Chris Doering, ESPN and SEC Network analyst, tells McElroy & Cubelic why Florida is winning 7 games this year and why he believes in Ole Miss making the Championship game
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All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning, live on Radio Row. Chris Doering with us now. You're going to get me an actual photograph of it, but our producer, John Saber, just shared the picture with me when I hopped on with you and Peter Burns this morning. It looks good, right? It's my side-by-side with Champ Kynes there.

Of Anchorman. That's up. I mean, it's close. Was that the vibe you were going for, or is that just by chance? No, no. Yeah, we both have fat faces and cowboy hats on and wearing ties. I need the more old-school tie and shirt combination there. Would you ever go with a, what do they call this, bowler tie? Absolutely not. Yeah, that's kind of a joke. Can't do that. We talked about bow ties and that yesterday, because Hester was talking about how Phillip Rivers does it. There's no way. I don't know.

I've never seen somebody wear that that I thought, that's a good look for them. No. It's not a thing. I want to vouch for you, though. Bow tie. The bow tie can work. Some people can pull off the bow tie. The bolo thing? GMAC, you wouldn't try to pull off a bolo tie, would you? No. No, no, no. Those things are goofy, right? No, that's too much. Yeah. When you do that, you're just trying too hard. Yeah. What about bow ties? No, because I do think that bow ties, like I do have a...

A good friend that almost exclusively wears bow ties. Like real ones that he ties or the clip-ons? I mean, like instead of wearing like a traditional tie, he wears a bow tie. Like that's like his – that's kind of – Yeah, but I'm saying like, you know, you could tie those things. Like Luther Burden the other day, his was an actual clip-on. Yeah. Like, you know. Is he under 180? 180 pounds? Yeah. Luther Burden? No, the guy that has the – you're free with the bow tie. No, big boy. No. I want to vouch for you yesterday. I'm thinking like 310.

Hell no. Yeah. But it's like his thing. He just prefers the look. To me, I don't have a problem with bow ties. Bolo ties, you're trying to be that guy. You know what I mean? I kind of agree with you. You know what I'm saying? I'll tell you who would be wearing a bolo tie. Billy Lucci. No, no. T-Bob.

As a joke, though, he wouldn't try to rock it. He wouldn't think it looked good, I don't think. No, he would not think it looked good. Nobody else would ever do this, so I'll do this. Exactly. That's the guy that's rocking a bolo tie right now. Can we let Chris give me credit now because no one's done this all week? I'll give you credit. Your boy, he was talking about his fat face a minute ago, but I saw you grinding in the gym. I went up there last night, dude. You were getting after it. I've tried to get at least something in. I don't know about the sideways press machine that we were using yesterday. It was a little awkward. Yeah.

I had to get my, when am I going to get my left pec a workout because it was like tilted to the right. All right. First, Florida, quickly. You and I have talked a lot about them. Not many people are on both sides of this. Most people are on the ridiculous 3-4 win train. Why can Florida be better than people think in your mind? I'll be honest. Like last year we were here, I thought Florida was a 5-win team, and they ended up being a 5-win team. This year I think people aren't expecting much more, but I like, I like.

where they are after doing the spring game. I like the talent that they brought in through the portal. I like the experience that young guys got last year. Love Graham Mertz. G-Mac, I don't know how you feel about Graham. I think he's really solid. I think he was one of the best acquisitions through the portal last year. I still don't think people are giving him enough credit. Obviously, you lose Ricky Pearsall. Trey Wilson is going to be the de facto replacement there, but

The real test of what's going to determine how much better they're going to be is going to be with the defense. They were awful on that side of the ball last year, but you go back and look, 25% of the snaps on the defensive side were taken by true freshmen, which is a recipe for disaster. Those guys will be better from what they went through last year. I do think Florida wins seven games this year. I think they're going to be so much better than people realize. It's just hilarious to me. People act like they have the roster of an FAU. It's like, dude, this is still Florida. I mean, it's like...

It's unbelievable. I just look, too. People are so caught up in the schedule. It's not as bad as everyone's making it out to be. I mean, you're telling me Florida can't beat Miami at home? You're saying they can't beat LSU at home? I mean, come on. You don't think they can win those games? A lot of people think that Napier's on the hot seat. I don't believe that. I think there's going to be a lot more rope there from Scott Strickland.

I love the fact that a guy that could be on the hot seat in some people's mind is saying, hey, instead of downplaying and taking the schedule and saying how hard it is, making an excuse, he's embraced it. He's like, really, the schedule's not much different than it was last year. Instead of going to Utah, we get Miami at home. Instead of playing LSU and Baton Rouge with a Heisman winning quarterback and two first-round receivers, those guys are gone. They come to Gainesville. We don't have to go to Lexington. They come to Gainesville. We play a Jordan Travis-less Florida State team with a new starting quarterback. So,

I'm with you guys. I think a lot of people look at the logos, and they are projecting what those teams were instead of looking at what they are now. And I think that's another reason. The key is, I talked to one of the Florida players who said, we've got seven home games this year, which is going to help us. Well, you lost to Arkansas at home last year, so you can't assume that you're going to win your games at home. But starting fast, the schedule is back-loaded, so you've got to win early, and you've got to win your home games. Look at the four teams going to be here today.

Looking positive, who surprises you the most this year? Oh, yeah, it's interesting because I think all four of these teams are kind of being –

overlooked a little bit. Maybe that's the nature of being a fourth-day group of teams coming through, but I think Texas A&M could be better. I think Mike Elko obviously knows the culture there, was part of the resurgence of that defense when he came in under Jimbo Fisher. I'm excited to see Connor Wegman back and what he can become. Auburn, I was at your alma mater, Cole, for their spring game,

And the confidence that Hugh Freeze has in Peyton Thorne by not going out and getting another portal guy, by allocating those funds, as you talked about on our show today, to other positions, I do think that the thing I'm most excited about is seeing Cam Coleman. But are there other guys around him that can be the reason why that passing game is better than what it was last year? What about...

What about Arkansas? I'm having a hard time seeing them have a crazy high ceiling, but I think they can be a real problem for folks. Like, for instance, I hate it if I'm Texas, knowing I've got to go play up there in mid-November. It might be fantastic.

three degrees, sleeting sideways, and I've got to go play against a team whose this is their Super Bowl. Looking at Arkansas, how dangerous can they be? We just sat with Sam Pittman on our show, and Sam Pittman's not one that's going to be rattled. PB asked him, are you feeling the pressure? He's like, nah, I don't

feel the pressure at all. They've had success there. They feel like they can have success again. Key hire, obviously getting Coach Petrino back there. Taylon Green is a guy that I think fits well in what they want to do with his athleticism. Again,

To me, the success they had early, I think he's a victim of too much success too soon, and they set the bar really high for Arkansas after turning that thing around. It was because of the defense. The defense had tremendous leadership on that side of the ball, and I just wonder, are they going to be able to replicate some of the success they had? Barry Odom was obviously a large part of that early couple years there in Fayetteville, and they just have not had the defensive success without him.

Shane Beamer kind of laughed at it earlier this week. You and I sat with Billy yesterday. He doesn't seem rattled at all. Is it the buyouts? Is there real pressure with these guys anymore? I mean, Jimbo's going home to what? An extra 60 mil that they still owe him? I think the money's obviously tremendous and a motivating factor, but you don't get to this level without being a competitor. I'm not saying that they don't care about not winning, but the pressure, like the...

building up that anxiety with some of these coaches, has that removed a lot of it, do you think? I guess maybe if you look at it through the lens of it being a profession, but to me it's more a lifestyle, you know, and like who knows –

Shane Beamer, Sam Pittman, these guys were kind of odd choices in a lot of people's minds for their respective head coaching jobs. If you don't succeed there, do you get another chance? Did Sam Pittman ever get another chance to be a head coach? He's retiring. He's already said as soon as he gets done, he's going to the farm and have himself a Coors Light. Shane Beamer wasn't even a

coordinator and got to be a head coach does he get another chance i i do think there's still a lot of self-imposed pressure even if you the money takes some of that away i think that that there is a sense of urgency for a lot of those guys great i want to win for sure of course yeah greg has texas in the ssc championship game mcmurphy settled this a little bit earlier and gave us a lot of reasons that texas and oklahoma will not be very successful this year he said competitive yeah uh

Texas or Oklahoma in the title game? I'm going to say no, just because I think there is an acclimation period coming to the SEC. This idea that you can just drop those two teams in and they're going to understand how to navigate the difficulty of an SEC schedule. You guys all know what it feels like when you get to the end of the year, the cumulative effect of not only the physical wear and tear, but the mental grind.

I think it's going to be – Texas played a lot of close games last year. I don't think you can play close games in this league and count on winning all of them. So I think that I would take the under on the win total for Texas. But why are we not talking about Oklahoma as much as we are Texas? I understand. The schedule, that's it. The schedule is –

I think we talk a lot about Florida's schedule. I don't think people talk enough about Oklahoma's schedule and what a large part they'll play and who ends up going to the college football playoffs with that last four or five weeks that they play.

And then also Georgia. I think just because Georgia's so good, we dismiss the fact that they have probably one of the most challenging schedules as it relates to teams we expect to be in the mix to get to Atlanta at the end of the year. I just look at Georgia, and Georgia's the one that I'm puzzled by because it's like we just assume because they have the best personnel, like, they're going to go unscathed. Like, look at, dude, that schedule's the hardest schedule in the country. I don't care what anybody says. When at Kentucky is your seventh schedule,

seventh toughest game tells you all you need to know. I mean, that's a beating, whether it's at Texas, at Bama, at Ole Miss, Clemson in the neutral site,

Florida in a neutral site. I mean, it's a gauntlet. I don't see how they don't go 10-2. I mean, I think they're going to lose, too. I just don't know which ones. I don't know how you survive. I agree with you, too. They're still in the playoff. I mean, that's beside the point. PB and I have talked a lot about pressure on teams and on coaches. I think Lane Kiffin probably has the most pressure on him because of where the bar has been set with their success recently and needing to take that next step forward.

even though Georgia and Kirby Smart have won two national titles in the recent years, I feel like there's a tremendous amount of pressure, particularly because the one thing that kept them from winning more was Coach Saban. Well, Coach Saban isn't there anymore. What if you go to Tuscaloosa and lose to Coach Saban's replacement? I just think there's a lot of pressure on him to get

back to the national championship game and win a third title here in the last four years. So who is it? I'm assuming you think George is in the SEC championship. I like Ole Miss, man. I believe in Ole Miss. Their schedule is more manageable than some of the other teams that are kind of in that mix. More manageable. I feel like that's a little bit of an understatement, but yeah. It's overly kind, you think? Well, Greg brought up a really good point yesterday about Missouri, and I think it's applicable to Ole Miss.

is if you're Missouri, like we all just sit here and say 10-2, you're in. Missouri goes 10-2, there might be a real conversation about what's your best win? And do you deserve to be in at that point? And maybe if you sliced it a certain way, Ole Miss could fall into that category. I think you're right, but I think the success both of those teams had last year kind of gives them the benefit of the doubt. If you hadn't have done that before, maybe it looks more like a one-off.

I don't know, though, when you're starting measuring against, like, all right, Missouri's 10-2 against, let's say – Florida 9-3. You got Florida 9-3? I'm saying if they were. If Florida was 9-3 – That's true. Florida's 9-3, hang a banner. Like, that's freaking incredible. Oklahoma 9-3. Like, you're taking Oklahoma, right? You got a head-to-head, but – I would. I mean, you got a head-to-head, so that would impact a lot. But I'm thinking more, like, outside the conference. Like, you got a – let's say you got 10-2 Missouri –

with losses at Bama, at A&M. And what's their best win under those circumstances? And then you're measuring them potentially against, say, Florida State, who loses to Clemson,

in the ACC championship game, and they're sitting at 11-2. If what you just said would be accurate, you're going to need Auburn and Oklahoma to probably be pretty good at that point, to have quality wins on your schedule. To lose at home? I mean, that to me is not a feather in your cap. You lose at home, that's bad ball. It's just an interesting thought. What about Alabama this year?

Yeah, I think that's an interesting storyline. It just has felt very different. We had Tyler Booker on yesterday, and he talked about how the feeling in the facility is a little bit different. There's maybe a little bit more player influence on what's going on there with the coaches. But you know better than I do, GMAC. I mean, that was a – I don't think in all of sports at all times there's ever been a more difficult –

to try to replace than coaching, having Nick Saban the greatest to ever do it. But I think they did as good of a job as you possibly could. I believe in Kalen DeBoer. I believe in his success. I believe in his ability to develop quarterbacks. I'm excited to see what he can do with Jalen Milrow. I'm excited to see how he tweaks his offense to cater to what Jalen does well. But it is funny because I don't think we're talking about Alabama quite as much. I mean, if you guys...

I think we probably all agree that the SEC gets four in this year, probably, as you think. Would you three to four? I think four. I think three for sure. Four is going to be a little dependent on what happens elsewhere. So how many teams in the SEC do you think are legitimate contenders for those three to four spots? Nine. You think so? That deep? Yeah. I had an eight. I'd probably be more in the eight range, but I could –

I can see it getting there. The one that would be ninth for me is... A&M, right? No, I'd have A&M as top eight. Nine would be like Oklahoma. It's really close. I'm excited about the Oklahoma trip to Jordan-Hare, man, and what that's going to mean for them. They get Tennessee coming to Norman, but that'll be their first real SEC road test ever.

I think that's going to be a welcome to the SEC kind of moment. Where it falls, a couple of under-the-radar, like difficult non-conference teams that you play first, and then one of, if not the biggest regular season game in school history before you take that trip is, it's going to be a lot. See,

C.D., thanks for the time, man. Yeah, good to be with you guys. It's been a fun week, man. Look forward to a good season. When did you and Peter release the pictures from yesterday? We released some that were approved by HR. There was some that didn't make the cut. Not surprising that they didn't. See y'all, boys. Chris Turing joining us right here on Radio Row. Before we head to break, I'll tell you about our friends Gusty Goulas and the Gusty Goulas Group.

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