Floridacame out of the gate running the ball well on their opening drive,using Emmanuel Moody on a couple of zone plays to move the chainsagainst a Tennessee defense that was obviously sitting back waiting fora pass. With third and 8 on the Tennessee 30, however, Tennessee notsurprisingly showed pressure with 2 linebackers walking up in betweentheir defensive tackles. There are a couple of changes that wouldresult in Florida being able to counteract the blitz this time,however. The first is the return of Jim Tartt. The second is the useof the shovel pass to counteract an aggressive defense for a 13 yardgain.
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With 7 in the box and 6 rushing, the key is to get past the initialwave of defenders. By choosing not to block the ends, the Gators havea 5 on 4 matchup in the inside, are letting the backside end takehimself out of the play, and are reading the playside end.
- [li]Hernandez comes in motion from the slot and settles into theH-back position as Tebow recognizes the impending pressure up themiddle. At the snap, Tebow sprints out right and Hernandez followsunderneath the line.
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[li]The right side of the line and the center ignore the endand block down, walling off 3 of the 6 rushers with 4 blockers. Lefttackle Phil Trautwein takes on the backside tackle and stands him up,keeping him out of the backfield. Jim Tartt pulls right behind thecenter, effectively leading Hernandez.
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[li]One of the linebackers slips through the playside A-gap. Against Miami, this is a problem, but in this case Jim Tartt actuallyruns the linebacker all the way outside of the hash before flatteninghim.
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[li]Tebow reads the end coming up the field and makes theshovel to Hernandez perfectly, as Hernandez runs past the end andaround the linebacker that Tartt takes out and heads up field for thefirst down.[/li]
The other area I want to really spotlight is the Florida run defense. Brandon Spikes was all over the field Saturday. What freed him up toroam and make plays, though, was the outstanding job by the defensiveline. In a typical example, on second and a short 2 from the Tennessee42-½ yard line, Tennessee tries to use motion to overload the box andrun the ball off tackle at the 5:55 mark in the first quarter.
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Florida shows a 4-3 under look at the line, meaning the defensiveline slides to the weak side and the linebackers slide to the strongside. Tennessee has what would seem to be a pretty good play call,bringing the flanker in motion and having numbers in the box. The realkey here is the ability of the line to occupy blockers.
- [li] Nose tackle Lawrence Marsh fills backside B gap at the snap,managing to occupy both the left tackle and the left guard and hold hisground, preventing them from getting to the second level.
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[li]Justin Trattou at the strongside defensive end does agreat job of recognizing run and crashing into the tight end before hecan make a block on Spikes.
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[li]Terron Sanders is blocked by the center, but does an excellent job of kicking him back 2 yards into the backfield.
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[li]The right guard immediately jumps to the second level totake on OLB Ryan Stamper, while Weakside end Jermaine Cunninghamcommands a double team from the right tackle and Flanker and stretchesthem wide, opening a hole up for Brandon Spikes. At this point 5 Gatordefenders are occupying 6 Volunteer blockers.
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[li]Spikes shoots into the backfield downhill in the spacecreated by Terron Sanders and Jermaine Cunningham and wraps up ArianFoster in the backfield for a loss.[/li]
Notes:
• I know I’m echoing many other people with this, but Janoris Jenkinscan flat out play and I would not be surprised if he locked down acorner position. He’s aggressive and has great instincts, two of themost important attributes a young defensive back can have. I’ve neverseen a freshman corner that plays that fearlessly.
• Our defense is starting to remind me of our 2005 defense in thatit is opportunistic, swarms to the ball well, and plays pretty goodcoverage but is about a year away from being truly dominant. That isdefinitely not a bad thing. I do think the 2008 team has a bettersecondary.
• The clock rules are having a definite effect on how our coachescall the game. Just think about this: After halftime, UT was alreadydown 20-0 and likely would only get 4 more possessions. They had yetto really stop the Florida running game and the Gators’ special teamshad the ball on UT’s side of the 50 all day. At that point, time isUT’s enemy and UF turnovers were really their only hope of winning thegame, outside of scoring touchdowns on each of their possessions orgetting a bunch of turnovers. Additionally, UT would have to becomeone-dimensional in order to leave enough time on the clock, allowingour defense to become even more effective. Why open up the playbookand put the victory at unnecessary risk?
Looking forward:
• Ole Miss comes to town this week and defensively they simply don’thave the athletes to cover our playmakers. I wouldn’t be surprised tosee the passing game opened up more against the Rebels. Look for UF toutilize play action to keep the Rebels off balance. Offensively, OleMiss has some talent, but they are inconsistent. They’ll make a fewplays but I fully expect the Gators to win the turnover battle. If theGator defense can force Ole Miss to abandon the run and become onedimensional, this game stands to get ugly, and I think it will. Ipredict UF runs away with this one in the second quarter, coasting to a38-13 final score, with at least 10 points coming as a result ofdefense and special teams.
