The Tennessee Volunteers smell blood in the swampy waters and are prepared to strike. They are trying and earn their first win over the Gators in the past decade and appear to have the squad to do so. Florida came apart at the seems and was unable to capitalize on a sloppy performance from Alabama two weeks ago, giving up a school record 645 yards on defense and failing to move the ball on offense in a complete team loss.
The past two weeks have been spent answering questions about the Quarterback position, the capability of this offense and the job security of its head coach. The Gators locker room could be losing focus, becoming divided, or even just losing confidence in themselves as they continue to struggle.
Meanwhile, Coach Butch Jones is building some serious momentum at his program. He brought his team into Norman early in the season for a serious coming of age game against the fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. Building upon that experience tand, the Volunteers went into No. 13 Georgia last week and nearly came away with a huge SEC win. They have faced some tough competition already this season–haven’t backed down–and have emerged as a better team ready to take down their SEC East foe.
Let’s see how it breaks down at each position.
Florida vs Tennessee
QUARTERBACK: Tennessee. Questions have been swirling around the Quarterback position for the Gators the past two weeks following another struggle by Jeff Driskel and this offense against a quality opponent. Driskel is in his fourth year and appears to be regressing in his third system in four years. He threw for only 93 yards on 9-of-28 passing and two interceptions against Alabama. There are grumblings for true freshmen Treon Harris, but he’s probably not ready yet. He’s learning this offense from scratch too. They need to stick with Driskel until they at least drop one more, but the way he has played this season, that could come this week to a superior quarterback in Tennessee’s Justin Worley. Worley is completing 60 percent of his balls for just under 1,000 yards with a 3:1 TD to INT radio against good competition. He will be able to find the open guy and exploid the Gators secondary if they aren’t vastly improved from a few weeks ago. His experience and progression at the position gives the Vols the big edge.
RUNNING BACK: Florida. The Gators came into this season with a three-headed monster at the running back position with Matt Jones, Kelvin Taylor and Mack Brown. Matt Jones has shown that he has expanded his game and become a much more physical running back. He can get the tough yards and carry the load better than in years past. The Gators are lucky to have stayed healthy thus far at the position and can sprinkle in the other backs to stay fresh. However, they have struggled to get the run game going consistently primarily thanks to a shaky offensive line. The Gators are fully capable at the position if they can get the blocking necessary. Florida has dominated the ground game during this nine game winning streak and will need to do so against Saturday to come away with a victory. The Vols are carried by Jalen Hurd, who is averaging 4.6 yards a rush. Marlin Lane has seen action as his backup and has been effective with his carries. The duo will need to step up against a strong Gator front. The Gators have the slight edge in talent, but get the nod because of their depth at the position.
WIDE RECEIVER/TIGHT END: Tennessee. Florida thought they had an emerging star on their hands in Demarcus Robinson when the junior WR caught 15 balls for 216 yards in a triple overtime win against Kentucky, but then he only hauled in two catches for 14 yards with a couple critical drops against Alabama. He may still be a star, but he will need to step up against this Tennessee secondary, because Florida has little else. Senior Quinton Dunbar is a sure hand, but has yet to break out with a big game and only has 8 catches on the young season. Thanks to an injury to starting tight end Jack McGee, the Gators have very little depth at tight end behind Clay Burton. Tennessee on the other hand distributes the ball very well with five guys with double-digit catches and three other guys with at least seven receptions on the year. They can distribute the ball to a lot of guys and give the Gators a ton of looks on offense. It will be tough for the Gators secondary and linebackers to match up. Plus, they will have to try and communicate among a hostile Tennessee crowd. The Vols have the clear edge at this position thanks to Marquez North, Pig Howard, Josh Smith and others.
OFFENSIVE LINE: Tennessee. The Gators have struggled with a patch-work offensive line through three games this season, but are expected to get D.J. Humphries back this week against the Vols. That should help sure up the pass protection a bit, but the Gators may struggle to move the ball on the ground. The team that wins the ground game usually wins the game, so that’s not a good sign for the Gators. This unit relies too much on their starters and they don’t have enough guys to come in and provide a rest when necessary. That could be their downfall in this game. Tennessee is young up front, but has played pretty well. Their pass protection has allowed Worley to do damage through the air. They are looking to improve on their run game in this one.
FRONT SEVEN: Florida. The Gators are anchored by future first round NFL draft pick Dante Fowler on a talented defensive line. He has been in the backfield almost at will so far this season and could provide fits for the Tennessee offensive line. The Gators have also gotten strong linebacker play out of Antonio Morrison and Neiron Ball. Ball has been the breakout performer of this defense through three games and is someone who can change the game with a big play. The Vols are extremely young up front on defense, but have gotten valuable experience in their early season big games. They will be up for the challenge of stopping the Gator run game and trying to force Driskel into key mistakes.
SECONDARY: Tennessee. The Gators have tons of questions in their secondary. A largely young unit has been torched through the air for more big plays than any Florida team in recent memory. Vernon Hargreaves III is an All-American candidate, but has been tested at times this year and can’t do it alone. Other guys need to step up and start to grow up while taking their lumps in SEC play. Freshmen Duke Dawson and Jalen Tabor have been thrust into early playing time and need to come up big while veterans Jabari Gorman, Brian Poole and Keanu Neal need to lead by example and step up their level of play. The talent is there, but until they prove it this secondary is loaded with questions. The Vols will turn to Cameron Sutton and Justin Coleman to anchor a secondary looking to contain a rattled Jeff Driskel. They will give him lots of different looks and try to force him into mistakes.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Florida. Florida punter Kyle Christy may be the best at his position in all of the country. He has consistently been booting the ball 60-plus yards, starting the opposition inside their 20, and completely changing field position. He will be big in this one. The field goal kicking has been improved this year thanks to Frankie Velez, who has likely earned the full-time job. Debose and Showers are speedy and dangerous return men who will have to be accounted for at all times by the Vols. Tennessee will be looking to avoid any mistakes in this area of the game, which has hurt them greatly in the past.
MATCH-UP TO WATCH: Gator Secondary vs. the Tennessee passing game. The Florida secondary was suppose to be one of their strengths heading into this season. Despite the youth, they are loaded with talent. The performance hasn’t been there and they have been torched by both Kentucky and Alabama in their last two games. They contributed to a school worst 645 yards allowed to the Crimson Tide and have had two weeks to prepare for this Tennessee passing game. On the flip side, Justin Worley and the Vols have shown they have a fully capable and strong passing attack. He will be looking to get the ball to Marquez North, Pig Howard, Josh Smith, Ethan Wolf and Josh Malone among others. The Gators secondary will have to be much better to be able to cover all of the Vol weapons on offense.
OVERALL ADVANTAGE: Tennessee. Although they have lost nine straight in the series, it seems that all of the momentum is on the Volunteer sideline. Florida came apart at the seems two weeks ago and have spent the time since answering quarterback and offensive questions. The coach seems to be very worried about his hot seat and his head can’t be 100 percent in the game. Meanwhile, Tennessee has already played Oklahoma and Georgia this season and won’t be intimidated by the Gators at all.
Florida loses their early season, still working out the kinks, advantage they use to have when this game was played the third week of the season. They can’t rely on a late game punt return, blocked kick, or some other big play to separate themselves late. They are going to have to come out and play much better football than they have so far in 2014 to have a chance to win this one. Tennessee took Georgia to the limit between the hedges last week, and Neyland Stadium will be rocking this Saturday when it’s checkered Orange and White. The Volunteers are ready and they think this is the year they finally make this rivalry competitive again.
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