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Knudsen’s Knotes
Barkers next for Florida; epic ECU rant

Nick Knudsen
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Florida-Georgia week is here and, since we are staring down the barrel of a 22-point spread, let’s enjoy ourselves before we dive into the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, by taking a quick pit stop in Greenville, North Carolina, to witness Central Florida having it handed to them on-and-off-the-field.

PIRATE POETRY

East Carolina 34, Central Florida 13
An ECU fan called into an ECU football talk show after the Pirates win over Central Florida and decimated the Big XII-bound Knights. Pure poetry from a Pirate.

It does warm my heart
To watch us
Beat the crap
Out of them sorry S.O.B.s from UCF…

I do love to watch us beat UCF
If I’m not mistaken this puts the all-time series at 11 to 9, Pirates…

He was mistaken…and corrected by the show’s hosts, 11-10 Pirates.

I hope we don’t never play them again
Send ’em on to the Big XII
I don’t want nothin to do with ’em
I hope they got to live with this for the rest of eternity

And I hope that
Crappy little
Erector set
Aluminum stadium they got
Rusts apart from all of the tears from the UCF #$%$@#!
Because I’m so sick of U-C-F

Don’t let ’em fool ya and think they’re a good program!

Let me tell you
In the last 20 years, they got just as many zero win seasons
As they do major bowl victories

I’m so sick about this bullcrap about this Space U
Space U yada yada yada
Their Space U mess is as made up as the national championships

They used to be the Citronauts
More like the Citro-not-gonna-win-the-national-title-or-conference-title-or-nothing-this-year

And don’t let me forget about you, Gus Malzahn
You started the week talkin’ about how you don’t like East North Carolina barbecue
Well, you know what, Gus?!?
You ain’t nuthin’ but a yellow egg sucking dog

And next week
In Provo, Utah,
BYU, we are comin’ for you
I’m gonna slap every Cougar on that mountain
And we’re bring all the vices to ya
I’m bringing coffee
I’m bringing Pepsi
I’m bringing beer
And tequila
And whiskey
And more tequila
And more whiskey
And more beer
And Mike Houston and the Pirates are rollin’ in there
And we’re whoppin’ some B-Y-U tail!

GO PIRATES!

HOW KIRBY BUILT THE DEATH STAR

In the last year, much of the conversation surrounding the Florida Gators football program has centered around recruiting.

Florida has trailed Alabama for more than decade in this department, but the effects of less than stellar recruiting began to hit closer to home once Kirby Smart arrived in Athens and began to assemble what some have referred to as, “The Death Star.”

Alabama has won nearly 1/3 of all SEC football titles and has a history of dominance in the south. Coping with Crimson success is a part of life in the south. The Tide have long been the standard in the SEC and are a constant obstacle toward winning a league title.

Since Florida and Alabama do not necessarily have to cross paths to win titles, matchups with the Tide are seen as measuring stick moments for the program.

Those moments with the Tide can spread across multiple seasons at times, but Georgia is a different story.

Until just a few years ago our barking neighbors to the north had little in the way of recent relevance to bring up outside of denim condemnation and reminiscence of a pre-visor existence.

In 2002, Mark Richt won the program’s first  SEC title since the days of Dooley. On average, the world only has to be subjected to the Dawgs winning the league about once a decade – in other words, the pain was manageable.

Then Kirby changed the game and  built a caliber of roster that eventually created an untenable situation for the Dan Mullen era at Florida despite three consecutive New Year’s Six Bowl bids and no worse that a finish of #13 in the nation in his first three years on the job.

Mullen stressed development and on-field excellence while Georgia committed itself to excellence both on-and-off-the-field. That ethos comes directly from the Saban regime in Tuscaloosa, yet Smart is the only Saban protégé to come close to recreating the Alabama blueprint in another location.

A debate over the Mullen (prioritizing development) and Smart (prioritizing recruiting)  doctrines popped up prior to the 2021 season after Mullen’s Gators torched the five-star studded Bulldogs with the likes of Kyle Trask and Kadarius Toney, two three-star players who were the perfect poster boys for the prioritizing development over recruiting school of thought.

Part of growing in life is admitting when you’re wrong.

I will freely admit to being one of the folks in the Mullen camp with logic like, “It’s great that Kirby Smart can recruit  two five-star quarterbacks in his first three years on the job, but where are they now?”

[Still not a bad point. Ex-five-star Bulldogs Justin Fields led the Buckeyes to a national title appearance in 2020 on his way to being drafted in the first round and Jacob Eason did enough at Washington to warrant being drafted as well. Meanwhile, Georgia rolled in the 2020 game with a little fella named Stetson Bennett and  D’Wan Mathis, an embarrassingly bad duo which completed only nine passes  in the Bulldogs 44-28 loss to the explosive Gators.]

I was wrong.

What I failed to consider was just how difficult it would be for Mullen to create high-level talents like Trask and Toney out of three-star prospects to compete with Smart’s star-studded classes chock full of first-round NFL talent on a year-to-year basis.

A good example of how I could get sucked into such thinking would be to look at Tennessee right now.

The Volunteers are finally rolling after years of trash-can waving, golf balling chucking sadness and have a great chance to make 2022 a season for the ages. While Rocky Top is enjoying its generation-defining victory over Alabama, the Tide are simply continuing about their business and will likely smack a Hooker-less Tennessee back into place next season. Hooker was a lucky break for the Vols. The sixth-year transfer quarterback has remaining eligibility thanks to a waiver granted for players who played through the COVID-stricken 2020 season. Bama is built to last thanks to the stars they bring in on the recruiting trail and Tennessee needs the stars of the universe to align in its favor to come up with a freaky three-point win over Alabama once every 15 years. This perfectly illustrates the difference between between Florida operating under the Mullen doctrine and Georgia operating under the Smart doctrine.

The Gators may have won in 2020, but have lost by an average of 22 points per game to the Bulldogs in four of the last five meetings (+88 UGA scoring in wins).

Georgia has set itself up to establish a long-reign of dominance in this rivalry and, if left unaddressed, Florida would fall into the abyss that once proud programs like Michigan (Ohio State) and Auburn (Alabama) have had to deal with in recent history. After bouncing back with a 27-point victory against the Gators last season, Kirby Smart decided to send a message about importance of recruiting in his postgame press conference. No doubt a not-so-subtle jab at the conversation that had swirled around the differences between his approach and that of Dan Mullen.

Georgia didn’t just bounce back to get by Florida last season, Smart displayed just how much of a gap still existed between the two rosters just one year off of a Gators win.

If you are a serious football program, it’s not good enough to beat your rival once or twice a decade. Luckily, the Florida administration saw the writing on the wall – credit to Stricklin & Co. on making a change when they could have easily been stubborn and point to the three previously successful seasons under Mullen as a reason to stay the course – and overhauled its football operations in an effort to step-up its recruiting game.

Admitting error and correcting course can be painful, but both steps are necessary to fix a problem.

Unfortunately, for the third time since 2017, the Gators travel to Jacksonville as a two-touchdown plus underdog (2017 +13.5 & 2021 +14).

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After a 4-3 start featuring plenty to be concerned about, it’s clear that new Gators head coach Billy Napier, a former Alabama colleague of Kirby Smart and full-on subscriber to the power of top-tier recruiting , has a long way to go in rebuilding a Florida roster stacked with years of  – to borrow a phrase from Will Miles – suboptimal recruiting.

How much distance has Smart put between the two programs?

Here is what Kirby Smart has done on the recruiting trail since 2016.Here is what Florida looks like across the same timeline.
Florida Gators recruiting rankings/info per 247Sports Rankings

When you put the 2016-2023 data together, it shows just how much of a challenge Billy Napier has ahead of him as he works to transform Florida into a contender.

I’m publishing this article on the eve of the commitment of five-star cornerback Cormani McClain. Napier has stressed a focus on in-state recruiting and landing the top prospect in Florida this cycle will likely serve as a signal that the Gators are ready to do what it takes to compete with Georgia on the recruiting trail.

As Florida strives to find its footing in the Napier era, let’s hope future Florida-Georgia previews are more focused on the game itself rather than dedicating over 1,200 words to attempt to explain how on Earth the mighty Gators find themselves as three touchdown underdogs to those barking fools from the north.

HEADLINERS

Clemson 27, Syracuse 21
A second quarter redzone fumble by Tigers QB DJ Uiagalelei was returned 90-yards for a touchdown. Syracuse tacked on another scored before the half to build its lead to 21-10. Dabo Swinney, who has been a staunch defender of Uiagalelei, benched his quarterback in favor of true freshman Cade Klubnik in a bold move which lead to two touchdowns to help Clemson escape. The Tigers remain undefeated and are looking like a prime candidate to play the part of Notre Dame/sacrificial lamb in one of the playoff games.

TCU 38, Kansas State 28
The Wildcats built up a 28-10 lead in the second quarter, but it wasn’t enough to contain the explosive TCU offense. The Frogs have passed four consecutive tests to stay atop of the Big XII as the lone unbeaten remaining the conference. Road trips to West Virginia, Texas, and Baylor are still on the schedule along with visits from Texas Tech and Iowa State.

Oregon 45, UCLA 30
Unbeaten Chip Kelly and UCLA showed signs of life early, but gave way to resurgent Oregon QB Bo Nix. The Auburn transfer threw for 283 yards and 5 TD with 0 INT and added an additional 51 yards on the ground to lead the Ducks to their sixth consecutive victory. Oregon has a great chance to get to 9-1 before a shot at redemption against Utah in Eugene on November 19.

AROUND THE COUNTRY

Stanford 15, Arizona State 14
Former Gator QB Emory Jones hit on a this deep ball for a score…

And almost pulled off a miracle late on this deep ball, which was eventually overturned.

Oklahoma State 41, Texas 34
Despite a 31-point first half outburst from Texas and building up a two-touchdown lead late in the second quarter, QB Quinn Ewers and the Longhorns only managed a second half field goal allowing the Cowboys to pull ahead to secure a key Big XII victory. The win pushes Oklahoma State to 3-1 in conference play and sets up a critical matchup for control of the second spot in the Big XII Championship Game at Kansas State on Saturday.

Ohio State 54, Iowa 10
CJ Stroud and the vaunted Ohio State offense managed to score 54 points with only 360 yards of total offense thanks to Iowa’s putrid offense providing plenty of opportunities for short drives. Six OSU drives began in Iowa territory. The Hawkeyes defense found the end zone off of a fumble recovery while the Iowa offense only managed a field goal. Ohio State travels to Penn State in what should be their only serious test before Michigan.

Tulane 38, Memphis 28
Slow week at the top – so let’s check in with the AAC. Tulane rode the wave of four Memphis turnovers and a 90-yard punt return for a touchdown to jump out to a 35-0 first half lead. The 7-1 Green Wave are in position to compete for the American Athletic Conference title down the stretch with a potential monster showdown with Cincinnati in the final week of the regular season.

Cincinnati 29, SMU 27
Despite being down by two possessions for the most of the second half, SMU scored with just under two minutes remaining and fell short on a two-point conversion attempt to tie it up. The Bearcats have now won six straight and are in control of the AAC race. Winning out would mean a third consecutive appearance in a New Year’s Six bowl.

Duke 45, Miami 21
Five fumbles lost. Three interceptions. Eight total turnovers for the Miami Hurricanes, the most by any team in a Power 5 conference game since 2009, according to ESPN. Canes QB Tyler Van Dyke left in the second quarter with what  appeared to be a shoulder injury and, as of Monday morning, there has been no update on that injury status. Miami falls to 3-4 on the season and must win three of five at Virginia, vs Florida State, at Georgia Tech, at Clemson, and vs Pitt.

UTSA 31, North Texas 27
The Roadrunners used a sensational catch from TE Oscar Cardenas to set up the go-ahead score with  under 30 seconds remaining to win a critical in-state matchup which put UTSA atop of the standings in Conference USA.

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AROUND THE SEC

LSU 45, Ole Miss 20
LSU gave up a score on four of the first five Ole Miss drives before shutting down the potent Rebs offense for the rest of the day. Tigers QB Jayden Daniels proved last week’s six total touchdowns were not a fluke by throwing for 248 yards at 2 TD while add another 121 yards and 3 TD on the ground. The Bayou Bengals go on bye before hosting Alabama in two weeks. A win against the Tide puts LSU in the driver’s seat in the SEC West. Ole Miss falls for the first time this season and travels to A&M next week.

South Carolina 30, Texas A&M 24
Jimbo Fisher’s nightmare continues as Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks followed up a big win at Kentucky with their four consecutive victory to improve to 5-2 on the season. Aggies QB Conner Weigman was thrown in late after an injury to starter Haynes King and the true freshman moved the offense down the field for a crucial late FG which led to a late onside kick recovery, but it was too little, too late as Carolina pushed A&M to 3-4 on the season.

Alabama 30, Mississippi State 6
Dominant effort from Bama in a game that wasn’t as close as the score might indicate. The Crimson Tide took an early 24-0 lead and didn’t allow Mike Leach’s offense to score until the final play of the game. Two road trips to LSU and Ole Miss await Saban and the Tide after the bye week.

Missouri 17, Vanderbilt 14
Vandy hung around and nearly stole a win. The Commodores scored two touchdowns on big plays: a fumble return for a score and a 80-yard pass. However, two missed field goals were costly. Vanderbilt needs more time but credit to Clark Lea’s group for competing after getting beat by a combined score of 162-31 the last three outings in SEC play.

Tennessee 65, UT Martin 24
Three touchdown passes from three quarterbacks plus nearly 700 yards of offense out of Tennessee signals that the Vols did not look ahead to Kentucky.

KEY GAMES THIS WEEKEND

12:00 PM ET FOX – (2) Ohio State at (13) Penn State
12:00 PM ET ABC – Notre Dame at (16) Syracuse
12:00 PM ET ACCN – Georgia Tech at Florida State
12:00 PM ET ESPN – (7) TCU at West Virginia
3:30 PM ET CBS – Florida vs (1) Georgia
3:30 PM ET FS1 – (8) Oregon at Cal
3:30 PM ET FOX – (9) Oklahoma State at (22) Kansas State
3:30 PM ET ABC – (17) Illinois at Nebraska
3:30 PN ET ABC – (20) Cincinnati at Central Florida
7:00 PM ET ESPN – (19) Kentucky at (3) Tennessee
7:30 PM ET ESPN – Michigan State at (4) Michigan
7:30 PM ET SECN – (15) Ole Miss at Texas A&M
8:00 PM ET ACCN – Pitt at (21) North Carolina
10:30 PM ET ESPN – Stanford at (12) UCLA

PLAYOFF PICTURE

Here are my playoff rankings heading into the final weekend of October.

1. Georgia  – Barkers stay atop through bye week. Can the Gators play spoiler?
2. Tennessee – Another shot to make a statement against a scrappy Kentucky team.
3. Ohio State – The Buckeyes are so good on offense that the announcers were singing Iowa’s praises for their defensive effort while down by three scores.
4. Michigan – Replaces Clemson like Dabo replaced DJ Uiagalelei.

Since we’re headed toward a 12-team playoff in a few years and some folks are not thrilled about it, I wanted to put together a hypothetical 12-team playoff field with the first round playing out in mid-December at the homefield of the higher ranked team. For folks against playoff expansion, these are the games that you’re saying you don’t want to see:

(12) Wake Forest @ (5) Alabama
(11) Ole Miss @ (6) TCU
(10) Oregon @ (7) Clemson
(9) Oklahoma State @ (8) Southern Cal

FLORIDA BOWL PROJECTIONS

HEISMAN BALLOT

Washington QB Michael Pennix Jr., the transfer who led Indiana to a 6-2 campaign during the 2020 season, quietly continues to impress out west. Pennix has yet to throw for under 300 yards in a single game and followed up last week’s 516 yards passing/4 TD performance against Arizona with 374 yards passing/2 TD in a 28-21 win against Cal.

  1. QB Hendon Hooker, Tennessee
    2,093 yards passing, 18 TD, 1 INT
  2. QB CJ Stroud, Ohio State
    2,023 yards passing, 28 TD, 4 INT
  3. QB Caleb Williams, USC
    1,971 yards passing, 19 TD, 1 INT
  4. QB Michael Pennix Jr., Washington
    2,934 yards passing, 22 TD, 4 INT
  5. RB Blake Corum, Michigan
    901 yards rushing, 13 TD
  6. QB Bryce Young, Alabama
    1,906 yards passing, 18 TD, 3 INT
  7. QB Max Duggan, TCU
    1,871 yards passing, 19 TD, 1 INT
  8. RB Chase Brown, Illinois
    1,059 yards rushing, 4 TD
  9. RB Bijan Robinson, Texas
    920 yards rushing, 11 TD
  10. QB Drake Maye, North Carolina
    2,283 yards passing, 24 TD, 3 INT

STAND UP  & HOLLER

Will & I preview the Florida-Georgia game, discuss the transfer portal, and provide the latest recruiting updates on the latest weekly episode of Stand Up & Holler on the Read & Reaction YouTube Channel.

On this week’s episode (filmed October 25, 2022):

2 BITS: FLORIDA OFFENSE VS GEORGIA DEFENSE
4 BITS: FLORIDA DEFENSE VS GEORGIA OFFENSE
6 BITS: TRANSFER SEASON IS UPON US
$: PRE-CORMANI MCCLAIN RECRUITING UPDATES

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