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The Back Nine comes at you while wondering if it’s OK to refer to a “cold front” coming through when the temperature only drops to the low 90s.
10. I say this every year, but August is the ultimate yin and yang — all things in the universe exist as inseparable and contradictory opposites — for college football fans. We think we are done with talking season and then everybody on the radio and TV is still talking about very little that will happen this season. And yet, we can smell college football coming around the corner. We are under three weeks, peeps, so get the vacations out of the way and make sure your seat belt is fastened. It’s going to be a bumpy ride for … well, it could be for anybody.
11. For example, Heather Dinich at ESPN listed 32 teams that can win the national title this season according to their analytics. It was as good an illustration of how difficult Florida’s schedule will be in 2025. Of the top 13 teams analytically speaking, seven of them are on Florida’s schedule this year. It could be worse. Four of the top 32 are SEC teams Florida will not play. At least this year. We suppose that the SEC will stay at eight games and the Gators schedule likely will add Oklahoma, South Carolina, Auburn and Alabama. Thanks for nothing.
12. By the way, because we are inside three weeks until college football begins (four weeks for the Gators), I thought I would ask you if you knew the coach for Florida’s opening opponent. The well-traveled 63-year-old Ron Cooper is bringing his Sharks to town. He’s been to The Swamp before because he coached at six different teams from the SEC. LIU is led by quarterback Ethan Greenwood, who rushed for just short of 1,000 yards for a 4-8 team last season. There, that’s about all you need to know about Florida’s FCS opponent du jour.
13. Last week I had Dari Nowkah from the SEC Network on Another Dooley Noted Podcast and he agreed with me … kind of. He thinks any one of five teams could win the SEC this season. I think it could be any one of 10 teams. I can eliminate Miss. State, Kentucky, maybe Tennessee and Vanderbilt. But don’t tell me there is no path for Auburn or Ole Miss or A&M or South Carolina. This is going to be a fun season.
14. A big Pat On The Back to both Hurston Waldrep and Brady Singer. Singer stuck it to the Braves on Friday (what are you going to do, root against him?) and then Waldrep was called up for the Sunday game in the Speedway Classic and earned his first Major League win. It’s a better world when there are multiple Gators to keep an eye on, kind of like it is in golf.
15. Where Ricky Castillo picked up a nice chunk of change at the Wyndham. It was $75,850 to be exact. Unfortunately, he was way back in the FedEx Cup standings (116th) so we will have to go without a Gator in the Cup finals. Billy Horschel, as you know, has been out with hip surgery and still finished 102ndwhile Alejandro Tosti was 114th.
16. And it was just an exhibition game, but Florida did win 1-0 in women’s soccer against FAU. The young Gators play their final exhibition event at USF on Saturday. They open the season a week from Thursday at FSU, which has only lost five times in the last four seasons. Talk about jumping right into the fire.
17. And we are actually closer to the start of volleyball season than football season as Florida opens Aug. 22 with two matches in Lincoln, Nebraska. It’s going to be weird not to have Mary Wise and her clipboard on the floor but you probably saw that she has been signed to do color on games this year. I kidded with her that she and her husband Mark should do a game together and she responded, “We know just enough about each other’s sports to be dangerous.” She’s funny.
18. I took my daughter, Kelsey, out to Hawkstone to play golf and she let me play my music … for … two holes. These were part of it:
- “Heartthrob” by Indigo De Souza.
- “Mind Over Matter” by Young The Giant.
- And for an old one, “Don’t Bring Me Down” by Electric Light Orchestra.
WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.
