Pat Dooley’s Back Nine (Dec. 4)

The Back Nine comes at you after a weird weekend when Georgia finally lost a game and FSU somehow won one and then lost.

10. Look, you all know how I feel about Florida State. But when I went to bed Saturday night after watching that dreadful display of offensive football, I was trying to speculate who the fourth team would be. Clearly, it would be a Texas team that handled Alabama, but you never know. There weren’t many people who saw this coming. If I were a FSU fan, I would be angry and it would be something that would stay with me for the rest of my life. On the other hand, Gator fans finally had a day to celebrate – Georgia and FSU both getting left out of a game you thought might end the season in the national title game. Dodged a bullet there.

11. Many columnists have pointed out this was another example of college football giving television what it wants. That’s the deal with the devil all of you made. You want to smoke Cubans, drink Dom and drive recruits around in Escalades, but when it comes time to pay it back, you are outraged. Few people at ESPN wanted to see FSU play Michigan. Few people want to see FSU play Georgia. What they do want to see is Michigan vs. Alabama. So, TV wins again.

12. There was a part of me that was football-ed out and I threatened not to watch the final weekend. Of course, that threat could not have been more idle. It was a great weekend, but the interesting thing will be to see how quickly the media will forget what happened to FSU the way they forget two days after the March Madness field is revealed. The difference is you have a lot of airtime to fill, but most of the national shows will move on to the NFL and NBA by Tuesday.

13. This is a Captain Obvious statement, but Florida could use a little recruiting momentum right now. You end the season with five consecutive losses, have several decommitments, entries into the portal and NFL draft and you are not going to a bowl, well, something needs to go right for the mighty Gators.

14. Sent in the Heisman Trophy vote on Monday morning. You may be surprised with my third choice on the ballot, but I can’t reveal it until next week. Again, TV wins because several years ago, ESPN became angry that too many people had done polls over the years to find out who was going to win. So, yes, I did receive a letter one year telling me I had to swear on a stack of media guides that I would never write about who I selected again before the big ceremony, or I would lose my vote. That got my attention, but I still won’t watch the hour-long buildup unless it is hosted by Scarlett Johansson and Bill Burr (you know, he’s there for comic relief).

15. We all just hated to see UF’s volleyball season end the way it did with a five-set loss in the Round of 32. Coach Mary Wise got everything she could out of this team. Just too many injuries.

16. There will be more of The Picks coming up next week and I will be doing a cage match battle with Drew Copeland from Sister Hazel on Another Dooley Noted Podcast (he still owes me lunch from last year). But I just wanted to let you know that if you had bet the way I pretend-bet all season you would have finished 35-31-2 for the year. So, you would have made a little money, but don’t ask for it because this isn’t a casino. Kind of like me asking for a free lunch. Hello?

17. It seems almost impossible that the very thing we talk about in August comes to fruition every December. And that is that a college football season flies by. I’ve noticed that the better your team is, the faster it goes so maybe Billy Napier is trying to slow play you. I do know Florida had something to do with FSU getting left out. Beating the Gators hardly helped the Seminoles’ strength of schedule.

18. My wife was talking about having a party where people dress up like their favorite Christmas songs. You should have heard about my proposed outfit for “White Christmas.” Or not. Today’s playlist:

• “Therefore, I Am” by Billie Eilish.
• “Step On Me” by The Cardigans.
• And for one that is kind of old because it was popular during the Spurrier Administration, “Trippin’ On a Hole in a Paper Heart” by Stone Temple Pilots.