Florida Gators Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham met with local media on Tuesday night to discuss the loss at the hands of LSU, the lessons that can be learned from that, facing the high powered Alabama offense and how he owes his career to Nick Saban. As a valued subscriber, we are offering this transcript in full. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET STRAIGHT ON DEFENSE FOR SATURDAY? "Get ready to play. I mean, understand that we play in the toughest conference in the country and going through that schedule we earned the right to go to Atlanta and play. If we would have played that team back in mid-season and then beat Tennessee for the right to go to the championship, everybody would have been happy and excited. Unfortunately it didn't happen that way, but at the end of the day we are going to Atlanta to play for the SEC Championship and that's the goal at the end of the year, and that's where it is. You've got to understand that you've got to have attention to detail, you've got to have focus and you've got to be ready to play the next game, just like we tell our players to play the next play. So really it's about maintaining our focus, preparing and getting ready to go play and put on a good performance." PLAYERS IN PAST WHO HAVE MADE INEXCUSABLE MISTAKES LIKE MARCO. HOW DO YOU HANDLE THAT? "Well I think that, one, you always try to use everything that happens -- good, bad or indifferent -- as a learning experience for your players so as they move forward, both in the field of play and society, they can be productive. You never want one play to define you, but what happens is, as you go through the game things can get magnified because you're getting close to the end. One play does not define a player, it doesn't define a person, it doesn't define a game. And there's a lot of plays that can change the outcome of a game, so that doesn't happen. But what happens is, as you move forward in a situation like that, it casts an image that certainly he's not proud of and he was disappointed in, but knowing the competitor he is and the kind of fire he has and his willingness to be a good player for us, it's basically, 'Come back and let's get back to work. I mean, move on.' That's the thing you've got to understand is we all have the ability to make choices, and when you make those choices, that's it. And we've just got to continue to move on and get ready to play the next play. He's helped us get to where we are right now, and we've got to have him play his best game to date. That's really the focus of our team and our defense, is continuing to move forward to play your best game come Saturday. And whatever's happened's happened, but you've got to take everything that you've experienced up until now to allow you to play your best game." YOU'VE FACED REALLY GOOD OFFENSES, WHERE DOES THIS ONE FIT IN, WHY SO EXPLOSIVE AND SPECIAL? "Yeah, I would fit this one in with LSU last year for sure. I think they're one of the most dynamic offenses that I've had the opportunity to face. I think there's a lot of things that make them very productive. They can win games a lot of different ways. They can win it running, they can win it throwing it, they can kind of take the air out of the game and shrink the game when they have a two-possession lead, they can get explosive plays. The thing that sticks out is, one, they have very talented players at every position. Those players are well-coached. They have a very sound scheme. And they have a head coach that is really going to make sure they really have an attention to detail and stay grounded, in the sense of no game is too big or too small, you kind of go through the season. So as you go through the season you have this calm about you that you continue to play the next play. You continue to play the next game, whether you won or lost. When you do that you have a tendency to continue to ascend and move forward with your play, and that's really what you see with these guys. If you watch from Week 1 until now, they continue to get better with their play. They've had to adjust relative to injuries, they've done that, and they've been able to get good players in because of injuries and continue to still roll. So they're a very dynamic offense in what they do and we know it's a challenge, so we understand that it's going to take all 11 guys on the field doing their job for us to have success." Key to handling Bama and Saban mystique? "I worked for him three years, and learned a lot from him, have the utmost respect for him. And a lot of the things we do from a fundamental and philosophical standpoint come from my times with him. I think the biggest thing is you got to play the game. You got to understand you have to prepare. You got to understand you have to have answers for things that could happen in the game, and what is your next step because as the game goes you're always going to have to work the game. What I mean is as you go through the first quarter, here's what they've done, here's what we've done, what's the next step? You kind of got to be ready for that. And you just got to keep playing the next play and you gotta understand, hey I got to get this to the fourth quarter, and then you have to make plays to win the game. It really comes down to playing every play to our utmost ability, get it to the fourth quarter and then you find a way to win the game." What did you learn from LSU game that needs to be fixed by Saturday? "We have to make sure as you go through the season you have to adjust relative to who's available. And that situation can come during the game, you know what I'm saying? For example, you might have one or two guys out because they've ... you know, you're into the 10th game of the season and you have one or two guys that are out prior to that. Now you have your players ready to play and something happens and you have to make sure you're ready for any situation to make sure you put the best 11 players on the field. That's the most important thing, being able to do that. I think the biggest is we got to understand when we play as a unit and we communicate and we do the things we need to do, we're where we need to be, that's the type of atmosphere we need to work towards and realize it takes all 11 guys to get there. We need to play as a team." What has it meant to see Trey Dean return? “Well, I think it’s a credit to him and his character, his work ethic, that in the world that we live in, a lot of people like to have instant things. Twitter is instant just like Edgar’s texting while we’re talking; that’s instant, right? They want information like now, right? Just like players want instant success. Guys come here, they’re ready to go start, they’re ready to go score touchdowns, they’re ready to get interceptions. What happens is you have to understand that’s there’s a lot of work and grind associated with having that success and it’s never easy and the path to get there is never the same, meaning that some people could have bumps in the road. Well, as you hit those bumps in the road, you have to have the mental and physical and toughness to continue to push forward to get where you need to be and understand, ‘I want to be a part of this team and I want to contribute. What do I have to do to be better?’ I think that’s the biggest thing with Trey. When we did the change, I mean, as we move forward, he was fine with doing it and then after a few days he was like, ‘I’m all in on trying to do this.’ Sometimes guys could be like, ‘Well, I’d rather play my other position because I knew it better’ and all this stuff. To his credit, he continued to grind, work, learn and put himself in a position. All you’re trying to do as a player is you want to put yourself in a position that when my opportunity comes up that I can showcase my talents and what I can do. As you do that on a consistent basis, it leads to more plays, more reps and more production. That’s really a credit to Trey and his work ethic and his character to stay the course and be ready when we needed him last week.” Brad Stewart line up at safety vs LSU? Can we see that again? “Absolutely, you can see him there. You’ve got to realize when Shawn (Davis) and Rashad (Torrence) weren’t available last week that really depleted that unit and Brad had won a lot of games for us and played there and gave us reps and we felt good about Tra’Vez (Johnson) as far as what he had done at nickel. Just having the ability to play Brad at either/or gave us flexibility to get some depth. Not only do you have defensive plays, you have special teams plays and you have to be able to see all right, if this guys is playing 40 plays on defense and he plays 25 plays on special team, that’s 65 plays. Well, how am I going to get the numbers to where guys can be functional and guys can be able to play at their best. Because of all that, the situation we were in, we felt that putting Brad back at safety gave us the ability to have a little more flexibility as far as who could play safety, who could play nickel.” Could you be the closest to 100% healthy Saturday as you have been all year? “I think that, one, anytime you can get all the guys that are available it does give you depth and it’s fun. Credit to the players that we got, they’ve always adjusted. Guys have had to move on a Monday to another position relative to who’s available that week and maybe have to move back or to another one the following week. At the end of the day you want to get players in positions to make plays and get your best 11 out there. The credit for the season and for us to be able to get through the grind of a 10-game SEC schedule really goes back to the players willingness to adapt and learn. We’re looking forward to having as many healthy guys as we can come Saturday.” Will this be the healthiest you’ve been all year? “I think as we move forward I would hope that we would be able to say yes to that but we’ll have to wait and see.” Does going up against Kyle Trask in practice help prepare you for Mac Jones? “I think first, anytime you can face a talented quarterback it allows you to understand when he throws the ball to this spot, why? You can look at the looks and see when you look like this, relative to the formation, here’s where the ball goes. That allows guys to see it and experience it. I think guys learn best when they can be a part of the experience and then see it on tape. By being able to go against Kyle and understanding his intelligence as far as where to go with the ball, that certainly helps us understand looks and what’s important. I think that will allow us to carry that over into the game and understand that we want to try to find ways to be difficult to run on and ways to slow down their offense as far as the quarterback being productive. At the end of the day that’s what it gets down to. Every week you kind of get to it different ways but really it gets down to your ability to stop the run and how do you make the quarterback play bad? That’s what it really gets down to every week. You get to it different ways. That’ll be the focus this week.” Do you have to be more creative when facing a balanced offense like Bama? “I think that you have to do what your players can do from an execution standpoint. You also want to have the ability to give them tools within their toolbox to allow them to be able to give some different looks, some changes and do those kind of things to maybe give a little hesitation to the quarterback. I think it’s really a balance like anything. I think it’s a balance of your ability to make sure you have enough weapons and things within your toolbox to allow you to go out and perform at a high level and find ways to get stops.” Smith can hurt you in multiple ways? "Yeah, absolutely. When you look at him, No. 1 is he's really fast. He's got excellent hands. His catch radius as far as when the ball is thrown, I mean, he's going to make the play if it's near him. He gets the play and he makes it. So the combination of his speed, his competitive nature, his intelligence to understand stems and stacks and how to play those things and his releases. Combine all of that with being able to get an active ball, No. 1, from an elite quarterback and his ability to go catch balls in tight windows and come back to the ball. That's why he's an elite player." You called a double CB blitz and it failed miserably? "I think that what happens is as you move through the season maybe guys have to move here and there. You don't get as many reps at things as you normally do. For example, as you go through the season and you go back to August, you have training camp and then you have the season at a position, you kind of have a feel. Because as things come up, you'll never cover everything that may come up in a game in one week. You kind of have a carry over effect. So as guys move around and adjust, sometimes that experience isn't there. And certainly, those plays weren't the way they were designed. And that's why you make corrections and move forward and understand that it's all about getting better and working to improve so that we can win the next game." Why did you leave Saban? "Actually I went to pro football. When I went there (Michigan State), it was probably the biggest adjustment I had to make from a coaching standpoint. Just from terminology, philosophy, how he recruited, all of that relative to coming from Virginia Tech. So that really was a big growth in my career and when I went there I always wanted to get into pro football and try it out and see what it was like. So being around him, I was introduced to Bill Polian, so that's what led to the move to Indianapolis. And honestly when I moved there, the adjustment to going from Nick to the Colts was much easier than when I went from Virginia Tech to Michigan State. Meaning that I was able to get a lot of information and adjustments and ways to do things that you could carry over because of his detail and the way he prepares. I stay in touch with him and I have a lot of respect for what he's done. I always think the world of him because he gave me an opportunity."

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: Typically, a loss at this time of the year is devastating to national championship aspirations but Florida’s shocking 37-34 defeat at the hands of unranked LSU last Saturday night changed absolutely nothing for the Gators (8-2), who dropped only one spot to 7th in the latest College Football Playoff Poll released Tuesday night. Prior to the LSU loss, the Gators had to score a win over #1 Alabama (10-0) to make the playoff. That’s still the case. If the Gators win the Southeastern Conference title by scoring a most unexpected upset win over Alabama in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta Saturday night they’ll be in. There is no way the SEC champ will be on the outside looking in even with two losses. There is precedent, although not in the playoff era, for a two-loss SEC team to get a shot at the national championship. Back in 2007, LSU lost two games in the regular season and was 5th-ranked nationally going into the SEC Championship Game. A win over Tennessee for the league championship combined with losses by Missouri and West Virginia moved the Tigers up to #2. In the BCS National Championship Game, LSU whacked Ohio State, 38-24 to become the first two-loss national championship team in history. Since 2006 when Florida won the national championship, the SEC champ has either made the BCS Championship Game or the College Football Playoff. The SEC champ has won the national championship 10 times since 2006. The Gators are 17-point underdogs for Saturday’s game. While Florida hasn’t been particularly impressive since a 44-28 win over Georgia back on November 7, Alabama has been steamrolling everybody in its path. Alabama has scored at least 35 points in 23 straight games and other than 38 in game one of 2020 against Arkansas, the Crimson Tide has scored at least 40 in nine straight games. Defensively, since allowing 24 points in the first half to Georgia in game four, Alabama has allowed only 53 points since. Beating Alabama would seem highly improbable but it isn’t impossible. It’s not like Alabama has been putting away a murderer’s row of opponents since that win over Georgia and there is that game against Ole Miss in which the Crimson Tide allowed 48 points and 647 yards. Florida is certainly as good or better than Ole Miss on the offensive side of the ball so it’s not inconceivable the Gators could light up the Alabama defense, particularly if Kyle Trask plays like he did against Georgia (30-43, 474 yards, 4 TDPs), a game in which all-interplanetary tight end Kyle Pitts (36-641, 11 TDs) was injured on a targeting hit in the second quarter. It’s the Florida defense that is the big question mark coming into this game. The Gators have played well in stretches such as the final 3-1/2 quarters against Georgia but they have yet to put together a complete game. It will take a near perfect effort against Alabama, which scores early and often from any place on the field. If Florida’s defense plays better than it did against Georgia, the Gators could be in the hunt Saturday night. There is one other thing that could factor in Florida’s favor and that is Trask, who had his worst game of the season against LSU when he threw two interceptions including a pick six and fumbled which led to an LSU field goal. If Trask rebounds with the kind of effort he had against Georgia, then not only can he lead the Gators to an upset for the ages but could secure the Heisman Trophy. Trask (3,717 yards, 40 TDPs, 5 INTs) was considered the frontrunner until the LSU game, after which he was surpassed in nearly every straw poll by the Alabama duo of wide receiver Devonta Smith (83-1,327, 15 TDs) and quarterback Mac Jones (3,321 yards, 27 TDPs, 3 INTs). It could be an important game also for Pitts and all-purpose Kadarius Toney (62-831, 9 TDs). Pitts is almost a shoo-in for the Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end but a great game could distance him from the competition and vault him into the top seven or eight picks in the NFL Draft. Toney, who also averaged 8.59 per rushing attempt and 13.7 per punt return, could win the Paull Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player if he comes up big against Alabama. Once again, a Florida win is improbable but certainly within the realm of possibility. On paper Alabama scores a blowout win, but Florida was a 23-point favorite to beat LSU last weekend and we know how that turned out. The Gators don’t have to play a perfect game to beat Alabama, but they can’t afford big play mistakes and have to play with a consistency and intensity that has been missing much of the last five games. THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF POLL: (1) Alabama 10-0; (2) Notre Dame 10-0; (3) Clemson 9-1; (4) Ohio State 5-0; (5) Texas A&M 7-1; (6) Iowa State 8-3; (7) FLORIDA 8-2; (8) Georgia 7-2; (9) Cincinnati 8-0; (10) Oklahoma 7-2; (11) Indiana 6-1; (12) Coastal Carolina 11-0; (13) Southern Cal 5-0; (14) Northwestern 6-1; (15) North Carolina 8-3; (16) Iowa 6-2; (17) BYU 10-1; (18) Miami 8-2; (19) Louisiana 9-1; (20) Texas 6-3; (21) Oklahoma State 7-3; (22) North Carolina State 8-3; (23) Tulsa 601; (24) San Jose State 6-0; (25) Colorado 4-1 THE PLAYOFF PATH FOR THE TOP TEN TEAMS 1. ALABAMA (10-0): No matter what happens against Florida this weekend, bet the farm that Alabama is in, whether as the unbeaten SEC champ or the once-beaten wild card. 2. NOTRE DAME (10-0): The Irish can lose to Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game as long as it’s a squeaker. Lose in a big way and the Irish could find themselves on the outside looking in. 3. CLEMSON (9-1): Clemson has to feel good about its chances of beating Notre Dame in the ACC title game with Trevor Lawrence playing this time around, but a loss – even a close one – and the Tigers are out. 4. OHIO STATE (5-0): Win Saturday in the Big Ten (Plus Four) Championship game and the Buckeyes are in even though they’ve only played six games. Lose to 14th-ranked Northwestern and they can forget about it. 5. TEXAS A&M (7-1): The Aggies face Tennessee in a makeup game this weekend, a game they have to win. Lose and they’re out of the playoff picture. Win and they basically have two paths. (1) Alabama beats Florida, Notre Dame beats Clemson or Clemson hammers Notre Dame. (2) Florida beats Alabama, Clemson loses or clobbers Notre Dame, and Ohio State gets whacked by Northwestern. 6. IOWA STATE (8-2): The Cyclones have to win the Big 12 (Minus Two) Championship Game with Oklahoma, who they have already beaten once this year (Oklahoma is a hot team since then and is a 5.5-point favorite). That’s for starters. Then Iowa State has to hope (a) there is chaos among the top five teams and that would Ohio State and Texas A&M losing; and (b) Louisiana, which beat Iowa State back in September, doesn’t score a win over unbeaten and 12th-ranked Coastal Carolina in the Fun Belt Sun Belt Championship Game. The committee might not take a pleasant view of Iowa State getting in the playoff if a team that pulverized them by 17 earlier in the year beats the 12th-ranked team. (7) FLORIDA (8-2): It’s a pretty simple path. Beat Alabama and the Gators are in. Lose and it’s a third straight New Years Six game. (8) GEORGIA (7-2): Donkeys will fly first. (9) CINCINNATI (8-0): The Bearcats dropped a spot in the rankings because they didn’t play last week. If they lose to Tulsa in the American Athletic Conference title game all hope is gone. If they beat Tulsa they will still need to make a sizeable donation to Benny Hinn for a lifetime supply of polyester prayer cloths to get a miracle of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace proportions to get in. (10) OKLAHOMA (7-2): The Sooners will not only have to do an epic beatdown of Iowa State to win the Big 12 (Minus Two) but they will need chaos of Tower of Babel proportions. They’d have a better chance if they could call Ernest Aingley, who croaked back in the summer. KEYONTAE CONTINUES TO IMPROVE The news keeps getting better for Florida basketball star Keyontae Johnson, who collapsed on the court in Tallahassee last weekend. Airlifted to Shands on Monday where it was reported Johnson was lucid enough to follow simple verbal commands, there was significant improvement Tuesday with his condition listed as stable but not critical. A statement from his parents released by the University of Florida read, “Keyontae is in stable condition today, breathing on his own and speaking with us and with his doctors here at UF Health. He even FaceTimed the team! We feel so much love and support from everyone, and we’re beyond grateful for the care and attention that Keyontae has received throughout these past several days. "We will continue to share updates about Keyontae’s health and progress. We have seen how much people love and care for him. We hope people recognize that information that doesn’t come from us or the athletic department may not be accurate. We are working closely with Keyontae’s doctors and the UAA to provide information to everyone who cares so deeply about Keyontae and has been praying for him." The Gators were scheduled to play North Florida tonight at the O-Dome but that game was postponed in light of Johnson’s condition. The two teams have agreed to reschedule the game at a later date if at all possible. THE FOOTBALL EARLY SIGNING PERIOD BEGINS AT 7 A.M. TODAY The faxes will start trickling in at 7 a.m. today as Dan Mullen expects the Gators to land their third straight top ten recruiting class. As of Tuesday night, the Gators had the 7th-ranked class according to the recruiting gurus at ESPN, Rivals and 247Sports. Per Jason Higdon, the proprieter of 1standtenFlorida.com and the unquestioned final authority on University of Florida football recruiting, the Gators expect to sign the following players during the early signing period: Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, QB (6-3, 215, Cartersville, GA) Jalen Kitna, QB (6-4, 200, Burleson, TX) Daejon Reyolds, WR (6-2, 210, Loganville, GA Grayson) Marcus Burke, WR (6-3, 180, Jacksonville, FL Trinity Christian) Gage Wilcox, TE (6-4, 228, Tampa, FL Jefferson) Nick Elksnis, TE (6-6, 220, Jacksonville, FL Episcopal) Jake Slaughter, C (Ocala, FL Trinity Catholic) Javonte Gardner, OT (6-5, 295, Orlando, FL Jones) Yousef Mugharbil, OG (6-5, 304, Murphy, NC) Christopher Thomas JR, DT (6-6, 290, Fort Myers, FL Dunbar) Desmond Watson, NT (6-5, 380, Seffner, FL Armwood) Justus Boone, DE (6-5, 250, Sumter, SC) Tyreak Sapp, DE (6-3, 260, Fort Lauderdale, FL St. Thomas Aquinas) Diwun Black, LB (6-4, 225, Lakeland, FL/Perkinston, MS Gulf Coast CC) Chief Borders, LB (6-5, 242, Franklin, GA Heard County) Corey Collier, S (6-2, 170, Miami, FL Palmetto) Jason Marshall, CB (6-2, 180, Miami, FL Palmetto) Jordan Young, CB (6-0, 185, Tampa, FL Gaither) Donovan McMillon, S (6-2, 193, McMurray, PA Peters Township) Rocco Underwood, TE (6-4, 220, Lake Mary, FL) Dakota Mitchell, S (6-0, 185, Winter Park, FL) Of this group, Del Rio-Wilson, Kitna, Burke, Elksnis, Thomas, Watson, Boone, Black, Borders, Collier, Marshall, Young and McMillon are expected to early enroll in January. FINAL THOUGHTS, NOT ALL OF THEM PITHY: Georgia linebacker Jermaine Johnson, who started several games this year, has put his name in the NCAA transfer portal … Georgia could end up playing LSU or Ole Miss this weekend, either of which would offer significantly more competition than Vandy, which has virus problems and canceled … Trevor Matich of ESPN thinks Auburn will hire UAB head coach Bill Clark to replace Gus Malzahn. Auburn has hired the Parker Executive Search firm to assist with its coaching search … Things are heading south for Tennessee recruiting as running back Elijah Howard decommitted and committed to Virginia Tech and safety Edwin White also decommitted … Missouri (5-4) wants to play in a bowl game. The Tigers went 6-6 in 2019 and didn’t get one, but that was then and this is now ... Texas just announced that Tom Herman will be back for 2021 which makes a report on the Paul Finebaum Show by Charleston (SC) Post and Courier columnist Gene Sapakof a bit of a shocker. Sapakof says Herman contacted South Carolina AD Ray Tanner about the job in Columbia after Will Muschamp was fired. Go figure on that one.

By: Franz Beard, with Kassidy Hill UPDATED TUESDAY 3:50PM The most encouraging news yet on Florida Gators basketball star Keyontae Johnson was received on Tuesday when his parents, Nika and Marrecus Johnson, released a statement through the University Athletic Association. The statement read as follows: "Keyontae is in stable condition today, breathing on his own and speaking with us and with his doctors here at UF Health. He even FaceTimed the team! We feel so much love and support from everyone, and we’re beyond grateful for the care and attention that Keyontae has received throughout these past several days. "We will continue to share updates about Keyontae’s health and progress. We have seen how much people love and care for him. We hope people recognize that information that doesn’t come from us or the athletic department may not be accurate. We are working closely with Keyontae’s doctors and the UAA to provide information to everyone who cares so deeply about Keyontae and has been praying for him." From Monday: The University of Florida has issued a statement regarding the health and condition of Keyontae Johnson. "Keyontae Johnson has been successfully transferred as planned from Tallahassee Memorial to UF Health in Gainesville by ShandsCair. He continues in critical but stable condition, is following simple commands and undergoing further tests." Earlier Monday afternoon, USAToday reported that Keyontae's grandfather, Larry DeJarnett, had said Keyontae had been placed in a medically induced coma and that doctors planned to bring him out of the coma on Monday afternoon. From Saturday: The Florida Gators (3-1) lost a basketball game to 20th-ranked Florida State (3-0) in Tallahassee Saturday. That the Gators lost and the final score was almost inconsequential because following a time out called by the Seminoles with 16:18 remaining in the first half, Keyontae Johnson collapsed on the court. Taken immediately to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Johnson was described in critical but stable condition. 3:20 p.m. update: Johnson remains in critical but stable condition and will remain overnight at Tallahassee Memorial. Head coach Mike White will remain at the hospital with Johnson. With Johnson in the game, the Gators were off to an 11-3 lead and looking like a team ready to end FSU's streak of 40-plus games without a loss to a non-Atlantic Coast Conference team. It was Johnson's dunk off an alley-oop that put the Gators ahead 11-3 but after the team huddle, he collapsed while heading back on the court. The Gators were stunned and many players in tears as head coach Mike White gathered them together for a prayer. They weren't the same team from that point on. Whereas the Gators did hold their own briefly, long enough to lead 23-14 on a Tyree Appleby 3-pointer with 8:49 to go in the half, this was not the same team with Johnson out of the game. FSU went on a 17-0 run from that point, taking a 31-23 lead before Scottie Lewis converted a 3-point play the old fashioned way with 4:18 left before intermission to stop the bleeding. Florida was able to close the FSU lead to 36-33 on a Noah Locke 3-ball with 1:56 to go in the half but that was as close as the Gators came the rest of the game. FSU closed out the half on a 9-2 run for a 45-35 lead. The Gators struggled against the FSU pressure throughout the second half, falling behind by as many as 18 points (59-41) before they mounted a charge in the final 10 minutes of the game to make it respectable. A dunk by Colin Castleton with 46 seconds left closed the gap to 81-71, as close as Florida came since the start of the half. Lewis led the Gators with 19 points, four rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and two steals while Tre Mann finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and a steal. Next up for the Gators is North Florida at the O-Dome Wednesday night.

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: Go back to November 7 when Georgia needed only seven plays and actual time of possession of 2:26 on its first two possessions to hang 14 points on the Gators. Florida, it seemed, was one punch away from going down for the count but what we discovered in the final 56 minutes of football is this Gator team is, if nothing else, resilient. They counter-punched their way out of the corner and then spent the rest of the game bludgeoning the confidence out of the Bulldogs. On that day in Jacksonville, Florida played its best game of the season. Despite giving up 136 yards and two touchdowns on those first two Georgia possessions, the Gators dominated the rest of the way on offense, defense and special teams. Florida outplayed Georgia on the field and Dan Mullen and staff completely, overwhelmingly outcoached Kirby Smart and his assistants. The final score was 44-28 but don’t be fooled by the 16-point margin. It wasn’t that close. Georgia got a second quarter TD on a pick six and then an offensive touchdown late in the third quarter well after the game had been decided. This was an epic beatdown. Despite losing Kyle Pitts on a second quarter targeting call that you’ll have a hard time convincing Florida fans wasn’t a deliberate (and successful) attempt to take him out of the game, Kyle Trask had a rather Heisman-worthy game in which he completed 30-43 passes for 474 yards and four touchdowns to four different receivers. That Georgia defense, which many had claimed was the nation’s best, was shredded for 571 yards. Florida averaged 7.1 yards per offensive snap. That same defense, so maligned by Ole Miss in game one and Texas A&M in game three, found its sea legs after the second Georgia score and held the Poodles to 146 yards the rest of the way. Once past those first two series, the Florida defense completely dominated the action. Georgia couldn’t run the ball and the passing game was completely ineffective. Florida sacked the Georgia quarterbacks three times and picked off three passes. As bad as it was, it could have been worse. Much, much worse. It’s worth bringing up that Georgia game for a couple of reasons. First, the Gators are going to be facing an Alabama team that is capable of scoring bunches of points in a hurry. When Alabama hits a couple of big plays, it’s almost as if a feeding frenzy has begun that forces opponents to wilt under the enormous pressure. Some of it, for sure, is psychological. You can play Alabama perfectly five straight plays but on the sixth someone will bust loose for 50 or more yards and it doesn’t seem there is anything that can be done to stop it. Some of it has to do with Alabama’s abundance of superior athletes. Just like every season it seems, there is no shortage of talent that will someday play for pay on Sundays in Tuscaloosa. That brings us to the second point. If the Gators get slapped silly for a couple of big plays early on by Alabama Saturday night in Atlanta in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, will they have the resilience to bounce back as they did against Georgia? And if it is the Gators who strike for a couple of quick touchdowns for an early lead what will they do if Alabama counters with a big play? Will they have it in them to gather themselves psychologically, put the big play behind them and then play practically error-free the rest of the way as they did against Georgia? Perhaps as much or more than any team in college football, Florida has the capability of matching Alabama touchdown for touchdown. Trask has to be on his game as he was against Georgia. Pitts not only has to create mismatches in the secondary but force so much attention that it opens things up for the other receivers. Kadarius Toney needs to be as elusive as he’s ever been. Trevon Grimes, Jacob Copeland and Justin Shorter can’t have alligator arms going across the middle because those Alabama DBs will strike them. Can the UF offensive line protect again? They gave up four sacks and eight pressures against LSU but prior to that game they had allowed only 10 in nine games. If Alabama gets to Trask four times Saturday night there is every good chance the Gators will wind up on the short end of a big score. Then there is the defense. Alabama has scored 40 or more points in nine straight games, 35 or more 23 in a row. Nobody has stopped the Alabama offense in two years and maybe nobody can stop them completely, but can the Gators force a few punts? Can they get pressure off the edge and make life uncomfortable for Mac Jones so he doesn’t have time to find Devonta Smith? Can they keep Najee Harris to 4.0 yards per carry or less? That’s a tall order for a Florida defense that hasn’t played consistently well all season. Nobody else has held Alabama down. How can the Gators do it? Florida wasn’t perfect against Georgia but the Gators didn’t need to be. They were simply good far more often than not. Against Alabama, it might take something closer to perfect. It will at least take Florida’s best game since Georgia to hang with the Crimson Tide and even that might not be enough. To win will take that much more. BETTER NEWS FOR KEYONTAE JOHNSON We still haven’t any answers for why Keyontae Johnson collapsed on the floor of the Tucker Center in Tallahassee Saturday morning, but at least he’s back in Gainesville now, being treated at Shands. There was a USA Today report quoting his grandfather that Keyontae had been placed in a medically induced coma and was expected to be brought out of the coma Monday afternoon. The two-sentence update offered by the University of Florida acknowledged that Johnson had been air lifted back to Gainesville. Obviously, he wasn’t in a coma because the update said he was responding to simple instructions. Keyontae is still reported in critical condition but the fact he was responding Monday was a sign that there is at least a measure of improvement. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers. LET’S GO COACH SEARCHIN’ NOW, EVERYBODY’S LEARNIN’ HOW … Vanderbilt has hired Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea, who is a former Vandy player (last season was 2002). He’s done a great job at Notre Dame this year but he’s coming into a league where all the trends are toward offense. The only real success Vanderbilt has had in decades was when James Franklin was the head coach from (2011-13). Franklin is an offensive guy who was the OC at Maryland prior to coming to Vanderbilt. In each of his final two seasons at Vandy the Commodores averaged more than 30 points a game. He was replaced by Derek Mason, who was a defensive coordinator at Stanford. In five of Mason’s seven seasons the Commodores didn’t even average 20 per game. The trend in college football is all on the offensive side of the ball. Hiring a defensive coordinator, even if he has been successful at Notre Dame and even if he played at Vandy, seems a longshot. How is Clark Lea going to stop the Alabama passing game with the kind of athletes he can recruit at Vanderbilt? Sunday, Auburn fired Gus Malzahn, who will have to make ends meet for the foreseeable future on $21.7 million that he’ll get from his buyout. Auburn wants to compete with Alabama, which is why Gus was fired even though he’s the only coach in the SEC with multiple wins (3) over Nick Saban. This is why the report coming out of Al.com that Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele has emerged as the leading candidate to replace the Gus Bus seems a bit bizarre. Steele has been a fine defensive coordinator at Auburn. In his past, however, Nick Saban demoted him as DC after the 2007 season and Dabo Swinney fired him at Clemson after his defense gave up 70 big ones to West Virginia in the 2012 Orange Bowl. As a head coach at Baylor, Steele was 9-36. This does not seem like the splash hire Auburn needs if it intends to level the playing field with Saban in the state of Alabama. Maybe the reason Steele has emerged as the leading candidate is because Hugh Freeze said thankee but no thankee and elected to stay at Liberty. Freeze recently signed an extension at Liberty through 2005 that will take his salary to $4 million. And, Liberty is the place that gave him a chance to rehab his image, to the point where now everybody in the world is willing to overlook past sins to hire him. Another coach who was said to be high on the Auburn list was Oregon’s Mario Cristobal. He’s working on a contract extension and raise. He has an $8 million buyout but if it wasn’t a problem for Auburn fire Gus with his $21.7 million buyout then $8 million shouldn’t be a problem. And what about Gus? Since Auburn will be paying him out the wazzoo ($10.85 million is due within 29 days … the clock is ticking) and money is not going to be an object, expect Gus to land a head coaching job somewhere. Would he take on the ultimate rebuild of Louisiana-Monroe? There is enormous talent in the area. It’s the Fun Belt Sun Belt, which showed this year it can go toe-to-toe with the big boys … okay the Big 12 (3-0). Arizona is open and there seems some sentiment for Rick Neuheisel, who would be a strange choice. There is an enormous gap between Arizona and the other five teams in the Pac-12 South. A splash hire is a necessity but there aren’t a lot of head coaches on the West Coast looking to make a move. As for assistants, other than Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who played collegiately at BYU, coached for Pete Carroll at Southern Cal and was once the head coach at Washington and Southern Cal, there isn’t one out there who really stands out. Pay close attention to Virginia Tech today. Athletic director Whit Babcock has called a press conference to talk about the state of the football program. He’s said that HBC Justin Fuente’s job is not in jeopardy, but at midnight Monday, Fuente’s buyout dropped to $2.5 million. There are more than a few Virginia Tech boosters and alums who are hoping that Babcock will come to the press conference to announce it’s time to make a change. SOME SEC STUFF Vanderbilt’s loss to Tennessee concluded the first winless season in school history. Due to Covid-19 issues Vandy’s final regular season game with Georgia (7-2) has been postponed. The cancellation also eliminates a chance for Sarah Fuller to extend her extra point streak to 3-3 after her 2-2 performance against Tennessee. One name that might be heard during Kentucky’s search for an offensive coordinator to replace the fired Eddie Gran is Garrett Riley, the SMU offensive coordinator and younger brother of Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley. Fifth-ranked Texas A&M (7-1) is a 14-point favorite to beat Tennessee in Knoxville Saturday ... Missouri (5-4) is surprisingly only a 2-point favorite to beat Mississippi State (2-7) on the road in Starkville … Ole Miss is a 1.5-point road dog at LSU. A COUPLE OF PITHY THOUGHTS: Isn’t it amazing that if the three non-championship games are played Saturday, the Southeastern Conference will have played 68 of the 70 games it scheduled. Meanwhile the Big Ten (Plus Four) had to amend the rules so 5-0 Ohio State could play in its league championship game. Over in the Pac-12, Oregon (3-2) is replacing Washington in the league championship game because Washington’s entire offensive line – starters and backups – is in quarantine … SMU and Texas-San Antonio won’t be playing in the Frisco Bowl this weekend because of Covid-19. I know you’re heartbroken that you won’t get to see that clash of titans.

Despite an excrutiating loss, Kadarius Toney was brilliant. (SEC Photo) There was an old woman who lived in one. Nikita Khrushchev banged on the table with one at the Cuban Missile Crisis talks. Cinderella lost hers fleeing the prince’s castle at midnight. Steve Spurrier called out FSU for giving them away being free. But in my lifetime of covering college football, nobody has created more controversy with a shoe than Marco Wilson. In your life, as Verne would say, you never saw the outcome of a bigger SEC football game decided by a shoe, unless it was the special-made square-toed one on the foot of Spurrier when he kicked the winning field goal against Auburn -- which probably won him the Heisman Trophy. Ironically, the shoe that Marco Wilson threw in frustration and anger Saturday night in the last few minutes of what will likely be his final appearance at The Swamp may have cost Kyle Trask his shot at a Heisman that only a few weeks ago looked to be his -- and maybe even his statue. Wilson’s fit of anger and stupidity eliminated Florida’s chances for a playoff shot. (Or maybe not – see “Alabama” reference later on.) In the most unthinkable of scenarios, the redshirt defensive back let his anger and pride get the best of him as he reached for the shoe of LSU tight end Kole Taylor and flung it South toward oblivion. The penalty wiped out the third down stop of the Gator defense – one of their best and most critical of the year – allowing LSU another clock-milking set of downs. Game, set, match and maybe the season. And perhaps even a Heisman and a statue. But there was another shoe that would play a part in this drama. Now Marco Wilson is the poster-child for failure of the 2020 Florida Gators. And we are left to wonder, “What was he thinking?” And, of course, the obvious response of “HE WASN’T!” As much as we place the blame for the loss on Wilson, who was once considered a crafty and versatile player from American Heritage High in Fort Lauderdale and has been the frequent target of derision from fans for what seems like an eternity of blown coverages and missed tackles, several other teammates played a big part as accomplices. Not the least of which was the Heisman contender Trask, who had three turnovers (one not his fault) and missed some open targets in a miserable night of red zone trips without the injured TE marvel Kyle Pitts. The difference being that their mistakes were not selfish ones made out of anger and temporary insanity. The football that later came off the shoe of reliable Evan McPherson was – in golf parlance – one ball outside left as it disappeared into the night of mysterious fog, along with the hopes, dreams and expectations of all Gators as the scoreboard lights flickered 0:00. LSU 37, Florida 34. Now Marco Wilson is the poster-child for failure of the 2020 Florida Gators. And we are left to wonder, “What was he thinking?” And, of course, the obvious response of “HE WASN’T!” Plus the epithets that followed as fans probably threw their pillows and plastic cups and other nearby objects at their TV screens in their ultimate fit of anger, frustration and dejection. This was one of the most embarrassing and excruciating losses in Gator football history and will go down with Doug Dickey’s “Fourth and Dumb” and Ray Graves’ “Go For Two – Again and Again” in the 1966 Sugar Bowl as the stupidest decisions known to Gator mankind. Perhaps it was by the grace of God that Dan Mullen says he didn’t see it “but I guess it was a penalty,” as he explained in his post-game presser. But he chose not to blame the loss on that play and in that restraint took semi-blame for the offense’s red zone impotence. (Later for the SEC Championship press conference, Mullen was asked "Have you had a chance to speak with Marco Wilson, how he's doing after the last 24 hours?" And he commented: "I talked to him. We spent some time with him last night after the game. Obviously I know he's disappointed. I mean, it's a shame. I went back to watch the play. He made the tackle. I mean, part of the football move, the kid's shoe was in his hand. He kind of threw it, jumped and celebrated with his teammates. It's pretty unfortunate in that situation. I don't think there was any intent to taunt. It wasn't like he was throwing it at their sidelines, doing any of that. It was a huge play, possibly a game-winning play. Threw a shoe, went to celebrate with his teammates. Unfortunately it was a penalty. "I think that stuff, really an unfortunate situation and a mistake instead of somebody really trying to disrespect the game or taunt the opponent or anything of that nature. You know what I mean? "Just really unfortunate it happened. But I know for him, I think he'll look at things and realize, Hey, that's certainly not the reason that we lost the game. There's many, many factors that went into that. That's just an unfortunate one in that situation. It was a key moment in the game.") These are the times when the vigilantes amongst us want blood, whether by expulsion, suspension or beheading. You can’t blame them, because their pain is too great. We’re all looking for answers. So as I turned on my computer to write this Sunday morning, I also flipped my phone on to Facebook livestream to listen to my friend and pastor Mark Cummins, himself a former football coach. Oddly enough he was showing a video to his Church of Hope congregation of – what else? – Marco Wilson tossing the shoe of Kole Taylor. The message was about the destruction caused by choices made in anger. It hit close to home. Once I warned a close friend and colleague that unless he learned to control his anger it was going to cost him his job, his wife and his relationship with his kids. Sadly, it did, and he sits alone unable to even see his only grandchild. And it breaks my heart. It made me think how easily our anger – my anger – is triggered over this Pandemic and isolation. There but for the grace of God, go I. Dr. Cummins went on to say that anger usually results from feeling you were deprived of something. “Anger is not getting my way ... what I think is owed me,” he said. And then he added, “Anger is one letter away from danger!” He also went on to say that all anger is not bad and can be channeled into worthy causes. We realize it won’t matter as much when Alabama beats the Gators 62-24 next Saturday and Mac Jones throws five TD passes to Donta Smith to win the Heisman, with Najee Harris running for three more, as I’m sure most Gator fans are thinking right now. We’ve seen this movie before, starring Nebraska at the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. Of course, we realize some of Marco's spontaneous behavior was out of jubilation and frustration as well as anger, but the officials must have thought there was some defiance and taunting it. What will happen to Marco Wilson? He was planning to come out in the NFL draft, but what now? Can he be forgiven if he decides to stay or is he tailor-made for the transfer portal? One lousy decision made out of anger could destroy his career. My wife Joni, who by osmosis has watched hundreds of football games in our house, had this thought: “What would have happened if he had picked up that shoe and handed it back to the LSU player?” What indeed. Unfortunately, he’ll never get a chance to do that or make things right. The question is, in the meantime what will we and all the others learn from that mistake?

A few thoughts to jump start your Monday morning: At some point decisions will have to be made. In three years on the job, Dan Mullen is 29-7 as Florida’s head ball coach. In the Southeastern Conference, only Alabama (35-3) and Georgia (30-8) have won more games. Alabama you would classify as great. Georgia is always great in the preseason expectations but flubs along the way. Near national titles, near greatness. Near, near, near but never great. That’s Georgia since Herschel departed after the 1982 season. As for Florida under Dan Mullen the Gators are perpetually really good. After eight years spent like the lost ball in the tall grass, Mullen has brought the Gators back to a very respectful position. The Gators are good. Very good in fact, but they aren’t great. Not yet anyway. To get to where the Florida program is right now – perpetually good – Mullen has had to spend far too much time doing his best impersonations of Ernest Aingley, Oral Roberts and Benny Hinn. Genuine polyester prayer cloths and shouts of “Be healed!” can only do so much to repair all the damage done by the previous two coaches. One of them knew how to recruit and coach up a defense, but never took his thumb off the offense. I have no idea where the other one was coming from. Maybe his dog Clarabelle could give us some insight. Damage was done and it has taken a Herculean effort by Mullen and his staff to repair the damage. This is a far different scenario than the one Steve Spurrier inherited from Galen Hall or the one that Urban Meyer inherited from Ron Zook. Neither Spurrier nor Meyer inherited players who had been through a losing season. Spurrier inherited a ready-made defense, tremendous offensive linemen and a QB in Shane Matthews who simply needed a chance. Of the 22 starters on the 2006 national championship team coached by Meyer, 20 were recruited to UF by Zooker. Gator fans want to be Alabama but Nick Saban has won five national championships since 2009 and it is going to take time to get the Florida program to a national championship level. And, will anyone ever duplicate what Saban has done? The only coach who ever came close to that was Bear Bryant. Gator fans want to be better than Georgia. Beating Georgia this year was a big step in the right direction but look at the foundation Kirby Smart inherited compared to the one inherited by Mullen. Kirby took over the players that went 8-5 the year before and were five points from 11-2. Mullen inherited a 4-7 team that had been rocked by a scandal involving players fraudulently using a credit card and a coach who never quite understood that it’s legal and actually affordable to get your teeth whitened when you’re knocking down $4 million a year. Slowly – slower than he wants – Mullen is inching Florida up the recruiting ladder. Alabama and Georgia have tremendous momentum and too often they dip into Florida as do, Clemson, Ohio State and Michigan. This might sound like a controversial notion to some, but Florida’s recruiting will improve when the programs and Florida State and Miami start winning at a high level once again. Go back to the 1990s. When Florida, Florida State and Miami were all winning there wasn’t the talent drain that you’re seeing today. Kids wanted to stay in state because everyone knew championship road went through Gainesville, Tallahassee and Miami. Nowadays the road to a national championship travels through Tuscaloosa and Clemson, SC. I believe very strongly that Mullen will not settle for the perpetually good mode he has Florida in right now, but to take the next step to go from perpetually good to perpetually great will require some changes. I understand staff loyalty but look at the constant flux on the Alabama staff. Since he took over in 2007, Nick Saban has had eight different offensive coordinators and five different defensive coordinators. It seems with every change Bama gets better. Mullen has surrounded himself with coaches he likes and trusts, but to get where he wants to go he is going to have to do some serious evaluations of his staff and probably make some changes. I understand the frustration that a lot of fans feel. They think Mullen should fire Todd Grantham today but it’s far more complicated than just letting one coach go and hiring someone new. Your staff has to mesh and that’s not easy. From Lou Holtz, Urban Meyer learned that you always have a short list of coaches whose careers you follow. Meyer made a science of studying which coaches were great teachers, which ones were great recruiters, which ones were great in the booth on game day and which ones were like the priest in the confession booth who players trusted with their problems. He knew how to plug in someone who was the right fit. Take a look at the 2006 national championship staff. He had Mullen as his offensive coordinator, Hevesy and Steve Addazio coaching the O-line, Billy Gonzales coaching the wide receivers and Stan Drayton the running backs. Over on defense he had Greg Mattison coaching the D-line and serving as co-coordinator along with Charlie Strong, who coached linebackers. In the secondary he had Chuck Heater with the corners and Doc Holliday with the safeties. Mullen was a great tactician and QB coach. Addazio was a terrific O-line recruiter and the energy guy who was called “Vitamin A” by the team. Hev preached toughness. Billy G turned Dallas Baker into a consistent go-to receiver. Drayton was the guy players on the offensive side of the ball confessed their problems to. Mattison was like a second dad to the kids on defense. Strong was a tactician who could recruit. Heater didn’t do that much recruiting but he was a tactical genius in the secondary who turned Ryan Smith and Reggie Nelson into All-Americans. Doc might be as good a recruiter as there has ever been at UF. That is one of the great staffs of the past 30 or so years. Going from really good to always great might be painful for Mullen because he may have to tell a friend good-bye for the good of the program. Will he find the balance that completes a staff and gives what is needed to teach, recruit, energize and come up with winning tactical plans? Those are questions that will have to be answered, the sooner the better. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25 POLL: (1) Alabama 10-0; (2) Notre Dame 10-0; (3) Ohio State 5-0; (4) Clemson 9-1; (5) Texas A&M 7-1; (6) Cincinnati 8-0; (7) Indiana 6-1; (8) Iowa State 8-2; (9) Coastal Carolina 11-0; (10) Georgia 7-2; (11) FLORIDA 8-2; (12) Oklahoma 7-2; (13) Southern Cal 5-0; (14) BYU 10-1; (15) Northwestern 6-1; (16) North Carolina 8-3; (17) Louisiana 9-1; (18) Iowa 6-2; (19) Miami 8-2; (20) Tulsa 6-1; (21) Texas 6-3; (22) Liberty 9-1; (23) Buffalo 5-0; (24) North Carolina State 8-3; (25) San Jose State THE COACHES TOP 25 POLL: (1) Alabama 10-0; (2) Notre Dame 10-0; (3) Clemson 9-1; (4) Ohio State 5-0; (5) Texas A&M 7-1; (6) Cincinnati 8-0; (7) Indiana 6-1; (8) Iowa State 8-2; (9) Georgia 7-2; (10) Oklahoma 7-2; (11) Coastal Carolina 11-0; (13) Southern Cal 5-0; (14) Northwestern 6-1; (15) North Carolina 8-3; (16) BYU 10-1; (17) Iowa 6-2; (18) Louisiana 9-1; (19) Miami 8-2; (20) Tulsa 6-1; (21) Liberty 9-1; (22) Oklahoma State 7-3; (23) North Carolina State 8-3; (24) Texas 6-3; (25) San Jose State 6-0 NOTHING NEW ON KEYONTAE There is very little new in the way of an update on Keyontae Johnson. He remains in Tallahassee Memorial Hospital in critical but stable condition. The University of Florida flew his parents in from their home in Norfolk and head coach Mike White has remained in Tallahassee as well. There has been much speculation what caused his collapse on the floor of the Tucker Center where the Gators were playing Florida State, but nothing concrete in the way of news. With Johnson in the lineup, the Gators were off to a rousing start against Florida State, but his collapse not only took Florida’s best player out of the lineup but took a serious emotional toll on the team as well. The next couple of days will require serious regrouping both to find a lineup that can function well but emotionally as well. Although a relatively quiet guy, Johnson is the most respected player on the Florida team and the unquestioned team leader. Finding someone to fill those voids is going to be a serious challenge for White. This might be the time for Anthony Duruji to step up his game and try to fill Johnson’s shoes. Although he hasn’t done much in Florida’s first four games, Duruji is one of the team’s best athletes. He’s 6-7, 220 and has a reported 48-inch vertical. At Louisiana Tech in the 2018-19 season he averaged more than 12 points and seven rebounds per game. The Gators (3-1) are scheduled to play North Florida (1-7) Wednesday night at the O-Dome and Florida Atlantic (4-2) next Saturday. GUS BUS JOINS THE EXTINCT SPECIES LIST If only they had waited 48 hours at Arkansas State they could have hired native son Gus Malzahn for a second tour of duty as their head coach. Arky State hired former Tennessee coach Butch Jones only a day before Auburn took Gus Malzahn off life support and put him on the Extinct Species List. For Butch, it was time for gainful employment since his Tennessee buyout money ends in another month or so and you can’t go on forever living on the $35,000 he makes in Alabama at St. Nick’s Home for Wayward Coaches. Former coach Blake Anderson, now the head coach at Utah State, was making $825,000 a year. Gus Malzahn was the head coach at Arkansas State in 2012 when he led the Red Wolves to a 9-3 record. Malzahn’s predecessor at Arky State was Hugh Freeze, rumored to be his successor at Auburn. Gus will have to squeeze by on a $21.75 million buyout with half of that due within 30 days and the other half due over the next 12 months. There is no mitigation clause. Auburn is on the hook for the full amount. Auburn is on the hook for $8.3 million in buyouts of assistant coaches in the event none of them are retained by the new head coach. Defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, who has been named interim head coach, is owed $5 million in buyout money if he isn’t retained. If Freeze elects to stay at Liberty (entirely possible) Auburn is thought to be taking a long look at Oregon coach Mario Cristobal, who is being upgraded from his $2.5 million per year salary, and Coastal Carolina’s Jamey Chadwell, although Coastal is working with Chadwell on a serious contract extension and salary upgrade. Chadwell is making $375,000. One other name to watch is Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. Other coaching news: Illinois fired Lovie Smith, who was 17-39 in five seasons. Thought to be candidates for the job are Army’s Jeff Monken, Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell, former Wisconsin and Arkansas coach Bret Bielema and Buffalo coach Lance Leipold ... Monken is also being mentioned as a serious candidate for the opening at Vanderbilt … Arizona fired Kevin Sumlin. Thought to be candidates for that job are Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, Southern Cal offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, former UCLA, Washington and Colorado head coach Rick Neuheisel and UCF head coach Josh Heupel. A COUPLE OF PITHY THOUGHTS ON A MONDAY MORNING: McKenzie Milton, who nearly lost his leg after an horrendous knee injury suffered against USF in 2018, is cleared to play football and will transfer to Florida State. Given that the sieve of an offensive line at FSU has allowed 29 sacks this year, Milton might want to be in his feets don’t fail me now mode from the moment he steps on campus … Duke and Kentucky have begun the basketball season a collective 3-6. For some reason, the mere thought of them doing poorly out of the gate has me smiling.

Southeastern Conference Football Championship Game: Florida vs Alabama Sunday, December 13, 2020 Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium Dan Mullen Florida Gators CHUCK DUNLAP: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to SEC championship week. This is Chuck Dunlap with the SEC, who will moderate this call. Each coach will be with us for 20 minutes. We'll begin with Dan Mullen with the Eastern Division champion Florida Gators. Coach, congratulations. Welcome to SEC championship game week. If you could start us off with some general thoughts as you prepare to take on Alabama in the championship game on Saturday. DAN MULLEN: Well, I know we're excited for this. When you start off every year, your goal is to win the East, have an opportunity to come play in this game. I mean, there's no bigger championship game than the SEC championship game. I know for a lot of our guys, it will be their first opportunity to play in the game. They're excited to go see the atmosphere, have the opportunity to win the conference championship Saturday. CHUCK DUNLAP: We'll take questions for Coach Mullen. Q. Now that you've had a chance to dig in a little bit on Alabama, a few thoughts maybe what really jumps out. DAN MULLEN: Obviously they got talent at every position all over the field. Not a lot of weaknesses in any aspect of their game. Obviously they can put up a lot of points offensively. They can do it through the running game, they can do it through the short passing game with getting the ball to their athletes in space, letting them go make big plays, or they can do it with shots deep down the field. They do a great job protecting the quarterback, and let him take those deep shots down the field. Defensively solid up front at the linebacker level and on the back end. Just great athletes all the way around. There's a reason they're the No. 1 team in the country. You see it on film, how they play, how they execute. Q. I'm sure you could hold a symposium on this. If you had to pick one quality in Nick Saban-coached teams, a common thread, what would it be? DAN MULLEN: Talent. They got a lot of talent. Q. You've certainly been asked plenty about your guy. What do you see when you look at Mac Jones? DAN MULLEN: He's a guy that has had a great year. Very similar to Kyle. Does a great job managing their offense, distributing the ball to all the different play-makers, getting them in the right plays at the right time, taking what the defense gives him. He's had a great season. Q. Can I ask you about how you overcome any sort of I guess, for lack of a better phrase, awe factor when you're facing Alabama? They've been there so often. All your guys know what Alabama is. DAN MULLEN: Well, I think guys come to Florida, our guys think they're pretty good players, too. I think they're going to be excited for this opportunity to go compete. Our guys are competitors. They love playing the big games. I think they're going to be excited for this opportunity. Q. Obviously you're a great offensive mind. What do you see in Steve Sarkisian, what he's brought to this Alabama offense? DAN MULLEN: I think he does a good job of utilizing his personnel. Offensively one of the big things you want to be able to do is utilize your personnel, make sure you're putting guys in position to make plays, utilize your play-makers to take advantage of opportunities, opportunities to get them one-on-one. I think he does a great job with that, of utilizing all the different personnel, whether it's their wideouts, and just getting the ball. Like I said, getting the ball underneath or deep down the field, mixing the tight ends in to make sure you respect them. Obviously utilizing the great offensive line, their backs in the running game. I think he does a really good job of utilizing his personnel. Q. How do you think your team is going to respond coming off the game you had last night against LSU? DAN MULLEN: I mean, hey, that was last night's game. We get the opportunity to go compete for a championship. I think our guys are going to be excited to go play in this game. I expect us to have a great week of practice, have a lot of energy, have a lot of excitement. This is what you work for: the opportunity to go play in this game. I don't know how much of an effect that will have on them. Q. Could you update us to the extent that you can on your injury situation, particularly Kyle Pitts? DAN MULLEN: Yeah, I mean, he didn't practice last week. We'll see how it goes. We don't practice till tomorrow. But talking to our trainers, they expect him to be cleared to play this week. We'll see. Banged-up team, which that happens this time of year. But in meeting with the trainers, they feel there's a good chance we could get some guys back on Saturday. The opportunity for Shawn Davis to come back, Jeremiah Moon to come back. Let me think. Nay'Quan Wright should be back for us. We still expect to be without David Reese. Ty'Ron Hopper was out last game. We expect to have him back. Marlon Dunlap got banged up last week. We expect to have him back this week, as well. Q. I know this has been kind of an awkward year, to say the least. The way your team responded after that first loss against Texas A&M, I realize it was a long layoff, could you take anything away from that experience that helped you into the SEC championship? DAN MULLEN: Well, I think our guys just take in the adversity we've faced throughout the entire year. I mean, it's been a long year, playing a tough schedule. We had the layoff in the middle of it. I mean, having to deal with reduced numbers because of injuries, being down a bunch at different times. To be honest with you, like I said, our guys have responded well to all the different adversities all year long. Hopefully coming off that loss yesterday we'll be able to look at some things, get some things cleaned up, look at the things we did well, things we did poorly, opportunities we missed during the course of that game, and come out there and play better next week. Q. What impresses you most about the Alabama defense? DAN MULLEN: Like I said, they got talent on every level. They've got their big, physical, athletic defensive line. Their linebackers can cover and run sideline to sideline to make plays. They have play-makers on the back end. They do a good job. They know the system. They've got a very veteran group, it looks like. So it will be a good challenge. Q. Obviously this week coming off a loss, a lot of people are going to be looking at Alabama as the favorite in this game. How do you feel like your guys are going to take the underdog role, something they haven't been in this season? DAN MULLEN: I don't think they pay attention to that stuff, whether we're the favorite or the underdog. They're looking at a team, knowing we have to play an excellent football team in Alabama, knowing they're going to have to come out, and play a great game. This time of year is when you want to play your absolute best football. I know they're going to be excited to do that. Q. Obviously you talked about how this team responded to the first loss. You were part of the last team that won an SEC championship at Florida in 2008. Everyone from that team talks about that practice after the Ole Miss game, that was one of the best week of practices ever had at Florida. What was special about that week and what do your guys have to do to have a week like that? DAN MULLEN: Well, I mean, that was a really good football team. I think there are a lot of guys, they had a goal of going undefeated that year. They were really disappointed when that happened. They felt like they lost to a team that was better than them. That was a spirited, spirited week of practice. That was early in the season. I mean, you're a little bit fresher, a little bit healthier at that time of year to have those types of practices. But, you know, I think the guys came out, there was great intensity, there was a great sense of purpose, of knowing that, hey, when you lose that game, it's a long, long road back that early in the season. Kind of similar to us losing the Texas A&M game earlier this year. We responded to that with kind of a week off. Our guys responded well to that A&M game. Now it will be interesting to see how we respond to this one with the opportunity this week to play a championship game and play in the SEC championship. Q. Obviously you weren't thrilled with the red zone production last night on offense. After reviewing it, what was holding the unit back? DAN MULLEN: There's a couple things. We made a couple of critical errors, some missed reads by the quarterback on a couple of key plays down there were one. I mean, we went for it on a fourth and goal from the one, didn't get great movement. With a different play, combination of things, a fluke play that was an interception that they decided to make the call stand on kind of a fluke play, so... I don't think there was one thing that when you go back and look at it in that game, you're not saying, Here is the one thing. There's a combination of different things. Q. What jumps out to you, impresses you the most about DeVonta Smith? DAN MULLEN: Obviously he's got electric, scheme-breaking speed. He's a great route runner. He's a very, very polished football player with running his routes, the discipline of his routes. Then he has hands that he makes some absolutely spectacular catches. I think a pretty good combination. That makes him a very dangerous player out there on the field. Q. A lot of people are looking at this game as a matchup of two guys who could potentially be Heisman finalists. For Kyle in particular, the type of season that he's had, do you feel like he's brought back the standard of what people expect should happen at the quarterback position for Florida? DAN MULLEN: Sure, I think people have pretty high standards. I have high standards for our quarterback position. We're an offense that is very quarterback-based in that of what we put on them, what we ask the quarterback to do, very much a pro style offense in that way of what we ask the quarterback to do within our system. So I think he's had a great year, and I know that certainly it excites Florida fans. The one thing you know about Gator fans, they love points and explosive offenses. I know they've enjoyed the points that we've put up this year. Q. Have you had a chance to speak with Marco Wilson, how he's doing after the last 24 hours? DAN MULLEN: I talked to him. We spent some time with him last night after the game. Obviously I know he's disappointed. I mean, it's a shame. I went back to watch the play. He made the tackle. I mean, part of the football move, the kid's shoe was in his hand. He kind of threw it, jumped and celebrated with his teammates. It's pretty unfortunate in that situation. I don't think there was any intent to taunt. It wasn't like he was throwing it at their sidelines, doing any of that. It was a huge play, possibly a game-winning play. Threw a shoe, went to celebrate with his teammates. Unfortunately it was a penalty. I think that stuff, really an unfortunate situation and a mistake instead of somebody really trying to disrespect the game or taunt the opponent or anything of that nature. You know what I mean? Just really unfortunate it happened. But I know for him, I think he'll look at things and realize, Hey, that's certainly not the reason that we lost the game. There's many, many factors that went into that. That's just an unfortunate one in that situation. It was a key moment in the game.

The all-too easy thing to do after Florida’s shocking 37-34 loss to unranked and three-touchdown underdog LSU in the thick fog that enveloped Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Saturday night is to start pointing fingers. It sounds like a good idea, right? Only where do you begin? Do you even have enough fingers to point to all that blew up in the Gators’ faces on a night when so much went slip-sliding away? Because so many things went wrong on so many levels, Dan Mullen doesn’t have enough time to figure out what will be cured simply by experience, what can heal with a few well-applied Band-Aids and maybe what will require being surgically removed. This many problems can’t be solved overnight or even next week. Here it is the early hours of Sunday morning and Mullen has to turn his attention immediately to Big Bad Bama, who the Gators play next Saturday night in Atlanta in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game. Yes, that same Alabama that squeezed the life out of LSU 55-17 in Baton Rouge just a week ago. Alabama is 10-0 and downright scary. Right now, the Gators are 8-2 and downright fragile. Had the Gators functioned at a high level on offense, defense and special teams, they would have blown the doors off LSU. No doubt about it. This was an evening when two-out-of three wouldn’t have been bad but instead it was an oh-fer night. Mullen said post game that this loss was “on the offense.” That’s not entirely true because defense and special teams had opportunities to make game-winning plays and came up empty. The offense was good for 609 yards. Kyle Trask threw for 474 yards. The running game that managed only 19 yards a week ago against Tennessee was good for 132. Yet for all the yards, the Gators had to punt the ball four times, turned it over three times and missed a 52-yard field goal on the last play of the game that hooked just a little left instead of staying inside the upright. The Gators allowed 418 yards and LSU had an almost three-minute edge in time of possession. Even with all the mistakes, Florida should have hung 55 or 60 points on the Tigers. Kyle Trask, who came into the game leading in a lot of Heisman Trophy straw polls, threw two interceptions and fumbled the ball. He will make the Heisman short list and still has an outside shot to win it if he can engineer a miracle win over Alabama in Atlanta by playing the game of his life, but the odds aren’t very good for that to happen. Figure this will be a close call but no big trophy, which is a shame because there are fewer more compelling stories in all of college football than Kyle Trask blossoming into a super QB after emerging from nowhere. The first of Trask’s interceptions Saturday night – his first in 181 passes and four-and-a-half games -- was a pick six. Ironically, the last interception he had thrown prior to the one Eli Ricks ran back 32 yards for a TD Saturday night, was also a pick six against Georgia. The second interception came on Florida’s next possession, a bizarre play in which Trask, throwing on the move after being flushed out of the pocket, was too high trying to hit Kadarius Toney at the LSU seven. The ball ricocheted off Toney’s hand and onto the helmet of an LSU defender before settling into the waiting hands of Jay Ward. In a worst case scenario the Gators should have come away with a field goal on that drive. The INT will be credited to Trask but the O-line should take at least partial credit for not giving him adequate time and receivers didn’t exactly run routes that got them wide open. The fumble came with 10 seconds left in the first half with UF trailing 21-17. Trask hardly had time to set his feet when the pocket collapsed and he was sacked at the UF 19. LSU’s Cade York, who hit a 57-yard bomb for the game-winning field goal with 23 seconds remaining in the game, hit an easy 39-yarder for a halftime margin of 24-14. On their first possession of the game, the Gators came up empty on fourth-and-goal from the LSU one when the O-line failed to get a push and Malik Davis was stopped dead in his tracks. A TD on that play and in all probability the Gators would have won the game. That could also go down as a tactical coaching error. It was fourth-and-goal at the two with UF lined up for a field goal. When an LSU player jumped offside, Mullen pulled the field goal unit off and sent in the offense. He'd do it again, but there should have been at least three points on that drive. Following the second of Trask’s interceptions, the Gators had a first-and-goal at the LSU five. Incompletions on first and third downs were the result of LSU pressure straight up the gut. On the third down incompletion, a pass that was directed toward Kemore Gamble, Trask had to rush a throw that likely would have been an easy TD if he’d had a split second more to throw. The Gators settled for a 23-yard chip shot by Evan McPherson to cut the LSU lead to 14-10. With a TD instead of a field goal Florida wins. Trailing 34-31 in the fourth quarter, the Gators drove from their own 15 to the LSU nine in three plays but Trask was sacked for a 7-yard loss on first down and sacked again for -1 on third, forcing a tying field goal by McPherson with 2:51 to go in the game. You don’t have to be a rocket surgeon or brain scientist to do the math and figure that all these points left on the field kept the Gators from an easy win. On to the receivers. It’s hard to point fingers at them when they caught 474 yards worth of passes. Kadarius Toney, who also had 56 rushing yards, caught nine passes for 182 yards and a TD. Jacob Copeland had five receptions for 123 yards and a TD. Trevon Grimes caught four for 98 yards. In spite of those rather gaudy numbers, there were too many times all night when Florida’s receivers couldn’t shake free. Was it bad route running or just an inability to consistently separate? When LSU went zone why were there problems finding the holes? Certainly, the Gators missed Kyle Pitts who sat the game out after it was determined in pregame warmups that he couldn’t go. Would Pitts in the red zone given the Gators touchdowns instead of field goals? History says probably so. The offensive line, which had given up only 10 sacks in nine games, allowed four Saturday night to an LSU defense which came into the game with 18 all year. LSU was credited with eight quarterback pressures, which seems generously low because far too many times Trask had to rush throws he normally has time to deliver. In addition to the failure at the LSU one on the opening possession, the O-line couldn’t get a crease for Toney on a third-and-one at the UF 34 on Florida’s third possession. After the Gators had taken a 31-27 lead in the third quarter, the offense had three consecutive three-and-outs, netting eight yards on nine plays. On the first of the three-and-outs, LSU got pressure on Trask on second and third down with the result incompletions. Those three straight empty possessions contributed mightily to the loss but the first one was particularly damaging. The defense was confounding. They forced eight LSU punts and five three-and-outs. Those are usually winning numbers but not when the offense gives away 10 points (seven on the pick six, three on the field goal at the end of the first half) and leaves at least three touchdowns on the field. Three plays stick out more than any others for the defense. The first was on LSU’s first touchdown of the game, a five-yard touchdown pass from Max Johnson to Jaray Jenkins. Jenkins got off the jam at the line by Brad Stewart but safety Donovan Stiner was way too late getting over the top to cover. Jenkins was wide open for an easy catch for the tying TD. The second was a busted coverage on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Kayshon Boutte with 33 seconds left in the first half that gave the Tigers a 21-17 lead. On that play, Kaiir Elam came on a corner blitz but freshman Tre’vez Johnson didn’t rotate over to pick up Boutte. It was an easy pitch and catch for the touchdown. The third is the one that Florida fans will remember the most. With less than a minute-and-a-half remaining in the game and the score tied at 34-34, Florida got a third down stop when tight end Kole Taylor was stopped by Johnson and Marco Wilson six yards short of a first down on a little dump off pass from Johnson. That could have been the defensive play of the game except that Taylor came out of his shoe on the play. Wilson picked up the shoe and hurled it down the field. Flags flew and Wilson drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. With the 15 yards and a first down, LSU got close enough for York to nail his 57-yard game-winner. Take away the two busted coverages that resulted in touchdowns, the pick six, the fumble that gave away a field goal and then the penalty that gave another away and the defense should have held the Tigers to seven points. Should have but didn’t. You can’t win football games when you give away 27 points, which is what the Gators did against LSU. What is frightening for the Gators is they’re going to face an Alabama team that went off for 35 or more points for the 23rd straight game Saturday in a 52-3 beatdown of Arkansas. And this was with Alabama sitting quarterback Mac Jones, running back Najee Harris and Devonta Smith the entire second half. When the Gators beat Georgia 44-28 in game five, they looked more than capable of matching Alabama touchdown for touchdown. While Alabama has continued to stick it to opponents offensively, the Gators seem to be spinning their wheels way too much. This was Florida’s fourth straight game in which fewer than 40 points have been scored. Alabama has scored at least 41 in nine straight games and the only one the Crimson Tide didn’t make it to 40 was game one when they scored 38. While Florida’s defense has had some good moments interspersed with blown coverages and stupid penalties that cost a game like against LSU, Alabama’s defense has continued to improve. Since allowing Georgia 24 first half points in game four, Alabama has allowed only 53 total in the last six games. It will be shocking if Alabama opens up favored by fewer than 17 points. The only way the Gators win this game is if they can play at the level they showed against Georgia while hoping Alabama makes uncharacteristic mistakes. Once beyond Alabama, Mullen will have bowl preparations – playoff preparations if the Gators shock the world with a win Saturday – and then there will have to be some hard reckoning, particularly on the defensive side. Mullen’s offenses have always been productive and though it’s hard to imagine they will be as productive next year with Trask, Toney and Pitts gone to play for pay on Sundays, points will still be scored at a much greater clip than they were in any of the eight seasons prior to 2018. Figure the offense will morph into more of an RPO style with running quarterbacks Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson running the show. All the running backs will return, joined by former five-star Demarcus Bowman, who is transferring in from Clemson and what is expected to be a healthy Lorenzo Lingard. Some of the defensive issues can be attributed to inexperience. A lot of kids had to play in 2020 because it was rare when coordinator Todd Grantham had a full roster to work with due to injuries and Covid-19. Although Mullen has been quite defensive of Grantham in public, you have to wonder if the relationship is cozy in private. Florida scored at least 31 points in every game this season. The Gators gave up 30 or more on four occasions and had way too many problems getting off the field. Of Florida’s two losses, one came on a final play field goal at Texas A&M and the other on the LSU field goal with 23 seconds left. In both games, the Gators couldn’t get the key stops when it counted late in the game. Experience gained this season will cure some of the defensive issues. There will be some healing because a lot of players who were burned far too often or who did stupid things at the most inopportune moments will grow up and mature. As for surgically removing some of the problems, if that is to happen it will be when Mullen evaluates his staff in the offseason. He’s a loyal head ball coach who doesn’t like to make changes to his staff but he may decide that to make the next step from perpetually good to perpetually great changes will have to be made. If there are changes, they will be made in January or shortly thereafter. For now, there is Alabama to deal with and after what happened Saturday night at The Swamp, that’s not a pleasant thought at all.

Florida Gators Head Coach Dan Mullen addressed the media following the No. 6 Gators 37-34 loss to the LSU Tigers on Saturday night. As a valued subscriber, we are offering this transcript in full. Opening Statement: “I want to thank everybody, our fans. It was a very different season here in the Swamp. I thank all our fans for everything they did this year, showing out and supporting this team and trying to create as much of an environment as we’re allowed to create today. The energy that they created. But they did a good job. As we saw earlier today, our thoughts and prayers are with Keyontae and his family and everything that he’s going through right now. We see that with everybody in our basketball program, really our whole Gator family. That shows there’s a lot more than just games out there in life. So our prayers are with him and his family.” Disappointed with the season ending this way? “It is what it is. We have to play next week. What we can control is going for an SEC championship and we’re doing that next week. Tonight’s game is what it is, we have to get prepared for next week’s championship game.” Could you see the field? We couldn’t? “The fog … yeah, I could see it.” What did you see with Marco? “I didn’t see that. I don’t know. I mean, I guess that’s a penalty. I have no idea what happened. I didn’t see it. So, you guys probably, did you guys see it? I don’t know.” He threw a shoe? “They called a penalty on it, so ... “ Kyle Trask first-half turnovers, rallied team? “Obviously, you just look. All the things we did, you can’t win doing what we did tonight, no matter what’s going on, no matter who you’re playing. We lose the turnover battle. We turned it over three times, minus-three turnover ratio. We don’t score touchdowns in the red zone. We can’t make key stops when we need to defensively and we lose the special teams part of the game. It’s not a very complicated deal. Give our guys credit, kept battling, kept fighting. Though our guys played hard. Give them credit, they kind of seemed to make the plays they needed to make to win and we kind of made every play you needed to lose.” Were you guys unmotivated? “No we were motivated. The fact that we come over and turn the ball over three times in the first half doesn’t help.” Can you do anything with this defense? This has been God awful all year. “Yeah, well, you look at it on the night, we made some good stops. We just did things you can’t do. We had a missed assignment to give up an easy touchdown. We get the stop at the end to win the game, pretty much, and get a personal foul. A stop at the end of the game, where we’re going to go have the opportunity to go win it. We’ve gotta keep working. We gotta get better. We’ve gotta make better decisions. Out there on the field, you just gotta keep playing harder.” Why elect for the FG at the end instead of a pass to the end zone? “I would never, that’s something we practice all the time. I give the offensive guys credit to get us in that situation. Our goal is to get the ball to the 40, the 45 yard line because you didn’t have much time. We got it well within Evan’s range. We expect that to be a pretty consistent field goal for him. We had an easier one than they did and we just missed it.” Kyle Pitts not playing “He was injured. He didn’t practice at all this week, didn’t practice one day this week, went out there, was going to try and warm up. He really wanted to play, but not practicing, not being able to play, not being 100 percent we just didn’t think that it was the right thing to put him on the field.” Are you confident in Grantham? At what point do you evaluate more? “Not really. We played pretty good defense for a good part of the year. We made some critical mistakes. We’ll watch it and as you continue to evaluate you evaluate the whole picture and whole package of it all. You know? We’ll do that. I’m pretty confident with Todd...If I look like we're unsound or poorly coached.” Three consecutive three-and-outs? "It set us way back. You guys are questioning the defense. They stopped them after those drives, so that's a question for the offense right there. This game tonight's on the offense." Missed red-zone opportunities? "It was huge. Here's how you win: play great defense, win the red zone, win the turnover battle and win special teams. There you go. If we score touchdowns in the red zone, we win by three scores." Struggles against freshman quarterbacks? "It doesn't really matter. Quarterbacks are quarterbacks. True freshman, freshman, senior, junior. It has nothing to do with it." Pretty good game from Max Johnson? "Yeah, give him credit. I thought he played well. Didn't make a lot of mistakes. Made some runs, made some good throws." If you beat Bama, should you be in CFP Playoff? "I don't have a vote on that. I'm not in the room, you know what I mean? I know we've played 10 games, OK. So I guess probably the best thing to do would have been to play less games because you seem to get rewarded for not playing this year in college football. But I tell you what, I give our guys a lot of credit. The competitors our guys are, that they want to go out there and compete every single week. That we've faced a lot of injuries, we've faced a lot of adversity, we've played short-handed a lot of games. And we have no control. We have no control over anything but whether or not we win next week. That's all we can control. We win next week, we're SEC champs. I can't control more than that. That is all we control, and I guess that's a good question for the committee. That's their deal with what's important. But I tell you what, I'm proud of our guys of how they faced through everything, played a 10-game SEC schedule, played beat up, played short-handed a bunch of these games this year. I'm really proud of our guys and how they've battled to go do that. So we'll worry about the SEC Championship Game next week. And beyond that, whatever anybody wants to vote us to do then we'll see what is next."

Call it "The Mullen Plan to Win" if you will. In it are plenty of elements from the "Plan to Win" Dan Mullen learned as an assistant for Urban Meyer at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida, but it was expanded and tweaked many times during those nine years of refining his skills as a head coach at Mississippi State. The plan has always been solid but three games into his second year as the head coach of the Florida Gators, Mullen showed why a successful plan to win always has a contingency plan ready to implement on the fly. You remember the scene as the third quarter drew to an end at Kroger Field in Lexington. With the Gators trailing Kentucky 21-10 and Franks leaving the field in agony on a stretcher, his ankle dislocated and fractured. There was that sinking feeling in the collective pits of the Gator Nation’s stomach that Florida’s hopes and dreams for an improvement of the 10-3 record of 2018 were being wheeled to a waiting ambulance. Franks had experience. Although he had this penchant for throwing into coverage, he could also make the spectacular throw and make something out of nothing with his feet. His replacement was Kyle Trask, who had thrown all of 27 passes in his previous three years in Gainesville and who never started a game in high school in Manvel, Texas. There were stories that Trask threw a beautiful pass but couldn’t run a lick. Two minutes into the fourth quarter not only did we discover that Trask was a very accurate passer but that he had the kind of poise under pressure you have to have to win in the Southeastern Conference. Lost in the many huzzahs of Trask’s 9-13 passing performance for 126 yards that led the Gators to a most improbable come-from-behind win at Kentucky was the fact that Dan Mullen had shifted the Florida offense on the fly. The Gators went from an offense that incorporated Franks’ feet into the running game to a pro-style pocket passing game that relied on the stunning accuracy and solid decision making of Trask. Just like that. Part of the original plan to win involves adapting the offense to the available personnel. At Mississippi State, Mullen gets plenty of credit for turning the same Dak Prescott that some schools wanted to convert into a linebacker into a QB who, for four weeks in 2014, had the Bulldogs perched as the nation’s number one team. Mullen doesn’t get near enough credit for revamping his offense to accommodate the running skills of Nick Fitzgerald, whose big offers other than Mississippi State were Samford and Mercer. Mullen took over a Florida program that had spent much of the previous eight years spinning its wheels. From the moment he got off the plane in Gainesville in December of 2017, he’s had a plan to return Florida football to its championship roots and in doing so has produced consecutive 10-plus win seasons (10 in 2018; 11 in 2019) for the first time since 2008-09. Mullen is 29-6 heading into Saturday’s game with LSU. Florida is a 23-point favorite to improve to 9-1 Saturday and with at least two games remaining (SEC Championship and either a playoff or bowl game) there is a very good possibility Mullen will have three consecutive seasons with 10 or more wins since Steve Spurrier’s remarkable run of six straight from 1993-98. Getting the Gators to this point hasn’t been easy. The first order of business was to rebuild the roster from one that had far too many holes into one that when someone goes down the next man up is equally talented. He’s done it with solid recruiting – the 2019 and 2020 classes were top ten; the 2020 class is currently ranked 7th and poised to move higher – along with adding plug and play transfers like Van Jefferson, Trevon Grimes, Jonathan Greenard, Brenton Cox Jr. and Justin Shorter. For 2020, the Gators have a true SEC roster, which, with the global pandemic wreaking havoc everywhere has been a necessity. The original 12-game schedule was rearranged in August to an SEC-only 10-game slate. When Covid-19 took a midseason toll that forced a 10-day shutdown of all football activities, the schedule had to be rebooted again. Because of the virus, hitting in practice has been severely limited and that has affected the defense far more than the offense. Due to the combination of injuries, the virus and suspensions defensive coordinator Todd Grantham has rarely had the 11 players on the field he expected to have when the season began. Fortunately for Grantham, roster upgrades have given him talented kids to step in and play. The results haven’t always been pretty, but progress has been made. In recent games, the Gators have shown they’re capable of playing long stretches in a lock down mode. The offense has had no such problems. Mullen continues to adjust on the fly to take advantage of Trask’s improvement that is the result of experience. Understand this, in Trask’s 24 games – 19 as a starter – he’s thrown for 6,410 yards and 64 touchdowns. He averages 9.1 yards per pass attempt. Put in perspective, Trask is now sixth on Florida’s all-time touchdown pass list and ninth in career passing yardage. His career efficiency rating of 172.7 is the best in Florida history. This season alone, Trask has thrown for 3,243 yards (fifth all-time) and 38 touchdowns (second only to Danny Wuerffel’s 39) while averaging 10.1 per attempt. His 193.1 efficiency rating is nearly 15 points better than the best Wuerffel ever did. And this is in nine games. With 44 yards against LSU, Trask will pass the best season Tim Tebow ever had throwing (3,286). Wuerffel set the TDP record in 13 games in 1996. Tebow’s best year for yardage was 2007, also in 13 games. If Trask lights up LSU and then is impressive while leading the Gators to a win over Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, he could join Wuerffel, Tebow and Steve Spurrier as Heisman Trophy winners and could join them outside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with a statue. In 2018, Mullen had an experienced offensive line that allowed the Gators to run for 213.5 yards per game. Last year’s line was the third most inexperienced in the country and the Gators transformed from a balanced run-pass team to one that took advantage of Trask’s skills throwing the ball. The line is experienced this year but because Trask is so good throwing it, it’s pass first. Florida has allowed only 10 sacks in nine games, the second best total in the SEC. From the 2019 team, Mullen lost four receivers (Van Jefferson, Freddie Swain, Tyrie Cleveland, Josh Hammond) to the NFL. At most places, that would cause a dip in production, but not with this offense. With Kadarius Toney (53-649, 8 TDs), Kyle Pitts (36-641, 11 TDs) and Grimes (30-413, 8 TDs) leading the way, the Gators have eight receivers with at least 10 catches which shows that Mullen has the ideal distributor in Trask. In Mullen’s first two seasons on the job at Florida, fans were much too quick to criticize his coaching staff but the myth that wholesale changes need to be made continues to be debunked. In O-line coach John Hevesy, Mullen has a trusted lieutenant who has adjusted what his troops do every time Mullen goes through a reboot of the offense. Van Jefferson, who plays for the Los Angeles Rams now and whose dad is an NFL assistant, says that wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales is the best in the country. What the Florida receivers have done lends credence to that. Tim Brewster coaches the tight ends. If anyone but Pitts wins the Mackey Award as the nation’s best tight end something is seriously wrong. Quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson is getting head coaching interviews due to his work with Trask. Running backs coach Greg Knox also coordinates Florida’s special teams, which rank among the best in the country. Over on defense, Grantham has gotten plenty of criticism this year because the defensive numbers are unusually high, but they’re high everywhere in the country and for the same reason – lack of hitting and tackling in practice. In spite of this, the Gators defense still leads the SEC with 29 sacks on the season. Still, his group of assistants – David Turner, Christian Robinson, Torian Gray and Ron English – have kept the defense improving. The perfect example is the Georgia game. Georgia put up 136 yards and scored two touchdowns on its first two possessions. Grantham and the defense adjusted on the fly. Georgia got one offensive touchdown and 141 yards the rest of the way. All this is proof of a coach who has a plan and who has the Gators right on schedule. Mullen’s plan to get the Florida program back on track after eight years of wandering in the proverbial football desert is working. He has the Gators back in Atlanta where they might be the one team in the country capable of matching Alabama touchdown-for-touchdown. He has the Gators poised for a third straight season of 10 or more wins. Restoring championship tradition was one of Mullen’s goals when he took the job at Florida. The goal has always been championships. The plan to get there has been rock solid but flexible enough to factor in the unexpected. The Gators aren’t where Mullen wants them to be but they’re getting there and doing it methodically in such a way that the foundation for long term success is in place. The Mullen Plan is a good one and it’s working.

Florida Gator fans are locked in a schizophrenic state of joy over winning an SEC East trophy, but at the same time, fear getting boat-raced by Alabama. Pick your emotion. Perhaps a good news/bad news conundrum? Now that they’ve made it into the SEC Championship game again, Florida fans may have to re-teach themselves how to celebrate. Should they reclaim past glory and dust off the pom-poms, or duck and cover while awaiting the slaughter? To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, I’ve seen Alabama. I know Alabama. And Alabama is no friend of Gator Nation. The Tide should be arrested for assault after what they did to LSU in the first half. The pictures of Devonta Smith, Najee Harris and Mac Jones ought to be hung on the Post Office wall under: “Wanted for Mugging of Tigers.” When we think SEC Championship game, we think Alabama and Florida. Back in the day, the Gators earned an upper hand over the Tide early on, but in the last five years, not so much. This series has defined the SEC, with five of the last nine head-to-head winners going on to claim a national championship. Four of those wins for the SEC title were consecutive during the Steve Spurrier Era, a streak that has never been equaled. As the numbers crunchers know, in 2015, as they came into the SEC title game, the Gators had been out-gunned 55-62 in the last four games of the regular season despite winning three out of four. Will Miles of Read and Reaction points out that in 2016, the Gators went 2-2 heading into Atlanta and were outscored 59-79. Florida lost those two SEC Championship Games to Alabama by a combined score of 83-31. Miles points out that this 2020 Gator team fared better, winning its last three games by a combined score of 103-46. Orange and blue loyalists thrilled to be back in the highlife are like, “who cares? – bring on ‘Bama!” Shaking their finger in false bravado at those pessimists, and decrying, “you didn’t think we could beat Georgia, either!” As my late friend Jim — passionate Gator fan and masterful bean counter — always cautioned me: “We are ruled by two polar opposite emotions: Fear and Greed.” For the ones who still believe the Gators can win, it’s like those signs we see in yards around town, “Faith Over Fear.” It will take a leap of that faith — and more — for Gator fans if they believe some of the early lopsided lines from places like Fan Duel, which has made the Fighting Sabans a whopping 14-point favorite over the Gators. Can Mullen’s team even stay competitive against such a juggernaut? Now we get into “half a loaf” territory. Just settling for getting to Atlanta. Remembering the cold, dark regime of Jim McElwain just four years ago and what it felt like in football purgatory, perhaps Gator fans are just thankful to be cheering on an SEC East champion in its final regular season game at home vs LSU. Are they suddenly willing to shift into “moral victory” mode? In his press conference this week, I asked Mullen about the challenge of finishing off a 9-1 season by beating a 24-point underdog LSU team, while casting a wary eye around the thundering herd of elephants. Basically, he told us that the advance scouts could handle it for now. It sounds like a broken record, but he’s correct: “Focus … focus … focus.” He’s not just taking it one game at a time, but rather each practice. I suggested that perhaps “increments” might be a better synonym. To which he replied whimsically: “I don’t know, that sounds like a pretty big vocab word.” (Editor’s Note: Increments: the amount or degree by which something changes. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.) “Now, you might not get better in every single phase every single week, but you never want to regress as a team,” said Mullen. “Our focus has to be getting better this week. And then I imagine you can ask me the same question and I’ll say, ‘Are you looking forward to Ohio State, or Clemson or Notre Dame after Alabama?’ And I’ll say, ‘No, we’re going to be focused on getting better and us being a better team this week and focus on that.’ You know, that’s just the simplicity of it all. “I know it sounds like coach-talk. But the reality is, if you want to be a great football team, you focus on the task at hand. And the task at hand is us getting better as a team, preparing, practicing better this week than we did last week, playing with more effort and strain and being more efficient on offense and making bigger plays on defense than we did last week. If we do that and hopefully next week we do the same thing and weeks after that you continue to do that until the season ends and we’ll put 2020’s team to rest.” Incrementally, this team has walked through the fire of a Pandemic hell, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, play by play, game by game, right up to the brink of a championship. History will judge this journey as bizarre but courageous, and on the hopeful side, perhaps it could become even the cornerstone that vault the Gators back to the upper echelon. I’m not a big believer in participation trophies, but there is something to be said for the tenacity and consistency, of keeping it together in pursuit of excellence. And making it all the way – so far – to the race to the finish line. It not only evokes pride in the accomplishment but bodes well for the future. This is one of Dan Mullen’s best quotes ever made after the win over Tennessee and it serves as a reminder about the gratitude all Gator fans should have: “So Scott Stricklin came up and told me to put a smile on my face and make sure we enjoy this and put a smile on our face because this is what we work for. I’m thrilled. This is it. "I came to Florida to have the opportunity to win championships. That is the reason that I came here. Now we’re SEC East champs. Now we have the opportunity to go be SEC champs. That’s what you work for all the time. That’s what we worked for since the day I got here a little over three years ago.” Yes, focus. First LSU, then on to Atlanta, and then Alabama. Increments do matter.

Against the wall of a gym, a single member of Trinity Catholic’s marching band stood with a tuba wrapped around his torso. Meanwhile, everyone else in the gym had a puzzled look on their face. The national anthem and school fight song had already been played. Then, as the band’s tuba player stood quietly, a voice at the microphone invited Trinity Catholic’s starting quarterback and the Celtics’ head football coach to join him at the podium. Together, aside from their ties to Trinity Catholic, the three at the center of attention were glued together by one common denominator: the University of Florida. At the podium was Tommy Bond, Trinity Catholic’s athletic director. Bond, an Ocala native, played baseball for the Florida Gators in the 1990s. The righthanded pitcher, who helped lift the Gators into the College World Series in 1996, doubles as Trinity Catholic’s baseball coach in the spring. To the right of Bond stood Trinity Catholic’s junior starting quarterback, Cole Gonzalez. Gonzalez, who transferred from Oak Hall High School in Gainesville, heads home to Gainesville each evening, where his dad, Billy Gonzalez gets home late after coaching the No. 6 Florida Gators’ wide receivers. And farthest to the right, John Brantley III, was likely grinning under his mask. The former Florida Gators quarterback, whose son John Brantley IV, a Trinity Catholic alum, also quarterbacked the Gators in 2009-11, proudly stood alongside Bond and Gonzalez. “Obviously, we’re talking about my alma mater,” Bond said with a smirk. “I’m always proud when guys are going to play in the Orange and Blue.” Reaching under the podium, Bond emerged with a grocery bag. Inside was a throwback Gators football jersey, replicating the threads that debuted in the game against Auburn last season. “I’m just gonna kinda set this up here,” Bond said, draping the jersey across the front of the podium. “But I'm also gonna ask James... James over there with the tuba, I need your help.” The hero of Bond’s presentation, James with the tuba, began playing the Jaws cadence... or, if you’re a Gators fan, the Gator Chomp. “I know you know how to do this,” Bond said to Gonzalez. “Now Jake, make sure you don’t mess this up. It’s always right over left. Now, people argue that, but it’s right above left. Coach Brantley, I need your help too.” Together, the trio of Celtics with ties to the University of Florida in some way or another, helped welcome Jake Slaugher to the Gator family with open, chomping arms. Slaughter, a member of Trinity Catholic’s offensive line, was celebrated alongside three other Celtic student-athletes as they signed their letters of intent to their respective universities. Slaughter spent his career at Trinity Catholic where, under three different head coaches, he helped the Celtics to a combined 25-16 record over the past four seasons. This year, Slaughter, along with the rest of the Celtics’ massive offensive line, of which two members signed alongside him on Wednesday, helped Trinity Catholic to a 7-4 record and a trip to the state semifinal, where the 11-1 Trinity Christian Conquerors topped the Celtics 56-33. Slaughter, who committed to Florida on July 24 of this year, flipped his pledge from the rivalling Seminoles on the same day. The offensive line prospect joins the Gators’ fourth-ranked 2021 recruiting class, which currently has four other offensive linemen on board. “Originally he was committed to Florida State,” Bond said, recalling a conversation he had with Slaughter. “And he said that initially, early on in that process he was excited about Florida State. And then things… as they changed staff and you know, some of the things that they’ve had to work through here recently in football, things just changed and put things into question.” According to Bond, when UF offered Slaughter, who fielded 23 total offers, he felt like Florida’s program was on the rise. But there’s a bit more to it than that. The reality is, Slaughter would have had to adjust to life in Garnet and Gold, had he stuck with Florida State. Meanwhile, Slaughter grew up a Gators fan and comes from a lineage of University of Florida grads. “They’re telling me all about everything that’s great about it,” Slaughter says. “It just makes it that much more special that I get to go up there.” Despite the many Gator-heavy influences in his life, including the light-hearted jokes from coach Billy Gonzalez about how Slaughter better have protected his son during games, Slaughter never really felt pressured to decide on Florida. “Nobody really pushed for it,” Slaughter said. “The stars kinda aligned and that was where I needed to be.” At 6-foot-4, 290-pounds, the ability to bench press 315-pounds, squat 565-pounds and with a last name like Slaughter, you can imagine Mick Hubert will eventually have some fun with this one.