Friday Five: Florida Week
The University of Florida Gators roll into Tampa this week to meet the University of South Florida Bulls in just the second matchup in either programs history. The Bulls will try to move past their shutout loss in the road opener to NC State, while the Gators will prioritize getting out with an easy win and without injury, focused more on their next opponent, Alabama. The Bulls are close to a 30 point underdog in this matchup and the Gators could easily score more. Upsets happen every day, and there’s a few ways that USF could pull one off on Saturday.
1. Slow down the run. Ideally, this would be stop the run, but the Gators put up 400 rushing yards against FAU and the Bulls really struggled to stop the run in week one. So, just limiting the Gators to half of their last game totals would be big for the Bull, because Florida hasn’t thrown the ball much.
2. Find the interceptions. Gators’ quarterback, Emory Jones threw two picks against FAU, but just one touchdown. Anthony Richardson didn’t throw a pick, but he attempted just eight passes in the game. The Bulls can find themselves with the advantage in the turnover margin if they are looking for those sloppy passes that are begging to be taken away. A few extra possessions could keep USF in the game late, which is where they will need to be for a win.
3. Keep the game close. The coaching staff has really struggled to find ways to keep the Bulls in the game when the offense isn’t clicking. The defense seems to be demoralized quickly and it seems to affect their play. This turns into a cycle that feeds itself, allowing what might be a reasonably close game to turn into a blowout. If USF can stay within two touchdowns by halftime, they will have a chance to win the game in the second half, even if the offense is still struggling, by virtue of non-typical scores, like pick sixes, kick returns, and fumble returns for touchdowns. Florida is the better team on paper, but their opener exposed some flaws. If the game is close, the Bulls will be in a position to capitalize on those flaws to possibly win the game.
4. Protect the quarterback. USF will star Cade Fortin at quarterback, but the coaches have already said to expect a lot of Timmy McClain. In either case, the offensive line needs to hold. The Gators had six sacks in their last game, and even established quarterbacks will struggle with that much physical attention. Keep the quarterbacks on their feet and take that advantage away from Florida.
5. Stop big plays from developing. In the opener, the Bulls gave up nine plays of ten yards or more, accounting for 198 yards of Wolfpack offense. Three of those plays resulted in touchdowns and five of those plays were for gains of 20 yards or more. That’s too big of a hole left by the defense, even if the offense had been successful. They simply need to call better plays to keep the USF defense where it needs to be and execute to prevent big plays from happening.