Tag: Florida State Seminoles

Five key takeaways from Florida basketball’s rout of Florida State

Here is what you need to know following Florida’s huge home win over Florida State.

A week to the day ago, Walter Clayton Jr. had one of those nights anyone would want to forget.

A week later, it went a little better.

Clayton sparked the rout with 12 first-half points as the Gators made it three and a row over the hated ‘Noles – and two in a row for Todd Golden – with an 89-68 win that was over before the first 20 minutes expired.

Florida, now 3-1 on the season, led 52-22 at the half in a game that still had its share of chippy behavior.

Clayton led Florida with 19 points before fouling out with 1:47 to play.

Here are the five key takeaways from the Gators’ beatdown of the Seminoles.

Game Preview: Florida ready to face in-state rival FSU

Florida’s annual clash with FSU is always exciting, and the Gators are in need of a win after slipping up last week against against Virginia last weekend.

Florida’s annual contest with the Florida State Seminoles is always one of the high points of the non-conference schedule, and Todd Golden’s group is ready to answer the call after coming up short against Virginia a week ago.

UF earned a nice bounceback win against Florida A&M on Tuesday, but there are plenty of questions surrounding the team heading into the second weekend of the regular season. Most concern the backcourt, which features two returning starters — Riley Kugel and Will Richard.

Both have been consistent scorers for Florida, but Kugel has an off game and got poked in the eye Tuesday. Keep an eye on him to see if he’s back at 100% just three days later.

The other big question mark is the addition of Zyon Pullin to the backcourt rotation.

Here’s what to look out for when the two in-state rivals tip-off.

Florida basketball welcomes back point guard from suspension

UC Riverside transfer and Florida Gators point guard is eligible to play after three-game suspension.

The Florida Gators are lacing up and preparing for a Friday night matchup against in-state nemesis, the Florida State Seminoles. Not only are the Gators welcoming FSU to the O’Dome, but the team is also looking forward to the return of suspended point guard [autotag]Zyon Pullin[/autotag].

The graduate student participated in a 2023 NBA draft showcase which is meant for players who have no eligibility left.

Florida head coach Todd Golden said Pullin’s return is monumental for the basketball program and thinks he’ll make an immediate impact.

“Having a guy who can be a floor general out there,” Golden said, “a guy that’s a really good on-ball defender, a guy that’s won 20 games in all four years in college, a guy that just really understands winning, will be a welcomed addition for us.”

Pullin isn’t listed as an expected starter for the Friday night showdown against the Seminoles, as junior Will Richard and Riley Kugel have been proving to be more than capable of holding down the position.

The UC Riverside transfer averaged 18.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game last season and hopes to replicate the numbers in order to help the Gators build a well-balanced squad before March.

The Gators will challenge the Seminoles inside Exactech Arena at 7 p.m. ET with the game broadcasting on the SEC Network.

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Top topics from Gators’ pregame media conference ahead of FSU matchup

Take a look at the questions and answers from Todd Golden’s press conference leading into the big Gators sports weekend. 

Florida basketball head coach Todd Golden addressed the sports media on Thursday to answer questions ahead of the matchup with the Florida State Seminoles on Friday night inside the O’Connell Center.

Golden’s gang is coming off a strong showing against the Florida A&M Rattlers — a much-needed bounce-back from a tough loss to the Virginia Cavaliers last Friday. Nonetheless, the Orange and Blue are 2-1 early on with the lone loss coming against a current top-25 team, so there is plenty of basketball waiting to be played.

Take a look below at the questions and answers from Golden’s press conference leading into the big Gators sports weekend.

Kickoff time for Florida vs. Florida State Seminoles football announced

The kickoff time for the annual meeting between Florida and Florida State has been set.

The kickoff for the Florida Gators’ final game of the regular season has been set.

The annual post-Thanksgiving bout with arch-rival Florida State Seminoles will take place in Gainesville this season, and the game is slated for primetime on Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. ET.

The Gators are stumbling through its final games of the year and it looks like they’ll be battered and bruised by the end of the season.

The teams played on Black Friday last year, but are returning to the norm of playing the annual rivalry bout on a Saturday, Nov. 25. The Gators lost their matchup in the previous contest, 45-38, but they do lead the all-time series 37-27-2.

The meeting with FSU will also be Senior Night for the Florida football team, celebrating 14 athletes as they take the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for one final time.

Headlining the list of seniors are wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, center Kingsley Eguakun and linebacker Teradja Mitchell.

Before the Gators take on their in-state nemesis, they have one more road trip to take on the Missouri Tigers this Saturday. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and will broadcast on ESPN.

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Miami to make quarterback change, start true freshman Emory Williams against FSU

After five interceptions and no touchdowns for Tyler Van Dyke the past two games, Emory Williams gets the ball against FSU.

The Miami Hurricanes will make a quarterback change on Saturday with true freshman Emory Williams slated to start against Florida State instead of veteran Tyler Van Dyke.

Williams, a true freshman, started against Clemson and led the Hurricanes to an overtime win over the Tigers three weeks ago. The true freshman completed 24 of his 33 attempts against Clemson for 151 yards with one touchdown and one interception. ESPN gave him a QBR of 82.3 for his efforts.

Van Dyke started the season strong with 11 passing touchdowns and a single interception in his first four games, completing 74.7% of his passes for 10.5 yards per attempt. He shined in an early upset over Texas A&M with 374 yards and five touchdowns.

He’s struggled in his last four games, however. The Miami quarterback has lost three of his last four starts, the only exception being an overtime victory over Virginia, with five touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

In the two games since Van Dyke took back over after the Clemson win, he has completed 60.3 % of his passes for 4.9 yards per attempt, no touchdowns, and five interceptions

The Hurricanes kick off against the Seminoles at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Oklahoma Sooners inside the top 10 in first College Football Playoff rankings

Oklahoma Sooners inside the top 10 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of 2023.

Oklahoma still has a lot to play for in the 2023 season despite their loss to Kansas. It’s possible if the Sooners were to win out, the stinging defeat may cost them a shot at going to the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag]. But as things stand right now, Oklahoma can threaten for one of the four spots in the playoff.

As the first iteration of the CFP rankings were revealed on Tuesday night, Oklahoma landed inside the top 10, sandwiched in between a pair of SEC foes that will be on their conference schedule in 2024.

Oklahoma’s biggest rival, the Texas Longhorns, sits at No. 7. The Sooners and Longhorns could be on a crash course for a rematch in Arlington for the Big 12 title.

Outside the top ten, Kansas (21), Oklahoma State (22), and Kansas State (23) give the Big 12 an incredible amount of representation in the initial rankings. The Sooners play their in-state rivals this week. A win would be another boost to a resume that doesn’t have a bad loss and holds a win over Texas.

For the Sooners, it’s about the task at hand. However, it’s hard not to speculate how things may turn out as the last month of the regular season starts this weekend for the Sooners.

Here’s a look at the top 12 teams in the College Football Playoff’s initial rankings for 2023.

Week 9 US LBM Coaches Poll released. Where did Ohio State land after road win at Wisconsin?

Did Ohio State see any movement in the US LBM Coaches Poll after remaining undefeated by taking down Wisconsin on the road Saturday? #GoBucks

It was another wild week in college football, and there’s been a shakeup in the latest US LBM Coaches Poll. In the Big Ten, Ohio State and Penn State beat Wisconsin and Indiana, respectively, but not in an impressive fashion, while Michigan sat on a bye.

In the SEC, Georgia is beginning to show Georgia form again with a dominating win over Florida, while the Crimson Tide sat idle, preparing for a stretch run.

The rest of the country saw USC show about as much resistance as a wet paper towel on defense in a Houdini-like escape at Cal, Oregon exert its might and Washington just wiggle by again. Florida State looked the part of a College Football Playoff contender with a dominating win. Oh, and Oklahoma lost in Lawrence, Kansas, to put a fly in the ointment of its 2023 campaign.

All of it resulted in a re-sorting of the order of the US LBM Coaches Poll that was just released. Here’s what the landscape now looks like and where Ohio State and others landed after Week 9.

We’ll start with the new top 10 and then share the complete poll for your reading pleasure.

Penn State moves ahead of falling Oklahoma in updated US LBM Coaches Poll

After five ranked teams took a loss this weekend, here’s how the updated US LBM Coaches Poll looks following Week 9.

There was some turbulence in the weekend college football schedule in Week 9. Five ranked teams took a loss this weekend, leaving some room to rework the rankings a bit just days before the first release of the College Football Playoff selection committee’s rankings this week. The US LBM Coaches Poll had some changes to address after this weekend’s college football results.

Oklahoma was the only team ranked in the top 10 to suffer a loss. The setback by the Sooners against Kansas was a notable development in the Big 12, although the Sooners remain on top of the Big 12 standings going into November, and don’t forget that they own a key head-to-head victory over Texas and Iowa State.

With Oklahoma dropping five spots this week, that allowed Penn State to move up one from no. 10 last week to no. 9 this week. Penn State sits one spot behind Alabama, who maintained its ranking from a week ago at no. 8. No. 7 Oregon passed the Crimson Tide this week after a dominating win at Utah.

There were no changes with the top five with Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State, and Washignton keeping their rankings, respectively.

Losses by North Carolina and Duke also led to some changes in the bottom half of this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll top 25 with Duke dropping out entirely. And a late-night loss by Oregon State left some room for more reshuffling of the rankings this week.

Here is a look at this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll.

Sooners land commitment from versatile LB Michael Boganowski

Oklahoma is the choice for four-star linebacker Michael Boganowski, who picked the Sooners over Kansas, Kansas State, and Florida State.

Oklahoma’s 2024 recruiting journey may be winding down, but there’s still room for a few more arrivals. On Thursday evening, the Oklahoma Sooners picked up another commitment, this time from four-star linebacker Michael Boganowski. Boganowski picked Oklahoma over Kansas State, Florida State, and the Kansas Jayhawks.

Boganowski’s path to his recruitment wasn’t direct path to the Sooners. They had to fend off the overtures from Kansas State and Florida State and to a lesser extent Florida State. It always felt like it was going to come down to Oklahoma and Kansas State.

The Wildcats boasted several advantages, from proximity to personal relationships with people on the Wildcats staff.

Boganowski visited for the [autotag]Party at the Palace[/autotag] event over the summer. Then, after seeing Norman for a game day, things started tilting back in favor of Oklahoma.

In Boganowski, the Sooners get a talented and athletic linebacker. He looks like a player who projects best as a cheetah in Brent Venables’ defense.

The versatile athlete is everything to his Junction City High School team, where he finished the 2022 season with 123 total tackles (67 solo, three for loss), four interceptions, one forced fumble. He also threw a touchdown and rushed for a score last season.

ESPN and Rivals have Boganowski as the number one prospect out of Kansas. With his commitment, the Sooners inch closer to eclipsing Florida State for No. 6 in 247Sports’ team recruiting rankings. His pledge also brings Oklahoma’s 2024 recruiting class to 26 commitments.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Bryant on Twitter @thatmanbryant.