NationofVols
Junior Member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2006
- Messages
- 2,749
- Likes
- 0
Deep breath........ok you might just want to quick scan because this is long.
Despite our injury woes, I think people have gotten a bit worried about Florida so far this year because of their impressive first two games. We all know that they don't schedule too much before they play us and this year is no different. These two teams were bowl teams last year, but that was last year. To give you an idea of where these teams ranked last year stat-wise, considering the conferences they're in.....
Southern Miss was 95th in rushing offense and 33rd in passing offense last year. They had a new starting quarterback and runningback in the first game of the year in the Swamp last week.
Southern Miss finished 73rd in rush defense and 75th in pass defense last year. They only return 6 starters on defense, 2 in the secondary and 2 on the line. The other 2 aren't even 1st on the depth chart this year. Southern Miss might have been a bowl team, but they were also a very average team. Florida didn't do much offensively until late in the game.
Central Florida had their magical season last year after going without winning a game the year before. Everyone got excited for them, they were a Cinderella story, but that's dead now. They had an adequate offense last year and return a few starters, but they play in the Conference USA. They were in the mid 30's in both rushing and passing offensively last year.
Defensively they were 88th against the rush and 81st against the pass. That isn't any good, even if you do return 10 starters on defense. You're playing in the Swamp and Florida is a good team with a gimmick offense. They were winless the year before, just one year removed. Remember how quickly we got written off for one bad year? They got praise for one good year......what's more likely? Us really being bad or central florida really being good? haha
Florida does the same thing every year. They play great the first few games while we play a game and usually have a bye. Yes we're injured, yes we're thin, but we're 2-0 and despite our defensive lapses yesterday, our offense hasn't looked this good in a long, long time. The only question is our running game. The counter-positive to that is Florida's questionable secondary. If we exploited Cal's inexperience and then Air Force, Florida isn't any different.
FLORIDA BREAKDOWN
In these two games against these two teams, they've had a true frehsmen WIDE RECEIVER lead them in rushing in the 1st game and a TRUE FRESHMAN quarterback lead them in rushing in the 2nd game. 7 or 8 people get carries because of their style of offense. They don't have any runningbacks that can carry the workload because they're not very good. But about these "option" plays, did they work last year? NO. They'll make their plays and get their yards, but this isn't the flexbone we're playing.
On the defensive line, losing Harrell will be big. We have the talent there and moving Turk back inside will be nice. No one can replace harrell, but we have talent on the line and with JT Mapu steadily getting himself back up to speed and with Walter Fisher coming back, we'll be fine for the year as long as the improvement continues. It always does on the d-line.
Demetrice Morley is a big key. There is no reason why they don't stick him and keep him at corner. We aren't necessarily going to see what we have in the secondary against florida because they're a bit different than everyone else we're going to see for a few weeks and overall. But we have Marshall and Memphis following......We can have everyone back there and they'll get their plays here and there. Morley is as good a tackler as anyone in our secondary and has the speed to keep up with anyone on Florida's receiving corps. Tackling will be as important as anything this week. They need to keep the continuity going with Hefney and Stewart at safety. Jonathan Wade is easily one of the best corners in the SEC and we won't have to worry about him.
Florida's defense hasn't been tested. Their secondary suffered their own loss when Avery Atkins became absent from the football team. They are left with just ONE starter in the secondary. Their front 7 is tough, but is it THAT much better than Cal's?
People are knocking Cal and they looked weak against us, but the talent is still there. Look how bad we looked yesterday. Does that mean we're that bad? Does that mean Air Force has a better offense than Cal? No. Cal showed up in week 2 like they were supposed to. I'm not as worried about Florida's front 7 as I was Cal's. It's all relative now considering the beatdown we put on them, but nevertheless. I am, however, scared of Brandon Siler......eeeewwww....he's good. haha
....................................................
The bottom line is this:
At worst(unless something really really bad/drastic happens), we're going to be 4-1 heading into the Georgia game. Yes that still means we're probably out of the SEC East race, but in all honesty, I didn't fully expect to be in the race to begin with. Sure I'd love to go 10-2 and win the East. But if we go 9-3, then i'm going to be okay with that. If we lose to Florida, we have 2 weeks to get our d-line up to speed and worked out and we have 2 weeks to get Morley and the rest of the secondary settled in. We've had injuries like this before, at least they're on defense where The Chief is working on it instead of the offense where we're finally clicking like we need to be.
Everyone just sit back, calm down, and take a break from the madness. We're 2-0 and Florida is as scared of Tennessee with what we've done offensively as Tennessee is scared of what might happen due to these injuries. We're the dog, that's how we like it.
Vols 27
UF 23
Despite our injury woes, I think people have gotten a bit worried about Florida so far this year because of their impressive first two games. We all know that they don't schedule too much before they play us and this year is no different. These two teams were bowl teams last year, but that was last year. To give you an idea of where these teams ranked last year stat-wise, considering the conferences they're in.....
Southern Miss was 95th in rushing offense and 33rd in passing offense last year. They had a new starting quarterback and runningback in the first game of the year in the Swamp last week.
Southern Miss finished 73rd in rush defense and 75th in pass defense last year. They only return 6 starters on defense, 2 in the secondary and 2 on the line. The other 2 aren't even 1st on the depth chart this year. Southern Miss might have been a bowl team, but they were also a very average team. Florida didn't do much offensively until late in the game.
Central Florida had their magical season last year after going without winning a game the year before. Everyone got excited for them, they were a Cinderella story, but that's dead now. They had an adequate offense last year and return a few starters, but they play in the Conference USA. They were in the mid 30's in both rushing and passing offensively last year.
Defensively they were 88th against the rush and 81st against the pass. That isn't any good, even if you do return 10 starters on defense. You're playing in the Swamp and Florida is a good team with a gimmick offense. They were winless the year before, just one year removed. Remember how quickly we got written off for one bad year? They got praise for one good year......what's more likely? Us really being bad or central florida really being good? haha
Florida does the same thing every year. They play great the first few games while we play a game and usually have a bye. Yes we're injured, yes we're thin, but we're 2-0 and despite our defensive lapses yesterday, our offense hasn't looked this good in a long, long time. The only question is our running game. The counter-positive to that is Florida's questionable secondary. If we exploited Cal's inexperience and then Air Force, Florida isn't any different.
FLORIDA BREAKDOWN
In these two games against these two teams, they've had a true frehsmen WIDE RECEIVER lead them in rushing in the 1st game and a TRUE FRESHMAN quarterback lead them in rushing in the 2nd game. 7 or 8 people get carries because of their style of offense. They don't have any runningbacks that can carry the workload because they're not very good. But about these "option" plays, did they work last year? NO. They'll make their plays and get their yards, but this isn't the flexbone we're playing.
On the defensive line, losing Harrell will be big. We have the talent there and moving Turk back inside will be nice. No one can replace harrell, but we have talent on the line and with JT Mapu steadily getting himself back up to speed and with Walter Fisher coming back, we'll be fine for the year as long as the improvement continues. It always does on the d-line.
Demetrice Morley is a big key. There is no reason why they don't stick him and keep him at corner. We aren't necessarily going to see what we have in the secondary against florida because they're a bit different than everyone else we're going to see for a few weeks and overall. But we have Marshall and Memphis following......We can have everyone back there and they'll get their plays here and there. Morley is as good a tackler as anyone in our secondary and has the speed to keep up with anyone on Florida's receiving corps. Tackling will be as important as anything this week. They need to keep the continuity going with Hefney and Stewart at safety. Jonathan Wade is easily one of the best corners in the SEC and we won't have to worry about him.
Florida's defense hasn't been tested. Their secondary suffered their own loss when Avery Atkins became absent from the football team. They are left with just ONE starter in the secondary. Their front 7 is tough, but is it THAT much better than Cal's?
People are knocking Cal and they looked weak against us, but the talent is still there. Look how bad we looked yesterday. Does that mean we're that bad? Does that mean Air Force has a better offense than Cal? No. Cal showed up in week 2 like they were supposed to. I'm not as worried about Florida's front 7 as I was Cal's. It's all relative now considering the beatdown we put on them, but nevertheless. I am, however, scared of Brandon Siler......eeeewwww....he's good. haha
....................................................
The bottom line is this:
At worst(unless something really really bad/drastic happens), we're going to be 4-1 heading into the Georgia game. Yes that still means we're probably out of the SEC East race, but in all honesty, I didn't fully expect to be in the race to begin with. Sure I'd love to go 10-2 and win the East. But if we go 9-3, then i'm going to be okay with that. If we lose to Florida, we have 2 weeks to get our d-line up to speed and worked out and we have 2 weeks to get Morley and the rest of the secondary settled in. We've had injuries like this before, at least they're on defense where The Chief is working on it instead of the offense where we're finally clicking like we need to be.
Everyone just sit back, calm down, and take a break from the madness. We're 2-0 and Florida is as scared of Tennessee with what we've done offensively as Tennessee is scared of what might happen due to these injuries. We're the dog, that's how we like it.
Vols 27
UF 23
