Damn good. They were on the field about 15 minutes more than they should have been, due to lack of offense. Even the best defenses can get worn down. We did for three quarters, but Florida's big O-line were pushing our D-line off the ball late in the game. The time-of possession was the story of this game. This defense in #3 nationally in total defense and #8 in scoring defense. To beat it opponents will try to wear them down by keeping the inept offense on the sidelines.
Minter and Alexander played great games. Im really high on Alexander and Jones. Minter was an animal. Overall the DL showed up, they were dominant. UF didnt move the ball until LSU wore out. The injuries also caught up. Freak is big talent. We just need to move the ball to give them a break. UF played very physical and it eventually wore LSU out, as well as the injuries. There was much more bad than good. The O gets Fs all across the board. Coaching was a dud as well. No adjustments on O and the play calling was poor once again.
And Florida's D is ranked #6 in the NCAA in scoring D, #12 in total D, has faced much, much better offenses than we have, has more talent than we have, has more playmakers then we have, had more of their playmakers step up and make huge plays yesterday than we did, and was playing us in their house with our offense swamped with deafening crowd noise Florida's D has faced 2 of the best offenses in the country in Texas A&M and Tennessee (they are #8 and 20 in the nation in scoring offense and 12 and 17 in total O) Meanwhile, the LSU D has inflated stats, having faced nobody with any kind of offense.. we faced a Div2 team and scoring offenses ranked 97, 113, 118, and 119...and total offenses ranked 85 (North Texas), 109, 111, and 115
yes the defense is just fine, if they are on the field all day, then they will get tired and injuries hurt us too. The D played lights out for 3 quarters.
Because, ... FL DOES have a passing game. .. and we had to respect that. Really though ... Red hits it on the nail. You have to think our D gets just as hopeless as we do regarding our offense. It's like ... hell .. why stop them ... we'll just be back out here in about 2-3 minutes. It's all about momentum. Just look at the GA and AR games last year. Just a simple play that gave our players hope turned both of those games around. I think it is what we all miss about TM7 ... he was a playmaker, and could turn the momentum of the game. If our O would have come out and put together just one good drive in the 3rd quarter, the D would have been inspired, and we could have won the game. But as it was, our D was thinking just as we were .... "here comes another 3 and out". That's huge dude .... I mean huge.
Good: Defense is still very stout even they UF walked the field on them in the 2nd half with the run game. But I'll cut them some slack because they were on the field a lot and the UF run game gave our defense a dose of our own medicine. Metts looked good in the short passing game, with accurate passes. For the longer routes he still hangs onto the ball too long but he'll get better with that. He also did a good job recognizing bad coverage and getting the ball down field a couple of times. Bad: Offensive line is terriable with all the injuries. We are a run first team and we couldn't do it with this OL. Therefore lots of dead end drives. Pass protection isn't any better. Play calling was some of the worst I've seen. 1st run, 2nd pass, 3rd and long pass. There was absolutely no adjustment to play calling after seeing we can't run and have little time to pass. Didn't Les say they haven't even opened the play book last week? Well they didn't open it anymore this week. Ugly: Injuries at OL are killing us. The OL has problems. New plays need to be worked on to overcome this shortfall. Bubble screens, RB screens, roll outs, or something to help them out. Playing Big 10 run football isn't going to work right now.
This People really need to understand the youth at O'line now and how hard this is to play with in the SEC.
Three and outs kept our defense on the field. They hardly had time to sit down before they had to go back on the field. Then the injuries started. Three and outs, three and outs, three and outs and how about another three and out. If your offense can't do anything it gives their offense more confidence. They can try anything they want and if they screw up, not to worry, they'll be back on the field in 3 plays to try it again.
We could not get a TD with the TO at the 6. We run inside the 5 then throw on 2nd and 3rd. Have to settle for 3. Could have been 10-0 if we run it 3 times. The running TD for Florida came with a horrible holding penalty in front of the side judge who fails to call it. Should have been 10-3/7 at that point. OBJ hangs on to the ball and the WR doesnt kill the drive by covering the TE we may have two more scores. 16 or 20-3/7. Even if we give up the last TD we win 16 or 20-10. Or better yet give them both TD and we still win by at least 2. Point is mistakes are killing our offense. The type of stuff these guys are doing are DRIVE KILLERS. That leads to punts and no points, hence two feild goals the whole game.
