Are our Gators any good? The season is finally about to start

[lagator]

Lol ... we can't stop the run. We can't run. All those words you wrote might be true, or close to it, but it's all outward looking. Look inward with the same degree of study you did on AU and you might see some troubling things. There are so many questions going into this game.

No doubt, they are a good team with very good athletes so it will be a challenge. And we have our issues for sure.

Their strength on D is the defensive line, particularly run defense and causing fumbles. And very true that our running game has been anemic, although a little better in the 4th Q so maybe our revamped S&C is paying off? So it looks like strength vs weakness, right? Maybe not. Hopefully Mullen doesn't go Chimp-ball and demand to bang our head against the wall repeatedly by insisting on inside runs 2 out of 3 downs in the first half. Odds are we aren't going to beat them trying to out muscle them hat on hat in the run, game but that's not our strength against anyone.

Our strength is Trask finding the open man quickly and getting him the ball past their dominant D-line taking away their strength (DL) and exploiting ours (WR/TE). When we do run, hopefully it's mostly outside to make those big dudes run sideline to sideline. Hopefully some jet sweeps, reverses, and an option pitch or 2, etc.

And yes, we have given up a lot of yards on the ground, and this will be the best running attack we have faced. But our defense will be full strength and it has already been pretty good keeping folks out of the endzone and causing TO's so again, maybe not as much of a strength vs weakness as it appears from first glance.

I'd love to see our offense score first possession and have the D cause an early TO to get the swamp in a frenzy from the get-go and take full advantage of home field advantage. If we can grab momentum from the start that's going to be big.

In the end, who the hell knows what's going to happen, but I like our chances.

 

[neteng]

And yes, we have given up a lot of yards on the ground, and this will be the best running attack we have faced. But our defense will be full strength and it has already been pretty good keeping folks out of the endzone and causing TO's so again, maybe not as much of a strength vs weakness as it appears from first glance.

I think our stat in this area is very inflated. While we have caused a couple of those turnovers and blocked one field goal, more of the 'escapes' from paying for our mistakes on D has come from the other team screwing up. The mobile QBs we have faced so far have had little problem moving the ball on us. The difference is those mobile QBs didn't really the talent around them that Nix has. I fear that they are going to be able to run at will on us, control the clock and wear our D down to nothing ... with no help coming from them like the other teams. I think this is a huge strength vs weakness thing and if it was a chess match, this would be like taking our queen if used properly.

But between us and them, we have the better chances of playing from behind and I kinda like our STs better.

No clue what is going to happen. Gus could lay an egg ... he does that at least twice a season while Mullen seems to be steady Eddie (pun intended).

 

[ufgator812]

I think it may be a good thing that our defense couldn’t really stop Towson from moving the ball. Mullen was livid. He won’t let that happen again, will he?

 

[neteng]

I think it may be a good thing that our defense couldn’t really stop Towson from moving the ball. Mullen was livid. He won’t let that happen again, will he?

Sure ... the 6th game is where he draws the line.

 

[soflagator]

I was assured that the Mullinz was adopting tempo this year.

I never thought for a second we'd actually run tempo(thought we did a little early on against um actually, but not sure). Having said that, I'm almost certain he wasn't going to unveil it against either tennessee team or Towson. To Sas' point, I'm not sure why anyone is surprised we didn't score a ton in the last few games. It was obvious we didn't need to, and we were giving a backup QB reps as early as the 2nd quarter. Are we some well oiled machine on offense, no. But do you really think we couldn't have scored a few more times if we needed it?

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I think it may be a good thing that our defense couldn’t really stop Towson from moving the ball. Mullen was livid. He won’t let that happen again, will he?

Sure....

 

[ThreatMatrix]

I was assured that the Mullinz was adopting tempo this year.

Do you watch the games? Can you even get them in Idaho? Why do I even ask?

 

[Sec14Gator]

I fear that they are going to be able to run at will on us,

They have a good running game, but if you contain the end arounds, it is much more pedestrian than you’d think. Their yards per carry is almost .5 yds less if only including RB’s and QB’s. It’s still a good 4.9 YPC, but to show how non-dominant that is, we are at 4.4 ypc and been pretty rough looking.

Hopefully Grenardand Zuniga back show much more discipline than the Polite/Jefferson combo on containing the edge. Moon has shown to be a concern and not just against Flacco.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Yeah, when I think of our defense, I think of discipline.

 

[Sec14Gator]

Yeah, when I think of our defense, I think of discipline.

Greenard has seemed to play very smart this year beyond playing really well overall. Plus, it isn’t too hard to be more disciplined than the polite/Jefferson combo. So, yes, I think we do have an improved chance at containing the sweeps and reverses because of better edge discipline.

 

[Fodderwing]

I think it may be a good thing that our defense couldn’t really stop Towson from moving the ball. Mullen was livid. He won’t let that happen again, will he?

It won't happen again against Towson!

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Greenard has seemed to play very smart this year beyond playing really well overall.

It isn't just a discipline thing. At some point you have a LB like Greenard, yes his position still says LB and he's been a LB his whole life, getting his by a 310 pound SEC tackle. We are going to lose MOST of those. We just are.

If we had a 265 pound Fowler (he was really good vs run despite his size) or 285-295 pound Bullard, or people like them playing SDE and WDE, we'd play the run better. We are soft vs the run by design. It isn't the player's fault.

Even the "lack of discipline" in many ways is a scheme choice. We are aggressively rushing on every play, even if we misread a play fake, misdirection, reverse etc.

We have decided that all that matters is sacks. We will see.

 

[GatorAuthor]

Putting this out there...........expect someone to say that "auburn just wasnt that good" when we beat them,
The new refrain will be "Just wait till LSU and UGA"

The only sure thing is death, taxes and your outrage over__________. FITB

Had to Google “FITB”. Henceforth, when a blank space is left in a sentence, let’s understand it is meant to be filled in, yes?

 

[stephenPE]

He has lots of outrages and it changes from board to board and even the chat box..........so that was my reason

 

[GatorAuthor]

if it was a chess match, this would be like taking our queen if used properly.

Insert crack about ______________ being a queen. Oh yeah, FITB.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Insert crack about ______________ being a queen. Oh yeah, FITB.

No picking on corch. He is a professional author/journalist, too.

Also one of my favorite old coots.

 

[GatorAuthor]

Our ability to sustain drives is a big concern, bc three-and-outs are killers. They make it tough to establish any rhythm on Off and they gas the Def.

 

[lagator]

Our ability to sustain drives is a big concern, bc three-and-outs are killers. They make it tough to establish any rhythm on Off and they gas the Def.

How many times have we punted this year? I'll give you a hint, it's almost certainly a record low through 5 games. We've had our struggles but 3 and outs haven't been one of them. Hell, we had to give Townsend a rushing carry just to justify his scholarship.

Of course this is the best defense we've faced so who knows, but up to this point, I would say worrying about 3 and outs is really looking hard for something to be nervous about.

Tommy Townsend Stats, News, Bio | ESPN

 

[Jack o' Diamonds]

I was assured that the Mullinz was adopting tempo this year.

But, did they say uptempo?

 

[SCColaGator]

It is really hard to know what we have right now. I can see us going 4-0, I can also see us going 0-4. I think we will know in the first 15 minutes this weekend.

I personally think we are going to shock people. I think Barn is getting way too much love for the MSU win. I think we are being sold way too short for our garbage oline.

Reminds me a lot of 2006.


Go Gators....