip-sack, recovered by Myles Graham, set up another touchdown and changed the temperature of the game. DJ Coleman added a fourth-quarter interception. Good defenses are judged by moments, and Florida’s showed up for them. 8. Vernell Brown III changes the shape of the field. His speed pushes safeties back and opens everything underneath for Baugh and Clark. He tweaked a knee late in the second quarter; Jon Sumrall said nothing is torn but it’s too early to know about next week. This offense is at its best with him on the field. Worth watching. Update, Sept. 27: An MRI confirmed a Grade 1 PCL sprain, the mildest grade, in Brown’s knee, sources told GatorBait. Read the latest. 9. The Swamp sounded like The Swamp. Third downs felt different. Big runs sounded different. The crowd didn’t come to be entertained; it came to take part. A real home-field advantage still makes 11 men play like 12. 10. Florida finished like it belongs. Up 38-28, the Gators didn’t sit on it. They attacked. Touchdown. Then another. The No. 4 team in the country came in hoping to steal one and left just trying to get out of Gainesville. The scoreboard said 52-28. The sideline said these Gators are growing up faster than anybody expected. More from The Swamp: Baugh Game: the full game story · Sumrall's postgame press conference

This is no longer a Florida team simply hoping to improve and be more competitive. This team is a legitimate contender for championships. With Saturday’s 52-28 thrashing of the fourth-ranked Ole Miss Rebels, Jon Sumrall’s Gators were the ones that looked every bit the top 5 team on the field. Ole Miss had zero answers for a Gators offense that was utterly unstoppable, the likes we have not seen since Urban Meyer roamed the sidelines at The Swamp. This version might be even more satisfying – with the best running back in the country in Jadan Baugh and a running mate in Duke Clark that looks almost as good – as it can demoralize any defense with such a soul-crushing effort from those two. “Our confidence is high,” said Baugh, who carried 29 times for 142 yards. “We feel we left points on the board, honestly.” He added: “I feel that no defense in the country could stop us from putting up points.” When one puts up 52 points on a top 5 team, defensive coordinators around the world tend to take it seriously and start watching film to reverse engineer this thing weeks before facing them. That’s what Florida did on Saturday: thrust one more SEC team into the equation as national contender. Goodbye, Oklahoma; welcome, Florida. Perhaps Ole Miss was still hung over from its emotional win over LSU last week – that may be true and, without a doubt, that’s what any Ole Miss apologist is saying today. Perhaps the absence of Kewan Lacy, the Rebels’ outstanding back who will have to watch Baugh accept the honor for First Team All-America running back this season, made this an unfair fight. Without a doubt, that’s what any Ole Miss apologist is saying today. Perhaps Trinidad Chambliss’ early injury rendered him less effective than he normally would have been. Without a doubt, that’s what any Ole Miss apologist is saying today. If it makes them feel better about their team, a talented one that had earned its high ranking, then so be it. But they would be wrong. The better team won this game hangover or not, Kewan Lacy or not. As for Chambliss’ injury, he got his pain killers and was the same quarterback he has always been. No, this day was not about what Ole Miss lacked, it was about a showcase. It was Clubber Lang scaring the hell out of everyone and calling out Rocky Balboa. The Gators entered this season unheralded and very hungry. There was talent on the roster that was underperforming and if you want to blame the previous administration you would be very reasonable in making such a claim. Sumrall has achieved something remarkable that Billy Napier never could. He has backed up a signature win with an even more signature win – the John Hancock of signatures. For the second straight game, the Gators rolled up close to 500 yards offense against an SEC team not named Arkansas or Vanderbilt, an impressive feat to be sure. Now, it’s up to Sumrall to keep these Gators hungry all year – Missouri seems like a less daunting challenge, but the Tigers in Columbia will have earned a full understanding of what Florida brings to the table and will be no pushover. Unless, that is, Florida maintains the fire that has been conflagrating here since the spring. On Saturday, Florida squandered opportunities early in the game and still led 17-3, when it looked more like 24-0. Such a scenario portends ugly things ahead, especially against a team as talented as Ole Miss, which can score 21 points in a matter of a few minutes. Not this time. In the second half, when Ole Miss marched for a TD on its opening drive of the second half, the Gators still held serve and the mettle of its offense would be tested as it hadn’t been. They answered with a 4-play drive set up by London Montgomery’s long kick return to the 41-yard line and finished with Clark’s Baugh-esque 45-yard touchdown run. That kept Florida up the proverbial break, crucial against an Ole Miss offense that seemed to hit another gear in the third quarter. Twice Ole Miss went for touchdowns to make it a one-score game and twice Florida answered with TDs of its own. Again, it was Montgomery giving the Gators a short field with a kick return all the way to the Ole Miss 26. Aaron Philo would connect with tight end Amir Jackson for 23 yards to the 3 and Philo finished it himself with a keeper into the end zone. Every blow Ole Miss administered, Florida answered. The third opportunity for Ole Miss ended with the Florida defense forcing a turnover when Jayden Woods sacked Chambliss and forced a fumble recovered by Myles Graham. Seven plays later, Dallas Wilson would carry it into the end zone from 6 yards out, putting the Gators up two breaks. This one was effectively over. Florida would score touchdowns on five straight possessions. Let that sink in. No turnovers during that span. No field goals attempted. All touchdowns. That’s how you put 52 points on the board against a team the caliber of Ole Miss and suck the life out of them. “We still are not a finished product by any stretch of the imagination,” Sumrall said after the game. Such is a scary thought if you are Will Muschamp trying to devise Texas’ defensive scheme to stop Baugh and Clark while wondering how they will simultaneously cover Bailey Stockton, Dallas Wilson, Eric Singleton Jr., Vernell Brown III and even tight ends Amir Jackson and Luke Harpring. If all these guys are healthy and Florida’s offensive line (thought to be the Achilles’ heel of this team at the start of the season) continues to perform at a high level, opposing teams may simply have to resort to outscoring Florida instead of stopping them. The Vegas bookmakers placed Ole Miss a 3.5-point underdog against the Gators, and Sumrall seemed aghast. This is why gambling on football is a foolish proposition – these bookies seem to know what they are doing, and the house always wins. From the current trajectory of this team, and a coach that seems to be focused on the distant future and in keeping his team hungry and playing with a sense of urgency, the odds will continue to fall in Florida’s favor. More: Baugh Game: Gators Run Over No. 4 Ole Miss 52-28 in The Swamp Correction: Quotes from Jadan Baugh and Jon Sumrall were updated to match UF’s official transcripts, and the betting line was corrected to 3.5 points.

The Swamp is set for a shootout between one of the nation’s best teams and the upstart Gators. By Loren Meadows, GatorBaitMedia.com, Football Analyst and Host of The Gator Lowdown with Loren Meadows The Florida defense will have its hands full with Ole Miss on Saturday (Chris Spears photo) Florida is set to welcome the Ole Miss Rebels in a high stakes matchup between two of the nation’s best skill players in quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Jadan Baugh. While both players have no issue running head on into the smoke, this game is an opportunity for both programs to judge themselves on their ability to come up big and get back to it again. A month ago this game was a simple blip on the screen between a trip to The Plains and Kiffin back to the Grove. Now season long implications lay at the doorstep of two programs literally tied together in history and a number of team and individual goals at stake. Sumrall's message after Auburn: no bad wins. 🐊 Ole Miss Offense Key Players: #6 QB Trinidad Chambliss (6-0, 210, 5th Yr.), #5 RB Kewan Lacy (5-11, 220, Jr.), #1 WR Deuce Alexander (6-0, 180, Sr.), #0 WR Johntay Cooke (5-11, 185 Sr./Syracuse), #11 WR Horatio Fields (6-2, 205, 5thYr./Auburn), #3 WR Caleb Cunningham (6-1, 215, So.) #4 TE Caleb Odom (6-5, 245, Jr.), #9 TE Luke Hasz (6-2, 240, Sr.) #75 OL Patrick Kutas (6-6, 315, 5th Yr.) Matchups To Watch: Trinidad Chambliss v. Florida Secondary, Ole Miss Offensive Line v. Florida Defensive Line Everyone knows the order of the day. Make life tough for arguably the best player in college football. The story of Trinidad Chambliss from GLIAC start to SEC celebrity has been more than chronicled and looks like it is headed for a storybook ending in New York City. The play of Chambliss and the connection he has with his top pass catchers are what have propelled Ole Miss to the top of the SEC hierarchy. The Ole Miss receivers have experience and speed that would give the Gator relay teams a run for their money. For a defense that has been inconsistent this season a matchup with the likes of Deuce Alexander, Horatio Fields, Johntay Cooke, and tight ends Luke Hasz and Caleb Odom will more than keep Brad White’s guys up at night. Ole Miss also has a running game that features the best back south of the Mason-Dixon not named Jadan Baugh in Kewan Lacy and if healthy he has breakaway speed and can be equally as effective in the passing game. Lacy is listed as questionable for Saturday’s game and if he cannot go then Ole Miss will look to LSU transfer JT Lindsey who played well in relief of Lacy against his former team last week. Florida will be up against arguably the best offense it will see all year and certainly the best quarterback. Chambliss has played in big games since 2024 and is no stranger to the postseason or what is necessary to get there. Florida will be dialed in to make life hard and continue the havoc they created at Auburn on the way to seven sacks. Florida is 5th in the SEC in sacks and 2nd in takeaways while holding opponents to less than 100 yards rushing per game. While Ole Miss can throw it all over a one-dimensional offense still allows the Gators to turn it loose when they are in control at the line of scrimmage. Ole Miss Defense Key Players: #52 DT Will Echoles (6-3, 315, Jr.), #4 LB Suntarine Perkins (6-1, 220, Sr.), #5 DE Kam Franklin (6-5, 300, Jr.), #49 LB Tah’J Butler (6-1, 235, Jr./Georgia Tech), #11 LB Keaton Thomas (6-1, 235, Jr./Baylor), #12 LB Luke Ferreli (6-3, 230, Jr./Cal) #7 DB Sharif Denson (5-11, 195, Sr./Florida) Matchups To Watch: Florida Offensive Line v. Echoles, Florida Receivers v. Ole Miss Secondary Florida will need to lean on an Ole Miss defense that, while talented, has underperformed early, yielding close to 159 rushing yards per game which is last in the SEC. While Echoles and Perkins are one on one matchup nightmares, the play of the front seven lends many to think that Jadan Baugh could continue his early season tear. If Florida can establish the run on a consistent basis there should be yards to be had. That is not to say that Ole Miss doesn’t have some dudes. Transfers Tah’j Butler and Keaton Thomas are the top three tacklers for Ole Miss with Keaton third behind Echoles, and Franklin in tackles for loss. Many believe Echoles is the best defensive lineman in the country and the trio of linebackers provide ample support at the second level. A familiar face will return to the Ole Miss secondary after a two week absence. Sharif Denson who began his career at Florida had a seven tackle performance in his Ole Miss debut and will return to a secondary that has improved over the last two contests. Florida quarterback Aaron Philo has been nearly flawless in his command of the offense and if Eric Singleton can go on Saturday, it gives Florida one more weapon for offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner to scheme around. Ole Miss has been susceptible to explosive plays at times so look for Philo to grab a couple of quick strikes if the opportunity presents itself. The Skinny: This one has had me thinking ever since Florida opened as a 2.5-point favorite over a team that sits 17 spots ahead of them in the polls. I have learned over the years that it is dangerous to bet against Vegas and it takes a lot of money to keep the lights on in Clark County so someone knows something. From an X and O’s standpoint Jon Sumrall will have his team ready for what will be the most electric game of his tenure at Florida. Offensively the Gators have been great and defensively have been good enough with a few head scratching moments mixed in. Ole Miss was a play away from playing for a national title last season and the man that makes it all go has championship pedigree and is playing the best ball of his career. This is a game where Florida could play its best ball and it may still fall short of the mark. If you put the rosters side by side, you might think Florida should be favored by close to seven. Unfortunately games are played for a reason and while Florida is improved, I believe Ole Miss to be the more seasoned, capable program right now. Florida will show up and play hard, but I believe the day will belong to Ole Miss, which would put itself in the driver’s seat for its first trip to Atlanta. While there are no moral victories, the final score may show that this is not the Florida of the last four years but it will also note that Chambliss is the best player in the country. Ole Miss will feast on an underachieving Florida secondary and despite a great offensive effort Ole Miss leaves the Swamp victorious. Prediction: Ole Miss 38 Florida 35 Watch: Swamp noise and false starts: Graham Hall of 247Sports on Florida's home edge

Jadan Baugh dives in from 4 yards out for Florida’s first touchdown. (Photo by Chris Spears/GatorBait Media) GAINESVILLE — Every time No. 4 Ole Miss punched, Florida punched back harder. Jadan Baugh ran for 142 yards and three touchdowns, the Gators scored touchdowns on their first five possessions of the second half, and No. 21 Florida beat the Rebels 52-28 on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Florida is 4-0 and 2-0 in the SEC, and it now leads the all-time series 14-13-1. Ole Miss fell to 3-1. The answer, every time Ole Miss came out of halftime down 17-6 and took five plays and 1:53 to make it a game. Trinidad Chambliss capped the 80-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown run, then hit Horatio Fields for a two-point conversion to cut it to 17-14. Florida needed four plays to answer. London Montgomery returned the kickoff 41 yards, and Duke Clark broke a 45-yard touchdown run to make it 24-14. The Rebels came back with a 14-play, 74-yard drive, and Chambliss scored from 10 yards out to make it 24-21. Montgomery returned the next kickoff 74 yards to the Ole Miss 26. Three plays later, Aaron Philo scored from a yard out, and Florida never led by fewer than 10 points again. Run the ball, win the game Florida ran for 302 yards on 53 carries and held the ball for 36:59. Baugh carried 29 times and scored on runs of 4, 2 and 2 yards. Clark added 126 yards on 12 carries, so both backs topped 100 yards, and wide receiver Dallas Wilson scored on a 6-yard run. Philo completed 16 of 23 passes for 196 yards, threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Amir Jackson and ran for another score. Eric Singleton Jr., a game-time decision on the SEC availability report, played and caught a 38-yard pass. Florida did not turn the ball over. Ole Miss played without star running back Kewan Lacy, who was ruled out before kickoff. Lacy ran for 224 yards and three touchdowns in the Rebels’ 34-24 win over Florida last November. Without him, Ole Miss ran for 128 yards. Two takeaways, one more stop Chambliss threw for 298 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more scores, and Deuce Alexander caught seven passes for 134 yards. But Florida’s defense made the plays that decided it. With Ole Miss at the Florida 40 late in the third quarter, Jayden Woods sacked Chambliss, who fumbled, and Myles Graham recovered. The Gators drove 57 yards for Wilson’s touchdown and a 38-21 lead. After Ole Miss cut it to 38-28 on Chambliss’ 2-yard touchdown pass to Alexander, Philo found Jackson to push the lead back to 17. DJ Coleman later intercepted Chambliss at the Florida 5. The Gators take the field in The Swamp before kickoff. (Photo by Chris Spears/GatorBait Media) The tone was set early. Aaron Chiles stuffed JT Lindsey on fourth-and-1 in the first quarter, and Patrick Durkin followed with a 49-yard field goal. Baugh scored twice before halftime, and two Lucas Carneiro field goals were all Ole Miss managed in the first 30 minutes. By the numbers 302 — Florida rushing yards on 53 carries, part of 498 total yards. 268 — Combined rushing yards for Jadan Baugh (142) and Duke Clark (126). Both backs went over 100. 35 — Second-half points. Florida scored touchdowns on its first five possessions after halftime. 6 — Rushing touchdowns: Baugh 3, Clark, Aaron Philo and Dallas Wilson. 0 — Florida turnovers. Ole Miss lost a fumble and threw an interception. 36:59 — Florida’s time of possession, 13:58 more than Ole Miss. 6 of 10 — Florida on third down. Ole Miss went 4 of 11. 14-13-1 — Florida’s new lead in the all-time series with Ole Miss. 2020 — The last time Florida had beaten a top-five team before Saturday, according to The Alligator and CBS Sports. The celebration When the clock hit 0:00, the Gators headed for the band. Players crowded in front of the stands with their arms and helmets in the air, the Gators’ mascot pushed into the middle of it, and the sold-out crowd stayed to celebrate with them. Chris Spears was on the field for it. The scoreboard says it all: Florida 52, Ole Miss 28, as the Gators celebrate with the band after the final whistle. (Photo by Chris Spears/GatorBait Media) Florida goes back on the road next, at Missouri on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Postgame reaction: what Jon Sumrall, Jadan Baugh and the Gators said. Column: Carlton Reese on why the Gators are contenders, not hopefuls. Watch: The Swamp was rocking: Gators take down No. 4 Ole Miss 52-28