Gators vs Hurricanes: Can UF & Napier RUIN Miami Hype Machine?

all right what's up Gator Nation let's talk about this Miami game it's been a while since we've gone live uh but we're doing so tonight in part thanks to bet us more on them in a little bit but it feels good to be back with all of you guys okay so today I am joined by coach Coupe coach Coupe does one of the best YouTube shows covering any team on on YouTube he he is one of the best he covers the big three and Miami love your show big fan how you doing I'm doing good I'd be doing a whole lot better if it were about seven to800 pm on Saturday and Miami fans were celebrating a win but outside of that I'm I'm doing pretty good all right well we'll get to that in a second but before we get started for those who maybe don't know you yet tell the people a little a little bit about yourself your show and your passion for Miami so believe it or not I'll keep this brief I don't live in Miami I I don't live in in Florida as a matter of fact I actually live in Tennessee I I've grown up here my entire life and my very first ever college football game was the 2001 national championship and we all know what happened in that one and I was hooked after that I thought I was the coolest kid in school because everyone was running around with that big ugly tea on their chest and I had a big U and you know I was different from everybody else and ever since then I was just a huge Miami fan and I fired up this channel just as a way for me to connect with other Miami fans because I don't live in Florida so through the power of the internet I've been able to create a community over the last eight years of like-minded fans and we all just hang out and talk Miami Hurricanes football I mean first of all your first college football game ever to be a championship game it's kind of hard to uh to top that for sure but all right listen I am not going to give you too much crap but I am gonna give you a little bit nobody wins the off season every single year quite like Miami but I would say that this year has probably been louder than any other year that I can remember and I listen there's a lot of potential there but is this finally the year that Miami backs it up in your mind now one thing believe it or not that you won't hear Miami Hurricanes fans say very often is Miami is back the canes are back that that doesn't leave many can's fans lips that's something that the media likes to push and put out there and then full circle come around at the end and make fun of us and say you guys said you were back and you're not we actually don't say that that often uh there there are a few Kool-Aid drinkers out there but I myself social media all those Kool-Aid drinkers yeah exactly yeah now I I tend to temper my expectations a little bit because as we just discussed I became a fan in 2001 and it's been hey it's it's not been the greatest you know since then uh but this year on paper keyword on paper here it looks great right I mean the one thing that Mario chrisal has done is uh he has made the changes uh that fans want any area that looks like it's been a big issue he has promptly addressed it and this has been slow you wi you win five in year one one of course fans are upset but you win seven the year after some will argue eight if we took the knee yes I I'm actually the one that brought it up but it has been Improvement when we're purely talking wins and losses recruiting has continued to be at a high level so you would like to think that eventually the wins are coming so this year specifically you go out there and you bring in the number one ranked transfer portal quarterback the number one ranked transfer portal running back you've built up the trenches you have weapons on the outside there are a few question marks here and there in a few position groups but overall when you factor in the somewhat soft schedule let's just be honest here it's pretty favorable for Miami yeah it really looks like things should line up for at the very least an ACC Championship Game appearance would I put my money on it uh that's to be determined I'm I'm not 100% sold yet but game one could tell us a lot about how this team actually looks this season and you know obviously this is a huge game for both coaches and you know during Chris Ball's tenure he has one more win than Napier does during his tenure at UF and you're talking chryst ball against an ACC schedule and Napier in the SDC what is the mood from this fan base if Miami loses so for I'm guessing you're referring to the Florida game specifically right yeah Miami drops this game okay this game won so there there's going to be the initial Panic reaction you know hurry smack the panic button like we're supposed to be a top tier team you know we want to make a run for the college football playoffs but the reality is this this is a non-conference game this is week one it is an instate rivalry so it is important I do not want to downplay that at all but it's not a lot of Kane's fans are going to be upset for me saying this it is not the end of the world if Miami were to lose this game to Florida we talked about the schedules just a few minutes ago yeah Miami's schedule is pretty favorable so Miami could realistically drop game one let's hope it doesn't happen but they could and still run the table the rest of the way I feel like that there's going to be more of an implosion I just from an outside perspective yeah for Florida fans possibly because if you lose this game again non-conference but then you have to follow it up with you've got A&M on your schedule Tennessee at neand Georgia Texas LSU Old Miss no no I left Florida State out on purpose there you have some Big Time games uh coming up that could be very tough for Florida for Miami once again on paper not so much but I will say you know Miami Hurricanes fans Kane's Twitter is a thing that everyone talks about you know so there will be some Panic there will be some very angry fans but as long as Miami can at least if they were to lose keep it close I think the Panic will be kept to a minimum a lot of times it's about how you lost the game yeah and I agree with what you're saying about Florida fans because honestly you lose to Miami it's hard to find too many wins on the schedule you know looking past that and you know no offense to Miami but when you're looking at Texas LSU Georgia M miss you know all of those guys coming down the pipeline it is definitely probably more concerning right you're not going to play too many more teams better than Florida we're going to play more teams on paper anyway better than Miami and we'll see how the season plays out and you know doesn't always shake out the way we think it does in the preseason but I agree with you there so I want to talk a little bit about camard I have taken some grief from Miami fans for saying that I think Florida has the quarterback advantage in this game but I'm gonna explain to you why I think cam Ward's stealing is higher than Graham Merz I just think we're not going to see that ceiling game one with his new team and you know he is coming on the road to the swamp which is going to be I I understand Miami fans were all on me yesterday about Washington and Oregon if you think Washington or Oregon Stadium compares to the swamp you need to get to a game in the swamp but what do you expect out of him do you think there is some little bit of a learning curve at the beginning so I will say I want to preface it with saying this I I am actually going to compliment Florida a little bit here I I do actually believe that Merz is a very accurate quarterback I mean his his stats back that up you can't really deny that and I do believe that he will probably be the most efficient quarterback that Miami sees this season so kicking it over then to cam Ward you're not wrong I mean it's his first season with Miami it's his first season in this offense and he has a ton of pressure on his shoulders this is the money year for him I mean it's this is him you know trying to fill out that NFL resume and you know add some additional tape and things it's it is a tad bit worrisome I do think however that that cam W has much more big play potential and we just have to see Shannon Dawson be willing to tailor this offense to him it's tough to really look at the offense Miami ran last year because Dawson was handcuffed a lot of times with Tyler van djk who apparently couldn't read his own defense and just was completely mentally absent during football games so with Cam Ward there is a little bit of a worry there but I mean you've got plenty of Playmakers on the outside you have a solid o line he's got his security blanket with Xavier rreo who is always going to be open on pretty much every play I I think that cam Ward will do fine I I I think that he'll he'll step up and uh I I think that he'll play well again there's slight concern there with the things that you mentioned and we talked about but I'm not that worried I think he'll be fine I think he's a baller and I I think that he will love that opportunity to shut up the Gators on their field so do you think Miami tries to lean on the run a little bit early to take some pressure off cam or are they just going to come out guns blazing well what I want to see realistically here is for Miami to come out hand the ball off to Martinez he breaks off a 10 to 15 yard run play action next play send one over the top touchdown that's what I'd like to see on Saturday afternoon and it very well could happen but I think when you have Mario chrisal as the head coach no matter what kind of quarterback you got back there it's probably going to be pretty balanced he likes to ground and pound he likes to establish the run and why not Martinez Fletcher AJ Allen Chris Johnson you got the young guy Jordan Lyle so they're they're going to run the ball and I think Miami can be pretty effective with running the ball so I would say a a pretty balanced attack at the end of the day and honestly that'll probably be Miami's approach All Season Miami's got a really good front seven on defense but if you had a liability it's probably the secondary right is that what you would say is your biggest area of concern for your team I mean if if we had to nitpick and point something out I I think it has to be that I mean because everywhere else Miami seems to to be covered uh the secondary is going to be where you're going to see uh several new faces so once again we're looking at guys that are playing in this defense for the first time you're also going to see some young guys like deari brown for instance who saw some snaps last season and and flashed at at times but you know looking at kind of his first season as a um I guess in a starting role you do have the anchor who you're going to have Daryl Porter Jr back there but you lost cam kinin you lost James Williams you lost some of the the big-time experienced guys back there so I do agree 100% that uh that would be a potential weak point I do think that group has potential they just haven't played together yet and proven it yet and I fully think that Florida will probably try to test those guys at some point to kind of see you know where they stand with that should we attack how do we approach this game so they will probably kind of test those guys early but they you're absolutely right that would be that would be the weak point probably what about UF worries you the most can I say nothing I'm just kidding I'm just kidding I'm just but just we're recording I'm not going to come on here and say the swamp Okay because every Florida fan I talk with they don't want to talk about football they want to talk about the stadium and the crowd noise which will be a factor I get it but that alone won't win you the game uh for Florida for me um honestly I I hate to give the bull ring answer but it is probably with Merz and it being his second year at Florida in that same offense so you would like to think that he only gets better there and and again I know that when you look at Florida's uh passing game last year it seemed like they primarily focused on like short to intermediate throws uh they didn't really go deep super often but I know that you guys did add I think you picked up a couple of transfer portal receivers we did I guessing to probably try to help with that sum uh it's what it's Mer's sixth year I think in college so he's been around for a while second year with the team second year in the offense uh that that would actually probably be my biggest concern uh would would would be Merz all right so you seemed a little cocky when you said you didn't you they didn't have any major concerns is there a position group at all that you would say Florida has the advantage in h that one's tough because if we're talking about directly comparing Florida and Miami it would it would be possible that someone could maybe say the bull ring answer is is DBS right because again with Miami with untested but I would actually go out on a limb here and possibly even mention tight end and some of that's because I don't know what to expect out of the tight end unit with Miami because last season we pretty much didn't throw to the tight ends was that a Shannon Dawson thing was that a Tyler van djk thing this year we have a Royo who is you know supposedly 100% healthy but we got to see how he looks once they take the field they've got got Riley Williams we've got the the guy we call the Swiss army knife Elijah Lofton who can play at tight end but he can also play running back wide receiver bunch of different positions but you you could maybe you you could possibly make an argument for tight end okay all right so do you think this is a close grinded out kind of game or do you think it's gonna be a track meet high scoring are are are we getting to score predictions yet or you just get yeah okay okay okay we'll get there you you tell me when I got my numbers I got my magic numbers right over here beside me me personally I'm gonna I'm G to go the boring conservative rout here and say it's a close game because it's game one I want to be bullish on Miami and I want to say they can win by 10 to 14 but all of this is on paper right now all we know is all of the offseason talk and and you said it I I don't run away from these things we are offseason Champions once again but you got to see what actually happens once you take the field uh so I'm going to say that it is actually a close game but you'll have to tell me when you when you want actual numbers and talking W's and L's here we'll get there in one second but first before we do before we get your score prediction I always try and get this perspective anytime I have somebody on from a another school and I think it's even more important when you have on you know arrival what are your thoughts on Billy Napier overall at UF and the job that he's doing and what's ahead for him um from an outside perspective uh Billy naier is a coach that a lot of us make fun of uh I feel like at times it seems like he's going more backwards than forwards uh but again I'm not a Die Hard Florida fan you though right what's that I said we you did have a kneeling issue what that it's cut it's cutting out allly it's cutting out I couldn't hear that um but uh you know I mean if if you want my blunt honest opinion I think he's gone after this year or next year at the latest um again everybody around the country other fan bases poke fun at him uh there's a lot of jokes and memes that float around of him with other coaches with meeting recruits and how he looks kind of awkward and and off to the side that's probably not really the case it's it's the internet after all sure but realistically I just I don't envy your guys schedule and some of these games and stuff that you play it it would be hard to coach at Florida uh I just I I don't know that he can survive there much longer to be honest all right now is the time give me your score prediction okay so I'm not going to pretend like it's going to be an easy game I'm going to talk my trash you know I am a Miami Hurricanes fan I have to represent the orange and green and I thought about this for weeks uh diving deep uh really trying to be accurate here I think the spread is still at like Miami's a two and a half Point favorite at the time we're doing this live stream so I do have the greatest college football team in history winning this game 27-21 a six-point Victory and I could be pushed I could be convinced to bump this up to like 10 from like six to a 10-point victory but again game one on paper offseason hype anything can happen in that first game you know I my thing is is I'm hoping I'm I'm hoping and praying that Miami isn't trying to get it together on offense in the swamp that would nightmare scenario like I I I give you guys credit for that as much as I joke about it the offense needs to be firing on all cylinders out of the gate and hopefully Miami can build an early lead even if it's even if it's small to kind of quieten down that crowd and knock them down a peg or two but I'm very confident in this and I've got the canes winning all right coach we are so close thank you so much for coming on let everybody know where they can find your content and follow you on social Med media yeah so uh you can go to YouTube and just type in coach Coupe uh you're probably going to see a thumbnail of me in a garbage can or maybe some kind of silly diss track where I'm wrestling a giant inflatable alligator in a watermelon kidy pool that's just another day on the coach Coupe YouTube channel uh we're all about the um making people laugh I guess you know a a different style of content but we do get serious and and and we do talk football and on Twitter you can look me up uh same thing just type in I think the coach Coupe you'll find me over there we're all about having a good time hanging out with the college football family and just some friendly trash talk and banter all right well I love it good luck on Saturday and uh we'll we'll have to Circle back after this so we can Absolutely I'll be here you know where to find me all right sounds like a plan appreciate you all right guys thank you so much for tuning in make sure if you are watching this hit the like button and you can support the show with uh super chats as well I appreciate Anthony Beck for the love text me we'll see if something can work for tomorrow all right so before we talk about this game I want to give bet us some love you can go to bet us and bet on the game right now at the link that's in the description of this video Miami is a field goal favorite right now but with my link you can get a 125% deposit bonus up to $2,000 on your first three deposits appreciate bet us for their support go check them out okay so let's talk a little bit of fast facts about this game okay I know that all the talk has been about cam Ward and how he is just going to come in be lights out and how Florida just can't compare with grammars so I've done a lot of digging into these numbers and um you know I think they're kind of surprising so Ward had 485 attempts in 2023 57 of those traveled at least 20 yards in the air all right so that's 11.7% Merz who this is the guy that we refer to as oh he's GNA check down he does not go downfield at all that's not that's not his bag they haven't aired it out that's why he is so accurate because they don't stretch the field at all well he had 39 attempts that traveled 20 plus yards in the air on 358 attempts so almost right at 11% 10.9% so you know what that means that's only a handful more checkdowns for Merz over the course of the entire season than Ward had and Merz was more efficient overall he had a QB qbr rating of 157.6 warts was 14 5.4 and listen this is not to say that I think cam W is a bad player I don't I think he's incredibly talented and as I have said all summer long I think there's a great chance he has a higher ceiling than Graham Merz but I don't believe that all the hype surrounding him is actually backed up by the numbers so for him to be the type of player that everybody's talked about this entire off season he is going to have to take a huge leap during the 2024 season and you know maybe that happens right does he have more physical skills than Graham Ms I think you could definitely say he does but I don't believe that there is this huge wide Gap like Miami fans would allow you to believe like the national media would have you believing also want to talk a little bit about the transfer portal so Miami brought in 15 players this season and Florida brought in 16 um the difference I think is that the Miami Hurricanes are relying largely on those transfer portal players to start than than Florida is right now if you look at the two rosters Miami is starting 10 of their transfer portal guys Florida's starting six we did bring in some wide receivers which coach Coupe talked about Elijah Badger um and DK I think that's gonna really help replace losing Ricky peera Right which is a huge loss for Florida we all talk talk about Wilson and Trey is awesome right and I think he's going to get a ton of balls thrown his way this year but I think losing Ricky peaw is going to hurt so having DK and Badger be able to kind of fill in that Gap along with Brandon kensell Dixon at right tackle is going to make Florida's offense more effective this year than last year I believe they brought in Joey slackman on defensive line and you know I think there's a chance he's the key to the game right Florida's defensive line was not very efficient at getting to the quarterback last season and so they're gonna be looking to slackman to be able to step in in an SEC caliber defense and perform right away uh having pup Howard at linebacker and ASA turna at safety I think that those are going to be huge for Florida those are guys that come in with major game experience and can they can kind of plug and play with them um you know I know that they also brought in more players than just that in the transfer portal but I think those are the ones that are most likely to make the biggest impact but I just find it interesting that for Miami to yes Anthony I did see cam weight starting over uh Brandon cruncha Dixon but I think Dixon's gonna get in a lot as well um I just think that it's interesting that they're going to rely on 10 guys to come in and start immediately it's hard to gel game one no matter where you played right talk a little bit about recruiting I think this game is really important for both schools because we Vive for the same guys and we talk about how to be successful uh you know on in in the conference but also nationally we've got to lock down the State of Florida and those stands are going to be filled with guys that are considering both of those schools and Mario chrisal has done a tick better than Florida recruiting since he got there and you know has he done hugely better probably not but he has done marginally better and that is something that gives hope to Miami fans that Florida fans maybe don't have there right if if Billy Napier had signed back to back to back top five classes I think our record last year would mean less to us right because we would know that we have stacked all of this talent and we're we're ready to go the future is here and I think maybe that's what Miami feels like but uh 247 Sports ranks Talent on every roster coming into the year and the Gators and the hurricanes are pretty even in those rankings Florida's actually slightly ahead they have a 90.9 average player ranking and Miami has like an 89.6 five player rating but I definitely think it'll matter where these elite players are in their careers and how ready they are to step on the field and contribute immediately on Saturday and I think if you factor that in this is a dead heat right so all this talk we've heard this whole off season is that Miami is such a more talented team and again I don't think the numbers actually back that up so what's the key to this game going to be I've got you know a lot that that I think is really important to and it's going to be a factor but I really do think getting to cam Ward is going to be important but I think that Florida's front 7 has a lot to prove right and so that if we're talking about what I need to see going into this game it's can the defense get pressure from its front seven force Miami to get rid of the ball fast and then see if those DBS have improved in the way that we think they have you know if we're talking about position groups that should be stronger than Miami Florida has a good DB core they may get tested on Saturday also want to see our offensive line show massive improvement from last year will there be time to get the ball to our Playmakers I think Florida's offense has the ability to be really good those skill players topnotch can the offensive line block long enough so that we can get the ball into the hands of our playmakers that is going to be another key to this game special teams you knew that I was going to talk about special teams because I talk about special teams every time I get the chance I need to see no dumb mistakes I don't need to see a punt return for a touchdown I mean I will take it absolutely but I what I need to see is clean football 11 men on the field every single time no dumb mistakes nothing that gives an advantage to Miami play specialty teams like you've practiced all summer long and then is Graham Merz the leader that we think he is I want to see a vocal Graham Merz I want to see somebody that takes full control of the offense and honestly full control of the sideline and I think if those things happen it could be a good day for the Gators and I'm gonna give you my prediction but before we do I want to give some love to meld and law they are the official injury firm of the Florida Gators and they should be your official injury firm as well hopefully you're not going to need them anytime soon but if you're hurt or injured or in any sort of accident let melden law take care of you they have offices in Okala Gainesville Lake City they're all all over the place so if meldin law can be of assistance connect with them on social media let them help you in your time of need these are really really good guys and they're Gators we are actually looking to partner with them on a ticket giveaway later on this year it's a really big game so stay tuned for more information on that it's going to be a really fun ticket package I appreciate meldin law for all of their support okay so I kind of laughed when coach Cooper had his uh 2721 score prediction is what CP said because 2821 is actually what I think the score will be but I think the Gators win this one okay I'm gonna be going on Coach coup's Channel soon so make sure you subscribe so you don't miss it I will also be on college football addiction with him and a friend of mine so check me out over there too I appreciate bet us for their support as well as meld and law and I'm going to see you guys in the swamp on Saturday go Gators