I could try to explain why the Sunday Blog is 24 hours late, but there are no excuses. OK, so it took forever to get the rental car returned and I had some things to deal with when I got home and then I kind of forgot. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up by doing one next week even thought Florida is off. Are we friends again?
1. There was a lot of pushback from Miami fans after I wrote the column last week about why Florida and Miami are unlikely to play for a long time. Some of it was expected (“Bleep you, Dooley! Go Canes!”) and some of it was reasonably stated. After the game Saturday as the Florida players were walking to their locker room, there were dozens of Miami fans screaming obscenities at them and calling them losers. That’s not why Florida has no interest in playing Miami, but it doesn’t help.
2. Jadeveon Clowney wants his coaches to put him “somewhere else” so he can be a more effective defender. Hey, man, you’re 6-foot-4 with dreads. They’re going to find you. South carolina’s problem is that they lost all their linebackers from last year and the secondary isn’t very good. It will be very interesting to see how they bounce back this week against Vanderbilt. But if there is one thing I’ve learned in my old age it’s that players bounce back quicker than fans do.
3. As if Louisville’s schedule isn’t bad enough, Cincinnati was seal-clubbed by Illinois 45-17 Saturday. That’s the same Illinois that struggled to beat Southern Illinois a week earlier. Cincy was supposed to give the Louisville schedule some meat. Instead, dog food. As a side note, Bill Cubit is the offensive coordinator at Illinois and his team has scored 87 points in two games. He was an assistant at Florida in 1989.
4. I appreciate the football gods giving us such a great schedule on this rare early-season week off for the Gators. It will be strange to be in the same town as Mumford and Sons and not see their concert but I’m going to St. Augustine to watch football with my Dad. I don’t get many of those opportunities.
