Ahhh, football season in Florida.
The charcoal’s already in the air, the jerseys are fresh out of the bag, and the state’s football pulse is back to doing what it does best: careen from hope to panic and back again before Labor Day is over. That’s the setting for another round with Professor Pigskin, who showed up ready to hand out predictions with the kind of confidence that should probably require a waiver.
The first stop was the eternal college football fight: the NCAA against eligibility itself. Professor Pigskin didn’t bother with Ohio State-Michigan or Alabama-Auburn.
In his telling, the real showdown is between the NCAA and “the concept of eligibility.” Players, lawyers, boosters, collectives and “pom-pom-waving local judges” keep pushing back, and the whole thing has gotten so stretched that, as he put it, “At this rate, college football players are going to have more eligibility than Supreme Court justices.
Pretty soon, we’re going to see a 32-year-old quarterback introduced on Senior Day with his wife, three kids, mortgage broker and 401(k) advise”
From there, the crystal ball got busy.
At Florida State, Mike Norvell is staying put. Professor Pigskin said it plainly: “Absolutely.
Have you seen his buyout?” The Seminoles, he added, will bounce back and make a run at the ACC championship.
At Florida, Jon Sumrall’s first season is supposed to look a lot different from the Billy Napier era. Professor Pigskin took a shot at the old setup, saying Napier “built infrastructure.
Lots of infrastructure,” and that by the end the staff had more employees than Disney World. Sumrall’s approach, in his view, is simpler: “Get good players.
Coach them hard. Win games.”
The result, he said, is a surprise season and an unexpected trip to the College Football Playoff.
UCF got the Scott Frost treatment next. In Year 2 of Frost 2.0, Professor Pigskin said he hopes Frost “discovers a razor,” then predicted quarterback Alonza Barnett will bring the spark as the Knights make some noise in the Big 12 and finish 8-4.
The Jaguars were next, and the forecast was loud. Jacksonville, playing in Orlando next season while its stadium gets a billion-dollar makeover, is labeled a dress rehearsal for a bigger run. Professor Pigskin has Trevor Lawrence and the Jags going 13-4 and reaching the AFC Championship Game, though not the Super Bowl.
The Buccaneers got a more measured forecast. Baker Mayfield and the NFC South were the selling points, with the division described as “like being the best restaurant at an I-75 rest stop.” Tampa Bay finishes 9-8, which in that division still counts as something close to a crown.
Then came the Dolphins, and that prediction was as bleak as it gets. Professor Pigskin said Miami will do “the exact opposite” of the 1972 team and finish 0-17 after cutting Tua Tagovailoa and taking a financial hit so severe “their salary cap now requires FEMA assistance.” He called them “The anti-’72 Dolphins.”
The Miami Hurricanes, though? Total flip.
“Good? The Canes will be great.
I’m talking NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP great!” he said before declaring Miami the ACC champion and the national title winner.
When reminded that Miami hasn’t won the ACC since joining the league in 2004, he brushed it off: “Facts have never gotten in the way of a Professor Pigskin prediction before, and they’re not starting now.”
That same logic carried into the Super Bowl pick, which initially had the Los Angeles Rams beating the Jaguars. When pressed on the contradiction with Jacksonville’s AFC Championship Game appearance, Professor Pigskin responded, “Did I?”
and then, after the reminder, dismissed it with, “As our president would say, ‘Fake news!’” He ultimately settled on Rams over Jaguars, with a note that if he’s wrong, he’ll “Delete the post.”
He closed with a public-service reminder for anyone headed to games this fall: “Tailgate responsibly. Don’t overindulge. Never drink and drive.”
And because no Florida football season apparently ends without a Rodney Dangerfield line, he finished with the old quote from the 2004 Orlando Sentinel football preview: “I drink way too much. The last time I gave a urine sample, it had an olive in it.”
Welcome back, football.
In Other News...
UCFs Backfield Battle Just Got More Interesting This Summer
Summer is usually when depth charts start to take shape, and at UCF, a couple of familiar names are helping drive that conversation ahead of the 2026 season. Braeden Marshall is back for his fourth year and remains in line to handle the nickelback spot, while Taevion Swint is working his way into the picture at running back after a setback that slowed his development early on. It is the kind of backfield and secondary continuity that can quietly matter when camp opens, especially for a team trying to sort out who can be trusted in bigger roles.
Swints path is the one to watch because the staff has already shown plenty of belief in what he can become. A redshirt freshman now, he has been projected into the running back rotation, and coaches came away encouraged by what he put on display during spring practice. Marshall gives the defense a steady presence on the perimeter, but Swint brings the more intriguing offseason storyline, with his return to health and his early flashes leaving just enough room for the next step to become one of the summers more interesting competitions. [Read more 🡒]
Two Former UCF Standouts Suddenly Face A Tense NFL Wait
Jaden Nixon and Nyjalik Kelly put themselves on Green Bays radar with strong preseason showings, giving both former UCF standouts a real case to stick around as roster cuts approached. Kelly flashed on defense with two sacks and an interception, while Nixon provided an offensive spark with 64 rushing yards and a touchdown, the kind of production that can keep a young player in the conversation even when the numbers game tightens.
Now the wait begins, and it is the kind of anxious limbo plenty of undrafted or fringe NFL players know well. Neither Knight made the Packers initial 53-man roster, but there is still a path for both to remain in the organization if they come through waivers and land on the practice squad, where Green Bay can keep developing them and have them ready for a call-up if injuries start to create openings. [Read more 🡒]
Scott Frost Wants UCF Locked In With Opener Questions Looming
UCF has spent the week trying to make the final leap from camp mode to game mode as it gets set to open against Bethune-Cookman at Acrisure Bounce House Stadium. Scott Frost has stressed that part of the challenge now is sharpening the details that matter once the ball is live, and starting quarterback Alonza Barnett III has sounded ready for the first test of the season.
The Knights will, however, have to manage a few personnel questions as kickoff approaches. Edge rusher Bruno Dall is out because of an injury, and a couple of other pieces have been working through camp issues, leaving the staff with some decisions still hanging over the first depth chart of the year. [Read more 🡒]