There’s no doubt the Florida Gators have one of the toughest schedules in the country for the 2023 season. The 2023 opponents consist of out-of-conference games to book-end the season with Utah and Florida State to go along with SEC rivals Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee garnering high preseason rankings.
David Waters and Will Miles (Read and Reaction) go through Florida’s schedule and share what opposing coaches of Florida’s opponents see as strengths and weaknesses of the teams on the schedule.
Credit for opposing coaches views go to Athlon Sports College Football Preview and Lindy’s Sports Annuals.
Opposing coaches thoughts are below or you can listen to David and Will discuss them in the episode.
Utah Utes
Athlon
“Certainly the toughest team in the conference. Maybe the toughest in the nation. Physically. They want to dominate you every game. They challenge you, and they believe they can whip anybody they play. … They have great tight ends and great defensive guys that you can kind of lose track of, just really solid role players who develop really nicely. They recruit their state extremely well, and sometimes they’re able to get mature guys coming off of mission work to help the locker-room tone. … This is also the toughest place to play in the league, I think this is a lot more difficult than Oregon. … If Cam [Rising] isn’t hurt in that game (the Rose Bowl) they could’ve hung with Penn State. … If this team had different helmets. I think they’d get a lot more consideration for the playoff and a lot more respect nationally.”
Lindy’s
Their quarterback (Cameron Rising) is just a gamer, you know? There’s nothing unique about him – not his arm, not his speed – he’s just a good football player that people rally around. The team responds to him. … Have a lot of respect for them defensively – always have. I think they do a good job of evaluating talent, and they really do a great job of recruiting linemen. I think Ron McBride (for-mer Utah coach, 1990-2002) started that there and established ties to the islands and made a Polynesian pipeline. Just physical, tough, hard-nosed kids, man. Blue-collar stuff. I’m a little jealous… They just have that identity – toughness, run the ball, play-action pass. And they have done a nice job of bringing in running backs who fit. That jumps out.
Tennessee Volunteers
Athlon
“They were legit good last year. That wasn’t a fluke or a gimmick. That offense is no more or less a gimmick system than anyone else’s. I think a lot of coaches are just sore about how they got scored on so much. … [Joe] Milton [Ill] is not going to be [Hendon] Hooker, so the ceiling won’t be as high. They need to develop more depth at wide receiver to stay creative. This system is like a new-age option offense where it’s just hard as hell to practice it in a single week, and you get burned easily because you’re tired. You can’t replicate the tempo and pace unless you do it a little bit all season… The defense still has leftover talent from [former head coach Jeremyl Pruitt; they’re just asked to play complementary ball and create a few stops…When they’re up on you. Neyland is a nightmare to play in. The stadium is back to the way it used to be.”
Lindy’s
Tennessee had the second-best team in the SEC last year, since they beat Alabama. And they had better players than LSU. Tennessee probably had the second-best team in the country if Hendon Hooker doesn’t get hurt…. Hooker exceeded everybody’s expectations. That was a diamond in the rough that Jeremy Pruitt got (in January 2021). Joe Milton’s not the guy. They’ve got to find somebody else. With Milton it’ll be hard to replicate offensively what they did last year, … The defensive front seven was good last year. What I question most is the secondary. I don’t think Tennessee has done a great job in signing portal guys (to help the secondary). If they had, they could have made the team elite last year.
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Kentucky Wildcats
Athlon
“The change back at offensive coordinator [to Liam Coen] is going to be a huge swing for them, even with [Will] Levis leaving for the NFL. They’re going to go back to a different SEC era, what you’d expect an lowa guy like Mark [Stoops] to want to do – find wrinkles and formations and new-age stuff to run the ball and control the clock and help the defense. … If the QB transfer [Devin Leary] hits, they’re going to be as good as they’ve been in recent years. .. No one talks about how good they are in the portal. This is not a portal roster – they want you in the system long term- but they sneak out and plug position needs really well, like the kid from Virginia Tech [Tayvion Robinson) at WR, and the year before it was the guy from Nebraska [Wan’Dale Robinson]…. They’re going to fight Tennessee and South Carolina for the No. 2 slot in the East again.”
Lindy’s
Mark Stoops does a good job every year. That stat that he won 10 games twice in four years and the program had only two other 10-win seasons says what an exceptional job he has done at a school that is hard to win. Kentucky has no in-state high school football to speak of. Stoops fields good teams. Keeps kids out of trouble. Does things the right way. .. They’ll be what they’ve been on defense. On offense, Stoops has managed it pretty well but that quarterback (Will Levis) is hard to replace. (NC State QB transfer) Devin Leary is a gamer. And yes, he’ll be a good quarterback in the SEC. They’ve been a little too conservative, (OC) Liam Coen brings a lot to the table. He did a great job with Will Levis (in 2021).
Vanderbilt Commodores
Athlon
“They’re getting better, but you have to be realistic. Are they as good a team as a roster that beats Florida and Kentucky? No, but they hung in long enough to win those games, and they’re so much better than that first season team. They took such a huge jump from Year 1 to 2 [under Clark Lea], but they’re going to taper off because of the league. … They build their roster and hire coaches and do everything else with the long term in mind. The biggest compliment you can pay them is that they understand who they are and that there’s no shortcuts. … They’re finally getting some good facilities and acting like they give a damn about SEC football. …The defense is just Lea’s fingerprint; the offensive identity is all over the map. They want to fight you. That’s the sign of a good culture when you come in to play a two- or three-win team, and they scrap for four quarters and play hard.
Lindy’s
I thought that guy (Clark Lea) did a good job. Vanderbilt is the hardest job in the SEC. The only thing Vanderbilt has going for it is it’s in Nashville, which is the best town in the SEC. And Vanderbilt has the best education in the SEC…. Lea did a good job getting to 5-7 last year. He’s a defensive coach. They’re limited with explosive players on both sides of the ball. They play together; they’re not flashy. They’re starting to show some improvement. They’re representing the school in the right way, Getting 1-2 upsets a year. If you beat Kentucky or Tennessee every three or four years, they should name the Radio City Music Hall after Lea… There have been years when Vandy was not very competitive. That’s not the case anymore. Lea is a good coach and he’s recruited better players and he knows the place.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Athlon
“Shane [Beamer] is a rising star in this industry. It’s not like the Steve Spurrier years when they made Clemson afraid, but they’re making more noise than any Carolina coaching staff has since the Tigers starting winning nattys. Spencer [Rattler] is wildly inconsistent. Can they lock him in and keep him productive? That OC [Dowell Loggains] has a wide résumé. some NFL stuff and some Briles Air Raid stuff. … They lost a lot on defense. It’s hard to plug them in as that for-sure No. 2 team in the East when they’re dropping portal guys on defense to power programs. What they did last year could be the launch point to change the perception, but they have to manage the swing. That’s the secret when you’re a non-traditional power.. Shane can make them run through a wall for him, but the trick now is to win all the games you’re supposed to, to not have that typical South Carolina loss.”
Lindy’s
Spencer Rattler can make all the throws. His problem has always been turning the ball over. He’ll make so many good throws and create explosive plays, and then he’ll throw some bad ones. Defenses have to make him pay when he does that. Nobody made him pay in the last two games (against UT and Clemson).- I also think losing Freddie Kitchens on the staff is a big blow. (The former NFL head coach spent 2022 with the Gamecocks as an offensive analyst and left for a job as run game coordinator at North Carolina). Look at what South Carolina did the last three, four games and you see a lot of flavor of Freddie Kitchens and what he brought from the NFL…” But Shane Beamer has done a heck of a job. Can’t say anything but good things. Players like him. South Carolina is a hard job and for him to do what he did. you’ve got to take your hat off to the guy.
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Georgia Bulldogs
Athlon
“They’re the default pick for the College Football Playoff. the national title game and the conference. Absent quarterback. they have the most complete roster in the league and probably the entire country. So if you settle on a QB, and let’s say it’s [Carson] Beck, [Mike] Bobo is going to do exactly the same thing as [Todd] Monken – tell the kid he has to be just efficient enough to move the ball around and stay out of negative plays, and he’ll have the two best receivers in the SEC that just transferred in, plus [Brock] Bowers, like five starting running backs, and an OL that’s massive and NFL good. Defensively, they’re the best. It doesn’t matter what they lose. They’re Kirby Smart’s Alabama defense – or Nick Saban’s, I guess? – where they just reload with NFL-caliber guys. They’re just simply the best and most effective defense in the nation. They’re losing (Kelee) Ringo and (Christopher) Smith in the back, and they’re still going to be the best secondary in the SEC.”
Lindy’s
I think Georgia will miss Stetson Bennett – his leadership. The guy was so confident and the kids believed in him. He’s one of the greatest stories in college football, going from a walk-on to junior college, back to Georgia and being told you’re not worth a dang. Anytime you’ve got a new quarterback and he gets in trouble, players will say, ‘He don’t do it like Stetson’ But the defense is so good, they can overcome a lot of stuff. The defense will be as good or better than it was last year. Georgia’s talent is unbelievable. It’s phenomenal. It’s off the charts. They’ve got some dudes… And they’ve got the best tight end (Brock Bowers) in the country, and in my opinion the best tight end that’s played college football in the last 30 years.
Arkansas Razorbacks
Athlon
“This is the season where you can really judge the Sam Pittman era honestly. Chad [Morris] was an absolute fraud as a head coach. but he did recruit Texas pretty well, at least enough for these guys to develop some of them. Now you’re gonna see what the roster represents under this staff specifically. … Are there cultural issues? They lost coordinators. the TE coach who was an alum, and the S&C coach who was really popular. … [New offensive coordinator] Dan Enos is a big swing from what [Kendal] Briles had them doing, so the first question you ask is if they’re going have personnel for it. If you’re gonna slow it down, do you have the bodies to mash? Pittman is a great motivator, but it’s a little concerning to see him try to copy some of the Georgia stuff at Arkansas. Those are wildly different situations. This is a big year to define his run there”
Lindy’s
I think Sam Pittman has done a phenomenal job at Arkansas. He’s a special guy. He does things the right way. They should have head coaches in high school watch how Sam Pittman operates. … (Former DC) Barry Odom did a remarkable job, for the talent he had. He did more with less as good as anybody in the league on either side of the ball. And now he’s gone. How the new guy (Travis Williams from Central Florida) does, we’ll see. It’ll be interesting. He’s a rah-rah guy. I don’t know what they’ll do on defense. KJ Jefferson, the one thing he does is compete. And he has the ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat. He’s a pretty good dual-threat quarterback. I coached against him twice. It’s a headache. We beat them both times, but he’s a headache.
LSU Tigers
Athlon
“The quieter things are, the better for BK [Brian Kelly]. [LSU is] trending up in every category, and he did really well for his first year in the league. This is a really smart, really talented coaching staff, and the head coach should get more credit for assembling the staff. … Getting [Jayden] Daniels back will let them open up the book a lot more. They were really tight to start the season last year because that OL was a fresh mess. Now they’ve been in the fire, so you’d expect them to have more confidence…. They have the best defensive player in the conference [Harold Perkins Jr.], if not the entire sport, so that helps… there’s a problem area, it was definitely special teams. Look at the FSU and UGA games. They ended up on a lot of opposing teams” ‘teach tape’ for what not to do. … The title game showed that they’re not a 1A roster in this league, but this is the year where they convince top talent they’re consistent and serious.”
Lindy’s
What Brian Kelly did last year to me was miraculous. It also shows you what can happen in the transfer portal. It’s a different age in college football. No more so-called rebuilds in college football. You can flip it in one year. What used to take five years you can do it in one year… Jayden Daniels returning; I would say he absolutely gives them chance (to repeat). That position is the most important on the field. If you’ve got a quarterback, you’ve got a chance… But LSU is not near what LSU used to be (talent-wise). What they did last year shows how far the SEC West has fallen. Kelly proved himself last year with his game management in the SEC when he beat Alabama.
Missouri Tigers
Athlon
“Can they be as good defensively as they were last year? Because they really need that to carry them this season. They have most of those major pieces back, so they’re going to lean on that side to keep them in games, which is what happened last year. And they lose enough on that line where they’re going to take some bumps early. Look at the Georgia game last season and how they hung in; that was all the defense. … Eli [Drinkwitz] has the five-star kid from St. Louis [Luther Burden III] and nothing close to that caliber around him on offense. They’ve got to identify playmakers and get it going if this staff is going to make it…. They don’t seem to have a conference-caliber quarterback: betting on [Jake] Garcia to figure it out after that run at Miami is risky. … They fell into an above-average defense and have never put it all together on offense under Eli. This is the year where they could really be exposed
Lindy’s
Missouri’s program is hot and cold. One week they’re ice cream, the next week they’re milk. They’re just up and down. They’ve never really in the last decade done what they did under Gary Pinkel, and that’s win the East Division in back-to-back years (2013-14). Under Pinkel, they were solid on offense and pretty strong on defense. Their defense in the SEC is really good one week, really bad the next week. With that style (up-tempo) offense, that’s not a good thing… (QB) Brady Cook is talented and he can beat you. He doesn’t have much of a supporting cast… They gave Eli a contract extension, so they must believe in him. He’s an offensive guy so they should score points, but I don’t think he’s a great recruiter. I don’t know that Eli can do what Pinkel did
Florida State Seminoles
Athlon
“This program is really, really talented. As a roster, they might be at their best since Jimbo Fisher’s title. You always get asked, ‘Are they back?’ Yeah. they might be. They’re not one of those top six or so teams nationally, but they can win this league. That would be a huge step up for them. They’ve upgraded at every position at the 1s and 2s compared to when Mike [Norvell] got there. … There’s a pro mentality at that place: you have to take an NFL approach to balancing discipline with motivation. He’s put the right kind of discipline back in the program. And schematically. they’re sound on both sides. They’ve inched that along as they’ve been able to get the talent in place. This could be a breakout season if they’re as improved as we think on both lines. This could be the first year in forever where FSU just looks like they have a FSU-quality 0-line. You get the idea the clouds have parted on all the recruiting problems.”
Lindy’s
Some of us remember the FSU good-ol’ days. Getting nostalgic. It’s hard to imagine that the Seminoles went five seasons without seeing double-digit victories. It shouldn’t be that hard in the ACC. They pegged the right man for the job in (Mike) Norvell to get the program right. … With the ACC wide open it wouldn’t be surprising to see the QB (Jordan Travis) in the Heisman race. He doesn’t make many mistakes. He has a hot-shot big-play wideout to play pitch and catch with, too, in (Johnny) Wilson. There were a lot of folks shocked to see Jared Verse return for another year. Me, too. I figured him to be first-round bound. If he suffers an injury he will have cost himself millions of dollars. … If FSU can beat LSU and ace the test against Clemson, why wouldn’t they just run the table?
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