Florida has struggled some this year.
v. Ole Miss, close for a half, won a shootout
v. SC, close for a half, trailed early
v. aTm - blew an 11-point second half lead and lost
v. Missouri - trailed early, close for most of first half
v. UGA - UF’s best win, but trailed 14-0 out the gates before getting on an absolute roll offensively
v. Arkansas - close for most of first half before Trask went nuts
v. Vandy and Kentucky - similar games, close first half and then lackadaisical wins
So every single game UF has played, they’ve had some struggles early, especially first half defensive struggles. To their credit, they have made really good half time adjustments most of the year and they’ve been able to blow teams out in the second half (aTm being a notable exception).
How can Tennessee win:
Gobbling up huge chunks of quarters with long drives. Kentucky did this perfectly during the first half. Follow that road map. The thing that hurt Kentucky, they had no chance at all through the air. They couldn’t even attempt to capitalize on what has been a UF weakness, getting beat over the top on long throws. Matt Corral killed them, Mond killed them, Franks killed them, UGa had dudes open deep but didn’t have a QB who could make the throws. So control the clock but also take some deep shots.
UT has to find a way to force this into a second half, 4th quarter game, and then anything can happen.
On UF’s side, if the defense can just force 2-3 punts or a turnover or two, that’ll be all the offense needs. Nobody has been able to stop Florida. Their lowest scoring output of the year was last week v Kentucky at 34, and the game ended with UF on Kentucky’s 1 yard line where they chose not to score again. I still think this’ll be closer than most think, I’m sticking with my 38-24 score.