The Gators’ win over Tennessee did not put a lot of new and interesting things on film. The one big exception is that the defense got to blitz more than it usually does but otherwise, UF was just kind of doing its thing to slowly pull away from an inferior opponent. I did my best to find interesting things for this week’s film study video.
Offense
Tennessee used a bunch of different things against the Gators. It might be the most varied game plan from a defense they’ve seen yet. They might play base defense on one play, disguise their four rushers on the next, and blitz after that. The blitz might come from a linebacker timing the snap count up the middle, or its alignment might get someone free off the edge when UF went five wide. UT also employed some stunts/twists to try to confuse the UF offensive line, and too many of them were too effective for how much experience the linemen have.
The UT defense had a soft middle, depth-wise. The Volunteers swarmed the run and often had one or two very deep safeties, and the upshot was a Gator offense that was awful on the ground and the least explosive it’s been through the air all year. Florida was also highly efficient with the pass, so the Gators still moved the ball well when Kyle Trask was on target in that soft middle.
My breakdown begins with two examples of how Tennessee dealt with the run. One was by having linebackers try to time the snap, and obviously that has applications against both run and pass. However when the Vols did that against the run, it’d blow the play up in the backfield before it ever had a chance.
The other way was to have defenders hang back for a beat and then swarm the ball carrier. It visually/aesthetically reminded me of the Arkansas defense, which did that because it generally had six DBs on the field for most plays. They were there to defend the pass, but they had to get to the ball carrier in a hurry when UF ran it against five-man boxes.
Tennessee wasn’t in dime all game, but it wanted linebackers to drop into zone a lot. It’s easier to drop into a zone if they start off the line and don’t immediately go forward to chase a ball carrier, but they reacted quickly when they spotted a run.
UF didn’t use as much play action as I’d have expected to punish the swarming run coverage, but I did pick out an example where misdirection set up a nice gain for Xzavier Henderson on a crossing route. A run fake to the left drew in both linebackers and a safety, leaving no one to cover Henderson heading to the right on a shallow cross.
From the beginning of the game, UF tried to beat the zone with high/low out route combinations. I pulled out two that went well and one that didn’t, showing that Tennessee did occasionally have some answers for what the Gators were doing. If you remember a lot of longer completions coming near the sideline, they probably were from the high option on those high/low out routes.
Defense
On the final play of Florida’s last third quarter drive, Tennessee sent six against an empty set with one-on-one coverage against all five pass targets. A guy got to Trask free because six is a greater number than the five offensive linemen UF had, and Trask had to get rid of it quickly. The hurried pass was too far in front of Toney, and the Gators had to punt.
Almost as if to say “two can play that game”, Todd Grantham did the same to close out the Vols’ ensuing drive. On 3rd & 14 from around midfield, he sent seven against a one-back set with single coverage outside. UT did a good job with it, as the free rusher ended up being the one coming from the farthest away, but Harrison Bailey threw a pass a yard or two behind his target.
So it was for a lot of the game. The Grantham of old who likes to blitz all kinds of ways made an appearance after lying dormant for much of the last two seasons. I assume the reason is because Florida wanted to pressure a freshman quarterback who was not likely to burn them for it.
I diagrammed two blitzes, one I didn’t like and one I did to show the ups and downs of the strategy.
The first blitz has UF attacking from the offense’s right side. In order to attack like that, UF had just one defensive back in Jaydon Hill out to the left where the Vols had two receivers. Allowing that this was on purpose and not a misalignment or miscommunication, it appeared UF was trying to force Tennessee into making the quick throw out left behind the line of scrimmage. If it was so, it worked because the screen came immediately before the blitzers could get to Brian Maurer.
UT’s receivers are good blockers, and the guy who didn’t make the catch handled Hill. That left Ventrell Miller hustling from the middle of the formation to get the tackle. He almost overran the play but got enough contact to send the receiver to the ground after an eight-yard gain.
If this came on a 3rd & 10, then great. Florida got a stop. It didn’t, though. It came on a 3rd & 4, and so the Vols got double the yardage they needed to move the sticks. Maybe if it was the faster Mohamoud Diabate pursuing from the middle it might’ve worked, but I don’t think I’d want to see this blitz other than in 3rd & long.
The second blitz was more appropriate to the situation. It was 3rd & 10, and Florida put stress on the true freshman center pressed into service late in the week.
Marlon Dunlap lined up directly on the ball and attacks the center’s right. Ventrell Miller is blitzing up the middle and will head for the gap to the center’s left.
The center needed to know that if Dunlap went to his right, he needed to pass him off to the right guard. There were two other Gators to his right, but UT had a running back on the right who, along with the right tackle, could pick them up. With the center taking Miller, Tennessee would have a hat on a hat across the board.
The center is inexperienced from being a freshman and not playing much with the guys around him, so he didn’t make the right play. He lunged at Dunlap instead, and the left guard slid over for Miller. That meant the left tackle had to try to block both Khris Bogle and Amari Burney. The tackle goes for Burney outside, giving Bogle a free shot for the sack to the inside.
A cascade of adjustments came from UF putting pressure on the inexperienced center, leading to Bogle getting the easiest sack of his career. I much prefer this blitz to the first one.