Todd Golden is patiently waiting to coach the best squad of his life. (Chris Spears Photo) By Buddy Martin GatorBaitMedia.com Let me tell you something: Defending a national championship, Gator Nation, is the hardest trick to turn in basketball. Ask Duke. Ask Kansas. Ask the ghosts of a dozen “sure thing” repeat teams that got bounced by some mid-major with nothing to lose and everything to prove. Florida found that out the hard way last March, riding into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed and getting mugged in the second round by a ninth-seeded Iowa team that apparently didn’t read the scouting report about “unbeatable Gators.” So forgive me if I don’t hand Todd Golden the trophy in September. But I will say this: If you’re looking for the most loaded roster in college basketball, quit looking. You found it. It’s parked right there on University Avenue and Lemerand Drive. The Frontcourt Is a Felony Start with the big fellas, because that’s where this team commits its violence. Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu are back together for one more run, and nearly a hundred Division I coaches surveyed by CBS Sports crowned Florida the overwhelming favorite to be the best team in the country in 2026-27 — 55% of the vote, more than three times runner-up Duke. One coach in that same survey called it flat-out “the best frontcourt in college basketball,” and another cracked that those three could “probably eclipse most teams’ total salaries by themselves” — which, in this era of NIL money, is not exactly a compliment to anybody’s amateur ideals, but it sure is a compliment to Florida’s roster. Haugh turning down a likely NBA lottery selection — he’d have been Florida’s first lottery pick since Bradley Beal in 2012 — to come back for his senior year is the single biggest reason Florida is sitting at No. 1 in just about every preseason poll that matters, from ESPN to Sports Illustrated to Jon Rothstein’s CBS Sports rankings. The coaches in that same CBS poll voted him the best player in the country for 2026-27, full stop. Chinyelu, the reigning Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, is back to make life miserable on the other end, and Condon — who caught fire down the stretch last season, averaging 16.5 points on 61 percent shooting over his final 15 games — gives Golden a third All-America caliber big man. Hey, they’re built like an NBA squad! The Backcourt, and a Courtroom Subplot Boogie Fland and Urban Klavzar man the perimeter, with Klavzar’s 71 three-pointers last season leading the team and Fland expected to take a leap in Year Two under Golden. And then there’s the strangest subplot in Gainesville: Whether Denzel Aberdeen, a key piece of the 2025 title team, gets a fifth season of eligibility. That one’s tied up in an injunction out of a Colorado courtroom rather than anything happening on the hardwood, and if it breaks Florida’s way, Aberdeen slides in as a fifth starter and Klavzar becomes a lethal sixth man — the kind of “problem” every other coach in America would happily trade for. Add it up, and Florida is bringing back 81.8% of its scoring from a team that won the SEC by three games and cut down the nets in San Antonio — the fourth-highest retention rate for any No. 1 seed in 24 years, with 11 players from last year’s roster still on hand. That’s not a rebuild. That’s not even a reload. That’s a coronation waiting to happen — or a very expensive lesson in complacency, depending on how you want to bet it. A Schedule Built to Test the Swagger Golden isn’t ducking anybody, either. The slate opens with an exhibition against Baylor in Jacksonville on October 18, followed by the Orion180 Tip-Off Classic against Miami in Tampa, a home opener versus Jacksonville, a road trip to Florida State, and a Players Era Festival trip to Las Vegas that could put Florida across from Notre Dame, Houston, Rutgers, Auburn, Kansas, UNLV or West Virginia inside of a week. Throw in a Duke matchup at the O’Connell Center in the SEC-ACC Challenge and a true road test at Texas before SEC play even gets rolling, and this is a résumé built for a No. 1 seed — assuming the Gators don’t trip over their own hype first. The Buddy Martin Verdict Here’s my read, for whatever it’s worth after covering this sport since before some of these kids were born: Florida has the best collection of talent Todd Golden will probably ever coach, and the frontcourt trio of Condon, Haugh and Chinyelu is legitimately the best in America. The pieces are there for Gainesville to throw a second parade in three years. But championships aren’t won on preseason coaches’ polls in September — they’re won in March, on a neutral floor, against some team nobody circled on the schedule. Iowa taught this program that lesson eight months ago. So my projection: SEC regular-season title, a No. 1 seed with room to spare, and a legitimate Final Four berth — with the frontcourt as good enough to get them back to the last weekend of the season. Whether they cut down the nets a second time is a coin flip even a “loaded roster” doesn’t get to skip. Write it down, Gator Nation. We’ll see in April whether I was right — or whether I’m just another sportswriter who fell in love with a really good frontcourt prematurely.

Ray Graves And John Reaves had that Day Of Infamy at Auburn (UF Photo file) A Heisman-clinching kick, a record nobody wants, a Heisman winner who got stopped cold, a No. 1 team that got its heart ripped out, a stadium loud enough to shake the ground, a downtown corner that’s survived a poisoning and kept right on rolling, and a league that had to step in and tell Auburn to turn the speakers down. THAT’S Florida vs. Auburn! By Buddy Martin GatorBaitMedia.com Jon Sumrall takes his 2-0 Gators into that snake pit called Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday night for the first time since 2011, matched up against Alex Golesh’s 2-0 Tigers in what amounts to a first date for two brand-new head coaches. Neither man has coached an SEC snap in this series. Both are about to get an education in what Florida-Auburn really is. Because this isn’t just some rotating cross-division leftover the league tossed back together — it’s one of the oldest, meanest, loudest rivalries in the South, and it’s been breaking hearts on both sides since William Howard Taft was in the White House. Grab a sweet tea, settle in, and let me take you through it. Jon Sumrall stood at the podium Monday and told his team the truth nobody wants to hear in September: “These games count twice.” He wasn’t talking about the scoreboard — he was talking about the SEC standings that start piling up this week at Jordan-Hare. And just to make sure nobody in his own bloodline gets confused about where loyalties lie this Saturday, Sumrall put it plainly: If any family members are pulling for Auburn, “they’re not family to me … I don’t care what their last name is.” BTW, his wife Ginny went to Auburn. That’s not bulletin-board material. That’s just a coach drawing a line in the sand before kickoff week. Sumrall wasn’t exactly popping champagne over the 52-3 beatdown of Campbell, either. He wants his depth to play cleaner, admitted the backups got sloppy once the game got out of hand, and copped to the obvious — this roster is still young. He’s got walking-boot watch (off right now) on Eric Singleton and Emmanuel Oyebadejo, both questionable for Auburn, and he’s not making promises he can’t keep. But give the man credit for nerve: With Campbell selling out to stop the rush and daring him to get cute, Sumrall dialed up a fake punt on 4th-and-14 — no fear, he said, just “gonna let it hang out a little bit.” It would’ve worked, too, if one guy had made his block. Now comes the real test. Alex Golesh’s Auburn offense pushes tempos like FAU did last year, and Sumrall says Byrum Brown has grown up since their Tulane days — more polished, more experienced, seen it all. And BTW, FAU whipped up on Navy. On the other side, DJ Durkin’s defense isn’t just good, it’s SEC-mean: A line that knocks people backward, a linebackerp corps Sumrall calls “as good as anybody’s,” and a safety that’s downright unbelievable in run support. Two weeks of feel-good football are over. Sumrall knows it, and for a first-year coach who still believes the ceiling is high, that’s exactly the kind of Saturday he signed up for. Before It Was Auburn Here’s a piece of trivia that trips up even hardcore Gator fans: Auburn wasn’t always “Auburn.” The school across the state line started life in 1856 as East Alabama Male College, got renamed the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama in 1872 when it became the state’s land-grant school, and then became Alabama Polytechnic Institute — good old API — in 1899. It didn’t officially become Auburn University until 1960, even though folks around town had been calling it “Auburn” unofficially since at least the 1930s, which is why the football stadium opened in 1939 as plain old Auburn Stadium years before the school’s actual name caught up to it. So when Florida played its very first game against the Tigers back in 1912, they were technically playing Alabama Polytechnic Institute — the API Aggies didn’t become Auburn University for another 48 years. Ninety Years of Bad Blood Florida and Auburn first lined up against each other on October 12, 1912, in Auburn, and the Tigers whipped the Gators 27-13 in the opener of a series that’s now been played 84 times. It was lopsided early — Auburn won six straight to start things off, some of them by two and three touchdowns — but by the time the game became an annual October fixture in 1945, it had turned into one of the SEC’s genuine blood bath feuds, a border war between two land-grant schools separated by not much more than a tank of gas. For 58 straight years, from 1945 to 2002, these two lined up every fall without fail, and the Gators and Tigers have now played only four times since — 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2019 — with Auburn winning three of those four (ESPN). As of the last meeting in 2019, Auburn holds a 43-39-2 edge in the all-time series, with 36 of those 84 games decided by seven points or less — this has never, ever been a rivalry for the faint of heart. Break it down by home field, and it’s just as tight as you’d expect from a border war. In their current stadium, the Tigers hold a 21-7-1 mark against Florida at Jordan-Hare, while the Gators have gone 22-9 against Auburn on their own turf at Florida Field. In other words, both these teams have been just about unbeatable at home and plenty vulnerable on the road — which is exactly why Sumrall’s crew walking into that building Saturday night should scare the daylights out of Gator Nation. Why Jordan-Hare Sounds Like the End of the World Now, before we get to the moments that made this series famous, you have to understand the building where a good chunk of them happened. Jordan-Hare Stadium — named for coaching legend Ralph “Shug” Jordan and former Auburn player and administrator Cliff Hare — is routinely ranked among the loudest venues in college football, and it’s not an accident. The bowl is enclosed and steep, the upper decks lean in over the field, and nearly 88,000 people get packed into a place built to trap sound rather than let it escape. Add in the theater of it all and you’ve got a building engineered for pure pandemonium. It’s gotten so loud in there over the years that when Chris Davis returned that missed field goal 109 yards for the “Kick Six” touchdown to beat Alabama in 2013, the crowd reaction actually registered on seismographs around the state of Alabama. That’s not a figure of speech. That’s earthquake science. Rolling Toomer’s Corner And when Auburn wins, the party doesn’t stay inside the stadium. It heads downtown to Toomer’s Corner, the intersection of College Street and Magnolia Avenue where campus meets town, named for Shel Toomer, a halfback on Auburn’s very first football team back in 1892 who later opened Toomer’s Drugs on the corner in 1896. The tradition actually started with a telegraph, not toilet paper — back in the 1960s, Toomer’s Drugs had the only telegraph machine in town, so during road games the drugstore employees were the first in Auburn to know the score, and they’d fling the ticker tape from the machine up over the power lines to spread the good news. Toilet paper entered the picture in 1972, during the legendary “Punt, Bama, Punt” Iron Bowl, when Auburn halfback Terry Henley promised reporters the unbeaten, second-ranked Crimson Tide, “we’re going to beat the No. 2 out of Alabama.” Auburn did just that, running back two blocked punts for touchdowns in the final six minutes to win 17-16, and fans grabbed every roll of toilet paper they could find and buried the two old oak trees at Toomer’s Corner in white. It’s been an Auburn ritual after every big win ever since — until an Alabama fan named Harvey Updyke nearly ended it for good. Furious after Auburn beat the Tide 28-27 in the 2010 Iron Bowl, Updyke poured a lethal dose of the herbicide Spike 80DF around the century-old oaks, then confessed on Paul Finebaum’s radio show under the alias “Al from Dadeville.” He was arrested, pleaded guilty to a felony, served jail time and was ordered to pay $800,000 in restitution. The poisoned trees were finally removed in 2013, replaced in 2015, replaced again in 2017 after a fire, and the rolling tradition — because Auburn people don’t quit — carries on to this day. The Noise Gets Auburn in Trouble Which brings us to the time the Plains got a little too creative with the volume knob. Everybody in Gator Nation remembers Auburn getting dinged by the league for pumping artificial crowd noise through the stadium speakers during a Florida game — and the game folks point to is October 14, 2006, when 11th-ranked Auburn knocked off No. 2 Florida 27-17 in front of 87,451 howling fans at Jordan-Hare, scoring the last 19 points of the game off a blocked punt, a late interception and a fumble return for a touchdown as time expired. Days later, the SEC came down on Auburn for noise violations stemming from that very game. The SEC’s had a running problem with the Plains and artificial noise going back to the 1970s, when Shug Jordan himself complained about Mississippi State’s cowbells costing his own team false starts and fumbles — which is what got noisemakers banned across the league in the first place. Funny how that circles back around. Whether passing vs Georgia or kicking vs Auburn, Spurrier was an SEC nemesis The Seminole (Gator Annual) Spurrier’s Kick Heard Round the State Let’s go back further, to October 29, 1966, and the single most important field goal in Florida history. The Gators and Tigers were deadlocked at 27-27 late at Florida Field, Florida had driven to the Auburn 24, and the drive stalled. Coach Ray Graves sent out backup kicker Wayne (Shade Tree) Barfield for what would’ve been a 40-yard attempt — well beyond what anybody figured Barfield could reliably make. Steve Spurrier, the senior quarterback, walked over to Graves and essentially said, let me do it. Graves let him. Spurrier went and got his special zip-on right shoe and calmly drilled a 40-yard field goal through the uprights for a 30-27 win. The Tiger sideline was shouting warnings to be careful and watch the fake to which, Jordan reportedly told them “ you had better. Hope it’s a fake, because if Spurrier kicks it, he’ll make it!” Later the Auburn coach needled him afterward by calling him “Steve Superior.” And he was. Two weeks later, the Heisman Trophy went to Florida for the first time, and nobody who saw that kick was surprised. It remains, to this day, the signature moment of the Head Ball Coach’s playing career. The Night of Nine Now for the game nobody in Gainesville likes to bring up. November 1, 1969, Florida travels to Auburn as the No. 7 team in the country, and sophomore-turned-starter John Reaves — the kid who’d go on to become college football’s all-time leading passer — has the worst afternoon a quarterback has ever had against this rivalry, or arguably any game of any rivalry. Reaves threw the ball 66 times that day and was picked off nine times, an NCAA record that still stands more than a half-century later. Auburn defensive backs coach Bill Oliver had his unit primed for exactly what Florida wanted to do, and it showed — his group intercepted nine of Reaves’ 66 attempts, and depending on who’s telling the story, a penalty wiped out a possible tenth. Reaves kept slinging it right through the fourth quarter because Florida had no other way to catch up. That’s either stubborn or brave, depending on your seat in the stands. Either way, it’s one record I promise you nobody in Gainesville is trying to break. Just one more unfortunate season of Auburn inflicting embarrassment on the Gator offense, as it had done to Spurrier in 1965. Bill Cody’s pick-six belong— 1965, with Steve Spurrier at quarterback, not Reaves. Cody, the Orlando-born Auburn linebacker, intercepted a Spurrier pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown, then also fell on a Spurrier fumble in the end zone, as Auburn scored 28 unanswered points in the second half. Bo Knows Florida There goes that man Bo again (Auburn, Pictorial History of the Loveliest Village by Mickey Logue & Jack Simms) If you want to talk about one man deciding a game against the Gators single-handedly, you talk about Bo Jackson on October 29, 1983, at Jordan-Hare. Florida’s Wayne Peace was slinging it all over the yard that day, but Auburn’s sophomore tailback simply took over, ripping off touchdown runs of 55 and 80 yards en route to 196 yards on just 16 carries, and Auburn held on for a 28-21 win after Florida clawed back from a 28-7 deficit. That 80-yard scamper came one snap after Florida appeared to score, only to fumble the ball out of the end zone for a touchback — Auburn took it right back the other way, and that was the ballgame. Florida got its measure of revenge two years later, though. On November 2, 1985, with Jackson in the thick of his Heisman campaign, No. 2 Florida held him to 48 yards on 16 carries after he took a knee-to-thigh shot and had to leave the game, and Kerwin Bell hit Ray McDonald for the go-ahead score in a 14-10 Gator win that put a real dent in Bo’s trophy case. Jackson still won the Heisman a few weeks later, but that Florida defense is the one team that ever really slowed him down. The Day Terry Bowden Broke Hearts at The Swamp And finally, the gut-punch that still haunts anybody who was wearing orange and blue on October 15, 1994. Florida walked into that game ranked No. 1 in the country, unbeaten, and a 17-point favorite over Terry Bowden’s sixth-ranked Auburn squad — a team that couldn’t even play in a bowl game or the SEC Championship because it was serving out NCAA probation. In front of 85,562 fans at Florida Field, Spurrier’s Gators turned the ball over five times, including four Terry Dean interceptions in the first half alone. Danny Wuerffel came off the bench and threw three touchdowns, but with 1:20 to go, Auburn’s Brian Robinson picked him off. Auburn quarterback Patrick Nix marched the Tigers right back down the field and hit Frank Sanders for an eight-yard touchdown with 30 seconds left, and Auburn walked out of Gainesville with a stunning 36-33 win, extending its winning streak to a nation-best 18 games. It remains one of the most stunning upsets ever pulled off inside The Swamp, and it happened a year after Bowden’s Tigers had also knocked off Florida, 38-35, in his very first season on the Plains Bounced Away by the Bureaucrats So if this rivalry is so rich, why does it feel like a reunion tour instead of an annual date? Blame the men with the spreadsheets. When the SEC expanded to 12 teams in 1992 and split into East and West divisions, the league was smart enough to protect two cross-division rivalries for every school, which is how Florida-Auburn survived the first round of realignment intact (Wikipedia). It lasted a decade like that. Then some athletic directors started grumbling that the arrangement wasn’t fair — Auburn, for instance, got stuck with both Florida and Georgia as its two protected opponents, which meant playing two league heavyweights every single year, while other schools drew far softer permanent dance partners. The league’s answer, in 2002, was to cut every school down to just one protected cross-division rival instead of two. Auburn kept Georgia, preserving the “Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.” Florida kept LSU, betting on a fast-rising program under a young coach named Nick Saban. And with the stroke of a committee’s pen, a 90-year-old, 58-straight-year annual tradition — one that had crowned Heisman winners, ended win streaks and flattened No. 1 teams — got shoved into a rotation, playing only when the schedule-makers felt like it. No fan asked for that. No player asked for that. It was a scheduling decision made in a conference room, and Florida-Auburn has been paying for it ever since — four games in the last 24 years, when it used to be four games every four years. Where That Leaves Us Now That’s the thing about this series — it never runs out of chapters, even with the bureaucrats doing their best to starve it of new ones. A Heisman-clinching kick, a record nobody wants, a Heisman winner who got stopped cold, a No. 1 team that got its heart ripped out, a stadium loud enough to shake the ground, a downtown corner that’s survived a poisoning and kept right on rolling, and a league that had to step in and tell Auburn to turn the speakers down. Saturday night, Sumrall and Golesh add a new chapter of their own, in front of a crowd that’s been rattling nerves and windowpanes on the Plains for a hundred years running. Buckle up, Gator Nation. This one’s never been for the faint of heart.

With due respect, Florida is getting none. Graphic created by AI The coaches want them to be more physical. Brad White called them out Tuesday. By Buddy Martin GatorBaitMedia.com Two-and-a-half points. That’s what Las Vegas thinks of Jon Sumrall’s Florida Gators heading into Auburn — a field goal and a shrug. Not a vote of confidence. A coin flip with a courtesy discount. Beat Florida Atlantic by 45 and Campbell by 49, and the bookmakers still can’t be bothered to make you more than a field-goal favorite over a Group of Five reject wearing an Auburn helmet. That ought to tell this fan base something, even if the coaching staff won’t say it out loud: Nobody outside Gainesville actually believes this defense yet, and after watching this defensive line chase quarterbacks around for two weeks like a dog chasing a car it has no intention of catching, why would they? Florida is 2-0. Auburn is 2-0. The records are twins. The résumés are not, and Saturday night is where that gets sorted out, whether Sumrall wants it sorted out or not. Brad White is calling for more physicality from his cornerbacks after a shaky start to the season, according to a report analyzing the unit’s performance through two games. The context: Despite being one of the Gators’ most talented position groups on paper, the corners have underwhelmed — playing “far too soft” against FAU and lacking physicality even against an overmatched Campbell team. Starters Ben Hanks III, Cormani McClain and Kanye Clark were reportedly Florida’s three lowest-graded defenders against Campbell per Pro Football Focus, with none of them recording a pass breakup — a stark contrast to J’Vari Flowers’ three PBUs in the same game. White’s quote directly addressed the issue, emphasizing that competitiveness “at the catch point” applies across every position — whether a lineman straining at the top of the pocket, a linebacker finishing a tackle, or a defensive back closing on the ball: “You can’t say, ‘Oh, man, I was sticky, I was in a great spot all the way’ and then at the catch point you let up or you get weak or you get soft. Your competitive nature, your strain, has to go up at the catch point.” The takeaway from the piece: While there are broader concerns about White’s scheme being too passive (a carryover critique from his Kentucky tenure), the coaching staff — White and Jon Sumrall — at least appears to be correctly diagnosing the problem after each game, which the media framed as a positive contrast to the previous coaching regime’s tendency to downplay issues. Whether the physicality actually improves against Auburn remains the open question. A Pass Rush That Isn’t Rushing Much of Anything Let’s start with the part of this defense that should scare Gator fans the most: Nobody up front can consistently get to the quarterback. Beat writers said it plainly after the FAU game — the defensive line “didn’t win a ton at the line of scrimmage” and has “the most to prove” of any position group on the roster heading into SEC play. That’s not a compliment. That’s a diagnosis. Now, Sumrall did what every coach does when the numbers look bad — he found the footnote. At times, he said, his defense looked “atrocious.” But he also pointed out that a lot of FAU’s third downs were quick screens, plays where the ball is gone before a rusher can do anything about it, so judging the pass rush purely on sack totals misses the mark. Fine. I’ll give him that much — screens aren’t sack opportunities, and he’s right to say it. But here’s the problem with hiding behind that explanation: Auburn isn’t walking into Jordan-Hare planning to run a bunch of tunnel screens for style points. If Florida’s front seven can only look competent against an offense that’s scared to let its quarterback hold the ball, that tells you everything about how untested this pass rush actually is. Growing Pains, or Just Pains? Sumrall and White keep calling it “growing pains” — new scheme, new terminology, new level of intensity, players still figuring out where to be. It’s a reasonable explanation. It’s also the explanation every single new coaching staff gives in September, whether it’s true or whether it’s cover. The only way to find out which one applies to Florida is to watch what happens against a team that isn’t Florida Atlantic or Campbell — a team that will make you pay in real time for a missed assignment instead of politely running another tunnel screen. That’s what makes Saturday night the first legitimate exam of the Sumrall era. Not FAU. Not Campbell. Auburn, on the road, in front of a hostile Jordan-Hare crowd that doesn’t care one bit about your installation curve. The One Thing Actually Going Right Now, credit where it’s due, because I’m not interested in being cynical just for the sake of it. The linebackers and the secondary have gotten better every single week, and the run defense took a real step forward by holding Campbell to a grand total of 62 rushing yards. That’s not nothing — that’s a defense that, at least against the run, looks like it’s coming together on schedule. If that trend holds against Auburn, it takes a lot of pressure off a shaky pass rush, because a defense that stones the run and covers well can survive occasional heat problems up front. A defense that’s bad in all three areas at once cannot. Byrum Brown Is the Wild Card, and Florida Knows Him Here’s where it gets personal for Sumrall. Byrum Brown is a load — a physical, dual-threat quarterback who can beat you with his legs the instant you give him a crack in coverage. But his passing has actually been shaky to start 2026: 485 yards, two touchdowns, three interceptions through two games, even while he’s added 115 rushing yards and a score on the ground. That’s a quarterback who can be had — if, and only if, you keep him in the pocket long enough for those mistakes to happen. Let him escape outside, and none of that matters, because scrambling erases coverage the way an eraser erases a chalkboard. And Sumrall has already solved this puzzle once. Back in 2024 at Tulane, his defense beat a Brown-led South Florida team 45-10, a game so lopsided that Brown left it hurt and missed eight weeks afterward. Sumrall himself admits Brown is a different, more polished player now, with a full season of starts and total command of the same system he’s running at Auburn under Alex Golesh. So the blueprint exists. The question is whether this defense — the one still working through “growing pains” against Group of Five competition — can actually execute a blueprint against SEC-caliber attackers and a hostile road environment. As White and Sumrall touched on here, there's a standard that has to be upheld, and Florida didn't get the memo. The Gators did not play up to that standard. I'm really curious to see how things look over the next couple of weeks, especially with some extremely tough games coming up. However, if this mindset continues, even if it takes a year or two, Sumrall is going to be the guy we all hope he is, and that's the bigger priority right now. There absolutely has to be a standard set at the University of Florida when it comes to this football program, and if there's one guy I have a lot of hope in accomplishing that with Sumrall. While be has a lot of questions to answer himself because he's coming over from a place that simply isn't the same as Florida, despite how good Tulane has been in the past, he seems to be the perfect option for a lot of this stuff. At the end of the day, Sumrall has to continue to prove that he can be that guy, but a lot of what he and his coaching staff have said in the past shows that he's going to be just that. The Bottom Line I don’t think Florida’s defense is broken. I think it’s unproven, and there’s a difference. The linebackers and secondary have earned some benefit of the doubt. The run defense has earned real trust. But the defensive line has earned nothing yet — no marquee pressure numbers, no signature sack, nothing beyond a coach’s explanation about screen passes. Auburn is going to hand this defense the toughest test of the season so far: A quarterback who can beat you standing still or running for his life, in a building that will make every missed edge assignment feel ten times louder than it did against Campbell. Two-and-a-half points says Vegas thinks Florida’s a little better. Saturday night says we’ll actually find out.

The road gets real tonight Florida is 2-0. Now the Gators leave Gainesville and head to Auburn — and Buddy Martin is live tonight breaking down what the first real road test means for this team. The Buddy Martin Show is on now with Florida–Auburn talk, SEC perspective and the bigger questions around where the Gators go from here. Help the show where it counts Watch on YouTube, hit Like, subscribe and share the show. Every click from GatorBait into YouTube helps build the audience where watch time, subscribers and engagement matter most.

VB3 has an escort to the end zone: Bailey Stockton. UAA Photo It was Vernell Brown III’s world, and everybody else was just watching. A compilation from Buddy Martin, Brenden Martin and GatorBaitMedia.com staff GAINESVILLE — There’s a moment in every college football season when the Swamp stops being scary and starts being fun — and for the Florida Gators, it arrived in the span of seven minutes on a Saturday afternoon at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. It started ugly. Campbell’s Cam Fields took the opening kickoff and Florida let him run right down the seam of the coverage unit for a field goal and an early 3-0 lead — the kind of special-teams gaffe that makes a coach’s stomach turn before the popcorn’s even cold. But Aaron Philo answered fast, finding paydirt to make it 7-3, and from there the defense “settled in,” in the words of head coach Jon Sumrall, and the Gators simply took over. Fifty-two unanswered points later, Campbell had been buried, 52-3. And then came the seven minutes nobody in the state of Florida will forget for a while. A special-teams bonanza It was Vernell Brown III’s world, and everybody else was just watching. Brown took back-to-back punts — 64 yards, then 70 — straight to the house, the kind of double-dip that hasn’t happened for the Gators since a guy named Jacquez Green did it back in 1996. Throw in a 14-yard catch-and-run touchdown, and Brown had himself a three-touchdown afternoon and 219 punt-return yards by halftime — the second-most in a single SEC game, ever. It didn’t take long for the football internet to notice. As colleagues on TwitterX marveled at what they were watching in real time, Graham Hall put it about as plainly as it could be put: “Florida’s special teams touchdowns in the previous seven minutes: 2. Florida’s special teams touchdowns in the previous four years: 0.” He said it twice for emphasis, and honestly, it deserved to be said twice. Zero to two in seven minutes is the kind of stat line that used to be reserved for garbage-time backups in a video game — not real, live SEC football. Edgar Thompson zeroed in on the record book itself, noting that Brown’s “219 punt-return yards is the most in Florida history.” Not most this season. Not most this decade. Most ever, in the history of a program that has had no shortage of dynamic return men wearing the orange and blue. And Zach Alboverdi connected the dots for anybody who needed the history lesson: “The last time a Florida player returned two punts for touchdowns in a game? Jacquez Green.” Thirty years is a long time to wait for a repeat performance, and Vernell Brown III picked a fine Saturday to end the drought. The rest of the story wasn’t half bad, either Buried underneath the Brown fireworks was a running back quietly stacking up a resume of his own. Jadan Baugh went for 14 carries, 136 yards and two touchdowns — including a career-long 75-yard burst — and made it three straight 100-yard games to open the season. If this is a “Baugh Game” in the headline, it’s earned; the kid’s putting together the kind of start that gets a name etched into Gainesville lore. But he needed to share the top billing with VB3. Philo, for his part, wasn’t just a game manager watching Brown and Baugh do the heavy lifting. He piled up 242 passing yards and had a hand in three total touchdowns, two through the air and one with his legs — the kind of complete performance that ought to quiet any lingering questions about who’s steering this offense. But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. This is where Sumrall’s postgame tone turned. He opened by tipping his cap to Brown and a defense that “settled in,” but the good vibes didn’t last long into his press conference. “A lot I was not pleased with, to be quite honest,” Sumrall said, and he wasn’t just talking about the officiating — though there was plenty to gripe about there, too. Florida was flagged eight times for 95 yards in a second half that got sloppy in a hurry, the exact kind of self-inflicted mess Sumrall had warned about heading into this one. There was also that non-call that had Gator fans steaming: an egregious hold on Dallas Wilson by a Campbell defensive back that went unflagged, helping stall a third-down conversion and keep the score at 10-3 longer than it should have been. Sumrall didn’t let his team off easy, either. He made clear that several players “proved him right” as to why they aren’t playing significant snaps yet — a pointed reminder that 52-3 blowouts can paper over depth issues that a tougher October slate won’t forgive. Now the real season starts Beating an FCS-turned-Sun Belt opponent by 49 is a nice confidence boost, but nobody in Gainesville is confusing Campbell with what’s coming. Florida (2-0) heads on the road next Saturday to open SEC play at Auburn, where sloppy second halves and missed assignments get punished a lot more severely than they were against the Camels. For one Saturday, though, it was fair to let the Swamp enjoy itself. Vernell Brown III turned in a performance that will be replayed on highlight reels for years, Jadan Baugh kept building his case as the engine of this offense, and for seven unforgettable minutes, Florida’s special teams unit looked like the best in the country after four years of looking like anything but. All week long Summer had that admonished his players to “be where your feet are planted.” Well, they were planted on the long necks of the Campbell Camels on Saturday: Florida 52, Campbell 3 — final.

GatorBait Numbers Desk | The Professor’s Notebook Statistics through games of Sept. 12, 2026. There is an important rule at the GatorBait Numbers Desk: numbers are evidence, not decoration. Florida is 2-0. Auburn is 2-0. Both programs have new head coaches. Both just won by more than five touchdowns. And neither coach sounded particularly happy afterward. Jon Sumrall after Florida’s 52-3 win over Campbell: “We’re about to have a real rude awakening.” Alex Golesh after Auburn’s 43-8 win over Southern Miss: “Overall, a lot to clean up, and we’re going to have to really quickly here.” Good. Because Saturday is where the useful numbers begin. And the first number is 1939. 1939 — Florida helped open the place The first football game played in the stadium we now know as Jordan-Hare featured Auburn and Florida. The result was a 7-7 tie. So when the Gators walk into Jordan-Hare on Saturday night for their first visit since 2011, they will be returning to a building where this rivalry has been woven into the history since its opening year. Eighty-seven years later, two first-year coaches get the next chapter. 84 — previous meetings Florida and Auburn have played 84 times. Auburn leads the series 43-39-2. The part Florida fans probably like less is the geography. Florida’s record at Auburn is 8-26-1. That means Florida has won only eight times on the Plains in 35 attempts. And here is the number that makes Saturday particularly interesting: 1999. That was Florida’s last victory at Auburn. Steve Spurrier’s Gators won 32-14 at Jordan-Hare and held Auburn to one rushing yard. Florida returned in 2001, 2006 and 2011 and lost all three. Florida has not played there in 15 years. 14-2 — Sumrall’s number that travels Jon Sumrall arrived at Florida with a 43-12 career head-coaching record from Troy and Tulane. But for this particular game, the more interesting number is 14-2 — his road conference record entering the Florida job. Florida’s own coaching biography noted that only Ryan Day and Dan Lanning had better road-conference marks nationally over that period. So we have a fascinating collision: Florida historically has trouble winning at Auburn. Sumrall historically has been extremely difficult to beat in somebody else’s conference stadium. One of those numbers is about to become less impressive. 2-0 vs. 2-0 — same record, different routes Florida beat Florida Atlantic 66-21 and Campbell 52-3. Auburn beat Baylor 17-16 and Southern Miss 43-8. Florida has scored 118 points and allowed 24. Auburn has scored 60 and also allowed 24. Same record. Same number of points allowed. Florida has almost doubled Auburn’s scoring output. Now comes the professor’s disclaimer: Florida played FAU and Campbell. Auburn had to survive Baylor. Early-season totals tell us something. They do not tell us everything. 8.8 — Florida’s absurd early offensive number Florida has run 129 offensive plays and gained 1,138 yards. That is 8.8 yards per play. The Gators are averaging 569.0 total yards, 321.5 passing yards, 247.5 rushing yards and 59.0 points per game. Opponents are averaging just 4.0 yards per play against Florida. Nobody should expect Florida to average nearly nine yards per snap once SEC play begins. But the number does tell us the offense has been explosive rather than simply efficient. Saturday we find out whether those explosives survive an SEC road environment. 76.2% — Aaron Philo has barely missed Through two starts, Aaron Philo is 32-of-42 for 517 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. That is a 76.2% completion rate with a 214.11 passer rating. Those are video-game numbers. But Saturday brings something Philo has never experienced as Florida’s quarterback: an SEC road start at Jordan-Hare Stadium. And the quarterback on the other sideline has been doing this a lot longer. 34 — Byrum Brown’s career starts Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown made his 34th career start against Southern Miss. Auburn lists that as the most among current SEC quarterbacks and fifth-most nationally. That experience travels with another rather startling number. 97 — touchdowns Byrum Brown has touched Brown has accounted for 63 passing touchdowns, 32 rushing touchdowns and two receiving touchdowns: 97 in all. Against Southern Miss, Brown caught one from Christian Neptune. He also threw for 226 yards and two scores while rushing for another 88. Golesh on Brown: “Same guy every day. Elite process, confidence, urgency, leader.” Last season at South Florida, Brown threw for 3,158 yards and 28 touchdowns while rushing for 1,008 yards and 14 more. Florida is not preparing for a quarterback who occasionally scrambles. It is preparing for an offense in which the quarterback is part of the rushing math. 4 — years in the same language This may be Auburn’s hidden advantage. The 2026 season is Byrum Brown’s fourth consecutive year operating Alex Golesh’s offense, with offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joel Gordon alongside him. There is no first-year terminology problem here. No introductory period. No learning what the quarterback likes. Golesh changed schools. The quarterback did not really change offenses. That is a big distinction. 300+ — twice Auburn has opened 2026 with 300-plus rushing yards in consecutive games, the first time the Tigers have begun a season that way since 2021. Florida’s defense, meanwhile, has allowed 91 rushing yards per game and 2.9 yards per carry. That is our first true strength-on-strength number: Auburn wants 300. Florida allows 91. Somewhere between those two numbers lies the game. 296 — Jadan Baugh’s two-game total Jadan Baugh opened with 160 rushing yards and three touchdowns against FAU, then followed with 136 yards and two more scores against Campbell. Two games: 28 carries, 296 yards, five touchdowns — 10.6 yards per carry. The opponents matter. But the workload is interesting. Florida has not needed 25 carries from him to get production. If Saturday becomes a fourth-quarter street fight, we may finally see what Baugh looks like on carries 18, 20 and 22. 12-for-12 — Florida in scoring territory Florida has reached the red zone 12 times and scored 12 times. Eleven of those possessions ended with touchdowns. That is a 91.7% touchdown rate once Florida gets into the red zone. That will not last forever. But this is precisely where road games often turn. Explosive plays disappear, drives get harder, and the difference between seven and three becomes enormous. 173 — the official VB3 number Vernell Brown III returned four punts for 173 official yards against Campbell and scored two touchdowns. That set Florida’s single-game program record. He also became Florida’s first player since Jacquez Green in 1996 to return two punts for touchdowns in one game. Special teams are not an accessory to this matchup. One return by Brown can erase the need for an entire offensive possession. Auburn has now seen the film. Kick accordingly. 55 — Auburn does not need much field Alex McPherson hit a career-long 55-yard field goal against Southern Miss. It tied for the fifth-longest field goal in Auburn history. That changes the geometry of the field. Cross midfield and Auburn may already be approaching points. In a close SEC game, that changes fourth-down decisions dramatically. THE PROFESSOR OPENS THE OLD RECORD BOOK 1985 — Bo Jackson, 48 yards, and No. 1 Florida Before Florida ever won a national championship, there was Auburn in 1985. Florida traveled to the Plains to face eventual Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson. Jackson rushed for only 48 yards, his lowest output of the season. Florida won 14-10, and the victory moved the Gators to No. 1 in the national rankings for the first time in school history. For all of Florida’s struggles at Auburn, some of the program’s most important moments have happened there. And Auburn has returned the favor. In 1993, No. 4 Florida went to Auburn and lost 38-35. One year later, No. 1 Florida lost to Auburn again, 36-33, this time in Gainesville. This series has a history of becoming strange when Florida thinks it knows what it is. THE THREE NUMBERS THAT MATTER 1. 150 Florida’s target for Auburn rushing yards. Auburn has topped 300 twice. Florida does not necessarily need to eliminate the run. It needs to make Auburn ordinary at it. Hold the Tigers somewhere around half their current rushing output and Brown must win a different game. 2. Zero Cheap turnovers. Auburn’s defense scored on the first play of the game against Southern Miss when Andre Jordan Jr. returned an interception for a touchdown. Jordan-Hare does not need assistance becoming hostile. Florida cannot give the stadium points. 3. 40% Florida’s defensive third-down ceiling. Florida’s opponents are currently converting exactly 40% of third downs. Florida’s offense is converting 44.4%. Against an experienced quarterback who can turn broken pass plays into designed-looking runs, getting off the field on third down may matter more than any glamorous offensive statistic. THE PROFESSOR’S VERDICT Two games reveal tendencies. They do not establish identities. Florida’s numbers say the Gators can create explosive plays, run the football efficiently, finish drives and manufacture field position through special teams. Auburn’s numbers say the Tigers can run the football, survive ugly stretches and lean on one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the conference. That makes this game less complicated than the history suggests. Florida does not need to be perfect at Jordan-Hare. It needs to do three things: make Auburn ordinary running the football, protect the football, and finish drives. The historical number favors Auburn. The stadium favors Auburn. Quarterback experience favors Auburn. But the number I keep coming back to is 14-2. That was Jon Sumrall’s road-conference record before taking the Florida job. Saturday is his first chance to prove that number travels to the SEC. Professor’s lean: Florida has the higher offensive ceiling right now. Auburn has the more experienced quarterback and the home field. If Florida holds Auburn below roughly 175 rushing yards and finishes at least four red-zone trips with touchdowns, the numbers tilt toward the Gators. Florida at Auburn | Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026 | Jordan-Hare Stadium

Post game Handshake: Braxton Harris & Jon Sumrall (UAA Photo) A week ago Jon Sumrall warned the Gators against taking the Campbell Camels lightly. For a half, at least, the warning was taken seriously although the defense did allow 63 yards and a field goal on Campbell’s first possession. At the half, Florida led, 45-3. The offensive stats would have been much higher except Vernell Brown III ran two punts back for touchdowns, which took two possessions away from Aaron Philo and the offensive unit. Then came the second half when the offense went stagnant. Five penalties (three holding, two personal fouls) had plenty to do with lack of production, but it went beyond that. The big lead offered an opportunity to get valuable reps in live game situations for backups, but the way Sumrall saw it from the sideline there was a lack of readiness. “I expect everybody that gets in the game to be ready to play,” Sumrall said in his post game remarks. “I told the guys this week at Monday’s team meeting … ‘We should handle this game the right way not like cruise through it, get some guys some opportunities to go play. Don’t tell me you’re not ready. Like you should always be ready.’ I think maybe some guys learned tonight what readiness looks like isn’t quite where they are.” That is a concern heading into Saturday night’s Southeastern Conference opener at Auburn (7 p.m., ESPN). The Tigers are bigger, stronger, faster and far more talented than either of Florida’s first two opponents. Auburn’s offense is led by Byrum Brown, who lit up the Gators last year when South Florida beat UF in The Swamp, and the Auburn defense is coordinated by DJ Durkin, a former Urban Meyer assistant who was Will Muschamp’s defensive coordinator at UF in 2013-14. Auburn’s offense struggled game one against Baylor in game one, but lit up Southern Miss for 43 points and 613 yards on Saturday. Durkin’s defense held Southern Miss to 221 yards (50 on the ground), picking off two passes and sacking the QB four times. Auburn plays a tempo offense so readiness will be a necessity. So will eliminating the penalties. In game one against Florida Atlantic, the Gators had no holding calls and only one false start. Against Campbell, Sumrall said, “The first half this week felt fairly clean. The second half every time you felt like we had an explosive play, there’s another penalty flag, another penalty flag. You can’t do that. The Gators can’t beat the Gators. “The good news is our guys owned it. They understand accountability. Every one of them after I brought them over and corrected them, half of them before I came in here [to the press conference], they came to me, ‘Coach, I’m sorry.’ I’m like yeah, you should be. It’s not okay. It hurts the team.” Even though it’s just game three and the first SEC games, it is a critical matchup for the Gators, who have five upcoming games against teams currently ranked in the top 25. Jordan Hare Stadium is one of the toughest venues in all of college football and a place where Florida is only 8-26-1 in history. Cleaning up the penalties and having backups ready have to be high on the priority list this week. GATORS IN THE NATIONAL STATS Vernell Brown III: VBIII leads the nation in punt returns (4-173 yards, 2 TDs). That’s an average of 42.25 yards per return. Aaron Philo: Philo has completed 32-42 passes (76.2 percent) for 517 yards and five touchdowns. His 12.3 yards per pass attempt ranks fifth nationally. Jadan Baugh: Baugh is No. 2 nationally in rushing with 296 yards. He is tied for third with five touchdowns and ranks 10th in yards per carry (10.57 per carry). Florida offense: The Gators are third in scoring (59 per game), sixth in total offense (569 yards), fifth in yards per play (8.82), fourth in punt returns (5-173 yards). Associated Press top 25 (SEC teams bold face): 1. Texas 2-0; 2. Georgia 2-0; 3. Notre Dame 2-0; 4. Indiana 2-0; 5. Miami 2-0; 6. Ohio State 1-1; 7. LSU 2-0; 8. Ole Miss 2-0; 9. Texas A&M 2-0; 10. Alabama 2-0; 11. BYU 2-0; 12. Southern Cal 2-0; 13. Texas Tech 2-0; 14. Penn State 2-0; 15. Tennessee 2-0. 16. SMU 2-0; 17. Utah 2-0; 18. Iowa 2-0; 19. Michigan 2-0; 20. Missouri 2-0; 21. Oregon 1-1; 22. Houston 2-0; 23. Louisville 1-1; 24. Oklahoma 1-1; 25. Virginia 2-0 AFCA Coaches top 25 (SEC teams bold face): 1. Texas 2-0; 2. Georgia 2-0; 3. Notre Dame 2-0; 4. Indiana 2-0; 5. Miami 2-0; 6. Ohio State 1-1; 7. LSU 2-0; 8. Texas A&M 2-0; 9. Ole Miss 2-0; 10. Alabama 2-0; 11. Southern Cal 2-0; 12. Texas Tech 2-0; 13. BYU 2-0; 14. Tennessee 2-0; 15. Penn State 2-0; 16. SMU 2-0; 17. Utah 2-0; 18. Oregon 1-1; 19. Michigan 2-0; 20. Iowa 2-0; 21. Oklahoma 1-1; 22. Missouri 2-0; 23. Houston 2-0; 24. Washington 2-0; 25. Virginia 2-0 ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC No. 10 Alabama (2-0, 1-0 SEC): Alabama’s defense is No. 6 nationally (185 yards per game) and No. 4 against the run (32.5 yards per game, 1.2 per carry) … Daniel Hill (151 yards, 3 TDs) has become the go-to guy in the Bama running game that is averaging 191 yards per game. Saturday: Florida State (1-1), 3:30 p.m., ABC Arkansas (1-1): The Razorbacks are dead last in the SEC in running the ball (104 yards per game). Saturday they face a Georgia defense that has allowed only 120 yards (1.74 yards per carry) in two games. Saturday: No. 2 Georgia (2-0), 12 noon, ABC Auburn (2-0): Auburn ran for 343 yards in its win over Southern Miss. Byrum Brown, who threw three interceptions against Baylor, threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns without a pick against Southern Miss … The Tigers are dead last in the SEC in pass defense, allowing 252 yards per game and three touchdowns. Opponents are averaging only 5.8 yards per pass attempt. Saturday: FLORIDA (2-0), 7 p.m. ESPN No. 2 Georgia (2-0): Quarterback Gunner Stockton is 28-32 passing for 436 yards (14.3 per attempt and eight touchdowns … Georgia ranks fourth nationally in offense (576.5 yards per game) and fifth in total defense (167 yards per game). Saturday: at Arkansas (1-1), 12 noon, ABC Kentucky (1-1, 0-1 SEC): Saturday: at No. 9 Texas A&M (2-0); 3:30 p.m., ESPN No. 7 LSU (2-0): LSU leads the nation in total defense (142 yards per game). The Tigers have allowed only 36 rushing yards (0.63 yards per carry), which ranks second nationally. The Tigers are tied for the national lead in sacks with 12. LSU ranks No. 3 nationally in total offense (586 yards per game) … Quarterback Sam Leavitt has thrown four interceptions and only two TDPs, but he has run for five touchdowns. Saturday: at No. 8 Ole Miss (2-0), 7:30 p.m., ABC Mississippi State (2-0): The Bulldogs have the No. 2 offense in the country (620 yards per game), led by quarterback Kamario Taylor, who has thrown for 581 yards and seven touchdowns while running for 185 yards and another TD. Top target Anthony Evans II has caught 14 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns. Saturday: at South Carolina (2-0), 4:15 p.m., SEC Network No. 20 Missouri (2-0): Austin Simmons is completing 75 percent of his passes, averaging 11.3 yards per attempt. He’s thrown seven touchdown passes without an interception. His top target is former Ole Miss teammate Cayden Lee (11-209, 2 TDs). Saturday: Troy (2-0), 7 p.m., SEC Network+ No. 24. Oklahoma (1-1): Oklahoma is dead last in the SEC in total offense (345 yards per game), passing (210 yards) and 13th in rushing (135 yards). Saturday: New Mexico (2-0), 7:30 p.m., ESPN2 No. 8 Ole Miss (2-0): Deuce Alexander has emerged as the No. 1 target for Trinidad Chambliss with 13 catches for 235 yards and two touchdowns. Kewan Lacy has run for 148 yards and three touchdowns. Chambliss has thrown for five touchdowns while running for one more. Saturday: No. 7 LSU (2-0), 7:30 p.m., ABC South Carolina (2-0): The Gamecocks are No. 4 in the SEC and No. 5 nationally in total offense at 573.5 yards per game … LaNorris Sellers has thrown for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Saturday: Mississippi State (2-0), 4:15 p.m., SEC Network No. 15 Tennessee (2-0): Saturday: Kennesaw State (1-1), 7:45 p.m., SEC Network No. 1 Texas (2-0): While leading the Longhorns on scoring drives of 91, 72 and 73 yards in the fourth quarter Saturday against Ohio State, Arch Manning completed 8-11 passes for 79 yards and a touchdown. The rally from a 20-point deficit was the biggest at Texas since rallying from 20 down against Oklahoma State in 2008. Saturday: Texas-San Antonio (2-0), 8 p.m., SEC Network+ No. 9 Texas A&M (2-0): The Aggies had two pick sixes against Arizona State. The A&M defense is giving up only 218 yards per game … The offense is 12th in the SEC (380 yards per game). Saturday: Kentucky (1-1, 0-1 SEC); 3:30 p.m., ESPN Vanderbilt (2-0): The Commodores rank second nationally in sacks with 11. Vanderbilt is giving up only 258 yards per game. Saturday: North Carolina State (1-1), 12:45 p.m., SEC Network

Special teams are special again at Florida as Vernell Brown III excites the crowd on ab business as usual kind of night for the Gators. By Loren Meadows GatorBaitMedia.com Football Analyst, Host of The Gator Lowdown with Loren Meadows Time for Baugh and Philo to take this show on the road (Chris Spears photo) What We Thought: The Florida Gators defensive unite was taken to task last week by Coach John Sumrall for a lack than stellar effort that saw FAU gain over 400 yards of total offense and more than 20 first downs. Based upon that scolding the Gators would be a more motivated bunch and look to shut the door early with tighter coverage on the Cambell receivers and immense pressure on quarterback Kamden Sixkiller to keep Campbell under duress the entire game on the way to a dominate performance. Offensively, the Gators would look to build on a dominating performance with another basic but efficient display and build on the explosive plays that were created in Week 1. Aaron Philo would continue his mastery of the offense by spreading the ball to his bevy of weapons. Jaden Baugh would find the endzone early and often and allow the deep running back room to get more carries than last week while Dallas Wilson would show up in a big way. What We Got: The defense seemed to miss the opening bell as for the second week in a row the opposing offense found moving the ball fairly easy to begin the game. On the opening play, Kamden Sixkiller hit Stevie Kinner on a fade route for 24 yards over corner Ben Hanks. This would begin a drive that culminated with a Campbell field goal and though it was their only score of the game Sumrall was visibly concerned. The defense would settle in to hold the Campbell offense scoreless for the rest of the game but the lack of energy to begin games has been noted. Despite the slow start the Gators would go ahead to stay scoring 10 unanswered points early on solid drives by the offense and then the defense would settle in and bring on the fireworks. At practices Sumrall has put an emphasis on special teams to the point where the entire team watches a member of the special teams attempt to block a punt establishing that this team will look to change the game with those units. With that in mind, it was no surprise that on the second Campbell punt of the game the Gators lined up to go for the block they have tirelessly made a priority. The Gators would narrowly miss the block but the fireworks that returner Vernell Brown III would provide clearly made up for the near miss. The sophomore return man eluded initial tacklers and then weaved his way back to the middle of the field with a high-five escort from Bailey Stockton for a 64 yard punt return TD, the first by the Gators since Kadarious Toney took one to the house against Kentucky in 2020. For the Florida Gators this was a refreshing change for a program that has limped on special teams for half a decade. On the next Campbell drive the Gators would again force a punt and Brown again showed why Sumrall has noted the hire of Special Teams Coordinator Jonathan Gallante as one of his most important. Brown would go 70 yards untouched for his second punt return of the game and the first two punt return touchdown since Jaquez Green in 1996. Brown would add a 14-yard TD reception while Jaden Baugh (2TD’s) and Dallas Wilson would find the endzone as well to cap off another solid performance with by the Florida offense. The Skinny: I think most would agree that the Florida offense has a number of talented options at every position for Buster Faulkner to design and scheme the most elaborate plays for. Falkner also has the right guy to execute that scheme with efficiency while cherishing the football. The special teams have been as good as expected as well. Perfect on field goals and the aforementioned punt returns. The question is can the Gators become the defense that their fiery head coach wants and the kind if unit that you need with the conference schedule looming. Sumrall tells it like it is, ask a football question, get a football answer, and up to this point the football has been solid but not good enough. The next six days will be possibly the most important in Sumrall’s coaching career and for his young but talented team. The trip to Auburn will act as a litmus test of where these programs are and will go in the near future. What you can respect about Sumrall is he makes no secret that the first two opponents were not what lies ahead, and the performances of the first two weeks are good enough. The thing is you can say it but it has to get corrected. As Sumrall has stated the rotations may shrink as some players have proven the coaches right and wrong about playing time. What makes you great is not how you design it but how it is put into practice. Florida may have not played their best ball but this team looks to be equipped to find a way to win even when one unit does not have their best stuff. Final Score: Florida 52 Campbell 3 (Prediction Florida 63 Campbell 0)

Philo’s consistency is a good reason for optimism. UAA Photo Sumrall was happy about the win but issued a stern warning about the mistakes piling up in the third and fourth quarters. By Buddy Martin GatorBaitMedia.com Coach’s orders: Keep your feet planted. Good luck with that, Gators — because in a few days those feet are marching straight into hostile territory. It was an impressive special teams showing against Campbell, but Vernell Brown III topped even that with those flashy punt returns. He was thrilled, but said it was instinctual: “Yeah, like I say, I credit a lot to instincts, just having that feel for the game. I mean, I've been playing the game since I was five. Obviously the stadiums and the level has changed, but the game doesn't change. It's the same stuff I've been doing since I was five.” Obviously, he’s very proud of the record of 219 yards. “Yeah, I mean, you putting in the work to make plays. To be able to be in the record book and have something to look back on, hopefully one of the many things to look back on and say, ‘Yeah, I did that.’ Have your name cemented in the record books, amazing in the legacy to have my father, grandfather, other family members come before me and obviously do their job. Me to continue the legacy while setting a new standard hopefully for the ones that come behind me is a blessing.” But there’s no time to brag or gloat. The Gators need to heed Jon Sumrall’s mandate: Stay planted. In a few days their feet will be standing in the hostile confines of Auburn. Sumrall was happy about the win but issued a stern warning about the mistakes piling up in the third and fourth quarters. “If we play like we played in the second half, our team is in for a rude awakening,” he said. Auburn awaits like a coiled rattlesnake. And the only thing more poisonous than rat poison is rattlesnake venom. Not much good happens for Florida football near Toomer’s Corner — the Gators are 8-26-1 all-time at Auburn. Still, there’s reason for optimism heading into trip No. 25, starting with the offense and special teams firepower. Florida is 2-0 for the first time since 2021, chasing its first 3-0 start since 2019 — and they’re a 2.5-point favorite on the road. This is the gut check. We’re about to learn the true character of Sumrall’s squad. Pretender or contender? Let’s not get carried away with the accolades just yet. I like Florida’s chances, based on the consistent play from starting quarterback Aaron Philo — as long as he keeps it up. But let’s not go overboard comparing VB3 to Percy Harvin, like plenty of you already have. Most people still consider Percy the greatest Gator of all time. Nobody knows yet how good VB3 will become. But for a day, he was spectacular. I’ll co-sign what my friends at All Kinds of Weather wrote: “I love VB3. He’s a spectacular playmaker. He’s not Percy Harvin, and nobody ever will be — there’s only one Percy Harvin. Vernell Brown III is great at being Vernell Brown III. Just let him be Vernell Brown III.” A Hollywood Ending in Austin Hollywood showed up in Austin right on cue — sweet irony, sweeter redemption, and the coronation of college football’s Crown Prince, all wrapped into one wild script Saturday night. Down 23-3 with the fourth quarter dawning, Arch Manning decided enough was enough. Three touchdown drives later, Texas had ripped the nation’s No. 1 ranking away from Ohio State, 24-23. The dagger: Hollywood Smothers diving over the pile from a yard out with 25 seconds left — because of course a guy named Hollywood delivers the final scene. “That’s when I knew it was our time,” Manning said afterward. He wasn’t lying. It was Sark’s biggest win at Texas, made even sweeter by Oklahoma’s ugly loss to Michigan. The Longhorns beefed up their run game with Hollywood, a former NC State back who left for more money. As my friend Chris Childers put it on X: “Hollywood Smothers sounds like the Waffle House’s most expensive breakfast platter.” It was Steve Sarkisian’s signature win — Texas’ first home victory over a No. 1 team since Truman was president — and a fine way to shut up Columbus for a while. Jeremiah Smith torched the Longhorns most of the night, but none of it mattered once Manning found his fourth-quarter groove. One of the best college football games I’ve seen in years. The SEC just knocked off the nation’s No. 1 team — and yeah, we’ll go ahead and claim them. Today’s Fashion Note for CFB Keep chopping those football pants down and pretty soon they’ll look like thongs. Where are the fashion police? Call me old-school, but uniforms need some uniformity, don’t they? What’s next — football tank tops? A Reminder About Tuesday Night Don’t forget: ESPN Films’ 14 Days in Gainesville, a new 30 for 30 documentary, premieres Tuesday, September 15 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and the ESPN App. Directed by Daniel B. Levin, the film returns to the fall of 1990, when Gainesville found itself caught between tremendous anticipation and unimaginable tragedy. Steve Spurrier, the Heisman winner, had just returned to his alma mater as head coach, promising to breathe new life into a program hungry for a new era. At the same time, the university community was reeling from the murders of five students in a matter of days. Against that backdrop, the documentary chronicles a community grappling with fear and grief while a new football season closed in — and how students, players, coaches and residents lived through those extraordinary days as a program’s fresh start collided with a serial killer on the loose. Operation Pushback: Help Us Get GatorBait Across the Goal Line GatorBait has taken its share of hits over the years. It’s time to restore the brand to its rightful place in the lexicon of Gator battle cries. Since we bought the franchise, there were plenty of moments we could’ve folded the tents — but we didn’t, thanks to loyal Gators like you and staffers who volunteered without pay. We hung on, just barely, until new UF president Dr. Stuart Bell rode in with the cavalry. It came at a price, emotionally and financially. But we’re back, baby — most of the way, anyway — and now we need your help to finish the job. Join our 100 for 100 campaign: 100 patrons donating at least $100 each to offset past expenses, legal bills, a new laptop and other obligations. We know everybody’s asking for money these days, and we get it if you can’t. But give what you can — just Venmo $100 to the Buddy Martin Show. What do you get? 1. 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Dallas Wilson (6) gathers in a pass (UAA Photo) Ultimately, winning is what matters most not the aesthetics. The Florida Gators got their win Saturday night at The Swamp, but to call the 52-3 beatdown of the Campbell Camels anything more than expected would be sugar coating, something Jon Sumrall refused to do when he addressed the media in the south end zone meeting room of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. “What's on my mind is how do we get this team better because where we are right now is not good enough,” Sumrall said in his suck it up Buttercup tone of voice. “A lot I was not pleased with, to be quite honest with you. Some guys proved maybe in the second half, you get an opportunity to prove people right or wrong, some guys proved us right why they're not playing right now.” There is that old coaching adage the most measurable progress is made from week one to week two. In the case of Florida vs. Campbell, that is a partial truth. Special teams, for example, got a dazzling performance from Vernell Brown III, who had back-to-back punt returns for touchdowns (64 and 70 yards), the first time that’s happened in a Florida game since Jacquez Green pulled it off 30 years ago. Brown’s 219 punt return yards were the second highest total in Southeastern Conference history. Quarterback Aaron Philo completed 16 of his 21 pass attempts for 242 yards and two touchdowns plus he ran for another TD. For the second straight week Jadan Baugh carried the ball 14 times, this time netting 136 yards and two touchdowns. Dallas Wilson caught five passes for 104 yards and a TD. The defense, while still not playing anywhere close to the level Sumrall expects, was better in week two than it was in week one. Campbell was held without a touchdown and just 210 yards. For the most part, the first half was pretty. The not so pretty devolved into a second half in which the Gators had their fair share of shots to the feet as a 45-3 halftime lead gave way to a Murphy's Law 30 minutes in much of what could have gone wrong did go wrong. It started with the first play from scrimmage when Baugh did one of his over, under, around and through jobs for a 42-yard gain to the Campbell 18 only to have it called back when TJ Shanahan was whistled for holding. In the official stat books, that goes down as no play. So, Philo’s 5-yard scramble on what was officially the first play of the second half saw another hankee on the turf, this one for unnecessary roughness and, just like the holding call, charged to Shanahan. “You get to conference play, you're in first-and-25, I might as well get the punt team ready most of the time,” Sumrall said. “Not all the time, but most of the time. Just go ahead and get them at their spot to get ready to take the field.” Well, the Gators did have to punt. Alec Clark made his first appearance of the season and launched a 55-yarder but as Sumrall sees it, that was inevitable after major penalties on consecutive plays. Think of that as an omen of things to come. Aaron Chiles was flagged for roughing the passer on Campell’s first possession of the second half, turning a 13-yard pass play into a 28-yard gain to the 47. That led to an unreturnable punt that gave the Gators starting field position at their own 20. A couple of plays later with a first-and-10 at midfield, Baugh powered his way for a 6-yard gain but Roderick Kearney was called for unnecessary roughness, a 15-yard penalty from the spot of the foul that moved the ball back to the UF 41. Rather than second and four in Campbell territory, it was second and an overnight hike. This time when Florida was forced to punt, Clark saw green grass ahead and tried to leg it out for the 14 yards needed to move the chains. He came up about a half yard short. The Florida defense did a three-and-out to force a Campbell punt but backup returner, freshman Justin Williams, muffed it and Campbell recovered at the Florida 16. A potential score by the Camels was averted when a Campbell player joined in the penalty fun. That 15-yard unnecessary roughness call against John Rodriguez moved the ball back to the limits of placekicker Alex Crabb’s range. He boinked a 36-yard field goal attempt. Something finally went right for the Gators on the ensuing possession. Baugh moved the pile on a 15-yard run, then criss-crossed the field on the next play for a 75-yard TD run that not only put him over the 100-yard mark for the game, but gave the Gators their only score of the second half. In the fourth quarter, backup QB Tramell Jones was charged with an interception when he was blindsided as he attempted to throw. So there you have it. A rather uninspired second half, the kind that drew the consternation of the head coach, who has to prep his team for the SEC opener on the road at Auburn next week. Sumrall didn’t mince words. “We had a couple of holds and a couple of personal fouls,” Sumrall said. “It's really frustrating. Like, that was one of the things I was most pleased with in week one. We had four penalties last week. The first half this week it felt fairly clean. The second half, every time you felt like we had an explosive play, there's another penalty flag, another penalty flag. You can't do that. The Gators can't beat the Gators. When you do that in the games we're getting ready to go play, we will lose the game. I think we will not give ourselves an opportunity to win the game. We have to clean a lot of that up.” Gators beating Gators. It does seem that was what the Gators were doing. And it wasn’t necessarily all about a bad second half. There were opportunities in the first half in which the Gators couldn’t seem to get the running game going. Campbell certainly keyed its defense around stopping Baugh, but the offensive line play wasn’t as crisp as it was the week before. Far too many times linemen didn’t hold their block or failed to get to the second level to create alleys for runners. On Florida’s first offensive play of the game, Philo went deep but instead of a big gainer, the ball fell incomplete because there were two UF receivers within a couple of yards of each other. He overshot on another deep throw later in the half when he scrambled to his right and rushed a throw. The defense gave up 63 yards on Campbell’s first possession of the game, a drive that ended with a field goal, but afterward allowed only 157 yards. It wasn’t a bad performance but could have been, should have been better. Missed tackles were once again an issue. The pass rush generated only two sacks. There were no interceptions and Campbell held the ball for 31:35. Sumrall refused to attribute some of the second half issues to inexperience or youth, essentially calling those excuses. “I expect every player on our team when they get on the team is to play to the standard that is a Florida Gator,” Sumrall said. “I don't care if you're a first, second or third team player, there is a standard here. It's non-negotiable. Doesn't matter how many reps you got in practice, the standard has to be met all the time. I'm not okay with a guy telling me, I'm a freshman or ‘Hey, I only got this many reps in practice.’” As a whole, Sumrall viewed the entire Campbell game as a referendum on accountability. There were indeed some bright spots, but the second half was a blight. This was a bad team the Gators were facing. Campbell is a very average team from a mid-tier level of what used to be called Division I-AA. The Camels might have two or three players on their roster, at best, who could make a Southeastern Conference roster. Winning by 49 points looks good on paper, but Sumrall knows the Gators could have done much better. He also knows that if there isn’t marked improvement in focus and attention to detail next week, the SEC portion of the schedule has a chance to start badly. “While I'm really happy to be 1-0 this week, I'm not real pleased with just maybe where we are from a maturity standpoint, executing at a really high level all the time,” Sumrall said. “What we're about to walk into in conference play, we will get absolutely embarrassed if we don't improve a ton.” No sugar coating necessary. Just the facts. ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC No. 2 Georgia (2-0) 70, Western Kentucky (0-2) 20: Gunner Stockton completed 13-16 of his passes for 234 yards and five touchdowns while the Georgia defense held Western Kentucky to 225 total yards while forcing four turnovers. No. 4 Texas (2-0) 24, No. 1 Ohio State (1-1) 23: The fourth quarter belonged to Arch Manning and Will Muschamp as Texas overcame a 23-3 deficit to stun the No. 1 ranked Buckeyes. Trailing 23-3, Manning led touchdown drives of 91, 72 and 73 yards, tying the game at 23-23 with 25 seconds remaining on a 1-yard run by Hollywood Smothers followed by the game-winning extra point by Gianni Spetic. Muschamp’s defense forced two three-and-outs, held Texas on a third-and-4, and then picked off a pass on the final play of the game. No. 8 LSU (2-0) 45, Louisiana Tech (1-1) 14: LSU scored 35 second half points, overcoming four turnovers, three on interceptions thrown by quarterback Sam Leavitt. The LSU defense registered seven sacks, forced two fumbles and picked off a Louisiana Tech pass. Former Gator Eugene Wilson III caught six passes for 93 yards for LSU. No. 9 Ole Miss (2-0) 41, Charlotte (0-2) 9: Trinidad Chambliss completed 23 of 26 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns while Kewain Lacey ran for 87 yards and two more scores to set up next week’s showdown with LSU in Oxford. No. 10 Texas A&M (2-0) 48, Arizona State (1-1) 20: The Aggies were outgained 369-255 but the defense bailed them out with pick sixes by Marco Jones and Julio Humphrey. Marcel Reed threw three touchdown passes for A&M. Michigan (2-0) 17, No. 11 Oklahoma (1-1) 10: An interception, a lost fumble and nine critical penalties cost Oklahoma a winnable game. The Oklahoma defense gave up only 263 yards and just one lengthy drive, but the offense was the Sooners’ undoing. Except for John Mateer scrambles, Oklahoma couldn’t run the football. No. 12 Alabama (2-0, 1-0 SEC) 45, Kentucky (1-1, 0-1 SEC) 17: Trailing 17-13 at the half, Alabama outscored Kentucky 32-0 in the second half to avoid the upset. Alabama managed only 343 yards, but the Crimson Tide defense held UK to 209 yards, just 63 on the ground. No. 18 Tennessee (2-0) 45, Georgia Tech (0-2) 24: The Vols ran for 299 yards with DeSean Bishop gaining 147 and scoring two touchdowns on 20 carries. The Tennessee defense picked off two Georgia Tech passes while sacking he quarterback four times. Mississippi State (2-0) 38, Minnesota (1-1) 13: Kamario Taylor threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns while running for 86 more for a road win against a Big Ten opponent. The Mississippi State defense held Minnesota to 13 rushing yards. Vanderbilt (2-0) 35, Delaware (1-1) 26: Freshman Jared Curtis didn’t get the start but he had an impressive finish, throwing for 210 yards and a TD while running for two more scores. The Vandy defense had six sacks and two interceptions. South Carolina (2-0) 45, Towson 9: It was ground and pound all game long for the Gamecocks, who ran for 405 yards, 125 from Matt Fuller and 118 by QB LaNorris Sellers. No. 20 Utah (2-0) 43, Arkansas (1-1) 10: The Hogs railed 7-3 after one quarter. That was as close as it got for Arkansas, which struggled to stop Utah’s passing game led by Devon Dampier who threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns. Auburn (2-0) 43, Southern Miss (1-1) 8: Auburn racked up 610 yards of offense, 343 on the ground to dominate Southern Miss. Byrum Brown threw for 223 yards and two touchdowns, plus ran for 88 more.

(Photo by Chris Spears) By Franz Beard GatorBaitMedia.com For those of you who revel in nostalgia, a trip down Memory Lane is most appropriate. Back in 1994, the Gators began the season by hanging 70 or more back-to-back on New Mexico and Southwestern Louisiana (Now Louisiana, the former stomping grounds of the former Gator coach who is now the head honcho at James Madison). From an offensive standpoint, that ranks as the greatest start to a season in Florida football history. A week ago, the Gators scored on 10 of their 11 possessions while lighting up the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium scoreboard for 66 big ones against Florida Atlantic. Saturday (5:30 p.m., SEC Network+), the Gators should light up the Campbell University Fighting Camels for at least 60 for the best back-to-back opening of a season since that 1994 team coached by Steve Spurrier. That Spurrier team scored 538 points in 13 games. A year ago, the former Florida head coach now at James Madison called the plays for an offense that scored 259 points in 12 games. By the time the lights go out at BHG Saturday night – AFTER the game, not BEFORE like those zany Seminoles in Tallahassee – the Gators should be halfway toward last year’s point total in just two games. Everyone will leave the well-lit Swamp raving about the offense and for good reason. Jadan Baugh is the best running back in the country and every time Aaron Philo drops back to pass he has more than one wide open receiver. When you have weapons at your disposal such as Baugh, Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson and an equal number of talented backups the game can resemble a track meet in a hurry. The Campbell defense might end up doing a dandy impersonation of the matadors Florida A&M hired to deal with Miami Thursday night (77-7 Miami win). It is the Florida defense that is the real concern Saturday night. They had a below average effort against Florida Atlantic last Saturday night and if there isn’t significant improvement seen against Campbell, red flags will be flying and alarm bells ringing because nine SEC games loom. There is no excuse for all the missed tackles and DBs essentially giving up dink and dunk passes by playing 10 yards off the FAU receivers. That has to change this week. Something else that has to change is the pressure on the QB. Last week the Gators got occasional pressure on the FAU quarterback. The pass rush has to be relentless from the start. There is no question Florida will win this game by a wide margin. There is no question the offense will light up the Camels (No, this isn’t a TV commercial from the 1960s … “I like to light one up after dinner; helps me to relax!). The question is will the defense show marked improvement. There is that old coaching adage that the most improvement is seen from game one to game two. That needs to be seen on the defensive side of the ball Saturday night. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: Let Jadan Baugh get his 150 yards, Aaron Philo 300 passing yards and turn the defense loose. Florida scores at least 60. THE SEC SOOTHSAYER Today No. 23 Missouri (1-0) at Kansas (1-0): Mizzou beat Kansas by 11 last year in Columbia. The game has been circled on the Kansas calendar ever since. The Jayhawks thought they gave away a game they should have won. Mizzou goes into this one without Ahmad Hardy, still recovering from a gunshot wound this summer. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: Mizzou gets a white knuckles win. Saturday Western Kentucky (0-1) at No. 2 Georgia (1-0): This is dial-a-score. Georgia wasn’t tested in the least last week, won’t be tested this week or next week (at Arkansas). The good news for Georgia is by the time Oklahoma comes to town Kirby Smart will have had a chance to build quality depth. Kirby might be tempted to leave the first team offense in the game longer than usual to help Gunner Stockton’s stats for Heisman purposes. The Sothsayer says Sooth!: Georgia and it will be over by halftime. No. 1 Ohio State (1-0) at No. 4 Texas (1-0): This one has playoff implications down the road and intriguing matchups. There are three Heisman candidates – Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith; Arch Manning for Texas – and a lot of voters for the trophy will be watching intently. Ohio State has former NFL head coach Matt Patricia as its defensive coordinator. Texas has Will Muschamp, as good a defensive coordinator as there is in college football. Everyone left the Horseshoe in Columbus with ulcers last year when Ohio State won 14-7. This year it’s in Austin. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: Arch Manning to Cam Coleman and Muschamp’s pass rush will be the difference for the Longhorns. Louisiana Tech (1-0) at No. 8 LSU (1-0): Now that LSU has backed down from Greg Sankey, suffering national humiliation and scorn, pity who’s next on the Tigers’ agenda. The country cousins from Lousy Tech will feel the wrath of Lane Kiffin in what is going to be dial-a-score for LSU. The Soothsayer Says Sooth!: If Lane Kiffin were to channel his inner B.A. Baracus (The A Team), he would say,”What you don’t realize now is I gonna kill all ya’ll.” Charlotte (0-1) at No. 9 Ole Miss (1-0): As long as Trinidad Chambliss is healthy, Ole Miss is going to score a lot of points. Offense is no problem for the Rebels, but the defense was very shaky against Louisville. The scout team defense could do a good job against Charlotte. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: Ole Miss will lead by five touchdowns at halftime. Arizona State (1-0) at No. 10 Texas A&M (1-0): The first serious game for both teams after opening day cupcakes. Arizona State starts former Kentucky QB Cutter Boley. Expect him to play like this is Kentucky all over again. That Aggie defense is nasty. The offense will score just enough. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: Close for a half then it will be all Aggies. No. 11 Oklahoma (1-0) at Michigan (1-0): Michigan needed a World Cup assist to beat Western Michigan last week. The game was over, but the replay crew gave extra time to the Wolverines so they could execute a Hail Mary pass to win the game. Extra time won’t help Michigan this week against Oklahoma’s smothering defense and a healthy John Mateer. The Sooners are legitimate playoff contenders. Michigan will struggle to find eight wins. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: Oklahoma will make The Big House as quiet as a funeral wake. No. 12 Alabama (1-0, 0-0 SEC) at Kentucky (1-0, 0-0 SEC): Alabama hasn’t lost to Kentucky since 1997 back when Mike Dumbose was the head coach. Kentucky truly believes that streak comes to an end this weekend in Lexington. This could be Kalen DeBoer’s Georgia Southern (remember 2013 Gator Nation?) if Bama somehow loses. Will Muschamp will never be forgiven by Florida fans for that 2013 debacle. Bama fans won’t forgive Kalen DeBoer if he loses. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: Bama will win, but it’s going to be closer than you might think. No. 18 Tennessee (1-0) at Georgia Tech (0-1): Tennessee isn’t as good as it looked in beating Furman in game one. Georgia Tech isn’t as bad as it looked losing to Colorado. The difference is going to be in the running game. Tennessee can grind away and there isn’t anything Georgia Tech can do to stop it. We still won’t know how good Tennessee is when this one is over. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: While in Atlanta, Vol fans should go up to Buckhead for some ribs and rum baked beans at Fat Matt’s, a great place to celebrate a win. Mississippi State (1-0) at Minnesota (1-0): Kamario Taylor looked like the second coming of Dak Prescott last week when Mississippi State steamrolled Lousy Monroe. He won’t put up gaudy stats against Minnesota but he has to have a good game for the Bulldogs to emerge with a win. The Bulldogs have offense, but can the defense neutralize Drake Lindsey, the Minnesota QB? The Soothsayer says Sooth!: Unless the gales of November come early, Mississippi State gets a win over a Big Ten team. Southern Miss (1-0) at Auburn (1-0): After a month of hype about the Alex Golesh offense, the Tigers threw three picks, allowed five sacks and averaged 3.17 yards per carry against Baylor. Only one of those infamous DJ Lagway moments saved Auburn from rising to crashing defeat. No such problems this week. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: If Auburn wins by fewer than 30 points it will be a sign of rough sledding up ahead. Delaware (1-0) at Vanderbilt (1-0): Delaware’s Fighting Blue Hens chose wisely for a paycheck game. Against a really good SEC team it would be over by halftime. Vanderbilt might not pull away until the fourth quarter. This will be the game when true freshman Jared Curtis takes over as the quarterback for both present and future. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: Vandy, but this isn’t the Vandy of last year by any stretch of the imagination. Towson (0-2) at South Carolina (1-0): Gamecock fans should savor this one because there won’t be many wins in the future once the SEC portion of the schedule kicks in. Once the Gamecocks start playing SEC teams, the fan base will turn on Shane Beamer. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: Win No. 2 for South Carolina; there might not be two more wins to be had. Arkansas (1-0) at Utah (1-0): The SEC went 16-0 in the first week of the season. Arkansas might deliver the first loss of the season. The Hogs are bad. Utah is very good. The Soothsayer says Sooth!: Utah by at least two touchdowns. Cut and paste GET YOUR GATORBAIT GEAR TODAY! CLICK THE LINK BELOW https://gatorbait2026.itemorder.com/shop/home/

Chris Spears Photo Campbell runs an offense in the same mold as FAU — lots of plays, ball out fast — so don’t be surprised if the stat sheet looks similar by the final whistle. Don’t panic over it. By Eddie Gilley GatorBaitMedia.com While Campbell arrived at the Swamp on Saturday, and Auburn was hosting Southern Miss, awaiting Florida next Saturday at Jordan-Hare — the Gators’ first trip there since 2011. Before we get to what’s ahead, the outrage over the defense in last week’s 66-21 win over Florida Atlantic deserves a second look, because the numbers tell a calmer story than the reaction did. Imagine the volume of that scrutiny if the FAU Owls had connected on their opening play, a double pass with the downfield receiver open by 30 yards. It fell harmlessly incomplete, saved by hustling linebackers — and maybe the defensive back who blew the coverage in the first place. The actual numbers: Florida allowed 25 first downs, 120 rushing yards on 37 carries, 276 passing yards on 53 attempts, and three touchdowns. FAU ran 90 plays for 396 total yards, converted 11 of 22 third downs and 4 of 7 fourth downs, and punted just three times. The defense answered with two interceptions and a fumble recovery. Context matters. FAU returned its coaching staff and starting quarterback from a team that averaged 29.5 points and 444.7 yards per game a year ago — over 340 passing yards and 2.3 touchdown throws a game, plus 104.5 rushing yards and 24.7 first downs. Measured against that baseline, the defense actually improved in every category except yards allowed on the ground. An experienced quarterback and a staff with a full offseason to prepare made for a stiff opener against new coaches and new faces — hardly a fair measuring stick on its own. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to fix. The corners played so far off that FAU’s receivers looked wide open on out routes all night, as if every wideout was the next Ja’Marr Chase. But at least backs weren’t trailing receivers by three yards the way they did too often last season. The pass rush didn’t pile up sacks, but that’s partly because FAU let the ball go the instant its quarterback’s back foot hit the ground. Steve Spurrier used to say there’s no excuse for getting sacked if you throw on time — and FAU threw on time all night, even against tight coverage. Linebacker play by UF was the clearest sign of progress. Myles Graham led the team in tackles, not a safety, as was too often the case last season. The new scheme squeezed the run game back to the middle of the field, right into the lane Graham and Aaron Chiles now own. Which brings us to Campbell and beyond. The real evaluation starts next week at Auburn, where this defense opens SEC play on the road for the first time in this series since 2011. Jon Sumrall’s mantra is going 1-0 every week, and that goes for the defense too — only the next game matters. If FAU struggles against the rest of its schedule the way its stats suggest it should, this outing will look even better in hindsight. And if the defense plays like a group of beasts in Jordan-Hare, nobody will remember week one’s raw numbers at all. Give this group a few more weeks before deciding whether it’s average, good, or great.