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The Back Nine comes at you after another crazy week of college football, a Gator basketball tournament victory and plenty of flag-planting.
10. OK, I will get to the many disturbing scenes we saw on “Rivalry Weekend,” but let’s not diminish what the 2024 Florida team accomplished. I never thought I’d see Florida fans celebrating a 7-5 season, but this finish is what will make Christmas dinner taste better. Most impressive was a maligned defense that limited its last three opponents to 14.7 points a game. That will win you a lot of games unless you are playing Iowa. During this wild three-game stretch Florida has had 18 sacks, 34 tackles for loss and gained 10 turnovers. That, my friends, is what Florida defense used to be. And is now.
11. The thing about that FSU game was you knew if Florida could just avoid mistakes and hit a few big plays that was all it would take against the two-win Semis. You watched the game, you have a better understanding of why FSU stinks on ice this year. And a better understanding of how you have to be patient in a game like that and all good things will come to you. I mentioned this in the Grades on Saturday night, but it’s pretty clear what is happening here:
Billy Napier, Year 1 — loses last three games, including bowl game.
Billy Napier, Year 2 — loses last five games to miss out on a bowl.
Billy Napier, Year 3 — wins last three games to secure bowl spot and possibly an end-of-the-season Top-25 ranking.
12. We are a world of copycats. Once someone does an end zone dance, the next eight players to score are doing it. Students storm the field and all of a sudden the fields are getting stormed around the country for mediocre wins. The latest is the flag-planting that went on in pretty much every rivalry game and — in almost every case caused a melee — on Saturday. It’s not like this is something new, but it was nothing like it was Saturday. I guess too many road teams won. There is a simple answer if the NCAA considers this a problem and that is to confiscate all flags with five minutes to go. There, the problem is solved. Fining the ultra-rich schools is never going to be a deterrent. They’re printing money. Like the NCAA ever listens to any of my smart solutions.
13. That said, Mike Norvell needs to get over himself. I didn’t want Florida to plant the flag, because I had seen the pepper spray come out in Columbus, Ohio, and a fight break out in Chapel Hill. But Norvell — obviously frustrated because his team fumbled eight times and lost to go to 2-10 — forgot that his team celebrates wins in Gainesville by parading around a dead Gator head and tearing up the grass for its sod garden. I didn’t like the plant, but I also understand that common decency left this world a long time ago. Norvell’s reaction was over the top and immature. See you next year with the Gus-Bus, Mikey.
14. Yeah, of all the craziness that took place this weekend, Gus Malzahn leaving his team to become the offensive coordinator at FSU was the strangest. Those 273 yards and 13 points his team scored in Gainesville must have really impressed Mikey. He pulled a Chip Kelly, another guy who didn’t want all of the crap a head coach has to deal with these days.
15. Dr. Football will be signing autographs later today after a 5-0 record on The Picks. Thank you, thank you. (Please ignore my record on the Gainesville Quarterback Club weekly picks. I failed). The record for the year is now 36-30-2 and it’s on to the title games:
- Back in August, I said on several shows and on Another Dooley Noted Podcast that Texas would play Georgia in the SEC title game. We went down unexpected paths with both teams, of course. But here we are, and Texas is the early favorite by 1.5. That line may be a pick ’em by gametime. I want to pick Texas, but will stick with big-game Kirby in Atlanta.
- Penn State is a weird team. It is playing for the Big Ten Championship in Indy and it is difficult to find someone who thinks the Nittany Lions are really any good. They are 3.5-point dogs to Oregon and I will take the Quackers.
- Clemson is wondering if it loses again will it be named ACC champs? Geez, how did it get here? Oh yeah, Miami blew it. I think SMU smokes the Tigers, who are 2.5-point underdogs in Charlotte.
- Iowa State is a 2.5-point underdog (notice anything familiar about these lines?) in the Big Ten game in Jerry World, where there is not enough Johnnie Walker Blue Label to make the Cowboys owner think he had a good offseason. That’s irrelevant, of course, but I can’t help myself. I’ll take Arizona State (they are in the Big Ten, right?) and the points.
16. The road was not kind to the Florida volleyball team over the weekend with two losses that knocked the Gators out of any chance to host. In fact, only two SEC teams are hosting – Kentucky and Texas. Florida will open Friday against N.C. State and would likely play Kansas in Lawrence if it wins. Good luck to the road-weary Gators, who played their last four SEC games on the road thanks to a schedule apparently created with a dart board.
17. Florida keeps adding up impressive basketball wins and this team is so much fun to watch, especially with three guards who can go for 20 almost any night. It starts to get really interesting with Virginia at home Wednesday night and Arizona State in Atlanta 10 days later followed by North Carolina in Charlotte three days after that. Let’s go!
18. It was the end of an era Saturday when all of the young ladies who work there moved on from Ironwood with a new company coming in to operate the bar area. They were and are like family to me. We’ll see what happens next at the Weed. This playlist will help:
- “Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come” by The Wombats. It is also the story of FSU football 2025.
- “Call Me (Whatever You Want)” by Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. I’ve had a few of those.
- And for an old one, “Karn Evil 9: First Impression Part 1” by Emerson Lake and Palmer. I was crazy about this band in the ’70s.
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.
