When the season began, who would have considered the possibility that Saturday’s Florida-Arkansas game would be a gut check for the Florida Gators? Nobody saw the loss to Ole Miss coming and with all those offensive weapons at their disposal, who could have possibly foreseen an offense that has struggled to find itself, but here we are a third of the way through the season and the Gators have to find some answers quickly.
Saturday’s game has turned into the most important game on the Florida football schedule and not simply because it’s the next game on the schedule, but also because it is a chance to get the ship righted before the heart of the Southeastern Conference schedule. The Gators face LSU in a week and things don’t get easier after that. Kentucky is next and the Wildcats are unbeaten. After that it’s Georgia, which was the preseason number one in both the AP and USAToday Coaches’ polls, followed by unbeaten Vanderbilt. Still on the schedule are South Carolina, which has the nation’s top-ranked defense, and Florida State, which is off to a 3-1 start.
Here’s a breakdown of what needs to change on both the offense and defense.
DEFENSE: At the start of the season, everybody knew the Florida defense would be a work in progress and that is exactly what it has been. With the exception of a handful of plays that proved costly against Ole Miss, the defense has been steady and vastly improved over the unit that took the field last year. The Gators have to show the ability to eliminate the big play that cost them so dearly last week against Ole Miss.
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