Ever since Steve Spurrier took over South Carolina prior to the 2005 season, they have shown the ability to hang tough against more talented opponents, even stealing a few wins here and there. 2005 featured a Gamecock win nobody expected, while 2006 gave us one of the most thrilling finishes ever to occur in the Swamp. Even last year, the Gamecocks were in the game in the fourth quarter. Combine that history with South Carolina’s highly ranked defense and this game looked to be one that could test the Gators’ resolve.
That great Gamecock defense was taken out of the game early, however. Thanks to an opportunistic and aggressive Florida defense, turnovers, and an efficient Florida offense, South Carolina’s defense never had a chance to establish itself. Florida started the ball rolling with Brandon Spikes’ interception and didn’t stop until Steve Spurrier had endured a worse beating than the infamous “Fiasco Bowl” in 1995. One reason for the offensive success is Dan Mullen’s ability to call the right play at the right time.
Since he arrived with Urban Meyer in 2005, Dan Mullen has grown into an excellent offensive coordinator with a real rhythm to his play calls. He has shown the ability to recognize the defense’s keys and exploit them for a big play. The last couple of games, Florida has shown a look that features a single back and an H-back in the backfield with Percy Harvin motioning in from the slot, usually for the jet sweep with a lead blocker in the form of the halfback. This play was put in for a purpose and provided a nice setup on Saturday. Let’s take a look at how the defense reacts to a couple of different plays out of this look, starting with a fake sweep, Halfback dive to Jeff Demps.
Prior to the snap, Percy motions into the backfield and the defense shifts, with the safety following Percy into the box and the backside linebacker shifting to contain. The defense is already anticipating the sweep and option to the strong side of the field.
The ball is snapped and Florida fakes the sweep and hands off to Demps. The safety that follows Harvin reveals that the defense is dedicating one man in the box to Percy Harvin exclusively when he comes into the backfield, and we now know a little about how the defense likes to play contain.
The middle linebacker stays home and makes the play on Demps. Despite the resulting fumble, the defense showed a couple of their keys on this play.
Now let’s see what happens when Kestahn Moore is inserted at tailback in place of Jeff Demps and Tebow takes the dive himself. Using Moore will ensure that pass personnel will remain in the game.
The defensive response to the motion is slightly different, but similar enough to know that someone will be assigned Percy and the contain men will be on the outside of the box.
Notice how the defense is using the safety, rover, and outside linebacker to commit to Percy Harvin and Tim Tebow taking the play wide by keying on Percy and Moore. Only one linebacker is left to cover the dive.
South Carolina gets a little fortunate that its linebacker eludes the block from Watkins and is able to make the play on Tebow. UF gets a short gain, but most importantly now knows that South Carolina is overplaying the strong side.
This frees up Florida to pull blockers from the strong side to the weak side provided they can influence the defense in the direction of the strong side and out of the play. Unfortunately for South Carolina, Florida had just such a play in its playbook with the counter to Percy Harvin, which twice went for a touchdown against the Gamecocks.
Florida motions Harvin into the backfield and gets exactly the defensive response they had hoped for when the Gamecocks shift. Florida knows before the snap that three defenders will be out of the play. 6 men are left to block the remaining 5 in the box.
At the snap, Harvin appears to follow Moore on the Sweep, with the expected three defenders biting and waiting there to corral him. Mike Pouncey and Aaron Hernandez pull to the weak side, needing only to block the contain man and remaining linebacker to get Percy 1-on-1 with a safety in the open field.
Percy turns the play back weakside and follows Hernandez as Pouncey makes his block. Use of the counter naturally gives Hernandez time to pull, get upfield, and have a decent blocking angle. Hernandez gets enough of the linebacker to allow Percy to elude him and split the remaining defenders for 6.
Notes:
- Saturday’s game was Brandon Hicks’ coming out party. In AJ Jones absence, Hicks seized the opportunity and was all over the field. The defensive unit that was considered a question mark at the start of the year has become a unit of surprising strength and depth at every position. When I say depth, I don’t just mean substitutes, but quality, game-ready substitutes who blur the lines between starters and backups. This team is competing, developing, and executing.
- A side effect of the drastic increase in quality depth is it opens the door for Charlie Strong to give far more varied looks than he could at any time last year. Case in point would be Will Hill’s emergence as the third safety in our nickel package. What that allows us to do is have a lockdown tackler and strong coverage guy on the interior while keeping our two best cover defenders on the opponent’s two best receivers. Throw in the mix of 2, 3, and 4 down-linemen looks with pressures coming from any of the eleven positions on the field and you’ve got a recipe for wreaking havoc on opposing offenses due to sheer unpredictability and inability to account for everyone in the defense on every play. This unit is not just reacting, it is attacking.
- Here’s a thought: Even scoring 56 points and winning by half a hundred, the beating administered to the Gamecocks could have been far worse. Florida turned the ball over twice and spent virtually the entire fourth quarter on offense running a very limited play selection. This team is scary for defensive coordinators and easily the most complete and balanced Gator team in all phases of the game since 1996, if not ever.
- I would put Florida’s defense overall about a half a year behind the great defense of 2006. That 2006 defense started much the same way our current defense plays but by the end of the regular season had shown itself to be the most dominant unit in the SEC. That’s not to say the current defense isn’t very good (it is), but the big difference right now between 06 and 08 is the pass rush is rather ordinary when only using the four down linemen. The good news is Florida will probably return 9 or more starters next year. When this unit gets the additional experience, look out. It has the potential to become the best and deepest defense in Florida history.
Looking forward:
No surprise here. Florida will win big over the Citadel. Saturday will be a chance to honor our Seniors with some touches, pad a few stats, and get our backups some game reps. In fact, I wouldn’t be all that surprised to see Urban Meyer get James Smith that touchdown he almost had last week. I’m going to say Florida even gets a shutout to the tune of 63-0. Enjoy watching the Seniors and show them how much you appreciate their dedication to the team. Bring on the school out west.