Swamp247 Podcast: Florida vs. FAU preview and predictions

0:00Welcome to another episode of the SWANT247 podcast Florida fans. It's finally here after a long period of waiting nine months since John Summerall was hired in Gainesville. Florida football is a little bit over 24 hours away from opening the season against a familiar opponent for John Summerall. Florida Atlantic, a team that John Summeralls team faced in November. Just three weeks before he would become Florida's head coach with John Summerall's two-lane team, which ultimately made the college football playoff, securing a 35 to 24 victory over FAU. Now Summerall finds himself with the familiarity there, but in a much bigger role in Gainesville. And we're going to break down the game, give our questions for the game, along with our predictions for Florida versus Florida Atlantic, along with like we did last week, our predictions around the country, including the SEC, as college football officially gets underway. I know that FCS contests and weak zero contests were significant and interesting, especially last night's act. I was watching Colorado vs. Georgia Tech.

1:00That was a fantastic game that came down to the final seconds. And with so much of a link between Florida and Georgia Tech, I just wanted to see what the product would look like in Atlanta. And certainly the Yellow Jackets are licking their wounds after blowing a 13 to 7 lead against Colorado down the stretch. That off-the-top looks a lot different. Yeah, I think Florida fans, if they were watching that game, came away saying, man, if this was what Georgia Tech looked like last year with Buster Falkner, you can see an immediate drop-off in Brent Keys program without him there. So I know a lot of people were paying attention. Florida fans are certainly focused on tomorrow night's game. We're recording this here Friday afternoon. Let's dive into it. Florida is facing a Florida Atlanta team that had significant returning production of all the group of six teams. I know we always focus on the power for and the group of five, but if the group of six teams out there, FAU returned more production than any other team.

2:0364% of their team is back for Coach Gettany's team. And you look at what they were able to do last year with that production. They had the fastest offense in the country in terms of pace per play. And John Someral has spoke throughout the week about how much that's going to be a challenge for Florida. He talked about guys taking plays off and knowing that they need to rest, but they can't do that against this FAU team because they are certainly capable. Now, we're going to talk about our predictions for this in a little bit, but I want to dive into both the offense and defense for Florida. What you're expecting, I'll give my takes here as well. But Florida's offense has been so under the microscope. I think a little bit more if I had to pick one, then Florida's defense. We're in Filo. Florida's starting quarterback. You would agree with that. I think that Florida, with the offensive line and the questions at quarterback certainly has just got so much more of the focus. So we're going to start there in assessing Florida today. I want to get you taken and I'm going to give mine as well. What are you expecting from Florida's offense?

3:04We've talked about the Wildcat. You've written about it. We've talked about two running backs in the back field there. We've talked about Aaron Filo. How quick he gets the ball out. He's a little bit more understanding of the pre-snap movement and just more comfortable in Florida's offense. But what are your expectations for his debut in Gainesville? What is a successful debut for Aaron Filo in your mind? Yeah, I feel like I've spent most of this week leading up to the game writing about the offense. It might be because to peel back the curtain a little bit for everyone. Currently we're on a three press conference per week schedule. I went to the one with Buster Faulkner and the offense. Graham went to the one with Brad White in the defense. It just keeps up. I imagine we'll rotate that now and then. But as a result, yeah, I've exclusively written about the offense at least for the most part. And I'm sure I've fanned the flames of excitement about what this unit is going to look like. I think that they're going to come out firing.

4:06It's hard to predict how either of these quarterbacks will do as they're going to well, Filo obviously being the first time full time starter would have been the same thing for Mel Jones. I anticipate both will play. But with all the weapons that their disposal is good as we think these skill positions are, they're still like chemistry to be built. First time for Buster Faulkner calling plays for a lot of these players. There's going to be some mistakes made along the way. But I think they're going to go pretty full throttle into utilizing the talent that they have that's been getting so much hype throughout the off season. Whether it's airing it out, whether it's really committing to running the ball, which I think we'll see much more than just Jayden Bob doing that. We'll see receivers in the run game. They've got multiple running backs that we've talked about who will contribute. I think Aaron Filo will contribute on the ground. You know, Florida Atlantic has a lot of talent coming back. There's an obvious talent gap between these two teams. And I would also say that well, it's positive.

5:07They've got a lot of talent coming back. Their defense was with a bottom 10 defense in the FBS in basically every measurable category last year, including the worst pretty dramatically in turnover differential. They don't force takeaways. That's something they're trying to tool up. Obviously, they've got some additions through the portal to help their past rush, help their secondary. But again, a lot of that's returning talent that just wasn't able to slow offences down at all. So because of the spark, the creativity of Buster Faulkner's offense that we're going to see, and I'm sure he's going to leave a lot of stuff out of the film for future games. He's not going to show all his cards quite yet. But we're going to get a really good feel as to what this offense should and will ideally look like under Buster Faulkner with, I mean, I hate to throw any disrespect at for use way, but just a really intriguing matchup for Florida's offense that they really shouldn't struggle with too much. I know I kind of put you on this spot because historically, when you're facing an out of

6:12conference opponent to open the season, fans, if the offense is not spectacular, and media does this too, it's not just fans, they seem to, I think, attribute any shortcomings or I hate to use this cliche, but a vanilla offense to saving plays for later in the season when the games are a little bit more significant. That's no disrespect to FAU because, like I talked about at the beginning of this podcast, John Sumeral knows how talented that team can be, and the problems that they can cause for a Florida defense. But I think that even if Buster Faulkner's offense is not extremely creative, and there's some people who are expecting it to be revolutionary, I think, like you said, expectations should be tempered a little bit, that for Florida managing what they do well and then limiting mistakes, limiting turnovers, creating holes in the run game. Those are things on the checklist in my mind that are probably a little bit more desirable

7:13on Saturday rather than necessarily seeing some plays we've never seen before, or opening up the entire bag. I think you could make a case that if Florida opens up the entire bag and has to get really creative against FAU in the second half, that they're probably using. Yeah, that's a negative problem. Or they're in a close game and they think that they need to use some plays that maybe they would have liked to save for Auburn or Ole Miss, Missouri, the weeks ahead for Florida, when you get into conference play to start the season. I think that for Florida, it's playing a clean football, executing what they can, establishing I think some comfortability with their offensive plays while not having to use the full toolbag that we have talked about Buster Faulkner having. So for me, having strong offensive line play, Aaron Filo limiting mistakes, Jaden Baugh not having to play into the fourth quarter, maybe you get up large enough that Tremel Jones Jr. can come in and then you can see what you have from an in-game standpoint for

8:14a quarterback that has made significant improvements. John Sumerall talked about in April this battle wasn't necessarily close between Aaron Filo and Tremel Jones Jr. But over the summer in Fall Camp, Tremel made it a significantly closer battle, seeing what you have from him from an in-game standpoint. A guy with very limited experience in his sophomore season, that would be a huge boon for Florida. It'd be very beneficial if they could get Tremel in there. But that requires them taking care of business in the first half, maybe even the third quarter. And you get a driver too for Tremel and Aaron Filo doesn't have to be this savior down the stretch against a really, you know. I think better than they're given credit for FAU team to open the season. Talked so much about FAU's offense, how explosive they can be, how quick they can be. John Sumerall, like I said, talked about guys not taking plays off early in a drive, knowing that they're going to have to deal with the tempo. Being able to stay, I think, well conditioned even into the third and fourth quarter.

9:17That has certainly been an issue in games for the last couple of years. What are you looking for from Florida's defense? What's a successful day in your mind for Florida's defense under Brad White? Yeah, I mean, it's handling the tempo, right? Because this was the number one passing offense in the FPS last year. We have to take competition to they were playing into a count. But in large part, that's due to how fast they were moving. We've talked about this before a plenty last season. I mean, with USF Tennessee, you know, that beer and shoot style offense and not necessarily that that's all FAU does. But the pace of that play is rooted in their offensive philosophy. And we saw Florida defenses of the past few years struggle to keep up. And, you know, it's kind of the same deal. I'm not expecting every play to be executed perfectly by this defense. It's a new scheme. They're playing it for the first time with some players that not played next to even

10:20though Florida does have a lot of talent coming back. But as long as functionally, they can handle the tempo. They don't get caught staring at the sideline waiting for a play and communicating it with seconds before the fall snap or even post the ball being snapped. We have seen that before. That's really what it comes down to. I mean, the FAU's got some playmakers for certain. Kate and Veltcamps, number one target Easton Messer. I think he had like 104 or 105 receptions last year. And he wasn't just like five yards and under yards after catch guy while he did that well. He was able to extend intermediate to deeper down the field. That is going to be easily Veltcamps' favorite target. Florida has expressed some confidence in like Kanye Clark and the nickel. But there's also some concerns and questions about the secondary and safety play especially. Messer is a guy who really does well in the slot.

11:20So he's someone that could maybe give Florida's defense as they get try to get into a groove early on some issues. Like I could see Florida Atlantic having a score maybe even two on the board semi early in the game that makes it look kind of tight. But Florida's offense again going back to what I was saying originally. I think that there are more talent in the FAU defense. And over time there's going to be a clear separation. Yeah, I think that most people agree that Florida's defense has more talent. I mean, you look at the returning guys, Bryce Thornton in the third level of the secondary. As a whole with Cormani McLean poised for a big year. Ben Hanks has been one of the standouts for Florida for really the past eight months. And then you look around that defensive front Brendan Betts looks to be a leader for Florida. Miles Graham Aaron Childs, Jaden Robinson. I think Florida obviously knows what it has in its linebacker court. There's a reason they didn't address it in the transfer portal and those guys that we mentioned along with Ty Jackson and Miles Johnson are poised for big years for Florida.

12:23And I do think that if there are things that Florida can build off of that I think a lot of fans out there are just looking for. It's creating takeaways, limiting explosive plays. But I think of what I am most looking to see isn't necessarily going to be defined by tackling or playing to an assignment necessarily. It's the communication. I think the communication is a good reflection of confidence. And John Summaryl has noted that especially in the third level, at the safety position in particular, Florida needs to do a better job communicating. And being on the same page, understanding the defense, understanding the assignment, especially against an uptempo team where you're going to need to react quickly, get the play call in and not have any confusion in terms of the verbiage, the terminology. And what Florida is looking to accomplish, that is going to be I think a big takeaway. And it's going to be a good barometer in terms of how far Florida's defense has come in terms of learning Brad White's system. I think that for Florida, if they can limit their

13:27mistakes in the back end, you're not going to entirely have a perfect game, but limiting explosives, limiting just broken plays against, again, an FAU offense that I do think is talented, maybe less talented than Florida's, but has had some success in the last year and a half. That is going to be what I think a lot of people are looking for. It's certainly what we're going to be looking for. It's going to be under the microscope, especially that star in safety that you mentioned, with Kanye Clark there as a starter, a former walk on an UCLA, Bryce Thornton has worked at Star as well. Cam Dooley, they feel confident in him, even there's a little bit to be desired in terms of just how he fared in fall camp. How Florida manages the third level of defense, I think, is going to be really interesting. So it's going to be an exciting game, 7.45 pm Eastern. Fans should get there early. They should watch during half time. There's going to be a drone show. It's going to be an exciting time here in Gainesville. Let's get into our predictions. We put our stuff over on Swamp 247. Earlier today, again, we're recording this Friday afternoon, so you want

14:29to read a little bit more in depth and see Tyler Hardin's prediction as well for this game. We already put out our season predictions earlier in the week. You can read that over at Swamp 247. And I know if you're watching this on YouTube, you may see the bottom bar and see that we're running a 60% off deal. Well, I've got good news for the next couple of days until I believe Tuesday night. We're going to be running a 75% off promo where you can join Swamp 247 for our best deal of the year right now to celebrate the return of football season. So if you're not a member, you're not a VIP subscriber. Take advantage of that because we're putting out a ton of VIP content. And basketball is right around the corner. Recruiting is picked up at Florida. So read all of our stuff over at Swamp 247. Zach, let's get into it. Game predictions. How do you see this one shaking out? Give me your final score and tell me what you think happens in this game. Does Florida get a big lead? Or do they have to come back or pull away down the stretch? How do you see this one shaking out? Yeah, I feel like

15:31I've pretty much outlined how I see it going already. I went 45 to 17 comfortable win. Florida covering the I've got 26 and a half spread over its sports line here. Again, I think that the tempo with this being first time playing in Brad White's defense, there's a lot of veteran talent coming back to FAs use offense that was productive last year. Could give the defense some struggles early on. I think that if FAU scored double digit points, the majority of it will come early. And then as Florida's defense gets into that groove, you start to see the difference in talent between the two squads in Florida pull away. But again, I think Florida will come out firing offensively. It's got too many weapons and it's disposal not to try and get them all involved here early and often, especially if Florida is able to take a pretty solid lead. You want to get some of your younger guys out there, your second teamers, get them reps. I think that this is the

16:33type of matchup that should allow Florida to do that pretty comfortably. Yeah, I'm with you. I do think that with how new everything is in games though, with having all these guys outside of the transfers from Georgia Tech or experiencing having a true offensive play collar for if they were turning to Florida the first time in their collegiate careers. They're in a new defense. I know Brad White has been labeled a three, four guy, four, two, five guy. There's going to be some creativity on the defensive line and how Florida handles all of that. I do think that there are going to be a few speed bumps on Saturn and I think that there's going to be some mistakes. Like I mentioned this on the message board, maybe I'm a little bit scarred, but until Florida eliminates all of the mistakes, if they have ideal communication, if they limit explosives in the back end, go back to the 2022, 2023 season, even a little bit in the 2024 season, 2025 I think was better except for down the stretch when everything was lost

17:37for Florida. But Florida still has been prone to a good deal of explosive plays and until I see otherwise, I don't think I can sit here and say I'm super confident that those are going to be eliminated in game one of the new regime. So I do think that FAU is going to have some success. I think John Someral has experienced that this can be a team that can put up 20 plus points on you. And when I was wavering between my score, I do think that Florida is going to have success just the talent that they have in the skill positions offensively. Even if Aaron Files is not going to be a guy who's going to go out and get you 400 plus passing yards in his Florida debut, I think the Florida just has too much talent, especially in the back field and has a lot to build off of from that second scrimmage where they created really good holes in the run game. And I think Florida is going to put up more than 150 rushing yards on Saturday. But I do think that this is going to be maybe a little bit early in the third quarter, too close for comfort for some Florida fans. I could see a 2320 score right after that time. Whoa. But I do think that my, the thing I'm most

18:44certain about is that the offseason strength and conditioning program and the work and the mentality instilled by John Someral will have this team more formidable in the fourth quarter. Because I hate to keep doing this, but going back to the billionaire era, Florida would fade in the fourth quarter. They would run out of gas. They either didn't have depth of positions. Guys would play too many snaps and they would blow leads in the fourth quarter or they would not be able to build on a slim lead. Sometimes under Billy Napier, they would take the air out of the ball and slow the clock down a little bit too early and give the opponent a chance that happened against USF. I've seen it happen before too many times where you can call me a skeptic, a dout or whatever you want. But until I see otherwise, I still think that Florida is going to have to be able to shrug off some of those previous bad tendencies. For that reason, I think Florida goes, I think Florida wins 3720. Again, I think it's a close score. I think Florida outscores FAU 14 to zero in the fourth quarter and wins 3720.

19:46Doesn't cover the spread, but I do think that hey, if you beat FAU by 17 points, three scores, even if you don't cover the spread, that is a win in my book. It's about going one and one and one every week. There are things to benefit from putting mistakes on film. I do think that this team has gotten a little bit more confident in the last couple of weeks. Maybe your reminder that they still have some good things, a good bit of things to work on can do them good in the weeks ahead. I'm going 3720. I know there are some fans out there already giving me a little bit of grief for picking Florida out of the spread. People were saying that they'd be disappointed by 3720. Listen, it's the first game of the season, new era. I know that maybe you'd like to believe that the first game is an indicator for future success, but let me remind everyone, the first game in the Billy Napier era, Utah came in a Gainesville and Florida won that game against a really good Utah. That was arguably the peak of the Billy Napier era. Ideally for John Summaryl, this is not

20:53going to be the peak for Florida and they'll continue improving from here. That's where I'm going right now. That's my reasoning, my rationale for why I'm not expecting Florida to come out here and win this game like last year when they played Long Island. Those are our predictions. Again, you can read more over at Swank247. We'll have plenty of game day coverage tomorrow. We'll have live updates, a very raucous message board where you can chime in and join the conversation. Zach and I will be giving our opinions along with Play-by-Play. If you're unable to actually watch the game, we would love for you to join in the conversation and follow along with us over at Swank247. Been a while. Jump back into Chamba Casino. Enjoy new games every week and your daily login bonus. Log in today to keep the fun going. Chamba Casino, where the fun never stops. Let's Chamba. No, we're just necessary. VGW Group. Void reprehibited by law, CTNC's 21 plus. It's going to be a busy football slate this weekend and now we're going to dive into outside of Gainesville. The big games happening. Like we did last week, I'm going to put Zach on the spot. Also, we have

21:53my takes for how I see some of these top games unfolding, particularly in the SEC. Let's dive into it right here. Zach, we're recording this Friday afternoon. Again, there is football tonight, my friend. In the SEC, Oklahoma, a team that is coming off a college football playoff appearance under coach Brent Venables, who signed an extension prior to the season. It takes on UTEP, University of Texas, Al Paso tonight. Oklahoma is a significant favorite in this game. John Matier, 40 and a half. With the over under being 51.5. So clearly, Las Vegas, who knows a lot, thinks that UTEP will not be able to muster more than 10 points in this game. Zach, this game's on SEC Network Plus. How do you see John Matier and the Oklahoma team under Brent Venables that is looking to make a second consecutive CFP? How do you see them fairing against UTEP tonight at 8 p.m.? I mean, I can't tell you a thing about UTEP football right now,

22:59admittedly. Maybe that's wrong with me. That's fair. Anyone offended? I'm in the same boat. I'll just, I totally get why any non-power conference team would, it would be considered a miracle maybe for them to score double digit points against Oklahoma's defense. It's legit. It's it's it's going to be one of the best in college football this year. My question is about their offense. Where John Matier is after the injury to his hand last year, and it obviously impacted his game a bit down the stretch. It seems as though he's had a productive offseason, but I want to see what that looks like and I want to see how his the pieces and his offense step up because there there are some portal additions Parker Livingstone being probably the most notable, but I don't think they really made a bunch of significant upgrades to their offense. Offensive line might need need some help. So covering 40 in a half to 41 and a half, I'm not

24:01super confident in, but I do like them to breeze to a pretty comfortable victory of only because their defense is daunting. That's going to be probably one of if not the biggest test for Florida's offense this entire season. Yeah, the defense line is great. David Stone is a future, you know, early probably first round pick in the NFL draft. I think Oklahoma is going to keep you tap off the scoreboard. It's hard for me to see you tap scoring more than 10 points in this game. I do think that you're going to maybe see a little bit something like the Missouri game last night, where Missouri had a 40 to zero lead at halftime and then Arkansas Pinebluff puts two touchdowns on the board ties them in the second half. Missouri doesn't cover a 55 point spread. I do think that Oklahoma wins comfortably, but it's hard for me to see, especially in a week one, a team winning by 40 plus points. So I do think that Oklahoma wins maybe 48, 10, but it's, you know, we'll see if they cover that spread here moving along to a Florida rival Miami takes on a stand for

25:05team coming off an impressive victory over Hawaii that we talked about last week. Miami opens the season with forward two lane quarterback Darian Mensa, a ton of returning talent, Mark Fletcher, a really good wide receiver core, an offensive line that has some guys to replace, but Mario, Chris, to ball's team certainly has high expectations after making the national championship game last year. Miami enters this game a 24 and a half point favorite. They're on the road in Stanford. Stanford has played a game. They've had chances to make some corrections from last week against Hawaii. How do you see this one shaking out? Does Miami cover the 24 and a half point spread with the over under being 47.5? I think, I think Miami covers, I mean, my rainbow warriors as we talked about last week were especially in that game we're able to put up quite a few points. And even though Miami's defense lost a quite a bit of talent as we know in this past NFL draft,

26:12it's still recruited so well that I don't think there's going to be much of a fall off. So you pair those two things together. Obviously, Darian Mensa's debut in this offense in Malachitone being his dynamic as he was as a freshman. Another comfortable win for the favorite here, in my opinion, this time Miami does cover it though. Yeah, I think Miami covers too. I think they win 45 to 17, 28 point win. I think Stanford will score. I do think that the home field advantage will help them out, but you know, Miami's used to playing on the road. They even do it in their home stadium. So I do think that Miami wins this game pretty comfortably. I'm a Mensa believer. I think their offense is going to be great. This could be the year that I talked about recently. Miami finally wins the ACC championship. I do think they're going to start on a strong note. Yeah, it's been elusive even though they made the national championship game before. Winning the ACC championship. So I do think that they win. We're going to go a little bit more

27:12rapid fire here. Give me your take here. USC versus Fresno State. USC is a 22 and a half point favorite. The overrunner is 51.5. Who wins? Does USC cover if they do? Give me USC covers. Good take. I, you know, this is a really interesting game being in Los Angeles at the Memorial Coliseum. USC has had so many conversations the last week about filling the stadium. We'll see if they're a little bit more packed in the weeks ahead. I do think that they cover as well. I think they beat Fresno State. I don't think Fresno State's very good from what I've read. I think they probably get more fans in there for Fresno than they do for San Jose State. I would think so too. San Jose State is not a great team. All right, moving to Saturday. Let's start with a quick one. Alabama versus East Carolina. Alabama's a 27 and a half point favorite. Did they cover? East Carolina was like kind of solid last year, right? They weren't bad.

28:18They weren't bad. I mean, I'm taking Alabama to cover. I was just curious. Home game of Brian Denny, stadium, it's hard for me to pick up. It's not a bad. I do think that they're going to have a better year than people think. I'm kind of surprised that there are some people out there that think Alabama's going to go eight and four. I think there are 10 win team. I think the big question is Keel on Russell. If he lives after the hike, this could be a really, really good Alabama team. Moving right along. Yeah, I think he will too. I think he will too. From what I've seen, I think he does. Here's an interesting one. Georgia rarely covers the spread in its opener. You've seen Kirby Smart want to use less experienced players when they get up big. They take their foot off the gas against some opponents. I saw a stat where in the last nine season openers on the Kirby smart, I think they've covered the spread once in that game. Now, they won handily in each one. But Georgia's a 47 and a half point favorite against Tennessee state. The Tennessee state that has already played one game. That game is in Sanford in Athens, Georgia.

29:19Does Georgia cover against Tennessee state? Give me the line again. 47 and a half. Sure. Sure. Okay. Yeah. I don't know. Like, I mean, I don't want to drag on much about it. But like, kind of stalked him with my preseason third quarterback. I think he's solid. I think he's got players that make it solid. But I just have my same traditional, I guess skepticism about that off and sever in this day at age being as dynamic as others. Fair. This one is, I think, one of the more intriguing games of the week. And I want to get your take on this one. Texas state first Texas. In Austin, Texas is a 29 and a half point favorite. Now, listen, I'm a believer in archmaning. I think he's going to be a great quarterback down the line. But do I think he's the best quarterback in college football right now? I don't think that he's not the best quarterback in the SEC.

30:21I don't think he is either. Now, I think he could be by the end of the season. We'll see. Sure. Yeah. Absolutely. Right now, especially the reports that came out at Fall Camp, which our subscribers can read more about over at horns 247. Archmaning didn't wow people behind closed doors in Fall Camp. Texas state may have the best group of five quarterback, best non-power for quarterback. Texas state is a good defense too. 29 and a half points. The long horns covered. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I mean, I disagree. I agree. I've got Texas winning the SEC. I don't see them not covering against Texas state. Wow. I think that Texas wins 3517. But I think the barely barely miss out on covering the over under. And I don't think that they cover the spread. Now again, that's just I think Texas state is better than people think.

31:24I think that first. Yeah. I'm not trying to like disrespect them or anything. But I mean, I'm a Texas believer. I got you. I got Texas believer, man. And you know, not all quarterbacks are great practice quarterbacks. Look at my guy Trevor Lawrence. Yeah. Are you a believer in Billy Napier's former program? Billy Napier, former Ferman quarterback, travels to Knoxville, Tennessee to take on the Tennessee volunteers. Ferman has already played a game. They've started the season 1 and 0. That game will be on SEC Network Plus at 3 30 PM Eastern. So if you're not out tailgating, you can watch that before Florida takes on Florida Atlantic. Tennessee is a 47 and a half point favorite. Do you believe that they beat Ferman by 48 plus points? What did Ferman do in its first game? Who were they playing? What was going on there? Ferman opened the season against the team I've never heard of. The Anderson University South Canada Trojans.

32:26And they always scored 20 points. But they did hold the opposition in 60 minutes to just a field goal. Will Tennessee win by 48 plus? Is Anderson South Carolina Trojans or the NAA? Like, I don't... Yeah, give me... Give me Tennessee. They're going with the freshman, I quarterback, right? Yep. Yeah, you know, great, great start to his career. Whatever that looks like. All right, all right. Rollin' right along here. Texas A&M, Missouri State. A Missouri State team. It's pretty recent to Division 1 football. Ticks, say, and M is a 40 and a half point favorite. What do you think? How recent in addition are they? Couple of years. Couple of years, maybe. What are your thoughts on them? I'm curious for your takes here. From what I've seen, I think that their defense is better than their offense. I don't think they score more than

33:2810 points against Texas A&M. But, you know, people are thinking that Texas A&M's offense could be in for a bit of regression this year. Now, I'm a big Marcel Reed guy. Like, when I saw Marcel Reed listed on some sites as like the eighth or tenth best quarterback in the SEC, I was like, dude, what? I think he's better than that. I think he's good. I don't think he's good. I don't think he's good. See, he's going 50 points. See, Leed and Texas A&M and 50 plus points on Saturday. I'm going to go now. I like it. I'm going to go now. I like it. All right, last two here for you. Probably the most intriguing game in the 730 p.m. window on Saturday. Clemson takes on the New Orleans, sorry, the LSU Tigers on Saturday in Baton Rouge, the Battle for Tiger Stadium, the Battle and Death Valley. Do you believe in preacher Davos Swinney or are you of the opinion that the devil himself,

34:37Lane Kiffin, will lead the LSU Tigers to a 10 plus point victory over Clemson. The Tigers of LSU are favored by 10 points coming into that game. The overrunner is 50.5. Do you believe that Sam Levit and all the 28 to 29-year-olds joining LSU team are going to be, I'm just joking, obviously, don't sue me. Do you believe that LSU wins by double digits on Saturday against Davos Swinney's team? Dare I say it, love it or love it? Love it, yeah, leave it. I'm loving it. I'm taking Clemson to cover. I need to be in the cover. I'm taking Clemson to cover, man. I think that the closer and closer we get to this season starting and everything that LSU's had going on, all the drama with Lane Kiffin, not even to his hiring, post his hiring. These vanity fair stories left and right,

35:41pushing the envelope as far as he can. We don't need to get into the stories. But when it comes to this NFL to college pipeline to LSU, thing, and now the SEC suing LSU, I guess, or whatever the latest update is at this point, I'm getting more and more comfortable with at SEC Media Days. I was on that SEC podcast and I took under eight and a half wins for LSU. I feel so good about that. And now I'm not saying that LSU loses this game, but I absolutely think people are writing off Clemson to this point if anything because they're buying into this circus at LSU. So give me the other Tigers to cover. I'm with you. I don't know what to expect of Clemson. I think they've been a disappointment in the NIL transfer portal era. I do think, though, that the distractions that coach Joey freshwater's team has faced in Baden Rouge are going to lead to some hiccups. I mean, if they're

36:45trying to incorporate players who've just joined the roster this weekend, I don't think Sam Levit is like a Heisman trophy type caliber quarterback. And he's kind of off of what's the Alistair Frank injury. That's not just a common, that can be worse than a broken angle long term. Yeah, I just have some questions about them. I think that the championship expectations that are in Baden Rouge are, I think, a little premature. Obviously, Lane Kiffons pulling on all the stops right now. But I do think that Clemson keeps it close. I think Clemson loses by a touchdown. But I don't think that LSU is going to come out and everyone's going to be like, oh, this is the best team in college football. Speaking of Lane Kiffon, his former team on Sunday, we got good football on Sunday before the NFL season gets here next weekend. Pete Golding's team in Oxford, Mississippi, opens the season in a ranked matchup. I think the only ranked matchup for an SEC team this weekend is against number 24 Louisville in Nashville,

37:53neutral site location at the Titans brand new stadium, Nissan Stadium. All missed a six and a half point favorite against the Louisville team. I think Jeff Brahms is a great coach. There was a reason why his name was floated routinely in coaching cycles this time, what, 10 months ago? Yeah. Do you think, and I don't know what to think of Pete Golding. I think their offenses in for a drop off. Yeah, they have Kwan Lacey. Yeah, they have turned that jamless. But are they going to be one of the best offenses in college football? I think that their roster is better than last year's. But are they going to have better coaching? Are they going to be able to take advantage of all the weapons that they're disposal? I have huge questions about them, losing Charlie Wise Jr., losing all the assistance that Lane Kiffon had there, say for a couple of guys he didn't want to bring with him apparently. I do think that this is a really intriguing matchup. How do you see this one? I'm absolutely going to be tuned in on ABC Sunday night as Ole Mess takes on Louisville. How do you see that one going down? I mean, I go back to what I said

38:57earlier about Archman and not being the best quarterback in the SEC. I think it's pretty comfortably trying to add Jambliss based on what he did at least last year. Kwan Lacey is arguably the best running back in the conference. I personally don't know if that's how I feel. But I would understand an argument as to why people would pick him. They just, even with a new coach, potentially, I mean, new offensive scheme even with Charlie Wise leaving. I'm very confident that that gives Ole Mess an incredibly high floor, quite frankly, most of the games that they'll play this year. And defensively, even though they've had a lot of moving parts there with peak-olding in town still, that core is still intact and its philosophies are still intact. I like Louisville too. They've got, I think, eat transfers starting on offense though. So that'll take some time for some cohesion, even with a guy like Isaac Brown

39:58there. I don't think that group can come together quickly enough to pull off an upset against Ole Mess when they've got that kind of firepower returning. This is where we disagree. Because I think that Louisville gets the upset on Sunday. Wow. I have Louisville 27-23. I picked them in our pick-home. I think that Louisville gets the upset. And the post-link if an era in Oxford gets off to a rude awakening. I know that they all hate him now, but I don't think you can deny what he did in Oxford. That he was really talented. I think he's a fantastic coach, all the personal aspects aside and the drama. And I think that Louisville is a better team that people think I think that Louisville gets the victory on Sunday over Ole Mess. So that's going to do it for this episode of the Swamp 247 podcast. We'll be back after the game either late Saturday night,

40:58probably early Sunday morning in the wee hours of the morning with Florida kicking off at 7.45 pm to break down Florida versus Florida Atlantic. Then we'll be back for another episode on Tuesday of next week before previewing Florida's next contest against Campbell University next Thursday. So stay tuned over at Swamp247.com. Listen to the podcast on YouTube Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. And for my co-hosts, Zach Adolf, I'm Graham Hall. We'll see you next time. So much Pharaoh Adolf. This is just the beginning of the story of Hampton's Golden Mac. Su-Series streaming September 16th on Paramount Plus.