Pat Dooley – Page 30 – Syndication Server

That one time Florida faced USF on the college football gridiron

There isn’t a lot of history between UF and USF because there isn’t a lot of history at all when it comes to the South Florida program.

There isn’t a lot of history between Florida and South Florida, the two teams who will play at Raymond James Stadium Saturday, because there isn’t a lot of history at all when it comes to the South Florida program.

The school didn’t start playing football until the season after Florida won its first national title (1996).

The rise for the program was meteoric under Jim Leavitt, reaching FBS level after three years and then jumping all the way to No. 2 in the BCS (remember that system?) during the 2007 season.

Along the way, the Bulls knocked off teams such as West Virginia, Louisville, FSU and Auburn and won seven games against top 25 teams under Leavitt.

But by the time Florida played its first game against USF (and so far, the only one), Leavitt had been fired. He was accused of slapping a player in the locker room (he eventually won a wrongful termination lawsuit) and USF brought in Skip Holtz, son of Lou, to run the ship.

At his first press conference, someone yelled from the back “Beat Florida!” Holtz responded, “That’s why I am here.”

Of course, the USF coaching job had endured far less drama than the one in the middle of the state over the previous year.

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Urban Meyer quit, then came back, then went on a long vacation to reconnect with his family while Steve Addazio was in charge. Meyer had lobbied Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley to make Addazio the permanent coach, but Foley insisted that it was either Urban’s team or he would start a national search for a successor.

Meyer probably should have stayed away from the game in 2010. He had lost offensive coordinator Dan Mullen the previous year and defensive coordinator Charlie Strong had also left and wasn’t around to corral the players.

Eventually, we would find out what a mess the team was, right to the end when some players boycotted an Outback Bowl practice.

But when the Gators got ready to face an in-state rival for the first time, there was a little intrigue. Most of it centered around John Brantley taking over at quarterback for the legendary Tim Tebow.

There were some players still around from the greatest four seasons in Florida football history (48-7 from 2006-09), but the guts of the team had moved on to the NFL.

Still, with Meyer back and a quarterback Meyer had thought enough of to put him ahead of Cam Newton on the depth chart earlier in his career, there was plenty of optimism on campus and an AP ranking of No. 4 entering the season.

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The Gators started with a mundane 34-12 win over Miami of Ohio and then it was time for a showdown of sorts. The first meeting ever between the flagship university and the newbie.

“It was so hot that day (Sept. 11, 2010),” said Florida safety Ahmad Black. “They were going around with shirts that said, ‘Florida, you’re next.’ Because they had beaten some good teams. They thought we were next.

“We didn’t think so.”

Black picked off two passes in the first half and Jeff Demps had 255 all-purpose yards in the 38-14 win.

“Jeff Demps is the guy you want to have with the ball,” said Meyer after the game.

Florida also got a big play from Justin Trattou, the defensive end who had a knack for interceptions. He had three in his career and this one he returned 35 yards for a score.

South Florida hung in there for a half before Florida started flexing its muscles and capitalized on five turnovers.

Of course, we had no idea what was to come for the Gators.

“We lost the whole month of October,” Black said.

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Well, not quite. UF went 1-3 in the month, but did beat Georgia to still have a chance to win the East. Then, Steve Spurrier came to town with his South Carolina team and beat the socks off Florida 36-14.

A month later, Meyer announced he was finished at Florida again. Eight months after his last game as a Gator, he took the Ohio State job.

Which brings us to the present, where South Florida will play host to Florida for the first time. The games were agreed to by Scott Stricklin, the Florida AD, and two men who served as athletic directors since Stricklin had been at UF – Mark Harlan and current AD Michael Kelly.

“Both of those guys were incredibly easy to work with,” Stricklin said.

One reason South Florida got a look when Stricklin was looking to upgrade Florida’s future schedules was because its rival Central Florida was being so stubborn in wanting a home-and-home.

USF agreed to play two games in Gainesville and one in Tampa. The school asked Florida last year if the game in Tampa could be moved up to this year to accommodate another future schedule.

“It was something they needed and it turned out it worked out well for us, too,” Stricklin said.

The two teams will play in Gainesville in 2022 and 2025.

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10 interesting tidbits ahead of Florida football’s game against FAU

Here are 10 things you need to know about the Florida Atlantic Owls football team.

During the college football season, Pat Dooley will offer a special Thursday look at the opponent Florida will be facing. This week, of course, it is Florida Atlantic. Be sure to catch Dooley’s Sunday Hash, a look back at Saturday’s game every Sunday morning posted by 9 a.m. EDT.

Florida Atlantic was 5-4 a year ago, good for second in Conference USA. Here are 10 things you need to know about the Owls football team.

Pat Dooley’s Book of Lists – Volume 25: The 10 oddest openers for Florida football

Some openers left you plenty to write about that you never thought you would be writing. Others left you wondering what in the heck to lead with.

As we settle into Game Week and get excited for the start of another season – this one with full capacities possible – it’s easy to think back to some of our favorites.

Many of the openers are just a way to find out what kind of team Florida might have. Coaches don’t show much against the directional schools (is the Atlantic in Florida Atlantic University a direction?) and when the Gators have played quality opponents – like Miami from 1981-85 – it’s either exhilarating or deflating.

And sometimes, the opening game is just strange.

So, for the final Book of Lists leading into the season (I’ll be writing three stories a week starting tomorrow), I thought I would explore the weird.

Some openers left you plenty to write about that you never thought you would be writing. Others left you wondering what in the heck to lead with.

Mind you, these are not all weird. They are just 10 opening games that were different.

Pat Dooley’s Book of Lists – Volume 24: The 10 games that will define the SEC races

Here are the 10 games that will decide the two teams that end up at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Dec. 4.

Former longtime Gainesville Sun sportswriter Pat Dooley contributes on a weekly basis to Gators Wire with “Pat Dooley’s Book of Lists,” chronicling his thoughts on the past, present and future of Gators sports. Look for more frequent contributions during football season.

Think about this possibility.

We may be looking at the last time we will see an East and a West champion in the SEC.

Oh, I don’t believe for a second that the SEC Championship game will go away with the new world we are going to enter eventually. Not only is there a contractual obligation, but it is important financially for the conference.

I know there are people who think if the SEC expands to a nine-game conference schedule when Texas and Oklahoma come aboard, the SEC title game will go the way of the Walkman, Pluto as a planet and the dodo bird.

I don’t see that happening.

But let’s think about a scenario where the Big 12 – facing the loss of its two biggest teams – either is absorbed by another conference or just disbands and lets the remaining eight teams fend for themselves.

If the Big 12 crumbles soon enough it could pave the way for Texas and Oklahoma to move right away to the SEC.

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And there is a predominant feeling the SEC would eliminate divisions and just take the two best teams to Atlanta to play for the title.

I know. This is all so complicated, and nobody knows for sure what will happen in the next few months. And I may be getting way ahead of myself because the TV folks may ask us to pump to brakes.

But we do know there will be an East and a West champ in 2021.

Here are the 10 games that will decide the two teams that end up at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Dec. 4.

Pat Dooley’s Book of Lists – Volume 23: Answers to Gators fans’ burning questions (maybe)

Pat Dooley answers the Gator Nation’s most pressing questions ahead of the 2021 college football season.

Summers are long and in Gainesville we have what we call “hot rain” that comes at you hard and makes you think about flood insurance. And then it starts bouncing off the pavement to get you from both underneath.

So, you can understand how summers make us a little squirrely around North Central Florida.

In late summer, I start Dooley-Palooza which is a tour of multiple Gator Clubs around the state where these poor souls who have had to change out of soggy shirts just going to their cars are ready for some football.

Last week, it was the panhandle and I received dozens of questions about this upcoming season. Because, in the end, that’s what the 2021 season will be, the answers to a lot of questions.

Remember that old Chicago song “Questions 67 and 68”? That’s about how many questions I have and fans have been asking heading into this season.

Look, we’ll never have as many questions as we did at this time last year. Are we going to play? Are we going to finish? How many people will be allowed into stadiums? Do we have to wear masks while we’re eating a hot dog and how will that work?

That we made it still feels like a miracle and there are still going to be plenty of questions about public safety. But we will stick to football today with the best questions I have heard during a long, hot, humid summer.

Defense the focus in Pat Dooley’s report from Florida football’s Media Day

Thursday, as UF had its Media Day (and possibly the last in-person interviews of the year), you could see that the defensive players know that last season was not up to the Gator standard.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Jaydon Hill reached for his stomach, made a couple of small circles with his right hand and had a nauseated look on his face.

“It was not a good feeling,” said the junior defensive back.

Well, that matches the way most Florida fans feel about last season’s historically bad defense that went from No. 9 in the country to No. 83 and ranked 100^th in the nation in passing defense.

You can blame CODID and a missing spring or you can just say offenses were set up for a special year around the country.

Or you could explain it the way senior linebacker Jeremiah Moon did on Thursday.

“We had all the pieces, but we didn’t put it together,” he said. “We didn’t tackle.”

Of course, at all levels of football, that’s kind of important, that whole tackling thing. Florida’s defense a year ago was abysmal at tackling and one of the best tackles of the year resulted in a shoe throw that helped the Gators lose a game.

Thursday, as UF had its Media Day (and possibly the last in-person interviews of the year), you could see that the defensive players know that last season was not up to the Gator standard. To be honest, it wasn’t up to any program’s standard.

Florida gave up the most points per game and the most first downs in school history. Florida outscored most of its opponents during its 8-1 start, but mostly because it had no choice.

Dan Mullen has been preaching at the end of last season and throughout the off-season that it wasn’t as bad as it looked and he did so again on Thursday.

“I don’t think it was our No. 1 issue,” he said. “There were a lot of deals. It was almost a game-by-game issue. If it was one thing, it would be easy to solve the problem.

“It was a lot of things. I think we’ve addressed a lot of things where we were inconsistent last year. We’re in a better place.”

Florida landed two players on the preseason all-SEC defense – Kaiir Elam and Zachary Carter – has a leader in linebacker Ventrell Miller and added two defensive tackles from the transfer portal.

So, one would think the talent is there, especially in the front seven, to return to playing the kind of defense Florida fans had become used to.

The biggest questions may be at the two safety spots where the competition will be fierce. Elam and Hill have already been tabbed as starting corners but it was on the back end where Florida struggled last year.

“No matter who they put on the field,” Hill said, “we’re going to get the job done. We’re going to go out and prove a lot of people wrong.”

Most of those “people” are predicting that Georgia will win the East and that Florida may take a step back, in part because of the losses of offensive personnel and in part because the defensive performance of 2020 is still a fresh wound.

Mullen said he’s not worried about outside perception as the Gators get ready to start camp Friday.

“I don’t know that (the players) notice that,” he said. “I like the edge of our team, just kind of the edge in what they are and what they want to become as a team.”

And a defense.

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Pat Dooley’s Book of Lists – Volume 20: The 10 greatest Gator NBA players

Here’s a look at the 10 greatest former Gators who played in the NBA according to longtime UF sports journalist Pat Dooley.

The NBA draft is coming up Thursday and it has been very, very good to the Gators over the last two decades. Not Kentucky good, but when you consider that 21 players were drafted before Billy Donovan walked through that door and 19 players recruited by Donovan (that includes transfers) were drafted, well, you see why a massive picture of Billy D still towers over the lobby of the practice facility.

Unfortunately for Mike White, Florida is now on a seven-year run of getting shut out in the draft. That will almost certainly end this year with Tre Mann being touted as a high first-round pick (probably late in the first) and Scottie Lewis with an outside shot at being a second-round pick.

The draft is a lot more fickle than it was BB (Before Billy) with only two rounds and so many more foreign players in the mix. Back in 1968, David Miller was selected in the 12^th round.

That sounds like a long day of drafting practice players.

Certainly, there have been plenty of Gator players who went on to have excellent careers (not to mention lucrative careers overseas).

Here are the 10 best Gator NBA players:

Pat Dooley’s Book of Lists – Volume 17: 10 rules to live by for college football fans

Once we get to late August, it’s time to buckle up and get ready for what should be an entertaining college football season. It will be more fun if you stick to these guidelines:

At some point this football season, we will be able to put it all — NIL’s, commitment videos, the transfer portal and an expanded playoff that may be four years away — all of it behind us and concentrate on actual football games.

And being a fan, you know that you are going to feel about every emotion during the season, including the joy of seeing fill stadiums.

That’s why Dr. Football is here to offer you some guidelines for college football. I used to call these Commandments, but then I had to change a few, and I don’t think you can use that phrase when your rules are flexible.

No, these are just things that you should take to heart if you want to truly enjoy this football season. Years of watching the game qualify me (at least in my mind) to present these not so much as a doctrine, but more like advice.

You still have a couple of months left to go on vacation, get stuff done around the house and inform your niece that you won’t be attending her wedding because it’s scheduled for a football Saturday.

Once we get to late August, it’s time to buckle up and get ready for what should be an entertaining college football season. It will be more fun if you stick to these guidelines:

Pat Dooley’s Book of Lists – Volume 13: The greatest Florida football victories in non-championship seasons

Here are Pat Dooley’s 10 greatest non-championship Gators football games — maybe some are more personal for him than they were for you.

Let me set this up because I was thinking about this recently. When Gator fans start talking about some of the great games in school history, not all of them resulted in a championship.

Steve Spurrier has been asked about whether the 1997 FSU game is the greatest ever played in the Swamp and he is always quick to point out that Florida didn’t win a championship that year.

So, while he strategized his way to somehow beating the Semis with alternating quarterbacks, at the end of the day the only trophy Florida won was for the Outback Bowl.

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And seasons that end with bowl trophies feel like seasons that end with participation ribbons.

Let me be clear – these were all great wins. They are the games that you can watch over and over again on a loop. They give you a kind of warm and fuzzy feeling all over when you think about them.

But in the bigger picture, they didn’t mean as much as the ones that gave Florida a championship.

And that includes the SEC East title seasons. It’s my list.

And when I say these are only “Modern Era” wins, I consider the Modern Era to have begun the day I saw my first game, which was Auburn in 1962. If I didn’t experience it, I’m just writing what someone else felt that day.

As many times as I have heard stories and written a chapter in a couple of books about the 1960 Georgia Tech game, I was five and more concerned about Hoss Cartwright than Lindy Infante.

Here are my 10 — maybe some are more personal for me than they were for you.

Pat Dooley’s Book of Lists – Volume 6: Florida football players who must step up in 2021

If these 10 players step up for Florida football this fall, it could be a special season. If they step off, well, you know what will happen.

Because Florida went through spring practices earlier than normal, it’s going to be a long, hot summer waiting for the opener against Florida Atlantic.

The offseason is when bonds are formed and teams are forged. For the 2021 Florida team, it’s a ginormous offseason because so many of the stars of 2000 are headed to the pros. This is still a really good roster, but it is up to strength and conditioning coach Nick Savage to develop these players in time for the start of summer camp.

Urban Meyer used to say that he would know if he had a good team or not when the players showed up for the first meeting at the start of the season. Mr. Meyer, we have a delivery for you.

We will see what team is ready to go when Florida starts preparing for this “more normal” season. Sorry, by “more normal” is the best I can promise.

To me, there are some players on this team who – quite simply – have to be better than what we have seen, have to play better than they ever have if Florida is going to compete for the East, compete for the playoffs, heck, just compete at a high level.

If these 10 players step up, it could be a special season. If they step off, well, you know what will happen.

Now, before I get to this weekly list, let it be known that I did not include freshmen on this list. I’m looking at guys who have to be better than they have so far at this level.