- Oct 5, 2017
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Hey guys, I'm sure we all have some weird anticipation for the WLOCP this year. Can Billy pull of the monumental upset? Can we see the biggest win for the Gators since arguably the 2018 LSU game? I think its possible.
The offense showed more life than we've seen under Billy against Carolina and now has had two weeks to make further tweaks within the offense. The Gators also get Andy Jean back and Kingsley Eguakin. With the tweaks in the offense, we could potentially see Graham Mertz on the field with Pearsall, Wilson, Jean, Boardingham, Etienne, and a healthy version of our best offensive line for the first time this season. I'm still not sold on our OL, but those are some dangerous weapons who could all share the field at the same time. Lots of speed and a number of young, hungry players looking to make an impact. For the offense, there a few keys.
First, you've got to pass to open up the run. kirby and muschamp will stack the box and force Mertz to beat them, of that I have little doubt. I think the little pop passes can help if Wilson were to get the edge a few times like he did against Tennessee. That should spread the box a bit horizontally. Also, we need to hit some quick 0/1 step drop passes and passes 10/15 yard passes to back off the defense more. If we can get some horizontal spreading and some vertical spreading of the defense, it will open up some creases in the running game. Those creases can be exploited by Johnson, but especially Etienne, who like Wilson, has shown a knack for taking a small crease and turning it into a decent to long gain.
Second, and this plays off of the first, is get Etienne and Wilson the ball in space. As much as these guys can take small creases and turn them into much better gains, get them the ball in space and they can make magic happen. Hopefully, we've focused on ways to do this during the bye. One example I can give from the Carolina game is one where we ran that two vertical routes nonsense, but instead of the third guy just standing static on the sideline we had Wilson essentially running a wheel route up the sideline, hit him in stride and we got a big gain.
Maybe we find something like Mullen found the wheel route in 2020. I've been very open about I am not a fan of the scheme and we need an OC. I also give credit that there are things I've thought we could do inside the scheme to improve it and after Kentucky it seems we've done some of that.
There is a great talking point about UF being in the 100's on 3rd down and uga being the #1 3rd down defense. I think that is valid to a point. I also believe that uga really hasn't faced much competition this season and have had 5 home games with one of their two road games being Vandy. I believe Billy has at times not tried to get first downs on 3rd down and tried to set up for 4th and short. I think we did better at trying against Carolina, but there were times we ended up with 3rd downs and extremely long due to penalties on 3rd down like holding or false starts (or illegal snaps). On those, we still ran better opportunity plays than the usual 3rd and long draw we've seen from Billy in the past.
We have dangerous players and a QB who is making his 40th start. The OL needs to come together. A decent playcalling game should lead to some scoring. Maybe he listens to Spurrier and instead of calling a low margin gameplan tries for 50 and maybe falls short, but does so swinging for the fences.
That offense will need the defense to play it's best game. When I think of uga, I think terrell davis, knowshon moreno, todd gurley, nick chubb, and others. I think of a run first attack. This year the bulldogs are a top 5 passing team while 47th in the run game. carson beck has been phenomenal this year...at home. On the road he has 2 TD's and 2 INT's, still some good yardage though. uga has struggled on the road against Auburn and Vandy (or what can be considered struggling against Vandy). Granted Florida-georgia isn't a true away game, but georgia is officially the "away" team this year. The biggest storyline for the game, however, is brock bowers, uga's best offensive weapon being out for the game.
Don't get me wrong, georgia still has plenty of weapons including kendall milton, who like Eguakin finally has a clean bill of health, dominic lovett, arguably the best portal WR this past off-season, and daijun edwards who has 5.8 ypc and over 400 yards so far this season. The question is how does their offense adjust without bowers as the focal point.
Our defense's first key is to at least slow down the passing game. This is the main part of the bulldogs attack this season. If we can pressure carson beck, we have a chance. Despite not getting many sacks we were able to pressure Rattler. Rattler has a ton of experience while beck is making his 8th career start. Where Rattler is cool under pressure and adjusted well under pressure, a QB in their first season starting might not have the same capabilities or coolness to adjust under pressure and make some of the ridiculous throws Rattler made.
Just as much as the OL needs to step up, the front seven needs to step up. Not only to get the pressure, and hopefully sacks, on beck, but also to make sure tackles. At Kentucky we were poor in our tackling and that lead to over 300 rushing yards, even when our guys were in the right place. I expect kirby to try some of the things Kentucky did with a better OL and a healthier milton. The key here is gap fill and gap integrity. If Ham can get that out of Shemar and Scooby, we have a chance to at least slow the bulldogs offense down.
Yes, kirby circles this game every year and makes this a priority in a way that I question if Billy does. However, with Spikes working with the team and Spurrier saying things that Billy is clearly hearing, I'm certain our team is learning the hate it takes to win this game.
In many ways this game feels like 2014. A game that on paper we shouldn't win. A game where we hope we win, but realize that there is little chance. This is a bulldog team that hasn't lost a regular season game since 2020. This is a game where we have an O-lineman making the most audacious comment an O-lineman has man since Snell spoke about Brock Berlin 20 years ago...a year we upset uga (we won't talk about the game for Snell's comment). Yet, there is hope.
It will take a perfect, or near perfect, by coaches and player's to pull this of. It will take belief, and I think if Gators show up and get behind this team, if they get loud, it can help the team believe they can pull the upset. Momentum is big in college football, fans, let's do our part.
Is it logical that uga is a 14.5-15.5 favorite? Is it logical believe that the team that Kentucky ran all over will probably have an issue against the team that destroyed Kentucky? Yes and yes. However, college football doesn't always follow logic. Sometimes Treon Harris starts his first game, throws the ball only 6 times, Kelvin Taylor goes off like never before, two guys almost hit 200 yards rushing, and you beat the bulldogs.
I don't pick against the Gators.
Gators 21, athenians 20
Go Gators!
The offense showed more life than we've seen under Billy against Carolina and now has had two weeks to make further tweaks within the offense. The Gators also get Andy Jean back and Kingsley Eguakin. With the tweaks in the offense, we could potentially see Graham Mertz on the field with Pearsall, Wilson, Jean, Boardingham, Etienne, and a healthy version of our best offensive line for the first time this season. I'm still not sold on our OL, but those are some dangerous weapons who could all share the field at the same time. Lots of speed and a number of young, hungry players looking to make an impact. For the offense, there a few keys.
First, you've got to pass to open up the run. kirby and muschamp will stack the box and force Mertz to beat them, of that I have little doubt. I think the little pop passes can help if Wilson were to get the edge a few times like he did against Tennessee. That should spread the box a bit horizontally. Also, we need to hit some quick 0/1 step drop passes and passes 10/15 yard passes to back off the defense more. If we can get some horizontal spreading and some vertical spreading of the defense, it will open up some creases in the running game. Those creases can be exploited by Johnson, but especially Etienne, who like Wilson, has shown a knack for taking a small crease and turning it into a decent to long gain.
Second, and this plays off of the first, is get Etienne and Wilson the ball in space. As much as these guys can take small creases and turn them into much better gains, get them the ball in space and they can make magic happen. Hopefully, we've focused on ways to do this during the bye. One example I can give from the Carolina game is one where we ran that two vertical routes nonsense, but instead of the third guy just standing static on the sideline we had Wilson essentially running a wheel route up the sideline, hit him in stride and we got a big gain.
Maybe we find something like Mullen found the wheel route in 2020. I've been very open about I am not a fan of the scheme and we need an OC. I also give credit that there are things I've thought we could do inside the scheme to improve it and after Kentucky it seems we've done some of that.
There is a great talking point about UF being in the 100's on 3rd down and uga being the #1 3rd down defense. I think that is valid to a point. I also believe that uga really hasn't faced much competition this season and have had 5 home games with one of their two road games being Vandy. I believe Billy has at times not tried to get first downs on 3rd down and tried to set up for 4th and short. I think we did better at trying against Carolina, but there were times we ended up with 3rd downs and extremely long due to penalties on 3rd down like holding or false starts (or illegal snaps). On those, we still ran better opportunity plays than the usual 3rd and long draw we've seen from Billy in the past.
We have dangerous players and a QB who is making his 40th start. The OL needs to come together. A decent playcalling game should lead to some scoring. Maybe he listens to Spurrier and instead of calling a low margin gameplan tries for 50 and maybe falls short, but does so swinging for the fences.
That offense will need the defense to play it's best game. When I think of uga, I think terrell davis, knowshon moreno, todd gurley, nick chubb, and others. I think of a run first attack. This year the bulldogs are a top 5 passing team while 47th in the run game. carson beck has been phenomenal this year...at home. On the road he has 2 TD's and 2 INT's, still some good yardage though. uga has struggled on the road against Auburn and Vandy (or what can be considered struggling against Vandy). Granted Florida-georgia isn't a true away game, but georgia is officially the "away" team this year. The biggest storyline for the game, however, is brock bowers, uga's best offensive weapon being out for the game.
Don't get me wrong, georgia still has plenty of weapons including kendall milton, who like Eguakin finally has a clean bill of health, dominic lovett, arguably the best portal WR this past off-season, and daijun edwards who has 5.8 ypc and over 400 yards so far this season. The question is how does their offense adjust without bowers as the focal point.
Our defense's first key is to at least slow down the passing game. This is the main part of the bulldogs attack this season. If we can pressure carson beck, we have a chance. Despite not getting many sacks we were able to pressure Rattler. Rattler has a ton of experience while beck is making his 8th career start. Where Rattler is cool under pressure and adjusted well under pressure, a QB in their first season starting might not have the same capabilities or coolness to adjust under pressure and make some of the ridiculous throws Rattler made.
Just as much as the OL needs to step up, the front seven needs to step up. Not only to get the pressure, and hopefully sacks, on beck, but also to make sure tackles. At Kentucky we were poor in our tackling and that lead to over 300 rushing yards, even when our guys were in the right place. I expect kirby to try some of the things Kentucky did with a better OL and a healthier milton. The key here is gap fill and gap integrity. If Ham can get that out of Shemar and Scooby, we have a chance to at least slow the bulldogs offense down.
Yes, kirby circles this game every year and makes this a priority in a way that I question if Billy does. However, with Spikes working with the team and Spurrier saying things that Billy is clearly hearing, I'm certain our team is learning the hate it takes to win this game.
In many ways this game feels like 2014. A game that on paper we shouldn't win. A game where we hope we win, but realize that there is little chance. This is a bulldog team that hasn't lost a regular season game since 2020. This is a game where we have an O-lineman making the most audacious comment an O-lineman has man since Snell spoke about Brock Berlin 20 years ago...a year we upset uga (we won't talk about the game for Snell's comment). Yet, there is hope.
It will take a perfect, or near perfect, by coaches and player's to pull this of. It will take belief, and I think if Gators show up and get behind this team, if they get loud, it can help the team believe they can pull the upset. Momentum is big in college football, fans, let's do our part.
Is it logical that uga is a 14.5-15.5 favorite? Is it logical believe that the team that Kentucky ran all over will probably have an issue against the team that destroyed Kentucky? Yes and yes. However, college football doesn't always follow logic. Sometimes Treon Harris starts his first game, throws the ball only 6 times, Kelvin Taylor goes off like never before, two guys almost hit 200 yards rushing, and you beat the bulldogs.
I don't pick against the Gators.
Gators 21, athenians 20
Go Gators!
