Left for dead...we'll come back to that
Saturday night was the perfect storm: our team got a signature win, a sell-out crowd did the Swamp's reputation for volume proud, lots of big-time recruits in the stands, the HBC doing his part by adding a little gas to the fire, Baugh with the exclamation point at the end, and a 60-minute dominating performance by the Gators. From start to finish, I haven't enjoyed a game like that since the 2018 win over Joe Burrow/LSU or the 2019 win over Auburn.
I'm still trying to remember what poster told me that he didn't care about the 13th-ranked tackler on Northern Illinois, how do you like George Gumbs now? His stats to date:
t2024 SEASON: Appeared in nine games this season.. recorded 24 tackles, four quarterback hurries, two sacks and two pass breakups.
DJ avoiding the rush and hitting Badger for the TD...I went full-blown "Hide yo wife! Hide yo kids!" in my living room which scared the crap out of my daughter's cat. The guy who casts the statues might want to block out some time in 2026-27. Think he's going to be getting a call. In hindsight, if DJ is fully healthy we beat them by 14 or more. I said it already but DJ is everything I thought AR was going to be, only better.
The interior DL. I can't figure this one out. There's been a lot of back-and-forth about whether or not they're "legit." They played an incredible game Saturday night. Seven sacks against anybody is great, much less against a team that had only given up six sacks all year and it's also true that they've gotten incrementally better in the last 3 games. The thing that gives me pause is that this is basically the same three interior guys (Jackson, Banks, Dez, ?) from last season. Why did it take them a season and a half to have a game like that? I think part of it has been the emergence of Jack Pyburn. He's brought an energy that the whole defense needed plus opposing offenses are having to account for him which is freeing up the interior guys. As "good" as they are now, the DL is going to get even better. Jamari Lyons will be back next year but don't sleep on guys like De'Antre Robinson, Tavorise Brown, and Michael Boireau either.
I've said this before too but whatever happened in the off-week before UCF seems very similar to what happened in the famous on-the-tarmac, players-only meeting after the South Carolina loss in 2005. No, I'm not saying this team wins a NC next year but the two moments seem very similar to me.
Left for dead. That's where this team was after the A&M loss. The fans (both opposing and our own), the media, and opponents had all left the Gators for dead but to quote the late, great Layne Staley: "In the darkest hole, you'd be well advised not to plan my funeral 'fore the body dies". Yeah. If, before the season, I had told you we could go 3-2 through this "brutal" 5 game stretch you'd have laughed me off the board but that's where we are (actually, I did predict winning the last three games but that was when I thought we were going to go 9-3). There are still 2 games to go before this wild, crazy, Gator football season is over but it's there for the taking.
Gator football is still the most wonderful, enjoyable, scintillating thing that's going to put me in an early grave ever. Bring on the Rebels.
Saturday night was the perfect storm: our team got a signature win, a sell-out crowd did the Swamp's reputation for volume proud, lots of big-time recruits in the stands, the HBC doing his part by adding a little gas to the fire, Baugh with the exclamation point at the end, and a 60-minute dominating performance by the Gators. From start to finish, I haven't enjoyed a game like that since the 2018 win over Joe Burrow/LSU or the 2019 win over Auburn.
I'm still trying to remember what poster told me that he didn't care about the 13th-ranked tackler on Northern Illinois, how do you like George Gumbs now? His stats to date:
t2024 SEASON: Appeared in nine games this season.. recorded 24 tackles, four quarterback hurries, two sacks and two pass breakups.
- vs. No. 19 Miami: Made Gator debut and logged 1 solo tackle and 1 assisted tackle.
- vs. Samford: Recorded 3 solo tackles for a loss of 8 yards, a quarterback hurry and 1 sack.
- vs. Texas A&M: Had 3 total tackles.
- at Mississippi State: Logged 4 total tackles.
- vs.UCF: Recorded 2 total tackles and 1 sack for a loss of 11 yards.
- at No. 8 Tennessee: Logged 4 total tackles.
- vs. Kentucky: Had 3 total tackles, 2 QB hurries, and one pass breakup.
- vs. No. 2 Georgia: Logged 2 total tackles and 1 QB hurry.
- vs. No. 5 Texas: Recorded 1 tackle and 1 pass breakup.
DJ avoiding the rush and hitting Badger for the TD...I went full-blown "Hide yo wife! Hide yo kids!" in my living room which scared the crap out of my daughter's cat. The guy who casts the statues might want to block out some time in 2026-27. Think he's going to be getting a call. In hindsight, if DJ is fully healthy we beat them by 14 or more. I said it already but DJ is everything I thought AR was going to be, only better.
The interior DL. I can't figure this one out. There's been a lot of back-and-forth about whether or not they're "legit." They played an incredible game Saturday night. Seven sacks against anybody is great, much less against a team that had only given up six sacks all year and it's also true that they've gotten incrementally better in the last 3 games. The thing that gives me pause is that this is basically the same three interior guys (Jackson, Banks, Dez, ?) from last season. Why did it take them a season and a half to have a game like that? I think part of it has been the emergence of Jack Pyburn. He's brought an energy that the whole defense needed plus opposing offenses are having to account for him which is freeing up the interior guys. As "good" as they are now, the DL is going to get even better. Jamari Lyons will be back next year but don't sleep on guys like De'Antre Robinson, Tavorise Brown, and Michael Boireau either.
I've said this before too but whatever happened in the off-week before UCF seems very similar to what happened in the famous on-the-tarmac, players-only meeting after the South Carolina loss in 2005. No, I'm not saying this team wins a NC next year but the two moments seem very similar to me.
Left for dead. That's where this team was after the A&M loss. The fans (both opposing and our own), the media, and opponents had all left the Gators for dead but to quote the late, great Layne Staley: "In the darkest hole, you'd be well advised not to plan my funeral 'fore the body dies". Yeah. If, before the season, I had told you we could go 3-2 through this "brutal" 5 game stretch you'd have laughed me off the board but that's where we are (actually, I did predict winning the last three games but that was when I thought we were going to go 9-3). There are still 2 games to go before this wild, crazy, Gator football season is over but it's there for the taking.
Gator football is still the most wonderful, enjoyable, scintillating thing that's going to put me in an early grave ever. Bring on the Rebels.
