New docuseries allows fans an in-depth look into the lives of the Gators. In a world where more athletic programs increasingly guard their athletes and coaches, Coach Kelly Rae Finley and the Gator’s women’s basketball program has decided to go in a different direction and allow the public to take a deep dive into who these athletes truly are. Unlaced is a new docuseries that looks into the past, present and future of each member of the women’s basketball team. Parents, family members, coaches and members of each player's community give a clear view of what makes each person special as an individual outside of their athletic prowess. From junior forward Eriny Kindred’s love of plants, guard Zippy Broughton’s community activism, the struggles of Faith Dut growing up as a minority in British Columbia, or Aliyah Matharu’s journey from the neighborhoods of Washington DC, fans of not just basketball -- but sports as a whole -- will be both informed and entertained with the players’ personal and heartfelt stories. Unlaced is just another example of the culture that Finley is building in her second year at the helm. Coach Finley has allowed her athletes to engage with fans and that relationship has resonated to an increase in home attendance as well as Florida's rapidly becoming a destination for some of the country’s most elite recruits. Allowing her players to be themselves and tell their stories organically will likely only add to Finley’s reputation as one of the SEC’s rising stars and arguably its most prominent players coach. “For me it was something that was really important,” Finley stated. “Our student-athletes are so much more than basketball players and when you can connect to people and inspire people (I really think) that’s probably what life is all about.” The first two episodes, which are airing now on FloridaGators.com, featured Texas A&M transfer Eriny Kindred who was raised by young, motivated parents to be a person that cares for others. She became a highly decorated track athlete to go along with her basketball success. That episode was preceded by Zippy Broughton’s heartfelt story of a love of nature, family, her community of Wetumpka, Ala., and her father's struggle with leukemia which at times prevents him from attending games but never from watching every minute at home on television. “I pay my monthly bills," said Zippy’s father. “I got them all ESPN and SEC.” Other teams may feature one or two key players and their story. Unlaced will give each player the opportunity to tell their own personal story. Recruiting Specialist Ja’Quaes Stone traveled to the home of each athlete to conduct interviews. Stone even made arrangements to speak with the families of the Gators' four international players -- Faith Dut, Alberte Rimdal, Kenza Salgues and Alexia Dizeko despite the inability to travel to their home countries. If the first two episodes are any indication the Gator community will be more than impressed by these young women, their stories and the work of Stone. As Finley noted, “We have a tremendous platform, a great opportunity here at the University of Florida to influence people in our community, to connect with people in our community, all over the world. Our team is made up of wonderful young women from all over the world. Somebody can connect to each and every one of them and part of their story.” People matter at the University of Florida and Unlaced shows just how much for women’s basketball. Unlaced will debut two episodes each Friday on floridagators.com. This week’s episodes feature seniors Faith Dut and Aliyah Matharu.

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning:

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: A year ago this time, Billy Napier was being skewered for (a) losing Jaden Rashada in a nasty NIL divorce and (b) signing Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz. It turns out Mertz was far better than advertised and by Rashada heading out to Arizona State, it cleared the way for DJ Lagway, the top high school QB in the country and the Gatorade National Player of the year. As some might say, God does work in mysterious ways. For insurance, Napier went to the portal to bring in former Colorado State starter Clay Millen and Yale redshirt freshman Aidan Warner. Instead of the questionable quarterback room of 2023, Napier now has one of the better rooms in the Southeastern Conference. Florida is one of six SEC schools to return a healthy incumbent but only a couple of schools will have the potential 1-2 threat in Mertz and Lagway backed up by a former Division I starter. Here is a look at the pre-spring practice QB room at all 16 SEC schools. Alabama: New coach Kalen DeBoer inherits Jalen Milroe who will be in the Heisman conversation. The backups are Ty Simpson and redshirt freshman Dylan Lonergan. Bama lost stud recruit Julian Sayin to Ohio State with the coaching change. Look for help in the portal. Arkansas: KJ Jefferson transferred to UCF, leaving behind former North Carolina transfer Jacolby Criswell. Boise State transfer Taylen Green is the likely starter. Situation bleak. Auburn: Payton Thorne returns and third teamer Holden Geriner. Auburn signed 4-star Walker White and whiffed in the portal trying to land Liberty QB Kaidon Salter. Hugh Freeze has a help wanted sign out. Georgia: Carson Beck will be on everybody’s Heisman short list. He would have gone first round if he had declared for the NFL. The backup is Gunner Stockton. They were left in the lurch by Dylan Raiola, who did a last minute switcheroo to Nebraska. They’re shopping the portal for a backup. Kentucky: Brock Vandagriff was once a 5-star who signed with Georgia. Now he’s THE guy at Kentucky, which could lose its OC to the NFL. Mark Stoops induced former UK backup Beau Allen, who was at Georgia Southern, to transfer back to UK. The Cats signed 4-star Cutter Boley. Chaos if the OC bolts. LSU: All-Interplanetary Heisman winner Jayden Daniels is gone as is the OC, leaving behind Garrett Nussmeier, who can fling it but who can’t run a lick. They didn’t sign a HS QB but they did land former Vandy QB AJ Swann in the portal. A step backward. Mississippi State: Will Rogers left for Washington, leaving new coach Jeff Lebby with former Vandy QB Mike Wright. The hedge against Wright is former Baylor QB Blake Shapen, brought in via the portal. The Bulldogs signed 3-star Michael Van Buren. Patience will be required. Missouri: Brady O’Connor is the returning starter who will hear some preseason Heisman hype. Backup Sam Horn decided to return but former Miami transfer Jake Garcia transferred to East Carolina. Eli Drinkwitz got Southern U transfer Harold Blood in the portal and 4-star Aidan Glover out of high school. Excellent starter, solid backup. Oklahoma: Dillon Gabriel left for Oregon, leaving the job to former 5-star Jackson Arnold. The Sooners signed 4-star Michael Hawkins and brought in former Texas/Nebraska/Florida Atlantic QB Casey Thompson as the experienced backup. Arnold better be good. Ole Miss: A lot of folks rate Jackson Dart with Carson Beck as the best QB in the SEC. The backup is former 5-star and LSU transfer Walker Howard. Lane Kiffin also signed 3-star Anthony Maddox. Dart and Howard are a fine 1-2. Looking for portal help. South Carolina: Spencer Rattler and all the backups are gone. Shane Beamer brought in three stud running backs in Rocket Sanders, Oscar Adway and Jawarn Howell, which makes the import of former Oregon/Auburn QB Robby Ashford seem as if the Gamecocks are going to run the option. Ashford can’t throw a lick. The signee is 3-star Dante Reno. Help wanted sign is out. Tennessee: Everybody is banking on former 5-star Nico Iamaleava, who started and got a win in the Citrus Bowl. He better stay healthy. The backup is 4-star signee Jake Merklinger. Looking for portal help. Texas: Steve Sarkisian might be asking the Jim Harbaugh question, “Who’s got it better than us?” Maybe nobody in the SEC. Quinn Ewers is back as is redshirt freshman Arch Manning, a former 5-star. The Longhorns also signed 4-star Trey Owens. Texas A&M: Connor Weigman returns but can he stay healthy? Jaylen Henderson got hurt in the bowl game. Then there is Marcel Reed, who finished the bowl game after Henderson got hurt. The Aggies signed 4-star Miles O’Neill. A healthy QB would be a pleasant beginning. Vanderbilt: The bad news is all the quarterbacks left. The good news is all the quarterbacks left. The new QB will be either Utah transfer Nate Johnson, New Mexico State transfer Diego Pavia or 3-star signees Jackson Muschamp (yes, Will’s his dad) or Jeremy St. Hilaire. It’s going to be a long, long year. THREE OF THE FOUR CFP HEAD COACHES ARE GONERS With Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan for the Los Angeles Chargers job, it means three of the four teams that made the 2023 College Football Playoff will have a new head coach in 2024. Nick Saban retired at Alabama, replaced by Kalen DeBoer, who led Washington to the championship game only to bolt for the perceived greener pastures of Tuscaloosa. The only coach who will be back in 2024 is Texas coach Steve Sarkisian. If you’re looking for a coach not named Kirby Smart as the one most likely to get his team to the 2024 national championship game, then Sark should be your guy. Can you think of a time when college football was going through a more chaotic time than this one? We have a transfer portal that is totally out of control thanks to the NCAA granting unlimited free agency to players who can transfer to a new school every year without fear of sitting out. We have NIL which has unleashed boosters with more money than brains to make outlandish monetary offers to high school kids who have never played a single snap. We have a clueless NCAA which has tried unsuccessfully to lobby a do-nothing Congress to step in and regulate. That same NCAA is headed by a former politician who once played JV basketball at Harvard and who is as relevant leading the NCAA as a pimple on an elephant’s butt, proposing a rich get richer scheme that if implemented will sink a large number of the athletic programs that haven’t mega contracts with TV networks. After more than 100 years of producing champions in just about every sport, we no longer have a Pac-12. We have an ACC being threatened by Florida State, which doesn’t seem to understand that neither the SEC nor the Big Ten want anything to do with the Seminoles. That same ACC has added California, Stanford and SMU to its ranks. The only thing that is going to save all of college sports is for football to secede from the NCAA. Football pays the freight for all the other sports, so the salvation of college sports has to begin with all or most of the schools that make up Division I extracting football from the clutches of the NCAA. And, the sooner the better. On paper this should be simple enough proposition that Fred and Doris Ziffel could figure it out, but unfortunately, it will require the approval of the presidents of the Division I institutions. They are supposed to be among the best and brightest among us, but how many of them actually understand that collegiate sports are a multi-billion dollar business that should be run by business people? ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Now that Jim Harbaugh has done what we expected all along and departed for the Los Angeles Chargers, who has the most pressure: Harbaugh’s successor at Michigan, the NCAA or Ryan Day at Ohio State? Harbaugh’s successor (likely former Oklahoma O-lineman and Michigan OC Sherrone Moore) will not only face the inevitable comparisons to the coach who beat Ohio State three straight years and won a national championship in his final season, but the possibility of severe NCAA sanctions. Harbaugh is a legend, a Michigan man who won a Big Ten championship as a quarterback and who won a national championship as a coach, so whoever succeeds will have to deal with the every day message board criticism that starts with “Well, Coach Harbaugh would have done it like this.” If that isn’t bad enough, what happens if the NCAA drops the hammer, not over the Level II recruiting violations or alleged lying to the NCAA by Harbaugh, but several years of sign stealing? And then there is Ohio State. Harbaugh beat the Buckeyes three straight years. It will only take one loss to the Buckeyes for someone to start a “Fire Coach X” website. Then there is the NCAA. The NCAA can walk away and wash its hands of the Level II recruiting violations. They aren’t worth pursuing and since Harbaugh says he didn’t lie to the investigators, the lying part is unprovable. The sign stealing? Whole different story there. The recruiting violations are Romper Room. Sign stealing that went on for years? If the NCAA lets that go, then it sends the message that you can cheat your way to the top. As with Cheeseburger-Gate as the recruiting violations have been dubbed, Harbaugh says he had no knowledge that paid staffers were traveling throughout the Big Ten to get video of sideline signals and signs. In this case, it shouldn’t matter to the NCA whether or not Harbaugh is still around. Michigan can argue until it’s blue in the face that it’s hard to find a Division I school that doesn’t at least make an attempt to steal signs or signals, nobody has gone to the lengths Michigan did to gain an edge. For that, there has to be punishment. Finally, we have Ryan Day, the highly successful coach at Ohio State and former grad assistant for Urban Meyer at Florida (2005). Day has a 56-8 career record that includes two Big Ten championships, but since making the College Football Playoff in 2020, Ohio State has gone 0-3 against Harbaugh and Michigan. Harbaugh is gone now, Day has loaded up in the transfer portal and the Buckeyes had a high school recruiting class ranked third. With Harbaugh gone, it would seem the Buckeyes’ only challengers in the Big Ten will be Oregon, who they play on the road October 12, and Penn State, a November 2 roadie. Those games are formidable, but Day and the Buckeyes will be expected to win them both, win the Big Ten Championship Game and get one of the six automatic bids to the expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff. Noooooo problem. From my perspective, I rank 1. The NCAA; 2. Ryan Day and 3. Harbaugh’s successor. The NCAA already has enough problems but if it walks away from the sign stealing at Michigan, it might as well call in a bugler to blow taps, because it will be funeral time in Indianapolis for the entire organization. There will be a lot of pressure on Ryan Day, but let’s get real here. When is the coach at Ohio State not expected to beat Michigan and win the Big Ten? Just because Harbaugh is gone, what really changes in Columbus? Finally, there is whoever takes over at Michigan. There is every good chance the NCAA will light up the Wolverines over the sign stealing, but that will only create another “us against the world” scenario. It worked well in 2023. Who’s to say it can’t work again?

With 1:32 remaining in the game and the Florida Gators reeling under pressure that had reduced a once-formidable 17-point lead to just six, Mississippi State got what the analytics will tell you is a gift. To break State’s full court pressure, the Gators got the ball past the midcourt line into the hands of 6-11 freshman Alex Condon, who came into the game shooting less than 66.7 percent from the foul line. The percentages say an inexperienced kid like Condon wilts under the pressure and does an oh-fer or, at best, 1-2 from the line. This time the analytics were wrong. Condon, who had yet to score, looked like he lives on the foul line. He didn’t miss either shot, expanding Florida’s lead to 71-63 and turning this into a 3-possession game. Condon’s two critical free throws had a calming effect on the Gators, who nailed eight of nine shots from the foul line to close out a 79-70 win that evened Florida’s Southeastern Conference record at 3-3. While a blowout win would have pleased the 8,484 at the O-Dome, the way the game ended with the Gators knocking down one free throw after another was just one more sign Florida is turning the corner. In the final 7:22 the Gators hit only one shot from the field – a 3-pointer by Will Richard with 4:11 left – but they were 10-11 from the foul line, finishing the night 17-20. In a league as tough as the Southeastern Conference, the good teams come through in the clutch at the foul line. This win was more than just exceptional free throw shooting, though. The Gators protected the basketball, turning the ball over only seven times. Down at the defensive end, they were in the face of the Bulldogs all night long. Mississippi State launched plenty of shots but shot only 38.7 percent (29-75) from the field overall and a miserable 24.2 percent (8-33) from the 3-point line. Added together, it enabled the Gators to earn a second straight SEC win and a bit of momentum heading into Saturday’s high noon showdown at the O-Dome with Georgia (14-5, 4-2 SEC). “We had a 17-point lead with about eight minutes to go, and, listen, they’re a really good team,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “There’s going to be some runs. You know, they hadn’t shot it well most of the night and then I think they hit two or three threes on, you know, three or four possessions … We got caught in a little bit of an area where you want to break the press, you want to stay aggressive, but at the same time, you’ve got a big lead, you don’t want to be too aggressive. And I think to their credit, they played with no fear of failure, you know, the final eight minutes of the game and we tightened up a little bit. On me, I need to make sure my guys understand I want them to be aggressive and attack in those moments. But, with that being said, you know, six points with the ball, Condo makes his, like you guys said, eight to 10 free throws down the stretch to ice it, and never allowed them to get super, super tight in the final four minutes.” Mississippi State’s run that cut the lead from 17 to six wasn’t so much the Gators getting complacent as much as it was getting a bit too deliberate with the basketball. The Bulldogs were already in a full court press mode when Tyrese Samuel dunked to make it 66-49, but the press got more aggressive, into a full attack mode. Once the Gators crossed midcourt, the Bulldogs tried to double everything above the foul line. Mississippi State’s pressure didn’t force the Gators into wild shots or silly turnovers, but in trying to protect the basketball, Florida lost the aggression that had the Bulldogs teetering on the verge of a 20-point or better loss. The Bulldogs parlayed the slowdown into an 11-0 run that only ended when Richard hit a 3-ball from the left wing with 4:11 left. That it was Richard to the rescue was no surprise. Richard scored 18 points in the first half including a thunder dunk off a steal with 25 seconds to go that sealed a 43-34 Florida lead at the break. He finished the game with 23, hitting 4-7 from the 3-point line and 3-4 from the foul line to go with nine rebounds, one assist, two blocked shots and two steals. “I think he had his best game as a Gator tonight, for sure ... 23 points, nine rebounds, four on the offensive glass, created some second-chance opportunities for us early in the game,” Golden said. “That led to some points and got us going a little bit, hit some big threes. He hit a huge three in that run, a little shot-fake, side-step, banged it. But, you know, to your point, 23 points, nine rebounds on the glass, two steals, two blocks, plus-nine. He gave us a really, really great game tonight, and I think he’s continuing to get more comfortable getting into SEC play, and he’s been playing pretty well. I expect him to continue to do that.” The Gators were down 15-10 in the first half when Richard hit his first 3-pointer with 11:08 left. He was just starting to heat up and once he started feeling it, the Gators took command of the game. Florida was up 18-17 with 8:04 to go when Richard hit his second 3-ball. He stretched the lead to six (28-22) with a 3-pointer at the 5:52 mark. He finished the half by scoring Florida’s last four points on a layup and the dunk with 25 seconds to go. There was no halftime lull for the Gators, either. In the first minute of the second half, they established that they had come to play with a 5-0 run straight out of the locker room. The lead hovered in the 12-14-point range until Walter Clayton Jr. hit a 3-pointer with 11:42 to go for Florida’s first 17-point lead of the game, 59-42. In the first 12 minutes of the second half, the Gators moved the ball about as well as they have all year. The assist totals (10) don’t reflect how the Gators affected the MSU defensive effort with the ball movement. So much of the MSU defense is predicated on doubling the ball and forcing bad shots late in the 30-second clock. For the most part, that was ineffective against UF. “The way they play, you know, they're hard to score against and they switch a little bit,” Golden said. “They do different things give to contain you and our big thing tonight on the offensive end as simple as it sounds, but it's a recurring theme of this team that we have this year, is just to get a shot. Let's make sure we get shots. I think we had eight turnovers at Missouri. I think it's seven tonight. That's a great recipe for success in this league. Just take care of the ball. ZP [Zyon Pullin], you know, that's who it starts with, played 34 minutes tonight, no turnovers and he’s handling the ball a ton. Walter only had two, Will had one, Riley [Kugel] had one so our perimeter did a really good job taking care of it. And, if we can keep that number at or below — 12 is really our goal — if we keep that number at around 10, we’re going to have a lot of success for this team.” This was Florida’s second consecutive strong defensive effort and third in the last four games. The Gators rotated so well that the Bulldogs didn’t get a lot of wide open shots. Their leading scorer on the night, Josh Hubbard, finished with 26 points but he had to take 25 shots to get them including 17 from the 3-point line. “We’re definitely more connected on the defensive end now then we were 2-3 weeks ago,” Golden said. “I didn’t do a good enough job early in the year on emphasizing that end. We really wanted to focus on getting out and playing fast and scoring a lot, which is fun but at the end of the day you’ve got to get stops to win games. We really made a concerted effort, really after the Mississippi game, where we weren’t nearly good enough on that end to improve; come back, beat Arkansas, play well on the defensive end at Tennessee, the result was not good but I thought our effort and our intent was a lot better on the defensive end, and I thought we had a really good effort at Missouri …” Mississippi State big man Tolu Smith, the focal point of Florida’s defensive effort, was held to 10 points on 5-12 shooting and he turned the ball over four times. Where the Gators had success was bringing double teams from different places and angles every time the Bulldogs got the ball to him down on the blocks. “Listen, he went 5-for-12, 10 points and four turnovers,” Golden said. “That’s about as well as anybody's guarded him all year, you know, and he got us early a little bit, but we doubled him and made him see bodies every time he had catches and, you know, we felt like if we didn't allow him to get as close to the rim as he wanted that it would run them off the line … I think everything you can do to get him away from the basket will make you more successful and the double bothered him. Bother him, force some turnovers, it just made him not as aggressive on his catches going to the rim.” In addition to Richard’s 23 points, the Gators got 15 each from Pullin (5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 blocked shot, no turnovers) and Clayton (6-6 from the foul line, five rebounds, 2 assists). Samuel had 12 points (8 rebounds, 2 assists). Overall, the Gators hit 27-64 from the field (42.2 percent) and 32 percent (8-25) from the 3-point line. Gators move up: Florida's win over Mississippi State moved the Gators up to No. 36 in the important Kenpom.com rankings, three spots ahead of Mississippi State. The Gators came into the game No. 46 in the NCAA Net Rankings, while Mississippi State was No. 40. Those rankings should change when the NCAA updates its rankings sometime today. SEC basketball Wednesday’s scores: FLORIDA (13-6, 3-3 SEC) 79, Mississippi State (13-6, 2-4 SEC) 70; Alabama (13-6, 5-1 SEC) 79, No. 8 Auburn (16-3, 5-1 SEC) 75; Ole Miss (16-3, 3-3 SEC) 77, Arkansas (10-9, 1-5 SEC) 51; Georgia (14-5, 4-2 SEC) 68, LSU (11-8, 3-3 SEC) 66 Saturday’s games: Georgia (14-5, 4-2 SEC) at FLORIDA (13-6, 3-3 SEC); No. 5 Tennessee (14-4, 4-1 SEC) at Vanderbilt (5-13, 0-5 SEC); No. 6 Kentucky (14-4, 4-2 SEC) at Arkansas (10-9, 1-5 SEC); No. 8 Auburn (16-3, 5-1 SEC) at Mississippi State (13-6, 2-4 SEC); LSU (11-8, 3-3 SEC) at Alabama (13-6, 5-1 SEC); Missouri (8-11, 0-6 SEC) at South Carolina (16-3, 4-2 SEC); Ole Miss (16-4, 3-3 SEC) at Texas A&M (12-7, 3-3 SEC)

Todd Golden knows what it is going to take tonight (8:30 p.m., SEC Network) when the Mississippi State Bulldogs (13-5, 2-3 SEC) pay a visit to the O-Dome to face the Gators (12-6, 2-3 SEC). “They’re physical,” Golden said Tuesday afternoon. “They’re a team that can max their physicality, especially on their home court.” The Bulldogs are physical enough that they beat the same Tennessee Vols who pushed and shoved the Gators into 19-point loss in Knoxville last week. In beating Tennessee in Starkville, Mississippi State got an overpowering inside performance from 6-11 Tolu Smith, who scored 23 points while fouling out Jonas Adoo. On the outside, freshman Josh Hubbard caught fire from the 3-point line, knocking down five on his way to a 25-point effort. Defensively, Mississippi State held the Vols to 8-29 (27.6 percent) from the 3-point line while forcing 16 turnovers. So, heading into tonight’s game, the Gators have to deal with the three things that have been thorns in their side in their six losses: physical opponents, knocking down 3-pointers and taking care of the basketball. Fortunately, the Gators get Mississippi State at the O-Dome where they are 7-1, so that’s a plus. Also a plus, the Gators have the momentum of their first true road win of the year, 79-67 over Missouri. The Gators got the win in Columbia because they were the more physical team as evidenced by a 40-27 rebounding margin, shot the 3-ball well (9-22, 40.9 percent) and limited the turnovers (8).  Although Missouri is a bottom tier team in the SEC, winning in Columbia isn’t easy. It helped that the Gators played one of their most complete games of the year. “We just executed well, you know, in terms of the gameplan, and we went back yesterday and showed our team, like, the keys, we always talk keys and personnel for every game, right, so we showed them the keys again yesterday from the Missouri game, kind of gave them grades for how we executing in bang, bang, bang, we were pretty dang good,” Golden said. “One area was our ball-screen coverage where we were a little inconsistent with our communication, but keeping on transition, yes, take away catch and shoot threes, yes, not turning the ball over, yes, you know, and we keep it simple, you do those things you give yourself a great chance to win. So, you know, our gameplan defensively is gonna be different against Mississippi State. They provide different challenges than Missouri does, but, you know, if we’re able to execute at the same level, we’ll give ourselves a really good chance to win again.” The Bulldogs have the size to compete with the Gators on the backboards (Florida leads the nation in rebounding) and they have a big man in Smith who is capable of taking a game over at both ends of the court. They are the best team in the SEC at forcing opponents to shoot poorly from the 3-point line (allowing just 27.6 percent) and they force plenty of turnovers. The physical style they employ under head coach Chris Jans is quite similar to the approach taken by his predecessor Ben Howland. Howland teams turn basketball games into rock fights. The Bulldogs are 11th in the SEC in scoring (74.94 points per game) but third in scoring defense (65.67). “Coach Jans has done a really good job with their mentality, their physicality,” Golden said. “The one thing I think that Coach Jans deserves credit for in this day and age is they start four guys that played for Ben Howland. So he’s been able to retain a big part of their nucleus for a couple years now. And when you look at Tolu Smith, DJ Jeffries, Cam Matthews, Shakeel Moore, all those guys were part of the previous regime, but  they wanted to play for Coach Jans. He’s a good coach and he's tough, and they’re kind of similar to how they were under Howland. But that continuity has definitely helped them out quite a bit and then you throw in a Jimmy Bell and a Josh Hubbard, now you got a damn good team. That’s what they are right now.” It is critical for the Gators to hold serve at home. The SEC is so tough this season from top to bottom of the league that a 9-9 record in conference play should get an NCAA Tournament bid. While it is still January, it’s never too early to be talking about the NCAA Tournament. Florida has tonight’s game with Mississippi State and Saturday with Georgia in the O-Dome, then they hit the road for games at Kentucky and Texas A&M followed by Auburn at home. With that kind of schedule, it is almost imperative for the Gators to go 2-0 at home this week. Anticipated starters FLORIDA (12-6, 2-3 SEC): 6-10 Tyrese Samuel (13.6 points, 8.3 rebounds); 7-1 Micah Handlogten (6-5 points, 7.7 rebounds); 6-4 Will Richard (10.8 points, 3.6 rebounds); Walter Clayton Jr. (15.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists); 6-4 Zyon Pullin (14.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists) Mississippi State (15-3, 2-3 SEC): 6-7 D.J. Jeffries (6.9 points, 5.7 rebounds); 6-11 Tolu Smith (19.7 points, 7.7 rebounds); 6-7 Cameron Matthews (9.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists); 6-1 Shakeel Moore (7.7 points, 2.6 rebounds); 6-2 Dashawn Davis (7.0 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists) SEC basketball Tuesday’s scores: South Carolina (16-3, 4-2 SEC) 79, No. 6 Kentucky (14-5, 4-2 SEC) 62; Texas A&M (12-7, 3-3 SEC) 63, Missouri (8-11, 0-6 SEC) 57 Tonight’s games: Mississippi State (15-3, 2-3 SEC) at FLORIDA (12-6, 2-3 SEC); No. 8 Auburn (16-2, 5-0 SEC) at Alabama (12-6, 4-1); Arkansas (10-8, 1-4 SEC) at Ole Miss (15-3, 2-3 SEC); LSU (11-7, 3-2 SEC) at Georgia (13-5, 3-2 SEC)

Go ahead, exhale.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: Former Washington safety Asa Turner visited Florida and by all accounts, loved Gainesville, the University of Florida and the thought of playing for the Gators in 2024. He probably would have had the kind of season that would have him thinking the NFL Draft in 2023 but he was injured and played in only seven games. There is a connection with new UF secondary coach Will Harris, who was on Jimmy Lake’s Washington staff coaching the secondary in 2019. Washington led the country in pass defense that year, allowing only 142.9 yards per game and 5.4 yards per pass attempt. Landing Turner, who has 148 career tackles and five interceptions in his career, would go a long way toward solidifying the back end of a defense that was prone to allowing chunk plays in 2023. The Gators gave up 64 pass plays of 30 or more yards including 35 that went for 40 or more. It is all part of Billy Napier’s plan to focus year three of his Florida rebuild on the defensive side of the football. The Gators lost 10 defensive players to the portal. Six replacements have been found in the portal, plus eight 2023 defensive recruits are already enrolled including 5-star edge LJ McCray, the 4th-ranked player in the nation by 247Sports, and 4-star linebacker Myles Graham, the 9th-ranked linebacker in the nation. The portal is still open thanks to coaching changes at Alabama, Washington and Arizona and if Jim Harbaugh decides to leave Michigan for an NFL job, the portal will extend 30 days to accommodate players who decide to find a new place to play. The February signing period is two weeks from Wednesday, plus there will be another portal period opening in May. Although there are now 85 players on the 2024 Florida roster, that situation is fluid. There is usually some attrition following spring practice, plus Napier continues to recruit the portal. Here is what the defensive side of the Florida roster looks like as of Monday night: D-linemen (13): Joey Slackman (6-4, 300, GR) transfer from Pennsylvania; CamRon Jackson (6-6, 360, SR); Desmond Watson (6-5, 435, SR); Jaelin Humphries (6-3, 325, RSR); Justus Boone (6-4, 265, RJR); Brien Taylor (6-6, 270, Houston, TX, JR); Caleb Banks (6-6, 320, RSO); Jamari Lyons (6-4, 305, RSO); Kamran James (6-6, 270, SO); Gavin Hill (6-3, 255, RFR); LJ McCray (6-6, 260, FR); Michai Boireau (6-5, 390, FR); D’Antre Robinson (6-4, 320, FR) Linebackers/EDGE (15): Derek Wingo (6-1, 235, SR); Shemar James (6-1, 230, JR); Mannie Nunnery (6-1, 225, RSR); Ja’Markis Weston (6-3, 230, RJR);  Tyreak Sapp (6-3, 275, RJR); Jack Pyburn (6-3, 250, JR); Quincy Ivory (6-3, 260, JR); George Gumbs (6-4, 242, JR) transfer from Northern Illinois; TJ Searcy (6-5, 245, SO); Kelby Collins (6-4, 270, SO); Deuce Spurlock II (6-0, 225, RSO); Jalen Robinson (6-0, 230, SO); Grayson Howard (6-4, 241, SO) transfer from South Carolina; Myles Graham (6-1, 212, FR); Aaron Chiles (6-3, 220, FR) Corners (8): Jason Marshall (6-1, 200, SR); Devin Moore (6-3, 200, JR); Ethan Pouncey (6-1, 170, RJR); Ja’Keem Jackson (6-1, 185, SO); Sharif Denson (5-11, 180, SO); Dijon Johnson (6-1, 200, SO); Teddy Foster (6-2, 170, FR); Jameer Grimsley (6-2, 185, FR) transfer from Alabama Safeties (8): RJ Moten (6-0, 220, SR); Trikweze Bridges (6-3, 198, SR) transfer from Oregon; DJ Douglas (6-0, 205, SR) transfer from Tulane; Bryce Thornton (5-10, 205, SO); Jordan Castell (6-2, 220, SO); Aaron Gates (6-0, 200, RFR); Josiah Davis (6-1, 185, FR); Gregory Smith (6-4, 200, FR) UF BASKETBALL: Gators need to go 2-0 at home this week Think of what the Gators did Saturday night in beating Missouri in Columbia as stealing one on the road. That’s the way life is this year in the Southeastern Conference. It’s an 18-game conference schedule, nine homers and nine roadies. The conference is so strong that 9-9 or better is going to get you in the NCAA Tournament. Lose one at home and you have to compensate with a win on the road just to have a shot at breaking even in league play. With one home loss already (to Kentucky, 87-85) and two road losses (to Ole Miss and Tennessee) the Gators can’t afford to lose another home game. That makes home games Wednesday (Mississippi State) and Saturday (Georgia) critical, particularly when the next three games are factored in – at No. 6 Kentucky, at Texas A&M and home against No. 8 Auburn. It is imperative that the Gators head up to Rupp next week sitting 4-3 in SEC play. Mississippi State would be a Quad 1 win per the NCAA Net Rankings and Georgia is Quad 2. Win them both and the Gators should move up at least four or five spots from their current No. 45 NCAA Net Ranking. Statistically speaking: The Gators are third in the SEC in scoring (84.83 points per game), first in the league (and nation) in rebounding (44.67 per game), second in offensive rebounds (16.33) and second in rebounding margin (+10.17) … With 70 assists and only 17 turnovers, point guard Zyon Pullin has a 4.12-1 assist to turnover margin, best in the SEC. Pullin is second in assists per game …  The Gators have three of the top 10 rebounds in the SEC in No. 2 Tyrese Samuel (8.28), No. 3 Micah Handlogten (7.69) and No. 9 Alex Condon (7.06). SEC basketball Alabama (12-6, 4-1 SEC): It’s live by the three, die by the three with the Crimson Tide. When they beat Mizzou last week they hit 13-27 from distance. In their blowout loss to Tennessee, the Tide was 4-21 from the 3-point line. Arkansas (10-8, 1-4 SEC): What’s wrong with the Hogs? Nothing that a point guard and some defense (allowing 77.56 per game) couldn’t solve. No. 8 Auburn (16-2, 5-0 SEC): The Tigers are No. 3 in the SEC in shooting (47.3 percent) and No. 2 in shooting defense (opponents hitting just 37.8 percent). Georgia (13-5, 3-2 SEC): Mike White improved Georgia from 6-26 to 16-16 in his first year in Athens. He has the Bulldogs at 13 wins this season and with 13 SEC games remaining, they are a legitimate threat to make the NCAA Tournament. No. 6 Kentucky (14-3, 4-1 SEC): Now that the NCAA has finally declared 7-2 Croatian Zvonomir Ivisic eligible, the Wildcats are a legitimate Final Four contender. Ivisic can defend in the paint, shoot the 3-ball and showed with a brilliant behind the back pass from the paint to the corner to wide open Antonio Reeves that he has court vision and can deliver the rock. LSU (11-7, 3-2 SEC): Vanderbilt transfer Jordan Wright leads the Tigers at 15.8 points per game, an improvement from the 10.6 he averaged last year at Vandy. He’s averaging 5.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists as well. Mississippi State (15-3, 2-3 SEC): The Bulldogs are the best in the SEC at defending the 3-point line, allowing opponents to shoot just 27.6 percent. Missouri (8-10, 0-5 SEC): Missouri’s issues have plenty do with their inability to rebound the basketball. The Tigers have a -5 per game deficit. Ole Miss (15-3, 2-3 SEC): The Rebels at home and on the road are two different teams. They’re 11-0 at The Pavilion, 0-3 in SEC road games including 0-2 last week. South Carolina (15-3, 3-2 SEC): Former Ohio State guard Meechie Johnson has been the key to the resurgence at South Carolina. He’s improved his scoring by four points per game (to 16.7), shooting by 7.2 percent (to 43.3) and he’s getting to the foul line more often where he’s shooting 81.7 percent. No. 6 Tennessee (14-4, 4-1 SEC): Colorado State transfer Dalton Knecht was SEC Player of the Week with 64 points in the wins over Florida and Alabama. He’s had five straight games with at least 25 points. Texas A&M (11-7, 2-3 SEC): With the Aggies, the offense is basically Wade Taylor and Tyrece Radford shoot and everybody else crashes the boards. The Aggies lead the SEC in offensive rebounding at 18.89 per game. Andersson Garcia leads the SEC in rebounding at Vanderbilt (5-13, 0-5 SEC): The Commodores have lost all five SEC games and nine of their last 10 overall. They rank last in the SEC in scoring and next to last in both shooting and 3-point shooting. Tonight’s games: No. 6 Kentucky (14-3, 4-1 SEC) at South Carolina (15-3, 3-2 SEC); Missouri (8-10, 0-5 SEC) at Texas A&M (11-7 2-3 SEC) Wednesday’s games: Mississippi State (15-3, 2-3 SEC) at FLORIDA (12-6, 2-3 SEC); No. 8 Auburn (16-2, 5-0 SEC) at Alabama (12-6, 4-1); Arkansas (10-8, 1-4 SEC) at Ole Miss (15-3, 2-3 SEC); LSU (11-7, 3-2 SEC) at Georgia (13-5, 3-2 SEC) Associated Press top 25: 1. UConn 17-2; 2. Purdue 17-2; 3. North Carolina 15-3; 4. Houston 16-2; 5. Tennessee 14-4; 6. Kentucky 14-3; 7. Kansas 15-3; 8. Auburn 16-2; 9. Arizona 14-4; 10. Illinois 14-4; 11. Oklahoma 15-3; 12. Duke 13-4; 13. Wisconsin 14-4; 14. Marquette 13-5; 15. Baylor 14-4; 16. Dayton 15-2; 17. Creighton 14-5; 18. Utah State 17-2; 19. Memphis 15-4; 20. Texas Tech 15-3; 21. BYU 14-4; 22. Florida Atlantic 15-4; 23. Iowa State 14-4; 24. Colorado State 15-3; 25. New Mexico 16-3 Coaches top 25: 1. UConn 17-2; 2. Purdue 17-2; 3. North Carolina 15-3; 4. Houston 16-2; 5. Tennessee 14-4; 6. (Tie) Kentucky 14-3 and Auburn 16-2; 8. Kansas 15-3; 9. Arizona 14-4; 10. Wisconsin 14-4; 11. Illinois 14-4; 12. Duke 13-4; 13. Oklahoma 15-3; 14. Baylor 14-4; 15. Marquette 13-5; 16. Creighton 14-5; 17. Dayton 15-2; 18. Iowa State 14-4; 19. BYU 14-4; 20. Utah State 17-2; 21. Texas Tech 15-3; 22. Memphis 15-4; 23. Colorado State 15-3; 24. Florida Atlantic 15-4; 25. New Mexico 16-3 UF TRACK AND FIELD: Women No. 3; men No. 6 in indoor top 25 Women’s USTFCCCA top 25: 1. Illinois; 2. Arkansas; 3. FLORIDA; 4. Southern California; 5. Texas A&M; 6. Tennessee; 7. BYU; 8. Oregon; 9. Texas Tech; 10. Iowa; 11. Texas; 12. Northern Arizona; 13. Oklahoma State; 14. LSU; 15. Alabama; 16. Baylor; 17. Ole Miss; 18. Kentucky; 19. Georgia; 20. Minnesota; 21. Ohio State; 22. Rutgers; 23. Washington; 24. Nebraska; 25. Colorado State Men’s USTFCCCA top 25: 1. Texas Tech; 2. Texas; 3. Northern Arizona; 4. Southern California; 5. Kentucky; 6. FLORIDA; 7. Georgia; 8. Oklahoma State; 9. Kansas; 10. Illinois; 11. Oklahoma; 12. New Mexico; 13. Ole Miss; 14. Nebraska; 15. Kansas State; 16. Wisconsin; 17. Iowa; 18. Iowa State; 19. Alabama; 20. Auburn; 21. Stanford; 22. Louisville; 23. Miami; 24. Houston; 25. Notre Dame UF GYMNASTICS: Gators No. 8 Top 25: 1. Oklahoma; 2. California; 3. LSU; 4. Arkansas; 5. Utah; 6. Alabama; 7. Kentucky; 8. FLORIDA; 9. Missouri; 10. Michigan; 11. Ohio State; 12. Denver; 13. Auburn; 14. Michigan State; 15. UCLA; 16. Oregon State; 17. Minnesota; 18. Georgia; 19. Arizona; 20. Iowa; 21. Maryland; 22. (Tie) Nebraska and Iowa State; 24. Clemson; 25. Illinois ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: If you’re thinking the NCAA is picking on the Florida Gators with their investigation of the Jaden Rashada-UF divorce that had everything to do with a $13.8 million NIL promise made and unkept, then think again. Matt Hayes, the very well connected college football writer who plies his trade these days at Saturday Down South, wrote Monday, “In the past 2 weeks we’ve learned that Florida State has been placed on 2 years’ probation for NIL recruiting violations and Florida is being investigated for the same. These are just the two that have become public knowledge. There are many other schools, multiple industry sources have told Saturday Down South, also being investigated by the NCAA and awaiting their fate.” Multiple investigations? Sounds like an attempted power grab by the NCAA, whose vague NIL guidelines could probably produce at least one violation by every single school that recruits or accepts a player from the portal. Over the weekend, Kentucky freshman basketball player Zvonomir Ivisic was finally declared eligible, this by an NCAA that had no problems granting eligbility to Kentucky 5th-year power forward Tre Mitchell, whose basketball journey has included stops at UMass, Texas and West Virginia. It does sound like a broken record but here goes again: College presidents are supposed to represent the best and the brightest, so when will the presidents who represent Division I figure out that it’s time to secede from the NCAA while there is still time to save college sports? If they can’t figure this out, then maybe it’s true that the college presidents aren’t really the brightest among us, just they spent more time going to school.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: Rashada Aftermath Jim Harbaugh, who has interviewed for NFL jobs with the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Chargers and may interview with another team or two in the next few days, is also negotiating a six-year deal to stay at Michigan that will have a base salary of $11.5 million. If Harbaugh elects to stay at Michigan, it isn’t going to be about money, however. If he stays it’s because athletic director Warde Manuel and the Michigan administration have elected to stick with Harbaugh even if the NCAA tries to offer a tradeoff that goes something like this: “Fire your coach and we’ll go lighter on the sanctions.” Most schools live in pee in your pants fear at the thought of NCAA sanctions. The NCAA, whose current and past presidents shouldn’t have been allowed to be a fry cook at a drive-thru despite their lofty educations (PhD = pile higher and deeper), intimidates schools into firing their coach in exchange for fewer sanctions or less time on probation. It worked in 1984 when the NCAA threatened the death penalty and a quivering Florida administration fired Charley Pell. The NCAA still hit the Gators with 109 violations, severe scholarship cutbacks and two years of no television. Among Florida’s dastardly deeds were quarterback recruit Dale Dorminey keeping the gym shorts and T-shirt he slept in when Eastern Airlines lost his luggage and assistant coach Dwight “Hoss” Adams buying Dorminey a Sprite and a pack of Juicy Fruit while waiting for the plane that would take him back to Pensacola. What Florida should have learned from that incident is the NCAA cannot be trusted. The NCAA promised lenience and didn’t deliver. The 1983-85 Gators were essentially an NFL feeder program. Charley Pell had the Gators recruiting at such a high level that it was only a matter of time before he delivered SEC and national championships. At or about the same time the Gators went on probation, Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida State, Southern Cal, Miami, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Clemson and Wisconsin also were lit up by the NCAA. Georgia bought and paid for Herschel Walker but the NCAA conveniently overlooked that minor little detail and docked Georgia two scholarships for two years and dished out a year of probation with no television penalties. Quite a few assistant coaches who were employed in the SEC at the time swear that all the violations at Florida during the Pell years didn’t add up to what Georgia paid for Herschel. That Michigan is doing its best Tammy Wynette “Stand by Your Man” impersonation with Harbaugh is relevant to the University of Florida because the NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, could elect to jack up the Gators over the Jaden Rashada divorce. Although there is no evidence that money changed hands between the Gator Collective and Rashada, there seems to be evidence that people in Florida’s football administration were privy to everything that was going on. Was Billy Napier directly involved in the negotiations that would have kept Rashada a Gator? If he wasn’t directly involved, did he know what was happening and didn’t report it? Historically, the NCAA appreciates a rat and goes after the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil types. It has been reported by multiple sources that the Gator Collective led by former UF pitcher Eddie Rojas and booster Hugh Hathcock put together a $13.8 million NIL offer to flip Rashada from Miami to Florida. When they couldn’t deliver the down payment money, Rashada balked and walked out of his signed LOI. He signed with Arizona State, allegedly for no NIL money. The NCAA issued a notice of investigation to Florida last summer. What a notice of investigation typically means is the NCAA has the goods and is merely crossing every T and dotting every I before kangaroo court proceedings to decide just how harsh or how lenient they will be. In a court of law in this country, there is a presumption of innocence. With the NCAA there is a presumption of guilt from the time a school gets its notice of investigation. Unless the NCAA has changed its tactics – highly unlikely – it is assumed that Florida is (a) guilty and (b) using the time before its NCAA court date to negotiate a light sentence. A week ago, Florida State got hit with probation over a $15,000 NIL deal. FSU was fined, given two years probation, offensive coordinator Alex Atkins was suspended the first three games of 2024 plus given two years show cause, and a collective that doesn’t exist anymore and a booster were disassociated by the university. This was over $15,000. Florida’s problem is $13.8 million. Can the Gators get hit with serious sanctions over a deal gone bad? Do unkept promises rise to the level of getting lit up by the NCAA? And this has to be taken into consideration. Is there evidence that Billy Napier was personally involved in the negotiation and if so, does this rise to the level of the NCAA trying to leverage his job against sanctions? If Napier was not personally involved and UF staffers were, will the NCAA level the dreaded lack of institutional control charges against the Florida athletic department. When a lack of institutional control is leveled against a school, it puts the entire athletic department on notice that even the equivalent of a parking ticket in any sport can be viewed by the NCAA as a major violation. So this is serious stuff. Florida has a history of keeping its nose clean. Florida went nearly 25 years without any NCAA violations during Jeremy Foley’s watch before football assistant Joker Phillips got hit with impermissible recruiting contact. Phillips was fired and Florida got off with self-imposed penalties. In 2020, Dan Mullen was hit with a show cause over improper recruiting violations that were deemed Level II by the NCAA. Florida’s cooperation with the NCAA certainly worked to its advantage when the sanctions were slaps on the wrist in both the Phillips and Mullen violations. In a statement issued on Friday, UF said it is cooperating fully with the NCAA on the Rashada situation. If there is no evidence that Billy Napier was directly involved in a deal gone bad and Florida cooperates fully, will that be enough for the NCAA to sanction lightly? Or, will the NCAA try to use the University of Florida as its whipping boy, an example to others of what could happen if you run afoul of the bureaucrats and other geeks from NCAA HQ in Indianapolis? With good reason, these are very tense times over at The Heav. DESPITE THE BAD NEWS ON RASHADA, BILLY NAPIER HAD A GOOD WEEK Anytime there is a notice from the NCAA it’s bad news. In spite of the allegations that made the news on Friday, this was an exceptional week for Florida’s football program. Billy Napier got commitments from two stud 2025 recruits, D-lineman Jalen Wiggins (6-5, 235, Tallahassee, FL Rickards) and seriously fast wide receiver Josiah Abdullah (5-10, 180, Atlanta, GA Woodward Academy). Those two got things rolling. Next came the announcement that nose tackle D’antre Robinson (6-4, 315, Orlando, FL Jones) had been granted his LOI release by Texas and would be signing with the Gators. A 4-star recruit that Rivals rates the No. 12 player in the country at his position, Robinson should contribute immediately/ Saturday, linebacker Mannie Nunnery announced he has withdrawn his name from the NCAA transfer portal and will be back with the Gators in the fall. Nunnery is one of the faster linebackers on the Florida roster and should be a serious contributor to the UF defense in the fall. Is it coincidental that Nunnery will be coming back and Ron Roberts is joining the staff as the co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach? Sunday, former Alabama signee Jameer Grimsley (6-2, 185, Tampa, FL Catholic) committed to the Gators. A 4-star recruit, Grimsley is rated as high as the No. 6 corner in the country by Rivals. THE WIN OVER MISSOURI WAS HUGE Not only was Florida’s 79-67 win over Missouri Saturday night in Columbia impressive, it also moved the Gators up to No. 45 in the all-important NCAA Net Rankings. The Net Rankings are usually a good barometer for who will get into the NCA Tournament and who won’t. Top 50 teams are considered likely participants. Neither Joe Lunardi of ESPN nor Jerry Palm of CBS had Florida in their bracketology on Friday. Both should come out with new brackets today, but whether or not the Gators (12-6, 2-3 SEC) are included it is a huge week in which they will have a chance to work their way back in. With home games against Mississippi State and Georgia, the Gators have a legitimate chance to emerge from the week with 14 wins overall and four in the Southeastern Conference. It is imperative for the Gators to go 2-0 this week since the next three will be at Kentucky, at Texas A&M and home against Auburn. SEC Net Rankings: 4. Tennessee; 6. Auburn; 9. Alabama; 18. Kentucky; 39. Texas A&M; 40. Mississippi State; 45. FLORIDA; 61. South Carolina; 70. Ole Miss; 81. Georgia; 93. LSU; 118. Arkansas; 127. Missouri; 237. Vanderbilt Tuesday’s games: No. 8 Kentucky (14-3, 4-1 SEC) at South Carolina (15-3, 3-2 SEC); Missouri (8-10, 0-5 SEC) at Texas A&M (11-7 2-3 SEC) Wednesday’s games: Mississippi State (15-3, 2-3 SEC) at FLORIDA (12-6, 2-3 SEC); No. 13 Auburn (16-2, 5-0 SEC) at Alabama (12-6, 4-1); Arkansas (10-8, 1-4 SEC) at No. 22 Ole Miss (15-3, 2-3 SEC); LSU (11-7, 3-2 SEC) at Georgia (13-5, 3-2 SEC) Saturday’s games: Georgia (13-5, 3-2 SEC) at FLORIDA (12-6, 2-3 SEC); No. 6 Tennessee (14-4, 4-1 SEC) at Vanderbilt (5-13, 0-5 SEC); No. 8 Kentucky (14-3, 4-1 SEC) at Arkansas (10-8 ,1-4 SEC); No. 13 Auburn (16-2, 5-0 SEC) at Mississippi State (13-5, 2-3 SEC); No. 22 Ole Miss (15-3, 2-3 SEC) at Texas A&M (11-7, 2-3 SEC); Missouri (8-10, 0-5 SEC) at South Carolina (15-3, 3-2 SEC); LSU (11-7, 3-2 SEC) at Alabama (12-6, 4-1 SEC) ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Whatever happened to Budweiser and Bud Light commercials? There were times when they were every bit as entertaining as the football or basketball games on which they advertised. I miss the Budweiser lizards, the “Yes I am” Bud Lite guy and the king shouting “dilly dilly!” when he approved of something. Now their commercials stink, even Bud Lite with Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith throwing beer to bar patrons. While watching sports on television over the weekend, I started a list of the most annoying commercials. I won’t include the fat lady on the Relaxium Sleep commercials because Relaxium doesn’t advertise on sports, but hearing her speak is like subjecting me to listening to Beth Mowins try to make football sound exciting. Here are my top five annoying commercials: 1. Progressive Insurance. Even if they were less expensive than Allstate I wouldn’t buy their insurance because of Flo and Jamey. 2. Any electric vehicle commercial. I have friends up north whose electric vehicles wouldn’t work in the record cold. 3. Frontdoor “We Fixed This Toilet. “We Built This City on Rock and Roll” was the low point for the band Starship, but now the tune is being used in song and dance for fixing a toilet. 4. The Gecko. Geico needs to retire him. He hasn’t been funny since perhaps the turn of the century. 5. Jardiance. If you grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, you remember the musicals when one person would sing and dance and an entire neighborhood joined in. They knew all the words to the song and all their dance steps were perfectly choreographed. Jardiance is a type II diabetes drug. A plump woman sings and dances. The entire neighborhood dances. When the dancing ends, they start listing all the side effects that could cause serious harm.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Jameer Grimsley, a highly sought-after 4 star cornerback, has made a significant shift in the college football landscape by transferring his commitment from the University of Alabama to the University of Florida.

#7 Florida gymnastics goes on the road for the first time this season with an SEC matchup against the #12 Auburn Tigers. Both teams started the season last week with quad meets. UF at home against Fisk, George Washington and Talladega. Auburn, in Las Vegas, against Oklahoma, Michigan and UCLA. Definitely a tough schedule for the Tigers as they finished third out of that group at 196.813. Florida won their quad meet with a 197.100 score. Florida with their young lineup would face a loud, raucous sold out crowd of 9,121 in Neville arena. Your road rotation is uneven bars, vault, floor exercise and balance beam. 6 gymnasts competing for the five highest scores. Uneven Bars- Last week 48.950. Nationally ranked 30th on the bars. Freshman Gabby Disidore- stuck landing. Feet together. 9.875 Sloan Blakely-great handstands. Small hop on landing. 9.825 Victoria Nguyen-over rotated on high bar. Stuck landing. 9.850 Freshman Anya Pilgrim- twist dismount. Sticks it. 9.90 An even higher score than her debut last week. Freshman Skylar Draser- bobble on low bar. Hop. 9.775 the dropped score. Skylar substituted Ellie Lazzari from the original lineup at the last minute. Leanne Wong- crushes it! Stuck landing. Maybe a 10 at home. 9.950 Florida scores a 49.400 and leads Auburn .300 after one rotation Vault- last week 49.275. National rank 7th on the vault. Bri Edwards-last minute sub. Ties for the highest score tonight for UF 9.875 Skylar Draser- Yurchenko 1 1/2. Landed on the line, deduction. 9.800 Freshman Danny Ferris- big hop. 9.725, the dropped score Victoria Nguyen-big vault. Small side hop. 9.825 Leanne Wong- nice clean vault 9.850 Anya Pilgrim- great height and landing. 9.875 Florida scores 49.225 and leads Auburn .350 after two rotations. Floor Excersise - last week 49.450. Nationally ranked third on the floor exercise. Lori Brubach- first pass, the long run from corner to corner, front layout very smooth. Second pass back double twists. 9.90 Victoria Nguyen- first pass front double twist. Second pass 1 1/2 front layout. 9.90 Ellie Lazzari- first pass front double flip. Second pass 1 ½ front layout. 9.850 Sloan Blakely- first pass front flip, little hop. Second pass 1 1/2 front flip. 9.825 The dropped score. Morgan Hurd- first pass front layout. Second pass stuck double back flip. 9.875 Leanne Wong- first pass double Pike. And 2nd Pass back flip twist. 9.950 Florida scores a 49.475 and leads Auburn by .525 going into the final rotation. Balance Beam- last week 49.425. Ranked second in the nation on beam. Skylar Draser- nice triple combination. A little hop on the landing. 9.850 Ellie Lazzari- triple flip, wobble. Nice landing 9.750. The dropped score. Morgan Hurd- wolf turn, wobble. Back flips, wobble. Great twist dismount, sticks the landing. 9.825 Sloan Blakely- slight balance check on flip. Great splits. Nails landing. 9.875 Victoria Nguyen- fabulous front to back flip combination. Can seal the win with a 9.925 score however she scores a 9.800. Leanne Wong- the meet comes to the last competitor for Florida. Leanne needs a 9.8 to clinch the win or if she happens to unlikely fall would cost Florida the meet. Back flip series. Double back flip landing, sticks it. 9.875! The Gators fend off a huge push by Auburn on their last rotation on the floor to win 197.325 to 197.025 Another nail biter in the Auburn series. In 2022 Auburn would tie Florida at 198.575. Their only non win that year until the one loss against Oklahoma in the finals. Leanne Wong takes home the all around title at 39.625 with Victoria Wynn 4th in the all around at 39.375 We saw seven freshmen scores this week down from 10 as Coach Rowland tinker’s with the lineup. Expect to see a lot of variety this year with the freshman class mixed in. Overall a solid win on the road. UF improves on their score from last week as they work to get better and better as the season moves through SEC competition. Next up #3 Alabama at home

Divorces should be simple. She says to him, “I don’t love you anymore” and he agrees. Papers signed. She gets a new boyfriend, he can start figuring out what he’s going to tell his secretary now that the “I can’t, I’m married” excuse has gone by the legal wayside.