The Ephesians Bartley Report: Now it gets tough

Another win is in the books with both the defense and efficient but not flashy offense continuing to take those increment steps in difficulty as those October and Novembers annual Death/Hate matches loom on the horizon. In beating Arkansas, our players made more plays than theirs. It’s really that simple and Mr. (Solomon) Patton and Mr. (Loucheiz) Purifoy made enough for the Gators to come away with the win.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Lets be honest, our gawdy defensive stats were the result of being the biggest bully in the neighborhood picking on some of the Pee Wee Hermans of college football and that was true even in our only loss. Against Arkansas, we faced a pretty good O-line and a team that had two good backs. What got exposed was the absence of Dominique Easley as a major disruptive force and more importantly as a tempo setter.

Against the Razorbacks we looked like a team of All-SEC caliber defensive ends trying to stop a team with a pretty good running game. Hold up, that’s what we are up front without Easley yet we’re damn good at it. Dante Fowler, as usual, bent and turned the corner all night, making big play after big play. Ole Ropo (Ronald Powell) just needed a hug. He had one of those games.  It was one of those game when no matter how hard you try something stupid happens – lose contain, miss a tackle, late off the ball, miss a sack, bump the quarterback and zebra throws a flag, making you wish you had just slammed the fool. Oops! Flashback! I’m back but he will recover next week after some administrative discipline and coaching pointers by the HBC.

LINEBACKERS

Lil’ Bow Wow, AKA Mr. (Antonio) Morrison was out running around and chasing ball carriers like the puppy he barked at during the summer (yeah, I said it). He and Neiron Ball are just extremely athletic inside but Michael Taylor was the big dog tonight. Name a big play and he was in the frame in some fashion. He is just that dude. Yeah I got challenges and limitations but you can’t find them when I’m punching you in the mouth. Can you tell, I like watching Michael?

SECONDARY

Once again, the corners shut down the outside as Arkansas had minimal success throwing against ‘Champs loose quasi-zone or whatever that is that he was throwing at them. They damn sure couldn’t figure it out. We had some zone integrity issues they did not capitalize on but when we locked in there was little space to place the ball.  Loucheiz Purifoy had the first pick six for the year for the team and the first of his career. Hard to believe a kid with that much talent didn’t have a pick before that game. But that’s what happens when you are in the right place at the right time. That equals end zone. I’m still concerned about the coverage from the safety spot but Jaylen Watkins and Cody Riggs seem so comfortable and trustworthy as we move into the Thunder Dome (two men enter, one man leaves) part of the schedule.

FINAL EVALUATION

This was a great team win. I look forward to seeing how Tyler Murphy responds next week in Baton Rouge. It can be pretty intimidating in that stadium with those fans standing and screaming but so far he’s been the calmest guy in the stadium. If he stays calm, then we can beat LSU and anyone else remaining on our schedule. It’s all about sticking together, believing and, of course, continuing to improve at the quarterback spot.

Please, Mr. Muschamp, can we see if one of the freshman wide receivers can pop the roof off a zone or two? Please! I know SOS left a playbook or two behind and we know Brent Pease knows how to do it from his Boise days.

It’s always great to be a Florida Gator.

Thank you for your time.

Ephesians A. Bartley II

Ephesians Bartley
Former Gator linebacker Ephesians “Fee” Bartley defined the 1990 season for the Florida defense when he laid out LSU wide receiver Todd Kinchen near midfield on the West sideline of Florida Field. The entire crowd stood silent as Kinchen lay motionless on the turf. It wasn’t until someone shouted, “He’s alive! I can see the spit bubbles in the corner of his mouth!” that the crowd breathed a sigh of relief. An All-SEC linebacker in 1991 who spent a year in the NFL and a few more in the CFL, Bartley runs a business and tax consulting firm in Jacksonville but he’s never lost his passion for Florida football.

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