The Florida Gators are back on track now with Turnover Train. They won that battle last weekend in Jacksonville by getting four more to Georgia’s one and now have a season’s edge of plus-5 on their side.
They started the season the first four games in an aggressive manner and the takeaways brought them victory. Now perhaps that will become part of their arsenal in this stretch drive for Atlanta – did I actually say “Atlanta”? – and if so there is no end to what this defense can accomplish.
Basically, it’s the kind of defense that can’t afford to stay on the field too long and allow third-down conversations, so co-coordinators Teryl Austin and Chuck Heater have got to rely on getting turnovers.
With the improved play of Will Hill and the steady performances of Janoris Jenkins and Ahmad Black, the experienced secondary could give Florida the edge in these last four games.
For me personally, the 34-31 win over Georgia was the sweetest of the season because it’s my favorite game. Last weekend was also special for me because I was fortunate to be inducted into the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame along with the great Wilber Marshall. (As well as the Bulldogs’ Zeke Bratkowski and Knox Culpepper). It was a first-class event and a memorable time, punctuated by beating Georgia. Without that, it wouldn’t have been the same.
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If you look back at, Mark Richt’s decision to go for two points after the second Georgia touchdown may have cost Georgia the game. All the Bulldogs had to do was kick the extra point to get to the “odd” number of 17 after scoring to pull within five points at 21-16. Instead, Will Hill picked off Aaron Murray and nearly ended the game with the winning two-point play. But it would have never gotten to 31-31 had Georgia kicked.
Hill played his best game and that’s the kind of safety play Florida is going to need to be successful. As Urban says, he follows a group of elite free safeties like Reggie Nelson and Major Wright, and that’s the level he has to reach if he’s going to be effective.
I saw a little better linebacker play this time. Thought they attacked the line of scrimmage. In pass coverage the guys seemed to be in the right spot.
I was surprised Georgia didn’t try to run the ball more, but there may have been injuries problems to their backs. But credit the Florida ‘D’ for holding the Bulldogs to 126 yards rushing and only one rushing touchdown.
It was also a bit surprising that A. J. Green only caught four balls – Janoris Jenkins did a commendable job on a guy who may be the first receiver taken in the NFL draft – but his touchdown catch was downright remarkable. Aaron Murray drilled a ball in there between three Gator defenders and Green came up with it.
The strategy by Florida to go no-huddle, hurry-up was very effective and kudos to Steve Addazio and his staff for coming up with it during the open date. As a defensive player I always hated that because your tongue was hanging out and sometimes it can create confusion.
As a long-term strategy I’m not sure how the up-tempo work because the element of surprise is gone. What the defense has to do is go to a base defense of two deep and five underneath. If you are confident with what you’ve got and your defenders get to their spots and do what we called “route-reading,” a good linebacker can see exactly what they’re going to run and what the pass combinations are going to be. That’s something that comes with experience.
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People who know me know that I’m a fan early games – kickoff in Nashville is 11:20 Central. It’ll be chilly, maybe less than half the number of fans there at Dudley Field that there would be in The Swamp, and given that this team has a problem getting cranked up in the first quarter, this could be a troublesome start for Urban Meyer. But I feel pretty confident about how they will play this weekend because they know what they have to do to make their season.
Tthe Gators are favored by two touchdowns and if they can keep the offensive rhythm of last week, plus keep the Turnover Train rolling, I think they win and come home needing only to beat Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks to win the SEC East. I say “only” like it will be easy, but as we all know by now, nothing these 2010 Florida Gators ever does is “easy.”
(Scot Brantley was an All-SEC linebacker for the Florida Gators and a 10-year veteran of the NFL/Tampa Bay Bucs. He does commentary for the Gator Radio Network and is the defensive analyst for GatorCountry.com)