Pat Dooley’s Back Nine: It’s College Football Season

The Back Nine comes at you with one foot on the brake and one foot on the pedal, because I was born a rebel and it … is … football season.

10. The best thing about college football starting this weekend is that college football starts this weekend. The first week of games is pretty weak, but after watching multiple exhibition games this past weekend that DON’T count we are ready for games that DO count. And then we can start getting ready for the much-anticipated opener of the Florida football season. Where are you parking? What are you serving? Is there a bathroom nearby? I may be tailgating next Saturday.

11. Perhaps the best part of this weekend is that talking season will officially be over. Well, I’ll still keep talking with speeches and radio shows, but it will be about things that have happened instead of things that might happen. I am already looking forward to Overreaction Mondays. I am labeling my speeches as the “Hope and Hype Tour”. We know that hope is alive, but the hype is only located in the Gator Nation.

12. And by that, I mean this. Florida fans have been hearing the message all summer that Florida is much closer to being a really good football team than we have seen in the last 28 games (11-17). The infrastructure is where it needs to be, and Billy Napier has been aggressive when he talks about how all of the good people in his program are going to pay off. But nationally, man, I don’t know if I have ever seen a Gator team receiving less summer loving. ESPN didn’t include a Florida player in its list of top 100 players and there are a lot of peeps out there who are sharpening knives waiting for Napier to lose to Miami so they can slice him to bits.

13. One thing I will be interested in is how much crowd noise still affects quarterbacks now that college football is going to audio helmets like the NFL. I’m guessing we will find out right away next week whether it is still a factor. Also, don’t forget that we now have a two-minute warning at the end of each half. Hey, players are getting paid now so it might as well look like the NFL.

14. I am going to try to enjoy this week, because it is the last week before all heck breaks loose. Remember to stop and smell the roses and avoid the thorns this fall. It will be over before you know it.

15. The Picks had a profitable season last year in my pretend gambling fantasy. Let’s see where we go this year:

• FSU is an 11.5-point favorite against Georgia Tech over in Dublin and this is where even pretend betting gets difficult for Dr. Football. Tech feels like it should cover, but that is based on what we saw at the end of last season. I’ll take the Semis and give the points, because I think there will be a late clinching score.
• And that is pretty much it for Week Zero, but we have to pick at least one other game so let’s go with new ACC-resident SMU, which is a 27.5-point favorite at Nevada. That seems like a lot of points, especially on the road against a new head coach so I will take the Pack to cover.

16. Thumbs up to Samantha Bohon for starting the soccer season Friday with a 2-0 win over visiting Western Carolina. The Gators go on the road Thursday to face UNF. It may take a minute, but I think she can get Florida back where it belongs in soccer eventually. You don’t want to be the worst program on a campus where “winning” is not associated with Charlie Sheen’s meltdown.

17. Speaking of winning, Mary Wise and the Florida volleyball team will have Fan Day on Saturday at 2 p.m. with a match against Georgia Southern. This should be a fun season, especially with Texas, which has won the last two national titles, coming to town Oct. 6. That’s one week after Kentucky comes to Gainesville. Texas, Florida, Kentucky – those are the teams picked to finish at the top of the new 15-team SEC (Vanderbilt faux shakers sold separately).

18. Let’s go! It’s football season. Let’s all get fired up with this playlist:

• “Dilemma” by Green Day, because there will be a lot of those this year for Napier.

• “Every Little Thing I Say I Do” by Dayglow and Gator fans hope that is the case for a team with confidence, but not much of a track record.
• And for an old one, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Stones. We know what we want.

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.