It’s the puzzle of 22. That moment before the football is snapped, everything—everyone—is still. In the space of a breath, each man can scan his eyes from sideline to sideline, take account of each body in relation to him, make assessments, adjust thinking, change a plan. But for half a second, no one moves. All 22 men know where each of the other 21 are; what they do with that understanding affects what comes next. The ball is snapped and the shot slings those pieces every which way. That puzzle gets jumbled. The pieces are discombobulated. Now, beginning with the quarterback, in the space of a three—maybe five—second play, that puzzle must be put back together. That’s how Brian Johnson, quarterbacks coach for the No. 7 Florida Gators, sees the RPO—run pass option—offense. “Having a great picture and a great concept of the puzzle of 22 every single snap and not just worried about what the quarterback position is doing but how it all fits together, the more that they understand that, obviously the more you can do and the more creative you can get. “From the quarterback position, once you can kinda understand that and make sure that all the pieces fit and got guys where they need to be and you can make— you gotta just make sure that everybody’s where they’re supposed to be and how you can manipulate it.” The RPO has evolved over the years, as good offenses do, even now reaching the highest level of the sport. It’s labeled at times as sandlot football due to its tendency to quickly send quarterbacks willingly out of the pocket on something other than bootlegs. As such it’s complex in its simplicity; simple in its complexity…which is just a fancy way of saying it gives credence to improvisation on the quarterbacks part. That’s part of of putting the puzzle back together. So what is the run pass option—a staple of Dan Mullen’s offense—exactly? For lack of a better term, the RPO is a modern day triple option. “You can hand it off, the quarterback can run, you can fake a handoff, fake the mesh point and throw it,” explains ESPN and SEC Network analyst Marcus Spears. “It doesn’t help that offensive lineman can get three yards down the line of scrimmage either so it distorts the reads for defenses as well. But it’s an innovation that’s amazing.” And, it is a numbers game. Every scheme in football looks to exploit advantageous matchups with each offensive identity dictating where the bulk of the attention goes. But the RPO is willing to take matchups in varying ways dependent just as much on the numbers as the personnel. It’s the job of the quarterback to read the defense and his own unit before the snap, during and immediately after. Over the years, more and more passers have dropped back into shotgun for this very reason, so as not to have to turn his back to the defense and take away the read. So while a certain play may be called, there could be a multitude of options that branch off said call. The five offensive linemen across the front are tasked with handling the defensive line and any blitz. A tight end can take a rusher and from there it’s about reading the secondary compared to receivers and the defensive end. If the defensive end crashes towards the running back, the quarterback can keep and rush to the edge where a zone is now vacant. If the end stays to contain, the quarterback can hand off to the back or still pull and throw a slant, a screen or down field. Or, he can sweep outside with the back shadowing along for a possible pitch. Gator fans have seen all of those at some point this season but the last one came in a particularly exciting manner. In the win over Kentucky, down 21-10 at the time with just over 12 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, quarterback Kyle Trask went around left tackle on what first appeared to be a keeper. As he was being tackled to the ground, he pitched the ball—or sliced it up, as he describes—to running back Lamical Perine who scampered in for a touchdown. It looked like, as mentioned above, backyard football. But it was built in from the beginning as an option. That’s why it’s not too shocking that Trask described a more recent play—a scramble on 4th and 3 to Kyle Pitts in the win over South Carolina—as just that as well. “They were bringing a little pressure and I was looking for Josh [Hammond] over the middle but they dropped out under that and I was forced out of the pocket and you know it’s just, it basically turned into backyard football and you had to get three yards and make a play.” So just how many options does a quarterback have on a particular play? “It’s just so hard to answer,” admits former Heisman and National Championship Florida Gators quarterback—and current ESPN and SEC Network analyst, Tim Tebow. “There’s so many different options, so many different choices, depends on the play. Certain times at Florida where we had the option to, depending on the defense, there’s so many things at play and now they put more into the same play…you’re kinda playing it on the fly.” As long as the puzzle gets put back together with each piece creating the picture the offense wants. One of the first to do this on a national level was Alex Smith at Utah under then head coach Urban Meyer and offensive coordinator Dan Mullen. And in an ode to the birth of penicillin, it was born of an accident. On the sidelines was a freshman Brian Johnson, learning at the time from Smith, the Heisman finalist and still current quarterback (currently out inured) with the Washington Redskins. "We were running a shovel play,” recalls Johnson, continuing, “and [Alex] pulled it and the guy came and we pitched it underneath. I do remember that; it’s interesting how in the game of football stuff like that develops.” Meyer and Mullen had began experimenting with different offensive spread concepts while at Bowling Green, but in that moment, knew they had something special. “A lot of things you stumble on come from that,” recalls Mullen. “There are different route combinations when you see a guy kind of, ‘hey this guy is supposed to run across field’ and next thing he kind of pivoted out and ‘wow that opened up a huge area.’ Little things comes from those types of mistakes.” Like all good things in the sport of football, the RPO evolved out of high schools in Texas. That’s where Chad Morris—current head coach for University of Arkansas—first began to mold the idea for 16 years before taking it to Clemson with Deshaun Watson and a National Championship. The Seattle Seahawks realized they could flip their playbook on its head with mobile quarterback Russell Wilson running more read option plays. And who can ignore Cam Newton and how he energized the Carolina Panthers offense. Joe Moorehead was brought in to replace Dan Mullen at Mississippi State and one of the perks was his ability to run the same offense, given the roster he was gifted. Dino Barbers now runs the system at Syracuse but while running it at Eastern Illinois, he helped turn Jimmy Garoppolo into a 2nd round NFL quarterback (who currently has his team undefeated). Dak Prescott—a Mullen product—has worked with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore to shake up the Dallas Cowboys offensive playbook to the point whereas around 50% of the Star’s plays are RPO based. LSU brought in Joe Brady from the New Orleans Saints and has turned college football on its head this season simply by running the RPO offense that others have been using for a decade now. Granted, the No. 2 Tigers are shredding defenses—the Gators included—by running it to perfection. Related: The RPO was born in high school and took over college. Now it's the NFL's favorite play Each coach puts their own fingerprints on the scheme, tweaking it to his team and roster along with defensive adaptions. We can spend hours tracing all the different ways the RPO has risen through football, who has put their own spin on it along the way and where it is now. The fact that the roots can’t be seen for the branches though is what really gives the offense its identity, at least according to Dan Mullen. “A lot of those come sometimes in seeing somebody else or seeing something that, you know, maybe wasn't done exactly right or someone made a mistake and you look at it and say, 'Hey, that can be a good idea. Let's really look into it and polish it up.” The Philadelphia Eagles won a Super Bowl in the 2017-2018 season on the backs of a primarily RPO based offense. Of course the most memorable play of that RPO inspired season was the “Philly Special” which was technically more a wildcat with a twist as opposed to a run-pass-option, and featured a perfect pass from tight end Trey Burton, ironically a guy fully capable of running the RPO considering he was recruited to college to do just that. Burton, a high school quarterback, was recruited by Urban Meyer to come to Florida and be one of the chess pieces in his offense . By then Meyer—and Mullen—had figured out how to adapt their playbook to a SEC grind. But by their own admission, that took time, self reflection and even humiliation that forged success. After that initial Alex Smith improvised pitch in 2004, the Utah coaching staff began to tweak plays here and there to borrow—as Mullen mentioned—from things they’d seen while playing with some house money as well to see what they could get away with. "Those early years we were innovative in trying a lot of new things that were out there,” reminisced Mullen. “I thought we did a lot of that throughout our years. We've kind of looked and you kind of run some plays and you stumble into some things and you try some new things and creative things.” And while the state of college football’s changing offenses at that time meant taking notes from different game films, Meyer, Mullen and that staff were able to create their own unique offense, unknowingly laying a foundation at the time in Brian Johnson that he’d be able to build off of now as the Gators quarterbacks coach. “It was just so different,” remarks Johnson. “We were getting such base defenses back then and there wasn't very much variation of what you were getting so the ability for us to go out there and kind of build it from scratch and kind of have trial and error to see what works and see what doesn't work, it's something that definitely worked out. “We did kind of just tinker with stuff and at that point in time as we were building it, like I said, we had a chance to be really, really creative in what you were doing cause it was kinda trial and error. So just like a lot of things, you kinda go through periods messing stuff up and trying different things and it not working and finally get it to figure it out. It’s been good to see it evolve over the course of the last 15 years or so.” They called it a spread and it’s the moniker Mullen still likes to use from time to time. But it’s a spread that leans on the run game. In other words, a RPO identity. No matter what you want to call it though, no one thought it would work at Florida. And for a while, it didn’t. During their first season at Florida, in 2005, an early season 31-3 loss to Alabama and a 21-17 loss to LSU before the bye week had the coaches admittedly a bit dumbfounded. Following the LSU loss, Meyer called his staff early Sunday morning. He told them to cancel their plans and come to his house because ‘we’re going to revamp a bunch of things.’ They spent the day and into the night. During the bye week, they implemented their new ideas, marrying a new philosophy with the offensive style that had brought them that far up the coaching ladder. It’s a weekend that Dan Mullen says changed him as a coach. “For me as a young coach, probably a little bit of inexperience at the time, you just think, ‘I’m really smart, I know what I’m doing. We’ve created this scheme that is awesome and nobody could stop at Utah, so we just plug it in at Florida and it works.’ And it didn’t really fit the personnel that we had all that great. “One of the things that we did is we went into that bye week and said, ‘OK, we’ve got to make sure we’re running stuff that fits the personnel that we have to go execute really well.’ So, we made some tweaks and we made some changes, especially during the bye week. That bye week was more then about putting in some new schemes that we hadn’t before. Then kind of, owning up on technique and fundamentals we don’t normally get. We kind of tweaked the offense around what fit our personnel for what we had here at the time and how to make it work.” They realized they were trying to use different puzzle pieces to create an older picture. Once the new vision was established though, the pieces, well, fit. Quarterback Chris Leak was able to run the offense given to him that week and led the Gators to four more wins that season before spearheading a National Championship the following season. It was followed up with a National Championship in 2008, thanks in large part—according to Tim Tebow—for the ever evolving style of the offense. “I think a lot of it was early on when I got there so they were a whole lot of five wide at Utah and being able to get their athletes in space. And then the first year they’re at Florida, that defensive line is really good in the SEC and every defense has a good defensive line so they’re getting a lot of pressure so it was hard to adjust some things. So they did more with fullback with [Billy] Latsko at the time and being able to moon over him and give different looks so the defense wasn’t able to tee off and so that kinda changed a little bit and we just continued to adapt from there.” Perhaps the biggest misconception about the RPO is its need for a mobile quarterback. It helps when your quarterback can take a hit, which is why Mullen was able to use Prescott, Nick Fitzgerald and Tim Tebow so effectively and made sure to bring in Cam Newton to take over the reigns behind Tebow. Oh, still too soon? Let’s move on then. As we were saying, it helps when your quarterback can take a hit since you are placing the ball in his hands for more contact plays than otherwise would be asked. But the most important part—as Mullen has repeatedly said—is the need for a “willing runner.” He had it in Feleipe Franks and has it now in Kyle Trask, both bodies around 240 lbs. For reference, that is Newton and Tebow’s size. Chris Leak that was not. But for an offense that predicates itself on having multiple options each play, it would stand to reason that they are enough options that can cover having a variety of skill sets. To harp on the theme Brian Johnson built for us, as long as the quarterback knows how to put his particular puzzle back together, nothing else matters. Kyle Trask, for his part, has a 67.5% completion mark so far this season with 14 touchdowns to four interceptions and has added two rushing touchdowns. “To me the biggest part in understanding it is understanding defense,” explains Johnson. “Once you understand how can you put the defense in conflict and put those guys in a position to where they have a run responsibility and a pass coverage responsibility, and the different ways you can manipulate it and once you teach that, I think it makes it much, much easier. And to me it starts with the quarterbacks being able to have great confidence in identifying the run game and knowing who’s being blocked and who’s being accounted for in the run game.” For longer than most defensive coaches like to admit, the RPO did in fact put them in conflict, until finally they said the “BUCK” stops here. As the RPO offense has evolved, so have the defenses. Coaches fought it for a while, falsely thinking the new fangled scheme was a fad that would fade away. Instead, it’s adapted and the defense was forced to adapt as well or get left behind. The sign of a good coach is one who can change with the times, something Nick Saban has had to do in recent years at (current) No. 1 Alabama. “It's much more challenging nowadays, and I think statistics bear this out. I think like 2010 or something, [2011] team, I don't know when, gave up eight, seven points a game per year. And I think now if you give up 15, twice as many as that, you'd be one of the national leaders," lamented Saban during the 2019 SEC Media Days. “So it's been more challenging with the advent of RPOs, some of the rules we have in college football, certainly favor the offense, blocking down field on passes behind the line of scrimmage. I'm not complaining about the rules. I'm just saying it makes it harder to play good defense when you have some of the rules that we have, and we try to take advantage of those on offense, to be honest.” Marcus Spears, a former defensive star for Saban at LSU and for Todd Grantham with the Cowboys, shakes his head and gets a passionate look in his eye when asked how defenses have adapted to the RPO, that same strain of exasperation that Saban presented evident in his voice. “It puts such a strain on defenses and puts you in a terrible predicament. That’s why now the ability to rush the passer and your linebackers and secondary being so good is paramount. Because you have to have guys that are super fast at the linebacker spot to play run and pass. “[So the BUCK is] one of the most important players in football now. I played with one of the best to ever do it, Demarcus Ware. His ability to run, play in space, cover downfield. Those guys are being asked to do as much as anybody on the football field now because of how much area they have to cover. And the strain is put on them because they’re on the end of the line of scrimmage. So when you are running RPO, they have to make a decision to either go down and think the back is getting the ball. Try to play the quarterback if he pulls it. And then if you are late, you gotta have enough speed to get to the quarterback. So it just puts them in a predicament. That’s why you see a lot of special guys in that position.” Dante Fowler Jr. played the position at Florida and parlayed his Gators career into a No. 3 overall pick in the NFL Draft. The Gators have possibly the best to do it since Fowler in the position now with Jon Greenard. He transferred from Louisville to play under Todd Grantham again and to play this position. Despite Greenard’s absence the last two games while recovering from an ankle injury, he’s still become arguably the Gators best defensive player this season thanks to his ability to be everywhere at all times on the field. And in a world now largely dictated by RPO’s, he knows the onus on his position and knowledge. Related: Jon Greenard's Destiny “They’re reading you. Most of the time, you’re not even getting blocked sometimes. They wanna read what you’re gonna do and if you bite down on the running back, he’s gonna pass it or take off running. So that guy’s really crucial. You have to make a smart decision and just do what you’re coached to do. And sometimes you gotta play a little bit, play with the quarterback a little bit, play with his mind, give him things he’s not used to…fake his reads. Give him something that he thinks we’re gonna do this and we come out of it and do something else. Just messing with his head, make him think something’s there when it’s really not.” Of course as the defenses evolve and match the RPO, so must the offense. It’s cyclical and Brian Johnson—who has grown with the run-pass option from its inception in college—won’t be surprised when if it eventually fades. “It kind of works in circles, the more people are around it and try to develop stuff. I think pretty soon people will be back in the I-formation and running downhill. It's been interesting to see how offensive football has evolved and the game has evolved in general over the course of the last 15-20 years.” But that’s another puzzle for a later time.

On Monday of last week, assessing what, if anything good had come out of Florida’s 91-75 loss to Missouri, a game that Mike White said was probably the worst defensive effort of any team he’d ever been associated with as a coach, White struggled to find something positive to say before offering the short answer, “Um, no.” One week and two impressive wins later, White has the Gators looking nothing like the team that got its doors blown off by SEC bottom feeder Mizzou. In 16-point win (71-55) over Ole Miss back on Tuesday night, the Gators were focused defensively and while not at a peak level offensively, still good enough to overwhelm the visiting Rebels at the O-Dome. Saturday against then 4th-ranked Auburn, the Gators (12-5, 4-1 SEC) looked every bit like the team they were predicted to be in the preseason. They dominated on the defensive end. Once they got through a foul-plagued first half that saw White constantly juggling his lineup just to keep key players with two or fewer fouls, the Gators went about the business of solving the Auburn defense and got themselves into a serious offensive groove. What the Gators did in the second half against Auburn can only be described as pillage and plunder. Florida’s 69-47 hammering of the Tigers had Bruce Pearl shaking his head and admitting the plans to make this a 94-foot game and a track meet failed, largely because the Gators handled the pressure on one end and then defensively wouldn’t let his point guards get into the lane where they could create decent shots for teammates. In that second half, the Gators shot 58.2% overall (16-29) and 62.5% from the three-point line (5-8) while holding Auburn to 8-26 overall (30.8%) and 23.1% from the three-point line (2-13). It’s important to mention that the Gators went into halftime with a 28-23 lead, this in spite of 12 turnovers and only 8:26 of playing time for Kenyontae Johnson and 11:10 for Andrew Nembhard due to foul trouble. With Johnson and Nembhard out, the Gators had some real issues with the Auburn press that led to 12 points off turnovers. And then there were those foul issues that made the halftime score closer than it should be since Auburn shot 10-10 from the foul line (Gators only shot four, nine for the game … Auburn had 21). It was at the break that White got the Gators re-focused on staying poised since they knew ahead of time that Auburn would continue bringing the defensive pressure in an attempt to get the game going at breakneck pace. “I thought out guys just slowed down a little bit,” White said. “We talked a lot about it at halftime. I thought Auburn did a good job of rattling us and speeding us up [in the first half]. That’s what they’re good at. Side out, baseline out … their press … they’re elite. I think our guys made more sound decisions. Just slowed down a little bit, played off of two feet, made the extra pass, and didn’t pass to guys that were halfway guarded, tried to hit the open guy. And we simplified it a little bit. We rode Andrew (Nembhard) off a lot of ball screen stuff and he was really good.” Nembhard really was good in the second half when he scored four of his six points for the game and four of his five assists. He consistently broke down the Auburn defense off the dribble. He was far more focused on moving the basketball than looking for his own shot (seven attempts, made three). With Nembhard in complete control of the offense, the Gators turned the ball over only three times in the second half and those were converted into two harmless points. Just having Nembhard available to play the game was a bonus since White wasn’t sure on Friday if his sophomore point guard would even play after two straight days of battling the flu. “This guy … we didn’t even know that he was going to play,” White said. “He literally didn’t do anything physically for two days and what a performance by him.” The offense started with Nembhard but teammates delivered when they got the ball in scoring position. When they missed, freshman center Omar Payne was there to clean up. This was the game when Payne basically announced himself to the world. Auburn paid a price for Payne’s inspire play as the 6-10 freshman from Kissimmee scored 19 points, mostly on stickbacks. He was 9-9 shooting from the field (1-1 from the foul line) to go with 11 rebounds, an assist and a steal. Kerry Blackshear Jr. didn’t have a great scoring game (just 11 points) but he was a monster on the boards with 16 rebounds to go with two assists, a steal and a blocked shot. Noah Locke continued his hot shooting with 3-6 from the three-point line as part of his 11-point effort. As good as the Florida offense was, especially in the second half, the story of the game – the story of the last two games – was the defensive transformation. The Gators went from a team that was always a step slow and perhaps a bit uninspired closing out the three-point line against Missouri (12-19 on three-balls) to one that has given up 7-39 (17.9%). There was no matador defense in the paint, either. Missouri outscored the Gators 40-14 in the paint but Ole Miss and Auburn combined for 36 (18 apiece). What the Missouri game showed was the Gators are capable of losing any time out when they fail to bring the effort and intensity defensively. The Ole Miss win was a vast improvement from that disaster in Columbia but Ole Miss is a team that has yet to win an SEC game and the Rebels were playing without SEC leading scorer Brein Tyree. Auburn, on the other hand, made the Final Four last year and won its first 15 games of the season, rising to number four nationally. So, this game was a far better barometer of not just how far the Gators came in one week, but what they can do even against high level competition any time they show up ready to play. “I guess it shows you that we’re pretty good, what we’re potentially capable of,” White said. “I don’t think that was Auburn’s best performance. I don’t want to take anything away from our guys either. And we’re such a young team I don’t know how many of those we’ll get.” Maybe it wasn’t Auburn’s best performance, but the Gators had plenty to do with that. Florida showed up and played at an elite level and that is what is most important as the Gators turn their attention to Tuesday night in Baton Rouge when they will face off against LSU (13-4, 5-0 SEC). If the Gators play like they did against Missouri, it will be a bad night that leaves the impression that this team is still in its two steps forward, one step backward mode. If they’ve indeed turned the corner and the Ole Miss and Auburn games are an indicator of things to come, then this is a winnable game. White knows what is possible. “Simply put it shows you when we’re hitting on all cylinders we can beat a top ten team,” he said.

With just a tick more than three minutes remaining in the game, Auburn guard Samir Doughty saw the ball sail to his left, flipped his head around to the corner and slumped his shoulders, resignation and a touch of disgust flashing across his face. In the corner stood Florida Gators guard Noah Locke. He’d come off his man, ran to the spot and taken the assist from Andrew Nembhard. Locke had enough time to asses the quick shot, elect to reset and then put up the rainbow. All the while Doughty watched, four feet off the play, as the Gators took a 63-44 lead. That’s the moment the game was over. Until that point, Florida had virtually dominated the court. The Gators never trailed in the critical SEC matchup, out rebounded the Tigers in both halves and shot 50% from the field. But before the basket, there was still a fighting shot for the Tigers to find their way back into the game. Bruce Pearl’s squad—4th in the Associated Press ranking—had trailed by only five at the half, having scored 12 points off of 12 Florida turnovers in the first half and going 10-10 from the free throw line during that time as well. Yet with the Locke basket, the score became insurmountable and the will was broken. It took more than just that shot though to reach the critical moment. "I'm disappointed with our play," admitted Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl following the 69-47 Florida win. It was Auburn’s second loss of the week after falling on Tuesday to Alabama. "It's the time of the year when we should be trying to elevate our play, and we're not. Obviously, there's a pretty big price on our head being ranked fourth in the country.” On Friday afternoon, the Gators were worried they’d be without starting guard Andrew Nembhard. The sophomore tested positive for the flu and did not participate in the day’s practice. Yet on Saturday afternoon, Nembhard was ready for tip-off and dished five assists with six points. The total was considerably less than the two 20+ point performances he had to begin the season but as he told GatorBait Magazine after the game, he was not yet fully recovered. Nembhard played the fewest amount of minutes of his season and Ques Glover helped provide relief at point. But this game wasn’t about others stepping in to help Nembhard or about Kerry Blackshear’s 11 points and 16 rebounds, picking up his eighth double-double of the season while becoming more and more of a vocal graduate player. It wasn’t about Noah Locke’s four baskets from downtown that provided sparks or Keyontae Johnson’s steady presence that can play every position. This game was about Omar Payne. It was about his 19 points, his 11 rebounds, his emergence as a threat across 94 feet and what the Florida Gators can be with him producing. “Every day with him, he just continues to improve,” bragged head coach Mike White. “He hasn’t had a bad practice in a long, long time. That’s pretty rare for a freshman, where you at least lack energy, you don’t feel good, you don’t handle coaching in the right way or a teammate gets on you, maybe an older guy—he just brings it. He works and he’s always asking questions. He’s just had a really serious approach. Obviously he’s really talented. “I think his toughness, more mental than physical, has improved a lot and he stepped up big. He’s got big soft hands, elite length of course, is hard to block out and a little bit later on in his career—whether that means a month from now or next year, whenever—i think you guys will see more and more, creating and scoring on his own. He’s getting closer to that with his jump hooks, face on the driver a little bit, really good player.” Compared to freshman signees like Scottie Lewis and Tre Mann, Payne was—to put it nicely—a roster filler. But while the phenom’s regain confidence and find their footing in college, Payne has taken the opportunity to make his own mark. Against one of the nation’s best rebounding teams—Auburn was averaging 42 a game before Saturday and is still 13th in NCAA—Payne stayed on the glass and terrorized the Tigers. Noted Nembhard, “for the last month or two, he’s been playing really hard. When he plays hard, he’s gonna effect the game in so many ways. Like on the glass, he was huge tonight.” Of Payne’s 11 rebounds, he had seven on offense, accounting for 70% of UF’s rebounds on offense. Six of those led to putbacks, accounting for 12 of his 19 total points. While Blackshear spent more time on the perimeter to draw the defense, Payne handled business beneath the net and gave Mike White the performance on the glass that the coach had asked his team for during the week. “When he said it, I feel like said I think they’re [were] like 7th in the country in offensive rebounds so we knew we had to rebound down,” said Payne. “I feel like that’s my role too on this team, to rebound.” Added Locke of Payne, "he’s a big guy. Offensive rebounder, just rebound, block shots, I mean he gets his shots off but drive to the basket, dump it off to him I mean we were, we got a lot of offensive rebounds and he was helping.” The Gators had 44 rebounds total—34 defensive, 10 offensive—and picked up 19 second chance points. A lot of that had to do with Omar Payne. And as such, the Florida Gators locked in another piece of the puzzle that has been this season. They sit at 12-5, 4-1 and knocked off their first Top 5 team since defeating Ohio State…in 2006. White’s squad limited Auburn to their lowest score output in 131 games, and 33.9 points lower than their season average. There will be a narrative that it was simply a night Florida’s shots fell and Auburn’s didn’t (50%-25%). Yet both of those things were true due to the play of Payne inside, the in-game evolving plan that sent other bigs to the perimeter and the corner shots that were opened up with the Tigers putting second half attention on stymieing the vacuum under the basket. This is the state of the SEC said both Pearl and White. Any team can beat any team on any given day. The LSU Tigers are the only team still undefeated in league play. That’s who Florida will face next. They’ll do so with a roster that is beginning to build off of each other and break an opponent’s will.

A DECADE OF SEC FOOTBALL: 2010-19 The decade that was 2010-19 ended the same way the decade that was 2000-09 ended and that was with an SEC team winning a national championship. In the 2000-09 decade, the SEC won five of the 10 national championships including the last four (Florida 2006, LSU 2007, Florida 2008 and Alabama 2009). The college football decade that ended this past Monday night saw the SEC claim six more national championships – Auburn 2010, Alabama 2011-12, Alabama 2015, Alabama 2017 and LSU 2019. There is no end in sight to SEC dominance, either. Just check the all-too-early preseason top 25 picks from the major media outlets and in every one you will find Alabama, Georgia, Florida and LSU in the top 10 with Auburn and Texas A&M lurking. From my perspective, Alabama and Florida will be trending toward the SEC Championship Game while Georgia and LSU have sustained too many losses in both player personnel and coaching staff. Georgia and LSU will both be good, but they’ll be taking a step backward. Alabama is reloading. Dan Mullen has restocked the Florida roster to the point that the Gators will have the fewest holes to fill of any year since 2009, plus the Gators will have the league’s top returning quarterback in Kyle Trask operating behind a vastly improved offensive line and throwing to one of the nation’s top receiving groups headed by tight end Kyle Pitts. SEC First to worst 2010-19 (1) ALABAMA: 124-16 National championships: 2011-12; 2015; 2017 National runner-up: 2018 College Football Playoff: 2014-2018 SEC championships: 2012, 2014-16, 2018 SEC West championships: 2012, 2014-16, 2018 Bowl record: 8-2 Coaches: Nick Saban 124-16 (2) LSU: 103-28 National championships: 2019 National runner-up: 2011 College Football Playoff: 2019 SEC championships: 2011, 2019 SEC West championships: 2011, 2019 Bowl record: 6-4 Coaches: Les Miles (2010-16): 63-19; Ed Orgeron (2016-19): 40-9 (3) GEORGIA: 100-36 National runner-up: 2017 College Football Playoff: 2017 SEC championships: 2017 SEC East championships: 2011-12, 2017-19 Bowl record: 5-5 Coaches: Mark Richt (2010-15): 55-26; Bryan McClendon (2015): 1-0; Kirby Smart (2016-19): 44-12 (4) AUBURN: 87-45 National championships: 2010 National runner-up: 2013 SEC championships: 2010, 2013 SEC West championships: 2010, 2013, 2017 Bowl record: 4-5 Coaches: Gene Chizik (2010-12): 25-14; Gus Malzahn (2013-19): 62-31 (5) FLORIDA: 81-46 SEC East championships: 2015-16 Bowl record: 6-2 Coaches: Urban Meyer (2010): 8-5; Will Muschamp (2011-14): 28-21; DJ Durkin (2014): 1-0; Jim McElwain (2015-17): 22-12; Randy Shannon (2017):1-3; Dan Mullen (2018-19): 21-5 (6) TEXAS A&M: 84-46 * 2010-11 Texas A&M was in the Big 12, 15-10 record Bowl record: 5-4 Coaches: Mike Sherman (2010-11): 15-10; Kevin Sumlin (2012-17): 51-26; Jeff Banks (2017): 0-1; Jimbo Fisher (2018-19): 17-9 (7) MISSISSIPPI STATE: 79-51 Bowl record: 6-4 Coaches: Dan Mullen (2010-17): 64-39; Greg Knox (2017): 1-0; Joe Moorhead (2018-19): 14-12 (8) SOUTH CAROLINA: 78-51 SEC East championships: 2010 Bowl record: 5-3 Coaches: Steve Spurrier (2010-15): 51-21; Shawn Elliott (2015): 1-5; Will Muschamp (2016-19): 26-25 (9) MISSOURI: 75-53 * 2010-11 Missouri was in the Big 12, 18-8 record SEC East championships: 2013-14 Bowl record: 3-3 Coaches: Gary Pinkel (2010-15): 50-28; Barry Odom (2016-19): 25-25 (10) TENNESSEE: 63-62 Bowl record: 4-1 Coaches: Derek Dooley (2010-12): 15-21; Jim Chaney (2012): 1-0; Butch Jones (2013-17): 34-27; Brady Hoke (2017): 0-2; Jeremy Pruitt (2018-19): 13-12 (11) OLE MISS: 60-64 Bowl record: 2-2 Coaches: Houston Nutt (2010-11): 6-18; Hugh Freeze (2012-2016): 39-25; Matt Luke (2017-19): 15-21 (12) ARKANSAS: 58-67 Bowl record: 3-2 Coaches: Bobby Petrino (2010-11): 21-5; Bret Bielema (2013-17): 29-34; Chad Morris (2017-18): 4-18; Barry Lunney Jr. (2018): 0-2 (13) KENTUCKY: 57-68 Bowl record: 2-3 Coaches: Joker Phillips (2010-12): 13-24; Mark Stoops (2013-19): 44-44 (14) VANDERBILT: 53-72 Bowl record: 2-3 Coaches: Robbie Caldwell (2010): 2-10; James Franklin (2011-13): 24-15; Derek Mason (2014-19): 27-47 THE SEC HOOPS DECK HAS BEEN RE-SHUFFLED What happened Wednesday night in Southeastern Conference basketball should put Florida’s roller coaster season in perspective. The Gators certainly aren’t as good as they were hyped in the preseason but they are certainly far the disaster many have claimed. Evidence of that was South Carolina’s last second win over 10th-ranked Kentucky in Columbia and Alabama’s hosing of previously unbeaten and 4th-ranked Auburn. That is the same South Carolina team that Florida beat by 13 in Columbia and the same Alabama team that blew a 21-point lead to lose to the Gators in double overtime at the O-Dome. The Gators are 11-5 overall, 3-1 in the SEC and while they are still searching for answers and consistency, they’ve shown what they can do when they get everyone on the same page at both ends of the floor. The win over Ole Miss Tuesday night was encouraging because the Gators played very good defense and showed enough patience on the offensive end to find the holes in a surprise 2-3 defense from a team whose staple is a 1-3-1 trap. The Gators will have to play better than they did against Ole Miss Saturday when Auburn (15-1, 3-1 SEC) comes to the O-Dome (1:30 p.m., CBS) but they are certainly capable of elevating their game and Auburn showed its vulnerabilities in the loss to Alabama. There is still plenty of basketball to be played, but the Gators are every bit the contender to win the SEC that they were when the season began. What happened Wednesday night proved that. Saturday’s games #4 Auburn (15-1, 3-1 SEC) at FLORIDA (11-5, 3-1 SEC), CBS South Carolina (9-7, 1-2 SEC) at Texas A&M (8-7, 2-2 SEC), SEC Network Missouri (9-7, 1-3 SEC) at Alabama (9-7, 2-2 SEC), SEC Network #10 Kentucky (12-4, 3-1 SEC) at Arkansas (14-2, 3-1 SEC), ESPN Tennessee (10-6, 2-2 SEC) at Vanderbilt (8-8, 0-3 SEC), SEC Network LSU (12-4, 4-0 SEC) at Ole Miss (9-7, 0-3 SEC), ESPN2 Georgia (11-5, 1-2 SEC) at Mississippi State (10-6, 1-3 SEC), SEC Network A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO BASTE: FRIDAY EDITION (1) Adam Schefter of ESPN has suggested that now that they’ve landed Joe Brady as their offensive coordinator, the Carolina Panthers could possibly trade up to reunited Brady with LSU quarterback Joe Brady. Perhaps Mr. Schefter flunked geography back in his school days. If he had made an A in the course then he would have checked his map to see that Burrow is from Athens, Ohio, 156 miles from Paul Brown Stadium where the Cincinnati Bungles play. The Bungles, by virtue of years of mismanagement and going cheap, have the number one pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. Even though they’ll have to pay through the nose to sign Burrow to his first NFL contract, the Bungles are smart enough – I can’t believe I used the word smart and the Cincinnati Bungles in the same sentence – to realize there would be rioting in the streets and all their executives would be in danger of getting tarred and feathered by the mob if they were to draft anyone but Burrow. (2) There are a lot of college football experts who consider Urban Meyer’s 2008 Florida coaching staff one of the best in the modern history of college football. That staff included future head coaches Dan Mullen (Mississippi State, Florida), Charlie Strong (Louisville, Texas, South Florida), Steve Addazio (Temple, Boston College, Colorado State), Dan McCarney (North Texas) and Kenny Carter (Delaware State). Two years later, Meyer’s coaching staff was missing Mullen, Strong and Carter as well as 2008 assistants John Hevesy, Billy Gonzales and Vance Bedford. The replacements weren’t nearly as good which had plenty to do with Florida’s fall from consecutive 13-1 seasons (2008-09) to a struggle just to get to 8-5 in 2010. Meyer learned his lesson from that experience and made certain he always had quality replacements ready to go when there was turnover at Ohio State. I point this out because Ed Orgeron is going to have to make some critical hires at LSU now that Joe Brady has taken the job as the OC with the Carolina Panthers and defensive coordinator Dave Aranda is the new head coach at Baylor. LSU is losing Burrow, a handful of seniors and several outstanding juniors to the NFL but every program that gets to the championship level faces those kind of challenges. Replacing coaches is a totally different animal. Just ask Nick Saban. Staff turnover is considered one of the chief reasons 2017 national champ Alabama lost to Clemson in the 2018 national championship game then failed to win the SEC in 2019. With the right hires, Coach O and LSU won’t be down too long. With the wrong ones, it can take a long time to get the program back to where it was in a championship year. (3) Mark Dantonio was paid a $4.3 million longevity bonus by Michigan State after a mediocre 7-6 season. Combined with his $4.4 million salary, that means he will make $8.7 million next season which means he will likely be making a little bit more than $1.45 million per win. Michigan State has been barely average the last two seasons and might be worse in 2020. As the late, great Bill Veeck once said, “It isn’t the high price of stardom that is expensive, it’s the high price of mediocrity.” GOOD QUOTE FOR FRIDAY Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports, who believes that if Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose are banned for life from Major League Baseball, then so should Alex Cora, who helped manipulate the outcome of the 2017 and 2018 seasons (and World Series) through an elaborate electronic sign stealing scheme: “Yes, it is a different America these days than when Rose or Jackson were busted. The culture doesn’t find cheating, lying and manipulating as socially unacceptable as in the past. It can even be celebrated and rewarded. So What? That shouldn’t excuse MLB from not taking this with all the severity it ever did in trying to protect its sport. Cheating is cheating. Or it should be. So either Alex Cora should join Jackson and rose on the permanent banishment list, or Jackson, Rose and the others should be freed at last.” RANDOM THOUGHTS: Carlos Beltran’s New York Mets career has ended before he ever managed a game. Beltran and the Mets mutually agreed to part ways Thursday after he was implicated in the 2017 sign-stealing scandal with the Houston Astros … With Trevor Lawrence returning for another year and stud prep QB D.J. Uiagaleilei part of the nation’s top recruiting class, Clemson backup QB Chase Brice doesn’t plan to stick around. He’s entered his name in the NCAA Transfer portal … Super agent Drew Rosenhaus won’t represent troubled wide receiver Antonio Brown until Brown seeks professional counseling … I like the Kansas City Chiefs to win the AFC championship game over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. In the NFC, I like the Green Back Packers with a road upset over the San Francisco 49ers.

Mike White tucked his chin towards his chest, shying away from the praise in what for him was more an introspective moment. “It’s crazy, I don’t even know what to say,” he admitted. While White searched for words, the numbers spoke for themselves. 100 wins, a century mark, achieved in 158 games, the second fastest to reach the milestone with the Florida Gators basketball team. It came against his alma mater, Ole Miss, and at home in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on a muggy mid-January Tuesday night. After the Gators opened SEC play with back-to-back wins versus Alabama and South Carolina, the win total for White sat at 99 and the countdown was clicking. Florida lost their following game against Missouri, 75-91, in a reminder that college basketball offers no guarantees except that there are no guarantees. It’s been a season of no guarantees, of expectations hindered by stymied talent at times, leading to unfiltered criticism. The Gators were ranked No. 6 in the preseason and a perennial contender in Final Four projections. That possibility is still very much in play, but the confidence waned with losses to Florida State, UConn, Butler, Utah State and Mizzou. Two of those losses came to teams currently in the Top 10 (No. 9 FSU & No. 5 Butler). Two of Florida’s league wins—Alabama and South Carolina—have recently defeated Top 10 teams (No. 4 Auburn and No. 10 Kentucky respectively). Despite the full-speed blender that is currently tearing through the college basketball schedule though, White and the Gators only had to wait one more game to reach the coveted win total. In that short time, White was able to put some reasoning to a goal he wasn’t able to grasp previously. “I never would’ve imagined. Pretty cool though, pretty cool. I’ve had some, I’ve had obviously really, really good players and I’m blessed to be at a terrific job and hopefully we can win some more, keep getting better.” This is often where a coach or player would say they have no regrets because everything happens for a reason…but White knows that’s rarely the case. He has regrets and knows they could’ve made a difference in his win total and the program. “We’ve had good players. I go back, I’ll go back to my first year. What a regret, what a regret. I didn’t do a very good job with that crew cause we were, we were really talented and old and experienced and I couldn’t, I didn’t do a very good job with that crew, I should keep it like that.” White’s first squad went 21-15 with an appearance in the NIT with a roster that featured Kasey Hill, Chris Chiozza, Dorian Finney-Smith, Devin Robinson and Alex Murphy to name a few. Still he had a jump start on Billy Donovan who went 13-17 his first season. Donovan eventually reached the 100 win total in 154 games, only a smidge—four games—faster than White. It’s what Donovan did following that initial season, and subsequently what White did following his initial season, that set up the current coach to continue a standard. And accepting the mismanagement of the first season now is what is helping move the Gators forward with the youngest team in the league. “That next year, [2016-2017] the Elite Eight year, we were very, very good and the buy-in with that crew and the selflessness, you think about it, we had guys—we had Chris Chiozza coming off the bench, you know, who ended up being first team All-league guy and the guy who had a strong argument to be starting. And Canyon Barry as a guy that would’ve been starting for most of the teams in our league. So yea, great staff, great administration, wonderful place to live and work and more than anything, we’ve had good players.” Related: Chris Chiozza's buzzer beater to defeat Wisconsin Those players now, like sophomore forward Keyontae Johnson, didn’t even know of the accomplishment until it was announced after the game because White doesn’t bring up things like that with them, but sophomore guard Noah Locke, knows what it took behind the scenes to reach this moment. "He’s worked really hard. He always tells us the right things. He tries his hardest to make sure that we have every piece of everything to win games.” Sophomore guard Andrew Nembhard credits White with creating a culture that can reach 100 wins in 158 games. White couldn’t disagree more. “I didn’t create any culture here…we tried to recreate just a semblance of Billy’s culture which was off the charts of course and before that Lon [Kruger] went to a Final Four too so he had pretty good culture I imagine.” White will now get a chance for win 101, 102 and 103, each of which could be the most important of this regular season. No. 4 Auburn will come to the O-Dome on Saturday, the Gators will take to the road to face LSU—who is currently undefeated in SEC play—on Tuesday and then back to Gainesville for a date with No. 2 Baylor.

SOMETHING TO GRIPE ABOUT The ESPN staff should be thoroughly embarrassed by its lame attempt at naming the 150 best players of all time to celebrate 150 years of college football. I’m sure they meant well, but their list is really off target, in some cases by the widest of margins. Named from UF were running back Emmitt Smith (#70), quarterback Tim Tebow (#76) and quarterback Steve Spurrier (#91). There was no mention of quarterback Danny Wuerffel, defensive end Jack Youngblood or linebacker Wilber Marshall. Tebow #76? Every credible list I’ve seen since he played his last game for the Gators in 2009 has him in the top five. Two national championships (2006 as a contributor, 2008 as the starting QB), a Heisman Trophy as a sophomore and a Heisman finalist as a junior and senior and he’s #76. Wuerffel, who won a national championship (1996) and was the Heisman runner-up in 1995 and Heisman winner in 1996. And these people selected Peyton Manning #21. Yes the same Peyton who never beat the Gators, never won a national championship and never won the Heisman. Peyton Manning was a fine college quarterback but better than Wuerffel or Tebow? Who do they think they are fooling? John Elway #33 and he never even won a Pac-10 (there were only 10 in the league at that time) championship? I saw both Peyton and Elway play. Neither one of them was as good as Wuerffel. Peyton wasn’t even as good as his dad. They’ve got Archie at #50. Wilber Marshall was a two-time national defensive player of the year (1982-83) and was the scariest player in the college game. I saw Lawrence Taylor in high school and in college. As good as he was, he wasn’t in Wilber’s class as a collegian. Yet Taylor is #42. Lawrence Taylor couldn’t sniff the jock of Derrick Thomas (#71) the only player I’ve ever seen who was as scary as Wilber. Sacks weren’t a stat in Jack Youngblood’s day. If they were then he would have tallied at least 50 in his college career. I remember when got to Bill Cappleman of Florida State six times in a single game in 1969. I could go on and on with these ridiculous rankings but I’ll point out four that absolutely make me shake my head: Roger Staubach at #11, Lee Roy Jordan at #73 and John Hannah at #79 and Ted Hendricks at #85. Roger should be in the top two. Any list that doesn’t have Lee Roy Jordan and John “Hog” Hannah in the top 20 has been compiled by people who are clueless when it comes to college football. Charlie Tate, who coached Hendricks at Miami, told me if sacks had been a stat Ted would have had more than 100 in his three years of eligibility. He sacked Spurrier seven times in 1996 the Saturday after it had been announced Spurrier won the Heisman. UF BASEBALL #4 IN D1BASEBALL PRESEASON POLL Kevin O’Sullivan’s Gators will start the season with the #4 ranking according to the D1Baseball.com preseason poll. The Gators took their lumps last year (34-26) but still made the NCAA Tournament. With an influx of young talent and hard throwing pitchers to join weekend starters Tommy Mace and Jack Leftwich, the Gators should be able to challenge for the SEC championship. Florida opens its season February 14 against Marshall. The D1Baseball.com Preseason Top 25 (1) Louisville; (2) Vanderbilt; (3) Miami; (4) FLORIDA; (5) Georgia; (6) Texas Tech; (7) Arkansas; (8) Auburn; (9) Arizona State; (10) Mississippi State; (11) LSU; (12) Florida State; (13) Michigan; (14) UCLA; (15) Duke; (16) North Carolina State; (17) Stanford; (18) Wake Forest; (19) Georgia Tech; (20) Texas A&M; (21) East Carolina; (22) Oklahoma State; (23) North Carolina; (24) Oklahoma; (25) Ole Miss. NETFLIX AIRING SERIES ABOUT THE LIFE OF AARON HERNANDEZ I haven’t watched the docu-series on Aaron Hernandez yet. I am going to when I have time to sit and watch without distractions. I want to absorb everything and then put it into context of the Aaron Hernandez I knew when he was at the University of Florida. While he was at UF, he was always polite with the media. He gave thoughtful answers and was often quite funny. There was nothing about that public persona to indicate there was a very dark side brewing. When I ran into the Pouncey Twins in the summer prior to the 2008 season, they dropped more than subtle hints that they were holding their breath because Hernandez had spent some time back home in Connecticut where he had more than his share of very shady friends. They didn’t exactly call them gangbangers, but the implication was clear. I was practically floored because nothing Hernandez had said or would say during the 2008-09 seasons would indicate anything like this. In the years since Hernandez went to prison for murder and subsequently hanged himself in an elaborate suicide in his prison cell, I’ve thought back so many times to the polite kid who smiled so easy and often made us laugh. I wonder today what, if anything, could have been done to save him from himself. AUBURN, KENTUCKY UPSET ON THE ROAD Fourth-ranked Auburn (15-1, 3-1 SEC) suffered its first loss of the season Wednesday night, falling 83-64 to Alabama in Tuscaloosa while 10th-ranked Kentucky took an 81-78 loss to South Carolina on a banked in three-pointer at the final horn by redshirt freshman Jermaine Cuisnard. If you happen to have a short memory, Florida beat Alabama in double overtime and South Carolina in Columbia in the Gators first two SEC games of the season. The Auburn and Kentucky losses only hammer home the fact that at this point in the college basketball season, we still don’t have a great or dominating team. There are a lot of teams just like Florida, capable of beating anyone in the country on those nights when shots are falling, but just as capable of losing to anyone in the country on nights when the shots won’t drop or the defense took the night off. There are a lot of teams that still have much to figure out, which means that it’s probably going to be mid-February or after before a few teams start showing the kind of consistency and maturity it takes to go on the kind of roll that can carry deep into March. Watching the way Auburn crashed and burned in Tuscaloosa Wednesday night, there is no doubt the Gators are quite capable of scoring a win Saturday afternoon when Auburn comes to town. The Tigers are vulnerable to any team with a point guard that can get to the paint with the ball and with the mindset to lock down defensively on the perimeter to run them off the three-point line. Andrew Nembhard will have to play at a very high level, make the right decisions once he gets into the lane and take smart shots. If Nembhard can beat his man off the dribble and get into the paint, he should be able to set up Kerry Blackshear Jr. for a huge scoring night. This is a very winnable game for Florida and the rest of the schedule doesn’t look as daunting as it did last Saturday night when the Gators played their worst defensive game in the Mike White era. SEC BASKETBALL SCORES/SCHEDULE Wednesday’s scores South Carolina (9-7, 1-2 SEC) 81, #10 Kentucky (12-4, 3-1 SEC) 78 Georgia (11-5, 1-2 SEC) 80, Tennessee (10-6, 2-2 SEC) 63 Arkansas (14-2, 2-1 SEC) 85,Vanderbilt (8-8, 0-3 SEC) Alabama (9-7, 2-2 SEC) 83, #4 Auburn (15-0, 3-0 SEC) 64 Saturday’s games #4 Auburn (15-1, 3-1 SEC) at FLORIDA (11-5, 3-1 SEC), CBS South Carolina (9-7, 1-2 SEC) at Texas A&M (8-7, 2-2 SEC), SEC Network Missouri (9-7, 1-3 SEC) at Alabama (9-7, 2-2 SEC), SEC Network #10 Kentucky (12-4, 3-1 SEC) at Arkansas (14-2, 3-1 SEC), ESPN Tennessee (10-6, 2-2 SEC) at Vanderbilt (8-8, 0-3 SEC), SEC Network LSU (12-4, 4-0 SEC) at Ole Miss (9-7, 0-3 SEC), ESPN2 Georgia 11-5, 1-2 SEC) at Mississippi State (10-6, 1-3 SEC), SEC Network SOME RELEVANT AND IRRELEVANT THINGS TO TALK ABOUT ON THURSDAY (1) LSU took a few more hits Wednesday when All-American safety Grant Delpit, winner of the Thorpe Award, wide receiver Justin Jefferson, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, linebacker Patrick Queen, center Lloyd Cushenberry, linebacker Jacob Phillips and left tackle Saahdiq Charles all declared for the NFL Draft. That’s a lot of talent to replace, particularly when you throw in the fact that Joe Burrow has used up all his eligibility and co-offensive coordinator Joe Brady has accepted the offensive coordinator job with the NFL Carolina Panthers. Of the entire group, the one that’s going to be the hardest to replace is Edwards-Helaire. There weren’t many running backs in the country who could grind out yards between the tackles yet could get outside on sweeps and had the speed and hands to line up (and catch passes) as an outside receiver. (2) The hire of Mike Leach has caused All-SEC running back Kylin Hill to reverse his decision to enter the NFL Draft and return to Mississippi State for his senior season in 2020. Hill, who will probably be the best running back Leach has ever coached, ran for 1,350 yards and 10 touchdowns while catching 18 passes for 180 yards and another TD. After a season of playing for Leach, Hill should improve his pass catching skills in such a way that he will move high up on most draft boards. (3) It seems reports that the hire of Virginia Tech’s Justin Fuente as Baylor’s head coach was imminent were a bit premature. As of Wednesday night, Baylor still hadn’t hired a new head coach although the Waco Herald-Tribune indicated that the decision was pretty much down to Fuente and Louisiana-Lafayette HBC Bill Napier. With all the players he has coming back (21 of 22 starters) and the fact he’s been interviewing assistant coaches, it would seem rather strange if Fuente were to leave Virginia Tech. Of course, Napier returns almost his entire team, too, but at Baylor he would double or triple his salary while Fuente moving would seem somewhat of a lateral move. GOOD QUOTES FOR THURSDAY From Derrick Z. Jackson of The Undefeated, writing about the graduation disparity between white athletes and black athletes in Division I football: “The average racial disparity of 27.5 percentage points from the top teams is a reminder that no matter how much the overall graduation rates have improved over the years, the top-tier teams still turn a blind eye to their acrid academic atmosphere. It should be unacceptable that LSU and Ohio State graduate barely more than half of their black players while graduating most of their white football players.” Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports, whose opinions are often taken with a grain of salt, on what he sees in LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, who should be the first player taken in the NFL Draft this spring: “Joe Burrow is Tony Romo. He’s got a good arm, but it’s not special. He’s athletic but he’s not a freak. Likeable, smart, excellent leadership skills, willing to throw the ball up for grabs … he’s a risk taker. Burrow’s a risk taker and my kind of risk taker. He doesn’t play cautious football.” RANDOM THOUGHTS: Former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Donnie Shell will be part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2020. Shell is the 10th Hall of Fame member of that Steelers team that won four Super Bowls in the 1970s … Others who will join Shell in the 2020 Hall class are coaches Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson, O-linemen Duke Slater, Jim Covert and Winston Hill, wide receivers Harold Carmichael and Mac Speedie, D-linemen Ed Sprinkle and Alex Karras, safeties Bobby Dillon and Cliff Harris and contributors George Young (GM), Steve Sabol (NFL Films) and Paul Tagliabue (commissioner) … Not only have the Houston Astros (AJ Hinsch) and Boston Red Sox (Alex Cora) lost their managers due to evidence they participated in sign-stealing schemes in 2017-18, the New York Mets could lose Carlos Beltran even before he manages his first game. Beltran was listed as a central figure in the Astros sign-stealing scheme back in 2017.

The Florida Gators are trending upward in the recruiting rankings and gaining attention from the top high school players of the country…but their biggest coup this offseason yet may be holding on to two key players. Both wide receiver Tre Grimes and defensive back Marco Wilson have both announced they will return to Gainesville and play with their remaining year of eligibility. Wilson, for what it’s worth, has two years of eligibility left after suffering a season ending injury two games into the 2018 season and receiving a redshirt. But as a redshirt sophomore, he was technically eligible for the NFL Draft. While he wasn’t a projected first or second rounder like his teammate C.J. Henderson—who is foregoing his final year and heading to the draft—Wilson still has plenty of tape showcasing his tenacious coverage skills and ability to move from corner to nickel. As Pro Football Focus Draft analysis Mike Renner shared with GatorBait TV and GatorBait Magazine this past September, Wilson has the game style that scouts believe will transfer well to the league and when all is said and done, Wilson is thought to have more league upside than Henderson. Yet Wilson elected to return, bringing a needed veteran touch and experience to what looks to be a young secondary, specifically at corner. And even if Wilson continues at STAR (nickel) where he finished the 2019 season, he will still be on hand, often practicing with the corners and able to provide a wealth of knowledge. “I will be returning to the University of Florida for another year,” Wilson said in a statement released on his social media channels. “Our team has a lot of goals that we are still working to accomplish and I would love to be a part of that experience. I cannot wait to get back to work with my brothers for this upcoming season. Jeremiah 29:11.” When Wilson steps on the field, he brings a handsy approach that has resulted in 13 pass breakups in his 26 games. He has 70 career tackles in that span as well, placing him fourth on the list of defensive back total tackles during that time, with 11 less games than teammates. When Chauncey Gardner-Johnson moved to STAR his final season, he averaged 5.4 tackles per game. Through the last quarter of games in 2019 when Wilson made the move, he jumped from 2.2 tackles per game to four, gaining steam quickly on the standard set by Gardner-Johnson. More than any statistic though, what Wilson will help bring back to a young secondary isn’t quantifiable. He started as a true freshman and was thrown right into the fire against Michigan in the 2017 opener. He took his licks during a disappointing four win season, using the time to learn the college speed. He was set to build off the freshman phenom before suffering an ACL tear, yet rehabbed and returned by spring practice. So as freshman like Kaiir Elam, Chester Kimbrough and Jaydon Hill prepare for their second year, it will be Wilson who can help guide them through the uncharted waters. Looking at the stat sheet, it would seem a given that Tre Grimes would return for his senior season. After playing in only four games his freshman season at Ohio State (prior to the four game redshirt rule being enacted) Grimes missed the remainder of the year when he transferred. He then spent his sophomore and junior seasons as one among a loaded, maybe even crowded receiver room. The group has always been the epitome of selfless, happily sharing touches for the betterment of the team. But there’s no denying it meant less than gaudy numbers for each and every one. This past season, five guys had 30+ catches and three had 40+, meaning there were a lot of people to share the ball. Through that though, Grimes made the most of whatever opportunities he was given. He hauled in the ball 76% of the time he was targeted for five touchdowns. He converted first downs on 64% of his receptions. Now with four senior receivers graduating and looking towards the NFL, Grimes will return as the veteran senior. He stands to become a one-two punch with tight end Kyle Pitts as quarterback Kyle Trask’s most trusted targets. Grimes has always shown himself to be a big body with a large catch radius. He also is a powerful runner after the catch. Of the 491 yards that Grimes accumulated through his 33 receptions this season, it wouldn’t be ridiculous to assume the majority of them came after the catch. Like Wilson, Grimes will also bring leadership to a unit that will find itself without the four voices who had handled the role for so long. It was even a reason Grimes gave to GatorBait Magazine following the Orange Bowl as to why he’d be inclined to return. “There’s the decision to come back and make my team better, be a captain. Just like Coach Mullen said, I can’t come back and be a captain and lead my team so that’s something I’ve always wanted to do.” Less than a week later, Grimes announced his decision in a statement released on his social media. “After a great 2019 season I have discussed my future with my family and coaches. I am excited to stay that you will see me playing in The Swamp in 2020. I want to finish my degree and help lead the University of Florida to a championship. Happy New Year Gator Nation.” There are still a lot of pieces to put in place as the 2020 Florida Gators are formed. Coming off two 10-win seasons, there is incredible momentum and the recruiting rankings are catching up to the expectations. But of all the bricks being laid for the foundation of this team, there are few more valuable than the return of Tre Grimes and Marco Wilson.

A 180-DEGREE TURNAROUND When Mike White analyzes the video of Florida’s 71-55 win over Ole Miss at the O-Dome he will fill a pad with things that went wrong and things that need serious improvement. There is no such thing as a perfect game and this was about as far from perfect as you can get. Ole Miss was playing without two starters, one of whom was Brein Tyree, the SEC’s leading scorer, so in some respects it is a flawed win. But no matter who the Gators were playing and whether they were at full strength or missing critical pieces, the Florida team that took the floor was filled with energy, prepared to give more than enough effort and the focus was there. That is exactly what Mike White needed to see. Contrast that to the lack of effort, energy and focus, not to mention a complete abandonment of anything that resembled defense in last Saturday’s 91-75 loss to Missouri in Columbia. Missouri, too, wasn’t at full strength, but the Tigers made up for the absence of their 6-11 center (Jeremiah Tilmon) with effort and energy at both ends of the floor while the Gators played as if they were paralyzed and unable to flaunt their superior talent. Superior talent was crushed by maximum sustained effort that night. Tuesday night’s game was a 180-degree turnaround from that game at Mizzou and White saw it coming at Monday’s practice. That was followed up by a fully-focused Tuesday morning shoot-around. As a believer that you play like you practice, White had a clue the Gators were going to play hard and play well. At Mizzou he felt impending disaster. Tuesday he felt his team was ready to play well. “Guys chomping at the bit this morning at shoot-around, focused and holding each other accountable,” White said. “It was loud in the gym … yesterday was very good and we were in here and got after it and had a very good practice.” The carryover from the shoot-around was most visible with the defensive effort the Gators showed in the game’s first few minutes. Florida jumped out to a 14-4 lead because Ole Miss was pressured into more turnovers (three) than it had shots from the field (two) in the game’s first four minutes. It was 17-6 when Ole Miss went on an 16-2 run in which the roles completely reversed. That Ole Miss team that seemed teetering on the verge of a blowout loss started playing like Missouri and the Gators, for nearly six minutes, transformed into that same team that Missouri blew out. And just like that, the energy and focus returned. In the final 8:22 of the first half, the Gators went from down 22-19 to a 40-28 lead at the break. The Gators hit nine straight shots, a streak that was broken only at the horn to end the half when Kerry Blackshear Jr. threw up a contested three-ball. When the Gators returned to the court to start the second half, the energy and momentum were still there. From a defensive standpoint, Florida held Ole Miss to 29.17% shooting overall (7-29) in the second half and just 12.5% on three pointers (1-8). Offensively, the Gators weren’t as hot as they were in the first half when they hit 18-29 from the field, but the way they were playing defense, Ole Miss wasn’t capable of mounting a serious comeback. As we saw Tuesday night, when the Gators play with great intensity, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, good things happen. This game was a step in the right direction but can the Gators get on a roll and play up to their potential? Florida is four games into an 18-game SEC schedule and there is a matchup looming with 2nd-ranked Baylor in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge coming up but there isn’t a game remaining that the Gators aren’t capable of winning. Capable of winning and actually doing it are two different things. Winning will start with good practice habits that create the energy and focus White will need to see the rest of the way. When the Gators play tough defense, hit some shots and play with energy and focus, there isn’t a team in the country they can’t beat. When they play like they did in Columbia, there isn’t a team in the country they can’t lose to. We’ll have to wait and see if UF can grow out of its schizophrenic ways. It will start with some consistency of effort and energy on the practice floor. SEC SCORES/SCHEDULE Tuesday’s scores FLORIDA (11-5, 3-1 SEC) 71, Ole Miss (9-7, 0-3 SEC) 55 LSU (12-4, 4-0 SEC) 89, Texas A&M (9-7, 2-2 SEC) 85, OT Mississippi State (10-6, 1-3 SEC) 72, Missouri (9-7, 1-3 SEC) 45 Wednesday’s games #10 Kentucky (12-3, 3-0 SEC) at South Carolina (8-7, 0-2 SEC), SEC Network Tennessee (10-5, 2-1 SEC) at Georgia (10-5, 0-2 SEC), ESPNU Vanderbilt (8-7, 0-2 SEC) at Arkansas (13-2, 2-1 SEC), SEC Network #4 Auburn (15-0, 3-0 SEC) at Alabama (8-7, 1-2 SEC) THINKING OUT LOUD ON A WEDNESDAY (1) The euphoria Coach O must have been feeling when he woke up Tuesday morning was greeted by a brick wall called reality. Not only does Coach O have to replace a record-setting Heisman Trophy winner in Joe Burrow, who put together the greatest season of any quarterback in college football history, but reports have it that he’ll have to replace the assistant coach who was the mastermind in transforming the LSU offense from archaic to Star Wars. If the reports are true that Joe Brady has departed for the offensive coordinator job with the NFL Carolina Panthers, then the monumental task facing Coach O will be to find someone with a similar mind and background as Brady. A name that you might hear in the next day or two is New Orleans Saints wide receivers coach Ronald Curry. Curry is a former collegiate QB (at North Carolina), who played in the NFL and was part of the Saints staff with Brady, learning the intricacies of Sean Payton’s offense that is designed to maximize the talents of Drew Brees. (2) Will the departure of Brady affect the decision of Houston grad transfer QB D’Eriq King? King, who has a strong enough arm to make all the throws and electric feet, was thought to be teetering on the verge of enrolling at LSU but if Brady isn’t there, King just might turn his focus to Oklahoma where Lincoln Riley has produced two Heisman Trophy winners (Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray) and a Heisman runner-up (Jalen Hurts) in the last three years, all of whom were transfers. (3) There are reports Wednesday morning that Missouri State, a D1AA team in the same league with the North Dakota State dynasty (five straight national championships), is about to hire former Baylor coach Art Briles as its head ball coach. This is probably a good landing spot for Briles, who has an image to rebuild after the debacle at Baylor. Apparently Missouri State isn’t swayed by public opinion the way Tennessee was two years ago when there were on campus demonstrations that forced out Greg Schiano even before he could formally take the job. Further evidence that the Missouri State admin is more concerned with rebuilding its football program than its public image is the runner-up for the HBC job was Bobby Petrino. (4) Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports is reporting that Baylor is on the verge of hiring Justin Fuente away from Virginia Tech. Fuente has been revamping his VaTech staff, so this would be a rather curious move on his part, especially since he’s returning 21 starters for 2020. If Fuente elects to move it’s likely because he constantly feels the shadow of Frank Beamer. As Lou Holtz once said when asked if he would like to succeed Woody Hayes at Ohio State, “I would never follow a legend but I wouldn’t mind being the guy who follows the guy who followed the legend.” If Fuente elects to leave for Baylor, who would Virginia Tech go after? Probably the two prominent names you will hear if Fuente leaves are Louisiana-Lafayette HBC Billy Napier and Arkansas State HBC Blake Anderson. Both Napier and Anderson have interviewed for the Baylor job. (5) If you require further proof that there are no dominant teams in college basketball, at least at this point in the season, then take a look at what happened to 3rd-ranked Duke Tuesday night. The Dookies were ambushed on the road at Clemson, that same Clemson team that lost to the same South Carolina and Miami teams the Gators blew out. Check out the AP and Coaches polls and you’ll see teams with four and five losses up and down the charts and we’re just reaching the halfway point of January. It will be mid- to late February before we start seeing dominant teams emerge. We don’t have teams like last year’s national champ Virginia or Villanova of 2018 or North Carolina of 2016 that were filled with experienced upperclassmen. At some point, some of these younger teams – Florida is a good example – are going to figure things out and begin to fulfill their potential on the court but until then there will be a lot of very talented teams on a roller coaster ride of good to great one day and poor to disastrous the next. GOOD QUOTE FOR WEDNESDAY From Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic, Mississippi State president Mark Keenum on if and when the College Football Playoff expands from four to eight or more teams: “We have time. We have six years left on our current contract (with ESPN). We have time to be forthright and diligent in how (we make changes) and if we want to make changes. And, do we want to make changes? We’re very pleased with the current system we have in place. Are there ideas we’d want to tweak, change or expand? How could it strengthen college football? Can we have a better experience for our fans or student-athletes? These are things we have to give real serious thought to. Conversations have been ongoing and will continue to be ongoing on how we can possibly improve our College Football Playoff system.” RANDOM THOUGHTS: As if it wasn’t bad enough that the Houston Astros fired their GM and manager because of a sign stealing scandal that has rocked Major League Baseball, the Boston Red Sox have fired manager Alex Cora for his active participation in sign stealing … UNC-Wilmington fired basketball coach C.B. McGrath on Monday. Since taking over after Kevin Keatts departed for North Carolina State, McGrath was a combined 21-44 his first two seasons and 5-14 at the time of his firing … Citing health reasons, Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly has announced his retirement from pro football. He is 28 years old.

LATE AFTERNOON EDITION We hold these truths to be self-evident: 1. If you go by the preseason polls and magazines, the Florida Gators performed up to expectations. The Gators were ranked between 7-9 in nearly every poll and magazine. When the final polls came out Tuesday, the Gators were 6th in the Associate Press poll, 7th in the Coaches. 2. College football’s two most compelling stories came out of the SEC: Joe Burrow coming from completely off the radar to win the Heisman Trophy, set a slew of passing records and leading LSU to the national championship; and Kyle Trask tossing aside that career backup moniker to lead the Gators to their 11-2 finish. Burrow has exhausted his collegiate eligibility (thank goodness!) so he’s off to the NFL. If the Cincinnati Bungles choose anyone but Burrow with the first pick in the NFL Draft, expect rioting and mobs setting fires to cars in the vicinity of the Bungles offices and facilities and those same mobs firing up the tar and buying sacks of chicken feathers in preparation for when they capture the execs in charge. As for Trask, he’s got another year of eligibility and will be the best returning quarterback in the SEC. 3. You can count on the folks at ESPN to fall passionately in love with Georgia once again. They will (a) rank Georgia too high and (b) they will declare Wake Forest grad transfer QB Jamie Newman the second coming of Joe Burrow. Remember you heard it here first – Georgia will be very good thanks to its defense but will lose at least three games (Alabama, Auburn and Florida) next year. Jamie Newman will be this year’s version of Kelly Bryant. 4. Coach O is the real deal. He’s been the butt of far too many jokes in the past, mostly because a lot of folks think he looks and sounds like whatever evolved from Neandertals. Ask people like Pete Carroll and Jimmy Johnson and they will tell you he has an absolutely brilliant football mind and ranks with the very best assistant coaches either has ever had. Neither are surprised that Coach O has won a national championship. You shouldn’t be surprised either. This won’t be the last one. Coach O’s salary is a bargain basement $4 million. You can expect that to change in a very big way in the next 30 days or so. 5. ESPN’s staff put together its all-time 150 best players in college football. Any list that doesn’t have Tim Tebow in the top five and Lee Roy Jordan in the top 20 is bogus. Any list that has Peyton Manning ranked above Danny Wuerffel is bogus. From my perspective, the 10 best players of all time are: (1) Roger Staubach, Navy; (2) Herschel Walker, Georgia; (3) Tim Tebow, Florida; (4) Tommie Frazier, Nebraska; (5) Red Grange, Illinois; (6) Lee Roy Jordan, Alabama; (7) Orenthal James Simpson, Southern Cal; (8) Derrick Thomas, Alabama; (9) Billy Sims, Oklahoma; (10) Sammy Baugh, TCU. THE FINAL ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25 1. LSU 15-0 2. Clemson 14-1 3. Ohio State 13-1 4. Georgia 12-2 5. Oregon 12-2 6. FLORIDA 11-2 7. Oklahoma 12-2 8. Alabama 11-2 9. Penn State 11-2 10. Minnesota 11-2 11. Wisconsin 10-4; 12. Notre Dame 11-2; 13. Baylor 11-3; 14. Auburn 9-4; 15. Iowa 10-3; 16. Utah 11-3; 17. Memphis 12-2; 18. Michigan 9-4; 19. Appalachian State 13-1; 20. Navy 11-2; 21. Cincinnati 11-3; 22. Air Force 11-2; 23. Boise State 12-2; 24. UCF 10-3; 25. Texas 8-5 THE FINAL COACHES TOP 25 1. LSU 15-0 2. Clemson 14-1 3. Ohio State 13-1 4. Georgia 12-2 5. Oregon 12-2 6. Oklahoma 12-2 7. FLORIDA 11-2 8. Alabama 11-2 9. Penn State 11-2 10. Minnesota 11-2 11. Notre Dame 11-2; 12. Baylor 11-3; 13. Wisconsin 10-4; 14. Auburn 9-4; 15. Iowa 10-3; 16. Utah 11-3; 17. Memphis 12-2; 18. Appalachian State 13-1; 19. Michigan 9-4; 20. Navy 12-2; 21. Cincinnati 11-3; 22. Boise State 12-2; 23. Air Force 11-2; 24. UCF 10-3; 25. Virginia 9-5 TUESDAY MUMBLINGS AND ASSORTED RAMBLINGS (1) Now that LSU has won the national championship and the reality that Joe Burrow will be slinging footballs all over NFL yards for the Cincinnati Bungles next year, it’s time to think about who plays QB for LSU. Myles Brennan came to LSU a skinny 6-4, 170-pounder but now he’s filled out to 207 pounds. He has a big time arm, but can he process information like Burrow and then make split second judgments to put the football in the right place? The Tigers have also signed a couple of hotshot freshman QBs – Max Johnson, who is former FSU and Tampa Bay Bucs QB Brad Johnson’s kid, and T.J. Finley, a 6-6, 250-pounder with an impressive arm. Talented as they are, neither will be ready to handle what Steve Ensminger and Joe Brady throw at them. Has Brennan progressed enough that Ensminger and Brady are ready to turn the offense over to him? If not, then LSU will make a really big play to land either Stanford grad transfer KJ Costello or Houston grad transfer D’Eriq King, who took a redshirt four games into 2019 and has now apparently double-crossed Dana Holgorsen by putting his name in the NCAA transfer portal. King is an incredibly gifted athlete who is as good with his feet as his arm. Costello is a pocket passer with a big arm and super high intelligence. (2) Watching Ed Orgeron lift that national championship trophy and then tearfully thank all his players, assistants, staffers, managers, the LSU student body and alumni, fans and everyone who has ever even driven through “the great state of Looziana,” I had to wonder what the folks at Southern Cal are thinking about now. They had their chance to hire Coach O after he took over as the interim coach and went 6-2 following the firing of Lane Kiffin. The players and assistants begged Pat Haden to hire Coach O, but he confided in others that Coach O’s raspy voice with the thick Cajun accent just wouldn’t sell down at the country club. Since rejected Coach O, Southern Cal has been a West Coast train wreck. They all but begged Urban Meyer to come out of retirement and he said no way. They put the full court press on James Franklin and he signed an extension with a huge raise at Penn State. If Clay Helton doesn’t win 10 games next year they’ll fire him. Meanwhile, Coach O is going to be the HBC at LSU for a long, long time. (3) And while on the subject of Coach O, let us not forget he was anything but the top choice for departed AD Crazy Joe Alleva, who tried to hire Jimbo Fisher in 2015 even before he had fired Les Miles. After he fired Miles in 2017, Coach O went 6-2 as the interim and had the players begging to have that interim title lifted. Crazy Joe went all-out for Tom Herman, who said no to LSU and took the Texas job. He tried to hire a couple of others before he reluctantly hired Coach O as time was running out and pressure was mounting to come up with a permanent head coach. Crazy Joe is gone now, replaced by Scott Woodward, the same guy who hired Jimbo at Texas A&M when Alleva was begging him to come to Baton Rouge. (4) Here are the all-too-early 2020 preseason top 25s from Stewart Mandel of The Athletic, Mark Schlabach of ESPN and Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com: Stewart Mandel: (1) Clemson; (2) Ohio State; (3) Alabama; (4) Georgia; (5) LSU; (6) Penn State; (7) FLORIDA; (8) Oregon; (9) Oklahoma; (10) Notre Dame; (11) Wisconsin; (12) Auburn; (13) Iowa; (14) Southern Cal; (15) Oklahoma State; (16) Minnesota; (17) Texas; (18) Cincinnati; (19) Tennessee; (20) Michigan; (21) Memphis; (22) Texas A&M; (23) North Carolina; (24) Arizona State; (25) California. Mark Schlabach: (1) Clemson; (2) Ohio State; (3) Alabama; (4) LSU; (5) Oregon; (6) Georgia; (7) FLORIDA;(8) Oklahoma; (9) Penn State; (10) Notre Dame; (11) Texas A&M; (12) Auburn; (13) Oklahoma State; (14) Wisconsin; (15) Michigan; (16) Iowa State; (17) Cincinnati; (18) Boise State; (19) Minnesota; (20) Baylor; (21) Memphis; (22) North Carolina; (23) Iowa; (24) Texas; (25) Tennessee. Dennis Dodd: (1) Clemson; (2) Ohio State; (3) Alabama; (4) LSU; (5) Oklahoma; (6) FLORIDA; (7) Oregon; (8) Auburn; (9) Georgia; (10) Notre Dame; (11) Minnesota; (12) Penn State; (13) Texas A&M; (14) Michigan; (15) Wisconsin; (16) Louisville; (17) Texas; (18) Cincinnati; (19) Memphis; (20) Boise State; (21) Iowa; (22) UCF; (23) Baylor: (24) Arizona State; (25) North Carolina. (5) Transfers, going pro, new coaches and hanging around: Steve Spurrier Jr. is following Mike Leach from Washington State to Mississippi State. He will coach the wide receivers … Former UF quarterback Feleipe Franks is visiting Arkansas. He could easily step into a starting job there … Texas A&M running back Cordarrian Richardson has entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal, leaving Jimbo Fisher with but one scholarship running back … Clemson backup quarterback Chase Brice is hinting that he could transfer to Georgia …Oklahoma State stud running back Chuba Hubbard is going to return to Oklahoma State … Auburn has hired former Louisiana Tech head coach and NFL assistant Jack Bicknell Jr. as its offensive line coach … Former FSU tight end Tre’ McKitty is a grad transfer to Georgia … South Carolina linebackers coach and special teams coordinator Coleman Huntzler is leaving for the same role at Texas. GOOD QUOTES FOR TUESDAY Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence on losing for the first time as a college QB after a 25-0 beginning as a starter: “It sucks. The worst thing is that, this group of guys, I’ll never get to play with them again. I’m gonna miss ‘em a lot, especially the guys up front and some of the wideouts. But you have to have faith in the journey. Everything happens for a reason but it sucks to go out like this.” Andy Staples of The Athletic on the improbable path of LSU’s Joe Burrow to record-setting Heisman Trophy winner and national champion quarterback: “Meanwhile, Joe Buirrow had to be unwanted by his dad’s school (Nebraska) so he could wind up at his home-state school (Ohio State), where he had to be beaten out by a future first-rounder (Dwayne Haskins) just before he graduated and earned the right to transfer and play immediately at his second school (LSU).” RANDOM THOUGHTS: Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich has taken over as the HBC at Washington State. Was he dropped on his head way too many times as an infant? You leave paradise for Pullman? I don’t care of Wazzoo is Pac-12 and Hawaii is Mountain West. If you’re going to leave Hawaii at least leave for some place with lower odds of (a) being eaten by a bear or (b) fewer than six months of serious cold complete with butt-deep snow … A federal lawsuit has been filed against Penn State, football coach James Franklin and former Penn State player Damion Barber by former player Isaiah Humphries, who claims he was subject to hazing.

It started with practices before the Gators traveled to Columbia to face the Missouri Tigers. “It’s the worst we’ve been in a month,” Mike White said Monday before Florida (10-5, 2-1 SEC) took to the practice floor to prepare for Tuesday night’s encounter with Ole Miss (9-6, 0-2 SEC) at the O-Dome. Whether as a player, assistant or head coach, White has discovered practices are generally a barometer of things to come. Poor practices are usually followed by a poor game. Heading into the Missouri game, practices had been getting better almost on a daily basis. That changed. And, as if a further indicator of a bad performance was required, there was the shoot-around once the Gators arrived in Columbia. “It was the first shoot-around, as a staff, that we got really agitated with our focus level and effort, discipline,” White said. “We had to stop shoot-around and address our guys and let them know what they were in for if we didn’t make a 180.” The necessary 180 never happened. Missouri came out guns blazing at the offensive end of the floor, tough and physical defensively. The Tigers were ready, the Gators were not and it was evident within seconds of the opening tip. “I’m sure they had a better shoot-around than we did,” White said. Sarcasm noted. Missouri drained a three-pointer on its first offensive possession and never trailed. For the Gators, bad went to worse and worse went to disastrous. Missouri, it seemed, could do no wrong. The Gators, at least on this night, could do very little right. Those first few possessions set the tone for the entire game. “It turned into a dominant performance by them for 40 minutes,” White said. “They beat us in every category.” Beat indeed. When the final horn sounded rather mercifully, Missouri didn’t look quite so downtrodden anymore and the Gators looked nothing like the team that staged a magnificent comeback to beat Alabama in double overtime in the first SEC game of the year or the one that played steady, consistent basketball for a 13-point win over South Carolina on the road. Missouri 91, Florida 75. It really wasn’t as close as the 16-point margin would indicate, either. The Gators trailed by 15 at halftime and needed an Alabama-like comeback in the final 20 minutes, but even though it was a better half for UF offensively there were few – if any – defensive stops to be had like there were in the second half of the Bama game. When you’re down double figures at the half, you can’t expect to come back and win a game when the best you can do is trade baskets. It all added up to a miserable defensive performance, something that obviously was still burning with White at his Monday press conference. Missouri shot 61.5% overall from the field and 63.2% from the three-point line. In Mizzou’s 14 previous games, the Tigers were shooting at a 42.6% clip from the field overall and a rather poor 30.5% from the three-point line. This was easily the worst defensive effort of this season or any of the four previous seasons at UF for White. Was it the worst ever? “Probably since I’ve been a head coach,” White said. “If the game was still going on they’d probably still be making threes on us.” Was the Missouri game an aberration? Was it something correctable? Or is it a sign of things to come? Since White arrived from Louisiana Tech, defense has been Florida’s calling card. It hasn’t been uncommon for the Gators to score an improbable win on nights when the offense wasn’t clicking because they swarmed defensively and got enough stops to compensate for their own inability to consistently put the ball in the hole. Despite the poor start Saturday night, the Gators actually played well enough offensively to win the game, but once again, you can’t rally from behind if you can’t get stops. Was this game a defensive aberration and if so, will it have a lingering effect psychologically? This is a very young team, after all (only 11 of the 351 Division I teams are younger than UF), and it’s probably harder for so many freshmen and sophomores to put such an embarrassing effort in the past. An edge of doubt isn’t going to help the Gators against Ole Miss Tuesday night, and particularly against fourth-ranked Auburn next Saturday. If the problems are correctable, it will start with a clear understanding that the critical elements of good defense are desire, effort, keeping the feet moving and doing it every single possession by opponents. Saturday night, desire, effort and moving feet were in short supply. On a 10-man roster that includes five freshmen and three sophomores, the one player White can depend upon to get it when he preaches desire, effort and moving feet is Blackshear. That’s because Blackshear is 23 years old, a second team All-ACC performer last year at Virginia Tech and according to White one of the most intelligent players he’s ever coached. Blackshear gets it. It’s the other guys that concern White. “With these other guys, there’s a lot of things that you can tell freshmen as a coach and even sophomores,” White said. White knows they hear every word he has to say, but he has to wonder if they are really listening? Is it sinking in? Do they really understand what has to happen to create a winning effort. “’I hear you, Coach. I got you,’” White said, “and they think they really understand and they think they’re buying into what you’re saying. But until they experience the loss or the negative result, whatever it may be – playing poorly, giving up a big lead and barely winning, whatever it may be. Until they experience it enough and it really clicks in, you’re going to be inconsistent.” Hence, the story of Florida’s season. The Gators are 10-5, 2-1 in the SEC. That’s in a season in which even blue bloods like Michigan State (13-4) and North Carolina (8-8), Ohio State (11-5), UCLA (8-8) and last year’s national champ Virginia (12-4) have head-scratching losses that are hard to explain. So, Florida’s roller coaster ride isn’t as disastrous as some would believe it to be. There might not be a truly great team in all of college basketball at this point of the season. We might be saying something completely different when March arrives because that’s when young teams and inconsistent teams tend to find themselves and string together enough wins to make deep runs into the NCAA Tournament. As Billy Donovan said after Florida won the first of its back-to-back national championships in 2006, “Were we the best team? I can’t say that we were, but we were the team that won six straight games.” Once you make the NCAA Tournament, it’s the team that goes 6-0 that takes home the big trophy and sways to the sounds of “One Shining Moment” as the confetti flies. But we are a long way from the NCAA Tournament, which means the Gators have an opportunity to figure things out. From a talent perspective, Florida has enough talent to make a very deep run in March. From a maturity standpoint? That’s another story altogether and the answer to that question is the one that will determine if this is a Florida team capable of living up to at least some of the preseason hype or go down as one that was vastly overrated. To live up to the hype, the Gators can’t have games like they had against Missouri. Asked if there was anything positive he could take from the Missouri game, White paused for several seconds before he answered, “Um … no. I don’t know what we did well. Uh, nope. Just didn’t play very well.” We will know tonight if the message of a game in which the head coach couldn’t find a single positive thought actually sunk in.

TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE GIANT STEP BACKWARD Just when it seemed the Gators had turned the corner and were well on their way to becoming the basketball team everyone envisioned back in October, they played probably the worst defensive game they’ve played in the Mike White era at Missouri (9-6, 1-2 SEC) Saturday night. The Tigers hit 12-19 from the three-point line (63.2%) and 32-52 overall (61.5%) in bludgeoning the Gators (10-5, 2-1 SEC) 91-75 and the game really wasn’t all that close. Defense on the perimeter was non-existent, but so was the defense in the paint where the Gators were outscored 40-14. Heading into the game, Missouri was shooting only 42.6% from the field and a miserable 30.5% from the three-point line. Missouri’s three inside guys were scoring a combined 12.1 points per game. They scored 26 against the Gators but what has to distress White is they combined to hit 9-14 from the field overall and 3-5 from the three-point line. No excuse for that. Those three aren’t very good. Despite an 0-7 start shooting the ball and a lack of any inside presence except for Kerry Blackshear Jr. (22 points), the Gators actually played well enough to win the game offensively. The Gators put up 75 points, hit 10-23 (43.5%) from the three-point line and 25-32 from the foul line. With any kind of defensive effort, the Gators should have had a chance to win the game. In their SEC opener against Alabama, the Gators were gutsy in their comeback from a 21-point deficit. In that game, they were good at both ends of the court in the second half and both overtimes, which is why they came out with a win. To come back against Missouri would have required some of that same determination, particularly at the defensive end, but you can’t come back to win from a 15-point halftime deficit if you’re simply trading baskets and that’s what the Gators were doing in the second half. Someone had to play some defense and it didn’t seem anyone was quite up to the task. The Alabama and South Carolina wins gave the impression that the Gators were starting to mature as a team, ready to leave behind the silly mistakes that young teams make. The Missouri loss was like taking a rather giant step backward and it comes as the Gators begin an extraordinarily difficult four-game stretch – Ole Miss on Tuesday, #5 and unbeaten Auburn next Saturday, at LSU and then Baylor, which could be on a collision course with the #1 ranking prior to their O-Dome meeting with the Gators January 25. The Gators have the collective talent to be an outstanding team, but until they can deliver the effort at both ends of the floor every single night, we might be in for more two steps forward and one large step backward. THE YEAR OF THE TIGER CONCLUDES TONIGHT The college football season ends tonight and one thing is certain: the national champion will be undefeated and it will be the Tigers. The only question remaining is will it be the LSU Tigers (14-0) or the Clemson Tigers (14-0)? On paper this is a superb matchup of LSU’s record-setting offense, led by Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow and Clemson’s defense, which is actually better than last year when the Tigers ran the table and won the national championship. I’ve watched both teams numerous times this season and took the time over the weekend to watch once again their semifinal wins (LSU over Oklahoma, 63-28; Clemson over Ohio State, 29-23). I think Burrow and Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence are easily the two best quarterbacks in the country. I think LSU has better receivers and Clemson has a game-breaker running back in Travis Etienne. Defensively, Clemson is better, but LSU is exceptional. My conclusion: Clemson is probably the only team in the country capable of beating LSU but I don’t think it’s going to happen. I like LSU to win because I think Burrow is having maybe the best season any quarterback has ever had throwing the football and he has too many exceptional receivers for Clemson to cover them consistently. I also believe this is going to be a game in which Clemson will find it too difficult to account for LSU running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who I think will have an impact in both the running and passing games. If Clemson wins, Dabo Swinney will have won three national championships in four years and will likely be considered every bit the equal of Nick Saban as the best coach in the college game. On this night, however, I believe Ed Orgeron is going to elbow his way into the conversation of best coach. If LSU wins, nobody is going to say he’s better than Nick or Dabo but he’ll be on everybody’s short list when they name the best. I think this will be a Coach O kind of night. Geaux Tigers. LSU 37, Clemson 28 MINDFUL OR MINDLESS MISSIVES ON MONDAY (1) Former Wake Forest quarterback Jamie Newman is the new kid on the Georgia block, having enrolled as a grad transfer. While Newman is certainly a step up from Stetson Bennett IV, a quarterback who missed all of the season after brain surgery (Dwan Mathis) and an incoming freshman who had a disappointing senior season in high school (Carson Beck), he’s not exactly the second coming of Joe Montana. In the games against the three best teams Wake Forest faced and lost to in 2019 (Virginia Tech, Clemson and a very average Michigan State team), Newman was 34-76 for 454 yards (5.97 per attempt, which is well below average) for five touchdowns and five interceptions. At Wake Forest he was coached up by Dave Clawson, who is highly regarded as an offensive innovator and quarterback guru. At Georgia he will be coached up by James Coley. Former Georgia/Miami head coach Mark Richt has already stated Newman will be “the best quarterback in the SEC.” Apparently Mr. Richt doesn’t watch much SEC football. For those with short memories, remember how Kelly Bryant was going to tear up the SEC when he transferred from Clemson to Missouri. How’d that work out? (2) Two grad transfer quarterbacks to keep a close eye on the next couple of days are KJ Costello (Stanford) and Anthony Brown (Boston College). Costello could wind up at LSU although there are some folks who believe he will transfer to Michigan. Costello was injured much of 2019, but in 2018 he threw 29 touchdown passes and averaged 8.6 yards per pass attempt. When Brown went down with a season-ending injury against Louisville in game #6, it pretty much sealed the fate of Steve Addazio (fired at BC, but now head coach at Colorado State). Brown had nine TDPs in six games in 2019, 20 in 2018. He could still come back to BC but he’s got a lot of offers from Power 5 programs. He’s a possibility for Florida State. (3) Ten UCLA players have entered the NCAA transfer portal, which brings to 63 the number of players who have departed UCLA since Chip Kelly was named head coach in December of 2017. Kelly is 7-17 in two seasons on the job, 0-8 against teams ranked in the Associated Press poll. He would already be gone if UCLA could afford to fire him. (4) Transfers, going pro or staying put in the SEC – Alabama RB Najee Harris is staying for his senior season, He ran for 1,224 yards and 13 touchdowns and caught 27 passes for 304 yards and seven TDs in 2019 … Former Texas A&M/Arkansas QB Nick Starkel is off to San Jose State. Starkel threw five interceptions against San Jose State last season … Arkansas State corner Jerry Jacobs, who had four interceptions in 2019, will be a grad transfer at Arkansas … Kentucky running back A.J. Rose (826 yards, six TDs in 2019) is sticking around for his senior season … Tennessee kicker Brent Cimaglia (23-27 field goals and 104 points in 2019) will come back for his senior season ... Texas A&M corner Debione Renfro and wide receiver Kendrick Rogers are off to the NFL. GOOD QUOTES FOR MONDAY From Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, Coach O talking about the people who make fun of his distinctly Cajun accent: “I want to thank those people, because those people give me internal motivation. All the naysayers, doubters making fun of the way I talk, it just motivates me internally. You’ve been around me. You can understand me. People say they can’t understand me. That’s not true. I lead a meeting with 50 people. I think they understand me every day. I think some of it is exaggerated. I think the truth is starting to come out, which I knew at some point or another it would. Winning helps.” From Mark Heim of Al.com, new Mississippi State coach Mike Leach on coaching in the Southeastern Conference: “I like playing against crummy coaches better than really good ones … All those guys I know, Nick (Saban) and Jimbo (Fisher). This conference is loaded with quality coaches. That’s what makes it so exciting.” From Tyler Horka of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi State athletic director John Cohen on why he hired Mike Leach: “We didn’t hire Mike Leach because he’s charismatic, but he is. We didn’t hire Mike Leach because he’s got a great sense of humor, but he does. We didn’t hire Mike Leach because he’s exceptionally bright, but he is. We did not hire Mike Leach because of his dynamic personality, but he’s got one. We did not solely hire Mike Leach because he’s a visionary and a pioneer in the modern game of college football but indeed he is. We hired Mike Leach because he’s a disciplinarian. We hired Mike Leach because he’s a brilliant tactician. Most of all, we hired Mike Leach because he’s a proven winner.” RANDOM THOUGHTS: I’m still trying to figure out how the Houston Texans could play so well in bolting out to a 24-0 lead over the Kansas City Chiefs and then collapse the way they did in the final three quarters. Are the Chiefs that good that they can hang 51 points in three quarters or is the Houston defense that bad? … What Derrick Henry has done running the football the last two playoff games (377 yards, one TD; one TDP) reminds me of what he did in carrying Alabama to the national championship in 2015. Then, as in Tennessee’s two playoff games, everybody knew Henry was going to get the football but nobody could stop him … Consider what a storyline if the Titans make the Super Bowl in Miami. The Miami Dolphins gave up on Tannehill and traded him to the Titans where he was supposed to be a backup to Marcus Mariota … Jimmy Johnson will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. I have to wonder how many Super Bowls the Dallas Cowboys night have won with Jimmy as the head coach if Jerry Jones hadn’t let his ego get in the way. I’ll show my age a bit here. I remember him as the defensive coordinator at Picayune High School in Mississippi when I was a sophomore in high school covering the McComb Tigers and getting my first college football assignments for the Enterprise-Journal.

The Florida Gators basketball team (10-5, 2-1) got behind early and could never recover as they fell 75-91 to the Missouri Tigers (9-6, 1-2) on Saturday night in Columbia, Missouri. The Gators had a short road turn around following a win over South Carolina in the Palmetto Columbia on Tuesday night. Head coach Mike White and staff changed the entire schedule to avoid any exhaustion or ailment, electing to spend two nights in Missouri to get rest while avoiding weather, and even leaving forward Dontay Basset at home. The big man was sick and stayed in Gainesville to recover while the team traveled. It’s unlikely any additional body would have made a difference however, as the Tigers dominated Florida in nearly every aspect of the game. It was a small crowd with fans wary of braving the winter weather. Yet those in attendance were treated to a show by their home team from tip-off. Mark Smith hit a three just 12 seconds into the game as a preview of things to come and to help build a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. There was then a two and a half minute scoring drought by both teams before the Tigers opened the floodgates, shooting 12-19 (63.2%) from beyond the arc and 32-52 (61.5%) overall. Coming into the game, Missouri had been shooting 43% of their field goals and 31% deep. They had been holding opponents to even less respectable numbers though, which is why on Friday afternoon before preparing to head out, White and players explained how the Tigers defense was going to be the biggest issue in Saturday’s game. "Missouri is one of the best defensive teams in the country; arguably the best defensive team — or playing as well defensively — as any team in our league. Execute really well, year in and year out. They run good stuff. Extremely tough and physical,” White told reporters at the time. “They play heavily deny and like [Coach White] said they foul a lot too so we have to celebrate the fouls,” agreed Keyontae Johnson. Florida actually was able to pick up some points this way, shooting 15-20 (75%) from the free throw line. But the charity stripe felt like little more than its name; a moment of charity and reprieve on a night the Tigers dominated in every way. It wasn’t just the long ball though that Mizzou used to suffocate UF. The Tigers also scored 40 points in the paint thanks to four guys notching double digits. With 13:20 to go in the game, Florida had taken advantage of the aforementioned Missouri fouls and entered the bonus. Senior Kerry Blackshear hit two free throws to pull the Gators within 11 and with hopes of mounting another comeback to mimic the 21-point deficit recovery UF used to beat Alabama last week. Zou answered with a layup. Blackshear led the Gators (and tied Missouri’s Dru Smith) with a game high 22 points. Noah Locke and Scottie Lewis also recorded double digits with 12 and 11 points respectively. Guard Andrew Nembhard arrived in Columbia riding a monumental wave. He had tallied 25 points in the comeback win over Alabama and then followed that with a double-double performance in the win at South Carolina (21 points, 10 rebounds). Yet on Saturday, Nembhard was held to eight points and four assists. The Gators will now return home to face Ole Miss on Tuesday night at 7pm. It kicks off a four game stretch that is followed by a home date with No. 5 Auburn, a trip to LSU and then back to Gainesville for a showdown with No. 4 Baylor.