Bring On The Gators

[swerb]

Oh hell yeah ...

[consigliere]

Should be a good game. The Gators remind me a lot of the Bucks in 2002.....don't overlook them.

[Guest]

It's a title game, I don't think anybody will overlook them.

[swerb]

My amateur Monday morning analysis of The Gators ...

Great front four on defense, and overall ... their front seven is deeper and quicker than Michigan's, but not as dominant. And much easier to run on. Two very good safeties with all kinds of INTs this year, many of which were game saving. Corners are young IIRC, and tend to gamble alot. However ... who was the best QB they faced this year? JaMarcus Russell?

Great recievers. Dallas Baker, Percy Harvin, Caldwell. Leak has never lived up to the hype, and is a square peg in a round hole for Urban Meyer's offense. Meyer has tried to force Leak into the system as opposed to adapting the system for Leak, and at times it has been ugly.

All in all though, their pass offense has been strong. They bring in the white backup QB Tebow as the running QB, while Leak's mobility is limited. Tebow is a future stud, and I wonder whether or not the Gators would be better off right now if they had just given Tebow the ball early. Hard to argue with 12-1 and a SEC title I guess.

Trick plays galore. Goofy reverses, and some really abnormal shit every weekend that has been pretty effective in catching people off guard. Shit, in the Arkansas game they ran a fake punt reverse from their own 10 yard line. They're gonna go 4 wide alot. They really have no run game to speak of. Onus in this one will clearly be on the OSU secondary, who struggled for the most part against the Michigan spread.

[swerb]

Ohio State -8

Over/under 47

[gdbenz]

Should be a good game. The Gators remind me a lot of the Bucks in 2002.....don't overlook them.

I've been saying the same thing. If you recall 2002, most people hardly gave the Buckeyes a chance against the mighty Miami Hurricanes. OSU had a number of ridiculously close calls, even more than Florida this year. They just happened to pull it out each time. But Florida should not be underestimated. They are a very quirky team, but athletic. Meyer is very similar to Tressel, just younger. This is actually an excellent match up.

[consigliere]

Should be a good game. The Gators remind me a lot of the Bucks in 2002.....don't overlook them.

I've been saying the same thing. If you recall 2002, most people hardly gave the Buckeyes a chance against the mighty Miami Hurricanes. OSU had a number of ridiculously close calls, even more than Florida this year. They just happened to pull it out each time. But Florida should not be underestimated. They are a very quirky team, but athletic. Meyer is very similar to Tressel, just younger. This is actually an excellent match up.

I completely agree. I think this may end up being a better game than people think.

[yargs7]

I was just about to go on a tyrade about how bad Florida's offense is, but then I decided to look up some stats...

Total Offense-OSU 409 ypg (15th NCAA) FLA 398 ypg (21st)
Pass Offense-FLA 238 ypg (18th) OSU 229 ypg (33rd)
Rush Offense-OSU 180 ypg (22nd) FLA 160 ypg (30th)
Scoring Offense-OSU 38 ppg (7th) FLA 28 ppg (33rd)

Defensively...they rank 10th in total yards allowing 268 ypg, 6th in rushing giving up only 74 ypg, and 6th in scoring defense at 13.5 ppg. They are also ranked 6th in pass efficiency defense and tied with OSU with 27 takeways.

The only chink in the Gators' armor I could find (statistically) was that they allow nearly 200 passing yards per game. And that's really unimpressive considering that the only good QB they faced all year was Jamarcus Russell.

[furls]

Lee Corso was already talking about "SEC speed." Man, I wish the Buckeyes had some fast guys on their roster. All season long I kept thinking that this team might just be good if they had some team speed.

(that was sarcasm)

[swerb]

Im getting really sick of waiting for this game ... the 53 day layoff is brutal.

[consigliere]

No kidding.

Will be fun watching the Bucks/Gators get it on Saturday in the basketball court.

[swerb]

Yeah, Im looking forward to that one ...

[yargs7]

I think it's close enough to game day to maybe bump this topic to the top and let's start talking Championship.

[yargs7]

Predictions anyone?


BALANCE ON OFFENSE IS GONNA BE THE DIFFERENCE. WE HAVE IT, THEY DON'T. Smith 250 yds and 2 td. Pittman and Beanie combine for 180 and one td.
Bucks dominate on d and force Leak to throw 2 picks. Florida can't run the ball and that will be their downfall.

Tressel is coaching in his 8th Nat'l Championship. Troy Smith is $ in big games.

BUCKEYES 27 GATORS 14

[furls]

Florida can't run the ball and that will be their downfall.

Florida's downfall will be that they don't have a real offense. The type of misdirection and "trickery" that they use feasts on athletic and undisciplined defenses. It counts on the opposing defense to follow misdirection with reckless abandon and to leave their responsibilities. They take advantage of over zealous DEs that over pursue and push past their containment, linebackers that run to far chasing a play only to have it come back at them, and corners and safeties that try to jump out routes to make picks (only to have the routes turned up field on them).

None of these breakdowns are common on the Buckeyes, as a matter of fact, their conservative and disciplined defensive play is exactly what this offense does not want to see. If Ohio State stops the run early and stays disciplined late, they could shut them out.

Florida has played athletic defenses, but they really have not played any disciplined athletic defenses. If the SEC can be stereo typed with speed, then I will also stereo type it with undisciplined individual based play on the defensive side. It seems to me that a lot of defensive players in the SEC are more concerned with making big individual plays than coming together to form a cohesive defensive unit.

[pup]

The best part of all this SEC Speed talk is it actually works in the Buckeyes favor. Florida truly believes they are faster and more athletic and when the Bucks show up and are just as fast and athletic, Florida will go into full meltdown mode.

[consigliere]

Wow. One half to go still, but this OSU defense was SEVERELY over-rated all year. It doesn't help that Florida has started 5 of their 7 drives of the first half on the Bucks side of the 50. Wow.

And, to top that off, the offense looks like dogshit. Why aren't we running the ball more? Florida's D-linbe is killing our o-line. And, Tressel actually lets his emotions get the best of him as he inexplicably goes for it on 4th and 1 on their own 29.

[consigliere]

I forgot to mention, I hate Florida. I really, really, really hate them now. Not only did they absolutely destroy our football team the other night, but two weeks prior they absolutely destroyed our basketball team. Men amongst boys is right.