Chomping at Bits: Florida, Mississippi State set for showdown

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Florida passes Tennessee road test, now gets Mississippi State: The challenges keep coming. (Scott Carter, Florida Gators)

Defensive line shines on Rocky Top: It was good work by the Gators up front ... but I think Tennessee’s offensive line might be really bad. (Ethan Hughes, Florida Gators)

Adam Shuler brings mean streak to Florida front: Bringing in a transfer who didn’t play elsewhere and wanted to get on a field meant galvanizing a line in need of a leader. Who knew? (Baileigh Williams, Gator Country | Thomas Goldkamp, Swamp247)

David Reese shines in return: Getting back a linebacker who excels in run support meant solidifying a defense that was lacking that exact type of player. Who knew? (Thomas Goldkamp, Swamp247)

Florida needs to build on win: “You don’t have to have a great offense to score a lot of points,” writes Dooley, to which I’d reply: You could use a good one. (Pat Dooley, The Gainesville Sun)

Florida soccer rebounds in SEC play with weekend sweep: A 6-0 blowout of Kentucky (which was on Thursday, but whatever), and then a 4-1 comeback win over LSU featured Florida scoring more goals than it had in the entire season prior to that. Florida’s still just 4-6-1 overall, mostly because of those offensive woes, but as Mayra Pelayo (one goal, three assists over those two games) gets closer to full speed and players like Lais Araujo (hat trick vs. Kentucky, goal and two assists vs. LSU) step up to handle the scoring load, the Gators could very well make noise in conference play and salvage their season.

Florida volleyball begins SEC play with sweep: Speaking of making noise in conference play: The Gators moved to 28-0 in SEC openers under Mary Wise by sweeping Ole Miss and then got their 26th 2-0 SEC start under Wise by sweeping Mississippi State. Those are unreal stats, even if you’re used to Florida being the dominant force in SEC volleyball.

This wasn’t really a surprise, as Florida is 49-0 against Ole Miss all-time, and 50-0 against Mississippi State. But, also: Florida is 49-0 against one team in its conference, and 50-0 against another. Goodness.