The Back Nine come at you after a weekend that included a little bit of everything except me watching an entire exhibition NFL game.
10. OK, peeps, we are closer. But we are still what feels like miles away. I know Billy Napier wishes he had six more weeks to get ready, but it’s coming as fast as Usain Bolt on a Red Bull colonic. I think everyone is tired of living next to a furnace on 11 and is ready to at least be sweating to the dulcet tones of the fight song as the Gators run on the field. You have a couple of more weeks and then it will fly by you like a Top Fuel dragster. You will go from sunburns to just having a red face because a team either won or lost and windburn from the speed the weeks go by. OK, that’s enough of that. I think you know how anxious I am right now.
11. Yes, Florida has had some injuries — especially at wide receiver — during fall camp, but that’s when you find out about your depth. Either you have it or you were just fooling yourself. I think Florida does have it, but you still have to have your stars playing like stars. You know that. I’m not telling you anything you didn’t know. Oh, here is a tidbit. CBS Sports ranked the easiest schedules in college football and none of them were from the SEC. The top three were from the ACC. Can you imagine going into this season with Virginia’s schedule instead of Florida’s? Your toughest game would be at Duke and this is not basketball.
12. Two of the stories that crossed my path this weekend were the two disgraced coaches — Jon Gruden and Jimbo Fisher — talking about how much they want to coach again. I am surprised nobody has hired Gruden — who said he “would die” to coach in the SEC — but there is that email baggage. I kind of wish someone would hire Fisher so we wouldn’t have to hear him on TV.
13. Oh, I forgot that The Associated Press preseason college football poll drops today and while there are a lot of you out there who think the polls should not be released until October, doesn’t it make Texas-Ohio State bigger that the teams are ranked 1 and 2 in the coaches/SIDs poll? And that both Iowa State and Kansas State — who open the college football schedule in Dublin — are both ranked in the top 20? The polls have about as much impact on the final CFP selections as Power Ratings have on the NFL Playoffs.
14. Congrats to Petey Alonso, who tied the Mets all-time franchise record for homers. He’s tied with Darryl Strawberry and certainly will break it this year. You can’t swing a dead cat in a batting cage and not hit a former Florida Gator. OK, bad analogy.
15. Here is a good question for you — which quarterback threw for the most yards in an NFL preseason game this weekend? That would be Philly’s Tanner McKee, who threw for 252 against the Bengals and is now one yard away from reaching 1,000 passing yards … in the preseason. He has established himself as the back-up now that Kenny Pickett is a Brown. Also, Kyle Trask played really well for the Bucs and seems to have locked that job down as a clipboard guy. I’d love to see Kyle get a chance, but not with a bad team.
16. Tommy Fleetwood showed his usual class after missing out on what looked like a win in Memphis. But it is amazing how close he has come and can’t seem to finish in the States. Still, it was an exciting Sunday with Justin Rose coming back from three down and Scottie Golfswing getting into the mix.
17. Florida soccer season begins in earnest Thursday when the mighty Gators travel to No. 3 FSU. See, that game means more because of a poll, so there. Florida won both of its exhibition matches and seems to be better prepared to start a season than it has been in a long time. Gosh, we are only a month away from the start of SEC play. Buckle up.
18. The highlight of my weekend was getting the guest room totally made over. Got to get ready for people coming to town. And I can give them this playlist:
- “Helplessness Blues” by Fleet Foxes.
- “Caroline” by Mumford and Sons.
- And for an old one, “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Pocket” by the Primitive Radio Gods. You probably don’t see this as an oldie, but when it was released Florida had zero college football national championships.
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.