FLA vs Texas A&M - 10/14/2017

1.  All time series record: 2-1
Current winning streak 1 FLA
Largest margin of victory: 42-6, FLA 1962

2. Prior to joining the SEC, Texas A&M met Florida twice.
Once in Gainesville (1962) exactly 55 years ago (10/13/1962). We also played the most in the 1977 Sun Bowl in El Paso.

3. Joining prior to the 2012 season, A&M was the first addition to the SEC since South Carolina and Arkansas joined in 1992.
Why did the SEC add two schools in 2012? It's all about the $$$.
In 2011 the SEC distributed $248.1 million (or $19.5 million per school) - last year it was more than double that with $565.9 million total distributed which ended up being about $40.4 million per school!

4. This will be Florida's first night game at home since 10/3/2015 against Ole Miss.

5. Players to watch:
Chauncey Gardner, he had a career high of 12 tackles against LSU

Johnny Townsend, punter
Brother of:
Johnny leads the nation, leads the SEC and received the Ray Guy Punter of the week award. Way to go Johnny!
(Even tho we have an awesome punter, personally I'm hoping we GO FOR IT more this week on 4th & short)

Florida v LSU HOMECOMING 2017

1. All time series record: 32-28-3. FLA
current winning streak: FLA (1)
Biggest margin of victory: FLA (58-3 in 1993)
Longest winning streak: FLA (1988-1996 with 9)

2. Its Homecoming! The tradition started back in 1916 as "Dad's Day" with Fathers visiting their sons on campus.  In 1924 it morphed into a pep rally on Friday night.
1925 Gainesville gets paved roads which increased attendance!
1927 the skits started.
1928 the first fireworks.
1932 the event was renamed Gator Growl.
1973 the first tickets were sold for $0.50 - the big headliner? Cheech & Chong

3. Tebows first TD was against LSU it was a Jump Pass to Tate Casey
This wasn't Tebow's only Jump pass... he also memorably executed the play to David Nelson in 2008 vs Oklahoma

4. Last week, LSU lost its first non-conference game since 2000. The Troy Trojans beat the Tigers 24-21 at home.  They were favored by 20.5 points!  Florida is favored (currently) by 2.5 this week, and LSU's starting running back Derrius Guise is on the mend and probably for game.
Our leading receiver Tyrone Cleveland is out this weekend with a high ankle sprain.  Coach McElwain said there will be more opportunity for Dre Massey as a slot receiver.
(the slot is between the last offensive lineman on either side of the center and the wide receiver on that side).


5. Player(s) to watch: the QBs
Starter: Feleipe Franks
Backup: Malik Zaire
Third String: Jake Allen


Notable: Zaire had success against LSU. His first career start was against LSU on New Year's Eve in 2014 as a Notre Dame Sophomore. He completed 12 for 15 passes. ND won 31-28.
Zaire was -29 yards rushing with 9 completed passes and 17 attempts for 106 yards passing against Michigan.

Jake Allen #12 Freshman from St. Thomas Aquinas.

Florida v Vandy 2017

GOOD MORNING GATORS!

1. All Time series record 38-10-2 FLA with the largest margin of victory being the 2001 game where Florida topped Vandy 71-13.

Current winning streak: 3 FLA

Fun Fact: Gators have beat the Commodores 25 out of the last 26 games

2. Vandy has only won one game in the Swamp: 2013

3. Vandy's Defense is ranked in the top 12 in Red Zone efficiency & 11th in 3rd Down Conversion - they are ranked 31st overall... Florida? Not in the top 50 overall but ranked 21st in Red Zone D & 26th in 3rd Down conversions...

4. The Vanderbilt Commodores will wear their storm trooper uniforms, and Florida will don their orange helmets, orange jerseys and white pants

5. Players to watch:
Their stud RB is Ralph Webb, GHS alumni & Gainesville native.
Webb is ranked #21 in overall rushing in the SEC.

Who is ranked ahead of him? Florida Freshman Malik Davis is ranked #17.  Last year Davis was playing for Jesuit where he finished his high school career shattering records as the all-time leading rusher in Hillsborough with 7,025 career yards.


#GoGators

Florida v Kentucky 2017

Florida v Kentucky 9/23/17

1. Overall Series Record: 50-17 FLA
2. Current winning streak 30 - FLA (1987-2016) that is 3 decades!
3. Fun Fact about the AP poll... we have been ranked for 586 weeks, 41 of which we were #1... Kentucky has been ranked for only 78 weeks ever... and has NEVER been ranked #1. (They are NOT ranked this week)
4. In 1991 we beat Kentucky @ home for our FIRST SEC CHAMPIONSHIP. 
5. Player to watch: #89 Tyrie Cleveland - Sophomore WR from Houston TX, most recently notable for his 63 yard Hail Mary catch in the last seconds of last weeks game. ALSO (as a freshman) caught a 98 yard TD last year against LSU... you remember that one: 2016 Cleveland TD @ LSU

Bonus Repeats:

6. Florida's first SEC Championship was clinched by a 1984 win at Kentucky. 

Note: It was later stripped of course due to NCAA rule violations (106 violations specifically, thanks Charlie Pell).

Who led the charge to strip Florida of its SEC title? Tennessee. Ugh. 

7. Things you didn't know about Kentucky:

Bear Bryant, THE Bear Bryant (Alabama), is the winningest coach in Kentucky football history. 

FLORIDA V TENNESSEE 2017

Florida v Tennessee 2017

1. Overall series: 26-20 FLA 

longest winning streak FLA (2005-2015) 

largest margin of victory UT (45-3 in 1990 S.O.S.'s 1st game against the Vol)

2. This game is sometimes referred to as: the Third Saturday in September (or according to Ryan: opening day for deer hunting season).

3. Everyone's favorite UT fact: Peyton Manning never beat the Florida Gators 

4. Two favorite S.O.S. quotes about Tennessee:  

"I know why Peyton came back for his senior year. He wanted to be a three-time star of the Citrus Bowl." 

"You can't spell Citrus without U-T."

5. Players to watch: THE PUNTERS! 

"Tennessee’s Trevor Daniel was named the Ray Guy punter of the week after matching his career high with a 70-yarder against Georgia Tech on 9/4 Daniel ranks third among all college football punters in career average (45.3).

Yet Florida’s Johnny Townsend is even better. He led the nation with a 47.9 average last season and was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award. He’s averaged 54.7 yards per kick this season." - KnoxNews

Florida v Arkansas, November 5th 2016

the day before Game Day!

Florida v Arkansas

1. The series goes to the Florida Gators, 9-1

The Razorbacks' sole win was in the very first matchup in 1982 on New Years Eve in the Bluebonnet Bowl, played in Houston TX

Arkansas has appeared in the SEC Championship 3x (twice was v Florida, in 1995 & 2006 - both Florida wins)

The Razorbacks are 5-3 this season with losses to: 

Texas A&M, Alabama , Auburn 

2. Call the Hogs: the infamous "Whoo! Pig! Sooie!" is thought to have started in the 1920s

3. D.W.R. Razorback Stadium - the capacity is 72,000 seats, though they have recorded over 76,000 fans before.  The stadium is named for Donald W. Reynolds, a local businessman who graduated from Missouri.

Their Field is named after Frank Broyles, their longest tenured coach in school history.

4. Assoc Head Coach Randy Shannon coached at Arkansas 2013-2014, while he was there he led a linebacker unit that helped Arkansas rank 12th in the country and second in the SEC in rushing defense (114.62).

O-Line Coach Mike Summers coached at Arkansas 2008-2009 helping lead their offense that ranked first in the SEC in scoring in 2009.

5. Player to Watch: Johnny Townsend, #19 Punter, Red Shirt Junior from Orlando

Johnny had 6 punts in the Georgia game last weekend, 3 of them were over 50 yards! He averaged 47.8 yards and consistently put us in great field position.

Florida v Georgia, October 29th 2016

the day before Game Day (better late then never)

Florida v. Georgia
the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party

1. There is a dispute between the athletic departments regarding how many times the teams have met.
Florida maintains 93 meetings, Georgia claims 94.  In 1904 (two years before UF had their first football team) the Bulldogs played the Florida Agriculture College from Lake City and won 52-0.
The REAL overall series record is 49-42-2, Georgia, with the teams tying for the longest streak of 7 straight victories (Florida 1990-1996, Georgia 1941-1948)

2. The Florida v Georgia game has been played every single year since 1926 except one, 1943.
Florida did not field a team that year bc of WWII.

3. Since 1933 the game has been held in Jacksonville (except for 1994-1995, the 1995 game was when Steve Spurrier became the first to hang “Half a Hundred” on the Bulldogs in their own stadium in the Gators 52-17 win).

4. Florida has 10 Eastern Division titles while Georgia has 5 (wikipedia).

5. Player(s) to watch: The Georgia Defense is ranked #17 in the nation in stopping the run (averaging 111.1 yards per game) and held its last two opponents to a combined 92 yards on the ground (Vandy & South Carolina).
Georgia also recorded 8 sacks in those two games, lead by Lorenzo Carter with 4.