GatorCountry brings you a new podcast as we bring you our Friday prediction podcast before the Florida Gators take on LSU in Baton Rouge on Saturday night.
Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre break down their keys for the Gators on both offense and defense and give you their x factors for the Gators.
Andrew and Nick also pick several games around the country, plus we pick our three players to watch for the Gators on Saturday.
TRANSCRIPT:
Andrew:​What’s up, Gator Country? Your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicholas, we’re back. LSU-Florida week is here. Well, you guys are listening to it, and it’s 24 hours till game day. Let’s get going. Let’s talk about this game some more. Nick, I just feel like, and this is just me, but I feel like it’s a replica of last week, where there’s not too many people around the country who even gives Florida a chance this week. You and I have talked about this. 13.5 points is a lot of freaking points. We were pulling this up before we started. They’re expecting 55 points in this game, and Florida to lose by 13.5.
Nick:​Yeah. So, that’s like, what did we say? 20-34 LSU win, based on the spread and the over-under.
Andrew:​Yeah. I don’t know if people have watched this series, but this series hasn’t been out of control. There’s been a few games that’s gotten out of control over the years, but this is a series that for the most part is a pretty close series.
Nick:​I mean, some fans have had a conspiracy theory mindset where there’s a conspiracy against Florida. Listen, there’s no conspiracy when it comes to spreads. Vegas doesn’t care about your feelings. They care about making money.
Andrew:​Right.
Nick:​They’re not to make a point and not give Florida respect and make this, no. They watch the games, and they make points based on how they think they can make money. I just don’t see 13.5. I think that’s crazy. I mean, betting hasn’t brought it back down.
Andrew:​Let me just go through this. 2018, 27-19 Florida wins. 2017, 17-16 LSU wins. 2016, Florida won 16-10. 2015, 35-7. 2014, 30-27. 2013 is 17-6. That’s the biggest margin of victory, except for in 2011 when LSU won 41-31. The biggest victory for Florida in the last 10 years is a 51-21 win by Florida in 2008. You’re talking about 11 years and only two times would that game have covered the spread.
Nick:​Yeah. I mean, we’ll get into the game. When the spread came out, when it first came out, I was like that’s like an offshore site. Then no. That’s the spread. It’s 13.5. It was too high for me then, and it’s too high for me now.
Andrew:​I’m a person, and we say this a lot on here, but it’s one of those things where we look at the history. We talk about Florida-Georgia, and I tell you every year I’m going to pick Georgia until Florida shows me they can beat them, and vice versa with Florida-Kentucky. History doesn’t show me that this game is going to get out of control. It just doesn’t. I may be wrong for that. I may end up looking stupid and come back and Florida loses 41-11. I don’t think so. I’ve seen Treon Harris go into this game. I’ve seen Austin Appleby go into this. I’ve seen Skylar Mornhinweg play in this game. I’ve seen some bad players play for Florida in this game, and it be a close football game.
Nick:​Yeah. I’m not into conspiracy theories, but I don’t think Florida is getting the respect in terms of people are thinking that LSU is just going to run all over Florida or throw all over Florida. I don’t think that’s the case. I think this is a Florida defense, like we’ve said, that is legit. They’re going to keep Florida in, I think, just about every game that they could play, and Florida’s offense is good enough to make enough plays to win. We used to say that about Muschamp’s teams. Florida’s defense can keep them in any game, but is their offense going to turn the ball over at the five-yard line and hand the team points?