I Tell Ya' Herbie

   Here's our weekly notes from college football with a column we call I Tell Ya' Herbie.

I Tell Ya' Herbie: 

                             It was a crazy night in Gainesville as the Florida Gators handed the South Florida Bulls an upset when a Gator defensive lineman handed South Florida fifteen yards on their final drive. 

One of the twenty kicking Gramaticas would boot a field goal on the final play to give the Bulls their second upset in two weeks after blasting Boise State.

The Bulls travel to Miami to visit the fifth-ranked Hurricanes, and should they win that game, South Florida will be the prohibitive favorite to win the playoff spot for the Group of Five.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            After that loss, the Florida fans have their traps set for coach Billy Napier, who is only 20-20 in his Gator tenure.

While I get that Napier is accountable for the actions of his players, it's tough to blame him too much for a knucklehead spitting on another player.

Still with the Gators next four games including three teams in the top seven (LSU, Miami, and Texas) and a fourth against number sixteen (Texas A&M), with three of the four on the road (only Texas visits the Gators), Napier could be looking at a 1-5 start and with four of their final five games against teams currently ranked (Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Florida State), Napier's chances of retaining his job appear bleak.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                             Another coach who seems to be in trouble is Virginia Tech's Brent Pry, who is 0-2 with losses to SEC opponents South Carolina (understandable) and Vanderbilt (not as understandable and for the second year in a row).

I wasn't sure about the Hokies hiring Pry, who had never been a head coach and had been the defensive coordinator at Penn State, where working with James Franklin can't be a plus for future head coaches.

Pry is 16-23 overall and draws Florida State and Miami in conference play. So the Hokies have some difficult league games.

It's hard to call a home game against Old Dominion a must-win, but should the Monarchs win Saturday, Brent Pry might be lucky to reach the end of the season.

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            Missouri and Kansas renewed their rivalry in Columbia and while the game was exciting (Missouri rallied to a 42-31 win), the highlight was when a fan chose to try to kick a field goal during a timeout for twenty-five thousand decided to show his painted chest (F KU) and kick the ball at the Jayhawk sideline rather than try the field goal.

That's a lot of hate to turn down a shot of twenty-five K, but the guy likely knew he didn't have a prayer of hitting the kick and decided to make himself part of rivalry history.

I can't wait to see the Jayhawk response in 2026 in Lawrence!

I Tell Ya' Herbie:

                            Rich Rodriguez returns in his second run at West Virginia to face the team that cost his Mountaineers a chance at the national title in 2007 when a Pitt team with a losing record pulled an upset talked about to this day.

The West Virginia-Pitt rivalry was renewed last season for the first time in years, and won't resume until 2029, when the schools will play for four years.

The Backyard Brawl is another rivalry that should be played every year, and I think it's headed in that direction after the next three-year hiatus.