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UF's Tabor gets his chance to back up Vols talk this week

 
Published Sept. 22, 2016

Tabor and UT

Florida all-SEC cornerback Jalen Tabor was suspended for last season's game against Tennessee and has been one of the most vocal (and critical) Gators on the offseason hype that surrounded the Volunteers. "It's definitely exciting to see him go through this game," safety Marcus Maye said. "I know he's excited about it, too." Tabor forced and recovered a fumble and had a sack when he played at Tennessee in 2014.

Callaway's health improves

Standout UF receiver Antonio Callaway, who missed the North Texas game with a quad injury, practiced Wednesday and was upgraded to "questionable to probable'' for the Vols game, coach Jim McElwain said. "He's got to be running 100 percent for us to put him out there," McElwain said.

Dual-threat defeat

Since the 2013 national title, the five teams that have beaten FSU all have one thing in common — a good dual-threat quarterback (which could mean trouble this week against USF's Quinton Flowers):

Louisville QB Lamar Jackson: 216 passing yards, 1 TD; 146 rushing yards, 4 TDs in 63-20 win

Houston QB Greg Ward: 238 passing yards, 1 TD; 67 rushing yards, 2 TDs in 38-24 win

Clemson QB Deshaun Watson: 297 passing yards, 1 TD; 107 rushing yards in 23-13 win

Georgia Tech QB Justin Thomas: 67 passing yards; 88 rushing yards, 1 TD in 22-16 win

Oregon QB Marcus Mariota: 338 passing yards, 2 TDs; 62 rushing yards, 1 TD in 59-20 win

FSU rooting guide

Pulling for the Seminoles to (somehow) recover and come to Tampa for the Jan. 9 national title game? Here's who to root for:

Clemson: The most likely road to the ACC title game includes the Tigers beating Louisville next week and FSU beating Clemson to force a three-way tie that would be decided by some fancy computer metrics.

USF: Not this week, obviously, but the Bulls winning the American Athletic Conference would boost FSU's resume, especially if that title comes against …

Houston: A Cougars win over Louisville on Nov. 17 would dent the Cardinals' resume.

Florida: Not easy for a 'Noles fan to do, I'm guessing, but having the Gators win the SEC East would help FSU's case.

Ole Miss: The Rebels somehow winning the SEC West would make FSU's season-opening win look even more impressive.

Big 12 chaos: Maybe an Oklahoma team that already has two losses wins the conference. Suddenly a 12-1 FSU team wouldn't look so bad to the College Football Playoff committee.

Pac-12 chaos: See above, but with a champion like last fall's two-loss Stanford.