The Mighty Gators are 3-2 coming off a victory over some directional Sunshine State junior college and open up as 20-point underdogs to the #4 Tennessee Volunteers, who are 4-1 and coming off a surprising loss to unranked Arkansas. The game is set for a 7:00 PM ET kickoff at ol' Rocky Top.
Florida's leaders:
- DJ Lagway: 667 PASS YDS / 133.4 YPG / 69.1% / 4 TD / 3 INT
- Montrell Johnson: 58 CAR / 288 YDS / 57.6 YPG / 4 TD / 12 REC / 56 YDS / 11.2 YPG / 0 TD
- Jadan Baugh: 19 CAR / 128 YDS / 25.6 YPG / 0 TD
- Elijah Badger: 17 REC / 346 YDS / 69.2 YPG / 2 TD
- Chimere Dike: 15 REC / 277 YDS / 55.4 YPG / 1 TD
- Eugene Wilson III: 13 REC / 191 YDS / 47.8 YPG / 1 TD
- George Gumbs: 15 TKL / 4.0 TFL / 3.0 SACK
- Grayson Howard: 22 TKL / 1.0 TFL / 1.0 SACK
- Bryce Thornton: 6 TKL / 1 INT / 1 PD
Tennessee's leaders:
- Nico Iamaleava: 1,048 PASS YDS / 209.6 YPG / 66.4% / 7 TD / 2 INT / 36 CAR / 134 RUSH YDS / 1 TD
- Sampson: 91 CAR / 589 YDS / 117.8 YPG / 12 TD / 8 REC / 81 YDS / 16.2 YPG / 0 TD
- DeSean Bishop: 41 CAR / 306 YDS / 61.2 YPG / 3 TD / 1 REC / 10 YDS / 2.5 YPG / 0 TD
- Thornton: 8 REC / 284 YDS / 56.8 YPG / 3 TD
- Bru McCoy: 14 REC / 209 YDS / 41.8 YPG / 0 TD
- Chris Brazzell II: 13 REC / 161 YDS / 32.2 YPG / 1 TD
- Tyre West: 9 TKL / 2.0 TFL / 2.0 SACK
- Will Brooks: 6 TKL / 1 INT / 1 PD
The Gators are 32-21 (60.4%) all-time against the Vols and have alternated wins and losses against them in matchups between Napier and Heupel with the home team winning each matchup. The line is set at 59.5. The Vols have been putting points on the board except when playing SEC teams.
| Date | Opponent | Result | W-L | Pass | Rush | Rec |
|---|
| Sat, Aug 31 | vsChattanooga | W69-3 | 1-0 (0-0) | Iamaleava 314 | Sampson 124 | Thornton Jr. 105 |
| Sat, Sep 7 | vs24 NC State * | W51-10 | 2-0 (0-0) | Iamaleava 211 | Sampson 132 | White 67 |
| Sat, Sep 14 | vsKent State | W71-0 | 3-0 (0-0) | Iamaleava 173 | Bishop 120 | Thornton Jr. 64 |
| Sat, Sep 21 | @15 Oklahoma | W25-15 | 4-0 (1-0) | Iamaleava 194 | Sampson 92 | McCoy 92 |
| Sat, Oct 5 | @Arkansas | L19-14 | 4-1 (1-1) | Iamaleava 158 | Sampson 138 | Thornton Jr. 42 |
The Gators have been blown out at home by teams that might be better than expected, but that does not excuse the poor execution on the field, to include penalties.
| Date | Opponent | Result | W-L | Pass | Rush | Rec |
|---|
| Sat, Aug 31 | vs19 Miami | L41-17 | 0-1 (0-0) | Mertz 91 | Johnson Jr. 106 | Wilson III 50 |
| Sat, Sep 7 | vsSamford | W45-7 | 1-1 (0-0) | Lagway 456 | Johnson Jr. 67 | Wilson III 141 |
| Sat, Sep 14 | vsTexas A&M | L33-20 | 1-2 (0-1) | Mertz 195 | Webb 37 | Badger 94 |
| Sat, Sep 21 | @Mississippi State | W45-28 | 2-2 (1-1) | Mertz 201 | Johnson Jr. 68 | Burke 45 |
| Sat, Oct 5 | vsUCF | W24-13 | 3-2 (1-1) | Mertz 179 | Johnson Jr. 54 | Dike 88 |
The Gators need to prove that they are turning the program around, but it might depend on who is available due to injury.
Yes. We'll definitely need SOME of our injured playmakers BACK to have ANY chance of outscoring an angry Vols team at Neyland as they come off that close loss to Arkansas.
That AND another "positive step forward" by our defense, coming off their clear advance against "that directional Sunshine State junior college" (LOL--Good one, E--!)...What ARE we hearing about all the banged-up bodies?...Who ARE we getting back?
The main thing I think is to (finally) play a COMPLETE GAME: Between penalties and Billy's usual conservative play-calling when his team has a lead at the half, we are pretty well getting exactly what his record SAID we would get:
I went back and checked, and sure enough, this IS a "thing". It is there in the stats for Billy's whole career. For eg, during his tenure at Louisiana, his average margin of victory was just ONE TOUCHDOWN. And in most of those wins, his teams had the lead at the half and more or less slowed things down, played "rope a dope" the rest of the way.
He NEVER "steps on the other team's neck".
OK--Not his way...but a lot of us have come to the conclusion that here in the SEC he needs to learn to recognize when it's TIME to TURN YOUR GUYS LOOSE!
It was great to see him (finally) get ANGRY over there on the sidelines. We all saw that (and most approved, even with the penalty).
Now we head to Rocky Top. Tennessee is angry; having just lost to the Razorbacks they are saying all the right things about "maybe having read their own clippings" but "now have LEARNED their lesson"--but WE can only address the things we have direct control over on OUR side of the ball.
A similarly tough, game-long defense needs to show up...AND NO LET UP ON OFFENSE (no.matter HOW well the FIRST HALF goes--a "dilemma" we'd obviously be GLAD to face, by the way). Sigh...As if any of us are worried about THAT particular scenario.
The reality facing us is that the next game's hurdle is likely the MOST winnable of a slew of games few are expecting us to even challenge in. I'm not counting UK or FSU among those: Both of THOSE opponents, while hardly "pushovers" for an admittedly inconsistent Gator team this season's edition has thus far shown itself to be, are themselves programs just as capable of going out and laying an egg as WE are. Little shock out there if THEY lose to us.
BUT starting with the Vols, then moving up through Georgia and Texas, well, if this team is going to "save Billy's job" here after all, it will probably have to not only win the ones that "wouldn't SHOCK anyone" PLUS at least a couple of those that WOULD (starting with this one) in order to undo the damage not just the losses themselves but their timing and the way his charges have looked DOING it have already long since DONE.
However, I am afraid that there is still little sign that this guy ever REALLY LEARNS from his mistakes. Or maybe it's that he doesn't recognize them as "mistakes":
If we win, by definition maybe they AREN'T--and when we lose, there are always a host of "OTHER factors". But the fact remains: This pattern of 2nd half wilting is a longtime feature of Billy Napier offenses, and I now believe that, in the end, he'll need to be replaced because of his failure to even recognize, let alone FIX it.
