A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: ANY IDEAS WHAT DAN MULLEN CAME UP WITH FOR GEORGIA DURING THE BYE WEEK? While pondering what sort of game plan Dan Mullen could come up with that could catch No. 1 Georgia off guard next weekend in Jacksonville, I thought back to Florida’s 38-20 ambush of then No. 9 Georgia in 2014. Georgia came into that game 6-1 and on a 5-game winning streak while the Gators were 3-3, having lost two in a row, the second a 42-13 waxing at the hands of Missouri. The situation looked grim for UF because Jeff Driskel was having a dreadful game throwing the ball (7-19 for 50 yards and two picks against Mizzou) and UF was going to turn things over to freshman Treon Harris, who came into the Georgia game having thrown all of 18 passes all year. Complicating matters was UF hadn’t run the ball well since opening wins over Eastern Michigan and a bad Kentucky team. Georgia, meanwhile, was giving up only 105 rushing yards per game and was among the national leaders in interceptions. What Georgia didn’t expect was for the Gators to go retro Dickey years, which is to say line up, run the ball and throw only when necessary. Harris threw only six passes the entire game, completing three for 27 yards. The rest of the time, the Gators just lineup and ran the ball. Florida threw only one second half pass, a 2-yard screen from Harris to Brandon Powell. Kelvin Taylor ran for 197 yards and two touchdowns and Matt Jones ran for 192 and two more. Nobody expected Florida to win much less run the ball on that Georgia defense. The Gators had a simple game plan and stuck with it, finishing the day with 418 rushing yards, to give Will Muschamp the only win he got over Georgia in four years as the UF coach. Nobody expects Florida to beat Georgia in Jacksonville next week. In fact, nobody is giving the Gators a chance. Nobody gave UF a chance in 2014 either. Just saying. THE SEC SOOTHSAYER Tennessee (4-2, 2-2 SEC) at No. 4 Alabama (6-1, 3-1 SEC): The worst possible thing that could have happened to the rest of the Southeastern Conference was Texas A&M beating Alabama in College Station a couple of weeks ago. All that did was make Nick Saban mad and when Nick gets mad, his assistant coaches become unbearable and the team then takes out their collective frustrations on whoever Alabama plays next. In this case it was Mississippi State, whose offensive line did a dandy imitation of a sieve and gave up seven sacks. MSU also turned the ball over four times. Seven sacks and four turnovers equals a 40-point poleaxing. That was in Starkville. Alabama gets Tennessee in Tuscaloosa Saturday night and you can bet the farm that Nick hasn’t eased up on his team one iota. If anything, beating Mississippi State by 40 will only make Nick push harder to make an even bigger statement against the Vols. Meanwhile, Tennessee arrives in Tuscaloosa after (a) having lost to Ole Miss and (b) embarrassed that it has the most classless fans in all of college football. The Vols also arrive not knowing if Hendon Hooker will be able to answer the bell at quarterback. Hooker can’t beat Alabama but he at least gives the Vols a better chance to score some points than Joe Milton III. If Milton starts and Hooker can’t go, then this will be far worse than the 25 points that Vegas favors Alabama. The Sayer says sooth: Alabama 49, Tennessee 14 LSU (4-3, 2-2 SEC) at No. 12 Ole Miss (5-1, 2-1 SEC): Right now, the question of the day involves Ole Miss QB Matt Corral. He took a severe beating in last week’s win over Tennessee and as of Thursday night, his status for LSU was unknown. Corral is a gamer and it might take needing 200 stitches because of a chainsaw injury for him to miss this game, but in the event he can play don’t be surprised if Lane Kiffin starts John Rhys Plumlee. Plumlee will never be confused for Corral when it comes to throwing the football, but there are few who can run like he can. In case you forgot, two years ago in the 2019 BK (Before Kiffin), Plumlee ran for 1,023 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was an adequate but not great passer, but if he comes in to play QB Saturday against LSU, it won’t be to chunk it down the field but to run. Is there any way LSU could be adequately prepared for an offense that picks up big plays downfield in the passing game and a run-first option offense? And then there is the matter of Tyrion Price-Davis, the LSU running back who gashed Florida for 287 yards last week. Is there any way the Ole Miss defense, which is giving up nearly 200 yards per game on the ground, can be prepared for that counter trap play that makes Price-Davis so effective? Las Vegas must think Corral is going to be healthy enough to play and be effective because Ole Miss is favored by nine. The Sayer says sooth: Ole Miss 42, LSU 35 South Carolina (4-3, 1-3 SEC) at No. 17 Texas A&M (5-2, 2-2 SEC): In three SEC losses, South Carolina has allowed an average of 223 rushing yards per game. The Gamecocks better brace themselves because Saturday night at Kyle Field they can expect Texas A&M to try to line up and knock them off the football from the time the game begins until it ends. Isaiah Spiller and Devon Arcane will probably get 20 carries apiece as Jimbo Fisher continues to play it safe with quarterback Zach Calzada, who may not throw more than 20 passes. South Carolina, meanwhile, will start former graduate assistant and North Dakota State transfer Zeb Noland, who is 2-0 as a starter and 1-0 in relief. It’s understandable why Shane Beamer went with Luke Doty most of the year because Noland will use up his eligibility, but the Gamecocks are a better offensive team with Noland, who is averaging 8.8 yards per attempt and has six TDPs against only a single interception. The Aggies are favored to win by 18.5 points. The Sayer says sooth: Texas A&M 35, South Carolina 7 Mississippi State (3-3, 1-2 SEC) at Vanderbilt (2-5, 0-3 SEC): Mike Leach will find out a lot about the Bulldogs Saturday afternoon in Nashville. The Bulldogs were waylaid by 40 points by Alabama last week, the kind of serious beatdown that can linger with a team long after. Leach will find out how resilient the Bulldogs are against Vanderbilt, which snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the last minute of the game last week at South Carolina. The Bulldogs need three more wins to be bowl eligible and this is the easiest of the six remaining games so they can’t afford a slip-up. Ken Seals was injured last week so the Commodores are going to start Mike Wright at quarterback. He’s not the passing threat that Seals is, but he is more mobile and adds a running dimension to the Vanderbilt attack. Will that be enough to give Vanderbilt enough of an edge to get their first SEC win since beating Missouri in 2019? Las Vegas likes Mississippi State by 20.5 points. The Sayer says sooth: Mississippi State 38, Vanderbilt 14 Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-5) at Arkansas (4-3, 1-3 SEC): After three weeks of seeing his defense brutalized by Georgia, Ole Miss and Auburn, Sam Pittman has to be ecstatic at a game where he can (a) get a win and (b) rest up some of his banged up troops before the final four games. The Razorbacks will need every healthy body they can because after this win – it’s not going to be close – Arkansas will be one game away from bowl-eligible. That in itself is a small miracle. Who would have thought Arkansas could be going to a bowl game within two years after the Chad Morris debacle? The Sayer says sooth: Arkansas 55, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 7 SEVEN OTHER GAMES TO FOLLOW CLOSELY THIS WEEKEND Wisconsin (3-3) at No. 25 Purdue (4-2): Thanks to their win over Iowa last week, Purdue owns the tiebreaker in the Big Ten West. Avoiding the letdown against Wisconsin, which turns the ball over at an alarming rate, is critical. Wisconsin is favored by 3.5 points on the road, which means Vegas is counting on a letdown. No. 8 Oklahoma State (6-0) at Iowa State (4-2): Wasn’t it just yesterday that everyone had Iowa State penciled in as a College Football Playoff contender and Oklahoma State finish middle of the pack in the Big 12? Iowa State is out of the playoff picture but not out of Big 12 championship contention. The Cyclones are favored to win by seven but they’ll lose if they can’t contain Jaylen Warren, one of the best backs you’ve never heard of. No. 10 Oregon (5-1) at UCLA (5-2): For Oregon to win this game and hold onto the remote hope that it can somehow make the College Football Playoff, the Ducks are going to have to run the ball against a UCLA front that ranks ninth nationally in rush defense. UCLA is a 1-point favorite and with a win becomes bowl-eligible for the first time in Chip Kelly’s four years on the job. No. 22 San Diego State (6-0) at Air Force (6-1): The Aztecs lead the nation in rush defense (60.83 yards per game). Saturday they go against Air Force, which leads the nation in rushing at 336.43 yards per game. The old irresistible force meets the old immovable object trick, the oldest one in the book. Air Force is favored by three to end San Diego State’s dreams of an unbeaten season. No. 18 North Carolina State (5-1) at Miami (2-4): The Hurricanes aren’t very good and North Carolina State thinks its better than No. 18 nationally. If Devin Leary (15 TDPs) doesn’t eat up the Hurricanes then Zonovan Knight (503 rushing yards) will. North Carolina State is a 3.5-point favorite. It feels like that’s not enough. UMass (1-5) at Florida State (2-4): UMass puts its 1-game winning streak on the line against the Seminoles, who have won two in a row. FSU is favored by 35.5 points which means Seminole fans will be claiming the dynasty will be back sooner and not later. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Jeremy Pruitt’s scorched earth threat against Tennessee remains a hot topic up in Knoxville. Pruitt demanding $12 million or he will air all of the dirty laundry in the entire UT athletic department is nothing more than extortion and it puts Tennessee in a box. If the Vols pay Pruitt anything it’s an admission that they’re guilty as sin which means the NCAA will move in and do a scorched earth of its own. If the Vols don’t pay anything and Pruitt actually has legitimate evidence that the entire UT athletic department is corrupt, then Tennessee loses again. No matter what happens here, Tennessee is going to recover. As for Pruitt, he’s nothing more than a roach who should have stayed hidden beneath the kitchen sink. By going public with his grievance, he effectively ended any chance he will ever have to coach college football again. If he and his attorney had functioning brains, they would have privately sent a few shreds of evidence and told the UT lawyers there is plenty more where that come from, so pony up.

This will no doubt be easily a double-digit line, at least 14 points in my estimation, so just another punch in the gut to Gator fans who harbored some high hopes following an encouraging loss to Alabama earlier in the season. By CARLTON THE DOORMAN AS TOLD TO CARLTON REESE Dan Mullen has had two weeks to come up with a masterful game plan for Georgia that will make fans temporarily forget the debacles in Lexington and Baton Rouge. According to Carlton the Doorman’s system, the numbers put Georgia winning by 37 points, so that means there is no way on God’s creation the Vegas bookmakers will give Florida enough points to lure a bet in its direction. This will no doubt be easily a double-digit line, at least 14 points in my estimation, so just another punch in the gut to Gator fans who harbored some high hopes following an encouraging loss to Alabama earlier in the season. No doubt, nearly all Gator fans have given up on this team which has no shot at any kind of championship; but remember, this is college football and bizarre things happen when you least expect it. How many times have we witnessed a team lay an egg, be thrown in the dumpster only to regroup and shock everyone the next week? That’s where Florida stands at the moment. No one believes in them, least of all Georgia, which is yet to be challenged. This could all work in Florida’s advantage. Can Georgia possibly respect Florida after what has transpired in the month of October? Of course not! This could turn the Gators into a sleeping giant of sorts, the caged animal that was LSU when Florida fell there last week. I remember the 2014 team coached by Will Muschamp and how it had zero chance against a top-10 Bulldogs squad. Florida was coming off back-to-back embarrassing defeats to LSU and Missouri while Georgia was riding a 5-game winning streak and seemingly headed to Atlanta. Then, out of nowhere appeared a gashing Florida running game and the Gators pounded Georgia. In 2014, Georgia didn’t know what hit them and no one was more shocked than Gator fans. It’s college football and nothing should shock anyone. And what of this week? The Doorman is feeling better after his home dog picks went 4-2 last week and trends are looking good. Home dogs he likes this week are Washington State plus 3.5 over BYU and Purdue plus 3 over Wisconsin. Road dog picks which had been a bust most of the year went 3-0 last week and a getting a closer look today. For this weekend, those games would include Temple plus 2.5 over South Florida, Kansas State plus 1 over Texas Tech and Oklahoma State plus 7 over Iowa State. This week’s games according to Carlton the Doorman: SEC: Ole Miss by 19 over LSU, Mississippi State by 32.5 over Vanderbilt, Alabama by 34 over Tennessee, Texas A&M by 38 over South Carolina Others: Florida State by 34 over Massachusetts, Virginia Tech by 2 over Syracuse, Pitt by 13 over Clemson, Oklahoma State by 0.5 over Iowa State, Utah by 10 over Oregon State, UCLA by 6 over Oregon, Notre Dame by 17.5 over USC, Central Florida by 7.5 over Memphis, Temple by 1 over South Florida, Florida Atlantic by 7.5 over Charlotte, Western Kentucky by 24.5 over Florida International. Carlton the Doorman’s ratings: SEC- 1. Georgia (131.5) 2. Alabama (124.5) 3. Ole Miss (92.5) 4. Auburn (90.5) 5. Texas A&M (85.5) 6. Kentucky (69) 7. Arkansas (66.5) 8. Tennessee (63) 9. LSU (60.5) 10. Florida (57) 11. Mississippi State (57) 12. Missouri (21) 13. South Carolina (16) 14. Vanderbilt (-14.5) National- 1. Georgia (131.5) 2. Alabama (124.5) 3. Ohio State (119) 4. Cincinnati (113.5) 5. Oklahoma (108.5) 6. Penn State (102) 7. Pittsburgh (93.5) 8. Ole Miss (92.5) 9. Auburn (90.5) 10. Iowa (88.5)

Down 13-0 to Georgia in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 8, 2018, the Alabama Crimson Tide needed a spark if they wanted to hoist the CFP National Championship Trophy later that night. And while I’m sure Nick Saban would call it anything but an easy call, he knew it was a decision he had to make. And just like that, Jalen Hurts, who piloted the Alabama offense to yet another wildly successful regular season after leading the Crimson Tide to the national championship game the season prior, was benched. At one point, Hurts was a Heisman hopeful and was regarded as a shoo-in as a National-Championship-winning-quarterback-to-be. But all of that changed mid-game at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta on that January night. For Saban, the options were clear as day: Stay loyal to the quarterback that led you to the national championship game at the expense of losing the championship game, or play the talented freshman quarterback that has backed him up all season and see what happens. Being the competitor Saban is, he was willing to do anything to beat the Bulldogs that night. Even if it meant closing the door on Jalen Hurts’ storied career at Alabama. And we all know what happened next. The Tua Tagovailoa-led Crimson Tide went on to win the national championship in overtime, Jalen Hurts went on to transfer to Oklahoma and have a successful career under Lincoln Riley. And the rest is history. But that’s part of what makes Saban so successful: He will do anything to win, even if it means potentially hurting someone’s feelings. And if that’s the case and Saban is the standard when it comes to college football coaching, then Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen has a long way to go. The Florida Gators’ fan base is up in arms after Florida picked up its third loss of the season to the LSU Tigers, whose program, as we learned, was in shambles as one of Ed Orgeron’s feet was already out the door. To call it an inexcusable loss is an understatement. However, it provides us with a unique opportunity to see if Mullen is truly fit to be a head coach at a football program with high expectations. Because in order to prove he’s meant to be at the helm of Florida’s program, it appears that he’s going to have to make some decisions that might upset people. And, as most know, there’s two big ones: Who to start at quarterback and what to do with Todd Grantham. Mullen has always been loyal to his people. After leaving Mississippi State to take the gig in Gainesville, he brought a majority of his assistants with him -- including Todd Grantham, his defensive coordinator in both Starkville and in Gainesville. Since Grantham’s first season at Florida, the 55-year-old Virginia native has been a whipping post for criticism. “Third and Grantham” is now a household phrase that Florida fans use to mock Grantham’s questionable play calls on third down. And after the Florida defense gave up 458 yards to a less-than-impressive LSU offense last weekend, surely Gators fans were using more words to mock Florida’s defensive coordinator. Following Saturday’s loss in Baton Rouge, which is Florida’s second-straight loss to LSU, Florida linebacker Mohamoud Diabate was asked about his thoughts on the defensive scheme. And his comments, without saying too much, said everything. “I’m confident in my teammates to play hard,” Diabate said. “I’m confident in my teammates.” Later in the presser, Diabate was asked about his thoughts on the defense’s adjustments. “We made the adjustments we were given to make,” he said, adding that LSU maintained a similar offensive look all game. While Diabate’s comments can be interpreted a number of different ways, reading between the lines and assuming that Grantham’s own players have their doubts about him isn’t a hard conclusion to come to. And losing the locker room is the worst loss a program can take. And second to that loss, is losing winnable ball games because the best 11 guys aren’t on the field. However, there’s a lot more grey area with this one. Florida’s quarterback position has been referred to as a “situation” all season long. While there hasn’t been a flatout quarterback competition, there’s been enough controversy to go around. Despite being Dan Mullen’s first quarterback recruit at Florida, Emory Jones hasn’t developed the way many hoped he would. After playing behind Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask, Jones was slated to be the next one in line and be spit shined to Mullen’s liking. Instead, Jones has many of Florida’s fans clamoring for him to be benched to give way for Anthony Richardson to become the Gators’ starter. And honestly, maybe that’s exactly what needs to happen. And here’s why: After seeing what we’ve seen from redshirt freshman Anthony Richardson, it appears as though his ceiling is much higher and Jones’. Is Richardson ready to be thrown into the SEC? Probably not. However, by not starting him, or at least giving him a fair shot at the starting job, do you risk Richardson transferring? Absolutely. Between his size, athleticism and raw arm talent, Richardson is worth salivating over. And without a doubt, college coaches from around the country are doing just that -- including Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, who stirred the pot by retweeting some of Richardson’s tweets last weekend. Fortunately for Gators’ fans, being a local kid, Richardson wants to stay in Gainesville. But does he want to do it at the expense of the play time he arguably deserves? Not in this business. He can’t afford to. But all of this boils down to the ever-loyal Dan Mullen making a hard decision. Emory Jones was the first quarterback Mullen called when he took the Florida job, flipping Jones from Ohio State and missing out on current Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corrall. And Jones has done everything the right way. He’s waited his turn and has been loyal to Mullen in return. But eventually head coaches need to step up and be head coaches -- which means making head coaching decisions. And sometimes that means upsetting someone -- whether that someone is an assistant coach you’ve been with for much of your head coaching career, or a 20-something-year-old kid who you convinced to come to Florida to play for you. Nice guys finish last. And Nick Saban has never finished last.

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: SHOOTING FROM THE HIP ON A THURSDAY At least 50,000 pseudo assistant coaches have opined this week that Dan Mullen needs to be fired as Florida’s head football coach. The top ten reasons texted me are: (1) He’s not listening to the many thousands of experts who know more football than he does; (2) he has yet to fire defensive coordinator Todd Grantham; (3) he hasn’t announced that Anthony Richardson will be the starting quarterback; (4) some people not named Dan Mullen said that Emory Jones took the bulk of the Tuesday practice snaps (not true); (5) Mullen is too smug and too arrogant to care about recruiting; (6) Mullen is content to win 7-8 games a year like he did at Mississippi State; (7) he hasn’t fired John Hevesy as the offensive line coach; (8) he’s so loyal to assistants that he would rather lose football games than fire one; (9) he’s not willing to play his best football players; and (10) he would rather be coaching in the National Football League than at the University of Florida. I’ll sum up my response in six short paragraphs. First and foremost, Dan Mullen is going to be the football coach at the University of Florida next year. You can take that to the bank. Second, I’m probably 99.999 percent certain that Todd Grantham will not be the defensive coordinator at UF next year. I believe Grantham knew coming into this year that there could be no hiccups and the improvement had to be substantial. The LSU game, I believe was the last straw. He knows the gig is up and it’s a matter of when not if. Third, I believe Dan knows fully well that Anthony Richardson and not Emory Jones is not only the future of Florida football but the kind of talent who can lead the Gators to championships. I believe he would already be the starter if not for the hamstring injury. I think what we saw in the second half of the LSU game was a changing of the guard. Fourth, I believe there will be staff changes beyond Grantham. A new defensive coordinator will want to bring in his own guys but I believe there will be emphasis on bringing in better recruiters. A lot of people think Hevesy should be gone because he’s not a great recruiter, but back in 2006-07 when Meyer had it going, his best two recruiters were Charlie Strong and Greg Mattison, both defensive guys. Without Strong, the Gators don’t get the Pouncey twins. Without Mattison there is no Tebow. Just three minor little details. There were more. Fifth, finding the right staff is an art form. Not everyone is Nick Saban, who can turn over the bulk of his staff yearly without any change in results. Urban Meyer had it going in a big way at Florida until 2010 when he made some bad hires. Dan Mullen needs to make sure these next hires are the right fit, both for on the field coaching and for recruiting. Finally, the new standalone football facility will cover a lot of recruiting sins and issues. OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC Alabama (5-1, 3-1 SEC): Linebacker Drew Sanders is doubtful for Tennessee while defensive lineman Byron Young is practicing this week and should play. Arkansas (4-3, 1-3 SEC): Tight end Trey Knox is expected to return to the lineup Saturday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff but defensive tackle Markell Utsey and offensive lineman Dalton Wagner are expected to miss the game.” Auburn (5-2, 2-1 SEC): Thanks to the bye week, Auburn is hopeful injured linebacker Owen Pappoe will be available when the Tigers play Ole Miss October 30. Basketball: Allen Flanigan’s rehab of a torn Achilles is on schedule. He could be available by mid-December per Bruce Pearl. Georgia (7-0, 5-0 SEC): Kirby Smart says it doesn’t really matter who Florida starts at QB because Georgia will prepare for both. “I don’t control who starts,” Smart said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference. “We’ll have a plan for both.” Basketball: Georgia’s top returning player, forward P.J. Horne, has injured a knee and will miss the 2021-22 season. Kentucky (6-1, 4-1 SEC): The open date came at an ideal time for HBC Mark Stoops, who said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference, “It’s been a tough grind here for a little bit, so we welcome the bye week to try to heal up a little bit and to try to focus on ourself.” Basketball: John Calipari says the joy has returned to coaching. “I’m having a ball every day I walk in, because I have a bunch of guys who want to be coached,” Calipari said, adding, “We have not had a bad practice.” LSU (4-3, 2-2 SEC): On the SEC Coaches Teleconference, Coach Oeaux said he will coach until the end of the season because, “I wanted to finish it out. Our AD wanted me to finish it out.” Basketball: Illinois transfer guard Adam Miller will miss the entire season with a torn ACL. Mississippi State (3-3, 1-2 SEC): Mike Leach says Vanderbilt’s experience on defense concerns him. “We’re a pretty young team, probably the youngest in the conference,” Leach said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference. “They’ve probably got some experience on us.” Missouri (3-4, 0-3 SEC): Wide receiver Jay Maclin has placed his name in the NCAA transfer portal. Ole Miss (5-1, 2-1 SEC): On the SEC Coaches Teleconference, Lane Kiffin says LSU presents a lot of challenges. “We’re going to have to be very creative to win this game,” Kiffin said. South Carolina (4-3, 1-3 SEC): HBC Shane Beamer is wary of Texas A&M starting quarterback Zach Calzada. “He’s a guy we can’t let get comfortable on Saturday night,” Beamer said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference. Tennessee (4-3, 2-2 SEC): Basketball coach Rick Barnes took offense with former UT football coach Jeremy Pruitt’s scorched earth threat of a lawsuit that mentions Barnes. Speaking to Chris Low of ESPN, Barnes said, “I would invite the NCAA to come in any day of the week and investigate our program. I have too much respect for our players, our school and our administration for somebody to ever think we were not doing things right here and make such ridiculous statements. Jeremy is not here because of the decisions he made and the way he led his program. Here is what I know: Our university has done everything it possibly can in working with the NCAA to clean up the mess he left behind and bring this to closure.” Texas A&M (5-2, 2-2 SEC): The Aggies are 21-point favorites against South Carolina Saturday, but Jimbo Fisher says the Aggies are fighting the urge to take the Gamecocks lightly. “Human nature is to want to relax,” Fisher said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference. “As a coach, that’s something you have to fight against constantly.” Vanderbilt (2-5, 0-3 SEC): To put things in perspective about James Franklin’s three seasons at Vanderbilt in which the Commodores won 11 SEC games in three years, they’ve only won 10 SEC games total in the eight years since. AS AN ADDED BONUS … UF BASEBALL/SOFTBALL RECRUITING UPDATES Baseball: The 2022 recruiting class isn’t going to be No. 1 nationally like the one Kevin O’Sullivan brought in for 2021, but it will be very solid. The 2023 class has a chance to move very high up the rankings. 2022: Luke Heyman C (6-3, 205, Longwood, FL Lake Brantley); Xavier Isaac 1B (6-4, 240, Kernersville, GA East Forsyth); Yoel Tejada Jr. 1B (6-6, 205, Davie, FL North Broward Prep); Cade Fisher LHP (6-4, 187, Dalton, GA Northwest Whitfield County); Jake Clemente RHP (6-4, 210, Coral Springs, FL Majory Stoneman Douglas); Blaydon Plain 1B (6-5, 195, Greenville, FL Madison County); William Ross RHP (6-8, 245, Winter Garden, FL West Orange); Chris Arroyo OF (6-2, 215, Coral Springs, FL Marjory Stoneman Douglas); Salvador Alvarez C (5-10, 175, Miami, FL/Montverde, FL Montverde Academy); Erik Blair OF (5-11, 185, Fort Lauderdale, FL Calvary Christian); Landon Moran 1B (6-2, 185, Altamonte Springs, FL Lake Brantley) Perfect Game gives Heyman a 10 rating which means he’s got first round draft potential ... Also with a 10 is Isaac, who hits with power to all fields ... Tejada has real power and a 93 mph fast ball, plus a 10 rating by PG ... Fisher throws in the low 90s with a lethal slider ... Clemente is a power pitcher whose fast ball has topped at 93 … Plain is a corner infielder and has a 92 mph fast ball when he pitches ... Ross throws low 90s but with his size is expected to add some velocity ... Arroyo is a lefty pitcher/outfielder, expected to play primarily in the outfield ... Alvarez is an excellent defensive catcher and spray hitter. Blair is another lefty OF/pitcher who throws in the low 90s ... Moran is a lefty hitter whose power is expected to increase as his frame fills out. 2023: Christian Rodriguez OF (5-111, 181, Coral Springs, FL Marjory Stoneman Douglas); Cade Kurland (5-11, 185, Tampa, FL Berkeley Prep); Stone Russell SS (6-1, 195, Bradenton, FL IMG Academy); Luke McNellie RHP (6-3, 165, Milton, FL); Grayson Smith (6-3, 195, Rocky Face, GA McCallie School); Liam Peterson RHP (6-4, 190, Palm Harbor, FL Calvary Christian); Alex Philpott RHP (6-4, 170, Tampa, FL Strawberry Crest); Jacob Gomberg LHP (5-10, 160, Coral Springs, FL Marjory Stoneman Douglas); Sammy Mummau SS (5-11, 170, Palm Harbor, FL University); Reilly Witmer RHP (6-3, 210, Naples, FL); Hayden Yost (6-0, 165, Tampa, FL Sickles) Rodriguez has a 95 mph fast ball and is a contact hitter who drives the ball in the gaps ... Kurland is a middle infielder with great range who hits line drives to all fields ... Russell probably moves to third base, big time power hitter ... McNellie throws 93 and that should increase as he fills out a very skinny frame ... Smith throws very hard with a lethal changeup ... Peterson throws low 90s ... Philpott will climb the charts as he fills out his 6-5, 170-pound frame ... Gomberg is a small lefty with a 90 mph fast ball ... Mummau is a line drive hitting middle infielders, who probably settles in at second base ... Witmer throws in the low 90s and pulls the ball with power ... Yost probably moves to the outfield at the next level to take advantage of his defense and big arm. Softball: Tim Walton will be adding four very impressive recruits when the November signing period opens. His 2023 class is already being considered one of the best ever assembled. 2022: Kaila Pollard SS/2B/CF (Riverside, CA King); Samantha Roe C/1B (Niceville, FL); Olivia Gigante P/1B; Jenny-Lynn Johnson SS/OF (Murrell’s Inlet, SC St. James) Roe is the No. 1 recruit in the country while Pollard is either No. 2 or No. 3 depending on whose rankings you trust. Roe committed to UF as a 8th-grader. She is a line drive hitter who hits for average and has a big arm behind the plate. Pollard is a 5-tool athlete who hits lefty with serious power and a .610 average last year ... Gigante is an elite power hitter who hit 16 out of the yard last year ... Johnson committed to UF as an 8th-grader when she was living in Trenton. She is a slap hitter with elite speed (34 stolen bases). 2023: Keagan Rothrock P (Indianapolis, IN Roncalli); Mia Williams SS/3B (Windemere, FL Windemere Prep); Ariel Kowalewski C/P/3B (Fort Bend, TX Travis); Alyssa Hovermale 3B/SS (Norco, CA); Ava Brown P/1B (Montgomery, TX Lake Creek); Cassidy McLellan OF (Bradenton, FL Lakewood Ranch) Rothrock, Williams and Brown are the top three players in the country. Rothrock throws harder than Kelly Barnhill and she can field a bunt. She’s a member of the USA under-18 World Cup team ... Williams is the daughter of former UF basketball player Jason Williams. She hits with power to all fields, runs like a deer and has a gold glove ... Brown hit 17 home runs last spring and was 16-0 as a pitcher ... Hovermale’s dad is her coach. She’s a travel ball teammate of Pollard, capable of playing all the infield positions and a spray hitter with exceptional speed ... Kowaleski is the top catcher in the country for 2023 who is a gap hitter for average and a better than average pitcher ... McLellan is a slapper in the style of Kelcey Stewart and probably the fastest player Walton has recruited since Michelle Moultrie. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: As expected, former Washington State coach Nick Rolovich has hired an attorney to sue the school now that he has been fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds. Washington State has fired Rolovich for cause which means the university isn’t planning to pay the $9 million remaining on his contract. Rolovich is a devout Catholic and while the Catholic church has not forbidden any of its members from getting a vaccine, it’s believed that the coach is refusing because aborted fetal tissue is used in the making of the vaccine. I’m a Christian and I’m vaccinated, but I understand the deep held beliefs of others. I’m also not a lawyer but I have read the Constitution and it seems to me that if it’s Constitutional to refuse to serve in the military on religious grounds, the same standard should apply to the vaccine.

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: THINKING OUT LOUD ON A WEDNESDAY Bells, whistles and brand new buildings do matter when it comes to recruiting … : Oregon fired a shot across the bow of any ship that wishes to land Mario Cristobal as its next head coach Tuesday when it detailed plans to build a brand new 130,000 square foot indoor practice facility that will replace the state-of-the-art building that currently exists. A 40,000 square foot connector building will be added to this project that goes from the outdoor practice fields to the football operations center. You can translate this to mean Uncle Phil will cash however much Nike stock he needs to make sure Mario doesn’t go traipsing off to Southern Cal, LSU or Miami. Oregon will keep Mario, at least as long as he’s winning, but there is a deeper intent of this building and that is to make sure Oregon continues to outrecruit everyone for the best prospects on the west coast. Now transport your thoughts from Oregon to Gainesville where Florida is in the final stages of construction on a stand-alone football facility that is years overdue. Whether you wish to admit it or not, Dan Mullen has been recruiting with his hands tied behind his back. It was the same at Mississippi State where facilities handicapped his recruiting efforts. This isn’t like it was in the 1990s when Florida, Florida State and Miami were landing top classes every year. Nowadays, you can’t get that thing if you don’t have the bling and Florida hasn’t had the bling. Recruiting is going to change for the better at UF because of the new facility. Some of you might think that is the “sunshine pumper” in me, but it is a fact. Florida’s facilities are only now beginning to emerge from the stone age mentality “it’s Florida, we don’t need great facilities and we’re not going to get into an arms race” of the pre-Scott Stricklin years. Sticklin gets it. There is an arms race and you either join it or fall way behind. Since Florida’s last national championship in 2008, there have been six SEC championships won by Alabama and one each by Auburn and LSU. All three have better football facilities than UF. You will also find better football facilities at South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Georgia and Arkansas. That Florida’s lack of facilities has seriously harmed recruiting is not an excuse. It’s reality. I grind my teeth every time I think that Derrick Henry went to Alabama …: I remember watching Derrick Henry run for more than 200 yards as a junior for Yulee in a playoff loss to Trinity Catholic. Although Trinity Catholic won the game, Henry was a man among boys and thought by some on the Florida coaching staff to be too big (6-3, 240) to play running back in college. Florida’s staff thought Henry would make a dandy defensive end or outside linebacker. Nick Saban obviously thought Henry would be a fine running back, which is why Henry snubbed the Gators and signed with Alabama. His 3-year Alabama career rushing totals were 3,591 yards for 42 touchdowns. When he won the Heisman Trophy while leading Alabama to the 2015 national championship, Henry ran for 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns. So much for being too big to play. In 5-plus seasons in the NFL, Henry has already run for 6,643 yards and 65 touchdowns. He’s already being touted as a future Pro Football Hall of Fame lock. I grind my teeth every time I look at Henry’s career because after talking to him that night in Ocala, he made it quite clear that he had grown up a Gator fan. More tooth grinding … : One year later, Dalvin Cook was committed to the Gators up until December 31 when he decommitted UF and then committed to Florida State. This one is easier to understand than the whiff on Henry since FSU won the 2013 national championship and had Heisman Trophy QB Jameis Winston coming back. Florida, meanwhile, lost to Georgia Southern that year and the prospects for Will Muschamp keeping his job beyond the 2014 season seemed rather bleak. FSU didn’t win another national championship but Cook put together three consecutive seasons with more than 1,000 yards, finishing his collegiate career with 4,464 yards and 46 touchdowns. In the NFL he’s gained 4,027 yards while running for 35 touchdowns. He’s made the Pro Bowl twice. When he decommitted Florida, it was a 9-inch stiletto into Muschamp’s career. Jeremy Pruitt’s lawyer is threatening Tennessee … : The lawyer for former Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt has given UT until October 29 to pay buyout money from when he was fired or else a lawsuit will be filed. KnoxNews.com reported that attorney Michael Lyons wrote, “If Coach Pruitt is forced to file a lawsuit it is inevitable that this information will become public, embarrass UT and those associated with it, including its largest donors, and result in debilitating NCAA sanctions.” We can deduce two things from this threat: (a) A whole lot of cheating was going on when Pruitt was the head coach and (b) Pruitt has determined that he will never again coach college football either as a head coach or as an assistant. OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC Alabama (6-1, 3-1 SEC): Edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. was named the Bronko Nagurski Award Player of the Week after his 4-sack performance against Mississippi State. Arkansas (4-3, 1-3 SEC): Saturday’s game with D1AA Arkansas-Pine Bluff isn’t a conference game but you can’t understate the importance to Sam Pittman and the Razorbacks. With a win, the Hogs are one game away from bowl-eligible, something almost unimaginable when Pittman seemed like a desperation hire after Chad Morris was fired following a second straight 2-10 season in 2019. Auburn (5-2, 2-1 SEC): Auburn’s defense is on pace for substantial improvement from 2020 when the Tigers allowed 406 yards per game and 5.62 per play along with 24.7 points per game. Currently, the Tigers are giving up only 341.9 yards per game and 4.9 per play and just 19.7 points. Georgia (7-0, 5-0 SEC): Kirby Smart says JT Daniels is throwing more in practice, but would Smart be dumb enough to play Daniels right now when Stetson Bennett has the Bulldogs on such a roll? Bennett is 57-82 passing (69.5 percent) for 996 yards (12.1 per attempt) for 11 touchdowns with only two interceptions. He has also run for 148 yards, averaging 7.79 per carry. You don’t tug on Superman’s cape and right now Stetson Bennett is Georgia’s Superman. Kentucky (6-1, 4-1 SEC): Injured wide receiver Josh Ali (17-248, 1 TD) is moving well enough in practice this week that it seems likely he will be able to return to the field when the Wildcats play Mississippi State in two weeks. LSU (4-3, 2-2 SEC): Coach Oeaux pointed out Tuesday that the resurgence in the LSU running game, which began at halftime of the Kentucky game and continued through the Florida game, coincides with the insertion of Jack Mashburn in at tight end. The former high school quarterback is a walk-on who spent the Florida game as the second blocker through the hole on the counter-trap play. Mississippi State (3-3, 1-2 SEC): The reason Jack Abraham has not played a single snap for the Bulldogs is because he is recovering from post-concussion syndrome from an accident back in June. Abraham transferred to Mississippi State from Southern Miss where he threw for 7,607 yards and 41 touchdowns during his career. Missouri (3-4, 0-3 SEC): The Missouri defense is dead last in the SEC and 127th nationally, allowing 489.3 yards per game and 6.78 per play. Ole Miss (5-1, 2-1 SEC): One reason the Ole Miss defense is much improved this year is a better pass rush. The Rebels already have 18 sacks at the midway point of the season. They managed only 16 in ten games last year. South Carolina (4-3, 1-3 SEC): Luke Doty, who reinjured his foot in the game against Vanderbilt, is done for the season. Zeb Noland, who started at QB in the two wins to open the season and engineered the comeback win over Vandy, is the starter. Tennessee (4-3, 2-2 SEC): Speaking of Alabama quarterback Bryce Young Tuesday, secondary coach Willie Martinez said, “He knows what to do with the ball … does a good job of throwing the ball away and doesn’t take a sack and he makes good decisions, too, to run with it when he has to to get the first down or keep the chains moving.” Texas A&M (5-2, 2-2 SEC): Offensive tackle Kenyon Green and defensive tackle Jayden Peevy will be able to play against South Carolina. Wide receiver Hez Jones will have season-ending surgery. Vanderbilt (2-5, 0-3 SEC): Mike Wright who came off the bench when Ken Seals was hurt against South Carolina and threw for 206 yards and a touchdown while running for 41, will be Vandy’s starting quarterback Saturday against Mississippi State. YOU REALLY DIDN’T THINK EXPANSION HAD ENDED, DID YOU? The American Athletic Conference, which is losing Cincinnati, UCF and Houston to the Big 12, is reportedly expanding by adding Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, Rice and UAB from Conference USA. Barring any defections from South Florida, Memphis, SMU, Tulsa, East Carolina, Temple, Tulane and Navy, that would create a 14-team league that would probably split into two divisions. There seems little doubt the AAC will add all six teams, but the Big 12 probably is going to expand some more and could see some defections as well. If the Big 12 expands, expect it to add four teams, all probably from the AAC – SMU, Memphis, South Florida for sure, and possibly Tulane for the New Orleans metro TV market. Of course, the Big 12 could also see defections such as Kansas and Iowa State to the Big Ten and West Virginia to the ACC. Although it might be seen as throwing a lifeline, the ACC could also add UConn, which might save their football program while adding a powerhouse basketball program to the league. Maybe the question that should be asked is will the Big Ten and Pac-12 stay idle? From a football only perspective, Notre Dame is the only school that could add serious value to the Big Ten but Notre Dame is contractually obligated to join the ACC if it opts out of independence before 2036 and right now, there seems to be nothing that would indicate any change in status in the near future. Kansas, however, would add serious value to the Big Ten in that its basketball broadcasts draw better than ESPN’s Saturday night football. Iowa State would be a logical choice to bolt to the Big Ten along with Kansas since, like Kansas, it is a member of the American Association of Universities. The only non-member of the American Association of Universities in the Big Ten is Nebraska which was removed in 2011. Nebraska would not have been asked to join the Big Ten in 2010 if it had not been an AAU member school. The Pac-12 is in a difficult position. Its television contract with both ESPN and Fox expires in 2024 and there seems to be no rush by either network to negotiate a new deal, particularly since until Southern Cal and UCLA become national powers again the league is essentially irrelevant for football. The Pac-12 blew it when it wouldn’t add BYU because of the LDS Church stance on no sports on Sundays and because it isn’t at least classified an R1 Doctoral University (BYU is an R2) by the Carnegie Classification. BYU would have given Utah a natural rival and would have added a potential 16 million Mormon viewers any time BYU participated in any event, something the networks do pay attention to. The Pac-12 does not want to add San Diego State, Fresno State, UNLV or Boise State so it may be stuck with the same schools and the exact same problems which could lead it to a media contract that will pay the league less than it’s making now. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Jimbo is not leaving Texas A&M for LSU. Etch that in stone. Neither is James Franklin going to leave Penn State for LSU. Etch that in stone also. Southern Cal? There is a really good chance he’ll go there. If you’re into betting on such things, put your money on Luke Fickell staying right where he is unless Ohio State or Notre Dame open up, which they won’t. Dabo has a $45 million buyout. He’s not leaving Clemson. Mel Tucker has an almost $20 million buyout at Michigan State. LSU would have to be nuts to spend $20 million on top of the $17 million Coach Oeaux buyout and the $7-8 million buyouts for assistants plus spend the money to bring in a new coach and staff. LSU’s short list seems to be in need of some new faces.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: THINKING OUT LOUD ON A TUESDAY 1. The second half of the LSU game made it perfectly clear …: For the Gators to stand any chance of a 5-0 or 4-1 finish to the regular season Anthony Richardson has to be the starting quarterback. That doesn’t mean Emory Jones can’t get some playing time as the change of pace guy, but the Florida offense takes it up a notch when Richardson is in the game because he (a) can make throws that EJ only dreams of making and (b) he has that burst that can turn five yards into 40. He’s going to make mistakes. Count on it, but the potential of a big play easily outweighs the potential for negatives and right now the Gators need that spark. He is the future. 2. Perhaps my eyes are deceiving me but … : I am not seeing a tremendous amount of leadership on this team. I don’t see someone like a Van Jefferson or Jon Greenard who led both by example and vocally. I think the Gators have some hard working kids who give a good example, but I don’t see someone on the team who makes everyone else want to seek and destroy whatever gets in their way. Great teams have great leaders. Even teams with average talent can achieve great things if they have great leaders. I don’t see leadership on this UF team. 3. I’ve never been one to tell a coach what to do, however … : I think Dan Mullen has reached a fork in the road with defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, whose sell-by date I believe has expired. In the last couple of days I’ve been hearing that Grantham’s problems center around schemes that are just too complicated and his refusal to simplify things. I wonder how tough it would have been to load up the box against LSU and dare the Tigers to run the ball? This is more than just the LSU game, however. It’s two years of the same old, same old. I think if Mullen doesn’t make this change he will pay a severe price. 4. Will the buyouts keep LSU from swinging for the fences … : They say that football in the SEC is like a license to print money, but when you consider LSU is paying Ed Orgeron $17.1 million to go lay on the beach and drink Turbodog beer, will LSU be willing to spend another $15-20 million (or more) in another buyout to hire one of the coaches on its wish list? At the top of everybody’s list is Jimbo Fisher, who has no buyout but he signed a 10-year extension worth $90 million to stay in Aggieland and he says he’s quite happy there. Who could blame him for sticking with an administration that loves him that much? Next on the list is Mel Tucker. It will only take $19,284,375 to lure him away from Michigan State. Mario Cristobal? His Oregon buyout is a mere $15,030,000 although he has a get out of jail free card if he wants to go home to Miami. Would Lane Kiffin leave Ole Miss? Under Mississippi State law he can only have a four-year contract, so at the end of this year only three remain. He’s making $5 million a year. No buyout details are available although Ole Miss people say it’s substantial. Like $10 million or more substantial? Someone suggested Dabo Swinney Monday. His buyout at Clemson is a mere $47,500,000. OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC Alabama (6-1, 3-1 SEC): Through seven games, Bryce Young is completing 69.6 percent of his passes for 2,082 yards (9.3 per attempt) and 24 touchdowns (only three interceptions). Arkansas (4-3, 1-3 SEC): Safety Jason Catalon has had surgery to repair a torn labrum and will be lost for the rest of the season. Auburn (5-2, 2-1 SEC): With a bye week, Bryan Harsin’s goal for the Tigers is to get everybody healthy for the October 30 game with Ole Miss. Georgia (7-0, 5-0 SEC): Georgia continues to lead the nation in total defense, giving up 207.1 yards per game. At that pace, the Bulldogs will have the lowest yield per game since the 2011 Alabama defense that gave up 183.6 per game. Kentucky (6-1, 4-1 SEC): On Kentucky Sports Radio, HBC Mark Stoops said Georgia has “arguably the best front seven I’ve ever seen.” LSU (4-3, 2-2 SEC): Wide receiver Koy Moore (5-71 in 2021, 22-177 in 2020) has entered the NCAA transfer portal. Mississippi State (3-3, 1-2 SEC): QB Will Rogers suffered a joint sprain in his shoulder in the loss to Alabama. He’s listed day-to-day. Missouri (3-4, 0-3 SEC): After Mizzou’s loss to Texas A&M, HBC Eli Drinkwitz said, “Before we can win a championship we have to keep from beating ourselves.” Ole Miss (5-1, 2-1 SEC): Ole Miss plays LSU Saturday but could be without quarterback Matt Corral, who took a beating in leading the Rebels to a 31-26 win over Tennessee. “Hopefully, he will play but we’re not sure right now,” HBC Lane Kiffin said Monday. South Carolina (4-3, 1-3 SEC): Zeb Noland, who came off the bench to engineer the game-winning drive against Vanderbilt, will be the starting QB at Texas A&M. Tennessee (4-3, 2-2 SEC): Quarterback Hendon Hooker’s status for Saturday’s game at Alabama is up in the air. “His status for this week, we’ll find out as we go through,” HBC Josh Heupel said. Texas A&M (5-2, 2-2 SEC): Despite a 35-14 win over Missouri, HBC Jimbo Fisher said, “I was disappointed because we could’ve knocked them out right before half and had an opportunity to.” Vanderbilt (2-5, 0-3 SEC): Quarterback Ken Seals is listed as week-to-week. COUNTDOWN TO FIRING DAY: WEEK SIX Extinct Species List Les Miles, Kansas Randy Edsall, UConn Clay Helton, Southern Cal Chad Lunsford, Georgia Southern Ed Orgeron, LSU Nick Rolovich, Washington State On Life Support Walt Bell, UMass: Now that the euphoria of winning the UConn game is over, Bell takes UMass to Florida State, the place where he was the offensive coordinator before he had a brain dead moment when he became the head coach at UMass, a place where coaching careers go to die. Tom Arth, Akron: The Zips probably celebrated that win over Bowling Green too long and too hard because they got whacked by Miami of Ohio. This week they get to lose to Buffalo. Butch Davis, Florida International: Since this isn’t the NFL with a waiver wire there were no good football players for Butch to add to his team during open date week. The Panthers have bad players, bad facilities and no budget. His salary is more than $1 million, but his buyout is only $45,582. FIU could make that in one weekend with a couple of car washes and a bake sale. Marcus Arroyo, UNLV: He was on the verge of doing the unthinkable by winning a game when he regained consciousness and helped UNLV snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against Utah State. So far, Arroyo is off to an 0-12 start as a head ball coach (0-6 last year, 0-6 this year). Scott Frost, Nebraska: The Fighting Frosts did what the Fighting Frosts do against Minnesota, which is to say they turned a perfectly winnable game into another by the hair of their chinny-chin-chins loss. The Frosties could be and should be 8-0, but instead they’re 3-5. If he survives it’s only because he has a $20 million buyout. Endangered Species List Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green: He’s 2-5 and that shocker of a win against Minnesota is a fading dot in the rearview by now. Only one of the last five is winnable. If he’s coaching at BG next year it’s because they can’t afford the $1+ million it will take to ask him to take his business elsewhere. Dino Babers, Syracuse: The Orange are 3-4 with the four losses by a combined 19 points including three in a row by a field goal. They probably will give him another year thinking that next year those close calls will become wins. His buyout is 50 percent of what he would be owed through 2024, which would be about $5.25 million. Chip Kelly, UCLA: UCLA is 5-2 and in the hunt for the Pac-12 South title with Oregon and Utah next on the schedule. If he wins those two and then whacks Southern Cal on November 20, he will have a job next year. His buyout is $9 million, which UCLA can’t afford but that never stopped them from doing something stupid. Seth Littrell, North Texas: The Not So Mean Green have given up 196 points in their five losses. Obviously, Littrell hasn’t mastered football math which means you have to have more PF (points for) than PA (points against). They’re paying him $1.8 million, which is way too much for a coach who is all but assured of a fourth losing season in six years on the job. Phil Montgomery, Tulsa: Just when you’re ready to throw in the towel and say no mas, the Phighting Phils do their Hulk Hogan shaking hand rising from the mat routine. They’ve won two (count ‘em) in a row and could go bowling with three wins in their last five. Whodathunkit? Steve Addazio, Colorado State: This same team that lost to a D1AA team and to Vandy in its first two, has scared the bejabbers out of Iowa on the road while winning three of its last four. Three more wins and a $5 million buyout will keep Steverino gainfully employed one more year. Justin Wilcox, California: The Bears are 1-5. The only win is over D1AA Sacramento. The five losses are by a combined 35 points. He is paid $3.6 million, has a $16 million buyout and gets to live in a state with a 13.3 percent state income tax. He might want them to fire him, but they don’t have $16 million to spare. Manny Diaz, Miami: It might take another two games for the higher ups at The Ewe to get serious about the future for Manny. By then, the Hurricanes will be 2-6 and it will be time to decide whether Manny gets one more year or they pony up the $8 million they will need to buy him out. Jeff Scott, South Florida: USF fans shouldn’t get their hopes up, but they are playing Shirley Temple Saturday. Yes, Shirley Temple did beat Memphis and nobody has yet to figure out how that happened, but the Owls’ three losses are by a combined 121 points. So, there’s a chance the Bulls could actually beat a Division I team. Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech: The Hokies are 3-3 and should be 5-1. Of the six remaining games, five are winnable. He could get away with a 4-2 finish as long as Virginia is one of the four. Otherwise, they might be holding demolition derbies with all money raised going to pay the $10 million it will take to buy him out. Checking for a pulse Ken Niumatalolo, Navy: Navy is now 1-5 and on pace for its second straight losing season. Niumatalolo has been at Navy 14 years. He’s not going anywhere. This year. Next year? Maybe. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: This is pure weirdness. Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich has been pink slipped and it didn’t have anything to do with wins and losses (Cougars are 4-3) but with the state mandate that all state employees are vaccinated. Rolovich requested an exemption on religious grounds and was refused. Apparently, Washington is not going to pay the $9 million buyout owed Rolovich. I would imagine Rolovich has a battery of lawyers ready to assist with what is likely to be one massive lawsuit that could ultimately wind up in the United States Supreme Court. I’m aware that the Christian Science Church and the Reformed Church (Protestant) are generally opposed to vaccines but leave it up to the individual. I’m not aware of any denomination forbidding vaccination, however. The Supreme Court upheld Muhammad Ali’s refusal to serve in the military on religious grounds. Is refusing a vaccine on religious grounds the same as refusing to serve in the military?

These Gators looked like Jim McElwain’s Central Michigan, because it was only other team to yield 49 points to LSU this year. Indeed, the Fighting Chippewas. Did Anthony Richardson just turn things upside down? (UAA Photo) There were multiple chances, and even good reasons, to flip off the TV. Go ahead and admit it — you DID consider hitting the “off” button. It was a brutal game to watch. Right before your very eyes, those gol-darn Florida Gators were self-destructing. Your hopes for a return to championship glory were going up in smoke. You kissed goodbye to your dreams of any trips to Atlanta — and a whole lot more. Suddenly this 2021 football season began to turn dark. The pain of watching LSU bully Florida’s defense series after series, play after play was excruciating. This time the SEC “Just Means More” felt personal, but because of reverse action. It means “more” to Gator fans, even though they forget it’s also that way for fans in Knoxville and Lexington and Columbia and Tuscaloosa and all the rest. These Gators looked like Jim McElwain’s Central Michigan, because it was the only other team to yield 49 points to LSU this year. Indeed, the Fighting Chippewas. No wonder it felt like Dan Mullen has been regressing. In the world of football today, he is on the proverbial hot seat. It was Mullen who said in a recent press conference that today’s coaches are re-evaluated differently today — not just year to year, or game to game, but maybe even play-to-play. He was prophesying his own fate for Saturday. No doubt he was “fired” by fans after several plays during the game. Especially the defense. It causes schizophrenia. Herein lies the problem for frustrated Gator fans. Just as you think you’ve seen the final straw, Emory Jones hits a Hail Mary to Justin Shorter to pull to within one score and you’re hooked again. Then it becomes a 89-point yen-yang, with Anthony Richardson emerging as a star in the second half, only to be betrayed by his paper-thin rushing defense. In an upsidedown world of SEC story lines, Mullen’s possible job insecurity is just one more unusual and uncommon themes of recent. Nick Saban lost a game — to the first of his former assistants. Over in Arkansas, that favorite uncle, Sam Pittman, had his bubble burst. Kentucky’s high aspirations were flattened by those road-grader Bulldogs in Athens. Even though he beat Florida, LSU fired Ed Orgeron effectively at season’s end. And in the worst blackeye for the SEC in modern history, an embarrassing display of poor judgment and pitiful sportsmanship broke out into a garbage dump on Neyland Stadium field. Everything from a mustard container, water bottles and golf ball showered coaches, players, cheerleaders, officials and the like in an ignominous display of anger by Vol fans over the spotting of a fourth down that didn’t go their way. (It was proof, however, that not all Vol fans bring well water in milk cartons.) It was frightening. Even after they cleared a bunch of people and fans skooched down front to watch the longest 54 seconds in CFB this season, I feared irate fans would storm the field. Somehow the defenseless, shorthanded security prevailed. I can hear the bean counters in Greg Sankey’s office totaling up the damages. Meanwhile, if Vols fans were frustrated and angry, Gator fans were disgusted and conflicted by the mood swings from watching a young quarterback emerge and a defense getting torn to shreds. Richardson and cohort Jones answered the Tigers’ thundering hoofbeats all but once. Sadly the game ended on an interception, 49-42, Mullen's third loss. If — when? — he loses to Georgia he’ll be a .500 coach this year with 7 losses in his last 11 games. The 287-yard day of Tyrion Davis-Price mashed Florida for chunk yards and three touchdowns. He manhandled Todd Grantham’s defense just when we thought it was improving, perhaps because of the fool’s gold in a 42-0 shutout of Vanderbilt. True, you could salvage some positive takeaways for the Gators who have finally found the quarterback of their future — if he chooses to stay and claim it. The promising razzle-dazzle hoped for showed up in three touchdowns passes and one rushing. Was he eyeing the dreaded transfer portal? After a short and respectful comment about not “wishing the speak on that right now,” the brilliant young quarterback from Gainesville Eastside amended his comment on Twitter to say: “I am a Florida Gator, through and through. Sorry if my response wasn’t clear enough, but I’m not worried about anything but maximizing my opportunity now! Don’t count us out…” Kudos for AR15’s choice to recommit, but the truth is that while it may be nice to hear, his team has, indeed, been counted out as far as any meaningful post-season engagements. And now the vigilantes convene. They want a change on defense, even if Richardson provides new offensive juice. This reminds me of 1995 after Nebraska’s blowout of Steve Spurrier when Bob Stoops was summoned in a critical need. Result: A national championship. Some are calling for Dan Mullen’s head, which I think is absurd. One must only recall the sorry state he inherited from McElwain. The already embattled Grantham is on thin ice and I’m not sure he can, or will, or should be retained at the end of this contract year. I’ve defended Grantham for four years as a brilliant schemer and solid coach, but there is no evidence anymore that he can win big games when physicality is needed up front. Part of that falls at the feet of Mullen and the inability to recruit big lineman and linebackers. I’m not a football coach, but even I can see what a lack of bulk did to the Gators against the bigger, stronger LSU Tigers. Although I will admit to being at loss over their success against Alabama. Florida’s problem is trying to move up in weight classification to heavyweight. They are light-heavy weights fighting heavyweights — literally and physically. Right now I see little or no pathway to a victory over the ferocious Georgia Bulldogs, who should be installed as a two-touchdown/plus favorites. The Gators didn't commit a single penalty vs LSU in a game for what is believed to be the first time in school history after eight false starts vs. Kentucky. Well, Mullen fixed that. Now on to interceptions, missed extra points and finding somebody to plug The A Gap and other holes in that porous defensive line. Can DC Todd Grantham survive the collapse vs LSU? (UAA Photo)

How will Dan Mullen handle this loss? Hopefully like a builder of championships. By CARLTON REESE The circumstances Saturday spelled out a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Florida Gators. Shall we count the ways? · An 11 a.m. local kickoff time in Baton Rouge, notorious for a daunting atmosphere in the evening after the liquor has wreaked a day’s worth of havoc on the brain cells of 100,000 screaming cajuns but not so much in the morning. · Thousands of empty seats peppered throughout Tiger Stadium. · An LSU team with no offense, three losses and six defensive starters out with injury. · Ed Orgeron still the man at the helm of LSU’s sinking ship. And what did the Gators do with this historic gift? We all saw with our own eyes, and the doubts among the fan base will now give way to clamoring, as it should. Down 21-6 in the second quarter, Gator fans metaphorically headed for the exits Saturday. They had seen enough. Then the tease came and we should have all known better. We’ve attended this movie before: a pretty sorry LSU team that is a decided underdog against a Florida team with much to play for and little to prove takes down the Gators. The top-ranked Florida Gators in 1997 made Herb Tyler look like Joe Montana. The 2017 LSU Tigers that had already been humiliated by Mississippi State and the fighting men of Troy, came to Gainesville against a ranked Gators team and pulled the first brick from underneath the Jim McElwain house. The 2020 Gators made a sub-.500 LSU team look like its national championship team of the year before, and this year the Gators defense made Tyrion Davis-Price look like Herschel Walker. The aroma of this defeat started wafting in the corridors mid-week as it seemed eerily similar to past debacles against what should have been outmanned LSU Tiger teams. When you give up nearly 300 yards to a single back, you are weak. There is no other way to put it: you are the kid at the beach getting sand kicked in his face; you are the freshman hanging from the rafters by his underwear; you are among the floozies in Charlie Sheen’s harem; you are John Cusack tossed into the trunk of the popular kids’ car. Quixotic attempts to justify what happened Saturday in Baton Rouge shall not be tolerated. For all the blather of Florida’s vaunted rushing game, Saturday’s defeat proved it all a hoax. The Gators had amassed amazing rushing numbers in a manner completely different from how LSU managed them on Saturday. LSU gained its yards the old-fashioned way, by pounding it up the middle and pushing defenders out of the way through sheer will and brute force. Florida does it more through sleight of hand: quarterback draws, RPOs, options and misdirection. In other words, the Tigers run it via man football; the Gators run it via Swan Lake football. Now, Florida gets two weeks to prepare for the Georgia Bulldogs. Meanwhile, Georgia gets seven weeks to prepare for the SEC Championship game. And what of coach Dan Mullen? He is an offensive mastermind, a supposed play-calling genius, but so was Hal Mumme and so is Mike Leach, but neither are builders of championships. So we must ask the same of Mullen: He was great as an underling to a championship-builder, but can he actually be one himself? Perhaps it’s unfair to come to any conclusion just yet in the negative, but the case against Mullen is mounting each week. There will be those who will blame the loss on four interceptions. In reality, all those interceptions did was diminish Ty Davis-Price’s yardage totals due to short fields. This was a pounding, plain and simple. Even the score was ugly, no matter which team won. Ever seen Nick Saban’s reaction when his team wins a game in the realm of 49-42? He practically sets half his staff ablaze. What will Mullen do after a loss, then? I wouldn’t expect anything drastic, but perhaps we should. Think about it this way: A Florida State team that was once 0-4 with a loss to Jacksonville State, now probably feels pretty confident that it can win in Gainesville. If that doesn’t make every Gator fan shudder in disgust, nothing will.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: WHAT DIABATE’S COMMENTS SAY ABOUT UF’S DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR Mohamoud Diabate is the type of kid that when he speaks, you listen. He’s very bright (3.96 GPA), very thoughtful and he chooses his words carefully. What he said Saturday after Florida’s 49-42 loss to LSU in Baton Rouge should be a telling indicator that Florida’s defensive players aren’t exactly buying in with coordinator Todd Grantham. Asked what level of confidence the Gators have in Grantham’s schemes, Diabate replied, “I’m confident in my teammates and my teammates ability to play hard and be where they’re supposed to be. I’m confident in my teammates.” Notice there nothing that would indicate Diabate or anyone else on the defensive side of the ball believes the coordinator can consistently get the job done. Asked what could have been done to stop LSU from running the same play over-and-over again, a counter trap that sprung Tyrion Davis-Price for the bulk of his LSU single game school record 287 yards, Diabate responded, “That’s not my decision to make. I don’t look into those things. I’m like a soldier. When the general tells me where to shoot I shoot. I don’t ask too many questions.” Maybe Diabate isn’t asking questions publicly, but that comment should tell you players are asking questions about the defensive scheme. When you shop at Publix, you notice there is a sell-by date on every food item you buy. When it expires, it has to be removed from the shelf. Judging by what we saw Saturday at LSU and too many times over the last two years, it seems pretty obvious the sell-by date on Florida’s defensive coordinator has expired. The Coaches Top 25 Poll: 1. Georgia 7-0; 2. Oklahoma 7-0; 3. Cincinnati 6-0; 4. Alabama 6-1; 5. Ohio State 5-1; 6. Michigan 6-0; 7. Michigan State 7-0; 8. Penn State 5-1; 9. Oklahoma State 6-0; 10. Oregon 5-1; 11. Iowa 6-1; 12. Ole Miss 5-1; 13. Notre Dame 5-1; 14. Kentucky 6-1; 15. Wake Forest 6-0; 16. Coastal Carolina 6-0; 17. Texas A&M 5-2; 18. North Carolina State 5-1; 19. SMU 6-0; 20. Baylor 6-1; 21. San Diego State 6-0; 22. Auburn 5-2; 23. Pittsburgh 5-1; 24. Clemson 4-2; 25. UTSA 7-0 The Associated Press Top 25 Poll: 1. Georgia 7-0; 2. Cincinnati 6-0; 3. Oklahoma 7-0; 4. Alabama 6-1; 5. Ohio State 5-1; 6. Michigan 6-0; 7. Penn State 5-1; 8. Oklahoma State 6-0; 9. Michigan State 7-0; 10. Oregon 5-1; 11. Iowa 6-1; 12. Ole Miss 5-1; 13. Notre Dame 5-1; 14. Coastal Carolina 6-0; 15. Kentucky 6-1; 16. Wake Forest 6-0; 17. Texas A&M 5-2; 18. North Carolina State 5-1; 19. Auburn 5-2; 20. Baylor 6-1; 21. SMU 6-0; 22. San Diego State 6-0; Pittsburgh 5-1; 24. UTSA 7-0; 25. Purdue 4-2 THE SEC AFTER WEEK SEVEN By announcing that Ed Orgeron will be allowed to coach LSU until the end of the year, athletic director Scott Woodward has removed the uncertainty and that will give him essentially six weeks to find a replacement in order to salvage a recruiting class that currently ranks ninth per 247Sports. Woodward has a history of big name hires – Chris Peterson at Washington; Jimbo Fisher and Buzz Williams at Texas A&M; Kim Mulkey (women’s basketball) and Jay Johnson (baseball) at LSU – and with LSU prepared to spend whatever money is necessary, expect him to go for an established head coach. That might eliminate Billy Napier at Louisiana, a good candidate but not a big enough name, and perhaps the two assistants who had so much to do with the Tigers’ 2019 national championship run – Dave Aranda (now head coach at Baylor) and Joe Brady (now offensive coordinator for the NFL Carolina Panthers). Aranda and Brady would be excellent hires and they’re probably on the go-to list if Woodward strikes out with the splash hire. Circle these three names: James Franklin (Penn State), Mario Cristobal (Oregon) and Mel Tucker (Michigan State). Of the three, Cristobal makes the most sense since he worked for Nick Saban, knows the SEC and is a dynamite recruiter. Why would Franklin go to a place where he will be in the same division as Alabama, Texas A&M and soon Oklahoma and Texas? He already is in the same division with Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State. He can go to Southern Cal and rule the Pac-12. As for Tucker, he was only at Colorado one year and he’s in his second at Michigan State, possibly a hindrance. If there is a wildcard it is Jimbo Fisher. He was offensive coordinator at LSU for both Saban and Les Miles so it’s familiar territory. Even with the contract extension he just signed at Texas A&M there is absolutely ZERO in the way of a buyout. With Texas coming into the SEC, does Jimbo want to share the state with the Longhorns? It’s one thing to play them every year. It’s another thing to have to share a state with them in the same conference. He would OWN Louisiana. Alabama (6-1, 3-1 SEC): Perhaps the worst thing that could have happened to the rest of the SEC was the loss to Texas A&M. Alabama responded with a 49-9 win over Mississippi State in which the defense came up with six sacks and three interceptions while the offense chewed up the Bulldogs for 543 yards. Next week: vs. Tennessee (4-3, 2-2 SEC) Arkansas (4-3, 1-3 SEC): For the second straight year, the Hogs got screwed by SEC zebras with a bad call on an Auburn fumble. As Jarquez Hunter was lifted off the ground at the Auburn 10, he lost the football (very clear while he was in the air) and Arkansas recovered, but officials ruled no fumble. The explanation given to Arkansas HBC Sam Pittman was because Hunter was in the air, it couldn’t be a fumble. Instead of getting the ball on the Auburn 10 when trailing by four, Auburn punted past midfield, then its defense did a three-and-out. Next week: vs. Arkansas Pine-Bluff Auburn (5-2, 2-1 SEC): It was good Bo Nix Saturday against Arkansas. He threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns, ran for 42 yards and another TD. Next week: Open Georgia (7-0, 5-0 SEC): Jordan Davis has become the most feared defensive lineman in the Southeastern Conference since the days of Reggie White. The fact he has to be triple-teamed on nearly every play makes it possible for all the other Georgia D-linemen and linebackers to make easy plays. He took away the middle of the line for Kentucky. The Wildcats ran for 51 yards on 27 carries. Next week: Open Kentucky (6-1, 4-1 SEC): The bad news for the Wildcats is they got boatraced by Georgia. If there is good news it is that Kentucky became the first team all season to score two offensive touchdowns against the Bulldogs. Next week: Open LSU (4-3, 2-2 SEC): Coach Oeaux says: “After he [AD Scott Woodard] came and talked to me after the Kentucky game, I knew it was time.” Next week: at Ole Miss (5-1, 2-1 SEC) Mississippi State (3-3, 1-2 SEC): Describing the Bulldogs’ 49-9 loss to Alabama, Mike Leach said, “We died of self-inflicted wounds because we tried too hard to do special things.” Next week: at Vanderbilt (2-5, 0-3 SEC) Missouri (3-4, 0-3 SEC): Missouri did nothing to disprove that it has the nation’s worst run defense. The Aggies ran for 283 yards, 6.74 per carry. Mizzou continues to rank dead last in Division I in run defense. Next week: Open Ole Miss (5-1, 2-1 SEC): Matt Corral may have regained the top spot in the Heisman Trophy discussion by throwing for 231 yards and two touchdowns while running for 195 yards in the Rebels’ 31-26 win over Tennessee. Next week: vs. LSU (4-3, 2-2 SEC) South Carolina (4-3, 1-3 SEC): Former graduate assistant turned QB Zeb Noland, who led the Gamecocks to a 2-0 start this season, came off the bench to drive South Carolina 75 yards in eight plays for the game-winning score. It was a 9-yard pass from Noland to Xavier Leggette with 37 seconds left that lifted South Carolina to a 21-20 win over Vanderbilt. Next week: at Texas A&M (5-2, 2-2 SEC) Tennessee (4-3, 2-2 SEC): The big question for the Vols heading into next Saturday’s game at Alabama will be the health of quarterback Hendon Hooker, who left the game late in the fourth quarter with an undisclosed injury. Prior to his injury, Hooker had thrown for 245 yards and a TD and run for 108 yards and another TD. Next week: at Alabama (6-1, 3-1 SEC) Texas A&M (5-2, 2-2 SEC): The Aggies went ground and pound to whip Mizzou, 35-14. Isaiah Spiller ran for 168 yards and a TD while Devon Archane went for 124 and two TDs. Next week: vs. South Carolina (4-3, 1-3 SEC) Vanderbilt (2-5, 0-3 SEC): Vandy came about as close as it could hope to get to an SEC win this season when it took South Carolina scoring with 37 seconds left for a 21-20 win. Next week: vs. Mississippi State (3-3, 1-2 SEC) FOOTBALL IN THE MINOR LEAGUES ACC: Wake Forest (6-0) is the only unbeaten team in the ACC but with North Carolina (4-3), North Carolina State (5-1) and Clemson (4-2) still on the schedule, nobody is expecting the Deacons to run the table. Pittsburgh (5-2) has emerged as the team to beat in the Coastal Division. You can forget an ACC team in the playoff. Big Ten: Iowa (6-1) lost its first game to Purdue (4-2) and now has to be concerned about winning the Western Division. All hell is about to break loose in the Eastern Division where Michigan State (7-0) leads, followed by Michigan (6-0), Ohio State (5-1) and Penn State (5-1). They all have to play each other. Smart money is on an Ohio State-Michigan showdown for the Eastern Division championship. Big 12: There is no quarterback controversy at Oklahoma. Caleb Williams is the man, particularly after he hit 18-23 passes for 295 yards and four TDs while running for 66 and another TD in the Sooners’ 52-31 win over TCU. Oklahoma State (6-0) is the league’s other unbeaten after its 32-24 win over Texas (4-3). Pac-12: Utah (4-2) stunned Arizona State (5-2) to take over the lead in the South Division. UCLA (5-2) remains in the hunt. The Bruins are home Friday night against North leader Oregon (5-1). No playoff (again) for a team from the Pac-12. Group of Five: Cincinnati (6-0) doesn’t have another difficult game on its schedule until a November 20 showdown with SMU (6-0). With Cincinnati so high in the rankings, QB Desmond Ridder is becoming more of a factor in the Heisman Trophy discussions ... UT-San Antonio (7-0) is ranked for the first time in school history … San Diego State (6-0) is the last remaining unbeaten in the Mountain West … Coastal Carolina (6-0) faces Appalachian State (4-2) in Boone Tuesday night, maybe the last chance for the Chanticleers to lose in the regular season. Independents: A lot of higher ranked teams will have to lose for Notre Dame (5-1) to make the College Football Playoff. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: File the firing of Coach Oeaux under “Only in the SEC.” Where else would a coach less than two years removed from a national championship be fired even though the contract buyout is $17 million? A year ago, buyout money wasn’t a factor when it came time to jettison Gus Malzahn (Auburn paid him $21.45 million to go away) and Will Muschamp (South Carolina paid him $16 million). There are very few places like the SEC that will (a) pay a head football coach a fortune only to (b) pay him another fortune to go away. Maybe this is what they’re actually talking about with that SEC slogan “It Just Means More.” Yep, more money if you’re a head football coach and even more money if they want you to go bye-bye.

Hail Mary, full of Shorter’s grace, Florida versus LSU, yet again, took us to another circle of Dante’s hell. In the process, there was a teasing promise of a savior, moments that were only explainable by divine intervention and a collapse of epic proportions. In a game that was about Ed Orgeron’s job versus Dan Mullen’s respect amongst the fan base, two teams on a path to a now identical 4-3 record have taken what is always an insane rivalry game and flipped the trajectory of their season’s once again. The No. 20 Florida Gators were favored by 12.5, even in a Death Valley home game for LSU. In the end, they lost 49-42, effectively ending any chance of a late season miracle, an end to their streak of New Years Six bowl games and arguably lessening the heat on Orgeron’s seat while turning up the dial on Mullen’s. If this had been the typical Florida-LSU matchup with top ranked opponents, the series of events would be considered an instant classic. Instead, it'll go down as a maddening, insane driven afternoon, befitting of this rivalry. It took less then two minutes for this game to get weird, as it is so oft to do. After Jordan Pouncey blocked a punt, there was a scrum for the ball. Florida came away with it in decent field position, but a coverage sack on Emory Jones called for an early punt. The defense answered with a three-and-out, thanks in large part to corner Kaiir Elam, in his return. On the ensuing offensive drive, Mullen went into his bag, calling up a throw back from receiver Trent Whittemore to Emory Jones to move the chains, a dart to Rick Wells and then a run up the gut from running back Dameon Pierce. The senior would add another touchdown before the day was over, moving him into a tie for first in the SEC with nine rushing touchdowns. He’s scored on a mere 46 rush attempts. Despite the Gators having the best rushing offense in the Power 5, and a windy day in Baton Rouge with gusts of 26 miles per hours on the field, the Gators elected to stay balanced, putting the ball in the air for more than one would assume. In the first half, 18 pass attempts connected for 12 completions, but two turnovers gave the Tigers 14 points. And the Power 5’s best rushing offense abandoned their running game. One team that found space on the ground was the LSU Tigers. They entered the game 127th in FBS, averaging 83 yards per game on the ground. Florida’s rush defense was 26th in the country and third in the SEC, only allowing 110.83 yards per game. By day’s end, Ty Davis-Price had put up more rushing yards on a Gators defense than any running back in history, surpassing a stat set by Herschel Walker. Yes, that Herschel Walker. Davis-Price finished with 287 yards on 36 rushes for three touchdowns, the most yardage ever for any LSU running back...in history. In total, Florida gave up 321 yards on the ground. “I mean he’s a good back. I just feel like it was a couple yards before anybody had a chance to really hit him, you know,” proposed linebacker Mohamoud Diabate. “That gives you a boost when you have a couple yards and a head start going. I wish it hadn’t been that way. He does a good job running through tackles. He’s a big, strong, guy. He can bounce off tackles, run through gaps, he’s patient sitting way behind his blockers before his blockers so when his blockers do get on a man he explodes through that gap. He’s a real patient, strong runner.” Diabate went on to say the Tigers ran a couple of things “we hadn’t seen before that we didn’t know were coming.” Those things primarily revolved around the same counter run play, over and over and over and over on a loop like a soul in purgatory, forced to watch their biggest mistake for entirety. So why weren’t there any adjustments made? “I mean we made the adjustments we were given to make,” stated Diabate. An applicant for the Rhodes Scholar, Diabate carefully steps through and around words, saying what needs to be said without saying anything wrong. He put on a masterclass following the defense performance versus LSU. For example, was there anything else that could have been done to address the LSU run game? “Honestly I don’t know. That’s not my decision to make. I don’t look into those things. I’m like a soldier. When the general tells me where to shoot I shoot. I don’t really ask too many questions. That’s y’all’s job…It seemed like they were hitting with a similar scheme, kind of counter run. We had whoever we had in the box so we had to play it how we played it.” Does he have confidence in the defensive scheme? “I’m confident in my teammates and my teammates ability to play hard and be where they’re supposed to be. I’m confident in my teammates.” Of course, this is Florida-LSU, so even with what appeared to be a defensive collapse, this game still provided ample drama, up to the final second. The defense gave up a 71-yard touchdown that was called back for holding. STAR Tre’Vez Johnson almost killed a guy on a hard pass break-up. There were taunting calls which helped extend Gators offensive drives, blocked point after attempts, back-to-back interceptions from separate Gator quarterbacks for the first time since John Brantley and Jeff Driskel did so in 2010, a pick-six that got Emory Jones (12-19, 161 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, 10 rushes for 16 yards) benched in favor of Anthony Richardson (10-19, 167 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions, seven rushes for 37 yards and a touchdown) and the previously referenced Hail Mary. With 0:29 seconds left in the first half, the Gators took the ball back with 77-yards to drive. After two chunk plays from Justin Shorter and Rick Wells, Florida lined up on the 42-yard line with five seconds to half, down by 15. Jones dropped back, scrambled and sent a Hail Mary to the end zone. The Tigers were prepared for the shot. They dropped eight and had four in a half-moon around Shorter. But the receiver simply stepped to his left, as heads turned to look for the ball elsewhere, and hauled in the touchdown as time expired in the half. “It was just, it was just focus,” described Shorter. “I just see the ball into my hands, just like, you know, coach, he teaches us every single day. It was just a great play. We were just looking for that thing to get us to spring to the second half.” But after Jones pick-six in the second half, Richardson was inserted back behind center. He immediately led an eight play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with him running up the gut for the five-yard score himself. Jones would re-enter the game only once more the rest of the day, and it was in a huge moment. After Richardson’s finger was jammed on a play, Jones came on the field and threw an 18-yard shot to Shorter to convert a crucial 3rd-and-13. Dan Mullen called it the most important offensive play of the day. “You just see the maturity of Emory. I don’t think anybody can understand how big of a play that was, that Emory made for a quarterback. In that situation to come up and make that play that he made, that was probably the play of the game, for us offensively. The ability to come in and do that, I thought was pretty special.” Still, Richardson’s four straight touchdown drives were beyond special, including a 33-yard dart to Jacob Copeland that indicate just how long of a career the Gainesville native can have in this sport. And though Mullen has been coy all season about giving Richardson too much responsibility too early, it’s clear the tide has changed with the redshirt freshman. “I think it's the execution of it and some things he missed. I thought he did a really good job. He was in there, he got hot and so we kind of stuck with him because he was kind of hot and I think we had some momentum offensively,” Mullen said of Richardson. “I think it’s good building for Anthony. Anthony had some confidence early, kind of got a little taste of reality. Had to build some calluses there over the last couple weeks. I think this will continue to build his confidence going forward.” “The conversation with me and Emory, he’s like, ‘Go out there and do your thing. Go out there and play ball.’ Because that’s what we both know how to do,” shared Richardson. On the final drive though, Richardson tossed his second interception of the day—a prayer on a scramble that an older quarterback would have known to throw away. That’s what he’ll be thinking about as the Gators slide into a bye week at 4-3 with a date with No. 1 Georgia on the horizon. “Internally, I’m battling myself: I can’t let everybody down. Everybody trusts me in that situation and I didn’t fulfill it. So it’s just a matter of fact not letting people down.” Richardson will use the bye week to work on what he sees are the decencies in his game. “I feel like I prepare right, but not having that much experience out there when it comes to game time, just managing the game. Sometimes, I still think it’s like, it’s just high school, I can still make this play. But obviously we see that’s not the case. “But managing the game I think that’s still a major thing I can work on. Also, keeping my emotions in check. I’m a very emotional guy. I’m very competitive. I love to win. When things don’t go my way, I get down on myself, I’m too hard on myself. I feel like I can further work on that.” As Mullen and the Gators prepared for the long plane ride back to Gainesville, knowing they’ll have to spend the next week looking into themselves and all that’s gone wrong, the coach—who will drop out of the Top 25 for the first time since he arrived in 2018—left fans with a message. “We’re all frustrated. We’re still grinding away. Look at LSU. They were facing a bunch of adversity last week. They came out and played really well today, created four turnovers on the defensive side of the ball. To go and run the ball. This is the SEC, you have to bring your A-game every single week. “From what I see the majority of our fans, we have some of the best fans in the country the Gator Nation. The positivity they have, the support they give to the team is really amazing. I appreciate all their support and what they do and continue to back everybody in the program. All our fans, everybody, our students, I think they do an amazing job."

The No. 20 Florida Gators fell 49-42 to the LSU Tigers on Saturday. The game was another crazy entry in this insane rivalry, as the defense collapsed, the offense turned to Anthony Richardson and both teams came away 4-3. As a valued GatorBait subscriber, we are offering this transcript from Head Coach Dan Mullen following the game, in full. TWO QUESTIONS: WHO'S YOUR QB MOVING FORWARD, HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN RUN DEFENSE? "Yeah, those are two really good questions. We're going to look at that, obviously, going into a bye week. We're going to evaluate a lot of things. I thought you saw some good things from both quarterbacks today, saw some mistakes from both quarterbacks today. So we'll evaluate that, of how that's going to play out moving forward. I can jump up and down on the table on some really good things they did and jump up and down on the table on some terrible mistakes that they both, that we made, so we'll evaluate that part of it. Defensively same deal, we've got to go back, we'll evaluate. Played some solid defense at times this year and obviously didn't in the second half of the game today." FEEL LIKE THEY WERE MOTIVATED ON DEFENSE? "Yeah, I thought our attitude was great. I mean I thought we were into the game. Our guys were sitting out there, we had opportunities to make plays. Dug ourselves into some holes during the course of the game that you can't do, obviously, when you're playing good teams. We weren't able to; we dug too big a hole to get out of there at the end." SURPRISED BY SHEER NUMBER OF DIFFERENT THINGS GOING ON TO LOSE GAMES... TWO WEEKS AGO FALSE STARTS, THIS WEEK DEFENSE AGAINST THE RUN? "Yeah, we'll evaluate all that stuff after the course of the game. It's always much easier if there's one thing you put your finger on and say, 'OK, hey, this is the one thing that was the issue and let's go fix that one thing.' We'll evaluate a lot. We've got a bye week coming up. We'll evaluate a lot, because it does... it seems there's; I don't, you guys have the stats... I don't have the stats. We fix up some things and then some other things kind of come and bite us. But give them credit, they came out. The one stat to me stands out a lot is we're -4 turnover ratio. Three turnovers lead to 21 points. You know, you flip that around, if we're +4 turnover ratio leads to 21 points for us and none for them, I think that's a big part of it. So it's all little, different things. We didn't stop the run and make the stops we needed to in the second half when we started to gain momentum. Every time we'd get that kind of fix to get ourselves out of the hole we kind of couldn't get the stop to get over the hump." HOW DOES TODAY'S DEFENSE CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON TODD GRANTHAM? "Nothing changes my perspective on anything. We're always evaluating things throughout the course of the season in everything we do. It's a long season. We're in the middle point of the season here going into our bye week. Like I said, I'll evaluate what we did well, what we did poorly. We'll go look at the film and see how we can improve it for two weeks from now." TALKED IN PAST RICHARDSON HELD BACK STILL LEARNING OFFENSE, SHOW YOU MORE ABILITY TO HANDLE PLAYBOOK TODAY? "Well, you know, I think it's the execution of it and some things he missed. I thought he did a really good job. He was in there, he got hot and so we kind of stuck with him because he was kind of hot and I think we had some momentum offensively. He goes down and you just see the maturity of Emory. “I don’t think anybody can understand how big of a play that was, that Emory made for a quarterback. In that situation to come up and make that play that he made, that was probably the play of the game, for us offensively. The ability to come in and do that, I thought was pretty special. But I think it’s good building for Anthony. Anthony had some confidence early, kind of got a little taste of reality. Had to build some calluses there over the last couple weeks. I think this will continue to build his confidence going forward.” Trent Whittemore injury? “I’ll know more tomorrow with our training staff.” AR-15…what are we missing on him? “I don’t have the stats in front of me. I thought he did some really good things. He had the ability to extend some plays, made some good throws, got hot today. Did a really good job, so we see that.” Waiting to see him healthy…he looks like he’s transcendent. “We’ll see. I love everybody labeling people. He’s a young quarterback that’s learning and developing. That’s a good label for him.” Run D? Looked like same play again and again? “They were doing a couple different things. They ran a couple different schemes. They were running some insert. They were running some counter, running some one-back power. But we’ve got to evaluate that. We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to get better up front. We’ll look at the scheme part. We gotta look at the personnel. Get better.” Don’t mean to label AR-15, but he’s amazing… “Yeah. He’s a young player. I thought he did some really good things today. He did some really good things in the second half. The second half of the game, he did some really good things, for sure.” Gator Standard. You’re 2-6 in last Power Five teams. What need to do to get back to Gator Standard? “We gotta play better. We’ll evaluate it all. We gotta coach better, play better, look at our personnel. Make sure we’re putting guys in the right position to make plays. Get better.” Bye week to help you do that evaluation? “Yeah, I don’t know that a bye week. I’ll tell you in two weeks whether a bye week was good or bad.” Day like today you miss Ventrell Miller? “There’s – I don’t know. He’s been out for a while right now. You’ve got some guys banged up there in the secondary. You’re dealing with some guys out, but I know his leadership sure would be beneficial in there in the middle. Lose your team captain, that’s always a tough deal and tough person not just as a talented player but the leadership that he brings to the team is always tough to replace when you’re not around.” Defense not in right place, not making plays? “Yeah, we’ll watch the film on that. We’ll watch the film and dissect what the issue is.” Playmakers emerging? “I think those guys really coming along. Dameon’s a guy who really has that nose for the end zone, especially you get down there in the red zone. I think he’s done a really good job. The physicality and ability to finish run and he’s made some plays where he’s scored from further out. I think that’s always a huge plus. I think you see it, it is opportunities for guys. We lost a lot of production off of last year’s rosters. You look for guys to step up. You named a bunch (Shorter, Gamble, Pierce) and there’s a bunch of guys stepping up and making plays offensively and growing into those roles a playmakers.” What say to frustrated fan base? “We’re all frustrated. We’re still grinding away. Look at LSU. They were facing a bunch of adversity last week. They came out and played really well today, created four turnovers on the defensive side of the ball. To go and run the ball. This is the SEC, you have to bring your A-game every single week. From what I see the majority of our fans, we have some of the best fans in the country the Gator Nation. The positivity they have, the support they give to the team is really amazing. I appreciate all their support and what they do and continue to back everybody in the program. All our fans, everybody, our students, I think they do an amazing job.” Change on defense in-season? “Nah, I don’t like to jump to conclusions. It’s a long season stuff right there. I like to know the facts on everything that’s going on and what the issues are and what we’re doing and what we need to do to improve and how we’re going to do that.”

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein Florida’s 49-42 loss to LSU Saturday afternoon in Baton Rouge was classic proof that Einstein knew exactly what he was talking about. LSU kept running the same exact counter trap to Tyrion Davis-Price over and over again, and as long as the Gators didn’t step up to make plays, they were going to keep on doing the same thing over and over again. That’s not insanity. That’s smart. Florida, on the other hand, knew exactly what LSU was going to do and yet the Gators, judging by the results, either made no adjustments whatsoever or the ones they made came from page 281 of the latest version of “Defensive Football for Dummies” because they didn’t work. This was insanity, pure and simple, and there is no other way to either analyze or describe how the Gators (4-3, 2-3 SEC) lost this very winnable game. LSU made no effort whatsoever to cleverly disguise what it was doing. There were no fancy formations, trick plays, nifty shifts or men in motion. The Tigers simply lined up and ran the same play with repetitive monotony. It was so obvious that once the Tigers broke their huddle, quarterback Max Johnson could have shouted, “We’re running the same play again!” Once the ball was snapped, their guard pulled to lead Davis-Price through the gaping hole and far too many times it was off to the races since the nearest Florida defender was yards away. Why is it? How can that happen? After all, these same Gators who stopped the Alabama running game dead in its tracks and then two weeks later pretty much stuffed Kentucky at the line of scrimmage were unable to get stops against LSU, which all but abandoned the passing game in the second half. How obvious was what LSU was doing? Well, consider this: The Tigers threw 18 passes in the first half, but emboldened by Florida’s inability to stop the counter-trap, threw only six times in the second half and just once in the fourth quarter. Everybody in the ball yard and in the national television audience on ESPN knew what was coming next, so why didn’t the Florida defensive coaching staff? The easy thing to do would be to point fingers at the players. After all, other than Zachary Carter Florida’s defensive line rarely got any penetration (none of the defensive tackles was credited with a tackle for loss) and the linebackers kept getting picked off as they were trying to plug the hole. Florida’s safeties had to make way too many tackles in the running game. It was rare that Davis-Price absorbed his first hit before he was four yards past the line of scrimmage, and even then, it took more than one Gator to bring him down. On this day in which he set an LSU single-game rushing record of 287 yards, Davis-Price gained 197 yards on 11 of LSU’s running plays that went for 10 or more yards. At least 100 of his yards came after the first contact. Nothing was more exasperating than LSU’s game-winning touchdown drive which covered 68 yards and required only one pass. The Tigers ran nine straight plays on the ground and overcame a first down false start to take it to the Florida one, where on fourth down Johnson dumped off a TD pass to Jaray Jenkins, his third scoring catch of the day. Davis-Price carried five straight plays before taking a one-play breather on the sideline. While Davis-Price was out, Josh Williams ran the same counter trap for 24 yards that gave the Tigers a first-and-goal at the UF nine. Price ran the next three plays before Johnson and Jenkins finished things off. It was strangely reminiscent of Texas A&M’s game-winning drive in 2020 when the Gators knew Isaiah Spiller was going to get the football and yet they couldn’t stop him. How much of this debacle do we lay at the feet of the players? Sure, they have to make plays, but they rely on the coaches to put them in the right sets so they have a chance. This is not like the 1960s when the middle linebacker made the defensive calls the same way quarterbacks called the offensive plays from the huddle. Nowadays, the defensive calls come in from the sideline, so it’s up to the coordinator to get the players in the right place to make plays. If the other team catches the coordinator by surprise, it’s up to him to make the proper adjustments. Saturday, the only surprises were how easy LSU ran the ball and how few adjustments the Gators made to shut the Tigers down. Perhaps these two answers in the post game press conference from inside linebacker Mohamoud Diabate will tell you everything you need to know. When asked why it was the Gators didn’t adjust to what LSU was doing play-after-play-after-play, Diabate answered, “I mean we made the adjustments we were given to make.” And then this: “I’m like a soldier. When the general tells me where to shoot I shoot. I don’t ask many questions. That’s y’all’s job.” The soldiers followed the orders of the general – in this case Todd Grantham – and whatever the general ordered wasn’t working. There are times when Grantham makes all the right calls and is a step ahead of the opposing offensive coordinator. Just ask Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien about those final three quarters back in September. Of course, during the first quarter everything O’Brien dialed up worked and Grantham was the proverbial lost ball in the tall grass. When Grantham is on, he’s really on. When he’s off – as in Saturday against LSU – he’s really, really off. It is the inconsistency that drives you crazy. Game-to-game you never know if you’re going to get the brilliant version of Todd Grantham, whose Florida defense ranked ninth nationally for the entire 2019 season, or the one from last year whose defense played so well four games and so poorly in the other eight. Then there is the one in 2021. Grantham’s defense has only played four solid quarters once and that was the Kentucky game. The Gators have lost seven football games the last two seasons and in only one of those losses – the aforementioned Kentucky game – did the Gators give a winning defensive performance for all four quarters. The Gators held Kentucky to one extended scoring drive. The other two touchdowns came on a blocked field goal and a gift TD on a short field after an interception. In the other six losses the Gators have given up 41 points (Texas A&M, 2020), 37 (LSU, 2020), 52 (Alabama, 2020), 55 Oklahoma (2020), 31 Alabama (2021) and 49 (Saturday to LSU). In all but the Oklahoma game (UF scored 20), the Gators scored more than enough points to win the game. Upon further analysis, in five of those losses – LSU in both 2020 and 2021 and the Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas A&M games in 2020 – the Gators have given up an average of 540.8 yards, 265.4 on the ground and 275.4 through the air. And to think that in all but the Oklahoma game, the Gators should have won. The Gators scored 42 points against LSU Saturday and that was WITH FOUR turnovers on interceptions. Of LSU’s 49 points, seven came on a pick six of Emory Jones on Florida’s first possession in the third quarter and 14 came on short fields after interceptions on consecutive second quarter passes by Jones and Richardson. Those two short field touchdowns are pretty much the responsibility of the offense. Since there is no guarantee the Gators would have scored on three of those possessions that ended in interceptions, logic tells you it should have been a 42-35 win. This leads us to one other point that must be made. In all but the loss to Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl last year, the Gators were one play away from winning the game. In all three losses this season, one play would have made the difference in winning and losing, whether it was a defensive stop in the Alabama or LSU games or a decent game by the quarterback or an offensive line that committed 10 penalties against Kentucky. One play in each Florida loss this season and not only are the Gators 7-0 but they’re ranked top four nationally with everyone in the country anticipating Florida’s game with No. 1 Georgia in Jacksonville in two weeks. Go back to 2020 one more time. One play in each of the Texas A&M, LSU and Alabama games and the Gators would have been unbeaten and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Take a moment and ponder that fact. Forget the point differential. Six losses, each by one play. That’s mind boggling. What that tells us is if the Gators wish to compete for championships in the future they better start making plays that make the difference in winning and losing. It’s not good enough to say we played them close. There comes a time when you have to come up with the big play at just the right moment of the game. Clutch teams do that. Championship teams do that. Florida is not a championship team this year nor has it been a championship team either in the three-plus years of the Mullen era or the seven preceding years of Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain. We can safely say the Gators are closer to a championship level now with Mullen in charge but what is it going to take to close the gap and get them over the hump? What is it going to take until the Gators start making the critical play? In his postgame press conference, Mullen said, “We’ll evaluate it all. We gotta coach better, play better, look at our personnel … make sure we’re putting guys in the right position to make plays. Get better.” All that is true. It’s also true that when you score 42 points there is no excuse for losing. Sooner or later the Gators have to start being the team that makes the big plays and stops being the team that comes up one play short.