Tennessee Vs. Florida, the Matchups

#127
#127
I appreciate the OP's analysis. One area not mentioned (I don't think) is the depth factor. How deep are they compared to us. My understanding is we lack a lot of depth. If they have the edge, the 4th quarter could belong to the reptiles. Hot in the swamp.
A win would make my day....uh no. My year.
 
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#128
#128
UTP69 said:
I appreciate the OP's analysis. One area not mentioned (I don't think) is the depth factor. How deep are they compared to us. My understanding is we lack a lot of depth. If they have the edge, the 4th quarter could belong to the reptiles. Hot in the swamp.
A win would make my day....uh no. My year.
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I think depth, defensively, for us will be an issue clearly. Probably have to disguise a lot of blitzes, stunts and LBs have to fill gaps. DL is in for a long day and will need the help. I am interested to watch the OL perform. Seems better in run blocking and the FLA front 4 will tell us a lot more. JG has to get the game to slow down for him and unload on a two count...and not into double and triple coverage.
 
#130
#130
jwilliams said:
Thought Bass' write up was pretty fair. Which position group do you disagree with?

Edit - Dumb question, obviously all of them.... but why? :)
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What have you seen that makes you think we have the advantage anywhere else? Their OL hasnt been very good true. But our DL has been really bad this year. Zero push against GS, BYU and UTC. UF has much more team speed. We have had some success running on the edges so far. Thats because the 3 teams we have played dont possess defensive speed on the edges. UF has that in spades.

Our OL against their DL and Lbs? I mean come on. While our OL looked good sgainst UTC, UF leads the nation in sacks. JG is a statue and our OL is not good.
 
#131
#131
Bassmaster_Vol said:
Stole the idea from VQ but here is my take on the matchups in the game on Saturday:

If this were any other team, we would not be anywhere near this afraid of the game on Saturday. That’s a fact. In reality, I think this has been the biggest stumbling block in the Vols/Gators series. It isn’t that they are so much better than us, they aren’t, its that our team enters the game hoping to win while they expect to win. There is a lack of confidence that has to change if we are ever going to reverse the fortunes in this series.

But the fact is, this Florida team, no matter what the rankings say, is not a top 10 team. They are very fortunate to be 3-0 and not 1-2 just like us. They have done what they seem to always do, which is find a way to win even when they aren’t very good. They may do that again on Saturday as they have done in 2014, 2015, and 2017. This is a close game on paper, just as it was in those 3 years, years which the Vols should have won, but the Gators found a way to win in the end, mostly because of mistakes by Tennessee.



The Matchups:



When Florida Runs:



Florida is not good at running the football. In fact, they’re terrible at running the football. And if they hadn’t ran the ball in garbage time and racked up stats against UT Martin, they would look even worse in the stat department in running the football. Against Miami, FL ran for 50 yards. Against UK, the Gators ran for 138 yards. That sounds really good, until you actually investigate that stat. The last FL play of the game was a run, where KY blew it defensively, and FL picked up 76 yards on that one play. Without that run, the Gators ran for a measly 62 yards against Kentucky.

Now, nobody is arguing that the Vols are the 85 bears. The weakest part of the Volunteer defense has been defending the run. Yet, there are questions there. First, how much of that is fool’s gold? Yes, GSU ran for a lot of yards. But go back to that game and ask, how much of that was due to all of the ridiculous lineup issues that we had on defense in that game? In fact, that was story, defensively, from that game, how much we struggled to line up and GSU took advantage of it. BYU only ran for 107 yards against us, and that with a much better offensive line than Florida in this writer’s opinion. Further, the Vols get much needed help defensively with Daniel Bituli back on defense. This should take care of the lineup issues as well as add a playmaker in the middle of the defense. I don’t expect the Vols to be completely different against the run, but they will stop this FL team from running the ball. I’d be shocked if FL achieved 100 yards on the ground on Saturday. Won’t happen, in my opinion. And I would argue, that if we were playing Florida Tech with the same players, most would agree with this assessment.



Edge: Tennessee



When Florida Passes:



This is the most difficult matchup to project in my opinion. The reason is, we just do not know what we are getting out of Florida’s Quarterback Kyle Trask. This is a kid who hasn’t started a football game since he was a freshman in high school. That is unbelievable to me. Further, does Emory Jones play some? Only Dan Mullen knows the answer to that. What are we going to get out of their passing attack? Kyle Trask looked really good against UK when he came in. There is a caveat to that however, in that UK had stopped bringing pressure and was playing soft coverage as they entered a “play not to lose” mode against Florida because they had the lead. We haven’t seen Kyle Trask with pressure in his face and thus we do not know how he will react to said pressure. He did see the field well and he delivered accurate balls to his receivers. In fact, he’s probably a better passer than Felipe Franks.

To add to that, the best part of Florida’s offense are their wide receivers. They have ballers at that position who have good speed and playmaking ability. The Volunteer secondary will be tested.

The Vols meanwhile, rank 23rd in passing defense, but I don’t think there is much to take from that. We’ve played GSU, who ran successfully for most of game, and Chattanooga who, well, is Chattanooga. BYU passed for 232 yards against us, albeit 64 yards of that was due to Alontae Taylor’s defensive bust in the 4th quarter. So Tennessee has looked pretty good against the pass thus far, but we haven’t played a team with the skill players of Florida. Their receivers are far better and much faster than those of BYU. Further, the Vols are shuffling their corners around as it seems that Alontae Taylor is in the doghouse after having a sophomore slump. Warren Burrell has also made a number of mistakes in coverage as well which has led to some receivers being left very open. Further, does Bryce Thompson play? If so, how does he perform in his first game of the season? These are questions which make this difficult to project.

The positive aspect of Tennessee’s pass defense is their ability to rush the passer. While the Vol’s defensive line has been disappointing to say the least, Tennessee has been able to rush the passer successfully in their blitz packages. Tennessee sacked BYU’s QB 4 times and hurried him another 7. Again, I believe that the BYU offensive line is much better than Florida’s so I believe that TN will have success rushing the passer on Saturday. How will Trask react to pressure? That is anyone’s guess.



Edge: Slightly Florida



When Tennessee Runs:



This is yet another matchup that is difficult to project. Tennessee has been very good at running the football so far this year. But is that fool’s gold? It doesn’t matter what we did against GSU and Chattanooga, even though it is true that in years past we haven’t even been able to run the ball against teams like this. The Vols also ran for 242 yards against BYU which has a decent defensive front, but they also play in a 3-3-5 defense which is not what Tennessee will see on Saturday. Further, they do not have the athletes at linebacker that Florida has which made it easier for Tennessee to get the edge against them.

But, the Vols do have the best offensive line they have had in years. On that line is a lot of size and a lot of guys who are capable of running over defenses. In fact, its what they do best. Tennessee will try hard to establish the run behind this new look offensive line on Saturday. Running the ball are two very good running backs as well in Chandler and Gray.

Florida, on the other hand, ranks 35th in the country in rushing defense, by far the toughest test we have faced up until this point from an offensive perspective. They are very stout at the line of scrimmage against the run. Tennessee will have to have success in the passing game in order to open up the run.



Edge: Florida



When Tennessee Passes:



It is no secret that Jarrett Guarantano has been playing the worst football of his career this season. This is a shocking development being that he is a redshirt junior and is arguably receiving the best coaching of his career from Jim Chaney. He has been off this season in ways that he has been strong in the past. Coming in, everyone knew that getting the ball out quickly and reading the defense were his biggest weaknesses. But, he also had strengths. Last year Guarantano was very accurate with the football and he also took care of the ball only having 3 interceptions on the year. This season it appears that he is trying to do too much and is forcing the ball into double and triple coverage. He has already had multiple interceptions and should have had several more. There is no question that if JG plays like he did last year, the Vols would have beaten a pretty good BYU team by multiple touchdowns. Alas, he had one of the worst performances of his entire career and the Vols ended up losing. However, it does appear that JG gained some confidence against Chattanooga. How much can we take from that performance is yet to be seen.

But, the strength of the Volunteer football team are the wide receivers. The Vols have dudes at the receiver position and they can and will make plays against this banged up Florida secondary if their quarterback can give them the opportunity.

As to Florida, their pass defense ranks 70th in the country. That is very surprising considering they have faced two very inexperienced QB’s in Miami’s Williams and Kentucky’s Smith. Their secondary has greatly struggled this year, partly because their best corner, Henderson, has been injured. There is a chance that he doesn’t play Saturday either and Florida will be missing their starting safety for the first half as well. Further, their best edge rusher, Zuniga is also banged up and will not practice this week. It is yet to be stated whether or not he will play.

It’s no secret that JG has to play better in order to have success passing the football on Saturday. We all know he is better than he showed in the BYU game. For this reason, and Florida’s injuries, I believe that Tennessee’s receivers will make plays against this Gator secondary.



Edge: Slightly Tennessee



Special Teams:



This one isn’t even up for debate.



Edge: Tennessee



Who’s going to win? On paper, it is anyone’s game in my opinion. If this were Florida Tech, with the same Florida players, I think we’d be a lot more confident in a win. But, it is Florida, and there is history. Tennessee has to play this game believing and expecting the win and not hoping to win. If they do that, they can win. Barring turnovers like last year, this should be a game that comes down to the wire in the 4th quarter just as 4 of the last 5 games have been.



It’s a noon kick, the Vols are improving and, I believe, they’re mad. Vols change the narrative of the season on Saturday and win 24-20.



Bring on the debate but no trolling allowed. Tell me where you think I’m wrong and where you agree.
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Absolute solid post!
 
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#132
#132
BigOrangeTrain said:
What have you seen that makes you think we have the advantage anywhere else? Their OL hasnt been very good true. But our DL has been really bad this year. Zero push against GS, BYU and UTC. UF has much more team speed. We have had some success running on the edges so far. Thats because the 3 teams we have played dont possess defensive speed on the edges. UF has that in spades.

Our OL against their DL and Lbs? I mean come on. While our OL looked good sgainst UTC, UF leads the nation in sacks. JG is a statue and our OL is not good.
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No, I'm with you on their front 7. I'm legitimately concerned about the pass rush, which leads me to be concerned about our run game, because if we can't run the ball... well, you know how it goes.

The main thing our team has shown this year that is a positive is improvement from week to week, but that's against 2 (arguably 3) weak teams. Will that improvement translate to our first SEC game?

We need a pass rush to beat Florida, and their O-line is weak. I think that's the chink in the armor we'll have to exploit to win.

For the record, I don't have high hopes of winning, but I do believe we could.
 
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#133
#133
I do think it will be a close game and a Tennessee win wont surprise me. No doubt they could lose it but it is gut check time and i personally think they pass the test agaisnt this vastly overrated gata team .
 
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#134
#134
where your mind goes your azz will follow...maybe our coaches and players minds are right for this game...hope so...

GO BIG ORANGE...BEAT THE GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#136
#136
QB sacks are a very strong indicator for the overall strength/talent of a D. We've had six this year, 4 against BYU, Bumphus 2, Taylor 1 and Emerson 1. We had two against GS. The Chat game was so lopsided, the stats don't mean much there, but we didn't have any in that game, but who cares. We had four up against BYU, and they beat us fair and square. GS kicked out butts, again, fair and square. Unless there is a big change in something Saturday, the D is going to be our weakest squad. CP's coaching ability is going to be on display, our D will be a big part of that story.
 
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#137
#137
A little bit to add concerning Florida's defensive line. On paper they seem to be very strong, but on closer examination I'm not sure that's true. They've had a lot of sacks, but 10 of those came against Miami who was awful. 5 came against UT Martin. They had 1 sack against KY. I don't think it's a given that their DL is just going to overwhelm our OL, especially when we add extra protection for JG. Plus, their best DL might not even play, we'll see.

The key here is JG. He can't hold the ball and and ignore what's going on around him. I know, that's the biggest problem with him. If he does that he'll get blown up. But I think we'll be okay against this Florida DL. JG has to make quick decisions.
 
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#138
#138
Bassmaster_Vol said:
A little bit to add concerning Florida's defensive line. On paper they seem to be very strong, but on closer examination I'm not sure that's true. They've had a lot of sacks, but 10 of those came against Miami who was awful. 5 came against UT Martin. They had 1 sack against KY. I don't think it's a given that their DL is just going to overwhelm our OL, especially when we add extra protection for JG. Plus, their best DL might not even play, we'll see.

The key here is JG. He can't hold the ball and and ignore what's going on around him. I know, that's the biggest problem with him. If he does that he'll get blown up. But I think we'll be okay against this Florida DL. JG has to make quick decisions.
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JG's ability to make the quick decisions is what I question. I think he is too slow, and often doesn't see the open man/men, FL is and SEC team, we'll see if he's an SEC quality QB.
 
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#139
#139
I40flyer said:
JG's ability to make the quick decisions is what I question. I think he is too slow, and often doesn't see the open man/men, FL is and SEC team, we'll see if he's an SEC quality QB.
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There’s no doubt about any of this. He has to have his best game. Chaney needs to give him some major help also
 
#140
#140
Our D has allowed more Points Per Game than Florida's D, more than a TD. Fl has played some real teams, we have not. I've re-watched our games, and two of FL's game, prior to making a $$$ bet. I'm putting my $$ where my mouth is, TN does not cover.
 
#141
#141
I40flyer said:
Our D has allowed more Points Per Game than Florida's D, more than a TD. Fl has played some real teams, we have not. I've re-watched our games, and two of FL's game, prior to making a $$$ bet. I'm putting my $$ where my mouth is, TN does not cover.
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Not sure Miami or Kentucky qualify as real teams. Miami is 1-2 and has no o-line. Maybe Kentucky was before their QB went down, but the back up looked mediocre in the Florida game. Both games UF had a real shot at losing and probably should've lost the Kentucky game. Not saying UF is bad, but they definitely shouldn't be top 10. They now have more question marks with Trask starting too.
 
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#142
#142
Bassmaster_Vol said:
A little bit to add concerning Florida's defensive line. On paper they seem to be very strong, but on closer examination I'm not sure that's true. They've had a lot of sacks, but 10 of those came against Miami who was awful. 5 came against UT Martin. They had 1 sack against KY. I don't think it's a given that their DL is just going to overwhelm our OL, especially when we add extra protection for JG. Plus, their best DL might not even play, we'll see.

The key here is JG. He can't hold the ball and and ignore what's going on around him. I know, that's the biggest problem with him. If he does that he'll get blown up. But I think we'll be okay against this Florida DL. JG has to make quick decisions.
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Kentucky may have the third best O-line in the SEC behind UGA and Bama. They’ve only given up 4 sacks in 3 games.
 
#143
#143
willinhf said:
You are what your record says you are. We are 1-3 overall and have not beaten a FBS school. They are 3-0 and have beaten two P5 schools.

The only edge we may have is ST.

We will need big plays with the offense and no turnovers to keep this game close...

...and the defense will have to play out of their minds. Trask>>Franks and with our history of opposing backup QBs, my optimism is not registering right now.

Have odder things happened? Sure. But I would not be betting for UT straight up or to cover.
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And when the game kicks off non of the stats mean CRAP! Everyone has a opinion, but thank goodness it will be settled on the field GBO!!!!!! JUST WIN VOLS!!!!
 
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#144
#144
hUTch2002 said:
Kentucky may have the third best O-line in the SEC behind UGA and Bama. They’ve only given up 4 sacks in 3 games.
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Yeah they’re good. But ours isn’t as bad as Miami’s. We’re somewhere in the middle. Just saying, everyone’s acting like they’re just going to overwhelm us. I don’t think that’ll happen
 
#146
#146
Atlanta917 said:
Not sure Miami or Kentucky qualify as real teams. Miami is 1-2 and has no o-line. Maybe Kentucky was before their QB went down, but the back up looked mediocre in the Florida game. Both games UF had a real shot at losing and probably should've lost the Kentucky game. Not saying UF is bad, but they definitely shouldn't be top 10. They now have more question marks with Trask starting too.
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I should have added to "real teams", As compared to our first three games. I know a lot of posters complain that FL isn't a top 10 or top 20 school, they [FL] are right now, like it or not. I can say, "JG is the greatest QB UT has ever seen", but the actual facts would prove me wrong. Regarding the top 10 (taken from AP's top 25), I am predicting they stay in the top 10 next week, and we will not see the top 25 this year.
 
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