Picture courtesy of the AP
Goodness gracious. So much for Kentucky having one of the SEC's best defenses.
On a college football day that's been riddled with blowouts, Florida got the ball rolling early dropping 63 points against a hapless and injury-laden Kentucky squad. Coming into today, Kentucky was allowing a mere 11.9 points per game and 282 yards per game. Florida topped the former total halfway through the first quarter and had more than doubled the figure by quarter's end. The Gators also ended up with 448 total yards. However, special teams was the highlight of the day, and Brandon James wasn't involved in any of the big plays. Instead, Florida blocked Kentucky's first two punts, thanks to freshmen William Green and Jeffrey Demps. They also blocked a Wildcats field goal attempt, courtesy of Joe Haden. From there, Florida had the game well in hand. Offensively, Florida rolled down the field with little resistance, taking advantage of both the good field position and Kentucky's injuries. Tebow scored four touchdowns on the day--two rushing and two passing--despite relatively mundane numbers. He finished 11-15 for 181 yards and two touchdowns, and added 9 carries for 47 yards and two more scores. The biggest offensive play came off of a short pass Tebow completed to Demps, who promptly turned upfield and outran the entire Wildcat defense for a 61 yard score. Other than that, though, the offense was content with picking Kentucky apart methodically, with Rainey and Demps getting medium gains on carries and Tebow finding open receivers for positive gains.
Defensively, Florida played with intensity, even when they grabbed the early lead. Joe Haden had two pass breakups, and Major Wright and Ahmad Black each added one, with Black's being an interception return for a touchdown to begin the second half. They stuffed the run, and played magnificently against the pass; combined, Kentucky quarterbacks finished a mere 17-36 for 127 yards and one interception. The secondary tackled well, and the front seven's pursuit was a continuation of their play against LSU. There was no letdown on either side of the ball, and the Gators are playing top-level ball going into their game against Georgia.
Most importantly, though, Florida fans got a glimpse into the future as a good number of backups got the opportunity to playing significant minutes during the blowout. Freshman safety Will Hill may not have usurped Ahmad Black's (who might be the most underrated player on the team right now) strong safety spot, but he played throughout the game and racked up 11 tackles. And Lorenzo Edwards gave Florida fans a reason to feel better about Brandon Spikes' almost certain early entry into the NFL as he rolled up 6 tackles in the fourth quarter alone. Brandon Hicks collected 4 tackles, and Carlos Dunlap added 3 tackles, as well as an assisted sack. It was a good day all around for the Gators, and the future of the team looked bright as they played well during the second half.
Now that the UK game is over with, the players are focused on Georgia; they were all tight-lipped during the after-game press conference, but the mood of the question and answer period indicates that Urban Meyer has this team locked on getting revenge on a Bulldogs team that humiliated the Gators last year. The much ballyhooed endzone celebration by UGA sits at the center of it all, but besides that, there was plenty that UGA did that's worthy of a little revenge, such as sacking Tim Tebow 6 times, or cutting Knownshon Moreno loose for over 180 rushing yards. To win this game, Florida's going to have to continue to play as they have the past two games on both sides of the ball, controlling the line of scrimmage and containing Moreno, while letting Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey get yards on offense. Additionally, the Florida offensive line must stop the blitz better than they did last year; if they can't, the Gators are going to be hard pressed to win. Georgia is going to be the best offense--and best team period--that Florida faces; the secondary is going to have it work cut out for them to say the least.
No comments:
Post a Comment