Florida Gators 5 keys to beating Alabama

The Florida Gators were taken to the brink and tested by Kentucky last Saturday. 27-consecutive years of triumph over the Wildcats was taken to three overtimes before the Gators were able to once again walk away with a win over Kentucky.

It’s been a strange season in Gainesville. The first game was a wash. Week two brought hope and excitement back to Gainesville. Week three brought the SEC schedule and with it a scare from an unlikely source. The Gators were taken to the brink by a Kentucky program that hadn’t beat Florida in 28 years but the end result was 1-0 in the SEC.

This week the Gators face their tallest task of the year; a road trip to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama. Florida is a double-digit underdog to the Tide and the team is using this game as a measuring stick. This week we’ll find out if the Kentucky team that forced three overtimes last week is improved or if the Eastern Michigan game was a fluke. Alabama is a known commodity — even if they aren’t the juggernaut they have been the past five or six seasons.

If the Gators want to take down the Tide and come away with Muschamp’s signature win as head coach at Florida they’ll need to be close to perfect, staring with these five keys to the game.

 

1. Win the turnover battle

When you’re facing a team that is of equal or greater talent, you need to cross your t’s, dot your i’s and do all of the little things right.

Florida cannot and will not beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa if they lose the turnover battle.

Luckily for the Gators, Florida’s +7 Turnover margin leads the entire country. Alabama’s -2 turnover margin is second worst in the SEC and 98th in the country.

The Gators have a fast, physical offense and if they can get to Blake Sims, force him to turn the ball over or make Alabama’s bevy of talented backs cough up a ball or two, they have a chance to take down the Tide.

 

2. Protect the football

This goes hand-in-hand with the first point of winning the turnover battle but it also goes a little further. Momentum is a real thing, it’s hard to explain but it is most certainly real. When toe meets leather on Saturday afternoon, the Tide will have all of the momentum and support from more than 100,000 in the stands.

If Florida can eliminate a huge momentum swing in the form of a turnover it will help keep those Crimson clad fans’ butts in the seats, rather than on their feet.

Jeff Driskel can not afford to throw bad interceptions. If there’s pressure in the box he needs to aim for me in the press box when he throws the ball away. Kelvin Taylor and Matt Jones need to be walking around campus this week with two hands on the football and Demarcus Robinson can’t run around holding the ball like this.

Demarcus Robinson, Gainesville Florida, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Demarcus Robinson broke out for 15 catches and 216 yards against Kentucky. / Gator Country photo by David Bowie.

Protect the football at all costs.

3. Keep Jeff Driskel’s jersey clean.

The battle starts in the middle with center Max Garcia vs. nose tackle A’Shawn Robinson. The Tide boasts a formidable defensive line that doesn’t get a lot of sacks by design. Nick Saban would rather affect the quarterback and force him into making bad decisions rather than simply sacking him.

Still, the Gators offensive line needs to hold firm against a talented Alabama defensive line. Keep Driskel comfortable in the pocket, allow him to connect on some throws early in the game to build his confidence.

The last time Florida and Alabama played, the line let John Brantley get hurt and a freshman Driskel was thrown into the lion’s den. I love Treon Harris and think he will be a great quarterback, but Gators fans don’t want to see him get extended playing time against this defense in this situation.

 

4. Dominate third down

With a game manager and inexperienced quarterback, Alabama will try to win the time of possession by controlling the clock with their running game. That will lead to third down and the Gators will need to get off the field when they are able to force Alabama into third down situations.

That’s no easy task. Alabama is third in the SEC, converting on 56.41% of their third down attempts. Florida’s defense is just sixth in the SEC, allowing teams to convert on third down 30% of the time. Florida will need to improve on that number this week.

Conversely, Florida will want to sustain drives, get into third-and-manageable situations and absolutely have to produce better than their 11th best SEC 40.54% third down conversion rate this week.

5. Get a big play on special teams

“We’re going to get him that record,” Muschamp said of Andre Debose being one kickoff return away from breaking a SEC record.

Well, if there were a week that Florida needed to get that record this would be it. Alabama is 12th in the SEC allowing 23.82 yards-per-return and the Tide are only forcing a touchback on 29.17% of their kickoffs.

The Gators can steal momentum, field position and possibly some points on special teams this week and that will go a long way to helping pull off the upset.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC