Dooley’s Back Nine: Florida Football Fans Deserve Better
The Back Nine comes at you after a sweaty pre-game Saturday and a stinky game in The Swamp. And that was just me in the press box.
10. I’m just going to say this and you can take it any way you want to — Gator fans deserve better than this. The 14thstraight sellout was brutally hot and humid and the fans showed up and did everything in their power to get Florida over their usual September issues. Instead, it seems unlikely that coach Billy Napier is going to enjoy this season very much. I know he is pretty good at handling the outside noise, but it’s going to get louder than garbage day around here. Napier is now 20-20 with seven losses coming at a place where Florida used to be feared. Ah, those were the days. Hey, we’re a basketball school anyway.
11. Here is something I’d rather not hear any more — “out of character.” Florida had 11 penalties and all of them seemed critical, especially the last two on the final drive of the game. But how is it “out of character” for Florida to have 12 men on the field, get an incredibly asinine personal foul penalty and have your two best linemen get two crucial penalties? That is Florida football under Napier. We’ve seen this before. Florida was 83rdin the country in penalties last year. How is this not part of the character of this team and staff? Also, Brendan Bett spitting on a player right in front of the officials, according to DJ Lagway, “doesn’t identify his character at all.” Well, it’s part of the definition.
12. The line of the night came from my wife Karen up during the post-game depress-fest in our living room who said about the Bett penalty, “What happened? I didn’t see a shoe.” Maybe it all goes back to that fateful night against LSU in 2020. By the way, you know who leads college football in penalties? UNLV, coached by Dan Mullen. Of course, those guys have played three games.
13. Well, it will be a busy time for the producers of The Tailgate because I would imagine we’ll get a few calls. I have to be honest, I am tired of talking people off the ledge. I am not encouraging you to jump, but it’s a long season. That said, right now it doesn’t feel like Florida is ever going to win another game. If the Gators had played well, yeah, you could see them winning at LSU, which is having some major injury problems. But now, I’m trying to come up with a game left on the schedule where I would take Florida in a Survivor Pool. At Kentucky? Mississippi State at home? Man, this is mind-numbing for Gator Nation which feels like the season they had been waiting for is already over one week into September.
14. Give credit to USF, which played so well on defense. Alex Golesh won’t be there for long. But we also have to look at the elephant in the room, which is the play-calling. Lagway checked to the first down pass when Florida was trying to RUN THE CLOCK OUT! But maybe that should not have been an option. Or maybe after Jadan Baugh looked so good on the first drive, you should have leaned on him more instead of starting the second half with Baugh on the bench and calling three consecutive pass plays. Maybe you should not be 4-of-12 on third downs. Maybe you should not have a first quarter with one possession and a second half with four punts, a pick and a bad snap safety in seven possessions. Maybe you shouldn’t lose a game like Saturday’s.
15. So, it’s on to this week and I think you have an idea of who Dr. Football will pick in the Florida game. Another mediocre week (although I did take USF and the points) brings the overall record to 5-8. Pretty soon, they’ll be putting “For Sale” signs in my front yard:
- Florida is a mere 9.5-point underdog at LSU (all lines brought to you by MyBookie.ag) and it’s hard to believe that Florida has not won in Red Stick since Jim McElwain was the coach. I don’t think Florida wins, covers or has the same number of penalties it did against Long Island (which won Saturday!)
- The big game of the weekend will be in Knoxville where the Vols play host to mighty Georgia. The Dawgs are favored by 7 and I think they cover.
- USF is a 16.5-point ‘dog at Miami, as the Bulls play their third straight game against a ranked team. Ain’t no hill for a climber (my old boss in Jax loved that saying). South Florida covers.
- Texas A&M heads to Touchdown Jesus and his followers as 6.5-point underdogs. Tough pick, but I will take the Agriculturalists to cover.
- Arkansas is getting 10 at Ole Miss and I am not sure about Ole Miss this season, so I will take the Hogs to cover after they scored 28 first-quarter points against Butch Jones on Saturday. Brick by brick.
16. Hopefully, you were able or willing to stay up and watch that instant classic between Buffalo and Baltimore. It felt like a playoff game with the Bills scoring 16 straight points at the end to win. Oh, wait, you went to bed after the Ravens scored that last TD? You’re done with football? Yeah, I get it. Football is like golf. You have to play all the holes to register a final score. My goal is to shoot my age, but the only way to do that is to get older.
17. The mighty Gator volleyball team won again against Ohio State and continues its ambitious road schedule at North Carolina on Tuesday night. Soccer? Not so good. A loss to Georgia State is never good.
18. The music from the next tailgate was bizarre, but they did not appreciate me suggesting we put on this playlist:
* “Rejects” by Good Charlotte (insert Gator joke here).
* “A Little Too High” by The Black Keys.
* And for an old one, “Mamunia” by Paul McCartney from the album that got me through my sophomore year of junior college (“Band On The Run”).
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: Feature Sports News, Gators Football, Pat Dooley
