SWAMP ALERT: The Letdown Factor, Injuries

As hard as it may be to find any chinks in the proverbial Gator armor following their 59-20 drubbing of the Vols this past Saturday afternoon, there are certain areas that must be improved to avoid a letdown in the weeks leading up to their showdown against LSU in Baton Rouge. 

First the good:

The young and inexperienced Gator defense that concerned me last week stepped up immensely and held the Volunteers to less than 300 yards of total offense. The Gators also forced three turnovers, including a Dustin Doe fumble recovery for a touchdown that sparked a second-half route.

The strength of the defense, as it has been all season, is the ability to stop the run. Tennessee had only 37 total rushing yards in the Swamp on Saturday; the third straight game in which the Gators have held their opponent to less than 53 yards rushing.

Not only did the defense step up in its first SEC test of the season, but the offense continued its methodical execution of the spread offense; posting at least 500 yards of total offense for the third game in a row.

Not to get lost in the shuffle of this impressive performance is the special teams play. Brandon James set the tone in the first quarter by running back an 83-yard punt return for a touchdown. Joey Ijjas was a perfect 8-for-8 on PATs (that’s right-8 PATs!) and added a 25-yard field goal in the fourth quarter for good measure.

The Gators played with a “Spurrier-esque” swagger on Saturday and forced Philip Fulmer to place those post-game calls to Krispy Kreme earlier than expected. But before Gator Nation starts buying plane tickets to New Orleans and Tim Tebow starts clearing out a place on his trophy case for Mr. Heisman, we need to step back and make sure that what we saw on Saturday wasn’t an aberration.  

The most concerning aspect of the Vol-uminous blowout is pretty simple: the opponent. How good is Tennessee? A one-armed quarterback and a host of underachieving upperclassmen doesn’t garner the prestige of an SEC powerhouse.

An experienced, battle-tested team appeared anything but that on Saturday afternoon. While senior quarterback Erik Ainge (who apparently isn’t as ambidextrous as he thought) was handing the ball to his running backs opposite handed, the receivers were dropping catchable passes left and right. Not to mention that the Vols had just been dominated by a Pac-10 team (albeit a good one in California) a week earlier. 

The question must be answered before anyone can appropriately assess the Gators success so far: How good are the Tennessee Vols?

Even though Florida’s defense only allowed 13 offensive points (Eric Berry’s interception return for a touchdown accounted for the other seven), Tennessee’s offense, running backs Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty in particular, seemed anemic on Saturday. Not to take anything away from a stellar performance by the defensive line, the defensive secondary still seems a little too damp behind the ears to compete with an offense like LSU.

So I wouldn’t put TOO much stock in the performance of the defense (especially the secondary) due to the seeming ineptitude and ineffectiveness of the Vols offense. With an injured quarterback and a lowered confidence, this Tennessee team was not deserving of a top 25 ranking; just as the 59-20 final score doesn’t guarantee Gator supremacy throughout the rest of the 2007 season. 

This weekend the Gators will be combating two opponents: the Ole Miss Rebels and the potential for a letdown. Florida should have no problem with the on-the-field opponent, as the Rebels are projected to finish at the bottom of the SEC West, but the intangible obstacle of avoiding an emotional letdown will be their biggest test in Oxford on Saturday.

 SWAMP ALERT Defcon: 0.5 out of 5

 Pertaining to: injuries to starting OL Maurkice Pouncey (ankle), CB Markhie Anderson (PCL), WR Andre Caldwell (MCL), and LB Jerimy Finch (leg)