A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning: During a Wednesday afternoon phone call with a former coach who still follows football in the Southeastern Conference – particularly Florida – with great passion, the discussion turned to Florida’s defensive woes in 2020, which prompted him to ask this question: “Do you think Todd Grantham forgot how to coach this year?” I didn’t answer immediately, instead taking a few moments to breathe deeply and ponder the question. “No,” I answered, “I don’t think he forgot how to coach but I think there was a serious disconnect this year between all the defensive coaches – not just Grantham – and the players. The Gators had a lot of young players but most of them were in their second and third seasons in the system so they should have at least been familiar with assignments but even in the Alabama game we saw players who were struggling to get lined up right and way too many blown assignments for game 11.” He agreed with my assessment, then added this: “I think Grantham can still coach. He proved that in 2019. That was one fierce defense, but this is another year and he’s got to decide whether he’s willing to make some changes in the way he calls defenses and communicates with his players or needs to make some changes to his staff. If he doesn’t want to change, then he needs to find a new place to coach. If he does want to make changes I think are necessary, then he needs to do it the day after the bowl game.” Change is never pleasant at this level. Florida is one of maybe 10-12 programs that you could safely call top tier. Counting coordinators, that means probably no more than 60 top tier assistant jobs are available on the defensive side of the ball. There aren’t that many jobs that will open up at the top level so there is limited upward mobility. Getting fired probably dooms an assistant to a lower paying job a few rungs down the ladder. I’ve never met a head coach who relished the idea of firing assistants, but firings are sometimes a necessity. I am of the opinion that Florida has to make changes. Grantham has a four-year history with Dan Mullen and two of his three defenses have been top ten, but something has to change because another season with the kind of disconnect that was so obvious this season will set the program back. Coaches get stale and sometimes they need a wakeup call that prompts them to closely examine what they’re doing in order to revitalize their approach. I haven’t any idea what Mullen and Grantham are going to decide once the curtain comes down on this season at the Cotton Bowl. They’ve been working together now for four years, the first three producing a top ten defense. This is the first year outside the top ten during their relationship. If I had to guess, I would say Grantham is going to be returning but with the understanding something has to give, whether it’s the way he coaches or by bringing in some fresh faces to work with. TRASK, PITTS MAKE FIRST TEAM CBS ALL-AMERICA, TONEY SECOND Kyle Trask didn’t make the grade with the Southeastern Conference coaches, who relegated him to second team All-SEC behind Alabama QB Mac Jones. Obviously, CBS sees things a bit differently than the coaches. Tuesday, Trask was named first team All-America by CBS. He was joined on the first team by tight end Kyle Pitts, who was one of two unanimous choices (the other was Alabama WR Devonta Smith). Named to the second team as an All-Purpose player was Florida slot receiver Kadarius Toney. Trask was snubbed by The Athletic, whose first team QB All-America QB was Jones and second team was Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence. Pitts and Toney were selected to the first team by The Athletic staff. COMING, GOING, RUMBLING AND STUMBLING IN THE SEC Former Auburn coach and now SEC Network analyst Gene Chizik, thinks back to Auburn losing to UCF in the Peach Bowl in 2017 and believes Georgia faces a similar situation against unbeaten and 9th-ranked Cincinnati (9-0) in the Peach Bowl: “They (Cincinnati) have some elements including a great coaching staff, a tremendous quarterback and a defense that is lights out. If Georgia doesn’t come locked in, they could get embarrassed on a big stage which certain would set that program progression back.” David Pollak of ESPN discussed why he thinks Notre Dame got the fourth spot in the College Football Playoff over Texas A&M: “When I look at the four spot, the difference between A&M and Notre Dame – first of all, Notre Dame played 11 games. We have to point to that, right? And when you look at A&M, they played nine. They were 8-1. So Notre Dame played more games. Notre Dame had more wins over ranked teams. If you look at A&M’s win over Florida, huge win. A&M’s next best win? Auburn. So [for Notre Dame] you’ve got North Carolina, which was a great win and Clemson, which was a great win. Obviously … Clemson’s not a top four team without Trevor Lawrence so you can knock that down a bit. So I think the body of work, it’s not just that last game you saw and I’m okay with Notre Dame being in. If A&M was in, I wouldn’t be crushed if you thought AUM’s a better team, because honestly, I think Notre Dame and A&M are very similar football teams.” There are reports surfacing that former Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason could be Bo Pelini’s replacement as the defensive coordinator at LSU. Prior to the Vandy job, Mason was the defensive coordinator at Stanford for Jim Harbaugh. In that Harbaugh has fired defensive coordinator Don Brown, it wouldn’t come as a complete surprise if Mason went to work again for his old boss. Auburn’s new coach is Bryan Harsin, the former Boise State HBC who got the job after a whole slew of people just said no. One of the naysayers was Bill Clark, who told a Birmingham radio station why he remains the head coach at UAB: “I basically said the interest I would have is to do it right and everybody has their own version of what right is. For me, is complete control of my staff and all those little things that go with it. I think maybe that was a hindrance. Once again, how far did we get down the path I won’t really say because I’m happy at UAB and this is where I’m at. For me, I said I would listen. That’s kind of where I’ll leave it.” Translation: I wasn’t going to take a job when a requirement was that I had to have Kevin Steele and Rodney Garner on my staff. At South Carolina, there is a lot of news. Starting safety Jammie Robinson has entered the NCAA transfer portal. He had 37 tackles and an interception in his South Carolina career. Also at South Carolina, Hammond High School (in Columbia) head coach Erik Kimrey has joined Shane Beamer’s staff as the tight ends coach. Kimrey played quarterback at South Carolina when Lou Holtz was the head coach. Football Scoop is reporting that Memphis assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Pete Lembo is expected to join Beamer’s staff. Mississippi State defensive tackle Devon Robinson has placed his name in the NCAA transfer portal. He brings to 17 the number of players who have transferred out since Mike Leach took over as the head coach. SEC underclassmen who have declared for the NFL Draft: KYLE PITTS, TE, FLORIDA; Larry Borom, OL, Missouri; Ja’Marr Chase, WR, LSU; Anthony Hines III, LB, Texas A&M; Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina; Ernest Jones, LB, South Carolina; Kelvin Joseph, CB, Kentucky; Terrace Marshall Jr., WR, LSU; Elijah Moore, WR, Ole Miss; Israel Mukuamu, CB, South Carolina; Marcus Murphy, DB, Mississippi State; Tyler Shelvin, DL, LSU TACKLE FOOTBALL PLAYED SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN THE SEC Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated talks of how the College Football Playoff is stacked against Group of Five teams: “Programs like Cincinnati don’t get the benefit of the doubt. Programs like Ohio State, which played all of six games and hardly overwhelmed the two quality teams it faced, always get the benefit of the doubt. And now it seems the Buckeyes will get the benefit of another Big Ten rule change, reportedly reducing its 21-day mandatory time away from competition to 17 days for players who test positive for Covid-19. Never in the history of college football has a league prostrated itself for a marquee team the way the Big Ten has for the Buckeyes in 2020 … Big picture: there are fresher faces in a mausoleum than in college football. The sport’s status as a collection of immovable monoliths at the top is a problem, one that diminishes the game’s national scope and extinguishes outside programs’ hope. Just 11 programs have taken the 28 playoff bids to date.” Dabo Swinney continues to do his best to get in the head of Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes. On Mark Packer’s ESPN radio show, Swinney said, “Obviously, you study their games this year and that will be a quick study for us, because there was only six. So that will be a little easier. Typically you’re going into these games with 13 games to study so it won’t be as exalting a task there … They are going to have to study our 11 games. You have to study every play – offense, defense, special teams. You’re studying every play, plus you’re going back to last year. So yeah, it does make it a little easier because there’s not as much tape to pour through. You can’t make it up. There’s only six games.” The Littlest Bowden of Them All, Terry, has resurfaced in the Fun Belt Sun Belt as the head ball coach at Louisiana-Monroe. The Little Dweeb has a career coaching record of 175-114 that includes stops at such outposts as Salem (WV), Samford, Auburn, North Alabama and Akron. Georgia Southern ran for 322 yards in walloping Louisiana Tech 38-3 in the New Orleans Bowl. Georgia Southern finishes the season 8-5 while Louisiana Tech completed its season 5-5. In the Montgomery Bowl, Memphis (8-3) took down Florida Atlantic (5-4), 25-10. Jed Fisch, the former defensive coordinator at P.K. Yonge and grad assistant for Steve Spurrier at Florida, is the new head coach at Arizona, replacing the recently fired Kevin Sumlin. Fisch spent the 2020 season working for Bill Belichick at New England, coaching up the quarterbacks. Now that Bryan Harsin has departed Boise State for the bigger bucks and increased competition at Auburn, it looks like one of the names that will be heard prominently at Boise is Kellen Moore, a record setting Boise quarterback who is now the offensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys. ANOTHER REASON WHY THE NCAA NEEDS TO BE SCRAPPED … Memphis, which has turned its NCAA rules violation case over to the independent investigation arm where it hopes to get a more favorable outcome than it will get from the Committee on Rules and Infractions, has given head coach Penny Hardaway a five-year extension worth $12.25 million. That’s like daring the NCAA to do something. Memphis was investigated by the NCAA for its recruitment of 7-1 center James Wiseman. Wiseman’s family was paid $11,500 to move from Nashville to Memphis where Wiseman played for Hardaway, then the high school coach at Memphis East. Hardaway knew better then and Memphis should know better now than to give him a raise and an extension. What will the NCAA do? Probably nothing. CHRISTMAS EVE PITHY: Having watched BYU’s 49-23 beatdown of UCF Tuesday night I came to the following two conclusions – (1) BYU deserved much better than the Boca Raton Bowl and (2) after a three-year run that produced 35 wins in 39 games, UCF is on the verge of returning to the ranks of irrelevance. I am convinced that this year’s BYU team can play with and beat 90% of the teams in Division I. The UCF teams of 2017-18 could play with just about anybody in the country. Not anymore.

“Truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” – Gloria Steinem Can 2021 get here soon enough? I know, I know. Just one more week and we’re over and done with 2020, but haven’t we seen enough? Haven’t we suffered enough in this year of the worldwide pandemic? Are you pissed off that we have had to endure a year like this? Are you as ready as I am to put 2020 in the rearview only to be remembered as one of the worst years in memory? This has been a year like no other. My 92-year-old mother, who grew up in the Great Depression and was a teenager during World War II, says 2020 is the closest we’ve come to those years in terms of impact and upheaval in our lives. The Covid-19 virus has had the economic impact of the Great Depression and it has taken more lives than in all the wars combined that the United States has engaged in since 1945. With each passing day, it seems we get news that contradicts what we heard the day or week before. What we have learned is that the more we know about the virus the more we know so little about it, but we do see the damage it leaves in its wake and wonder how it could further disrupt our lives. We wear masks in public and we hear that some who claim to be experts in infectious disease think wearing a mask in our own homes might be a good idea. Other doctors tell us that masks may not work at all. We are encouraged to keep our distance – six feet away whenever possible – and that essentially has eliminated the hug and the handshake from our daily routines. Some states and big cities go on lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading. Maybe it works for our health, maybe it doesn’t but the economic impact has been devastating. In Florida, the lockdown has all but been eliminated but masks are required nearly everywhere. Churches, restaurants – anyplace where people gather – limit their capacity. We see businesses boarded up or reducing hours. We’re used to a 24-hour Walmart, but now that retail giant has scaled back its hours and shuts down at 10 p.m. We shop in stores that in the nine months since the virus became Public Enemy No. 1 still can’t fill their shelves. Lysol has become a luxury. Some weeks the shelves are full of toilet paper of every brand. Other weeks you get what they have and they limit how much you can buy. We go to malls, shopping centers or stores that are like ghost towns. When a friend or family member goes into the hospital, visitation is curtailed or, in many cases, completely eliminated. Some schools are open. Others have gone exclusively to online learning. The psychological impact on both patients and students is enormous due to the lack of interaction with family and friends and classmates. As bad as the economic damage has been, has the psychological impact been worse? It’s almost as if five thousand years of societal evolution has been reversed. Our homes have become our caves to where we have retreated and where we stay, almost barricaded with the hope that our confinement will keep us alive and upright. When we dare leave home we double check to make sure we haven’t forgotten our mask. We work if we still have a job although in many cases hours have been greatly reduced. We shop only when we have to, so often with limited resources because our earning capacity has been diminished by this pandemic. When the sun sets, we return to our caves and sit in front of a TV where we binge watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime. When we’ve run through the movies, shows and programs that we know, we find ourselves watching re-runs of shows that were popular twenty or thirty years ago. Viewership of “I Love Lucy” and “The Beverly Hillbillies” re-runs is at a record pace. If we turn on the news we are bombarded with doom and gloom. If it isn’t the virus it’s politics and if it isn’t politics it is social unrest. The virus rages. Elections are disputed. Cities burn. Sports, which have always served as our escape from all the bad in the world, have been turned into vehicles of social justice, constant reminders that for some in this country, a level field and equal opportunity is a dream and not a reality. The NCAA canceled basketball just as March Madness was about to begin. We’ll never know if Mike White and the Florida Gators could have made it past the opening weekend. Was that season the lasting reminder of what Keyontae Johnson was truly becoming? All-SEC in 2019-20. Preseason SEC Player of the Year for 2020-2021 before his collapse on the floor in Tallahassee just four games into a new season. Fortunately, he’s home for the holidays although it’s questionable if he will ever play basketball again. At the time when all sports were put on ice, Kevin O’Sullivan’s Florida baseball team was 16-1, ranked No.1 in the nation, and thought to be a serious threat to bring home the second national championship in the last four years. A pitching rotation of Tommy Mace, Jack Leftwich and Hunter Barco was the best in the country. Judd Fabian was emerging as a superstar in center field and nobody could find a way to get Jacob Young out. Tim Walton had the Florida softball team at 23-4, steamrolling everyone in their path and looking capable of making their 11th Womens College World Series Appearance since 2008. Charla Echols was hitting with power to all fields, Kendyl Lindamin was launching the ball high and deep over the outfield wall and Natalie Lugo and Rylee Trlicek were emerging as a serious 1-2 pitching punch. Jenny Rowland’s Florida gymnastics team was unbeaten, ranked second nationally and thanks to the truly gifted Trinity Thomas, ready to win UF’s fourth national championship and first since 2015. Thomas was the 2020 SEC Gymnast of the Year with a perfect 10 on bars, beam and floor. Mike Holloway, who has won nine NCAA track and field championships in his Hall of Fame career, had the Gators ranked in the top five and poised to make national championship runs at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor events. It could have been a spring that produced three or four national championships in Gainesville. We endured a summer in which the NBA finished its season in Orlando, its players kept in what amounts to a cocoon and playing in an empty arena. Did anyone watch the playoffs? It was nearly 50 years ago since we saw TV ratings that low. Major League Baseball played an abbreviated schedule of 60 games. Does anyone remember who won the World Series, which was played at a neutral site? The NFL elected to play a full schedule in empty stadiums while placing plenty of emphasis on social justice issues. Ratings have plummeted. It is college football that has provided plenty of debate and the most compelling sports story of the entire year in Florida quarterback Kyle Trask, who has a legitimate shot at becoming the fourth Heisman Trophy winner in school history. In a season in which the Big Ten has become synonymous with stupid decisions, the Southeastern Conference has proven that strong leadership and good planning can help make the best of a bad situation. In a summer in which the powers that be in college football debated whether to play a fall schedule, a split schedule in which half the games were played in the fall with the other half in the spring, or a completely spring schedule, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren announced his league would opt out of the fall and study possibilities to play in the spring. The Big Ten figured that everyone would follow their lead. They figured wrong. When SEC commissioner Greg Sankey decided to play, the ACC, Big 12, American Athletic, Conference USA and Sun Belt followed his lead. Sankey went with a 10-game conference-only schedule with built-in flexibility that allowed 67 of the 70 scheduled games to be played. The other leagues allowed for some inter-conference play but all followed Sankey by allowing some flexibility to re-schedule on the fly. Once football was being played, the Big Ten saw the errors of its ways and hastily put together an eight-game schedule that had no margin for error, which led to Ohio State playing only five games yet still making the conference championship game. Once the Big Ten elected to play, the Pac-12, Mountain West and MAC also came up with shortened schedules. Although the SEC played in stadiums limited to 20 percent capacity, it was still football and it produced two great story lines. Alabama went 11-0, winning the SEC with what many are calling Nick Saban’s best team no matter the year thanks to an offense that has put up 40 or more points in an NCAA-record ten straight games. The Crimson Tide is seeded No.1 in the College Football Playoff and is everybody’s favorite to win Saban’s sixth national championship since 2009. The playoff has a final four of Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Notre Dame. Alabama and Clemson are indisputable. They belong. No one is even remotely certain either Ohio State or Notre Dame could beat the Gators, Texas A&M or even unbeatens Cincinnati or Coastal Carolina from the Group of Five. Florida came within 12 points of a perfect season in large part because Trask emerged as a serious Heisman candidate. Trask leads the nation in touchdown responsibility (46), touchdown passes (43), passing yards (4,125) and passing yards per game (375). Having never started a game since the ninth grade, Trask became Florida’s starting QB in 2019 when Feleipe Franks went down with a dislocated and fractured ankle. In the 21 games since he took over to lead the Gators back from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to a win over Kentucky, Trask is 16-5 as a starter and is now eighth on Florida’s career passing yardage list (7,228), sixth in touchdown passes (69), first in completion percentage (68.28%) and first in efficiency (186.65). Trask has already been named a finalist for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award and is likely to be a finalist for other national awards. With targets like all-interplanetary tight end Kyle Pitts (43-770, 12 touchdowns), who is a finalist for both the Biletnikoff and Mackey awards; Kadarius Toney (70-984, 10 touchdowns), a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award; and Trevon Grimes (38-589, 9 touchdowns), Trask has carved up opponents at an alarming rate. Heading into next week’s Cotton Bowl game with Oklahoma, he’s thrown for more than 400 yards in three consecutive games and has a UF record five 400-yard games this season. Trask’s 13 career games with 300 or more yards ranks fourth all-time at UF. That the Gators have lost three times weighs heavily on Florida fans, but nowhere close to what Trask is feeling. Did you see the tears that streamed from his face in Atlanta when he ran out of time in trying to do the unthinkable which is to bushwhack mighty Alabama? Add another minute to the clock on each of those three losses and the Gators might very well be 11-0, everybody’s favorite to win the national championship and Trask would be a shoo-in to win the Heisman. Kyle Trask thinks about such things as being unbeaten and playing for the national championship. The Heisman? It’s not on his mind because he’s far more interested in making the Gators better. That’s part of his charm and what makes his story the best in college football not just this year but in the past decade or more. In reaching heights that no one expected or could have dreamed of when he came to Florida as an unheralded quarterback from Manvel, Texas that some services rated three stars Trask has taken the Gators to two consecutive New Years Six bowl games. Not bad for a kid that one recruiting service ranked behind more than 2,000 other players in 2017. It just goes to show you what perseverance, patience, faith and good coaching will do for you. Along the way, Trask has earned both a bachelors and masters degree from the University of Florida, never had anything close to an off-the-field problem or problem with teammates in the locker room. While doing all this, Trask has earned the respect of everyone for his calm, humble demeanor. He defines aw shucks. When he deflects praise to his teammates that’s not phony. That’s just the way he is. He builds others up which is why teammates would run through the proverbial brick wall for him. If there is a story that salvages what has been an otherwise rotten and uncertain year for Florida football fans it is Kyle Trask. For UF basketball fans, Keyontae Johnson’s recovery and discharge from the hospital is another story that helps negate what has been a lousy year. The prognosis that he will at least have a chance at a healthy life moving forward is an added bonus. We need good stories at the end of this year of so much that has been negative. We need to once again face a new year with optimism and the belief that things will indeed get better. We need once again to know that we can face the worst and emerge stronger for our ordeal. We need once again to be able to hug and shake hands. We need a new year, one that will restore our faith in each other and dissipate this cloud of gloom. We need to be able to shop in stores with full shelves, sit in restaurants brimming with customers, see businesses open back up and attend ball games in stadiums filled to capacity. My 92-year-old mom Carleta Underwood probably said it best a couple of days ago: “I lived through the Great Depression and despite how tough times were, we grew closer and shared what we had with the people we loved and sometimes with total strangers. I lived through World War II when every day people I knew got news that a child or relative or a family member wouldn’t come back. Men went off to war and so many never came back, but when it was over, it was better and we were stronger as a country and the world was a better place for all the sacrifices that were made. When I look at 2020, I’m glad it will be coming to an end just as I was glad the Depression was over, just as I was glad World War II came to an end. It will be over. Things will get better. Life has gone on and will continue to go on only now we will be stronger for it. But let me tell you something, I’m glad this year is coming to an end. I’ve heard it said before that tough times don’t last but tough people do. The tough times won’t last but we will. I’m so happy in a few more days we turn the page on 2020 and we will have a brand new year, aren’t you?”

It’s really hard to believe that we have been living in this weird world for nine months now. Many of those who work in the sports industry will tell you that we measure time by seasons and games. So in March when many seasons and countless games were scrubbed, it had many of us in the industry feeling like we were living in this timeless eternity. For example, and I’ve told this story a lot, I was covering three to four softball games a week. That’s a lot of time spent in a press box. One day I was watching the Gators beat up on Penn in a midweek matinee, the next night I was following along from home as Florida topped Florida State in a top-10 matchup. Little did I know, that with over 30 games left on the schedule, that weird, borderline boring game against Penn would be my last time in Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, a place that was becoming a second home to me. And I had really high hopes for the Gators softball team that no one gave a chance after the graduation of Kelly Barnhill and Amanda Lorenz. Not to mention, just down the street, softball’s counterpart was ranked as the best baseball team in the country. Celebrating its last season in Alfred McKethan Stadium, Florida baseball had no idea that its last homestand in Florida’s former ballpark would result in a blackeye from the Florida State Seminoles. But I’ve told this story before. The story of what we didn’t get to see happen. But what about what we did get to see happen? And better yet, what we will get to see happen? First off, there’s a lot... no, a TON owed to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. While the governing body that we call the NCAA fumbled around, Sankey and the SEC picked up the rope. And while what has taken place in 2020 has been a slippery slope that none of us were prepared for, Sankey and the rest of the league’s front office could put on a clinic if this were ever to happen again (if you’re reading, knock on wood right now). Florida played an entire football season this fall. The Gators have 11 games under their belt. Forget the record... that 11 games. Those are 11 games that, in August, I was sure wouldn’t be played. And while there were certainly hiccups that came about through the course of the season, it was nothing that derailed the program. And that can be credited partly to the athletic association and conference, but also to the program. And because of the diligence, Dan Mullen and Florida Gators are heading to their third straight New Year’s Six bowl game. They also have a slew of guys who are slated as finalists for major awards. Sure, there’s plenty to gripe about. But there’s a whole lot more to gush about... just ask Keyontae Johnson and his family. When we talk about double-edged swords, the Keyontae Johnson story is a poster child for the age-old cliché. Johnson’s terrifying midgame collapse on December 12 is something no one... absolutely no one... wanted to take place. And imagining being on the floor when it happened, whether as a teammate, coach or opponent, is enough to really make someone do some thinking. Not to mention the thought of being Johnson’s family, which was in Virginia at the time of the scare. And though the unknowing of the situation made everyone uneasy, the outpouring of support Johnson, his family and the Florida basketball program received was just an unbelievable sight... One that really puts things into perspective, which we all needed after this year. Now, as the university announced on Tuesday, Johnson won’t have to spend his Christmas in a hospital bed. Which, all things considered, is a massive victory to round out 2020. Sharing the O’Connell Center with Johnson and Mike White’s Gators is Florida’s women’s basketball team, which is off to a remarkable start to its 2020 season. In the final years of Amanda Butler’s tenure as the head of the Gators’ women’s basketball team, it seemed as though the women’s program was a deadweight being pulled behind the efforts of all of the other teams on campus. And as unfortunate as it was, considering Butler spent her college career in Gainesville, the sun had set on the Amanda Butler era and it was time that Scott Stricklin cleaned his house. Bringing in Cam Newbauer, who previously coached at Belmont, was a shocking hire, in my opinion. After the demise of the program, whoever the Gators hired would have a full rebuild on their hands. And Newbauer just didn’t seem like the splash hire that Florida would need to get that done. The now 42-year-old young gun was hired in 2017, and his first two seasons came with some major growing pains. In those two slates, the Gators were a combined 19-42. However, now getting into the 2020 season, the Gators are off to a 7-1 start. The Gators have won six in a row as they prepare to open conference play against Vanderbilt on December 31. Is Florida’s women’s basketball team set to go out and win a conference championship this season? Well, no. The big, bad South Carolina Gamecocks likely stand in the way of that feat. However, the strides the program has made and continue to make are just another example of how the Florida Gators have gracefully navigated the oddity-filled 2020 year. I think they call it capitalizing? And speaking of capitalizing, expect Kevin O’Sullivan and the Gators baseball team to enter the 2021 baseball season in perfect stride with where they were headed in 2020: legitimate contenders for a national championship. Despite the last time the Florida Gators took the diamond it resulted in a loss, the Gators maintained their top dog status as the No. 1 team in the country through the lengthened offseason. And now, as preseason polls begin rolling out, the Gators are widely expected to carry that No. 1 ranking into February, when the 2021 season gets underway. Collegiate Baseball Newspaper released its preseason poll on Monday, where Florida topped the list. Rounding out the top three was Vanderbilt and UCLA. During the offseason, O’Sullivan and the Gators also signed the top 2021 recruiting class. When Florida baseball takes the field in the new Florida Ballpark this spring, I have a feeling it’s going to be an experience like no other for the team and its fans. And that’s hard to believe when you think about what happened in the spring of 2020. All of this goes to say that, yes, 2020 was horrible and I hope no part of it comes back to haunt us. But in the same breath, many of the Gators sports teams saw a lot of high points, even in the unprecedented times this year brought. And for that, the athletic administration in Gainesville deserves a great applause. Look around the country. The Gators were a part of the lucky few.

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH THE NCAA: NOT AS BAD AS IT SEEMS If you remember the bad days of the 1980s when the Gators felt the wrath of the NCAA and went on one of the harshest probations in the history of that loathsome organization, then the news that Florida was dealt a one-year probation for recruiting violations that resulted in a show cause for Dan Mullen had to cause a groan. Anytime there is a run-in with the NCAA it’s never pleasant but this one looks far worse on the ESPN news stream than it does in reality. Florida heinous crimes that earned a probation involved players on a 7-on-7 team stopping by for unofficial visits while on their way to a tournament. Under current NCAA rules, that isn’t a violation of rules, but it was when it happened. The other one involved an assistant coach and Dan Mullen having some sort of interaction with a prospect at the school of a player from Seattle that lasted more than 15 minutes, which goes beyond the NCAA allowed time frame. In neither case was there an offer of any impermissible benefit. For that, the Gators will have off-campus recruiting evaluations reduced, a loss of one official visit and a $5,000 fine. Additionally, Mullen got a one-year show cause with a one-year restriction on recruiting off-campus and a prohibition for any recruiting during the first 10 days of January. Note please that Florida self-reported the violations and cooperated with the NCAA. While the violations and probation are embarrassing to a school that has for years set the standard for compliance in the SEC, it’s not as if Mullen is breaking rules right and left. The punishment is a bit more than a slap on the wrist but it’s not a knockout blow to the program. KEYONTAE WILL BE HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS There is great news for Keyontae Johnson. Florida’s All-SEC forward was discharged from Shands Hospital/UF Health Tuesday, meaning he will be able to be home for the holidays. His mother Nika tweeted out, “The best birthday gift I could receive! Thank you Lord! Thank you everyone for your continued prayers! The blessings have been phenomenal. Happy 42nd birthday to me!” There has been no statement from the Florida athletic department or from Johnson’s family defining what caused him to collapse early in the Gators game with Florida State in Tallahassee. However, Zach Abolverdi of the Gainesville Sun, citing an anonymous source, reported that Johnson collapsed because of a heart inflammation that might have been caused by Covid-19. Johnson tested positive for the virus back during the summer. Abolverdi reports that Johnson is expected to be out at least three months and quite possibly the remainder of the 2020-21 season. PITTS, TONEY, ELAM MAKE FIRST TEAM COACHES ALL-SEC; TRASK SECOND The SEC coaches named their All-SEC team Tuesday with four Gators honored. Making the first team were tight end Kyle Pitts, all-purpose offensive player Kadarius Toney and corner Kaiir Elam. Quarterback Kyle Trask was named to the second team. Toney also made second team as a wide receiver. Pitts was also named Tuesday as a finalist for both the Biletnikoff and Mackey awards. The Biletnikoff goes to the top wide receiver in the country while the Mackey goes to the nation’s top tight end. Pitts, who caught 43 passes for 770 yards and 12 touchdowns, is the first tight end to ever be named a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award. That will likely be won by Alabama’s Devonta Smith. The Mackey Award, however, is almost certain to go to Pitts. No Gator has ever won the Biletnikoff Award while Aaron Hernandez was the winner of the Mackey in 2009. Trask was named a finalist for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award. Trask leads the nation in touchdowns produced (46), touchdown passes (43), passing yards (4,125) and passing yards per game (375). Previous Gators to win the Davey O’Brien were Danny Wuerffel (1995-96) and Tim Tebow (2007). GATORS IN THE PORTAL Corner Chester Kimbrough (5-11, SO) has placed his name in the NCAA transfer portal, joining linebacker Jesiah Pierre (6-2, 242, RFR). Corner Marco Wilson (6-1, 191, RJR) isn’t coming back but there is no indication whether he will be transferring to a new school or declaring for the NFL Draft. NO OPT OUT FOR FELEIPE Rather than opt out like a lot of players have been doing in recent years, Arkansas quarterback Feleipe Franks will play for the Razorbacks against TCU in the Texas Bowl. Explaining his decision, Franks, who transferred to Arkansas from Florida for the 2020 season, said, “I want to stay and I want to finish the season out. I want to finish what I started. I came here to compete for a season, and that’s what I’m going to do. At the end of the day, I feel like I’ve gone to work week in and week out with these guyus for 10 straight games. Why stop on the 11th? It’s just something for me, my pride and just being able to go out there. I owe it to these guys. I owe it to Coach [Sam Pittman], all the guys that have been able to just welcome me into the program and just help me take care of my body when I first got here.” Feleipe had a very good season for the Razorbacks, completing a career-high 68.5% of his passes for 2,107 yards (8.9 per attempt, a career high) and 17 touchdowns (4 picks). Counting his time at Florida, Franks has thrown for 6,700 yards and 55 touchdowns while running for 642 yards and none touchdowns. AUBURN HAS A FOOTBALL COACH Back in 2013 when Gus Malzahn left Arkansas State for the Auburn job, his replacement was Bryan Harsin. One year later, Harsin was off to Boise State where he went 69-19 with three Mountain West Conference championships. For the second time in his career, Harsin will follow Malzahn, this time as Auburn’s new head coach. Malzahn was fired for going 68-35 in eight years despite a buyout of $21.75 million. Harsin was making $1.55 million per year at Boise. He will be in for a substantial raise at Auburn, but it’s unlikely Auburn is crazy enough to pay Harsin $7 million a year. Strike that last thought. This is Auburn we are talking about. What will be interesting to see is what happens with defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, who is serving as the interim head coach for Auburn’s Citrus Bowl game with Northwestern, and D-line coach Rodney Garner. There are whispers that a provision for Harsin taking the job is that he has to keep Steele and Garner on his new staff. Auburn had talks with Hugh Freeze (HBC Liberty), Bill Clark (HBC UAB), Neal Brown (HBC West Virginia), Tony Elliot (Clemson OC) and Brent Venables (Clemson DC), all of whom said no. Steele wanted to succeed Malzahn. There is plenty of talk circulating that Steele had plenty to do with some hefty donor Auburn boosters putting up the money to buy out Malzahn. FINEBAUM ON AUBURN’S MEDDLING BOOSTERS Speaking on WJOX in Birmingham, Paul Finebaum had nothing good to say about some of Auburn’s fat cat boosters who can’t keep their thumbs off the football program. Finebaum said, “I think Auburn is one of the worst cases I’ve seen and I’ve watched it from a very up-close view over the years and it never ends. What I mean by that is you have a group of people who have really not dramatically changed over 35 years, maybe longer … maybe 40 years. The difference is that the structure of universities has changed and there’s more accountability than there used to be. Everyone wants to be friends with the coach. Everyone wants to slap them on the back and have access. I think under (Gus) Malzahn that wasn’t available. Malzahn was a loner. He was aloof. He knew you had to be friendly to the important people but that didn’t mean you could call plays and stand on the sideline.” MOVIN’ ON IN, MOVIN’ ON AND OTHER STUFF IN THE SEC South Carolina became the second SEC team to cancel its bowl game. The 2-8 Gamecocks were scheduled to play Conference USA champ UAB in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa but Covid-19 problems forced them to opt out Tuesday. The Gasparilla Bowl tried without success to find a replacement opponent for UAB. Will Friend, who spent the last three seasons coaching the offensive line for Jeremy Pruitt at Tennessee, is shufflin’ on off to South Carolina where he will coach the O-line for Shane Beamer. Apparently, Beamer is going to keep offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, who hand-picked Friend. Friend was the O-line coach at Georgia when Bobo was Mark Richt’s offensive coordinator. At LSU, D-line coach Bill Johnson and offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger aren’t leaving football for the pickle ball courts at The Villages. They’re merely transitioning to off-the-field analyst roles for Coach O. Scott Linehan, who coached the QBs and was the passing game coordinator in 2020, won’t be returning as Coach O engages in a wholesale shakeup. Deke Adams, who coached the D-line for Steve Spurrier at South Carolina and for Joe Moorhead at Mississippi State, has been pink-slipped at Ole Miss. The Rebels gave up 211-plus yards per game on the ground and only had 14 sacks in nine games this season. Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian is one of five finalists for the Broyles Award, which goes to the nation’s top assistant coach. Alabama, which has scored at least 35 points every game since Sarkisian became the OC in 2019, has scored 40 or more points in the last ten games. Alabama is averaging 49.7 points and 543.9 yards per game. TACKLE FOOTBALL NEWS FROM SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN THE SEC Clemson coach Dabo Swinney ranked Ohio State 11th in the last Coaches Top 25 Poll. Swinney ranked Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Iowa State and Coastal Carolina ahead of Ohio State. Clemson will play Ohio State in a College Football Playoff semifinal game. Arizona apparently has narrowed its search to San Jose State coach Brent Brennan and New England Patriots quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch. Brennan has ties to Arizona from working as a graduate assistant at the school under Dick Tomey. Fisch is a University of Florida graduate who worked as a GA under Steve Spurrier in 1999-2000. How long before UCF coach Josh Heupel pulls the plug on defensive coordinator Randy Shannon. Tuesday night, Shannon’s defense was burned by BYU for 655 yards – 441 passing by QB Zach Wilson – in a 49-23 loss that wasn’t nearly as close as the score might indicate. Since 2018, which is Shannon’s first year as the DC, UCF has lost seven games. In six of the seven, the defense has given up at least 34 points. In perhaps the surest sign yet that Jim Harbaugh will be back for at least one more year at Michigan, defensive coordinator Don Brown was fired Tuesday. Brown held the job for five years but following a standout 2016 when his defense gave up 14.1 points per game, the points per game allowed escalated every year. This year’s unit gave up 34.5 points per game as the Wolverines finished 2-4. ONE LAST PITHY THOUGHT: Florida’s football probation is just one more sign that the NCAA’s sell-by date expired long ago. When the NCAA can deliver a show cause to a football coach for a meeting with a recruit that lasted a little more than 15 minutes yet can’t drop the hammer on LSU, whose basketball coach is caught on tape boasting about offering large amounts of money to recruits and whose football program is trying to sidestep major penalties after a booster paid the father of an LSU O-linemen for a no-show job then it’s time for a brand new organization. Hire SEC commissioner Greg Sankey to run it, rewrite and simplify the recruiting rules, and let common sense rule instead of political correctness.

Florida Gators Head Coach Dan Mullen met with local media from Gainesville and Oklahoma on Tuesday to preview the No. 7 Gators upcoming matchup with the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners. As a valued subscriber we are offering the full transcript below. Opening Statement “As I said the other day, we’re excited to be part of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. It’s such a historic bowl for us and for Florida to be a part of it. It’s exciting to get to play a great opponent in Oklahoma, very quality football team, well coached, a lot of skilled players, a lot of talent. They’ve built the program that we’re trying to make sure we get up to that level, which is competing for championships on a regular basis. They’ve been able to do that over the last several years. Hopefully we’re getting to that level where year in and year out we’re competing for championships. Should be a lot of fun, should be a fun, exciting week.” Make Kyle Trask’s case for awards? “Make a case, he leads the nation by far in touchdown passes, he leads the nation by far in passing yards. Hard to say anybody’s meant more to their team than Kyle Trask has to our team this year. So I don’t know, I don’t know what criteria people are looking for. If the Heisman Trophy is looking for somebody that is the best player that means the most to their team, most outstanding player in college football, I guess the guy that I think has a double-digit, I mean, double-digit lead in touchdown passes - double digit. Hard to say I think the record last year was set by Joe Burrow with 50 in a season, is that right? That sound about right? Four less game … huh … It was 60? Oh, he still has a long way to go, but Kyle’s played a lot less football game. And to do it all against SEC opponents. But I don’t know, I don’t have a vote for any of those awards. The all-conference team, I don’t know, there’s a bunch of different of all those things that you guys vote for.” It was coaches … “Oh, it was coaches? I guess that’s what people think of him. I don’t have a lot of those votes. But I think he’s well deserving. You talk about a guy who didn’t start in a high school game and you look at his career and what he’s been able to do. That’s an unbelievable story. Again, that’s for these people with these different awards to figure out what the award means to them.” Oklahoma has history of high scoring offense, bad defense, roles have flipped somewhat, has your perspective changed? “I don’t know much about last year or to be honest we haven’t played them in a couple of years, so I haven’t … maybe something from kinda afar kind of view of it all, LSU being maybe last year. But I don’t know. I think they’re a team that’s a very explosive offense that’s won a lot of football games, that puts up a lot of points. So I think that can skew you defense statistically wise. Teams play you very different when you’re playing with a big lead. You play differently when you’re playing with a big lead. So I mean from what I’ve seen from them they have an excellent defense, I don’t know that that’s really changed since … I don’t know, Lincoln took over for Bob a couple of years ago. I think they’ve been a team over the last, going back, last time we played them in 2008, they were an explosive offense. They’ve always had a lot of talented defensive players, but sometimes because of their offensive style those stats get skewed a little bit.” AT&T Stadium is Oklahoma's home away from home. What is your familiarity with the stadium and have you addressed the stadium with your players? "Well, I think, one, I've been to a couple Cowboys games to watch Dak [Prescott] go play, so, I've gone to see Dak play there twice. So I've been there, me and my son Canon, Megan, we've been, go cheer on Dak, so I think that was kind of cool to experience and see it. It's a great, it's an awesome stadium. You know, I think for our guys, we've played in some of the best venues in the world, sporting venues in the world here in the Southeastern Conference with different home stadiums. So, I know it's an awesome stadium, I know our guys are excited to go play in it, and to see that, to get the experience playing in that. But, to be honest with you, we play in some of the greatest venues in the sporting world here in the Southeastern Conference. So, I think they're excited to see it, but I don't know if that's a big factor." Kadarius Toney, it was easy to compare him to Percy Harvin when he arrived. Has he done enough to set himself apart now? "Absolutely. Well, I don't like comparing guys because they all have very different traits. I think when you look at the reasons for comparison are the playmaking abilities, you know what I mean? He's a guy that when the ball is in his hands, special things happen. And you know, Percy, when you put the ball in his hands, special things happen. Kadarius, put the ball in his hands and special things happen. You know, it just so happens they played, their careers ended up rolling out, they played in a similar offense. I want to say we've evolved through the years so we're a little bit different than we were back then, but a very similar offense, so you can see the similarity in styles. But, KT is KT. You know, he's an amazing, not just athlete but I think, one of the things that's changed about him this year that everybody can see is, he went from a guy that was a playmaker into a guy that is an every-down, one of the best wide receivers in the country. I mean, he's a return specialist on punting, kickoffs. You can bring him into the backfield and have him run the ball. We haven't had him throw it a ton, but he might have the strongest arm on the team, you know what I mean? Because he can really throw the ball, if us, you wanted to put him at quarterback. And, he's become a very technical route runner that has great hands and playmaking abilities. So, you know, I think the similarities are there because they're both outstanding playmakers with the ball in their hands, that early in their career that developed into being great, every-down football players at the backend, the later end of their career. And to be honest with you, Percy had an extremely successful NFL career, and I think KT is going to have an unbelievable NFL career." Keyontae Johnson’s leaving hospital, what can your team take from it? I think for everybody. I think you always put things in perspective. We get to go out there and play a game and have fun. There are a lot more serious issues out there in the world. I talk to your guys all the time. Guys make mistakes or bad things happen or something goes wrong on the field, if that's the worst thing that happened to you just today, you are pretty blessed. I dropped a pass; I made a bad throw; I had bad coverage; I missed an assignment; whatever, this happened to me in the game.. I made a mistake that maybe…that goes wrong. If that's the worst thing that happens to you today, like is not all that bad, when you put things in perspective. Our prayers have been with him. It’s awesome. It’s great that he gets to go home to be with his family. I know that everybody here and his University of Florida family is here and praying for him. I know over at Shands hospital he is getting some of the best care he can possibly get. Hopefully, I don’ know all the medical details of it all, but hopefully he has a full healthy recovery here in the near future. Expecting more opt outs? I think we may have one or two more but I’ll let those guys handle that, that's on them. I’m not going into all the details...guys may want to handle that individually. I’ll let them do it. I have spoken to a bunch of guys. I know of one or two more, but I also have a lot of conversations of guys that are playing. I am not going into specifics. If you say, who is playing? Then through the process of elimination...and the guys that are playing I want them to handle it. Everyone has communicated with me but publicly I want to leave it up to them. I could have told you that Kyle Pitts wasn't going to play a couple of weeks ago but I wanted him to do it. How Oklahoma is different since the last time you faced them in 2008? I mean I will tell you what.. I will be brutally honest with you.. Offensively obviously they are different. Kevin..Kevin Wilson was calling plays back then. They are up tempo and similar styles. They are schematically different from Bob [Stoops] running the defense to now. It is…but.. you know.. the similarities: they are running a premier program in the country. They have great, talented players. You see the guys, they have great pride in wearing that uniform and the standard that it looks like they play with, and so those similarities are all still there. To compare the schemes and all that stuff, they are very different. I assume. I couldn't really tell you. I couldn’t even tell you a whole lot about the game in I remember certain plays but that's a long time ago. Fans complain about Todd, why are they wrong? “I think it’s very easy to just jump to a conclusion. ‘Oh we gave up this many points or this many yards, so this must be the problem.’ I kind of look at things very, very differently. I’m here on a daily basis dealing with every aspect. As we evaluate every aspect of the program you do the same things, I mean, as I’ve said all along, you can look and say, ok, we must have a huge problem because we can’t, because we don’t put up huge running stats. We’re very run efficient, we just don’t run the ball very much. Ok because we gave up this many points or this many yards, well our defense must be terrible. Or we’re playing with a lead and changing our style of how we were gonna play. Boy, you know what, that Alabama game we just gave up all those points, or we had some opportunities to make some stops but we had a couple of mental errors along the way that hurt that against one of the premier offenses in college football. It’s very easy to point and say, defense bad, we have to change everything. Or you look at what the issues are. It’s like, hey, if my wrist hurts I don’t just cut off my arm. Let’s go figure out what the problem is. if I have to cut my arm I cut my arm, but that’s not where I’m starting. We’ve got to evaluate every aspect of it after the season, see where we’re at, and go from there.” Do you worry about getting up for this game mentally, or worry about it being safe with a quick turn around? “Well, we’ve played a lot of football. The game itself, not worried about the safety aspect. It’s playing another game. The build-up, we have competitors. We have guys who want to compete. We have guys who want to play for the love of the game. We have guys that are going to play in this game, guys that love playing football, they love to compete, they love to be out there playing. It’s an opportunity to go do that. It’s an opportunity to go do that in a huge game, on a national stage, against a great opponent. That’s why they come to Florida. That’s what it’s all about, the opportunity to go play in these games. I don’t think motivation is a big factor. Hopefully, the little bit of rest and recovery gets us a little bit physically and mentally fresher for the game.” Cotton Bowl is in a bubble with you guys, how will that work? “I know all about it. I’ve been to the Anatole (Hilton Anatole in Dallas) a bunch of times with the American Football Coaches Association Convention. Being there throughout the years I know it’s a pretty massive complex. I think it’s a pretty smart idea, to be honest with you. It will work. It’s not like we’re going to be there for a whole week like in a traditional time. We’re there in a very smaller, shorter window. I think kind of because of that it makes it much easier to manage in one area, much easier to manage probably more of a question for the Cotton Bowl staff, like, we’ve got this one location, we’ve got it all under control, we got it taken care of. I think they’re actually going to be responsible for the next game afterward, the playoff game following us. I think it just kind of makes it a much easier transition with everything being in one location, get it all done in that one area, keep everybody safe in the bubble and that’s what we’ve been trying to operate with a lot of people all year in that way. You’re going from testing multiple times a week, trying to be safe and smart in everything you do and the precautions. it’s a great idea. I’m pretty comfortable with it.” NCAA recruiting Violations “I think we put out our statement. It’s been resolved. It’s something that happened a while back. It’s something we worked through for a while and we continue to work through within our program to make sure we strive to do everything the right way.”

Florida Gators Offensive Coordinator Brian Johnson met with local media from Gainesville and Oklahoma to preview the No. 7 Gators upcoming matchup against with No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners. As a valued subscriber, we are offering this transcript in full. What has Dan Mullen meant to you? “You know, I’ve known Coach for a really long time, since I was 16 years old, and I don't know if I could put into words the amount of respect that I have for him, not only as a football coach but as a person. I've learned a tremendous amount from him, not just about football, just about life in general. I'm just really appreciative of everything that he's done for me throughout the course of my time as a player and throughout the course of my career as a coach, and I can't say enough great things about Coach and what he means as a person to me specifically and to our program overall.” With Kyle Pitts and possibly others opting out, what kind of opportunity does that present for your young skill-position players? “It's another opportunity to go out there and compete at a really high level. We were without Kyle for a couple games this year, and Kemore and Zipperer, they both did a nice job of filling in in his absence and just another opportunity for those guys to continue their development and go get reps on a big stage against a great Oklahoma team.” What have you seen from Oklahoma’s defense so far? “They're very active defensively. I think on the front end, they do a great job of pursuing the football and shedding blocks, not staying blocked long and making plays in the back field. And in the secondary, I think particularly at corner, they have great ball skills. They play with great patience. They’ve got great footwork, and they make plays on the ball when it's in the air. Definitely a huge challenge for us. You know, our guys are excited for the opportunity to go out there and compete on the big stage.” How much of this game plan is about sending Kyle Trask out on a high note versus seeing what Emory Jones can do, and could the offense’s potential next season keep you at Florida? “I think, first and foremost, the object of the game plan is to give us the best opportunity to go win the football game. Make no mistake about it – in a bowl game, we’re there for one reason, and that's to win the game. We'll put together a great plan that highlights all of our players’ talents and put them in a position to go be successful when they get out there on the field. Make no mistake about it, job one, first and foremost, is to go out there and give yourself a chance to go win the game.” How much do the players want to play for Mullen? “If you know Coach Mullen on a very personal level, I mean, he’s extremely down to earth. You can talk to him about most things other than football. He likes to have fun, and when it's time to work, he works. So, I just can't say enough great things about him. The players love playing for him. He's got a great personality. He really connects with people from all different backgrounds, and he's been doing this a really long time now. So, he knows exactly what he's doing.” How excited are you for a game like the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic? “Yeah, it’s an unbelievable opportunity to get our chance to go play in our third New Year’s Six bowl. Our players are excited for that challenge and that opportunity. For me personally, this is my first time getting the chance to play in the Cotton Bowl. I grew up in Texas, so I was always around the old Cotton Bowl before it moved to Jerry World. I’m excited for the opportunity, this is my first time to get to play Oklahoma, another blueblood program that’s had a ton of success. I can’t say enough good things about how Coach Riley runs their program. He’s a fantastic coach and they have fantastic players. We’re looking forward to getting out there and going to compete at a very high level.” What has been the foundation in quick turnaround with three New Year’s Six bowls in three years? “The players. They bought into what we tried to accomplish from Day 1. Make no mistake about it, football is about having great players and putting those guys in positions to make plays. I can’t say enough about the group of guys that we’ve gotten to coach in the three years here. I’m just really proud of all of their accomplishments and I know the younger guys in the program were excited to get some opportunities moving forward and continue to build the program to a level where Gator Nation is extremely proud.” Who is someone on this offense that we are not talking about now who we will be at this time next year? “I mean, we have a lot of great players on offense. It’s hard to single anybody out. The guy who hasn’t played as much, obviously, is Emory [Jones]. I can’t say enough about what he’s meant to me for the last three years, the chance to get to work with him every single day in practice and see how much better he gets each and every year. I’m really excited for him. I’m really excited for Anthony. Those two guys specifically in my room, I think they got an opportunity to learn a lot by watching Kyle this year, how he prepares and how he performs and the habits he has throughout the week to get himself ready to play. You know, we’ve got a lot of good young players here that are eager for an opportunity to get out on the field and show what they can do.” Considering your Utah team that went 13-0 and beat Alabama, do you have a different perspective when it comes to the Power 5/Group of 5 Playoff debate in relation to this year when a 9-0 Cincinnati team got left out for instance? “Yeah, I’ve been on both sides of that coin. It’s a really, really good question. You know, ultimately you can only play who’s on your schedule, so as a player, you’re just worried about the next opponent on the schedule. I do think the totality of playing 11 SEC games is a huge accomplishment in itself. Not only the physical strain but the mental strain to continually get ready to play a big-time game each and every week where the talent is evenly matched. It’s very similar to the National Football League. You watch last week, I think the Jets, who hadn’t won, they beat somebody, who did they beat, the Rams, right? So, you’ve got to go and get yourself ready to play at a high level each and every week. If you don’t play well, teams are capable of beating you.” What do you say to those who need convincing Kyle Trask has put together the best season in country by a quarterback? “I would tell them that I have some oceanfront property in Idaho to sell. I mean, what Kyle has done this season is absolutely remarkable, the amount of information that we put on him and his ability to play at a really consistent level throughout the course of a season has been exceptional. I can’t say enough about just how proud I am of him as a player, but even more so as a person. He’s just a great example for not only for the quarterback room in general, but just our program and how he has worked for his opportunity and made the most of it when he got it. Obviously, we have nothing to do with how people vote or what kind of accolades you get, but from my perspective, he’s been nothing short of amazing all season long.” More pressure on offenses these days to score? “The biggest thing is you can’t waste plays. You have to have your best stuff ready at all times. To me, it’s just become more about players than plays and how can you get the ball to people who can make explosive players, and how can you do a great job of managing and masking your situation whether it’s two minute before the end of the half, whether it’s third down, whether it’s red zone, things of that nature, especially when you’re playing a team that’s pretty evenly matched you got to take care and manage situations and do a great job. And you have to do a great job as a staff, not only scheming plays that work against a particular defense that you’re getting, but putting guys in the right spot to where they can highlight their abilities, as well, and we’re giving ourselves the best chance each and every drive.” Memories of the lighter side of Kyle Trask? “There’s been a ton. The past three years just getting a chance to know Kyle and getting his personality and sense of humor. He’s a special human being, I can’t say enough good things about him. But yeah, we’ve grown really, really close over the last three years. I’m really proud of everything he’s been able to accomplish at this point. I know he’s going to be successful at whatever he does.” What’s Kyle Trask’s sense of humor? “His sense of humor: he’s a funny guy. Once you get a chance to know him, he’s very, very serious and always says the right things publicly. But he has a great sense of humor. He can take a joke. He can give a joke. Can’t say enough good things about him. Love him to death, really proud of him, just how he’s developed over the last three seasons with us. He’s definitely got a bright future.” When realize Kadarius Toney was special? “Umm, I think we gave him a reverse in the ‘18 Tennessee game and he made some ridiculous game and broke a bunch of tackles and he scored. And, you know, even heading into last season before he got hurt, I think he was really on his way to developing as a player. What people don’t realize about Kadarius is he’s an extremely intelligent football player. He understands the game and he’s an ultimate competitor. He really works at it, he works at his craft. Coach Gonzales does a great job of helping him develop and really hone his skills in. Once he settled in and got the reps that he needed it was no surprise that he took off and was one of the best players in America.”

Florida Gators Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham met with local media from Gainesville and Oklahoma to preview the No. 7 Gators upcoming matchup against with No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners. As a valued subscriber, we are offering this transcript in full. Aware of criticism, what does defense have to do to get to a championship level? “Well my concern is always the next opponent. If you look over the last four years I mean we’ve been able to put together some pretty good defenses. You know we’ve had some challenges this year with a lot of things that are going on. And you take the situations that come up and you make the best of it and you find ways to win games. From an evaluation standpoint, when you look at it, this will be our third straight New Years Six game since coming here. We got to the SEC Championship Game and we were six points away. Last year we played Georgia and we were seven points away. The comment was, ‘what’s the difference between us and Georgia?’ and we said seven points. Right now what’s the difference between us in the SEC Championship Game, it’s six points. If you look, Alabama is a very talented defense and at the end of the day we gave up six more points in the game. We’ve got to find a way to eliminate that and to get the win. Really it gets down to wins and losses and how you’re going to go about winning the game. That’s the process for me is how you go about winning games and what do we gotta do to win this game coming up. That’s where the focus is.” Mullen wants to address the real problems, what are some of the addressable issues? “Well you go back and look at the Alabama game. First of all they’re a very talented team. When you go back and look at the first half, we can’t inflict the third down penalties. You go and look at the first drive, we had a third down penalty that allowed them to extend the drive. The second drive we actually created a turnover but we turned it back to them within the interception itself. And then the next two drives we were actually off the field and had a couple of third down penalties that allowed them to extend the drive. So, you know, if you go back and look at those, we have to eliminate that. I think that from a situational standpoint it’s kind of interesting that we’ve actually played better third down defense this year than last year but it’s maybe not showing up to people that way, but our third down percentages have been better. To me it’s just about there’s a discipline involved in the game and we have to play cleaner. That needs to be the approach that we take in this game… is to one, let the seniors that are leaving go out with another New Years Six win. The next thing is that the younger players coming back, I think it’s real critical that they get some snaps and get some playing time because that lets them see where they are. It also builds confidence for the future in the fact that they’re ready to take the horns as we move forward next year to be the kind of defense that we want to be and play to the standard that we have played in two of the last three years.” (On Kaiir Elam's season and progression this year) "Yeah, I think Kaiir's a guy that I'm really proud of. You know, this day and age it's really hard for guys sometimes to take critical looks at themselves on what they gotta get better at and he is very passionate about the game. He is very tough on himself in the standpoint of, wanting to be exact in what he does. He's a competitor. I mean, the guy competes in everything he does, he's a smart guy that really tries to understand the whole concept, not just his plays but what's happening around him, which can make him a better player. And I think that the accolades he's gotten is really a credit to his constant persistence in working to become a complete player. And I mean that from being able to come up and support the run, to defend the pass, to being a good blitzer, to doing everything that you need to do as a football player to help your team win. And that's where I think Kaiir is, is he's a complete player that really works to be a perfectionist at his craft." (On what it means to play in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic) "So, first of all, it's an honor to play in the Cotton Bowl, in the classic. I remember as a kid growing up and it was a lot colder back then - at least we don't have to worry about the weather, I mean it was some cold days back then when I watched them play as a kid with my Dad. Obviously, there's a liot of tradition in this game. We're very humbled to be a part of it, to be a part of the Years Six bowls. We understand we got a great challenge in Oklahoma and their fantastic offense at what they do. So, really, it's about us being able to go out and represent ourselves one more time and the University of Florida and work to play to our standard and go out and send, like I said before, send the seniors out the right way as well as let the young guys coming back get a taste of what it's like so that they understand the amount of work involved to make sure this continues as a part of our program." (On how much of a transition he's seen from the progression of the new tailback (Rhamondre Stevenson?) and quarterback (Spencer Rattler)) "I think, one, when you talk about the running back, dynamic guy, can accelerate, can make guys miss, can create double-digit runs, and find a seam that maybe not always as big as it needs to be and make things happen. So, I think that that's obviously helped them. Then the quarterback, he was a highly recruited guy out of high school. A lot of people wanted him. And if you look at his game, 1 continuity all the way up till now. He's a guy that you can tell is getting more comfortable in the system. Understanding more about where to throw the ball, where to go with it relative to the formations and what the defense is giving you. And then he has the ability to make plays with his feet. He can pull it in the run game. He can extend plays in the pass game to get guys open. I think the one thing that we'll have to be conscious of is the word "plaster" this week, meaning that even though when you're playing zone, is he continues to scramble you're going to have to basically match the guy in your area and cover him man-to-man because he really can extend plays for guys to get open, which creates explosives. And he's doing a nice job with their offense." Last year the defense, obviously performed statistically to a better level; didn't seem to make some of the mental mistakes. What do you pinpoint for that, like for third down situations against Alabama? "Well, I think when you go back and look at those individually, I think one was the hands of the face. I mean there's, there's going to be a few of those within the game. Sometimes they're called, sometimes they're not. It's a penalty, you got to understand it. I think that anytime you have guys that are going in and out of the game, you're going to sub relative to situations that come up, and you've got to be on top of what situation's coming up and be able to get into that. So, you know, we do have some new guys, guys are learning every day. Guys are working hard every day and believing in the system. I think a big reason to say that is, if you look at the second half and the way the guys played and really fought their hearts out, and really continued to grind, there's obviously belief in what we're doing, because we were able to get it back within a six point game and have the chance to, you know, take the lead." Somebody that we haven't talked a lot about, Brad Stewart really kind of seemed to play all over the place on Saturday against Alabama. What has he just kind of brought to the defense this year and what do you hope to see from him against Oklahoma? “Brad was a guy that based upon our DB situation, we moved to nickel, to our STAR position, which is really, you know ability to play corner, you know, have some run support, blitz, match guys underneath, man to man kind of deal. And it's a good role for him, and he embraced the role. He worked hard at it. And he brings a certain physicality to that and and that freed us up to keep other guys at other positions. So I think he's a guy that has continued to progress, even though it was a new position for him. He's a football player. He understood leverage, he understood blocks. Understood, you know, running to the ball, doing those kind of things. He understood how to cover guys as a safety. So, you know, it just kind of fit naturally and again it allowed us to get our best players on the field and put him there to give us some flexibility with some other guys." I know Dan and Kyle especially, they don't pay attention to the awards as much, at least from what they've said throughout the season. But Zach Carter, I mean he was left off of the All-SEC coach's team 1st and 2nd team and there was a guy on there that had only played six games. So I guess what are your thoughts on that, as well as just the season that he had for you? "Well, I'll just speak about Zach because I'm not—I haven't seen the list, you know, so I'll just talk about Zach in itself. I think when you look at Zach, he's a very talented player in the SEC. He's a leader for our defense. I think the arrow is really up on him and rising as a player. He has the ability for us to play early downs as an end—okay—we can move inside if we had to but it creates a little bit of a mismatch when he's playing end against tight ends and things like that so that ability, you know, gives us a chance to win those situations there. And then because of his versatility and his ability to learn and, and be creative we move him inside on third down on passing situation to create mismatches inside. He's got size, he's got quickness. He can be stout at the point of attack. He’s really worked hard with Coach Savage in becoming a better core strength guy, and you kind of see that in tape. And he's said, he’s had some really good games for us. There's no doubt in my mind that he's a guy that creates matchup problems and that's why we try to move him around a little bit to create those problems. I think that as we move forward you know, this year and next year and he moves toward his career, I think we're going to see that does become a dominant player and the kind of player that, you know, is gonna be able to play on Sundays."

The NCAA has leveled punishments against the Florida Gators football program and Head Coach Dan Mullen for a Level II and Level III recruiting violation. The NCAA released the news and details of the violations along with the list of penalties on Tuesday, December 22, 2020. However, most of the penalties have already been served. Read below for the full NCAA release along with quotes from Athletic Director Scott Stricklin, Head Coach Dan Mullen and University President Kent Fuchs. From the NCAA: The Florida football program violated NCAA recruiting contact rules on two occasions, and the head coach did not promote an atmosphere of compliance, according to an agreement released by the Division I Committee on Infractions. The university, the head football coach, an assistant coach and NCAA enforcement staff agreed that the assistant coach and head coach had impermissible in-person contact with a prospect when they met with a prospect’s high school coach while the prospect was in the room. At that meeting, the Florida coaches expressed an interest in recruiting the prospect. Leading up to that visit, the head coach sent the prospect texts about his upcoming visit to the high school and his interest in recruiting the prospect. NCAA rules were violated because off-campus recruiting contacts are not allowed until after a football prospect’s junior year of high school. The violations were Level II. According to the agreement, members of the coaching staff also had impermissible contact with approximately 127 prospects when seven nonscholastic football teams visited the campus and toured the football facilities on their way to a tournament in Tampa. The assistant coach had incidental impermissible contacts with several prospects. The violations were Level III. The head coach agreed that he did not promote an atmosphere of compliance in light of his personal involvement in one of the violations. This case was processed through the negotiated resolution process. The process was used instead of a formal hearing or summary disposition because the university, the involved coaches and the enforcement staff agreed on the violations and the penalties. The Division I Committee on Infractions reviewed the case to determine whether the resolution was in the best interests of the Association and whether the agreed-upon penalties were reasonable. Negotiated resolutions may not be appealed and do not set case precedent for other infractions cases. The university and the enforcement staff used ranges identified by the Division I membership-approved infractions penalty guidelines to agree upon Level II-mitigated penalties for the university. The enforcement staff also used the guidelines to identify agreed-upon Level II-standard penalties for the head coach and Level II-mitigated penalties for the assistant coach. The report contains the full list of penalties as approved by the Committee on Infractions, including: One year of probation. A $5,000 fine. Reduced fall 2019 evaluations from 42 to 21. Reduced football evaluation days by 12 for the 2018-19 academic year. Restrictions on all recruiting telephone calls with football prospects from April 15 through May 31, 2019. A reduction in the number of football official visits during the 2019-20 academic year by one and in the number of unofficial visits during the 2019-20 academic year by 14. A one-year show-cause order for the head football coach. During that period, the head coach is prohibited from all off-campus recruiting activity during the fall 2020 evaluation period and a four-day off-campus recruiting ban during the fall 2021 contact period. The university banned the head coach from recruiting for the first 10 days of the January 2020 contact period. A 30-day off-campus recruiting ban for the head coach during the fall 2019 evaluation period. The university ended the recruitment of the prospect. The university will not recruit any prospects from the high school in Seattle from the 2019-20 through 2020-21 academic years. A seven-day off-campus recruiting ban for the entire football coaching staff during the spring 2021 off-campus recruiting period. A 30-day off-campus recruiting ban for the assistant coach in October 2019 and a three-day off-campus recruiting ban for the January 2020 contact period. One-on-one rules education for both the head coach and assistant coach regarding NCAA contact and evaluation rules. If an opportunity to serve a penalty will not be available due to circumstances related to COVID-19, the penalty must be served at the next available opportunity. Members of the Committee on Infractions are drawn from the NCAA membership and members of the public. The members of the panel who reviewed this case are Carol Cartwright, chief hearing officer for the panel and president emeritus at Kent State and Bowling Green; Sankar Suryanarayan, university counsel at Princeton; and Sarah Wake, associate general counsel at Northwestern. Florida Athletics Director Scott Stricklin: “There is no evidence of systemic compliance issues at Florida, but when isolated circumstances occur they are addressed head on and we accept responsibility for our actions, as evidenced by this instance. “NCAA rules are in place to create fairness and integrity, and the University of Florida has an established history of adhering to those rules. It is important for our coaches and staff to remain diligent and take responsibility for compliance, and extricate themselves from potential NCAA violations.” University of Florida President Dr. Kent Fuchs: “The University of Florida places a high value on integrity and we are committed to compliance. I’m confident that we have the right processes and people in place to deliver the highest standard of honesty and compliance.” Florida Head Coach Dan Mullen: “As Head Football Coach of the Florida Gators, promoting an atmosphere of compliance within our program is important to me. Following the rules and being committed to doing things the right way is part of my history as a coach, at all levels, and I regret we didn’t do things the right way in this situation. Even though this is an isolated matter, I'm still disappointed in the violations outlined in the report. We’re going to learn from our mistakes and I’m confident this won’t happen again. Most importantly, we’ll keep working for the benefit of our student athletes to make our program one our fans and University can be proud of.” A Note From Scott Stricklin To Gator Fans The University of Florida’s athletic department’s goal is to create a championship experience with integrity. Part of having integrity is accepting responsibility and consequences when we make mistakes. For over a year, we have been cooperating with the NCAA regarding two situations where we needed to be better related to rules compliance in the sport of football. The first situation involved a group of high school students who stopped by campus on unofficial visits while en route to a 7-on-7 tournament. While today this is allowed under NCAA rules, at the time this occurred it was not permitted. The second involved an interaction between two of our coaches, including our head coach, and a prospective student-athlete at his high school that lasted 15 minutes, which is beyond what is allowed under NCAA rules. Neither of these violations involved impermissible benefits or offers of impermissible benefits, and UF ceased recruiting these athletes once made aware of the circumstances. The penalties Florida Football faces include a reduction of the number of off-campus evaluations our staff can have, along with a loss of one official visit, and a fine. Nearly all of the punitive measures stemming from these two incidents have already been fulfilled. As you are aware, the Gators have a long history of operating within NCAA and SEC rules, and the UAA has compliance processes in place to identify and hopefully prevent violations. And despite these violations, there is no evidence that there is a systemic compliance issue within the department. More importantly, UF remains committed to operating with integrity in all we do and will take every action within our power to prevent future missteps.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: In 1973, John Cappelletti of Penn State won the Heisman Trophy. Legend has it that Cappelletti sealed the trophy with a four-touchdown performance against West Virginia. In the days before that game, Cappelletti asked his younger brother Joey, who was dying with leukemia, what he wanted for his 11th birthday. Joey said four touchdowns. Cappelletti had three at the half, but Joe Paterno put him on the bench because he didn’t want to run up the score. A teammate whispered in Paterno’s ear about Joey’s wish so Cappelletti was inserted back into the game where he got the fourth touchdown to keep the promise as Penn State won the game 62-14. At the Heisman ceremony, a tearful Cappelletti spoke of the courage of his little brother, a moment that inspired the movie “Something for Joey” which chronicled a big brother’s love for his younger sibling. The Heisman speech was well after the West Virginia game but it adds to the legend. It’s a great story. The Heisman Trophy vote in 1973 is also a great story. Ohio State had a great team that year, finishing 10-0-1 and allowing just 43 points during the 10-game regular season. The only blemish was a 10-10 tie with Michigan. The Buckeyes capped their season with a 44-21 rout of Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl. There were three truly great players on that Ohio State team – offensive tackle John Hicks; tailback Archie Griffin who would go on to win the 1974 and 1975 Heisman Trophies; and linebacker Randy Gradishar. Hicks finished second in the voting, Griffin finished fifth and Gradishar finished sixth. Cappelleti won the trophy with 1,057 votes. Hicks, Griffin and Gradishar combined for 1,132. Without the Ohio State kids splitting the vote, Cappelletti would have never won. It’s worth mentioning what happened in 1973 because something very similar could happen in 2020. The five players who figure to dominate the voting are quarterback Kyle Trask of Florida, the three Alabama superstars – QB Mac Jones, wide receiver Devonta Smith and tailback Najee Harris – and Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence. Here are the numbers for all five: TRASK: In 11 games, 285-409 passing (69.7%) for 4,125 yards (10.1 per attempt), 43 touchdowns (5 interceptions); 61-50 rushing for 3 touchdowns. JONES: In 11 games, 250-327 (76.5%) passing for 3,739 yards (11.4 per attempt), 32 touchdowns (4 interceptions); 26-(-9) rushing for 1 TD. SMITH: In 11 games, 98-1,511 yards receiving (15.42 per catch) for 17 touchdowns; 3-11 rushing (3.67 per carry) for 1 touchdown; 8-199 on punt returns for 1 touchdown. HARRIS: In 11 games, Harris was 214-1,262 yards rushing (5.9 per carry) for 24 touchdowns; 32-316 receiving (9.88 per catch) for 3 touchdowns. LAWRENCE: In nine games, 198-286 passing (69.2%) for 2,753 yards (9.6 per attempt), 22 touchdowns (4 interceptions); QB rating 172.67; 211 rushing yards (3.64 per carry) for 7 touchdowns. Because he missed two games with Covid-19, one of which Clemson lost, and played against an Atlantic Coast Conference schedule, it’s pretty much an uphill climb for Lawrence. He will be the first pick in the NFL Draft, but this is the Heisman Trophy where most figure he will finish fifth. This is where it gets interesting and why this could be 1973 all over again. The three from Alabama are all superstars and if they were the only one on their team, it might be a runaway vote – the best player on the nation’s best team wins. But those three might very well split up the vote the same way it was split in 1973 among Hicks, Griffin and Gradishar. Alabama hasn’t lost this season and is considered the odds-on favorite to win Nick Saban’s record seventh national championship (six at Alabama which would tie him with Bear Bryant for the school record). Picking a Heisman winner from the best team might seem a no-brainer to many Heisman voters, but which one? All three are great and deserving. Florida, on the other hand, has lost three times. In 10 of Florida’s 11 games, Trask was absolutely brilliant but there was that LSU game in which he threw two interceptions and fumbled in a loss to an unranked team. Will that kill his chances or will it be like 2016, when Lamar Jackson of Louisville wasn’t punished for a late-season loss to unranked Kentucky. Jackson threw three costly interceptions. The voters overlooked that speed bump and he became the first Heisman winner on a team that lost three regular season games since Tim Tebow in 2007. Trask did bounce back and that could work in his favor. He was brilliant against Alabama, throwing for 409 yards and three touchdowns while running for two others as the Gators put the fear of God in mighty Alabama. Also working in Trask’s favor is the fact there is no more compelling story in all of college football. Who else sat on the bench three years in high school, then another three in college before he got his chance only to turn into a legitimate superstar once he got the chance? Kyle Trask is the kid who inspires the underdog in any sport to never give up, keep working hard and when your chance arrives, make the best of it. Still, for Trask to become Florida’s fourth Heisman winner, it might very well require Alabama’s three superstars knocking each other off. If it happens that way, it won’t diminish what Trask has accomplished this year. He’s so humble he will tell you just getting recognized as one of the best players in the country is a true honor – and it is – but he is deserving. Perhaps the most deserving Heisman candidate we’ve had in years. FLORIDA ATTRITION All-interplanetary tight end Kyle Pitts opted out of the Cotton Bowl game to prep for the NFL Draft. Also opting out is safety Shawn Davis. There is a report that corner Marco Wilson will either leave for the NFL or hit the transfer portal. Redshirt freshman linebacker Jesiah Pierre has placed his name in the transfer portal. HERE THEY COME, THERE THEY GO IN THE SEC Tennessee tight end Austin Pope, who last played in 2019 when he started nine games, has entered the transfer portal and will seek an opportunity to play elsewhere as a graduate. Pope has had major back surgery twice. Arkansas defensive back Jarques McClellion, who started 21 games in 2018-19 but opted out for the 2020 season, is transferring to Florida State. McClellion played his high school football at American Heritage in Fort Lauderdale. Georgia will be without three players for its Peach Bowl encounter with unbeaten Cincinnati, the most important of which is linebacker Monty Rice, a three-year starter who was in on 49 tackles with a fumble return for a touchdown in 2020. Opting out along with Rice to prepare for the NFL are corner D.J. Daniel, who had nine tackles and one pass breakup and tight end Tre McKitty, who caught six passes for 108 yards and a touchdown. Rice will get drafted fairly high. Daniel and McKitty better be incredible combine warriors or they’ll be trying to sign as free agents. LSU lost two players to the transfer portal Monday, the most important of which is running back Chris Curry, who was the Tigers’ leading rusher with 64 yards in the upset of Florida. Also entering the portal is defensive lineman Nelson Jenkins, who opted out before the 2020 season began. Curry, who hails from Lehigh Acres, FL has three years of eligibility remaining. Missouri’s best defensive player, linebacker Nick Bolton, has opted out of the Tigers Music City Bowl game with Iowa to prep for the NFL Draft. Bolton had 95 tackles this season and 224 for his career. SO SAYS MATT HAYES … There is growing discontent with the College Football Playoff, where it seems the same 5-6 teams play for the national championship every year. In a column for Saturday Down South, Matt Hayes addressed the need for change moving forward: “The CFP can’t get complacent. It’s time to grow. “There’s too much television/streaming money available for the Playoff to not expand. Programs are losing money and eliminating Olympic sports at a drastic pace because of this COVID season and will likely continue to do so well into 2021. “Change shouldn’t happen because Texas A&M got hosed in this year’s selection process, or because Ohio State was gifted (again) a spot in the Playoff. Or because SEC commissioner Greg Sankey – the sport’s most powerful commissioner – decides he’s ticked off about the Texas A&M snug and wants to set the wheels in motion (which he absolutely could and may do. “It should arrive because without change – without an expansion of the CFP – college football risks damaging its brand and ignores potential billions in broadcast revenue.” SAY IT AIN’T SO BO … Matt Zenitz of al.com, who has a habit of coming up with scoops regarding SEC football, is reporting that LSU will be making a change at defensive coordinator. Bo Pelini is on his way out after one season per the report. Pelini, the defensive coordinator for Les Miles when LSU won the national championship in 2007, came back to LSU after stints as the head coach at Nebraska and Youngstown State. LSU will owe him roughly $4.6 million when he cleans out his office. Footballscoop.com is reporting that defensive line coach Bill Johnson is going to retire and safeties coach Bill Busch is not expected to return. JUST SAY NO … TO AUBURN Louisiana head coach Billy Napier and Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian have withdrawn their names from consideration as Auburn’s new football coach. More and more this looks like it will come down to a decision to hire either UAB head coach Bill Clark or Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele. If you’re willing to eat nearly $22 million of the former coach’s contract it would seem you have to do better than Bill Clark or Kevin Steele. If it’s Steele, then nuclear winter has descended upon the loveliest village on the plains. OUT WITH 3-7 TENNESSEE, IN WITH 9-2 ARMY Consider the Liberty Bowl lucky. In this pandemic year in which bowl games will be played in near empty stadiums, the Liberty Bowl had a rather substantial stroke of good fortune Monday when 3-7 Tennessee was forced to opt out because of an increasing number of Covid-19 cases within the program including head ball coach Jeremy Pruitt. Tennessee got the bowl game because (a) every team that played college football this fall is bowl eligible and (b) the SEC has a contractual arrangement with the Liberty Bowl. With Tennessee out of the picture, the Liberty Bowl picked up 9-2 Army, which was bowl-less because it had signed a deal to go to the Independence Bowl only to have that bowl game cancel due to the virus. While the Liberty Bowl seems to have landed on its feet, you can’t say the same about Tennessee, which seems to be stuck with Pruitt for at least another year. At least that’s what you would gather from tweets from UT athletic director Phattus Maximus. Phat Phil Fulmer did a tweet-a-thon about Pruitt, claiming he was “thrilled” that the 3-7 Vols were going to be playing in the Liberty Bowl against West Virginia, adding that the game is “a tremendous development opportunity for our team and should serve as a primer to spring practice for Coach Pruitt and our returners.” As you might expect, the Big Orange Nation erupted. What they would like is for Pruitt and Phat Phil to exit stage left and never return again. A PITHY PARTING SHOT: It took a pandemic to knock down the financial house of cards that is the college football financial model. We’ve known for years that it was unsustainable. All the virus has done is accelerate the collapse. What 2020 has also taught us is that good football is played in a lot of places other than the Power Five. College football needs Cinderella stories. It needs something other than the same teams to play for the national championship every year if it intends to get back on its financial feet. We need an eight-team playoff that puts a premium on conference championships and opens the door for at least one from the Group of Five to get a shot at hoisting the big trophy with the confetti flying down every year.

They went out together without winning, but Kyle Trask and Kadarius Tony left their marks on the Gator legacy forever. SEC Photo/Florida Gators "Bobby Layne never lost a game. Some days, time just ran out on him." – Fellow Hall of Famer Texan and Detroit Lions teammate Doak Walker. Kyle Trask, also a fine Texas quarterback, was down to his last few ticks. An unfriendly clock left him in the shadow of his own goal, looking ahead at 88 yards of Mercedes Benz Stadium green and the wrong end of a 52-46 score. Honestly, though, Trask felt equal to the task. “All we had to do was score and kick the extra point and we’d win the game. No one in the world gave us a damn chance,” Trask would say later. Right to the end he was confident and scrappy. He and his teammates gave one of Nick Saban's best teams all it wanted -- just not quite enough. How Trask got there in the first place as a 17-1/2 point underdog against the nation’s No. 1 team, is one story. How he and his Gator team had to overcome semi-oblivion after being stung by a three-man Crimson Tide wrecking crew of superstar firepower yet another. To quote that famous sports philosopher Yogi Berra, it wasn't over until it was over. As far-fetched as it seemed, the mild-mannered 6-5, 225-pound senior quarterback was getting his “damn chance” in the final two minutes of the Game of Throws, having been all but written off after the onslaught of Alabama's Najee Harris, Donta Smith and Mac Jones. Out of a night of mass chaos seemingly filled with self-inflicted foot wounds and a plague of defensive dysfunctionality, the Florida Gators faltered for the first two quarters, 35-17, but dug down deep in the second half to find strength, hope and dignity against the best college football team on the planet. It was going to be his 41st pass of this 98-point SEC Championship night but he was smacked down at his own 7-yard line by blitzing linebacker Christian Harris, who was a last-minute, game-time decision add-on. The full frontal smackdown appeared to stun Trask momentarily and he struggled to get up and gather himself in time to re-launch. He lay there, dejected, face-first in the artificial turf, then kneeling? moisture welling up in his eyes. They had to knock him out to stop him. It was a TKO. He ended his heroic career there on the Mercedes Benz floor, devastated and exhausted from having spent every cent in his emotional bank. That is how I want to always remember Kyle Trask: Taking the other guy's best shot and getting up off the canvas to throw one more punch. A tribute to grit, resilence and perserverance. “It hurt,” Trask said of his mental state at game’s end. “We put so much in this game — worked so hard. We were really clicking on offense. We were rolling pretty good. We just ran out of time.” He said it like he expected to click right on down the field to the end zone, but an untimely and perhaps wasted time out by his coach gave him a short straw, and a short clock with not enough clicks or ticks remaining. "I think if Kyle would have had a whole minute, we would have won," lamented his father Michael. It would have been the dream-like ending for the Accidental Superstar whose emergence as a contender for college football’s ultimate trophy, the Heisman, was surprising, but nothing short of spectacular. He still has a longshot chance at the Heisman should votes be divied up among Alabama's Triumvirate, but the odds have not been in his favorite since he started playing football. Once he finally got on the field as a starter 21 games ago and found his groove, Kyle Trask became the missing cog in Dan Mullen’s offense that elevated the Gators into playoff contention. He blistered Florida’s record books with new standards in passing yardage and touchdowns. He also set new standards in loyalty and devotion to his teammates and school when he could have cut and run to the transfer portal. Surely fate would have to take mercy on them after Shoe Gate and hiccup loss to LSU. Fate owed them one, but Fate couldn’t afford the miracles needed to beat Ala-Damn-Bama tonight. "I think the whole team left it out on the field tonight," said Michael Trask. Indeed they did. Three in particular that should always be remembered for their superb effort and valued leadership were Trask, Kyle Pitts and Kadarius Toney. Alabama had its offensive Triumvirate. That will be Florida's. “My time at Florida has been unreal and special,” Trask said in his post-game presser. “I've grown so much mentally and physically.” I don’t care if it sounds like celebrating a moral victory and embracing participation trophies or not, what I saw was a team on the brink of self-implosion that went searching for a piece of its soul and found it. Dan Mullen saw it, too. “It showed the character that our guys have,” said the Florida coach. “They've shown that this entire season, for everything that we've been through.” I agree with Mullen. Maybe it’s the holiday spirit, maybe it’s the gratitude and appreciation we feel for what these young men endured during a pandemic just to complete the season – losing three games by only a few seconds and few points – but a lot of it is the generosity of spirit inspired by the joy and commitment of Kyle Trask. For me, after a night of sorting out all the madness and measuring all the mistakes against magnificence, I’m not interested in joining the campaign to fire the entire defense, or chastising the play-caller and second-guessing the keeper of time outs, or whining about the lack of discipline in lining up. I plan to celebrate the progress of the journey and focus on the promise of tomorrow. We will never come this way again. Kyle Pitts, the wunderkind tight end, has already announced he is opting out for the draft. And there may be others before the Jan. 6 in Dallas date against Oklahoma for Florida’s first Cotton Bowl. Right there in Texas, where the great Doak Walker, my late friend, won the 1948 Heisman Trophy while chewing up huge rushing yardage for SMU at same time Bobby Layne was first battling the clocks as quarterback for the Texas Longhorns. As Doak said, sometimes -- like Kyle Trask -- the clock was cruel to Bobby as well. After Saturday, around the University of Florida, we will begin measuring progress by calendars, not clocks. ========= The Gators will face No. 6 Oklahoma in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, which is scheduled for Dec. 30. Kickoff at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, is set for 8 p.m. ET, with ESPN televising the game. This will be Florida’s first trip to the Cotton Bowl Classic and just the third bowl game played by the Gators in the state of Texas. UF last went bowling in the Lone Star State in 1982 when they participated in the Bluebonnet Bowl against Arkansas. The Gators faced Texas A&M in the 1977 Sun Bowl. The Gators (8-3, 8-2 SEC) will face Oklahoma (8-2, 6-2) for the second time in school history. The only other meeting between the two was in the BCS National Championship in the 2008 season, when the Gators downed the Sooners, 24-14, in Miami.

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: Saturday night, Kyle Trask’s Heisman Trophy chances were taken off life support with his brilliant 409-yard, 3-touchdown pass game against Alabama. Had he led the Gators from 18-down at the half to needing just a little more time and better pass protection from the right side of his offensive line, Trask might be favorite to become Florida’s fourth winner of the big trophy. Despite the loss, it still could happen for Trask if Alabama’s formidable trio of quarterback Mac Jones, wide receiver Devonta Smith and running back Najee Harris split up the votes. But whether Trask wins it or not, he’s in the hunt and the poster child for what has happened at Florida in the three years that Dan Mullen has been the Gators’ head ball coach. Trask has gone from an all-but forgotten backup to legitimate college superstar whose 2020 stat line reads 285-409 passing for 4,125 yards (10.1 per attempt) and nation’s best 43 touchdown passes. Mullen has taken the Gators from a program from the humiliation of a coach (Old Yeller) who lied about death threats into one that has made three consecutive New Years Six bowl games (Gators will play Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl). New Years Six bowl games aren’t the ultimate goal for Mullen and the Gators but just as Trask’s career from the time he arrived at UF had to endure some speed bumps along the way so will Florida’s path back to championship prominence. Georgia was a speed bump. It wasn’t until November 7 when Mullen got over that one. Florida’s 44-28 win in Jacksonville wasn’t anywhere as close as the 16-point final margin would have you believe. Alabama isn’t a speed bump. Alabama is Mount Everest. Should he win – as expected – the 2020 national championship it will be the seventh overall for Nick Saban and his sixth since taking over the program in Tuscaloosa in 2007. He’s 168-23 since then and that includes a 7-6 first season. Since that first year, Saban has changed expectations to the point that when the Crimson Tide don’t win the national championship the season is considered a disaster in the eyes of Alabama fans. This is not to say Mount Everest can’t be scaled and conquered but take into consideration that Mount Everest had been there millions of years before Sir Edmund Hillary became the first confirmed climber to reach the summit in 1953. Obviously, Dan Mullen isn’t thinking in terms of millions of years, but to get past Saban and Alabama isn’t an overnight process. Florida fans want the Gators challenging Alabama for championships every year and while not an impossible dream, it’s not going to happen overnight and won’t happen without making some changes, especially on defense. But it can be done. Don’t forget that there was a time when everyone thought Steve Spurrier would never win a national title because he was too loyal to his assistants, particularly on defense. Remember the Nebraska debacle in 1995? A year later, Spurrier had nudged Bobby Pruitt out, brought in Bobby Stoops to coordinate the defense and Florida won its first national championship. It may take Mullen more than a year to get that national championship, but don’t doubt that he will make the necessary changes. Folks doubted Trask. They doubted Mullen would ever beat Georgia. His track record for erasing the doubts is rather good. COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF POLL: (1) Alabama 11-0; (2) Clemson 10-1; (3) Ohio State 6-0; (4) Notre Dame 10-1; (5) Texas A&M 8-1; (6) Oklahoma 8-2; (7) FLORIDA 8-3; (8) Cincinnati 9-0; (9) Georgia 7-2; (10) Iowa State 8-3; (11) Indiana 6-1; (12) Coastal Carolina 11-0; (13) North Carolina 8-3; (14) Northwestern 6-2; (15) Iowa 6-2; (16) BYU 10-1; (17) Southern Cal 5-1; (18) Miami 8-2; (19) Louisiana 9-1; (20) Texas 6-3; (21) Oklahoma State 7-3; (22) San Jose State 7-0; 23) North Carolina State 8-3; (24) Tulsa 6-2; (25) Oregon 4-2 ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25 POLL: (1) Alabama 11-0; (2) Clemson (10-1); (3) Ohio State 6-0; (4) Notre Dame 10-1; (5) Texas A&M 8-1; (6) Cincinnati 9-0; (7) Indiana 6-1; (8) Oklahoma 8-2; (9) Coastal Carolina 11-0; (10) FLORIDA 8-3; (11) Georgia 7-2; (12) Iowa State 8-3; (13) BYU 10-1; (14) North Carolina 8-3; (15) Northwestern 6-2; (16) Louisiana 9-1; (17) Iowa 6-2; (18) Miami 8-2; (19) San Jose State 7-0; (20) Texas 6-3; (21) Southern Cal 5-1; (22) Tulsa 6-2; (23) Liberty 9-1; (24) North Carolina State 8-3; (25) Oregon 4-2 COACHES TOP 25 POLL: (1) Alabama 11-0; (2) Clemson 10-1; (3) Ohio State 6-0; (4) Notre Dame 10-1; (5) Texas A&M 8-1; (6) Cincinnati 9-0; (7) Oklahoma 8-2; (9) Georgia 7-2; (10) FLORIDA 8-3; (11) Coastal Carolina 11-0; (12) Iowa State 8-3; (13) Northwestern 6-2; (14) North Carolina 8-3; (15) BYU 10-1; (16) Iowa 6-2; (17) Louisiana 9-1; (18) Miami 8-2; (19) Southern Cal 5-1; (20) San Jose State 7-0; (21) Oklahoma State 7-3; (22) North Carolina State 8-3; (23) Liberty 9-1; (24) Texas 6-3; (25) Tulsa 6-2 THE PLAYOFF: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DOLLARS Maybe the college football establishment thinks the country is naïve enough to believe that the four best teams are going to be playing for the national championship. If that’s the case, then they are the ones who are naïve and not the football watching public. The playoff was, is and will always be about the dollars and it’s particularly true in this pandemic-induced weirdness. You can make a very strong case that Alabama and Clemson should be ranked 1-2. It seems they’re ranked 1-2 every year so why not this one? But Ohio State and Notre Dame? Ohio State played six games and in its two wins over ranked teams (Indiana and Northwestern) quarterback Justin Fields looked like he ordered his quarterbacking lessons from Amazon Prime. Sure, Notre Dame beat Clemson earlier in the year but that game was in South Bend and Clemson was without its two best playmakers (QB Trevor Lawrence and LB James Skalski). On a neutral field with everyone healthy, Clemson made Notre Dame look like it would have a hard time winning five games in the SEC. The Aggies (8-1) pass the playoff eye test and they have a win over that same Florida team that lost by a TD while hanging 46 on mighty Alabama. You can make a very strong case that either Cincinnati (9-0) or Coastal Carolina (11-0) belong but the playoff people aren’t going to let a Group of Five team in. They didn’t do it in 2017 when UCF rank the table and didn’t do it again in 2018 when UCF was working a 27-game win streak so why give Cincy or Coastal a chance to embarrass the establishment? So why do we get Notre Dame and Ohio State? It’s all about the dollars boys and girls. Put Notre Dame and Ohio State in the playoff and you’ll get the ratings. The Aggies are a really good team but they aren’t the top TV draw in their own state. An average Texas team will always have better ratings than the Aggies even at their best. Let Cincinnati and Coastal in the playoff and you won’t get anything close to the ratings you get with the Domers and the Buckeyes. What this very strange season has told us is that college football desperately needs to either expand the playoff to eight teams so we can have a Cinderella story or else the Group of Five need to give the Power Five the middle finger and do their own playoff. I like eight teams – five conference champs from the Power Five, at least one from the Group of Five and as many as two wild cards, but if that can’t happen, then it’s time the Group of Five have their own playoff. It wouldn’t draw the crowds or TV ratings as the big boys, but it would give these schools a chance to have a championship of their own. BOWLING FOR DOLLARS NEW YEAR’S SIX SEC BOWLERS ORANGE BOWL: #5 Texas A&M (8-1) vs. #13 North Carolina (8-3) COTTON BOWL: #7 FLORIDA (8-3) vs. #6 Oklahoma (8-2) PEACH BOWL: #9 Georgia (7-2) vs. #8 Cincinnati (9-0) OTHER SEC BOWLERS (Every team that played in 2020 is bowl-eligible; the SEC filled out all the slots that were already contracted except for LSU which self-imposed a bowl ban) CITRUS BOWL: Auburn (6-4) vs. #14 Northwestern (6-2) OUTBACK BOWL: Ole Miss (4-5) vs. #11 Indiana (6-1) GATOR BOWL: Kentucky (3-7) vs. #23 North Carolina State (8-3) LIBERTY BOWL: Arkansas (3-7) vs. TCU (5-4) ARIZONA BOWL: Tennessee (3-7) vs. West Virginia (4-4) MUSIC CITY BOWL: Missouri (5-5) vs. #15 Iowa (6-2) ARMED FORCES BOWL: Mississippi State (3-7) vs. #24 Tulsa (6-2) GASPARILLA BOWL: South Carolina (3-7) vs. UAB (6-3) BOWL GAMES FOR TEAMS FROM FLORIDA BOCA RATON BOWL: UCF (6-3) vs. #16 BYU (10-1) NEW ORLEANS BOWL: Florida Atlantic (5-3) vs. Memphis (7-3) CHEEZ-IT BOWL: #21 Oklahoma State (7-3) vs. Miami (8-2) AS THE COACHING SEARCH TURNS Tennessee could be relieving Jeremy Pruitt of his job with cause after reports surfaced that Pruitt is under investigation both by the Tennessee compliance department and the NCAA for improper benefits offered to recruits, some of whom are on the Tennessee roster and some who signed somewhere else. If Pruitt were fired without cause he would be owed $12.8 million due to this lovely contract extension that he was given by athletic director Phattus Maximus. If there is cause, Tennessee would give Pruitt a going away present but certainly nothing close to $12.8 million. Maybe Tennessee should be looking for a way to jettison the Phat Man while they’re about it. Auburn’s coaching search seems to be expanding. Add UAB coach Bill Clark to those already vetted – Billy Napier (HBC Louisiana), Steve Sarkisian (OC, Alabama) and Neal Brown (HBC West Virginia). Some big dollar boosters want defensive coordinator/interim head coach Kevin Steele. If Steele is the guy then it means Auburn hiring a search firm to do all these interviews was all window dressing to make the masses think they were going after the right guy. Bret Bielema has resurfaced as a college head coach at Illinois. This is a good fit. Bielema tried to play Big Ten (Plus Four) football in the SEC at Arkansas and it didn’t work. It will work in the Big Ten (Plus Four) and that’s where Bielema’s roots are. He played for Hayden Fry at Iowa and was highly successful as the head coach at Wisconsin before he ventured south to Arkansas. Arizona’s search appears to be zeroing in on San Jose State coach Brent Brennan, who led the Spartans to an unbeaten (7-0) season and the Mountain West Conference championship. MOVIN’ ON OUT: A FEW NAMES IN THE TRANSFER PORTAL/NFL DRAFT Not surprising, Tennessee QB Jarrett Guarantano, who Vol fans accused of just about everything but the origin of Covid-19, has put his name in the NCAA transfer portal. It will be interesting to see where he lands and what might happen when he plays for a decent head coach and offensive coordinator. From Arkansas, OL Chibueze Nwanna and WR Shamar Nash are in the portal. Nobody at Arkansas is sweating bullets over the loss of these two. Former Mississippi State quarterback Garrett Shrader, who many thought was Louisville-bound, has instead selected Syracuse as his next destination. Mississippi State picked up a grad transfer QB in Jack Abraham, who had 7,067 passing yards and 41 touchdown passes at Southern Miss. South Carolina DB Shilo Sanders will be joining his dad Deion and brother Shedeur at Jackson State. Georgia WR Makiya Tongue is transferring to Oregon State. Kentucky DB M.J. Devonshire has put his name in the transfer portal. He has 6 tackles and 2 pass deflections in his UK career. Missouri offensive lineman Larry Broom (6-6, 322) has opted out for the Music City Bowl game to prep for the NFL Draft. ONE LAST PITHY THOUGHT: If you want further proof that the deck is stacked against the Group of Five then consider that Coastal Carolina (11-0) is ranked 12th in the playoff poll yet the Chanticleers will only get to play in something called the Cure Bowl, played in Orlando’s 24,000-seat soccer stadium, against Liberty (9-1). That’s because only the highest ranked Group of Five team (Cincinnati) gets a slice of the New Year’s six pie.

Florida Gators Head Coach Dan Mullen met with local media following the No. 7 Florida Gators loss to the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game. He met with local media again on Sunday evening to preview the Gators bowl selection. Staying at No. 7, Florida will face the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners in the Cotton Bowl, their third New Years Six bowl in a row. As a valued subscriber, we are offering both of these transcripts in full. DAN MULLEN POST SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME DAN MULLEN: I'm proud of our guys, how we competed tonight. Continued to battle for four quarters. Really not tonight -- proud of our guys for everything they've gone through this season. Go play an 11-game SEC schedule, never been done before. To go through all the adversity we've had to face throughout the year, starting back to the day we were supposed to start spring practice, to get pulled off the field, to all the questions and the doubts all through the summer if there's going to be a season, to starting the season, having to shut it down after three weeks. Coming back, going through week after week after week not knowing until Friday morning if you're even going to play a game. To show up and compete every single week. I'm really proud of our guys, everything they did, how they held themselves and played at a high level. Never stopped competing till the clock hit zero. Q. Dan, no such thing as moral victories. What do you take away from just the way the team rallied? What character did you show tonight? DAN MULLEN: I mean, I thought we showed a lot of character tonight. Like I said, talk about competing as a team. We're always going to compete. We're always going to battle, fight and play for four quarters. That was an excellent football team we played tonight, a lot of talented players on their team. Give them credit. That's why they're ranked the No. 1 team in the country, deservedly so. But, I mean, it showed the character that our guys have. They've shown that this entire season, for everything that we've been through. Q. In terms of the defense, what is your assessment? DAN MULLEN: I think four of the five were stops, they got first downs on penalties or they got third down penalties early. I think we made some mistakes. You're coming into this game, there's things you have to do to win. Win the turnover battle. We didn't do that. We made a bunch of mental mistakes that really hurt ourselves defensively in the first half on third down with opportunities to get off the field, we have some penalties to knock it off the field. Give up that drive at the end of the first half. All that's disappointing, obviously. Our guys continued to battle all the way to the end, right? That stop there at the end, they gritted it up and got the stop, got the offense the ball one more time. Q. Talk about what you think this game, very emotional game, coming back against the No. 1 team in the country, will do for the trajectory of your program moving forward? DAN MULLEN: I think our guys, we got some young guys that have been here, they're going to be hungry to get back here. That's the goal, to get here to this game, go compete. I mean, usually you're looking at every year this game, some of the best teams in the country are playing each other in this game. To be here was great for our guys. Obviously we want a lot more than just getting here and showing up. That's what we control. Our focus is going to be getting here again next year, then competing, and to win this game. I think that will help and that will have great focus for us going into the off-season. Q. On the final touchdown, fantastic catch in the corner, a lot of weapons over the course of the year. Talk about Kyle Pitts, that he possibly might not be coming back next year, what he's done for the program. DAN MULLEN: I think, you know what, he's shown he's the best tight end in college football. I mean, he's a dynamic play-maker all over the field. You can play him inside, play him outside, a great blocker. I think he's a guy that obviously I think has worked his tail off to put himself in the position he's in. He's a great young guy. I mean, worked his tail off even to be able to play today. Then come out and had a huge game. I mean, he's a great high-character young guy, great leader in the locker room. He's a tremendous worker. I think his drive shows out there on the field where his performance has gotten to. Q. After the Kyle Pitts touchdown, take us through the thought process of the timeout. DAN MULLEN: That was bad clock management on my part. We should have had it ready to go for two. Our thought, though, is we're going for two right there, we're going to try the on-side kick. We're here to win. Would have given us two two-point conversions. If we didn't get the first one, we'd have to get the second one to tie. If we got the first one, all we needed there was an extra point to win the game at the end. That was the thought process to go for two. That was a bad job by me, we had to use that timeout there. Would have loved to have that timeout and given us an extra 40 seconds of the ball to try to get the and-one touchdown. Q. You've shown you can get here and that you can hang with Alabama. What is the next step to the program winning this? DAN MULLEN: We got to get a little better up front on both sides of the ball. Our guys play hard. You look, they're a little more physical I think at the line of scrimmage than we were. We got to get a little bit better up front. Get back here, get another shot at them next year, or whoever is here from the West. I don't want it like you guys all freak out like I just trash talked everybody else on the other side of the league. I want to get back here, take a shot at whoever comes from the West next year. Q. Kadarius Toney, another monster game today, the effort he's put out the last two weeks. Is that a representation of the kind of person he is? DAN MULLEN: Yeah, I mean, he's an awesome, awesome young guy. I mean, came here, you get to know him, he's probably not the easiest person in the world to get to know at first. Once you get to know him, he's a tremendous, unbelievable man. I mean, his work ethic, his competitive nature, his desire to be great. That shows out there in everything. He's a great route runner, got tremendous hands, has learned to have a great feel for the game on how to get open. You can hand it to him out of the backfield. Heck, he's got an unbelievable arm, could go line him up as quarterback. He has a very, very bright future ahead of him in the game of football. Q. What was the mood in the locker room? What was your message to the team? DAN MULLEN: You know what, I think everybody's extremely disappointed. We wanted to win the game, expected to win the game. A little bit somber. It's probably the last time this team ever plays together. That's a tough deal. I think there was a lot of guys that really care about each other, have really worked hard to get here to this point. I know there's a great deal of disappointment in the locker room, but there's also a lot of respect for everything that everybody on this team went through and did for this year. There's a lot of love for the guys and the family that this team is. Q. Will you turn down a bowl game? DAN MULLEN: I have no idea. We just played this game, so... I know you want to go run with everything, you guys like to blow things way out of proportion and everything. That was really the last time this team will play together, I imagine. Whatever the future holds, I imagine this team as a whole of how it is will be the last one played here. You guys, I know you want to run and make stuff up all the time, so go do that, if you want. Q. How do you process a loss like this? You have to be drained right now emotionally, physically. DAN MULLEN: I'll be honest with you, this season has been emotionally draining. Hard to say teams have gone through what we've gone through, right? I think that was our eighth consecutive SEC game. It's amazing the emotional and physical toll that takes on your body for the players. Coaches, we'll be fine. We'll get back to work tomorrow and get this program headed back in the right direction. Not in the right direction, I think we're headed in the right direction, get this program back to getting on path, try to get here again next year to compete for a championship. I think you guys know that. I say I want to be a great program, a program that competes for championships on a consistent basis. We want to do that. I do know for our players this season has been a massive emotional and physical tolls. That I'll be honest, I don't know anybody else in the country has been through. I don't know anybody that's played eight consecutive SEC games right now. I don't know anybody that's played eight consecutive conference games. I'm really proud of our guys for their commitment and desire to battle and fight. Q. When you're thinking about what you'll do, replaying it, what is going to stand out? What will you replay and focus on? DAN MULLEN: I mean, there's a lot. Hey, the little mistakes we made during the game, how do we get that stuff fixed. How do I make sure that we're not making the little errors in the game that cost us the game. DAN MULLEN: Thank you, guys. Go Gators. Merry Christmas, everybody. Happy holidays. DAN MULLEN PREVIEWS COTTON BOWL WITH OKLAHOMA COACH LINCOLN RILEY COACH MULLEN: You know, I think it's a great honor to be playing in the Cotton Bowl Classic. It's a historic bowl. Be my first opportunity to go, if I'm not mistaken. Might even be Florida's, one of their first opportunities, if not the first opportunity for Florida, to go play in this game. So, we're excited. Obviously, any time you have a top ten matchup of two teams, it's going to be a lot of fun. I know people  that's why guys go to Florida and Oklahoma to play in bigtime games. And I  this has been such a trying, crazy year for everybody, but it's awesome for these young men that both schools, that they've been able to persevere to get to this point And finish out the season playing in this type of a game. SCOTTIE RODGERS: Coach Riley. COACH RILEY: This is absolutely an honor to be in the Cotton Bowl. I grew up in the state of Texas, so I know what the history of this bowl is. And it's as good as any bowl game in the country: Firstclass service, great people behind the scenes that do so much to make this game possible. So, certainly thrilled to be here and have a chance to play a tremendous Florida team. Want to congratulate them, Coach [Dan] Mullen and his staff and his players on a great season. Like he said, it's certainly been very trying for all of us to have a chance to finish out a season, for us to both play basically a full schedule or pretty darned close to it. To be able to have a chance to play in a bowl game is a great thing in any year. But certainly this year may be even a little bit more special than most. I know our team is excited about one more opportunity to go compete. Really excited about the way we finished the season and certainly looking forward to this game, as well. Q. Coach Riley, just was wondering just your thoughts now after having finished out the Big 12 championship game and just how refreshing it's going to be to ride that into the bowl game. COACH RILEY: Yeah, we're excited about it. It was a great game yesterday, a lot of fun, a chance to win a championship. You don't always get those every year. And so for our team to be able to close it out, especially coming back from all we've had to persevere through the entire season was a great way to finish off the Big 12 season. And certainly proud to be able to hold that trophy once again. And then have the opportunity, again, to play a great Florida team in what is one of the best bowl games without a doubt that exists. It's a great way to end the season, and we're certainly excited for the challenge. Q. Lincoln, we're starting to see some players opt out of bowls. Do you anticipate any players before the Cotton Bowl opting out? And, also, can we get your thoughts on Tanner Mordecai who announced he's entering the transfer portal? COACH RILEY: We'll have to see, Eric. This is the offday, just got back, so I haven't had a chance to see our players yet. We'll see how that plays out. Too early for us to say. Tanner has been a really good member of this football team. I think he's looking for the opportunity to go in and be a starter somewhere. I think he's done really well. I think he's ready to be a starter. He had some good competition while he was here. He had some unfortunate events that made it tougher for him to compete, like getting injured during our competition this year. But he's a great young man, great family, tremendous quarterback, and he'll make somebody very happy. Q. Dan, Nick Saban actually talked last week about losing in the SEC championship game is one of the toughest losses to bounce back from and get a team motivated for a bowl game. How do you kind of keep this team motivated after such a close loss to get ready and play? COACH MULLEN: I think the competitive edge of the guys is what has to motivate your competitive drive. We've giving our guys a little bit of time off. We've been going eight consecutive weeks of SEC games. I think our guys, there's a  there's not just physical toll that that's played on their bodies but the emotional toll of this season, as well. So, we're going to give our guys some time off, let them get a little bit mentally and physically refreshed and try to recoup. And, hopefully, our guys, the competitive nature kicks back in to get ready to go play on December 30. SCOTTIE RODGERS: Coach Mullen, I actually have a question that was submitted. The question was: How will you look to defensively bottle up Oklahoma's potent offense? COACH MULLEN: I'll be honest with you, I haven't had a chance to study them or watch them play much this year. But I know they  with watching Lincoln [Riley] in the past, they have explosive players. They spread you out, and they have great playmakers all over the field. So, I'm sure it will be a big challenge for us with the guys they have. I got to see some of the game yesterday, but just catching parts of it while we're waiting for our kickoff and looked like they got  the quarterback can run around, extend plays, scramble, and make things happen with his feet as well as having a really live arm. And you always know they have great skill players out in the perimeter that can make plays with the ball in their hands and have always been a very physical team up front. So, ought to be a big challenge for our guys to go against not just great offensive players but a great offensive scheme. Q. What are some of your recollections of the 2008 national championship game against Oklahoma? That's one of the most, I guess, illustrious games. Obviously the first game that Florida has played Oklahoma but in this  for OU for sure. COACH MULLEN: You know what? Just going back to the game, I know it was a crazy time for me because I had been  I was the head coach at Mississippi State and then came back to coach the game and call the game as the coordinator for Florida. I do know this, I don't know if I've been more exhausted. Maybe this year is more exhausting with everything we've been through this year. But you know what? I do remember that game being a lot of  a bigtime game full of talent. You have two Heisman Trophy winners playing each other at quarterback. I think guys that are still scattered around the NFL, all over the NFL with great players. And it was one of those games that I'm sure everybody came in. I think they'd averaged 60 points a game but it came into at the very end the ability to play defense and the Florida defense came up pretty big. I remember the big goal line stand and the turnover at the goal line to stop them. And then Percy Harvin coming off an injury, putting up  I think he only could play for about three quarters but put up huge numbers for those first three quarters. And then Tim Tebow carried the team home in the fourth quarter, did a little jump pass to win the game and to kind of put the game away at the end. So, it was pretty special. For me it was a special moment. I got to run down the field, hold the trophy for about 30 seconds, get a picture with my wife with the trophy and get on the plane and head to Starkville, Mississippi. Q. Lincoln, first, the advantage of playing in AT&T Stadium where you guys just played. You played several games before. And, Dan, opposite of that, obviously you're coming to a place you've never played and your guys will be coming here for the first time in this building. So, just both coaches address that, please. COACH RILEY: Yeah, it's a  I mean, we love playing there. It's been a great stadium. We've had some pretty good memories over the last several years. Now is that going to make a difference in this game? I doubt it. It's just going to be two good football teams going at it, like it should be. But we certainly enjoy it, and it's one of the best venues in all of sports, in my opinion. And, again, if  I guess if you've got to choose, having some good memories there is a good place to start. COACH MULLEN: I'll share, our guys, we had a Zoom team meeting today with everybody. And that was the first question is: Hey, we're going to the Cotton Bowl. The question was: Where's the game? And I think everybody was pretty excited when they found out where we're going to play. To be able to go play in that venue, I've been there to watch the [Dallas] Cowboys play a couple of times, watch Dak [Prescott]. But it's an awesome stadium. It's a great venue and I know our guys are really excited to just get the opportunity to go play there. Q. So, I know that Kyle Pitts is one of the guys that is opting out of the season and not playing in a bowl game. Can you talk about how that conversation between you guys went? What did he say to you? When did you know? Of course, we saw that  you kind of mentioned this, too. When he was out before the regular season, it's a chance for other guys to step up and to really come together. can you elaborate a little bit just on what you're going to be looking for in the rest of your guys with the bowl game? COACH MULLEN: Kyle  it was something we discussed actually when he was injured two weeks ago. Was something we discussed about where he was at, his future and we talked about the opportunity to go play in the SEC championship game. And he worked his tail off to get healthy, to get cleared to go play in that game. And he had said, Coach, if we have the  you know, I'm not sure what I'll do after that, depending on where we go and what the situation is going to be, to go make my decision after the game. So, I talked to him last night after the game. You completely respect it. I mean, he's a guy that has the opportunity to be a topten pick in the NFL draft, a phenomenal athlete, a premiere tight end, I think, in the country. I give him a lot of credit for working his tail off to try to get healthy enough to play last night's game. Had a huge game. We talked that he's just going to  he's going to go prepare for that next step. But it's another opportunity. I mean, he missed a couple of games during the season with an injury. And Keon Zipperer and Kemore Gamble stepped up. To be honest with you, not that they wanted to see one of their teammates not in the game playing but I know those two guys were excited. They want the opportunity to go become the playmakers and to get his touches. So, those guys will be excited. They did a great job while he was out and expect those guys to step in and fill that role. Q. Lincoln, have you decided  I know you said this is your off day. Have you decided what you're going to do with Shane Beamer's coaching position for the bowl game? COACH RILEY: I haven't made that decision yet. We won't have Coach Beamer with us. He's heading out to Columbia this morning. It was great to have that last great win with him and his family. A lot of capable people here on the staff. But, no, haven't fully made that decision yet. Q. We had heard some coaches this morning offer differing views on what to do with their team over the next week or so. Some letting their players go home for Christmas. Others keeping them there. Have you decided what to do and just how different is this year with this schedule and the compressed nature of things and COVID going on? COACH RILEY: Yeah, no, it's difficult. I guess maybe the one silver lining is we only have ten days here, so we don't have a huge block of time to deal with, which actually makes it probably a little bit easier. No, Christmas is tough, where it falls on this game, both in proximity to the game and then obviously with COVID. We obviously just found out we're playing this game a few hours ago. So we're making plans, but not anything that I'd be ready to announce at this point. COACH MULLEN: For our guys, like I said, this season has been like no other, the grind. I don't think anybody understands. Obviously, there's a physical grind and the toll it takes on everybody's body to play, even to be able to continue to play the season. And then you add that mental grind on the players. So, we're giving our guys off through Christmas right now. We'll do everything virtually to do some scouting reports and some installation virtually just to let those guys recover both physically and mentally before the bowl game. Q. Wanted to get your guy's thoughts on the evolution of both conferences. I don't know maybe more toward the mean where the Big 12 has been playing better defense in recent years and certainly this year, while the SEC is putting up a lot more productive numbers offensively. Just wanted get your guys' thoughts on how both conferences are evolving. COACH MULLEN: Looks like Lincoln [Riley] is still putting up an awful lot of points there, so I don't know. I did just do a quick glance of all the points they've put up this year. I don't think they're having a lot of offensive woes there, and it's become a three hours' cloud of dust field (laughter). COACH RILEY: From our point of view, no, we talked a little bit about it last night. I think the defensive quality in this league has gotten better. I think the defensive linemen, especially in this league across the  across the board this year, I thought much improved. There's been some schematic changes, different coaches which have certainly helped there as well. I think in any league, whether you're talking about more offense in the SEC or more defense in the Big 12, whatever, I think it's just the constant evolution and competition. You do what you've got to do to win and have a chance to win championships. So I think you're always constantly evolving, looking for those things. And that's some of the fun of it, to see how things do continue to evolve. Q. Dan, I know you already touched on Spencer Rattler. But, Lincoln, I was curious if you could just speak to the season Kyle Trask has had, if you've kept up with it. Obviously, if you haven't might not be much of an answer. I'm just curious what you've made of him as a quarterback and how he's been able to lead the offense. COACH RILEY: I'm certainly not an expert on it. I've been able to catch them a few on TV. He's been impressive, really impressive guy. The guy that can stand back there and beat you in the pocket and can run Q power on third and one and run it right down your throat, too. So any guy who can do both is just tough to defend. He's done a really good job of using the weapons. They have got a tremendous scheme that really features what he does well. But you can see, having watched him a little bit more last year, you can see obviously the improvement he's made. And that's a testament to him and certainly the coaching staff there. Q. Dan, just curious, do you expect other guys to opt out specifically, [Trevon] Grimes and [Kadarius] Toney, maybe even [Kyle] Trask? And then do you anticipate Todd Grantham being your defensive coordinator for the bowl game? Is that definitive? COACH MULLEN: Oh, yeah. Todd will be our coordinator for the bowl game. Kyle Pitts is the only one I've talked to. I've talked to other guys that are just viewing what their options are for the future, as they're getting with their family to go make a decision. Obviously, I don't think we got back until 4:00 in the morning last night. And so I think everybody is just trying to catch their breath here for 24 hours. So, I don't have any other reports of who will or will not play the bowl game for us. But we'll see as this goes on and as we get  as the week goes on as these guys make decisions about that I future. Q. Obviously, you've talked about the mental and physical toll. Just from a mental standpoint is it almost better to not have a full month before a bowl game, like you typically would and it's kind of a quicker turnaround? COACH MULLEN: I don't know. I guess we'll find out on December 30. Like I said, I mean, there were  we did have  we had a team meeting this morning on Zoom. I met with the coaching staff about playing in the bowl game, and then I met with the leadership committee, and then the team. And I wanted to hear their concerns or thoughts, whether they wanted to play. And everybody was excited and wanted the opportunity to go play one more time. I think a couple of guys  once we kind of laid out what the schedule would be with the different options of bowls that we would go to, they felt that, hey  I mean, even though  the tenday window is really tight for some of the recovery for some of our guys but  for where we're at right now. But they were  they were excited for this opportunity to go play in this bowl game. Q. Neither program achieved its ultimate goal. Lincoln, you're usually in the playoffs. You didn't make it this year. Dan, you guys were in the SEC title game. You obviously wanted to win. Could have won. Almost won. How tough is it to get back and play in what some people would see as a consolation prize? And can you get the guys to where, Hey, this is a big game. Everybody excited. COACH MULLEN: Well, I think this. I think, I mean, you're going to lighten up in the Cotton Bowl playing Oklahoma. I might go look out my window, and go down the street and see kids playing in the yard, and that's what they're dreaming of doing. So, I mean, these guys  it doesn't take a whole lot of motivation to want to go and play in that game. These guys are competitors. So I think that opportunity to play in this game against that team and you look across at the opponent that you have, that's the motivation you need to go play. COACH RILEY: I agree with what he said (laughter). I don't know that I would have said it any different. The Cotton Bowl, OU/Florida, that's pretty darned good. Q. Yeah, actually questions for both of you but separate ones. Dan, as you said, Kyle [Pitts] is the only one you really talked to about opting out so far. Can you kind of point to last year with Hendo (CJ Henderson) being the only one to opt out and he ended up being a Top 10 pick, as saying, like, "It needs to be worth it. You need to know where you're going to go." And then also, Lincoln, you've talked about Kyle Trask, but have you been able to look at any of the other offensive weapons that they have? What is it going to take to defend the entire field there? COACH MULLEN: Well, I'll start with this. We talked to the people. And if you look in the past, a guy that is  Kyle Pitts that is already going to be a topten pick is one thing. But you go back two years ago with Chauncey GardnerJohnson who's playing today on Sunday, who was the M.V.P. of the Peach Bowl, probably skyrocketed his draft status and he got to finish his  you get to finish your career as a Florida Gator, Peach Bowl champion, M.V.P. of the game, and help yourself out in the future. So, I think a lot of these guys, they make educated decisions more than emotional decisions. It's educated decisions about their future. COACH RILEY: Yeah. On my question, I have. I've had a chance to see, again, just bits and pieces of their offense this year. But no, they do a tremendous job. I know [Kyle] Pitts is a really good player. But they've got a lot of great players there. Obviously the receivers really jump off the page, the speed, the length that those guys have. And [Kyle] Trask and certainly the coaching staff have done a great job getting all those guys involved. So, it will take a lot. It will take team defense and against a group that has more than one guy that can beat you. So great scheme, great coaches, great opposition. It's going to take a really strong effort on our part.