Don’t let LSU’s recent struggles distract you from the fact we own the Gators
While it’s weird that it’s in November again, it’s LSU-Florida Week. Forget what just happened, it’s time to beat some Gator ass. Here to update us on Florida and their somehow-not-yet-fired-coach is Gator Country’s David Wunderlich.
1. Well, I can’t lie, the vibes are kinda terrible for both of us after last week. Moving this matchup out of October is bullshit. We’re supposed to play each other while we still have hope! Now the only thing on the line in our matchups is pride, not championship contention. Have we become the Egg Bowl??
While it may be tempting to think of this year’s game as the Egg Bowl With Alligators, fortunately, Mississippi always has a new low to find. Are LSU and Florida wholly underwhelming? Yup! Is one of them disappointed while the other is just trying to scrap its way to a bowl? You betcha. But does either team employ a head coach who’s an apologist for Art Briles? Nope. Not to steal Alabama’s bit, but thank God for Mississippi.
2. Normally I wouldn’t blame Florida for LSU losing to Alabama, we have done that all by ourselves most years. But last weekend LSU was cursed by bringing a live Tiger into the stadium from the state of Florida. I didn’t think Florida could insult Mike the Tiger more than they did with that toy skeleton, but somehow they did! Is sending us an imposter tiger a form of payback for the state of Louisiana sending y’all an imposter football coach?
I don’t know what y’all were expecting. The entire history of Florida is a story of fraud of some sort. I’m not sure how many Gator fans are mad at the state of Louisiana for sending Billy, though, because they’re all mad at Scott Stricklin and the once-former-now-interim university president for that. It’s hard to overstate the current dissatisfaction with UF leadership, in and outside of athletics.
3. LSU has beaten Florida five times in a row, the longest win streak the Tigers have ever had in this series. If that streak extends to six, is Billy Napier at risk of getting a second letter of commitment to him tweeted by the athletic director?
The dreaded vote of confidence was to help Napier salvage the recruiting class, and hey, it worked! They almost immediately flipped a kicker recruit from Arkansas. So, y’know, the new plan is going great.
Napier is 0-3 against Georgia, 0-2 against FSU, 1-2 against Tennessee, 1-2 against Kentucky, and lost to pre-Pavia Vanderbilt. It’s not that going 0-fer against LSU would be cheered, but in terms of frustration, honestly it’s down the list from nearly being winless against the big three rivals and losing to former SEC East doormats.
4. Okay, let’s be real, is Napier coasting by because everyone is too distracted by the Noles’ implosion to pay attention? Normally I don’t think a 4-5 team should get to laugh at a rival, but it’s wild what they have going on over there.
What’s fun is that before the season, everyone was comparing Napier to Mario Cristobal, not Mike Norvell. You know how that’s gone this year. Turns out if you need a quarterback to carry an otherwise fraudulent team to a gaudy record, you should go find a transfer quarterback named Cam.
I expected FSU to be in for a fall after last year, but not this far, this fast. It may be that the consequence of being the Portal King is that if you’re not careful or just unlucky, you can hit a year where your portal guys aren’t as good as you thought and the team chemistry is in the toilet because there are too many mercenaries. It also doesn’t help that their big name transfer QB, who wasn’t that good to begin with, broke a finger and the backups are all FCS level guys at best. Whoops.
5. At least the ACC was kind enough to still send the Gators a superior Florida team to beat them down. Who do you think you are losing to the ACC in a Week 1 nonconference game? That’s our bit!
Look man, we’re all still glad that Gus didn’t figure out how to use KJ Jefferson and therefore the Gators didn’t lose to UCF. When your program is in its worst state since the late ‘70s, you gotta take what you can get.