Defense

Actually Florida is better than what they played last Saturday. Regardless of how well or terrible our defense played, believe me when I tell you that Florida should have beaten us by at least 2 TD's. What they showed us consistently throughout the game was that they could move the ball almost at will. Leak and company was playing throw and catch and running all over us. And I don't think it was just because our defense was all that bad. It wasn't good most of the night... but I still saw the effort and the heart on that side of the ball. Their number 1 problem isn't even inexperience in the secondary or with the substitutions on the defensive front -- it is with the basic concepts of tackling. They even seemed so pre-occupied with trying to strip the ball on one play that they let the RB pick up another 10-12 yards after initial contact with the same 3 or 4 guys around him going for the ball instead of bringing him down. I'm willing to give the RB a little credit, but that was ridiculous.

Kudos to Allen and Hefney in the defensive secondary! Though Hefney made a couple of freshman-like mistakes, he and Allen were pretty much tearing it up all night. I shutter to think what might have happened without those two on the field. Burnett and Mitchell played well most of the time, but they were hard pressed to cover everything the Gators were sending their way. The defensive starting front 4 also played well with a handful of QB hurries to their credit, but with the substitutions came less pressure and more inconsistency. Of all the positions on defense, the front rotating 7 or 8 players need to improve the most. If they can get more pressure on the QB and more stops in the backfield, our defensive secondary will start looking like All-SEC caliber. Inexperience is the only explanation for a couple of wide open Gator receivers near the middle of the field. Someone did not understand their assignment. With some more experience, they should resolve that issue... with a big emphasis on "SHOULD."

And speaking of "should," Florida should win the rest of their games this year. They may lose to LSU, but they shouldn't; and they should beat UGA this year. I don't see anyone else getting close. How well they do depends on how bad they get Zooked. Why in the world they consistently went away from what was working against our Vols... I don't know. Why did they go conservative on that last series? I don't know. If they'd gone around the end at least once instead of twice up the gut, there would have never been a penalty issue and they wouldn't have had to punt anyway. Why did they do what they did? Only one possible answer... they were Zookered.

And one more thing... Ciatrick is mighty good and mighty fast, but I don't even want to know what would have happened if they'd had UNLV's Dominick Davis in their backfield.

How's that for dialog?

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