This week the Daily Texan talked to Florida sports journalism student and ESPN Gainesville reporter Joseph Torviso to discuss the upcoming matchup between Texas and Florida.
Daily Texan: I just want to start off with last week’s game against Georgia. Y’all hung in for a long, long time, all the way up until the fourth quarter. What were your overall thoughts of the Gators performance?
Torviso: I thought the Gators played an excellent first half defensively. The first (four) games of the season, before heading into our first bye week of the year, our defense was by far the biggest issue. The Florida defense was just really spectacular. (Freshman quarterback) DJ Lagway went down and the defense still held up their own until the end. Aidan Warner, the redshirt freshman transfer from Yale came in. He did lead the Gators down the field to score the tying touchdown to make it 20-all then the Bulldogs went right back down the other end, scored seven points of their own.
(Then) on the first play of the Gators final offensive drive, the Bulldogs picked off Warner inside the 10-yard line. Got tackled right in front of the goal line, and it was easy for the Bulldogs to rush in the touchdown to basically seal the game off. So just a very solid defensive performance. Just to worry with all the injuries heading into this game against Texas, if they’ll be able to kind of replicate what they’ve been doing these past four weeks.
DT: Do you have any other big players the Texas will need to keep an eye on, and what for?
JT: Well, transfer cornerback Cormani McClain, I mean, just a huge prospect coming out of high school, going to Colorado, and then he’s had some, off the field issues he’s had to deal with. Comes to the Florida Gators as a preferred walk-on … but, he pretty much stepped it up for Florida, with Jason Marshall Jr. out against Kentucky before the second bye week he had that pick six.
(McClain) really got PT (playing time) because of the fact that we were blowing Kentucky out (and) losing Jason Marshall. He stepped up as, really, the number one corner for the Florida Gators. He’s done really well … I mean, Cormani McClain played really well against arguably the second best team in the SEC (Georgia), I think Texas is probably number one right now. So he showed that he can keep up with the big boys.
DT: I just want to clarify what you said about Georgia … you said, “probably the second best team in the SEC. I think Texas is probably number one right now.” So, despite Georgia kind of really beating up Texas, you would still classify them as number one in the SEC?
JT: I think that that game against Georgia was a wake up call, and we’ve seen that in sports … just the amount of talent on that Texas roster and the fact that they have two QBs that could just go in and produce, right?… I just think that it was that kind of a moment for Texas.
It’s Texas’ first season in the SEC they’re probably, I don’t want to assume anything, you’re home against one of the better teams in the league, or in the NCAA, a team that was kind of snubbed from the College Football Playoffs last season. I don’t think Texas really understood what was coming to Memorial Stadium, but now that they know that they know that they can be defeated, I don’t think that they’re going to be stopped at least the rest of the regular season.
DT: Give me your score prediction for Saturday.
JT: 42-17 Texas.
