Florida football: Tate Rodemaker just woke up The Swamp

Florida football is getting ready to host their in-state rivals Florida State this weekend in hopes of becoming bowl-eligible and handing the Noles their first loss of the season.

The Swamp is always a hostile environment, especially at night, but Gator fans may have even more motivation to be a factor this weekend after what FSU’s new QB, Tate Rodemaker, had to say on Wednesday.

Rodemaker is getting set to make his first start this season in front of 90,000+ this weekend, but he’s trying to push the narrative that he won’t be phased by it.

In order to do that, he decided that comparing The Swamp to a high school crowd of 14,000 would be a good idea.

Florida football: In for a rude awakening

Tate, nobody would knock you for being confident before this game. You’re the No. 5 team in the country with a flawless record. Why wouldn’t you feel good heading into this game?

But trying to discredit the atmosphere that you’ll be walking into this Saturday by comparing it to a high school crowd doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

The saying “Only Gators get out alive” wasn’t just made up for no reason. When The Swamp gets up for a big game, the opposing team doesn’t walk out with a win very often.

Former Gator Kyle Pitts even weighed in on what Tate said.

For whatever reason, Rodemaker thinks that 14,000 fans at a high school equals 91,000 at one of the most storied universities in the country.

I know that FSU isn’t super great with academics, but those two numbers aren’t very close to each other, and Tate is going to find that out in a couple of days.

Florida fans didn’t need a whole lot of motivation heading into this one, but Tate just guaranteed that Gator Nation is going to be out in full force this weekend.