Dooley’s Back Nine: Ready For Some Real Football

The Back Nine comes at you on what we can call a game-week Monday. Florida’s not playing, but college football is officially back Saturday.

10. It feels like the vibe coming out of the Florida camp has not lost any momentum from the offseason hype. There have been injuries, sure, but unless you are wrapping these guys in packing bubbles they are going to happen. (This just in – football is a violent sport played by exceptional athletes at this level). Like you, I can’t wait to see how it translates to the field. I want to see a defense that looked like the last four games of 2024, not the one that allowed 30 points a game in its first eight games last season against BBS teams. I want 11 guys at a time on special teams that are special. I want to see an offense that is efficient, especially in the red zone. And I want to see tailgating taken to a new level.I don’t ask for much/I only want your touch/And I know it don’t come easy.

11. Sorry, I got carried away there. Hey, I am ready for some real football. Not women’s football or the UFL or exhibition NFL games or the CFL or old college games. I want to think about the other fan bases and how they feel about what is happening and I want to scream at the TV again. The opening weekend doesn’t wow us, but we will still make picks and, yes, I miss that, too.

12. Did you see that Tim Tebow was named the quarterback on The Associated Press all-time college team? Certainly, nobody here is surprised by that. There are so many great players in the history of the game that every Gator fan should be happy they had one guy on there. I don’t know how Anthony Munoz didn’t make it, but the 12 people who voted on it really know their football.

13. I feel a need to comment on the Michigan penalties that came down last week. Look, they could have taken their championship away, but does anybody really care? Florida still has its ’84 trophy locked up somewhere next to Vernon Maxwell’s records, but we just celebrated that football team last year. Plus, you only get stuff vacated when there is an ineligible player involved. I have never understood punishing players for things they didn’t do wrong, but it is good to know I won’t have to deal with Jim Harbaugh anymore. The college game is better off without him.

14. OK, so here we go. Dr. Football had a really good season last year and if you paid attention you could have made some cash. It’s a clean slate this year and we will start out with three games involving Power 4 schools that will be played Saturday (I just got the chills):

• Kansas State is a 3-point favorite over Iowa State in Dublin, Ireland, and I wish I could be there with all of the Dooleys who live there. The luck of the Irish will be with the Wildcats, who will cover.
• Fresno State is a 12.5-point underdog at Kansas, which is christening its new stadium. Here’s a bit of trivia for you – Kansas has never beaten Fresno State. They have only played twice, but both were in this century. I like the ‘Hawks to win in a rout.
• There is something about what is going on at Stanford that I like. Of course, every coach of every team is thinking that way right now. Andrew Luck may be the first GM to change a culture, but I believe he has. Stanford, a 2.5-point underdog at Hawai’i, wins outright.

15. The Big 10 is floating this idea for a bloated college football playoff that could have 24 teams, could have 28. But no conference championship games. Yeah, we would be all in on that, but I think this is one of those trial balloons that will pop. The networks only have so much money to spend. Anybody who thinks it would diminish the regular season is not thinking right. It would make the regular season better by making more games mean something. That said, the biggest games would be a little less important because the losers would still be good to go.

16. Scottie Scheffler might have taken a private plane ride Sunday night and thought, “What if I didn’t cut my hand and miss a month?” What he is doing is unreal, very Tiger-ish. The chip-in was awesome TV and I do appreciate the PGA Tour for helping make this brutal summer bearable. I have a Sunday ritual of playing nine and then coming home to watch the back nine of the Tour event. Semi-retirement does not suck.

17. Florida volleyball begins a new era under Ryan Theis on Friday with two matches in Lincoln, Neb., against top-six teams. The Gators had their Orange and Blue scrimmage Friday and it is a scrappy bunch. Meanwhile, soccer will try to shake off a 5-0 loss to No. 3 FSU with its home opener against Towson on Thursday at 7 p.m.

18. A few years ago, my daughter, Jennifer, gave me headphones that worked under water. This was supposed to make me swim more laps. Instead, it brings you this playlist:

• I’m in a real Lord Huron mood of late and saw them performing live in one of those CBS morning shows over the weekend. So, try this one – “Mine Forever.”
• This song came on one of my Sirius channels and I had never heard it, but my wife said she used to dance to it all of the time in college. You’ll see why. “Strobe Light” by the B-52s.
• And for an older one, “Wait A Million Years” by The Grass Roots.

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.

Category: College Football, Feature Sports News, Gators Football, Pat Dooley