“I think that’s the key to the drill.”

Billy Napier may not like the scheduling cards he’s been dealt for this season, but he’s soldering on.  In fact, he’s got plans, big plans.

Florida coach Billy Napier has implemented several team-building exercises, including moving players into on-campus dorms for the opening week of training camp and rooming them with guys from other position groups.

They’ll eat every meal in an old-school dining hall — no phones allowed — and work on developing leadership as much as perfecting concepts, formations and plays.

“I think it’s important that we connect and try to create crossover relationships in all parts of what we do,” Napier said. “It’s absolutely important to what we do.”

Adding another layer to his unification efforts, Napier has a get-to-know-your-teammate initiative that requires players to be able to provide names and hometowns on the spot for 10 colleagues pictured.

“It’s one thing to know the guy’s first name, but it’s another thing to know his first and last name, where he’s from, part of his story, and I think with time we’ll get to that place,” Napier said.

Nothing says building a program like something that sounds like it’s ripped straight from the pages of Butch Jones’ management guide.

“Patience will be rewarded.”

Here’s the backdrop.

Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff is expected to present a potential media rights deal to member institutions within the next 48 hours, according to multiple reports. News of the expected presentation comes four days after Colorado abruptly defected from the conference to head back to its former home in the Big 12 amid the uncertainty surrounding the league and its media rights future.

The Pac-12 authorized Kliavkoff to begin negotiations for a new television contract in June 2022 after USC and UCLA announced plans to join the Big Ten in July 2024. Despite more than a year passing, the league has yet to present firm numbers for a television contract to its remaining member schools.

Kliavkoff’s been farting around more than a year and it’s only now, with Colorado on the move and the Pac-12 standing on increasingly shaky ground, that he’s got a deal to present?  Smells like nerves to me.

And here’s the benchmark he has to meet to stave off disaster:

With Colorado’s planned departure, the Pac-12 is down to nine still-committed members. If Kliavkoff can’t deliver a deal that gets close to the $31 million per year the Big 12’s contract is expected to pay its members there could be more defections.

“Each of us will make our own independent analysis,” Arizona President Robert C. Robbins said in June. “I’m hopeful that the deal is going to be good enough to keep us together.”

Not exactly a vote of confidence in the conference’s leadership.

Speaking of Arizona…

There is an Arizona board of regents meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, but a potential Pac-12 exit for the Wildcats may not be as simple as an up or down vote. Arizona and Arizona State are both governed by the board, which may want to ensure that the Sun Devils don’t get left behind in a weakened conference. It is unclear whether this all will be discussed in Tuesday’s meeting, as the only item listed on the docket, as of Monday night, was an “executive session,” which is behind closed doors.

Obviously, if Kliavkoff can’t deliver the goods, it’s easy to see why Arizona would bolt for the Big 12.  What’s less easy to see is why the Big 12 is so hot and heavy for Arizona.

Adding the Wildcats would not significantly enhance the Big 12’s football product. Arizona is certainly not a program where it is impossible to have modest success, but they’ve infamously never been to a Rose Bowl despite being in the league since 1978, and have only finished in the top 25 once since the dream 1998 season where they went 12–1 and would have played for a national title had they not lost to UCLA. Their No. 4 ranking at that season’s end was one of two top-10 finishes ever.

Arizona also does not enhance the Big 12’s football television audience, as it ranks near or at the very bottom of average viewership among Pac-12 schools according to data reviewed by SI. But adding a school that is not a football behemoth is its own strategic play by the Big 12.

That “strategic play” amounts to (1) adding a school 70 miles from the Mexican border, which feeds into Yormark’s obsession with building an international market for the Big 12’s product and (2) Arizona’s basketball prowess, which would indeed enhance the Big 12’s standing in that sport.  I don’t seen how either of those significantly enhances the conference’s bottom line, which will remain far below that of the SEC’s and Big Ten’s, but, then again, I’m no genius conference commissioner.

To some extent, it’s likely they’re counting on this holding true:  “And in a 12-team Playoff world, access to the postseason will not be an issue.”  What happens if that doesn’t hold?

Moar schedule talk

Hi, Billy.

How would you like to play the nation’s toughest schedule as a second-year coach coming off a losing season in Year 1? Welcome to Billy Napier’s world. Florida opens the season on the road against two-time defending Pac-12 champion Utah and closes at home against bitter rival Florida State, which is ranked No. 3 and is one of the favorites to win the ACC. In between, the Gators have trips to Kentucky, South Carolina and LSU. They face No. 11 Tennessee at home two weeks after opening the season at Utah, and there’s also the annual clash with No. 1 Georgia in Jacksonville — two weeks before visiting LSU on Nov. 11. If you’re counting, that’s six preseason top-25 opponents, with four in the top 15.

It’s gonna be a fun second year in Gainesville, no doubt.  I almost feel sorry for him.  Almost.

On a related note, no fingers were pointed at Georgia’s overall schedule, which I suppose means go, SEC!  But there’s an interesting comment about teams’ non-conference scheduling, which relates back to a comment I made yesterday.

We have a repeat winner. For the second season in a row, Michigan has earned the “honor” of playing the nation’s cushiest nonconference schedule. The two-time defending Big Ten champion doesn’t face a single Power 5 opponent. This was also the case a year ago, marking the first time in 78 years the Wolverines didn’t play a nonconference game against a current Power 5 member or Notre Dame. Michigan opens this season with three straight home games against East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green. It originally had a home-and-home series with UCLA set for 2022 and 2023, but canceled it in 2019 to guarantee at least seven home games each season.

The only team rivaling Michigan in this category is Georgia, which plays UT Martin, Ball State and UAB at home and closes the regular season against in-state rival Georgia Tech on the road. The Bulldogs were originally scheduled to play Oklahoma, but the SEC dictated that game be scrapped with the Sooners joining the league in 2024.

You know, you could argue things are a little easier than that for Georgia.  That game at BDS is, for all intents and purposes, a home game for the Dawgs.

“Do we spend on recruiting? Absolutely.”

During fiscal year 2022, Georgia spent more than four and a half million dollars in recruiting expenses.  That’s a lot of moolah.  As Marc Weiszer notes, “Georgia’s recruiting budget was at least double that of 45 of the 51 other public schools in Power 5 conferences.”

Now, to be fair, a lot of that is the result of Georgia not owning a plane and thus having to charter flights to move everyone around.  It’s especially noticeable these days with Smart’s success recruiting on a national level.

What’s fun, though, is to check out the breakdown of spending on food.

Georgia spent $375,217 at five local restaurants, more than 59 percent of Mississippi State’s entire recruiting budget. Recruits feasted at Five Bar for $179,143, Saucehouse Barbeque for $96,131, ate $46,440 worth of Chick-fil-A, devoured $38,588 at Outback Steakhouse and polished off $14,915 of food from Wing House Grill.

An additional $372,360 went to “Camp Consulting LLC,” the name used by Striplings General Store on its tax form, according to UGA. They catered meals for official visits.

Food trucks “Let’s Taco ‘Bout It” from Doraville for $6,563 and “The Loaded Burger” from Atlanta for $3,166 made their way to Athens to feed recruits. The Varsity ($5,043), Agua Linda ($2,873), Sucheros ($2,631), Brett’s Casual American ($1,372), Fully Loaded pizza ($988) and Taziki’s ($205) were other food options for players the Bulldogs courted.

You gotta let the big Dawgs eat, after all.

By the way, they’re upping the fiscal year 2024 budget a third over 2023’s.  Better never sleeps, and neither does the recruiting budget.

Your Daily Gator’s freezing cold take

El Oh El.

#Florida is fixin' to own #Georgia this decade. pic.twitter.com/phILFMHnyn

— Message Board Geniuses (@BoardGeniuses) July 31, 2023

Bookmark it?  Consider it done, bruh.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t pick on some random dude’s stupid opinion like this, but, let’s face it — this was a fairly representative sample of how their fan base felt before, during and after the 2020 season.  Morons.