Florida Gators Head Coach Dan Mullen spoke with local media following No. 3 Gators 38-24 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks. He spoke on what went well on offense, what was improved on defense and the long road he feels both areas need to go to be great. As a valued subscriber of GatorBait Magazine, we are offering this transcript in full. INTRO "Great win, 2-0 in the SEC. Obviously tough opponent. I thought we came out and we did some things better than we did last week. We made some mistakes that you can't make throughout the course of the game. I don't know how well we played today but you know what I liked our attitude. Our guys came out and made plays when we needed to make them at critical moments of the game, we made the plays we needed to win. We want to play better. I want to thank all the Gator fans that showed up today, exciting to be back in the Swamp. It was a lot of fun out there, so what do you guys got?" HOW PIVOTAL IS KYLE TO KYLE? "Well, it's good. Kyle had four catches today, which was pretty good. Kadarius, we thought we'd get a good matchup there. We got some good catches. Trent. Everybody, I think Kyle does a good job. He made a couple critical errors today turning the ball over twice. Bad mistakes, to be honest with you. But he took what they gave us. We're able to spread the ball around to a bunch of different receivers, so I think that was a real positive. Scoring some points with matchups that we had out there on the field, we did a pretty good job with it." HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HOW FOURTH QUARTER WENT? "Well like I said, I'm happy. I think we've got to get a lot better. We certainly have to get a lot better with how we finished the game. Offensively should have finished the game much sooner. Defensively have the opportunity to get off the field. I think the first time we stopped them, right, was on the last play of the game there. I mean we gave up 11 conversions today. We gave up good opportunities, whether it's third or fourth down, so we've got to do a better job getting off the field. Like I said, when it came down to it we made the plays that won the game." ANYTHING SPECIFIC ON DEFENSIVE ISSUES? "Execution, effort. There were a couple mistakes out there on the field. Some of the calls; I think we still have got to tackle better. We've got to strain to the ball a little bit better. With the attention to detail on all the little things, we're still catching up on defensively." Defensive growth? “I thought we did some things much better today than we did last week. Obviously making the plays to get off the field are going to be critical. I think the offense, we had two turnovers on the plus side of the field. You can’t do that. That really puts the defense in some tough positions at times. That was really on the offense. It’s really situations that the offense not doing what they’re supposed to do. If they don’t score at least don’t turn the ball over on the plus field position like we did a couple of times today.” Surreal at Swamp? “Hopefully the people that came got to experience a little bit of normalcy in their life. They’re spending an October Saturday here at the Swamp cheering on the Gators. There were a lot of cutout there, too. Saw a lot of the cutout fans there, and they were really excited, too. Saw a lot smiles on their faces the whole game. That was a nice touch, pretty cool. Great to be back out there, great to be playing at home, playing here at the Swamp. Glad people came out and got to see us play and cheered us on and gave us as much of an advantage as they could.” Petty and Brady? “I saw Tom Petty, didn’t see Tom Brady. I saw Nate. I saw Tim and Demi Tebow. I saw Charles Howell III. I saw a bunch of ESPN personalities out there. Lee Corso and those guys were out there.” Impact of crowd? “I thought they brought it. … I thought it was critical for us. It gives you a home-field advantage. Home-field advantage this year is going to be defined more than it has been in the past. Every Gator fans that comes and cheers and supports the team. They just don’t come and try to make it loud for the opposing team, which it what they normally do. I think they did a great job cheering on our team and giving them energy.” Offensive efficiency? “I didn’t think we played exceptionally well today offensively, to be honest with you. We made some critical errors in the course of the game. I expect us to play a lot better than we did today offensively. At times, we did some really good things, guys made plays, distributed the ball well at times. But we had a couple of three-and-outs, we had two turnovers. We missed a touchdown in the red zone. Just little things that a really efficient offense, when we’re rolling, that we aren’t going to do.” Excited for Trent Whittemore? “We’ve seen a lot of great things in practice all the time. I’m sure it was even more exciting for him than me, being a local guy growing up here and growing up as a Gator. Getting that opportunity is pretty special. We’re seen him, not just this year but last year. A guy that finds a way to get open, such an intelligent football player, he’s got great hands. You saw has athletic ability also on that big catch he made across the middle. It’s good to see. As we said, we keep rolling receivers through, getting different guys different opportunities. As we continue to grow as a team we’re going to need that to create that depth as this season moves on.” Kadarius Toney? “KT does a lot. You can see how he’s grown as a player for us in his ability to get open, his consistency in his route-running. Obviously he makes you (INAUDIBLE) you saw that in the kicking game. They started trying to kick away from him during the course of the game. He’s a guy you can move all over the place, put him in the back field, motion him out of the back field. To be able to do all the different he has to be smart and not really just intelligent, but a smart football player to learn how to do all the different things. He did a really good job of that today.” 9 different players caught a pass today “I mean that’s a lot, I guess. When you look at it, I think people look and say, ‘how do you get the ball to this guy? How do you get that guy the ball? We call our plays and we’re going to take the matchups they give us. I think Kyle does a good job of that. We’ll have certain ‘get it to (plays)’ to get guys the ball but we’re going to take the best matchups that they give us. I think the first game we had 11 different guys with catches, nine today. We’re not a team that’s just force-feeding a ball to one guy. It shows that we have depth with the receivers, one, two, three, four, five, six different wide receivers with catches. Then people wonder how we had four from last year’s team go on to the NFL and now we have six with catches this year. We’re not like one of these teams that just throws it to one guy. We’re gonna spread the ball around to a lot of different players. It makes it fun for them knowing they’re gonna get the opportunity to get catches every single game.” Dameon Pierce took over early, what does he bring? “I think he runs the ball exceptionally hard. He’s a very physical runner. I think he’s played in the system now for three years and I think he has a good understanding of the blocking schemes, where to hit the run, how to hit it and as we run certain schemes where he expects the play to open up and hit the run. I think he watches those guys too. I don’t think he had a catch today but Nay’Quan and Malik had carries and catches. We’re gonna keep rolling those running backs through.” Do you feel like defensive issues are fundamental or rust? “We’ll see. I think it’s a yes, a combination of a bunch of different things. It’s not one thing that’s going to show on one specific play or one thing that’s gonna show up 15-20 times during the course of a game. I think there are a couple of different things, execution, when we get to tackling in the open field, we’ve got to make sure we’re getting lined up properly, making sure we get 11 guys running to the football properly. I think just combinations of those things. Then again, looking at it another high scoring game, a little more high scoring than what you’re used to seeing this time of year. I think defenses will start catching up as the year keeps moving forward.” Kyle Pitts didn’t have a catch in the second half. What do you think South Carolina did to kind of take him away? “Nothing. I just think we didn’t execute very cleanly. I don’t think we got into a very good rhythm in the second half at all offensively. A lot of that is going to be on me, play calling. Execution, I don’t think we had very good rhythm in the second half, with the three-and-outs, the turnovers, terrible. I don’t know, is that mean. … they did the same thing in the second half as the first half. We just didn’t execute very well.” You mentioned the defense making a play when it had to. USC was five-for-five on fourth down, your defense has its back against the wall. Where do you think they are confidence wise and what’s it like to see them make that play? “I think it’s huge to make that play at the end. You’d like to finish the game about five of those. We found ways to make plays to win games. South Carolina, give them credit. They did a good job. You look at the plan they had, held the ball for 36 minutes. We ran 53 plays in the course of the game, that’s it. We had 6.6 yards per play to their 4.0. They did a good job of converting, slowing the game down. I think that’s all part of it right there. The defense played too  many plays. We’ve got to get conversions stopped. Offense has got to execute them.” How difficult has it proved to lock in for 60 minutes? “We talk about bringing our own juice. It’s 2020. It is what it is. So … Let’s go. Let’s go. It just is what it is and it’s not going to change. We have to continue to do it. I think there was great energy. Our fans and the people who came created as much energy as they can. We’re trying to create energy on sideline for our own guys to play. You saw it. We finished the game. The final plays of the game, we’re still playing hard. So … “ Between the slow start for the defense in the first half and 8-minute drive in the fourth, which concerns you more and how do you resolve it? “It’s like everything. Like I’ve said a couple times. It’s not one thing, it’s multiple things. So … We won by two touchdowns. We made the plays we needed to. Every little detail of the game concerns me. I know you guys want to know if it’s this or that. Every little defense of the game concerns me. Offense going three-and-out concerns me. That’s really bad defense. Our offense is extremely responsible for playing defense. Twice we give them the ball at midfield and in the fourth quarter we come out with two three-and-outs offensively, so that’s really bad defense played by the offense. When we had opportunities to get off the field on third down paying defense, we didn’t. We made some great plays, then gave up some plays that we should make. Some missed assignments there. We have to evaluate our assignments. Have to evaluate if we’re making the right call. Have to evaluate if we’re making tackles the right way. If we’re executing the right way. … We’ll evaluate the offense and see what we have to do to fix that. We can’t have three and outs when we need first downs in the fourth quarter to put the game away on ice. All of the above. Every little aspect. Every second of the game concerns me about us getting better. I don’t know that I’ve ever been in a game that every se and didn’t concern me. So this week will be no different than any other week. Tonight a scary night with COVID potential being at home? “I’ve told them, literally, every time you go into a place to maybe hold their breathe. … Hey, our guys have done a great job. We’ve been on campus. I gave them weekends off and all that stuff. I mean, we were home by 8 o’clock last weekend. I don’t know about you, but I remember about me being in college. I don’t want to give away too much, but it … (inaudible, sorry) … But we were home at 8 o’clock last week. Every night concerns, but I believe our guys have made some really good decisions and taking things seriously. People around Gainesville are really taking it seriously. So I hope we continue to make good decisions and continue to stay safe in what we’re doing and get ready to show up Monday morning with our players and get ready to go play Texas A&M next week."

This one was a little rougher than Week 1. The No. 3 Florida Gators (2-0) defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks (0-2) by two touchdowns, 38-24, yet it somehow didn’t truly feel over until there were 0:55 seconds left on the game clock and Gamecocks quarterback Collin Hill (28-27, 212 yards, 2 touchdowns) threw what should have been a touchdown pass only to see it fall out of the hands of the typically dependable Shi Smith (12-85 yards-1TD). “Great win, 2-0 in the SEC. Obviously tough opponent,” reflected Head Coach Dan Mullen following the win. “I thought we came out and we did some things better than we did last week. We made some mistakes that you can't make throughout the course of the game…we certainly have to get a lot better with how we finished the game. Offensively should have finished the game much sooner. Defensively have the opportunity to get off the field.” It will be that last drive—and the fourth quarter—that will stick in minds as evaluations of the Gators second win of the season rolls in. The Gamecocks ran an 18 play, 74-yard drive that lasted 7:23 of game time…and resulted in no points. While watching those drives or South Carolina’s sideline celebrate moments like stopping Kyle Pitts on four of his eight targets—while still giving up four receptions for 57 yards and two touchdowns to the tight end—or drain time off the clock with little thought for clock management, it all seemed strangely familiar. Because it was. In so many ways this game was a testament to where Florida was at the outset of this decade versus where they are now. Everything South Carolina did today was the story of the Gators under Will Muschamp from 2011-2014. One of Muschamp’s favorite sayings was, “win the turnover battle, win the game. Control the time of possession, win the game.” The Gamecocks operated under that mantra, controlling the time of possession 36:23 to the Gators 23:37. They also won the turnover battle, grabbing two off the Gators (an interception and a fumble) off which they scored 14 points while only giving up one off which Florida scored a touchdown. The South Carolina defense played well enough, as those under Muschamp are oft to do, holding Florida to 348 total yards, a full 294 yards less than Florida put up versus Ole Miss in that 51-35 win. It wasn’t enough to stand up to what is proving to be one of the country’s most prolific offenses, but more on that later. Yet after the game, Muschamp was still spending time answering questions about clock management on the final drive, knowing they had to score twice. “It wasn’t a deliberate pace. We were trying to get first downs. They were playing more coverage and staying on top of us. We weren’t able to get explosive plays down the field; we were taking what they were giving us. We still had a minute to play in the game with two timeouts and an onside kick, we could go score and win the game. “There were a lot of plays strung together, but no explosive ones because they were playing coverage. Did we want more time on the clock? Yes, but at the end of the day we have to take what they were giving us, and that’s what we were doing.” Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham talked about “giving” the offense some room when recapping the Ole Miss win. He did much the same against South Carolina. “The way you lose the game is you give up an explosive play right off the bat and you force an onside kick. Now you’re down to a two-possession game, then you’ve got to play with them with time on the clock. There was a third and 1 there where actually going against Lane before in that situation, you’ve gotta be ready for a shot. “There’s two and a half minutes in the game, and it’s third and 1. You give the first, keep the clock running at that point. You understand what I’m saying? Because at the end of the day, if they score on third and —if they take a shot on third and 1 and don’t get it, they’re going to run for it on fourth down. You have to understand the clock is a factor in what you do, and you’ve got to keep it moving to allow you to get it down to where they can’t win the game.” While this is a bit of a chess move on a checkers board, this can’t take away from the fact that there are glaring deficiencies on the defense that have to be addressed. The pass defense looks to have the pieces in place to be good. Getting Shawn Davis (8 tackles, 1 pass breakup) back—after he was ejected for targeting versus Ole Miss—helped. He broke up a pass in the endzone that would’ve been a touchdown. Sophomore corner Jaydon Hill (2 tackles, 3 pass break-ups) did the same, and he did it twice in the endzone. “I'm very proud of Jaydon. We came in together and I think he's gotten a lot better from last year to this year and I think it's just the beginning for both of us,” said corner Kaiir Elam. Elam as well made the jump from freshman to sophomore—and Week 1 to Week 2—that should be encouraging. He finished tied with Davis for a team leading 8 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 2 pass breakup’s. Having Marco Wilson at nickel STAR on Saturday was a difference maker as well. Several times, he was able to drop into double coverage next to Elam and contest catches, including one in the endzone. "It's great to have a good cover guy in the slot. That's where some teams have their best receiver, so for Marco to play there is a big help,” said Elam. It’s primarily the middle of the field and the interior defensive line that needs to take that next step forward. The outside linebackers of Brenton Cox and Jeremiah Moon helped push Collin Hill’s pocket much of the day and Brenton Cox is proving to be all he was advertised to be. But there isn’t consistent play around them. On the last South Carolina play of the game, 4th and goal from the four-yard line, linebackers coach Christian Robinson and Grantham were both jumping and waving, attempting to get the attention of redshirt freshman Ty’Ron Hopper. They wanted him to move to the other side. Eventually they just called a timeout instead to get the defense reset. Florida gave up 6-17 on third down to the Gamecocks. “You can’t dwell on those things like that,” contemplates Elam. “All those third down conversions are just learning lessons to help us execute next time. I feel like we should get off the field every third down. If not, you can’t dwell on it. You’ve just got to learn from it, and come smarter and harder.” This issues are fixable according to Mullen, and a combination of several problems. “I think it’s a yes, a combination of a bunch of different things. It’s not one thing that’s going to show on one specific play or one thing that’s gonna show up 15-20 times during the course of a game. I think there are a couple of different things, execution, when we get to tackling in the open field, we’ve got to make sure we’re getting lined up properly, making sure we get 11 guys running to the football properly. I think just combinations of those things. “Then again, looking at it another high scoring game, a little more high scoring than what you’re used to seeing this time of year. I think defenses will start catching up as the year keeps moving forward.” Of course all this talk is distracting from another marquee day for the Gators offense. Well, it w as marquee at least on paper. The Gators put up 38 points and 348 yards and afterwards, Mullen was disappointed. “I didn’t think we played exceptionally well today offensively, to be honest with you. We made some critical errors in the course of the game. I expect us to play a lot better than we did today offensively. At times, we did some really good things, guys made plays, distributed the ball well at times. But we had a couple of three-and-outs, we had two turnovers. We missed a touchdown in the red zone. Just little things that a really efficient offense, when we’re rolling, that we aren’t going to do.” Still, if a a team can put together those numbers in a relatively off performance, then how potent can it be overall? And that’s where Florida is now. No more excuses for poor clock management or game planning. Five touchdowns isn’t enough. Trask’s 684 yards are the most through the first two games by a Gators quarterback since Rex Grossman opened his 2001 Heisman Trophy runner-up season with 706 in UF’s first two games is standard. Going into the game, Kyle Pitts had more touchdowns individually than the rest of the TEAMS in the SEC. That’s nothing. Because now this offense is expected to be high powered and electric. And on Saturday, in a day offense could have done so much more, there were still those electric moments. None more so than the seven-yard pass Trask sent to Kadarius Toney over the middle of the field. The senior receiver made five different D-1 defenders slip and/or run into each other as he hoofed it another 50-yards for the 57-yard touchdown. Said Mullen of the day Toney (6-86 yards, 1 TD) had, “He’s a guy you can move all over the place, put him in the back field, motion him out of the back field. To be able to do all the different he has to be smart and not really just intelligent, but a smart football player to learn how to do all the different things. He did a really good job of that today.” Of course there was Kyle-to-Kyle, which looks to be one of the most well oiled machines in the country. They’ve now connected for six total touchdowns. Pitts’ second touchdown reception this afternoon was the 12th of his career and tied the school record for career receiving touchdowns by a tight end. “I would say that with our relationship it’s that when we go out there he trusts me and I trust him to put the ball there. And Coach Mullen the play calls to get me the ball,” explained Pitts. Running back Dameon Pierce (9-51 yards, 1TD) carried the first scoring drive of the game, often with defenders his back. He redirected himself to open lanes, lowered his shoulder and plowed the offense down field to their first score. “That’s one thing we practiced all week,” revealed Pierce, “you know, practice makes perfect. We were just hitting the gaps, we had great pulls, great blocks. It was a team effort on that drive and we got a touchdown.” And hometown boy Trent Whittemore made an excellent catch climbing the ladder and then another for his first touchdown off a well-set rub by Justin Shorter. Whittemore described the touchdown saying, “just a play that we been repping in practice all week and got man coverage and Kyle just put it in a great spot. I praise the Lord I was able to come down with it. I just credit Kyle for a great throw, putting it in a spot where it was going to me or nobody. So, credit to him and praise the Lord I was able to come down with it.” There were mistakes here as well, like Trask’s interception, which he said was a result of Toney slipping; “I thought he could get back up. It was just one of those fluke deals that we need to clean up.” And the offense picked up only nine yards total in the 4th quarter while the Gamecocks controlled the time of possession and forced a punt. But for this team to be at a point where the offense can utilize 11 different playmakers, then they can be a dangerous team that grows stronger as the year evolves. It was how the LSU Tigers grew in 2019 en route to a National Championship. And the game plan Florida used against them in Baton Rouge (running 84 plays to the Tigers 48). is much the same game plan South Carolina tried against Florida today (running 83 plays to Florida’s 53). Control the time of posses and keep the explosive offense off the field. It hasn’t worked either time. “With the capability and potential of our offense, the playmakers that we have, we expect to score every single time we have the ball,” admits Trask. “And we should have scored every time we have the ball. There were little things that we did; me personally, I can’t put the ball on the ground. We can’t give the ball to the other team. We’ve just go to out and do a better job of cleaning up those little things. If we do that, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll be able to score on every single drive.” It’s an entirely different mindset. And it eases some of the roughness from an earned win. At the end of the day, the Florida Gators are 2-0 in a SEC only season without tune up games. Their defense can be fixed and their offense can’t be stopped.

The No. 3 Florida Gators (1-0) have kicked off their home schedule against the South Carolina Gamecocks (0-1). At halftime, the Gators lead 24-14. As a valued GatorBait subscriber, we wanted to offer these halftime observations. *During the middle of the first half, Florida picked up a commitment from Clemson transfer, Demarkcus Bowman Florida didn’t sell their entire allotment of available tickets. No official number has been given yet, but by our estimations, it looks like about 80-85% of the available seats were filled. Athletic Director Scott Stricklin made his way around the press box in pregame to chat with reporters and while speaking with GatorBait, seemed pleased with how Florida had prepared to make the day safe. He also remains optimistic that once fans see how today goes, they’ll be more apt to purchase tickets for the LSU game in two weeks. While it certainly doesn’t match the raucous throat of 90,000 plus, it is relatively loud. Those in attendance have been excited and as loud as they can manage. At kickoff, it almost felt like a normal crowd. A lot of that is thanks to the way Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is built. The stands go straight up from the field and sound is trapped in the Swamp. Head Coach Dan Mullen has preached a a “bring your own energy” mentality with the smaller crowd sizes this year. His towel guys especially helped get that started, pumping up the crowd as Evan McPherson kicked things off. There was inevitably some pumped in crowd noise that helped with that, but it still helped set the mood. The Gators defense again started porous, letting South Carolina drive down field easily on the opening possession. Will Muschamp and team took an early 7-0 lead, taking nearly seven minutes off the clock. But Florida’s offense is too potent to be stopped and immediately answered. The only slight worry with this offense is how much they go non-huddle. This usually isn’t a huge deal but after little offseason to prepare, there were times receivers and even offensive lineman were asking questions to the sideline up till the snap and seemed slightly off kilter. There are enough talented weapons to make up for this as long as Kyle Trask gets the ball even close to the right area. This will likely work itself out as guys become more comfortable through the season. Florida’s first drive on offense featured a lot of Dameon Pierce who really showed maturity. He still has his bruising mentality and used it several times. But additionally on three separate runs, he redirected and went opposite field for big gains. He then walked easily into the endzone for the touchdown. After Florida tied it up at 7 and then took the lead 14-7, the defense sandwiched the scores with great stops. An excellent punt return by Kadarius Toney gave Florida the ball at midfield and they looked to go up by two scores. But a fumble by Kyle Trask gave USC the ball at midfield and the defense couldn’t hold, tying it at 14-all. On the ensuing drive, Kyle Trask took what was actually a very good sack. It’s easier to come back from a 2-yard loss than an interception. His sack gave Florida another shot and they took it, hitting freshman Xzavier Henderson over the middle for a 23-yard gain. It’s his second reception as a Gator. A 26-yard walk in the park field goal from Evan McPherson made it 17-14. The following drive, Collin Hill looked deep for a big gain but sophomore corner Kaiir Elam—who originally had gotten turned around—turned on the burners to catch up to his guy and make the diving pass breakup. Elam has been a bright spot on the defense. He’s played opposite Chester Kimbrough and Jaydon Hill while Marco Wilson has been moved inside to STAR. In my opinion, that’s Florida’s best lineup in the secondary. With Wilson at STAR, everything else runs smoother. The safeties—who returned Shawn Davis after he was ejected for targeting last week—have more time, Elam can play more freely and Marco can use his physicality to cover sideline-to-sideline. Elam’s pass breakup and an incompletion forced a 3rd and long. Zach Carter, from his new position at defensive tackle, sacked Hill for a loss of seven. Carter looks to be a permanent fixture at defensive tackle while Kyree Campbell remains unavailable (more on that at the bottom). After the sack, Florida took back over at their own 48-yard line. A RPO option with Nay’Quan Wright saw Kyle Trask keep the ball for a 19-yard gain. Another RPO allowed Trask to hit Jacob Copeland over the middle for a 12 yard gain and the next play, Trask and Kyle Pitts connected for their second touchdown of the day. Kyle-to-Kyle has accounted for 10 touchdowns since the two first began to start last season and six touchdowns already this season. As of halftime, Pitts has tied the Florida school record for most career touchdowns (12) by a tight end. He has an opportunity to break it by days’ end. He also has more touchdowns than the rest of the SEC. As in, the rest of the teams as a whole. At halftime, Florida leads 24-14. South Carolina seems to be using the same game plan Florida used against LSU last season, which is hold on to the ball and keep it out of Kyle Trask’s hands. South Carolina has controlled time of possession, 15:17–14:43 PLAY OF THE DAY SO FAR Kyle Trask went deep in double coverage for Trent Whittemore. The freshman climbed the ladder to pull down the 21-yard gain and put the Gators in the redzone. They would score on the next play. NOTES: -Kyree Campbell was seen by GatorBait before the game, walking into the stadium half-hour before kickoff in street clothes. -Emory Jones, who was reportedly seen on campus with a brace this week, was dressed and on the sideline. He wore a headset the entire first half. INACTIVES: Kyree Campbell Lamar Goods Quincy Lenton CJ McWilliams Ethan Pouncey Jordan Pouncey Jahari Rogers Brad Stewart Ethan White

Pitts is a splendid player, probably the best on the team. Mullen has known it for a while. His teammates have seen it for a year in practice. The media and fans weren’t seeing those practices. There have been some major adjustments in semi-quarantine for the past seven months and, to be honest, I haven’t missed the travel or commuting. One trip I am going to miss this week, however, will be my annual Ocala-Gainesville trek up US Routes 441/301 to the place I first knew over a half-century ago only as Florida Field. Coverage of Gator football being limited this season, I drew the short straw. So I’ll just have to count on my colleague Kassidy Hill to keep my seat warm until later this year or 2021. Enroute to Florida Field, which has since gained two more names, most Gator fans experience the wonderful swole-up anticipation of autumn that buoys the spirits behind the wheel, often exaggerated, like sugar-plums dancing in your head. It harkens me back to the days when spoils such as SEC championships were considered a luxury and could only be dreamt of, like that sugar-plum, because until 1991 it had been only that. There’s been a pause in max celebrations for about a decade, until recently when Dan Mullen came off the plane chomping. He said he expects to win, which he has done 22 times out of 27, and expects to be held accountable for fixing the offense. On that latter count, last Saturday the dinner bell began to chime again. Was it Gator football rejuvenated, or was it Memorex? Given that it’s been a long drink of water between titles, this hiccup of a football season may turn out to be a much-needed dose of joy. And on Harvest Moon weekend, if the Gators repeat their offensive blast from the win over Ole Miss and can send Will Muschamp packing back to Columbia with an “L,” it would set up a 2-0 start down a road that soon includes LSU’s visit in two weeks. And as the nation’s No. 3 team, Florida can at least start knocking at the door of Alabama and Clemson. Perhaps a little premature to break out with the song “Happy Days Are Here Again.” (Note to self, avoid the sugar high of sugar plums right here.) Mullen had brought game and talent and tutelage to the proud program once guided by the Hall of Fame likes of Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer. He’s not in their class – yet, if ever -- but is like-minded and boasts a little of their DNA. Mullen apparently loves to go Unicorn Hunting. No weapons needed – but it’s a weapons search. Just find a freak athlete and bag him. Problem is, Unicorns are rare and they don’t always graze in the same pastures. You might find one in South Florida, or South Texas – or even in South Philly. The latter is closer to where they found Kyle Pitts. It has been suggested by friends and associates that I should pump the brakes on my nomination of Pitts to the Hall of Fame after only one game in 2020. Matter of fact, in my weekly “Best Fridays in Football Podcast with Urban Meyer,” as I was extolling the magnificent display of Pitts’ talents in his four-touchdown performance vs. Ole Miss, I could sense Coach Meyer’s disdain in his voice about my sophomoric overreaction, as "Buddy – I saw the highlights.” These tired old eyes have seen most of the great players who ever came through Hogtown. Pitts may be one of those generational players – or at least will be by the time he finishes and becomes the first tight end drafted by the NFL. But like Urban suggested, perhaps I should take a beat. I am not here just to extoll the virtues of Pitts’ considerable talent, but to forecast his ascent. That’s what true visionaries do. However, before I back down here, let me point out that maybe we should not be so quick to dismiss Pitts’ performance as just good or ordinary. After all, how many times have you ever heard of a so-called tight end catching FOUR touchdown passes in single game? Nobody I know had. The NFL has had a couple. Kellen Winslow once caught five and Mike Ditka four -- of the ones I can remember. Only Hall of Famers and perhaps the two greatest tight ends in history need apply. Four TD receptions in a game have only been accomplished three times in Florida football history—Jack Jackson 1994 vs. NM State; Ike Hilliard 1995 vs Tennessee; Kyle Pitts 2020 vs. Ole Miss So I went to the record book and found out that one player from North Texas State actually caught five. Marcell Barbee of Texas State and Joshua Moore of Texas were the other two besides Pitts. Must be something in that water in the Lone Star State. How does Urban Meyer think teams will try and defend vs. Pitts? Check out our Best Friday's in Football: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/best-fridays-in-football/id1533661138 For a guy 6-7, 240, Kyle Pitts can motor, seen here vs. Bulldogs. GatorBait Photo 1. Jaelon Darden N. Texas State (5) 2. Marcell Barbee, Texas State (4) Joshua Moore, Texas (4) Kyle Pitts, Florida (4) Greatness often comes in pairs. And if I were are ever going to use that adjective next to Kyle Pitts’ name, it would be because of the other half of that dynamic duo which I call K2K. You know – Ruth & Gehrig, Stockton & Malone, Spurrier & Casey, Reaves & Alvarez, Wuerffel & Doering, Hilliard or Anthony, etc. Trask & Pitts? Right now that might sound absurdly premature. But Trask & Pitts are formidable and greatness could ensue. A championship season later perhaps. The skill set and tools are there for Pitts. “He’s got the size, so when DBs are on him, a lot of times, he can go over the top of DBs,” said Mullen. “He can run away from backers. He’s got tremendous athletic ability to go catch the ball, and as I think everybody saw, he’s really developed much better as a blocker this offseason. When you combine those things defensively, who do you put on him?” Pitts is a splendid player, probably the best on the team. Mullen has known it for a while. His teammates have seen it for a year in practice. The media and fans weren’t seeing those practices. Pitt was the most dashing receiver last season, but the outrageous combined consistency of seniors Jefferson, Cleveland, Swain & Hammond (together they sound like dead presidents) overshadowed his brilliance. Now that the training wheels have come off Trask, I expect to see an even more productive and exciting K2K. It hasn’t escaped my notice that teams will be gunning for Pitts and that he’s going to draw a ton of double-coverage, plus jamming at the line and, when all else fails, hooking and tugging of the jersey. The astute members of the Talk Show brigade feel that we’ll never see him in the end zone four times a game again (@PodUp with Matthews, Shane Matthews). I get it – defenses adjust. I even asked Urban Meyer this week why Pitts is so hard to cover. Aside from the mismatches, Urban said when you are going up against a skilled athlete like he had in Cornelius Ingram or Aaron Hernandez, “you are asking your fourth best defensive guy to cover an elite athlete.” Mullen talked about the “Matchup Nightmare” that the 6-7, 240 pound junior Pitts creates. “Do you have a 6-foot-4, 240-pound linebacker than can run with him? Or do you have a 6-3 1/2, 220 safety that’s physical as he is at the point of attack?” The Gator Coach thinks South Carolina’s defense will use length and size. “They have some length out there. They have some long corners and big safeties. They’re probably going to have some athletes that they can match up with him. They’re big men and play a lot of man coverage, so you’ll have some one-on-one matchups, so it’s about creating the best match-up we can.” Why is Pitts so hard to cover, what strengths does he bring to the game? “I think, one, when you look that he is a tight end. But if you go look at that, it is about the mismatches. I mean, he’s got the size, so when DBs are on him, a lot of times, he can go over the top of DBs. He can run away from backers. He’s got tremendous athletic ability to go catch the ball, and as I think everybody saw, he’s really developed much better as a blocker this offseason. When you combine those things defensively, who do you put on him? You know what I mean. He’s kind of a unicorn, right? So unless you have a unicorn on defense to match the unicorn on offense … There’s not a lot of them out there. They’re very, very rare to ever see. Do you have a 6-foot-4, 240-pound linebacker than can run with him? Or do you have a 6-3 1/2, 220 safety that’s physical as he is at the point of attack. So that’s really what makes him a mismatch.” Of course there is the flip side: Take away Pitts and get beat by Grimes or Toney or Copeland or Whittemore – or a running back like Davis or Pierce. “It's a very scary offense,” Trevon Grimes said. “You kind of have to pick your poison. There's more to come.” Well worth the trip to The Swamp on a gorgeous October Saturday. Hopefully before the season ends, those of us shut out this time will draw a little longer straw.

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: South Carolina has this annoying habit of making the Gators sweat bullets. With the exception of South Carolina’s 36-14 win at The Swamp in 2010 and Florida’s 44-11 bushwhacking of the Gamecocks in 2012, most of the games have been white knuckles heading into the fourth quarter. A year ago the Gators trailed South Carolina 20-17 at the start of the fourth quarter before Kyle Trask caught fire to lead UF to a 38-27 win. The year before at The Swamp, the Gamecocks held a 31-14 lead with 4:41 left in the third quarter only to lose, 35-31 when Feleipe Franks scored on a 1-yard run late in the fourth to give the Gators a 35-31 win. It’s for that reason why so many pundits think the 3rd-ranked Gators (1-0) might have their hands full Saturday at noon when they face South Carolina (0-1) at a Swamp with a maximum of 17,000 fans on hand. Florida is coming off an impressive offensive explosion against Ole Miss while South Carolina snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against Tennessee. The Gators have plenty to lose while the 18-point underdog Gamecocks can play fast and loose since nobody is expecting them to play well. While history might tell us to expect a close game, there is one distinct reason why Florida should blow the doors off South Carolina this year. In 2018, the Gators had lost two in a row when they faced South Carolina. Last season, the Gators faced South Carolina the week after a heart-throbbing loss to LSU in Baton Rouge. The Gators aren’t regrouping this week. Instead they are fully focused, pretty close to full strength after playing Ole Miss on the road a few key players down a week ago. There are no lingering after effects of a loss hanging over the Gators’ heads as there were the previous two seasons. A year ago, Kyle Trask threw four touchdown passes against South Carolina including three in the fourth quarter. The four TDPs look good on paper but this was not one of Trask’s better games. The Trask we saw dissecting Ole Miss last week is head and shoulders better than the one who got a win in Columbia last year. Of course, the Florida offense is head and shoulders better than last year. Although the Gators ran for 154 yards against South Carolina a year ago, 75 came on one touchdown burst by Dameon Pierce. So on Florida’s other 29 carries, the Gators averaged 2.72 yards per carry. Trask threw for 200 yards but averaged only 6.06 yards per attempt, which tells you most of his passes were of the dink and dunk variety. What we saw last week against Ole Miss was evidence that Trask and the Florida offense have evolved into one that is capable of exploding against any team on the schedule. One reason for the evolution of the offense is a line that is bigger, stronger and faster than the unit that had so many struggles last year. As we saw last week against Ole Miss, they gave Trask time to find 11 different receivers for 416 yards and six touchdowns, four to tight end Kyle Pitts. Trask made it to nearly every Heisman Trophy watch list with his performance and Pitts became the instant favorite to walk away with the Mackey Award. Florida also ran the ball for 196 yards while averaging 6.76 yards per carry, which is phenomenal. The defense played poorly last week, in part because of a distinct lack of hitting in practice and also because key players like nose tackle Kyree Campbell, outside linebacker Jeremiah Moon and safeties Brad Stewart and Shawn Davis (targeting call in the first quarter) were missing. Those four will be back this week so it should be a vastly improved effort. It should be. South Carolina’s offense isn’t nearly the challenge of Ole Miss and Gamecock QB Collin Hill lacks the mobility of Matt Corral. Whereas Corral could extend plays and pick up chunks of yardage with his feet, Hill has had three knee surgeries and isn’t going to frighten anyone when he takes off running. THE SAYER SAYS SOOTH: Nothing would lift the Gamecock faithful and their sagging opinion of HBC Will Muschamp more than a win over the Gators. Muschamp will have the Gamecocks playing over their heads but it isn’t going to help. South Carolina has a better defense than the one the Gators faced last week but the offense is Romper Room comparatively speaking. Look for a big day from Dameon Pierce in the running game to complement Trask going off for more than 300 yards. Florida 41, South Carolina 20 SOOTHSAYING IN THE SEC #13 TEXAS A&M AT #2 ALABAMA: We have been waiting for three years for Kellen Mond to show on the field what everyone suspects on paper. So far he hasn’t exactly wowed the masses. Saturday he’s on the big stage in Tuscaloosa, coming off a game against a bad Vandy team in which he constantly overthrew open receivers even when he wasn’t under duress. He will be under duress Saturday. Mac Jones has a chance to enhance his reputation as a righthanded version of Kenny “The Snake” Stabler, the best deep ball thrower Alabama has ever had. If the Aggies try to take the deep ball away from Jaylen Waddle and Devonta Smith, then Najee Harris will chew them up on the ground. The Sayer Says Sooth: This is year three, the one that Jimbo Fisher has said will be The Year of the Aggie. Only one problem. He doesn’t have a QB or enough talent to beat Alabama on the road. Did you know Nick Saban has never lost to one of his former assistants? He won’t lose this week. Alabama 38, Texas A&M 17 #7 AUBURN (1-0) at #4 GEORGIA (1-0): If the Auburn offensive line can protect Bo Nix, the Tigers win this game. Here is why. The Tigers put Anthony Schwartz (legit 4.27 in the 40, 10.15 in the 100 meters) on one side and beastly Seth Williams (6-3, 224, 4.42 in the 40, 10.6 in the 100, 42 or more vertical) on the other. One, or both, of these guys is going to have a day of days if the Tigers can keep Nix upright. If Georgia goes zone and tries dropping seven into coverage, Auburn will dink it and let the clock help with the defense. It doesn’t matter who plays QB for Georgia. The offense will struggle to be efficient. Did you know 14 of the Bulldogs’ 37 points against Arkansas were absolute gifts? The Sayer Says Sooth: Auburn gets just enough running game and scrambling from Nix to keep the Georgia defense honest and Seth Williams will do things to the Georgia secondary that would put civilians in the big house doing hard time. The Sayer Says Sooth: Auburn 24, Georgia 20 ARKANSAS (0-1) at #16 MISSISSIPPI STATE (1-0): LSU, which has far better athletes than they have at Arkansas, gave up 44 points and a bazillion yards to The Pirate last week. About the only thing that may keep K.J. Costello from having a second straight 600-yard passing day will be Leach feeling sorry for Arkansas coach Sam Pittman, who is a very likeable guy. This is a game in which Kylin Hill could do a 100/100 day as in 100 yards rushing and 100 receiving. The Sayer Says Sooth: Feleipe Franks ran for his life last week against Georgia. While he was doing his feets don’t fail me now act, Mississippi State was sacking Myles Brennan seven times. The Bulldogs could exceed that total this week. Mississippi State 55, Arkansas 28 #20 LSU (0-1) at VANDERBILT (0-1): Isn’t it amazing what losing five first round draft picks, nine other draftees and two free agents to the NFL will do for you? LSU went from a team that could beat you every which way but loose to a team that had its head on a pike at Tiger Stadium by the time Mississippi State got through with the Tigers last week. Well, that was then and this is now. Even without Joe Burrow and all those other guys who play for pay and the guys that opted out of 2020, the Tigers have sufficiently more talent than Vanderbilt. There probably isn’t a single player on the Vandy roster that LSU even considered in the recruiting process. The Vandy folks are probably still glowing about their near miss to Texas A&M last week in Aggieland. They probably haven’t figured out that an Aggie team playing badly is still better than Vandy playing well. This will get ugly early. The Sayer Says Sooth: The Derek Mason Run the Table in Reverse Tour continues in Nashville. There won’t be anyone in the stands which will make Vanderbilt feel right at home. The only people who will watch this game on the SEC Network will be LSU fans. Everyone else will be watching Auburn-Georgia on ESPN. LSU 35, Vanderbilt 10 MISSOURI (0-1) at #21 TENNESSEE (1-0: The Vols won their season opener at South Carolina in spite of the fact they weren’t very good on either side of the ball. The Gamecocks gave that game away, but a win is a win is a win and Tennessee has won seven games in a row dating back to last season. Never mind the fact UT hasn’t beaten anyone that’s any good, they’re winning and Vol fans think they have a clear path to the College Football Playoff. Imagine getting there with Jarrett Guarantano at quarterback. Donkeys might fly first. As for Mizzou, their faithful are gushing because they scored 19 on Alabama. Of course, that was against the Bama second and third teamers that made the road trip. The Sayer Says Sooth: The Vols will make it eight wins in a row even though they won’t look great doing so and their faithful will start doing their best UCF impersonations by declaring UT the best team in the Southeastern Conference. Tennessee 30, Missouri 14 OLE MISS (0-1) at KENTUCKY (0-1): This might be the most entertaining game in the SEC this weekend. Ole Miss has the ability to light up nearly every team in the league but its defense plays as if under Covid-19 distancing protocols. Kentucky needs better play out of quarterback Terry Wilson, better play calling out of Eddie Gran and better pass defense, particularly if Matt Corral is slinging it all over the ball yard like he was last weekend against the Gators. For Ole Miss to win, this has to be a shootout. For Kentucky to win, the Wildcats need to pound the rock between the tackles and play defense with their offense by taking time off the clock. Ole Miss can’t score if Kentucky is moving the chains. The Sayer Says Sooth: The Lane Train is going to be fun to watch this season. As bad as that defense is, Lane Kiffin is one of the most gifted play callers in all of college football and he has weapons to work with. Kentucky has to win games running the football and playing defense. The Wildcats are not a team built to play from behind so if Ole Miss breaks out ahead, it might be a long evening in Lexington for the UK faithful. Ole Miss 38, Kentucky 30. FEELING PITHY ON A FRIDAY: Think of what happened with Demarcus Bowman as a window shopping expedition. The 5-star running back got up to Clemson, tried things on and then decided what they were selling he wasn’t buying. So two games into his foray up north, Bowman is in the NCAA transfer portal, determined to play close to his Lakeland home. Smart money is on the Gators, who recruited him hard out of high school. It doesn’t hurt that several of his former Lakeland buddies are Gators such as Fenley Graham, Lloyd Summerall III and Keon Zipperer as well as juco lineman Deyavie Hammond, who will be a Gator next year … The SEC approved the intra-conference transfers of Cade Mays (Georgia to Tennessee) and Joey Gatewood (Auburn to Kentucky). Still hanging in limbo is Ole Miss DB Otis Reese (from Georgia). This is just further proof we need to give every player a one-time free pass to transfer without restriction and with immediate eligibility. The NCAA could do something about it if Mark Emmert actually had a functioning brain … Not only has DB Clifford Chattman opted out of Texas A&M’s 2020 season, he’s also entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal. That’s six Aggies who have opted out. The magic pixie dust has worn off Jimbo. He might be fortunate to win five games … The Mountain West Conference announced its schedule that begins on October 24. Some of the teams will play eight conference games while Air Force will play six and Boise State and San Diego State will each play seven. This is what happens when a league allows the Big Ten to do its thinking instead of doing what is best for itself. If not for Pac-12 commish Larry Scott, Big Ten head man Kevin Warren would qualify as the worst conference commissioner in history.

A ripple went through the Florida Gators football facilities and Gator Nation when the news broke. Clemson Tigers Freshman running back Demarkcus Bowman has entered the transfer portal. Matt Zentiz of al.com first broke the news. *Gators defensive lineman Gervon Dexter reacts to the Demarkcus Bowman news The Lakeland native was largely seen as a locked-in Gator commit until Dabo Swinney and the Tigers came knocking. The 5-star back committed to Clemson in May of 2019 but Gators Head Coach Dan Mullen and running back coach Greg Knox stayed on Bowman the entire time, up till the ink was dry on his Clemson letter of intent. As Bowman explained to Tigernet.com after the news broke of his transfer, it's a desire to be close to family after a hard summer that led to the decision. "The only reason I came to Clemson is so my mother's dad could watch me play," Bowman told TigerNet. "He stayed in Atlanta but he passed away and that really hurt me. He was my closest family to me up there and I just didn't feel comfortable anymore. I just want to go to a school closer to home." His grandfather on his father's side passed away a month later and Bowman officially wanted to be closer to home and family. As he told TigerNet, he holds no ill will towards Clemson. This transfer comes only from a desire to play closer to Lakeland. "Clemson is a very great program. They have very great coaches and academic and is literally the most perfect place. It was just not the fit for me though." Florida is seen as the odds-on favorite to land the coveted running back who ran for 5,081 yards and 71 touchdowns during his high school career with the Dreadnaughts. Those in the program feel optimistic about the likelihood given Bowman's history with the program, proximity to home and Dan Mullen's past success with the transfer portal. If Bowman does choose Florida, then Mullen and Knox will have brought in two transfer running backs that are former five stars; Bowman and Miami Hurricanes transfer Lorenzo Lingard. On Thursday Bowman retweeted a Florida fan who pointed out he'd have full eligibility due to the NCAA waiving the year due to COVID-19.

South Carolina (0-1, 0-1 SEC) @ No. 3 Florida (1-0, 1-0 SEC) Location: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, Fla. Kickoff: 12 p.m. EST Broadcast: ESPN On the call: Mark Jones, play-by-play; Dusty Dvoracek, analyst; Marty Smith, sideline Vegas lines: -18.5, Florida Setting the scene: While Florida is coming off of a 51-35 win at Ole Miss, the Gamecocks are looking to rebound after dropping their week one matchup against Tennessee 31-27. The Gators escaped a rainy day in Columbia last season with a 38-27 victory to widen the series history to 28-9-3 in Florida’s favor. Rosters South Carolina: https://gamecocksonline.com/sports/football/roster Florida: https://floridagators.com/sports/football/roster

Steve Spurrier is notoriously quick witted, always prepared and 10 steps ahead of where you could even hope to be. So it’s little surprise the Head Ball Coach was ready for the moment he saw Dan Mullen on Monday morning . The current Florida Gators Head Coach—who can’t help but draw comparisons personality wise to the merciless Spurrier—began the volley on Saturday, after the Gators put up 642 yards of offense in a 51-35 win over Ole Miss, the most yards Florida has ever put on a SEC opponent and currently second in FBS for average yards per game. “I heard that it was a school record for offense. I would expect, when I get home, my neighbor Coach Spurrier right around the corner right there, I should have a really nice bottle of wine sitting on my desk if I broke one of his records offensively. That’s at least deserving of a nice bottle of wine.” Within the hour, Spurrier told Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley, “tell Coach to win a SEC Championship and I’ll bring him two.” Spurrier, of course, won six SEC Championships as coach of the Gators, along with the 1996 National Championship. But Spurrier, king of the comeback and laughingly stabbing you with so many quick quips that you don’t even realize you’ve been cut until you’re standing in a puddle of blood, couldn’t let the moment pass. On Monday morning, while taking his stroll through the Gator football offices, Spurrier popped in to deliver a gift to Mullen. A mini bottle of Sutter Home white wine. Average retail price? $1.75 Actually that’s not fair. They come in a pack of four, so one must purchase the full set for $6.99, plus tax. Can two men who have accumulated quite a financial portfolio through the coaching ranks even call a $1.75, 6 oz. container of cheap alcohol a bottle of wine? “It is actually a bottle and it is wine,” argued Mullen. “I mean he didn't miss a beat. He was in here this morning, first time I saw him he had a bottle of wine for me. I called him out and he brought it." Spurrier brings more than wine though—although that’s a plus. He’s become a fixture around the Gator offices since retiring from coaching at South Carolina and being named Ambassador for the athletic department…which is essentially a title that means he has his own office from which to base his hanging out in the facilities and can travel to speak on the athletic department’s behalf. It was the worst kept secret in Gainesville that the previous coaching staff didn’t exactly welcome Spurrier’s input. He’d attempt to visit and offer advice, only to have it rebuffed. Which is why it was a breath of fresh air for everyone involved when Dan Mullen and staff made it clear Steve Spurrier had an open invitation to their time, meetings and playbook. “I love having Coach Spurrier around because it’s, one, obviously to have a football person like that around the building and around all the time. I mean, I grew up a huge fan of him. Very rarely does he not walk in the room and put a smile of the face of everyone in the office,” reflects Mullen. “He’ll come by, have some thoughts on different things, football thoughts for us. And I just love it. It’s always good that you have—since I’ve been here, he’s a guy that comes in and is not judgmental. I think as everybody knows, he’s not afraid to give you advice on different things, or speak his mind and give his thoughts. “But he always does it to me in a very positive, constructive, helping way as a coach. I think it is great to have somebody like that around, just sticks his head in every once in a while, give his thoughts on what’s going on.” Brian Johnson, Gators quarterback coach and newly promoted Offensive Coordinator, soaks up any moment Spurrier strolls through the door with his Tennessee drawl and new idea to revolutionize the Florida offense. “You talk about guys that forget or probably have forgotten more football than you know, Steve Spurrier comes to mind. He’s accomplished a lot. Anytime you can pick his brain, get any knowledge, I think you’ve got to jump at that opportunity. We welcome him with open arms. I love it when he comes in there and draws up some plays for us. We put them in and they work. He is one of a kind, for sure. There’s nobody like him.” The Ole Ball Coach’s affinity for scratching out plays for Mullen and staff was first seen in the HBO special, “College Football 24/7” which highlighted a Gators 2019 game week. That’s a regular occurrence according to Mullen and Johnson. One in particular has made its way into their normal playbook. Explains Mullen, “He’ll draw up some plays for us now. He’s got a bunch of plays…usually it’s not as much during the season. Sometimes offseason, he’ll review stuff and say ‘hey, we’ve run this before, or we’ve run that before.’ We put one of them in last year, we ran a bunch of times called ‘Spurrier’ because he gave it to us.” Neither coach wants to reveal the details of the play since it’s still a normal part of their call sheet and lexicon. But since it’s aptly called “Spurrier” both coaches are happy to point out the obvious. “If it’s named Spurrier you know it’s not a run play.” The 75-year old is a football junkie though and as Johnson explains, is willing to talk ball with anyone in the Florida football offices. “He will come in, not only in college football, but he’ll come in and talk about the pro games from that Sunday night and stuff that people are doing in the NFL as well. So just, it’s always great to talk ball with him.” And for the time being, they’ll also talk a little wine. On Thursday, after Scott Stricklin was named 2020 Athletic Director of the Year at Sports Business Award Show the night prior, Mullen went to visit the AD that brought him to Gainesville. He had the Spurrier bottle of wine with him and regifted the ironic trophy. In the Florida Gators 112 seasons, they have a mere eight SEC Championships. Spurrier and Mullen have been a part of them all, either as head coach or offensive coordinator. If the Gators can achieve their goals of a 2020 SEC Championship this December and possibly a College Football Playoff berth, it’ll be the first that both have had a hand in together. That’ll be worth two bottles of wine.

The heads of DJ Durkin and Chris Partridge are still spinning. No defensive coordinator simply forgets what it was like for his team to give up 642 yards in a game. Surely, if you were to ask Will Muschamp about the last time he gave up that many yards, he’d remember. On Nov. 25, 2018, Muschamp’s Gamecocks gave up 744, yes 744, yards to the Clemson Tigers, who went on to win the National Championship that year. Gators fans know that Muschamp struggles to hide his frustrations. And that day was no different. After all, Muschamp is a defensive-minded guy. Just as Dan Mullen specializes in offense, Muschamp specializes in defense. But even the most experienced defensive brains look at the caliber of Florida’s current offense and pop another handful of Advil into their mouths. So for a guy like Muschamp, how will he handle it? How will he handle the two-headed creature composed of two Kyles? Whether you call him a unicorn, a mismatch or the No. 1 tight end in the country, we can all agree that Kyle Pitts is a problem. “Kyle Pitts is probably the best tight end in the country,” Muschamp said in his Tuesday press conference. “Certainly the best one we will see. Long, athletic, has speed, difficult matchup guy…has a very good knack of getting open, finding space…and Trask, obviously, they’ve got a good rapport as far as the throwing game is concerned.” However, it isn’t something with which Muschamp is all that unfamiliar. In a press conference earlier this week, Muschamp was asked about the similarities between Pitts and former Gators tight end Jordan Reed. Reed, albeit three inches shorter than Pitts, was an “unbelievable athlete” who collected 79 passes in his career at Florida from 2009-12. “They’re, I think, very similar,” Muschamp said in a media teleconference on Sunday evening. “As a defense, if you’re calling defenses, you’ve got to account for where he is all the time. Dan does a good job of moving him around. He’s not in one spot all the time and you’ve got to make sure you don’t get in a bad matchup, and then sometimes that can limit you a little bit with what you can call. Because you like the call versus the team and the scheme, but then you don’t like the call versus No. 84.” Last season, partially in thanks to a rainy day in Columbia, Pitts was held to just 29 yards on five receptions with a late touchdown. However, in this 11-minute highlight from Florida’s showdown with the Gamecocks, you can see just how much Dan Mullen likes to move around his tight end. By my count, on the plays in the video in which Pitts runs a route, he is out wide in two of them, in the slot for four of them and on the end twice. By the looks of it, then-sophomore defensive back RJ Roderick was the primary guy in coverage against Pitts in 2019 -- more times than not out of zone defense. However, the Gamecocks’ defensive scheme might be a bit in limbo after a couple of defenders got banged up against Tennessee in week one. Junior defensive back Israel Mukuamu suffered a groin strain against the Volunteers on Saturday and has been listed as day-to-day by Muschamp. And on paper, Mukuamu is the best option to cover Pitts. Stretching 6-foot-4, the lanky defensive back was a second-team All-SEC selection in 2019, and is regarded as a possible first-round draft pick in the 2021 draft. In addition to Mukuamu’s potential absence, outside linebacker Sherrod Greene is set to miss four to six weeks after fracturing his hip against the Vols on Saturday. Greene is another defender that would have likely seen snaps across from Florida’s No. 84. While Roderick will be available on Saturday, at 6 feet tall, the junior safety doesn’t exactly size up well against a 6-foot-6 Kyle Pitts. “He’s a great player, he’s as good a tight end as there is in the country,” Muschamp said. “He can win against DBs, he can win against corners, he can win against safeties.” Despite it all, the former Florida head coach is quick to point out that the two Kyles aren’t the only concerns of his coming into Saturday’s showdown. “They’re very balanced in what they do,” Muschamp said of Florida’s offense. “Dan is always gonna have balance as far as the run and pass game is concerned. There’s some very difficult matchups for you. “Obviously Pitts is a matchup issue… how you’re gonna handle him and they do a good job of moving him around. Kadarius Toney is a matchup issue. Grimes is a big guy that’s a physical receiver that can catch the 50/50 balls. There’s some skill issues that you've gotta deal with schematically, and then they’re a very experienced offensive line… and they’ve got good backs. Anytime you have really good skill people and you’ve got a good offensive line and you’ve got a guy that can pull the trigger and make good decisions, which Kyle does that, that does create some issues for you. Saturday they were really good. They really played well.”

It will take more than one game to get an accurate read on just how much Florida’s offensive line has improved since last season but what happened in Oxford offers hope that the trials and tribulations of last season are in the rearview mirror. John Hevesy’s offensive line struggled at times last year, largely due to inexperience (Gators ranked 127th out of 130 Division I teams in experience on the O-line at the outset of 2019) but with three full-time starters, two part-time starters and three who saw action on special teams inexperience is no longer a problem. Solidifying the O-line is Mississippi State grad transfer Stewart Reese, who has three years as a starter and has experience at every position except center. Expectations for improvement are very high this season and game one offered hope that 2020 will see a year when the O-line’s struggles are a thing of the past. In Florida’s 51-35 season-opening win over Ole Miss, the offensive line was far from perfect but the positives easily outweigh the few negatives. When evaluating the play of an offensive line there are four key stats that generally indicate effectiveness: (1) Rushing yards per attempt. Anything below 4.0 is horrible. 4.0 to 4.5 is at the low end of average. 4.6 to 5.0 is good. 5.1 to 5.5 is excellent. Anything above 5.5 is a sign that the offensive line is beating people up. (2) Passing yards per attempt. Anything below 6.0 is abysmal. 6.0 to 6.7 is at the low end of average and a sign of either a dink and dunk offense or a QB who has to unload because his O-line can’t hold back the rush. 6.8 to 7.5 is pretty good. 7.6 to 8.4 is a sign of a very effective passing game. Anything above 8.5 means the QB usually has all the time he needs to get the ball downfield. (3) Average yards per offensive play. Anything below 5.0 is disastrous. 5.0 to 5.5 is at the very low end of average. 5.6 to 6.0 means the O-line is holding its own. 6.1 to 6.5 is ideal. Anything above 6.5 means the offense is explosive and the O-line is getting the job done. (4) Sacks allowed. Anything more than 2.3 sacks per game is very bad. 2.0 to 2.3 is at the low end of average. 1.6 to 2.2 sacks isn’t ideal but you can live with it. 1.0 to 1.5 sacks per game means the O-line knows how to protect. Anything less than 1.0 is a coach’s dream. So how did the Gators do in their first game against Ole Miss? The Gators ran for 196 yards while averaging 6.76 yards per attempt. Factored in that total was an explosive play of 50 yards by Kadarius Toney. If you go back to 2019, the Gators had only two games with more than 200 yards and none of them were against a Southeastern Conference opponent. The Gators ran for 231 against D1AA UT-Martin and 244 against Virginia of the ACC in the Orange Bowl. The Gators averaged 6.08 against UT-Martin, 7.18 against Virginia. There were only seven games (out of 13) in which the Gators averaged as much as 4.0 per carry and for the season UF averaged only 4.24, not very impressive. The Gators had four explosive runs in 2019 – a 76-yard run by Josh Hammond against Kentucky, an 88-yard run by Lamical Perine against Auburn, a 75-yard run by Dameon Pierce against South Carolina and a 61-yard run by Perine against Virginia in the Orange Bowl. Take those four long runs out of the equation and the Gators averaged just 3.52 yards per carry. Take Toney’s 50-yard run out of the Ole Miss equation last Saturday and the Gators still averaged 5.21 yards per carry. The 196 yards lead the SEC after one week and the 6.76 yards per carry are second only to Texas A&M which averaged 6.78. Yards per pass attempt is the single most important passing stat since it’s a true indicator of a quarterback’s willingness to throw the ball down the field on a consistent basis. Tim Tebow averaged 9.2 yard per attempt in 2009. From 2009-2018, John Brantley in 2011 was the only Florida quarterback to average at least 8.0 per attempt (Brantley averaged 8.5 with Charlie Weis calling the plays). The year before Dan Mullen arrived at UF, Feleipe Franks averaged 6.3 yards per attempt. In 2018, Franks’ first year under Mullen, those numbers jumped to a respectable 7.6 yards per attempt. At the time he went down with a dislocated/fractured ankle in game three of 2019, Franks was averaging 9.8 per attempt. Kyle Trask took over under adverse circumstances so averaging 8.3 per attempt and throwing for 2,941 yards, the most of any Florida QB since Tebow’s Heisman season of 2007 (3,286 yards) is remarkable. Tebow went over the 3,000-yard mark in 2007 while starting all 13 Florida games. Trask got his in 10 games and one quarter. Against Ole Miss last week, Trask was 30-42 passing (71.4%) for 416 yards and six touchdowns. The six TDPs are the most of any Florida quarterback in history against an SEC opponent. It was the first time Trask has thrown for more than 400 yards in his career and the 416 are ninth on Florida’s all-time list. With five games with more than 300 passing yards in his 11 games as the Gators’ starting quarterback, Trask is tied with Tim Tebow (41 career starts) for seventh on the UF list for most 300-plus games. Trask averaged 9.9 yards per attempt against Ole Miss. Add in the 30 yards by backup Emory Jones and the Gators threw for 446 yards, finishing the game with a 9.9 average per attempt as a team. Total offense yardage can be deceiving because some teams use every second of the play clock as a defensive weapon. If the other team doesn’t have the ball, they can’t score is the theory behind slow play, so the better indicator of efficiency, both of the offense and the O-line is yards per play. In 2009, the Gators averaged an outstanding 6.97 per play in Tebow’s senior year and that was without the explosiveness Percy Harvin added to the offense. There was little in the way of explosiveness from 2010-17, evidenced by no season averaging at least 5.5 per play and five seasons of 5.19 or less. In 2013 the Gators averaged just 4.79 per play, which has everything to do with a 4-8 record and only 18.8 points per game. In Mullen’s first year on the job, the Gators improved from the 5.19 yards per play of 2017 to a very healthy 6.23. The Gators improved to 6.47 per play in 2019 and that was without the benefit of a consistent running game. In so many ways, the passing game became the running game as Mullen made sure the ball got out of Trask’s hands quickly. There were downfield throws but emphasis was on the short, quick passes to negate pass rush and to take advantage of a wide receiving corps that was more than willing to take on blocking assignments. Against Ole Miss, the Gators averaged an eye-opening 8.68 yards per play. The combination of a very good running game and Trask finding 11 different receivers carved up the Ole Miss defense. The running game got better as the game wore on as the offensive line got into a rhythm and began to dominate. The passing game was a solid mixture of the short quick stuff and going over the top downfield. Trask found Kyle Pitts on touchdown passes of 71, 16 and 17 yards, Trevon Grimes for a 16-yard TD and Toney for another TD of 16 yards. All those were downfield throws when Trask had time to throw thanks to adequate blocking by his O-line. This was a day when almost everything Mullen dialed up worked. Whether throwing the ball or running it, the O-line consistently got the job done. At the end of the Ole Miss game, Trask’s uniform was very clean. Ole Miss got to him just once for a three-yard loss. In the first half the Rebels got some pressure a few times by rushing more players than the Gators had blockers, but Trask was able to move in the pocket and get his throws off. One sack allowed in 45 pass attempts is a number Hevesy can live with. Early on when Ole Miss was throwing all these blitz packages at the Gators, the O-line wasn’t completely in synch but Hevesy made halftime adjustments and there were very few occasions in the second half when there was a missed assignment. Much of the credit for the adjustments has to go to center Brett Heggie, who earned Southeastern Conference Offensive Lineman of the Week kudos by grading out champion. In 2018 the Gators gave up 18 sacks in 13 games, a drastic improvement over 2017 when they allowed 37 sacks in the 11-game final season of the Jim McElwain era. Although that number increased to 25 sacks allowed (again in 13 games) in 2019, remember Hevesy had only one returning starter and just 24 career starts among his entire unit. This year with so much more experience, the addition of Reese and the expected quick return of last year’s part-time starter Ethan White, the pass protection should be better than it has been any time in the last decade. This is only one game and it was against an Ole Miss defense that struggled far too often the year before. But, the Rebels do have former UF coordinator and Maryland head coach calling the defense so they are actually improved over where they were last year although the first game stats are very bad from their standpoint. So look at what the Gators did in game one with cautious optimism. On paper, Florida has an improved offensive line from the year before. On paper they should be far better in their run blocking, particularly when White gets healthy to give them a threesome in the middle of Heggie (6-4, 321), Reese (6-6, 350) and White (6-5, 335). Hevesy likes those hulks in the middle to open things up in the running game. The question that has to be answered is in pass blocking off the edge. Ole Miss had no consistent edge rushers and was forced to resort to blitz packages to try to get to Trask. At some point the Gators will face a team that has strong edge rushers to go with blitz packages. Stone Forsythe (6-9, 312) at the left tackle seems to improve every game. Right tackle Jean Delance (6-5, 315) was often dazed and confused as the starter in 2019 but he improved enough in the offseason that Hevesy went with him in game one. Can he continue to get the job done? If he can’t Hevesy has the advantage of either shifting Reese or Richard Gouraige (6-5, 316) outside. Reese started at right tackle for a good portion of his Mississippi State career and has the advantage of a year as a starter for Hevesy in 2017. Gouraige has started at both guard and right tackle. With White out with a minor knee injury, Gouraige is starting at guard but when White returns, Hevesy could move him to right tackle or elect to keep him at guard while moving Reese out there. If the Gators can handle the pass blocking element, the offense could easily be the most explosive since the days of Tebow and Percy Harvin. The talent is there for a much improved unit in 2020. If they can do their part, the Gators are going to have a very good chance to win the SEC East and perhaps even the SEC title. One game is not a good enough barometer to predict championships but it is enough to offer hope. There is that old saying “It’s what’s up front that counts.” If what’s up front for the Gators play at a high level in the next nine games, Florida could be punching a ticket for Atlanta.

"To be in the Swamp in October feels normal, and I know life hasn’t always felt normal the past six months. Come join us in the Swamp this Saturday, it should be great the first home game." That's the hope from Florida Gators Head Coach Dan Mullen. In the midst of a global pandemic that brought shutdowns and quarantines, little has seemed normal since March. But after months of uncertainty and thinking we’d never get to this point, the University of Florida Athletic Association is preparing to welcome Florida Gators fans to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday for the Gators home opener against South Carolina. It will inevitably look different and it won't be anywhere near the raucous madhouse that 90,00 fans can create. But Mullen is hoping fans feel comfortable and safe as the school shoots for some semblance of normal. "You know it’s going to be great to be home and back to being in the home environment - playing in the Swamp, there is no environment like it. I can’t wait to see it. I think one thing. Even though there is a limited capacity at stadiums right now, fans can make a huge difference. So we need the Gator fans maximize, we can’t pack the swamp, but maximize what we can do at the Swamp on Saturdays." A variety of state and local guidelines along with heeding suggestions from the Center for Disease Control means The Swamp will only be playing host to around 15,000 fans in the stands this season (plus those in suites and BullGator dens). Athletic Director Scott Stricklin and staff began meeting in February to monitor the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19. As soon as sporting events were cancelled in March, another committed—this led by Chip Howard, Executive Associate Athletics Director for Internal Affairs—was formed to begin planning for fall sports and how they would look in terms of fan attendance. Howard and his team have spent recent weekends attending NFL and college games in Miami (Dolphins), Tallahassee (FSU) Oxford (Ole Miss) to see how each of those stadiums and programs handled fans in the stands. They were able to pick and choose, according to Howard, noting things that were done well and tweaking things they felt UF should do differently. The biggest thing Howard took away from the lessons of others has been messaging, calling it “vitality important.” This references the onslaught of emails, mail and contact UF has attempted to use to pass along information and prepare fans for what they can expect come game day. In that same vein and in preparation for Saturday’s reopening of the Gators home stadium, UAA officials welcomed local media to The Swamp on Tuesday for a mock walk-through. We simulated checking-in, finding seats, picking up concessions and were able to find out details to your questions on how this will all work. TICKETING AND ENTERING When fans arrive, parking will look a little different as the school tries to keep everyone parked far enough apart to adhere to social distancing guidelines. There will be signage in the lots asking fans to keep six-feet apart. As fans arrive to the stadium, the PA speakers will be reminding everyone to monitor social distancing, wear masks and sanitize. Markers on the ground will help show fans where to stand in order to maintain six-feet of distance while waiting to enter. Guest service representatives at each gate will make sure fans are wearing mask as they enter the gates. All ticketing must be done virtually. They can be downloaded either through the Florida Gators app (launched last season and available in all smart phone app stores) or through your ticket purchase website. No physical tickets will be taken. Fans are encouraged to enter and exit through the gate closest to their seats. Any unsold tickets will become available to students on Thursday’s of game weeks. CONCESSIONS Once inside, the West concourse will offer expanded food options along with alcoholic beverages. Those beverages will only be allowed in the West concourse and can’t be brought into the seating area. Concessions can be purchased on the Florida Gators app as well. In-app purchasing is encouraged because fans can pick the one closest to their seat and then pick it up from the express lane. Food and drinks can be purchased in the traditional line as well. It will all be pre-packaged, having been prepared in a safe environment and not being done in the moment. All food handlers will be in PPE. SANITIZATION In addition to multiple hand sanitizer dispensers placed around the stadium, there will also be sanitizing crews who are constantly roaming and cleaning/disinfecting. They will be in easily seen neon shirts so fans can identify them if needed. SEATING The most notable and noticeable difference in Gator games this year will obviously be the seating. Florida has placed seat backs throughout the stadium and every ticket sold will be for a seat back. This is UF’s way of making it easy to see who should be sitting where and making sure all seated are six-feet apart. The seats will be sold in “pods” of two or four. Pods mean those seats are sold to familiar groups. In other words, a couple can purchase tickets for a two-seat pod or a family of three or four can purchase a four seat pod. No pods will be split amongst multiple groups. Each pod section has been distanced in a six-foot radius from every other pod. Every other row has been left empty to allow fans to walk to their seats without walking on top of others in attendance. The north and south endzone which already have actual chair back seats will instead be marked with orange tape as a marker for which ones can be sat in and which must be kept empty. FIRST AID Any fan not feeling well can visit the first-aid station. This has always been available but additional screenings have been added this year due to COVID-19. Now fans visiting the first aid area will first be asked a series of questions off a COVID questionnaire. Their temperature will then be taken and if either of those two things correlate to a possible COVID-19 case, that fan will be taken to a separate area for additional screening. Otherwise, they’re welcome to use the first aid area as normal. MASKING AND IGNORING PROTOCOLS Fans must wear mask to enter the stadium, when in the concourse and in their seat. Mask can only be removed when eating or drinking. Fans that don’t wear mask, move out of the pre-assigned seats or actively ignore social distancing guidelines will receive a warning from an usher. If the problem persists, a law enforcement officer will step-in; and if it still persists, that fan’s seat number will be noted and they will be contacted after the game to discuss losing their privileges to buy future tickets. For those that are watching from home, UF is offering a “Virtual Gameday” where fans can tune in for the 1st and 10 pre-game show, the Honorary Mr. Two Bits and the fourth quarter signing of Won’t Back Down and We Are The Boys. A lot of things will look and feel different this season. But as the Florida Gators (1-0) make a run for the College Football Playoffs, it will certainly be one to remember.

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning: “At the end of the day let’s get off the field and give the offense the ball back” – Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham That sounds so familiar, a lot like what Bobby Stoops was saying back in 1996 when he was Steve Spurrier’s defensive coordinator. Stoops knew if his troops got the ball back then Stevie Wonder and his Fun ‘n’ Gun offense would light up the scoreboard. Grantham knows what kind of offense Dan Mullen has. He sees Kyle Trask throwing to Kyle Pitts and those exceptional receivers every day in practice. He saw what they did last Saturday in Oxford when they lit up Ole Miss for 51 points and 642 yards. No one knows more better than Todd Grantham that if his Florida defense had done its part Saturday the Gators might have scored 70 on the Rebels. As capable as the Gators are of lighting up the scoreboard on every single opponent this year, the defense can’t be a consistent no show. Teams that rely on winning by shootout usually do a cheap imitation of the Titanic and sink when some defense does its version of an iceberg. So the defense has to get in the habit of getting stops. The sooner the better. If you go by week one, the next two games offer ideal opportunities for Grantham to get his defense playing at a high level. South Carolina managed 27 points and 379 yards against a mediocre Tennessee defense. Texas A&M racked up 17 points and 372 yards against a very bad Vanderbilt defense. On film, neither of these teams should scare the bejabbers out of the Florida defenders but if they miss tackles and blow assignments as frequently as they did against Ole Miss, the Gators will have to win in shootout fashion. Shootouts might be very entertaining but three-and-outs are better because they get the ball back for that UF offense. So how is Grantham going to impart the need for his unit to get the ball back to the offense? “I look at it as each play how do you win the down?” Grantham asked. “You want to win more downs than you obviously lose. We just didn’t play well enough (vs. Ole Miss), whether it was a fundamental error, whether it was a lack of execution, whether it was leverage on the ball, just finishing. I mean, we just didn’t do it. It is what it is. You’ve gotta own it. The biggest thing to me is how do we respond and get better. I don’t think you can ever use anything as an excuse. You gotta find ways to get the job done and that’s what we’re gonna do.” SEC MIDWEEK STUFF #2 ALABAMA (1-0): With his 98 rushing yards against Missouri in game one, Najee Harris moved past Eddie Lacey into 11th place on the all-time Alabama rushing list with 2,475 yards. Dennis Riddle is in 10thplace all-time with 2,635 yards. ARKANSAS (0-1): Former walk-on safety Simeon Blair played on four special teams and was in on 52 snaps against Georgia. Blair got his first career start against the Bulldogs last week when Joe Foucha missed several days of practice. #7 AUBURN (1-0): Defensive end Big Kat Bryant, who played only a handful of snaps last week against Kentucky due to an ankle injury, expects to be at full speed Saturday at Georgia. #4 GEORGIA (1-0): Although all eyes will be on Southern Cal transfer quarterback JT Daniels, Kirby Smart hasn’t made a decision who will start against Auburn. Daniels, Stetson Bennett IV and D’Wan Mathis will all take snaps with the first team offense in practice this week. KENTUCKY (0-1): The focus at Kentucky has to be pass defense this week. The Wildcats gave up 8.6 pass yards per attempt against Auburn and managed a single sack. Ole Miss passed for 443 yards and averaged 13.4 yards per attempt against Florida. #20 LSU (0-1): All-America corner Derek Stingley Jr., who missed last week’s loss to Mississippi State after being hospitalized for what his dad says was a “reaction,” is back at practice and will play this week when the Tigers visit Vanderbilt. #16 MISSISSIPPI STATE (1-0): Mike Leach’s offense produced 623 passing yards and three receivers who caught passes for more than 100 yards each, the first time in a long time an MSU receiver had 100 or more receiving yards in a game. Two receivers last year caught a team-high 30 passes while Osiris Mitchell led the Bulldogs with 430 receiving yards and six TD catches. MISSOURI (0-1): Linebacker Aubrey Miller has opted out for the remainder of the 2020 season. He is the seventh Missouri player to opt out this season. OLE MISS (0-1): Paul Finebaum liked what he saw of Ole Miss in the Rebels’ 51-35 loss to Florida. Speaking on his Monday show, Finebaum said, “But to manufacture that much offense, I thought, was a very positive sign. It leads me to believe that Ole Miss will surprise somebody this year. If it can win some of those ‘tweener games, I think they’ll be in really good shape. I know, long term, they will be.” SOUTH CAROLINA (0-1): Starting linebacker Sherrod Greene is out for 4-6 weeks with a fractured hip suffered in the Gamecocks’ loss to Tennessee. The injury will not require surgery. #21 TENNESSEE (1-0): Defensive lineman Darel Middleton and nickel Shawn Shamburger remain questionable for Saturday’s game with Missouri. Both missed the South Carolina game for undisclosed reasons. #13 TEXAS A&M (1-0): Senior DB Clifford Chatman, who earlier opted out for the 2020 season, has placed his name in the NCAA transfer portal. Chatman played in 12 games and made three starts last year. VANDERBILT (0-1): Derek Mason likes true freshman quarterback Ken Seals. “You got to make sure you give guys the opportunity to make plays on the ball,” Mason said. “He can do that. He can do it on the perimeter, he can do it from the pocket and I think as he continues to play, he’s only going to get better.” RANKING THE QUARTERBACKS IN THE SEC, 9/30/30 (1) Kyle Trask, Florida: Dan Mullen dropped these little hints in the preseason, alerting us to what Trask was going to be able to do. Mullen said Trask was performing in practice at a graduate school level. We saw that against Ole Miss when Trask went 30-42 for 416 yards and six touchdowns, spreading the ball among 11 different receivers. (2) K.J. Costello, Mississippi State: In an injury-shortened season at Stanford last year, Costello threw for 1,038 yards and six TDs. He threw for 623 and five in his SEC debut against LSU and with Arkansas coming to Starkvegas this weekend, it’s almost a certainty that Costello will eclipse in two games what it took five to accomplish at Stanford in 2019. (3) Mac Jones, Alabama: Jones throws a deep ball about as well as anyone in the country, but it’s easy to throw deep balls when you can heave it downfield to the likes of Devonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle. He only played a half against Mizzou and was a tidy 18-24 for 249 yards and two touchdowns. (4) Bo Nix, Auburn: He’s still not as accurate as you would like (16-27 for 239 yards against Kentucky), but he showed on his two touchdown throws that he can zing it. He’s a smart, dangerous runner (5-34 against UK) who seems much more patient in the pocket than last year. (5) Matt Corral, Ole Miss: The plan going into the Florida game was for Corral to split time with John Rhys Plumlee. Corral threw darts against the Gators (22-31 for 395 yards and three touchdowns) and he showed so much mobility (13-50) that he may have relegated Plumlee to a situational guy who can also catch passes or run some option. (6) Terry Wilson, Kentucky: Some of Wilson’s struggles against Auburn had everything to do with some fairly weird play calling and a scheme that really doesn’t make enough effort to get the ball down the field. In the loss to Auburn, Wilson was a respectable 24-37 throwing the ball for 239 yards and a TD plus he ran 13 times for 42 yards. (7) Kellen Mond, Texas A&M: If week one against Vanderbilt was any indication of things to come then this is going to be an agonizing year for the Aggies. Mond was 17-28 for 189 yards and a TD and his seven runs netted 18 yards. Not what you expect of a fourth-year starter going against a young and very suspect bottom-feeder defense. The big concern was the number of easy passes to open receivers Mond missed. (8) Myles Brennan, LSU: It didn’t take long for LSU faith to realize that Brennan is (a) not the next big thing nor is he (b) nearly as mobile as he is going to have to be with an offensive line (gave up seven sacks) that resembled a sieve. He was 27-46 against Mississippi State for 345 yards and three TDs but he threw two completions to the bad guys. (9) Jarrett Guarantano, Tennessee: The Vols beat South Carolina in spite of Jarrett Guarantano and not because of him. He was 19-31for 259 yards and a TD plus he ran five times for 12 yards and another TD. The yardage totals have more to do with yards after catch than sharp downfield throws. He makes too many bad throws and is indecisive in the pocket. (10) Shawn Robinson, Missouri: He played well in the second half against the Alabama scrubbeenies and finished 19-25 for 185 yards with a touchdown. He spent a lot of time running for his life and finished with -35 yards rushing. He would do well if he were playing for a team with a lot more talent. (11) Stetson Bennett IV, Georgia: Bennett probably gets the start against Auburn since he did come off the bench to save Georgia from a potentially embarrassing loss to Arkansas last week. He was 20-29 for 211 yards and two second half touchdowns to save the day and he added 20 yards on five scrambles. The Georgia offense is in trouble but will be in even more trouble of Bennett has to continue as the starter. (12) Collin Hill, South Carolina: He isn’t starting because he’s better than Ryan Hilinski. He’s starting because the Gamecocks are running the same offense Mike Bobo brought with him from Colorado State, where Hill spent the previous four years. He’s had three ACL tears so he’s pretty much a statue in the pocket. In the loss to Tennessee he was 25-39 for 290 yards with a TD and a pick. He had -12 rushing yards but did score a TD. (13) Feleipe Franks, Arkansas: On the second Arkansas series against Georgia, Feleipe threw an absolute laser beam that turned into a touchdown. He threw a touchdown pass to Georgia too when he stared down a receiver and threw it right to the Georgia safety. Because he’s playing with a whole new cast that isn’t nearly as talented as the players he left behind at Florida, expect Double F to revert to a lot of bad habits. Against Georgia the final numbers were 19-36 for 200 yards, a TD and two picks. (14) Ken Seals, Vanderbilt: To his credit, Seals was 20-29 for 150 yards and a TD in his true freshman debut on the road. He took the easy throw way too often rather than hold the ball and let a receiver have a chance to get open down the field. He’s got a lot of growing up to do. MIDWEEK PITHY THOUGHTS: Houston is oh-fer the month of September. All four games have been cancelled due to Covid-19. The next attempt to play will be October 8 against Tulane … Clemson coach Dabo Swinney says he’s not on board with political organizations. “I’ve been voting since I was 18,” Swinney said. “So I’m very apolitical when it comes to organizations, so I don’t really support any organizations. I support common-sense causes.” …UCF is 2-0 and ranked 11th nationally yet the Knights have been penalized 27 times for 190 yards against two very bad teams … Tuesday was the 20th anniversary of the premier of the movie “Remember the Titans.” The T.C. Williams Titans were indeed a great team that won a state championship while doing marvelous things for race relations in the state of Virginia but Hollywood took plenty of liberties with the facts. Still, it’s one of the most entertaining sports movies ever. My top ten sports movies: (1) Brian’s Song; (2) The Natural; (3) Slap Shot; (4) Hoosiers; (5) Caddyshack; (6) Tin Cup; (8) Field of Dreams; (9) Bang the Drum Slowly; and (10) Remember the Titans.