Texas A&M Aggies vs Florida Gators Preview and Prediction Week 3 | The New SEC Podcast

[Music] we're we're getting down to the wire here we got the last game and this is an SEC inter SEC matchup between two teams that have a lot to prove they have a lot to put out there on the line and that's Texas A&M heading to the swamp oh yeah this might be my SEC game of the week uh you know sometimes when I'm picking the SEC game of the week for for the new SEC podcast game of the week I want to pick the game that I think's going to have the most offensive Firepower or the most star power the most interesting and uh you know week one we picked Notre Dame versus A&M and in week two we I think we picked uh I think the Texas Michigan Texas Michigan yes yes and that was you know the big top 10 matchup um and this week I you know you could pick you could pick LSU and USC and and we could mirror uh college game day for the third straight week you could pick Alabama uh versus Wisconsin but I I something like I said in the beginning episode something about that 3:30 p.m. kickoff time these two teams have something to prove and um it's in the swamp I like nothing is is more SEC than going down to Gainesville Florida to me um it might not feel like it these days for Florida fans but you know some of the things that I really look at when it comes to this game is you know you look at kind of what Florida's Florida's defense has got to be the glaring hole um you know they gave up I think they're averaging about 385 yards a game given up that's that stats a little skewed because it was really just kind of based upon their performance against cam war in week one which is could be the best quarterback they play all season in terms of NFL prospects potentially but uh Florida Florida we need to see more on the defensive side uh and the other big headline and and Hunter you could touch on it is kind of like where do they go at the quarterback position yeah cam Ward top tier they're going to see I mean if you look at the Heisman like ballot and you take off J at Boise State Florida place like all of them except for Jaylen Milo you know they got Quinn ERS they got Carson Beck uh they got Nico at Tennessee um Jackson Dart like Florida has the the Gambit of quarterbacks to play against and the question though is is what do they do at their own position um know Graham Merz getting hurt in the first week DJ lagway playing in the second uh Billy naer said he doesn't care what the fans think but um it's tough to see where they're going to go with this you know he mentioned it this week that they're both going to play the intention was that both these guys play but is that the right answer I I'll I'll say I don't think grah Merz is Chris leak and I don't think DJ lagway is Tim TBO so it's not going to work out that way if you try to incorporate it in that but you know that's that's the look that they're going to give is is it it's gonna be gr mer the start who struggled extremely in week one DJ lagway who came in and was able to see slight success um you know Merz is the safe play here right but if you want to win games down the stretch I'm I'm not sure merch will be able to get it done the high ceiling of lague needs to be developed early um if you were there and you were Billy I mean what would you do yeah I mean if if I was there and I was Billy and you know I'm playing with Florida on college football 25 I'm rolling with the mobile quarterback right me I'm rolling with the Freshman I think uh I'm thinking I'm thinking about this in terms of how he played week in week two he led the ACC or the SEC in yards 480 485 yards roughly uh three tou downs I'm thinking about um if there is a if there is a world where Florida does move on from Billy Napier getting getting DJ lagway playing time probably encourages him to stay there versus potentially entering the portal like if they can see a little bit success or he can see this glimpse of okay I like playing in the swamp I like playing these SEC games all right like you know if if there is a world where he he the coach goes away DJ lagway I think will have more confidence playing in this game I think he gives you more exciting uh look to see what you can see in the future what you can see right now so that's who I would be rolling with and and I think just from a safety standpoint if if if it's a tossup why not sit the guy out for another week if he's if he had a concussion a week ago yeah um I'm not a doctor but another week another week with your head off would probably be pretty good yeah I mean they have no more like by weeks for I mean other than the actual scheduled by weeks every week this Florida team has to fight is fighting for a win um but I'll say I I I can defend Graham Merz a little bit here I think a lot of his his problems in the first week were because of the pressure that Miami was getting on him going into the season Texas sayanim was that team that was going to be that high pressure all power star studded defense but I think that this text Sayan in defense is maybe not as good as advertized one sack on the season they played MCN last week still only one sack on the season that came against uh you know day in week one um and we've seen the big plays break out it's not on the outside like I've seen some people saying it's it's right up the middle it's you know jaran price broke off that big one Jeremiah Love right after uh in the Notre Dame game giving up big running plays if for whatever reason this Texas AUM keeps up this Texas A&M defense keeps up that trend of not getting pressure on a quarterback and you let grah mer sit in the pocket we know what he can do he was great last year don't want to look at one sample game against you mentioned stats don't necessarily they just speak for that one game for the Florida defense same for Graham Merz he's accurate he doesn't make a lot of mistakes we've seen that development in his career and uh if techum give him that opportunity then that's what I think is gonna happen he'll he'll be able to complete some passes and start some drives like he wasn't able to do week one absolutely and and and I love I love your defense of of grah Merz I think uh it's very warranted and and I and I I I put it in my notes it's my first note here this feels like a game where you sort of throw away the stats uh Texas A&M played Notre Dame week one Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois week two so a lot of their defensive stats are based upon playing a Notre Dame team that they did a good job stopping and then against a mcne State team who is a super imp not not they're a superior opponent to mcne state right you look at their defensive stats they're sitting at 36 in the country in terms of past yards per game at 158 uh grah MZ will be the best quarterback they've played so far this season um and statistically Riley Leonard should have been and and and could have then but I I I just feel like it's not enough of a sample size to hang my hat on the defense just yet it's not necessarily A scrutiny at them but if it's going to be I'm gonna focus on a strong point I need to see more than just that Notre Dame performance and unfortunately that was kind of negated with the NIU uh win over Notre Dame um in terms of the week two matchup um it was I mean Wegman looked better last week than he looked against Notre Dame um when we're looking at the offensive side against Notre Dame um but again that game's kind of hard to tell now with the NIU one you know so Florida's not the only one with a quarterback problem we have Wegman here who's coming into this game and needs to show off against that Florida defense you mentioned that that was a big question mark a big vulnerability a little bit undisciplined they gave cam ward in week one the opportunity to continue drives that they stopped with pass interference penalties personal fouls um so you know can Texas A&M take advantage of that Conor Wegman needs to find stride we've seen seen him be good we need to see him be good now um this is the game where if he doesn't play well the quarterback play on the other side of the ball will be better than him you know only 225 yards on the year so far um you know they have the the running back tandem they have leevan Moss who is solid Amari Daniels and I know you're a Cowboys fan so you know EJ Smith EMT Smith's son out there getting it done for them um I think that they're goingon to take a little bit advantage of this Florida defense and uh be able to run they Florida D line is a little bit bigger um these are some good solid running backs that have high Motors there's three of them yeah there there's the three three running backs and uh you know I think when I think about for Florida and I'm going to take the EJ Smith hook and I'm GNA put it back on EMT because EMT Smith went to Florida and who I like at Florida is Eugene Wilson I thir um to kind of help with graham Merz you know he's got 191 yards in the season freshman All-American from last season having trying to have a strong sophomore campaign and so I expect him to kind play a key role in this game um he's definitely someone to keep your eye on and uh you know like I said part of me just feels like you almost to throw away the stats and just let the game play you know who the guys are both quarterbacks need to see need to see Improvement um we need to see identified strong wide receiver from A&M uh and I think on the defensive side A&M's defense has looked good fla's off defense hasn't looked as good but you know it's it's a one game sample size and and of course of course he looked good against Samford so it'll be an interesting one it's uh it's going to be on ABC right after that uh that that South Carolina LSU game so you won't have to change your channel too much and just kind of keep it rolling there keep it rolling and you mentioned a good point and that's the A&M A&M needing to develop a a All-Star receiver and they're not doing Wegman any favors on the receiver side right now like no one has really been showing out for him and that's mostly the thing to look at there is the lack of Separation we talked about in the week one preview over you know almost half of the year yards coming after contact means the receivers aren't getting the separation that they need to be hit in open space so Wegman is having to make those tighter reads speaks positives to the running backs who are able to break tackles um but you know wanted to bring that up I mean the bright side for both teams are the DBS Florida's defense looking a little bit rougher up front last you know in the last two mostly you know against Miami I don't want to really count the Samford game for too much but um you know the DBS are going to look as as good as always I want to see the tech stum defense to step up to what we were expecting for them preseason we know Mike ELO is is very good at at creating unique interesting all power defenses we need to see that from the dline we need to see it from the linebackers um on Florida we need to see good wide receiver play we need see good quarterback play and we you see good dline play getting pressure they didn't get it in week one um Tex A&M four-point favorites yeah um it's it the spread is the closest because these two teams appear the closest um they were probably the two teams closest in my power rankings when I think about the last episode and so um I would like to I would say that I'm gonna I'm gonna give the nod I'm gonna give the nod to Florida here um I think I think they come out here at home I feel like they put it together enough to win I'm going to take them 2114 um in the swamp okay man I ha you know we got a lot of the same picks here you know it's it's interesting when we do this man I like Florida at home behind better better quarterback play I think it's going to take Conor Wegman a little bit longer to get it together um man I like I like Florida 247 I almost want to change it to disagree with you but this is what I'm seeing I think Florida got it um 247 at home they want to give the fans something in the swamp to be happy about yeah I I think I think for me when I when it came down to you heard you heard my critique on defense you heard a critique on offense it's quarterback play feels somewhat even but we kind of know more more get from Merit and so if it's a push I'm going to I'm going to go with the home team in this one I think Florida Florida needs it more I know I know Billy's players want it for him I know they want it for themselves and not to say the A&M doesn't want it but it's it's it's the first year for Mike Elco if they lose you know I almost feel like you're almost desensitized to O to the overreaction of A&M fans so it's like you're just used to if you lose it's going to be all hell breaks loose on Tex a for but if you win it's like okay what do you got for me next but I think for Florida this this one means a lot more I think you know it's in the swamp and um they really want to prove something here in their first SEC game of the season [Music]