MikeHamiltonFan
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Florida just had an 8-5 season. That said, they have beaten us for so long that a kid can be potty trained and reading Harry Potter and have never watched Tennessee beat Florida in football during their life.
31-17 was closer than it seems, if you were at the game you know Tennessee was in it right up until Florida made a fake punt.
Florida breaks in a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator and a new defensive coordinator against juggernauts,
Florida Atlantic
and
Alabama Birmingham
I know Florida tunes up with no one before they play us every year, and every year they still beat us, but this year I think the lack of competition will hurt them because they will not be ready for the difference in size and speed except inasmuch as they learn from practicing against each other. They have a lot of young talent, and they are learning a new system.
After those games Muschamp will welcome to Gainesville a team he could have coached, lead by his friend Derek Dooley. The hatred from the fan bases will be intense, and Charlie Weis will get to know a Wilcox whose team looks in dismantling Montana and Cincinatti, nothing like the team that had no pass rush, 1 DT and no cornerbacks a season before.
Florida's offense was terrible last year. Georgia without Green was worse, but Florida looked really bad.
They lose Moody at RB and Carl Moore at WR but neither of those matter much to me. They lose Maurice Gilbert OT, Carl Johnson, OG and Mike Pouncey as well as Maurice Hurt at OG. That will be costly and I think Mo Couch and Malik Jackson and maybe even Hood and Hughes will get to reap the benefits as they put Brantley down.
On Defense Florida loses Justin Trattou at DE, Lawrence Marsh at DT, Terron Sanders at DT, Duke Lemmens at DE....who cares. With S. Floyd, R Powell, Leon Orr, Dominque Easley etc they have an embarassment of riches at DT and DE and our OL (which will be better than last year) will have their hands full. I think this unit is better than last years for UF, but I think that they will be much better by the time they play FSU than they will be when they play us. Muschamp has to be salivating when he steps out to practice with these stallions on his defense.
Omar Hunter likes look of Gators' D-line - SEC Blog - ESPN
ESPN agrees, calling the DL the strength of the defense.
They also lose A.J. Jones-SLB and Brandon Hicks-WLB.
Gerald Christian almost got moved over to LB from offense due to depth concerns, but with Jelani Jenkins, Jonathan Bostic and Dee Finley they should be just fine. They have guys like Michael Taylor (who left for the Gators) on the bench, when they would start for Tennessee. That is what happens when your roster on defense has 8 5 star recruits and 19 4 star recruits. Fortunately for us, many of them are as unproductive as the undrafted Will Hill, but the talent pool is still deep.
Here is the key to why we beat Florida.
They lost Ahmad Black-SS, Will Hill-FS (NFL) and Janoris Jenkins-CB (Weed)
If you look at the safety spot, they have Matt Elam and Josh Evans. Josh Shaw is a big and talented backup (who we also almost got) from CA who would start for many teams. Elam is 5'10 and struggles to carry over 200 pounds but he is plenty talented. They are still a bit small compared to Tennessee's WRs but wait until you see the CBs...
One starter that is almost a certainty is Jeremy Brown, a Jr who comes in at 5-10 and 184.
Next to him will be Cody Riggs, at 5-9, 166. Backing him up is freshman De'Ante Saunders who is 5-8, 173.
Josh Evans at 6-1 and 195 is the guy bringing the wood for their secondary.
11 Justin Hunter WR 6-4 191 So. Virginia Beach, Va. (Ocean Lakes)
85 Matt Milton WR 6-5 210 So. Mascoutah, Ill. (Mascoutah)
21 Da'Rick Rogers WR 6-3 215 So. Calhoun, Ga. (Calhoun)
Deanthony Arnett is our small burner and he is bigger than almost every guy he will be going against. With recruiting guys like Cordarelle Patterson we are hoping to extend the legacy here of giant fast strong guys who look more like Kelley Washington and less like the classic Donte Stallworth or Peerless Price WR.
Justin Hunter was criticized by the staff for getting beaten down with hand fighting from smaller DBs. He has been working hard and getting stronger and is learning to fight through it.
Da'Rick physically looked like a grown man as a freshman, but he did not know where he was going at all times. He can now punish DBs while running the right route for his QB.
Matt Milton played RB most of the year two years ago, but as he is learning how to get open, you can expect him to be a red zone option that Florida is just not able to cover.
Tyler Bray will need some time, and it will be hard against Florida's DL to get that time, but our passing game should absolutely abuse UF this year down in Gainesville.
Their Offense is Not Strong
Despite John Brantley's obvious physical gifts, he will be in his first year of an offense that Coach Weis is putting in that is not simple.
Putting back our ears and going after the QB is also something we can do again. Tebow always seemed to scramble out of the way, and last year Florida still had a speed option QB as an alternate plan (that as usual we could not stop). That piece of the offense has been removed.
Tyler Murphy and Jeff Driskel may end up being better than Brantley and overtaking him, but I do not see it happening in the 3rd game, and the first hard one. Best case for us is that Brantley is their Simms and struggles to find open receivers and process an offense he does not fully grasp.
Chris Rainey should be prepared for the "Time to Die" T Shirts to come back. He should not be playing college football anymore, but there are different standards. At TN if you rob someone with a pellet gun of a cheeseburger you are off the team, at UF you can eye gouge, threaten murder to a girlfriend or shoot an AK 47 in the air and you will get "disciplined" by having to sit out part of a meaningless game.
He and Demps are not backs TN should be scared of.
Demps is world class fast. He just ran a PR in the 60 meters this Spring, but he is not going to get free often against this defense.
The concern with the backs is that they were getting the ball so close to the LOS before that they were getting tied up by a blocker and that with the pro set they will be able to get free. I am not worried.
Deonte Thompson, Andre Debose, Frankie Hammond, Omarius Hines, Quinton Dunbar...these are not WR's I am scared of. The guy who I am most scared of as a WR is Burton, the QB who played so well last year. Demps is obviously also always a scary threat catching out of the backfield. Debose is fast as blazes, but has been a bust so far.
Literally the number of guys like Justin Hunter on the roster of Florida is 0. There is not a matchup disaster for us when it comes to their pass catchers except for our second CB against some of their speedsters. Even that should be okay.
A.C. Leonard is just a freshman, and will not start at TE. I worry about him next year, but this year he will not be even close to the kind of threat that an Orson Charles will be.
The OL had 6 healthy guys in the Spring. They will be taking a step back from last year and they will not have a strong cohesive unit when they play us.
Lessons from Last Year
Lots of the roster is the same. The scheme is different for Florida on offense.
Traditionally Tennessee has beaten Florida by running the ball effectively against Florida. Tennessee will have an improved OL, but Poole is not going to run all over this Florida defense. LSU and Alabama and Florida will literally have in terms of future NFL talent top 5 DLs in college football.
Look at the numbers from last years game:
Team Total Yds Pass Yds Rush Yds First Downs 3rdD% Pen./Yds Turnovers Time of Poss.
Florida 317 167 150 18 57.1% 5/25 2 22:06
Tennessee 288 259 29 11 15.4% 9/54 3 00:00
Our young offensive line screwed up several times, and we ended up with 54 penalty yards. Look at Matt Simms passing! They have a worse pass defense now than they did then! Tyler Bray is going to get TN fans ready for big delusions with what he does against UF and then UGA. After 10/8, Bray will be one of the leading Heisman candidates, and then we will lose 3 straight.
Here are the most important things to remember as you seek to discern whether TN should win this game or not:
With an improved OL, can TN protect Bray for long enough for him to throw?
With an improved DL for TN (Couch and M Jackson give us 2 real DTs instead of 1 last year) and a worse OL for Florida (losing 4 guys including some NFL talent), can we put Brantley on his rear end in the Swamp, play some Rocky Top in the visitors section and keep the game low scoring?
Can we avoid turnovers?
Can we keep Florida's awesome speed from making a big impact on special teams?
I think Bray passes for 3 TDs and we win 28 or 31 to 17.
31-17 was closer than it seems, if you were at the game you know Tennessee was in it right up until Florida made a fake punt.
Florida breaks in a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator and a new defensive coordinator against juggernauts,
Florida Atlantic
and
Alabama Birmingham
I know Florida tunes up with no one before they play us every year, and every year they still beat us, but this year I think the lack of competition will hurt them because they will not be ready for the difference in size and speed except inasmuch as they learn from practicing against each other. They have a lot of young talent, and they are learning a new system.
After those games Muschamp will welcome to Gainesville a team he could have coached, lead by his friend Derek Dooley. The hatred from the fan bases will be intense, and Charlie Weis will get to know a Wilcox whose team looks in dismantling Montana and Cincinatti, nothing like the team that had no pass rush, 1 DT and no cornerbacks a season before.
Florida's offense was terrible last year. Georgia without Green was worse, but Florida looked really bad.
They lose Moody at RB and Carl Moore at WR but neither of those matter much to me. They lose Maurice Gilbert OT, Carl Johnson, OG and Mike Pouncey as well as Maurice Hurt at OG. That will be costly and I think Mo Couch and Malik Jackson and maybe even Hood and Hughes will get to reap the benefits as they put Brantley down.
On Defense Florida loses Justin Trattou at DE, Lawrence Marsh at DT, Terron Sanders at DT, Duke Lemmens at DE....who cares. With S. Floyd, R Powell, Leon Orr, Dominque Easley etc they have an embarassment of riches at DT and DE and our OL (which will be better than last year) will have their hands full. I think this unit is better than last years for UF, but I think that they will be much better by the time they play FSU than they will be when they play us. Muschamp has to be salivating when he steps out to practice with these stallions on his defense.
Omar Hunter likes look of Gators' D-line - SEC Blog - ESPN
ESPN agrees, calling the DL the strength of the defense.
They also lose A.J. Jones-SLB and Brandon Hicks-WLB.
Gerald Christian almost got moved over to LB from offense due to depth concerns, but with Jelani Jenkins, Jonathan Bostic and Dee Finley they should be just fine. They have guys like Michael Taylor (who left for the Gators) on the bench, when they would start for Tennessee. That is what happens when your roster on defense has 8 5 star recruits and 19 4 star recruits. Fortunately for us, many of them are as unproductive as the undrafted Will Hill, but the talent pool is still deep.
Here is the key to why we beat Florida.
They lost Ahmad Black-SS, Will Hill-FS (NFL) and Janoris Jenkins-CB (Weed)
If you look at the safety spot, they have Matt Elam and Josh Evans. Josh Shaw is a big and talented backup (who we also almost got) from CA who would start for many teams. Elam is 5'10 and struggles to carry over 200 pounds but he is plenty talented. They are still a bit small compared to Tennessee's WRs but wait until you see the CBs...
One starter that is almost a certainty is Jeremy Brown, a Jr who comes in at 5-10 and 184.
Next to him will be Cody Riggs, at 5-9, 166. Backing him up is freshman De'Ante Saunders who is 5-8, 173.
Josh Evans at 6-1 and 195 is the guy bringing the wood for their secondary.
11 Justin Hunter WR 6-4 191 So. Virginia Beach, Va. (Ocean Lakes)
85 Matt Milton WR 6-5 210 So. Mascoutah, Ill. (Mascoutah)
21 Da'Rick Rogers WR 6-3 215 So. Calhoun, Ga. (Calhoun)
Deanthony Arnett is our small burner and he is bigger than almost every guy he will be going against. With recruiting guys like Cordarelle Patterson we are hoping to extend the legacy here of giant fast strong guys who look more like Kelley Washington and less like the classic Donte Stallworth or Peerless Price WR.
Justin Hunter was criticized by the staff for getting beaten down with hand fighting from smaller DBs. He has been working hard and getting stronger and is learning to fight through it.
Da'Rick physically looked like a grown man as a freshman, but he did not know where he was going at all times. He can now punish DBs while running the right route for his QB.
Matt Milton played RB most of the year two years ago, but as he is learning how to get open, you can expect him to be a red zone option that Florida is just not able to cover.
Tyler Bray will need some time, and it will be hard against Florida's DL to get that time, but our passing game should absolutely abuse UF this year down in Gainesville.
Their Offense is Not Strong
Despite John Brantley's obvious physical gifts, he will be in his first year of an offense that Coach Weis is putting in that is not simple.
Putting back our ears and going after the QB is also something we can do again. Tebow always seemed to scramble out of the way, and last year Florida still had a speed option QB as an alternate plan (that as usual we could not stop). That piece of the offense has been removed.
Tyler Murphy and Jeff Driskel may end up being better than Brantley and overtaking him, but I do not see it happening in the 3rd game, and the first hard one. Best case for us is that Brantley is their Simms and struggles to find open receivers and process an offense he does not fully grasp.
Chris Rainey should be prepared for the "Time to Die" T Shirts to come back. He should not be playing college football anymore, but there are different standards. At TN if you rob someone with a pellet gun of a cheeseburger you are off the team, at UF you can eye gouge, threaten murder to a girlfriend or shoot an AK 47 in the air and you will get "disciplined" by having to sit out part of a meaningless game.
He and Demps are not backs TN should be scared of.
Demps is world class fast. He just ran a PR in the 60 meters this Spring, but he is not going to get free often against this defense.
The concern with the backs is that they were getting the ball so close to the LOS before that they were getting tied up by a blocker and that with the pro set they will be able to get free. I am not worried.
Deonte Thompson, Andre Debose, Frankie Hammond, Omarius Hines, Quinton Dunbar...these are not WR's I am scared of. The guy who I am most scared of as a WR is Burton, the QB who played so well last year. Demps is obviously also always a scary threat catching out of the backfield. Debose is fast as blazes, but has been a bust so far.
Literally the number of guys like Justin Hunter on the roster of Florida is 0. There is not a matchup disaster for us when it comes to their pass catchers except for our second CB against some of their speedsters. Even that should be okay.
A.C. Leonard is just a freshman, and will not start at TE. I worry about him next year, but this year he will not be even close to the kind of threat that an Orson Charles will be.
The OL had 6 healthy guys in the Spring. They will be taking a step back from last year and they will not have a strong cohesive unit when they play us.
Lessons from Last Year
Lots of the roster is the same. The scheme is different for Florida on offense.
Traditionally Tennessee has beaten Florida by running the ball effectively against Florida. Tennessee will have an improved OL, but Poole is not going to run all over this Florida defense. LSU and Alabama and Florida will literally have in terms of future NFL talent top 5 DLs in college football.
Look at the numbers from last years game:
Team Total Yds Pass Yds Rush Yds First Downs 3rdD% Pen./Yds Turnovers Time of Poss.
Florida 317 167 150 18 57.1% 5/25 2 22:06
Tennessee 288 259 29 11 15.4% 9/54 3 00:00
Our young offensive line screwed up several times, and we ended up with 54 penalty yards. Look at Matt Simms passing! They have a worse pass defense now than they did then! Tyler Bray is going to get TN fans ready for big delusions with what he does against UF and then UGA. After 10/8, Bray will be one of the leading Heisman candidates, and then we will lose 3 straight.
Here are the most important things to remember as you seek to discern whether TN should win this game or not:
With an improved OL, can TN protect Bray for long enough for him to throw?
With an improved DL for TN (Couch and M Jackson give us 2 real DTs instead of 1 last year) and a worse OL for Florida (losing 4 guys including some NFL talent), can we put Brantley on his rear end in the Swamp, play some Rocky Top in the visitors section and keep the game low scoring?
Can we avoid turnovers?
Can we keep Florida's awesome speed from making a big impact on special teams?
I think Bray passes for 3 TDs and we win 28 or 31 to 17.
lol:
