"Hey Joanna Bobby, I'm on a gators message board right now and there. is. this. duuuuumb. gators fan that says ten reasons Florida to win easily tomorrow or summin. Lemme aim my mouse clicker o it. Imma read this. Ahh man... he got me!"

Hello Mississippi fans! You poor, sad-eyed stranger! It warms my pretty heart that you get up to read this, but it ain't for you. Come to think, it ain't for anyone else neither. I'm just spinning my time on a Friday, like you, hopin' I catch summin interestin'.

In 20 years, when I'm nearing my own retirement, it'll come out that college sports were filled with systemic corruption; that officials were routinely bribed by the conferences themselves to favor certain "narratives" and "reputations"; that the NCAA too was on the take as they say.

You have officials like Jack Childress, whose had his crew banned from Florida field following the 2003 FSU game, for calls so one-sided even ESPN Game Day complained the following week. He was not only never was reprimanded by the ACC, he actually got promoted to the Board of Directors in their conference. Like f--king really?

Then you have last week against Tennessee where the ball was moved 5 yards from the right hash to favor the kicker's style following a time-out, in a game where two UT fumbles were not reviewed, in a game where a Florida star DE was taken to the ground multiple times without holding called. And if I am a conspiracy fan, I am thinking the SEC did not like having one of its principle rivalries to be so one-sided (10 straight wins), nor to have one of its traditional powers (UT) have so many losing seasons.

If I believe in that kind of thing; and I believe I will be vindicated for this belief in 20 years, I would say the conference wanted Tennessee to win and it was reflected in the officiating. How else would you have such collusion in a game unless the entire crew was instructed to be so biased? We've seen it before and every year it just disappears into the background noise.

It flows up to the media too. I watched EPSN all last Saturday an Sunday and only saw the 60-yard Callaway TD once. I saw Michigan highlights more than 50 times in the span of those 4-5 hours of watching. EPSN needed Tennessee to win for its narrative too. When that did not happen, it was not marketed. EPSN needed Michigan to have a big win so when that happened, it was marketed.

That's the end of my rant about that, except to say the SEC would prefer Ole Miss to make it into the playoffs this year.

All things considered, this season is turning into a perfect storm in favor of Florida (you read that right). It's not about the wins and losses, per se, it's about the brand. The perception that Florida is on its way back is actually a self-fulling prophecy; same way that Ohio State was, same way that Alabama was, same way that FSU was. Some teams have a strong football brand. Florida is one of those teams. Some teams do not. Louisville, to name another team, does not have that brand.

It's like twitter. You want to be the one trending. The notion that Florida is on its way back faster than expected increases this trend exponentially; from player confidence to the confidence high school recruits have to join that team. Once Florida gets the media buying into our "comeback", when that actually become a talking point, everything will start falling into place. Hey, talking-head McElroy already penciled in McElwain as his SEC coach of the year. The perception of our team needs to be favorable.

Honestly. If Florida was expected to win 11 games this year, do you think atleast one of those UT fumbles would have been reviewed by a more attentive crew? What's the difference between a 3-0 team that finishes 6-6 and one that finishes 11-2? It's not the 3-0 record, it's the perception of that record. If Florida was expected to finish 11-2, Florida would be ranked in the top 10 right now and the SEC would never dream of making us canon fodder for a desperate-to-win Tennessee.

"Oh, but Florida looked terrible in those three games."

Have you seen Ohio State play? TCU? Did you see TCU almost lose to Texas Tech in a game that combined for like 300 points and 2,000 yards? Holy Jesus. The top teams have sometimes looked worse than Florida over the past month. That is not saying Florida is great, btw. Florida still does not have the talent of an LSU, Georgia or Alabama. But right now, with the records being equal, the only difference is perception. Once we get that on our side, we start getting breaks. More importantly though is that our team starts playing with confidence. And confidence is more important than hype; how many confident teams have you seen in college football nearly beat a team we all know is great? Florida hasn't had that kind of confidence since 2009.

I think the players would be approaching Mississippi differently if Callaway does not get that TD. Essentially the same team, but our mentality would be different, IMO. That difference is important and exciting to be on the winning end of it.

If Florida goes 2-2 in the next four games, I expect us to have a recruiting class ranked in the top five in February with a couple studs ranked 1-2 at their position; and a preseason ranking next year somewhere between 15 and 20. It does not even matter how Florida wins. Whether Missouri s--ts the bed? It does not matter. LSU's starting QB throws five interceptions on unforced errors? The "how" is not important. Only the brand right. Only the trend. Only our confidence. Florida needs to trend here, to get an identity.

And I am sorry Joanna Bobby. No top 10 lists. I'm all broken up about it too.