- Florida football held its first scrimmage of fall camp Saturday at Florida Field.
- Gary Condron launched the Condron Club to raise NIL funds for Florida football, asking donors to pledge as little as $25 per victory.
- College Football Playoff expansion could reach 24 teams by 2030 due to TV revenue demands despite concerns over competitive integrity.
The Front 9 comes at you with the knowledge that Florida is practicing and scrimmaging in anticipation of this season. There have been times when I wondered if that was true.
1. I could tell you what happened at the big scrimmage Saturday, but I’d have to kill you. Actually, I was out having lunch with my wife and since nobody was allowed to report on it, I passed. But we did happen by the stadium at the same time as the team was walking back to the four-star resort and I kept looking to make sure I saw healthy players. Secret practices and scrimmages and even preseason games are the way of the world today. Hey, if it means they start winning, I have no problems.
2. Gary Condron knows a lot. A lot about commercial construction and a lot about people. That includes the people who come at him for donations, especially his beloved Florida Gators. But in this case, he came to Florida Victorious with an idea. It seems brilliant. Anyone who wants to donate alongside him and his undisclosed pledge joins the Condron Club to help UF’s football team raise money for NIL. The price can be as little as $25 … per victory. And Florida needs to win seven games to flip the money switch. Hmm, four years of Billy Napier would have come out to (checks notes) $200. That would have purchased a couple of cases of Gatorade. This will be more expensive. It had better be.
3. FOMO game of the week
The upcoming weekend is the last without football unless you want to count those exhibition games, so let’s give golf a chance. The middle leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs is worth a mere $20 million, and it should be interesting at the Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis.
4. Four questions with former Gator walk-on, local foodie, podcast star and On3 college football expert Andy Staples
- What was the worst injury you suffered as a player for the 1996 team?
Staples: Funny story about that. If you’d asked me this after that season, I would have said “Probably nothing too serious.” There had been a play sometime in October on scout team when a 300-pound tackle had accidentally stepped on my foot. It hurt like hell, but everything hurts when you’re a 240-pound offensive guard and everyone else weighs at least 280. So I didn’t think anything of it and just kept going. It bugged me for about a month but eventually felt better.
Flash forward to 2015 and I’m having issues with a tendon on my left foot. I go to the podiatrist and he takes an X-ray.
“When did you break your foot?” he asked.
“I didn’t break my foot,” I replied.
“Oh yes you did,” he said, pointing at a spot that clearly had broken and then healed funny.
So, as I learned almost 20 years later, the worst injury I had that year was a broken foot. - How many teams will be in the College Football Playoff in 2030?
Staples: I would love it if the answer was 12. The format now provides plenty of drama in the tournament but also keeps the stakes of the regular-season games high enough. Notre Dame could have made a deep run last year, but the Fighting Irish didn’t have the resume and lost head-to-head to Miami. That a team capable of winning multiple games in the tournament got left out means you have the right number — not the wrong one.
Unfortunately, I think it’ll go to 24 if they can secure enough TV money to compensate the leagues for having to ditch their conference title games. Every coach thinks a larger field will save his job (it won’t). The ACC and Big 12 want more spots because they want more teams in. Ditto for the Group of 6. The Big Ten wants it so its network partner Fox can buy some of the games. (Fox made a non-competitive bid in the last round of negotiations and ESPN wound up with exclusive rights up to a 14-team tourney. That’s why the Big Ten is insisting on 24. It has to be enough inventory to make it worth it for another network like Fox.) I don’t like the idea of 8-4 teams being CFP contenders. I also don’t believe any of these coaches and athletic directors when they say they’ll start scheduling better non-conference games if it goes to 24. The field size just tripled and they got more scared of scheduling good ones. - Are you a Texas or Memphis BBQ guy?
Staples: This Carolinas barbecue erasure will not stand. I’m originally from Columbia, S.C., so my first exposure to barbecue was pulled pork sandwiches in mustard-based sauce — which I later learned everyone thinks is really weird. My travels have taken me to all the barbecue capitals of this country. I’ve had chopped pork in vinegar sauce in eastern North Carolina. I’ve had dry-rubbed ribs in Memphis. I’ve had brisket and beef ribs in Austin. I’ve had burnt ends in Kansas City. The trick is to figure out what that area does well and order correctly. You also need to trust the locals. For example, tourists go to Dreamland for ribs in Tuscaloosa. Locals go to Archibald’s. The difference is striking. - Do you think the Protect College Sports Act will pass in Congress in September?
Staples: I don’t. I’ve always been skeptical that lawmakers could put together a bill that everyone would agree upon, so I was surprised when the PCSA got as close as it did in the most recent session. When the Big Ten and the SEC jumped on board, it actually felt like it had a shot. But then very quickly it became apparent why the people who run college sports need to solve the problems they created instead of begging for Congress to do it. Opposition to the bill came from Democrats who don’t like how it limits athlete compensation without athlete input. It came from Republicans either fighting culture wars or trying to make sure schools in their state (our state, specifically) could change conferences if the bill passed. Bipartisan agreement gave way to bipartisan resistance.
My guess is it continues to get bogged down in this stuff when the Senate comes back in September. Meanwhile, the Senators are going to have midterm elections to deal with and any number of bigger real-world problems that likely will take precedence. The best hope for the bill may be trying to ram it through with a lame-duck Congress after the elections. But given how many different constituencies need to be satisfied to make it happen, I’m not sure it will.
And that’s fine.
The college presidents, athletic directors and conference and NCAA leaders made the mess by breaking the Sherman Antitrust Act for decades. They should have to figure out how to clean it up.
5. Five reasons I stay away from fantasy football
- Games should be about who wins and who loses, not who scores.
- I won a league back in 1985. That was enough.
- Spent money don’t make money.
- I always draft Gators who don’t help me.
- I can live without the NFL Red Zone.
6. This will happen this week
As we bear down on this football season, I will explain to multiple people how the Florida schedule isn’t close to being easy. Of the top 30 players ranked by The Sporting News, 12 of them will face Florida this year. And four of the top 10 teams in the first preseason poll are on that schedule. It’s easier than anything Billy Napier had to face, but it’s not easy. You want easy, go look at Indiana’s schedule.
7. Hot take of the week
I’m mad at college football. And by that I don’t mean the game or the players or Congress or NIL or agents or the way Florida has smelled on ice the last five seasons. No, I am angry, flustered, beside myself, ticked off and irritated (mostly because I feel entitled as a fan of the sport I adore). Here’s why: The first big weekend of the college football season is a dud. So, I guess I blame the athletic directors. Because I rate games in only one way using the Dooley Decimal System. Do I want to watch it? Week 0 has four of those games. Week 1 has three and that would include UCLA at Cal which is at 10:30 p.m. after I start snoring. Week 2 has 12 — 12! — of those games. Remember when the opening week of the season was something special?
8. Tweet of the week
From Greensboro (N.C.) Police: “Please stay hydrated outside over the next few days. It’s going to be like the Dallas Cowboys and peaking in the 90s.” Hee-hee.
9. Remote drop of the week
To be honest, there are not many football movies that get my attention. “Remember the Titans” is one of them. Obviously, it’s Denzel Washington’s movie but Will Patton is his usual interesting self.