Happy New Year’s Eve, friends and fans!

Following the Oklahoma Sooners’ 55-20 thrashing of the Florida Gators in the 2020 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, UF head coach and Randy Quaid lookalike Dan Mullen made an absolute fool of himself with a series of ridiculous excuses in his postgame press conference.

Moments after receiving a thorough beatdown inside AT&T Stadium, Mullen revved up the excuse machine by saying “With the number of people that were out for the game, we were under numbers actually. I mean, to be honest with you, we had the numbers to not play the game.”

Now I promise you, none of this would have been said had Florida defeated Oklahoma. If the Gators were as depleted as Mullen says they were, then they didn’t have to play the game. If he already knew this matchup would be such an obvious competitive disadvantage for his team, the option to opt out was always there for the taking. Face it, Daniel, your team was unprepared, and that falls directly on you. Own it like a man and keep it moving.

Mullen went on to say “Maybe this is wrong, but I viewed this game very different. That wasn’t the 2020 football team that you saw. There were 25 guys missing off the 2020 football team out there tonight. That was kind of like a kick-start for us for the future, and the opportunity for the young guys to go play.” He later added, “The last game the 2020 team played was 11 days ago.”

First of all, if this is what the Florida faithful has to look forward to in the future, I fear for your long-term job security, bub. That was a colossal beating on a national stage. The rest of his remarks read like comments on a message board. If the last game the 2020 UF team played was in the SEC Championship Game, then I guess Oklahoma fans can say the first game the 2020 Sooners played was against Texas Tech, when Rhamondre Stevenson and Ronnie Perkins returned from suspension. See how stupid that sounds? Give me a break with that garbage.

It’s one thing for Gators fans to tuck their tails and run with these excuses, but it’s never a good look for any supposed leader to openly point to these same sentiments. I know I’m not the only one who would rather hear less coach-speak on the record and instead have coaches express their feelings more freely, but if this is the message and attitude Dan Mullen wants to pass down to the young men he gets paid millions to lead, I question his worthiness for the position. His excuse-making reeks of cowardice and immaturity, shows a severe lack of accountability, and perhaps most of all, it’s an insult to the staff and players who actually do their part. If I was at all associated with the Florida program, I’d be incredibly ashamed of my head coach.

Keep in mind that Mullen attributed Florida’s loss to Texas A&M to the fact that the Aggies had a lot of fans in the stands, so there’s clearly a pattern here.

Now for today’s Hot Links! Creed Humphrey calls it a collegiate career, Isaiah Thomas gets the last laugh, Clemson loses play-caller for CFP semifinal and more!

OU Links

• It’s official. After starting for three seasons at Oklahoma, redshirt junior center Creed Humphrey has announced his decision to forgo his senior year to enter the 2021 NFL Draft. Go make your millions, big fella!

• Speaking of Humphrey, he was recently named an AFCA Second Team All-American. Congrats, Creed!

• Nothing like a Happy Gilmore reference to perfectly sum up what Oklahoma did to Florida in the Cotton Bowl. On a side note, I’m a proud Adam Sandler movie stan.

• Redshirt junior DE Isaiah Thomas threw some clever shade at Florida LB James Houston after the Sooners beat the brakes off the Gators. I guess he was right though, OU and UF are not at all on the same level.

• Redshirt junior H-back Jeremiah Hall makes a fair point. To state the obvious answer, no, four people would not have made up for 40 points. Cry more, Danny.

• Cornerbacks coach Roy Manning continues to be a local treasure and Sooner Nation must protect him at all costs. Boomer!

• Perhaps the coolest moment of OU Football in 2020 was when the entire team busted out the Malcolm Kelly rap as they were about to be presented with the Cotton Bowl trophy. Man, I love this squad.

Around the Sports World

• Clemson Tigers offensive coordinator Tony Elliott has been ruled out of the upcoming CFP Sugar Bowl semifinal matchup against Ohio State after testing positive for COVID-19.
• Miami Hurricanes QB D’Eriq King is reportedly set to undergo surgery to repair a torn ACL he sustained in a loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Cheez-It Bowl.
• On Wild Card weekend, the Buffalo Bills will be allowed to host fans in their stadium for the first time in the 2020 NFL season following an agreement between the organization and the state of New York.
• Starting on Jan. 7, all NBA players and staff will be required to wear sensors while traveling to monitor their accordance with the league’s contact tracing protocol. Those who fail to follow these measures will be subject to penalty.
• To wrap up the 2020 sports calendar, CBS Sports’ Shanna McCarriston compiled a list of the most feel-good moments that sports brought us this year. It was a difficult ride at times, but we made it, folks. Cheers.

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