Weekend Review: For Florida's Dan Mullen, Stupid Is As Stupid Does

The stakes are high in the SEC, and because of that, tensions also run at an extremely high level — especially after a loss. So it's easy for a coach or player to occasionally put his foot in his mouth.

There are very few people who know the SEC better than Florida coach Dan Mullen these days. He's either been an assistant coach or head coach in the league for 16 years now, and he was tasked to bringing Florida back to glory. Those three national championships in 1996, 2006 and 2008 seem like a long time ago.

This year was supposed to be the year that the Gators stepped back into the fray with the big boys. COVID-19 has turned this season upside down, but there was Mullen and his Gators, traveling to Texas A&M Saturday as the No. 4-ranked team in the country.

And Texas A&M beat them, winning 41-38 on a field goal as time expired.

Mullen was fuming afterward, partly at his usually great defense, which has given up 100 points already in its 2-1 start. He was also angry that the Texas A&M fans, even at 25 percent capacity, made so much noise that it threw the Gators off their game.

Really?

So in his short and snappy postgame comments, he whined and then threw down the gauntlet. That fan noise? He wants it on his side now when the Gators host defending national champion LSU next Saturday in Gainesville.

He wants a full house — 90,000-plus fans — filling The Swamp next week, despite the fact that we're in the middle of a pandemic.

"I want to see 90,000 next week," he said. "I know our governor (Republican Ron DeSantis) passed that rule, so certainly, hopefully, the university administration decides to let us pack The Swamp for LSU next week," he said. "One hundred percent because that crowd was a major factor in the game. So I certainly hope our university administration follows the governor."

Oh, Dan.

Dan, Dan, Dan.

His desire to increase the odds of winning a football game by creating a super-spreader event is mind-numbing. Priorities out of whack? There's no doubt about that.

In Florida's home opener, they were allowed to have 17,000 fans. Now, he wants five times that, breathing, sweating and coughing all over each other,

The attendance at Kyle Field on Saturday in College Station, Texas, was listed at 24,709. Capacity there is 102,733.

"The section behind our bench, I didn't see an empty seat," he said. "We have to have 90,000 in The Swamp to give us that home-field advantage that Texas A&M had today."

Pandemic be damned, of course. Mullen wants a full house because he can. Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said "we will continue to follow UF Health and campus safety guidelines.''

Mullen isn't trying to MAKE the rules, of course. DeSantis is, and you know exactly why. He is a Republican governor closely tied to president Donald Trump in critical swing state. Florida has often decided presidential elections, and that may very well be the case again in 2020.

COVID super-spreader events, like the White House Supreme Court nominee celebration, led to a breakout among many prominent people, including the president, his wife, and several key members of his staff. So far, at least 25 people have contracted COVID-19 from that one event of around 300 people.

And Mullen wants 90,000-plus crammed into The Swamp? Wow. Stupid is as stupid does.

The pandemic has had a firm grip on Florida for several months now. There has been more than 15,000 deaths in the state, and it's nowhere near under control. Just Friday, there were nearly 3,000 new cases reported and another 112 dead. Hospitalizations are way up in Florida, as they are in 41 states. Positive cases have been on the increase for four straight weeks now.

"Florida is ripe for another large outbreak," said Mike Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "What they've done is opened up everything as if nothing had ever happened there and you and I could be talking probably in eight to 10 weeks, and I will likely bet that Florida will be a house on fire."

On the Gainesville campus, there are strict mask and social distancing requirements. None of them would allow a full house at a football stadium. The six-foot rule worked for 17,000 fans spread out through the stadium. Anything above that starts to break that rule.

So instead of risking the health of 90,000 people — and the 500,000 people those fans would encounter in the coming days, there might be a better suggestion for the Gators to win a game on Saturday.

Play better defense!

MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: Florida president W. Kent Fuchs said there's no way the Gators will play in front of a full house on Saturday. He said the university remains committed to all CDC protocols throughout the campus, from the classrooms to the athletic venues. Here are his three tweets on the subject:

Hurricane Delta wallops a punch

Hurricane Delta made landfall in Louisiana on Friday, causing all sorts of damage in the state with its 100-plus mile per hour winds. LSU was supposed to host Missouri this weekend, but because of the storm, the game was moved to Missouri instead.

And Delta struck again. Without homefield advantage, the defending champions lost again, falling to Mizzou 45-41 in Columbia, Mo.

The phrase "defending champs'' is a bit of a misnomer in college sports because most of the players who won that national title a year ago and long gone now. LSU still has plenty of talent, but they only had six starters returning. They lost to Mississippi State in their opener and now have lost again, the first champ to lose two of their first three games since Michigan in 1998.

Their defense has been awful. They gave up 632 yards to Mississippi State and another 586 to a Missouri team that had lost their first two games. The hurricane disruptions might have had something to do with LSU's lackluster problem, but there might be something much bigger in big here.

They just might not be very good.

A lot of games in the South were played in pouring rain on Saturday. Auburn and Arkansas slugged it out in the rain from start to finish.

You had to feel for the players. And the sideline reporters, too. At Auburn, poor Lauren Sisler — one of my faves — never stopped giving her reports, despite being soaked.

And I wonder, still I wonder
Who'll stop the rain? 🌧

Hoping for (but not expecting) drier weather on The Plains tomorrow!

🏈 @RazorbackFB vs. @AuburnFootball
🏟 Jordan-Hare Stadium
📺 @ESPN
⏰ 4pm ET/ 3pm CT
🎙 Taylor Zarzour & @mstinch79 #cfb2020 #SEC pic.twitter.com/cHvjjc7vXz
— LaurenSisler (@LaurenSisler) October 10, 2020

Challengers for Clemson lining up in ACC?

No. 1-ranked Clemson has dominated the ACC for several years now, but challengers are starting line up to take their shot. Miami, which has looked good thus far in winning its first three game, got the first shot Saturdauy night, and was swatted away.

Clemson won 42-17 over No. 7-ranked Miami. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence passed for 292 yards and three touchdowns and running back Travis rushed for 149 yards and two scores. Miami QB D'Eriq King, who has been great thus far, was just 12-for-26 passing with two interceptions.

Two other highly ranked ACC teams are going to want their shots at the Tigers. Notre Dame is 3-0 and ranked No. 5 in the nation. The Irish, playing an ACC league schedule for the first time, host Clemson on Nov. 7. Both teams should be unbeaten then.

North Carolina is also 3-0 and ranked No. 8 in the country, enjoying a nice resurgence under veteran coach Mack Brown. Clemson isn't on their schedule, so they'll have to wait for their shot in the Dec. 19 ACC Championship Game in Charlotte.

The ACC isn't using the Coastal and Atlantic divisions this year. The two teams with the best winning percentages will play in the ACC title game.

Upsets in the Top 25

The latest AP poll will be released on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. For the complete poll, CLICK HERE

Outside of No. 4 Florida's 41-38 loss at Texas A&M and No. 17 LSU's loss at Missouri, the rest of the top-25 teams that lost were expected to, so it will be interesting to see how much movement there is this year.

No. 7 Miami lost to No. 1 Clemson, No. 14 Tennessee lost at No. 3 Georgia, No. 19 Virginia Tech lost to No. 8 North Carolina and No. 22 Texas lost to Oklahoma, which has lost twice, but let's not forget they started the season ranked No. 3 in the country.

The Big Ten teams are still a bit suppressed in the poll because a few voters, most notably college football expert Brett McMurphy of The Stadium, has been public about releasing his ballot and not including Big Ten teams until they start playing on Oct. 2

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