Our Fact or Fiction segments have been doing well on our website. We have decided to continue with them right up until the SEC makes its decision at the end of July about whether or not to play games. So here we go with Pat Dooley and Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun embracing the debate:
Item 1
The SEC will play primarily late afternoon and night games so teams can fly on the day of the game.
Andreu: On Saturdays in the fall, the SEC wants to be on the tube all day long, from 11 a.m. Central to midnight Eastern, and I don’t think that’s going to change. They’re not going to give up those early kickoffs and the exposure that comes with them. You could still have one day travel on early starts, especially in the West, where the teams (other than Texas A&M) are in relatively close proximity. It also could work in the East with games like South Carolina vs. Georgia, Kentucky vs. Tennessee, Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee, Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt. If there is college football in the fall, we’re going to see SEC games on TV all day long on Saturdays. FICTION.
Dooley: Obviously, this is not ideal for TV, which wants to give you games on a Saturday from noon to midnight. ESPN and the SEC Network especially like to feed into the start of the day from their preview shows. But 2020 is going to be different from what we are used to and TV may not be in a position to dictate times the way it usually does (such as a noon game in early September in any southern stadium). So you could easily see the SEC’s first window start at five so the players would not have to spend the night in a hotel. FACT.
Item 2
Florida — because of the “Gator Bait” controversy — will go back to the 1970s and resurrect the “Gators Got That Rama Jama” and “Go Bananas” cheers.
Andreu: Those two cheers are so 1970s and early ’80s that I don’t see them coming back. If they did, I don’t see them catching on. They stopped doing them for a reason. I’m calling out the cheerleaders and the band to put their heads together this summer, get creative and come up with something new. The times, they are a changin’, so let’s come up with something new. FICTION.
Dooley: I was watching a game from the Women’s College World Series from four years ago and they were using the Rama Jama cheer there so it’s not like it went away completely. And I miss the old days when the guy would dress up like a banana and dance on the dugout. Sure, bring them back and maybe add some more creative cheers. It’s not that hard. FACT.
Item 3
Kyle Trask will throw for more yards (2,941) and touchdowns (25) than he did a year ago.
Andreu: I’m going to base this on the assumption that the Gators will play their full schedule of 12 games, plus a bowl game. If they do, he’s going to have a chance. Dan Mullen has a great track record with his quarterbacks, and a big part of that record is the way his QBs always seem to show dramatic improvement in their second year as the starter. That should happen with Trask, given his work ethic and coachability. But those numbers are going to be hard to top, mainly because the Gators should have a much better ground game and Trask does not have the kind of proven experience at wide receiver he had last season. FICTION.
Dooley: First of all, we have no idea how many games Florida will play this season. If it’s a full slate and an SEC title game and then a bowl game, he’d only have to average 210 yards passing and 1.78 touchdowns a game. And if Florida advanced to the title game, well, yeah, he would surpass both of those marks. But I think Florida will look different on offense this season and who knows how many games will be played? FICTION.
