The Southeastern Conference football calendar annually provides us the rich history of Alabama-Tennessee in late October and the passion and magnitude of Alabama-Auburn in late November.
September is typically reserved for the league's most lopsided pairing, which resumes Saturday when Florida looks to defeat Kentucky for a 32nd consecutive time. "Crocodile Dundee" was the nation's No. 1 movie on Nov. 15, 1986, when Jerry Claiborne's Wildcats topped Galen Hall's Gators 10-3 in Lexington.
OTHER PICKS
› Clemson 33, Texas A&M 24› Mississippi State 26, Kansas State 23› Ole Miss 52, Southern Illinois 7› LSU 48, Southeast Louisiana 9› Arkansas 45, Colorado State 24› Missouri 48, Wyoming 15› Wisconsin 44, New Mexico 13› N.C. State 38, Georgia State 10› Oklahoma 41, UCLA 21› Virginia Tech 35, William & Mary 6› Ohio State 52, Rutgers 21› Notre Dame 40, Ball State 17› Memphis 27, Navy 26› North Carolina 31, East Carolina 18› MTSU 38, UT-Martin 3› Penn State 35, Pittsburgh 20› Stanford 20, Southern Cal 17
This week's game is in the Swamp, where Kentucky hasn't won since 1979, but first-year Florida coach Dan Mullen is not dwelling on the longest active streak one Football Bowl Subdivision program has over another.
"If it had anything to do with the outcome of this game, then I would," Mullen said Wednesday on the SEC teleconference. "Since it has absolutely nothing to do with the players on this year's team, and since none of these players really on either side had anything to do with it, I'm really not. All we ever focus on and concern ourselves with is this week's game, because none of that has anything to do with whether or not we win or lose this week."
The Gators' series streak against Kentucky is the longest in SEC history, but they still have more than a decade to go before reaching the 43 straight wins Notre Dame enjoyed at Navy's expense from 1964 to 2006.
Reporters asked Florida junior defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson about the dominance this week, and he responded, "It's 31, right? It will be 32 after Saturday."
Florida humiliated Kentucky by a combined score of 180-14 from 1994 to '96 during the Steve Spurrier coaching era, and the Gators rolled 63-5 in 2008, when Mullen was in his fifth and final season as Florida's offensive coordinator before becoming Mississippi State's head coach. Mullen went 8-1 against Kentucky with the Bulldogs, losing 40-38 in Lexington two years ago on a 51-yard field goal by Austin MacGinnis as time expired.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops is 0-5 against Florida with three heartbreaking defeats, losing 36-30 in triple overtime in 2014, 14-9 in 2015 and 28-27 last year. The Wildcats led last season's matchup 27-14 with 10 minutes remaining, and Stoops has been asked countless times what a win over the Gators would mean for his program.
"I never dance around that question, because it is important to us, but we can't focus on it," Stoops said this week in a news conference. "We need to focus on this year. It's an SEC team that's in the East, and we want to win some football games.
"They're next on the schedule, and that's truthfully what this is about. Our guys can't worry about 30-something years."
Pasquali's Pix
Nevada at Vanderbilt: The Wolf Pack are playing an SEC foe for just a second time, having lost at Texas A&M 44-27 in 2015. Commodores 28, Wolf Pack 21.
UTC at The Citadel: The Mocs should get this one finished in less than six hours. Mocs 23, Bulldogs 20.
Georgia Tech at South Florida: Amusing Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson to ESPN when asked what he learned about his Yellow Jackets against Alcorn State: "I don't know if anybody has any idea what they've got until they've played three or four games ... well, Alabama might know." Yellow Jackets 31, Bulls 24.
Arkansas State at Alabama: Imagine if 6-foot-2 analyst/reporter Maria Taylor had reached out and gently patted the 5-6 Nick Saban on the head after the coach's latest tirade. Crimson Tide 49, Red Wolves 10.
Georgia at South Carolina: The Bulldogs scored 45 points last week against Austin Peay and didn't give up any, but they've yet to play a 60-minute game. Bulldogs 30, Gamecocks 13.
ETSU at Tennessee: Look for the Volunteers to snap their two-game losing streak against in-state opposition. Vols 52, Buccaneers 7.
Alabama State at Auburn: The Tigers have not lost to an in-state program outside of the Iron Bowl since succumbing 7-0 to Birmingham-Southern College in 1934. Tigers 47, Hornets 14.
Kentucky at Florida: Given the median age of a U.S. resident is 37.8 years, we are creeping up to a time when a majority of this nation will have not lived long enough to witness the Wildcats winning in this series. Gators 34, Wildcats 17.
Last week:
Winners......................22
Hermans......................3
Pasquali is 22-3 overall (88.0 percent) this season.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.