COVERITLIVE.COM

11:59

Frank Pastor - Hey, everyone. Frank Pastor here. I'm joined by Times beat reporters Antonya English (Gators) and Brian Landman (Seminoles). We'll be taking your questions for the next hour on Florida and Florida State.

12:02

BrianLandman - Hey guys. Florida State players and coaches haven't talked about the point spread, but they know they are the underdogs Satuday. Big-time underdogs. I can't remember FSU ever being a 24 point underdog.

12:02

Antonya English - Welcome everybody. An injury update. RB Emmanuel Moody remains questionable for Saturday's game and LB A.J. Jones, the Tampa native, is definitely out with the MCL he suffered last week. He is expected to miss several weeks, Meyer said on today's SEC teleconference.

12:05

Antonya English - None of the Florida players are taking that underdog thing seriously. They know very well that FSU could make their year by derailing Florida's undefeated season, so everybody was on edge this week. Same feeling as a big SEC game.

12:05

[Comment From notanole]
any chance florida state pulls off the upset?

12:07

BrianLandman - The Seminoles have to be flawless on offense (think Georgia Tech in the first half) with a young quarterback. The defense will have to do something it hasn't done all year and play well for four quarters without giving up the long plays. Oh yeah, Bobby Bowden has said the Gators will have to make mistakes.

12:09

Antonya English - Florida has been fairly mistake-free since Mississippi State (think two pick-sixes). But rivalry games are always tricky. Add to that all the emotion of senior day and the SEC championship game looming and this is a dangerous one for the Gators. So is there any chance? Sure.

12:12

[Comment From oldtimer]
Will the outocme have any bearing on Bobby Bowden's status following the season?

12:15

BrianLandman -

FSU president T.K. Wetherell has said he would evaluate coach Bowden and the state of the program after the season (presumably the regular season) so the Florida game has to have some impact. A FSU win would show progress and quell some of the criticism, so that would make it easier to bring him back. I'm not sure a loss would be the last straw, either. Not after the Seminoles qualified for a bowl.

12:16

Antonya English - For the record, Urban Meyer has said he believes Bowden and Joe Paterno have both earned the right to leave on their own terms, whenever each decides the time is right for him. He doesn't want this game factoring into what happens to Bowden in the near future.

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