GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In college football's 150th anniversary season, a story told by Gators head coach Dan Mullen this week illuminated the game's technological advances in recent years.
As a graduate assistant at Columbia in the mid-1990s, Mullen needed film of Fordham, the team's upcoming opponent. He made a deal with a Fordham graduate assistant.
"I had a bag of tapes from Columbia and he had a bag of tapes from Fordham, and we were exchanging to play the next week [at] like 3 o'clock in the morning,'' Mullen said. "That's how I met Geoff Collins. Now you just like hit a button and it's on your computer."
Mullen and Collins, in his first season as Georgia Tech's head coach, became friends and Mullen later hired him as defensive coordinator at Mississippi State.
Fortunately for young staff members at Florida and Kentucky this week, no one had to get in their car and drive to Chattanooga to meet and exchange tape of Wildcats quarterback Sawyer Smith when he was at Troy for UF's rout of UT Martin last week.
The ninth-ranked Gators (2-0) play at Kentucky (2-0) on Saturday night in the Southeastern Conference opener for both schools.
"That was what you did,'' Mullen said. "You drive halfway, or you know, sometimes you'll be at the airport and the overnight carrier package if it was too far drive. But it was easier to drive and meet halfway with VHS tapes, or the beta tapes and go on your way."
Smith loomed as a mystery for the Gators when Mullen, in his postgame press conference following last week's win, was informed by reporters that Kentucky quarterback Terry Wilson had suffered a serious knee injury during Kentucky's win over Eastern Michigan while the Gators were playing.
That wasn't the case for long. By now, the Gators have all the information they need on Smith. Next is an opportunity to put to use what they learned.
In this week's edition of The Opening Kickoff, here is a closer look at the Florida-Kentucky matchup: THREE QUESTIONS WITH … GATORS QUARTERBACKS COACH BRIAN JOHNSON
Q:What makes a Mark Stoops-coached defense a difficult challenge?
Gators quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson talks with Feleipe Franks during preseason camp. (Photo: Alana Healy/UAA Communications)
A: They're very sound and very complementary in terms of how things marry together. Structurally, they have guys in the right spots and they put them in position to make plays. We have to be sound in what we do and how we attack and put our guys in position to play to the best of their ability.
Q:What did you see from reserve quarterbacks Kyle Trask and Emory Jones in last week's win?
A: Those guys have done a great job. They've done everything we've asked them to do and they went out there and had some success. It was good to finally get a chance to get them in the game and put them in a position to where they can go and make some plays and go perform at a high level.
Q:How valuable was it for them to get some reps?
A: That's always very, very valuable. They put the work in in practice and we throw them in with the ones. When those guys go in, they expect to go in and play at a high level and make a bunch of plays.
THREE STORYLINES
In the SEC opener, the Gators seek their seventh consecutive win overall and to avenge a 27-16 home loss to the Wildcats a year ago that snapped UF's 31-game win streak in the series. Kentucky has won 12 of 15 overall and is one of just three SEC East teams, joining Florida and Georgia, undefeated after two games.
Kentucky suffered a major loss in last week's win over Eastern Michigan when starting quarterback Terry Wilson was lost for the season due to a knee injury. Enter junior transfer Sawyer Smith, who joined the Wildcats over the summer after starting his career at Troy. Smith is a Florida native from Pensacola who originally committed to UCF prior to signing with Troy.
Gators quarterback Feleipe Franks was pulled in his first career start at Kroger Field as Luke Del Rio guided the Gators to a 28-27 comeback win in 2017. Franks was nearly perfect in last week's home win over UT Martin, completing 25 of 27 passes for 250 yards and two scores, an impressive launch into conference play.
THREE PLAYERS TO WATCH
You can take your pick here between the freshmen trio of cornerbacks Jaydon Hill, Chester Kimbrough and Kaiir Elam. With starter CJ Henderson not expected to play, Hill and Kimbrough on listed on the depth chart behind Henderson. Elam is listed on the other side behind starter Marco Wilson. All three should get additional reps and a chance to establish their place in the secondary.
Senior running back Lamical Perine has 93 yards in the first two games and the Gators would like to establish the run better than they have in the first two games (140.5 yards per game, 11th in SEC).
Wildcats receiver Lynn Bowden is a primary cog in the offense. Bowden is third in the SEC with 13 catches for 130 yards and a touchdown. Bowden needs just three catches to reach 100 for his career.
THREE DIGITS
21-10 – Gators' record in 31 all-time games in Lexington, Ky. 7– Games Florida's defense has had at least five sacks in 15 games under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham (46.7 percent). 4 – Scoring drives of 90 or more yards for Kentucky's offense in the first two games, which already matches the Wildcats' total from 2018.
Sixty-six years have passed since Paul "Bear" Bryant spent his final season as Kentucky's head coach, but in UK's record books, Bryant remains No. 1.
Bryant won 60 games during his eight seasons (1946-53) in Lexington, which tops the school's all-time career wins list. Fran Curci is second with 47. In his seventh season, Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops is gaining ground.
"Mark's done a great job of building that program up,'' Gators head coach Dan Mullen said this week. "You can see they've built a great foundation. They have depth. They have experience. They play very physical style of football, both offensively and defensively, on the lines of scrimmage."
Stoops has won 38 games since taking over in 2013, one shy of tying Rich Brooks (2003-09) for fifth all-time. If the Wildcats have the season many expect, only Bryant and Curci should be in front of him by season's end.
BOTTOM LINE
Both teams enter 2-0. Both are trying to get a leg up in the SEC East race with a victory. One advantage for the Gators is that one of their wins came against Miami in the season opener. While the Hurricanes are 0-2, both their losses have been close and they have a talented team that should improve as the season progresses. The Wildcats have wins over Toledo and Eastern Michigan, a tier below Miami on the talent scale. The Gators have the added motivation of paying Kentucky back for last year's loss. In the end, the defeat proved a crucial step in the development for Mullen's first Florida team. While this certainly is not a typical Florida-Kentucky matchup we became accustomed to for three decades, the Gators have more talent and should prevail with the game on the line in the second half.
