I have been thinking about this game a lot. What we all can assume is that UF is going to load the box and make Mett beat them, but IMO, this wont be the battle we need to win. I know Miles and I know our strengths. We are going to win this game b/c we will forcefully run the ball right up the middle. This will lead to Mett air time IMO. UF has a baller secondary and I cannot for the life of me think that Miles will stray away from a run game that averages over 200 Yards for the better part of 2 years now. Anyone have any thoughts on it?
Googled it, and found an article saying he may be back for the LSU game. UF has a bye this weekend. If he's out, I'd run a bunch too.
My thought is there is no way they score more than 17 points. If we can muster 20, it should be enough to win, and I think we can surpass that. I think we learned a good bit about what works and what doesn't with Mett on Saturday. If we can give him a little time, he can put the ball on the money. Rolling him out does not work. After rewatching the game last night, I realized that we chipped with the RBs a little more than I first thought, and when we did, Mett made some good throws. The coverage was tight, though, and they got broken up. The WRs have to step it up, and the OL needs to protect without help from the RBs. Otherwise the receivers are outnumbered in coverage. I felt like we strayed from what was working Saturday. Ford and Ware were both averaging 5 ypc, and I thought we should have kept giving to them, mixing in a few 1st down throws. I agree, I think we will get back to the usual formula of pound, pound, pound, and I think it will work.
UF's offense stats to date http://www.cfbstats.com/2012/team/235/total/index.html LSU's offense stats to date http://www.cfbstats.com/2012/team/365/total/index.html Florida - 1630 Tot yds - 4 games LSU - 1768 Tot yds - 4 games Florida Opponents - 1220 Tot yds - 4 games LSU Opponents - 798 Tot yds - 4 games One thing I noticed watching the UF/KY game is that about 3 of Driskell's passes should have been picked, and I'm almost certain would have been against our defense. I feel good about THAT part of the game. Offense on the road in The Swamp? I dunno.
I think we will run the ball .. but unless our O-line learns some pass protection, I don't think our running it up the middle will lead to any Mett air time. FL will also have two weeks to prepare .. and they will be at home. If the AU game is any indication .. I think we will be in for a fight. If our D can hold up as they have, I think we'll come away with the win. But if we couldn't run on AU [just 182 yrds, Clemson put up 320 on them] .. we damn sure won't do much better with FL. Miles is going to have to get teams to unstack the box. .. otherwise, they are just doing to go man coverage, prevent the run, and go for the sack.
I look at it like this: We should have scored 20 Saturday, even with as poorly as we played. Score the TD instead of the safety, and don't miss the easy FG, and it's 20-10 without really changing the way we played the game. I know those things happen, and that's part of football, but I think it's highly unlikely that it happens again. Do you think they can score more than 17 on our defense?
Last year we led MSU barely heading into the 4th, and only won by 13. AU beat MSU last year, but barely. We destroyed AU. We destroyed UF. We destroyed, well, everyone else after MSU. Sometimes it's just tough facing a team on the road in the first SEC game of the season. Just like last year against MSU was tough. But one game doesn't determine the way a season goes. It's VERY common for LSU to struggle in it's first SEC competition. Remember, AU had already faced a very good Clemson team and already had their first SEC road game against MSU. I think a lot of fans and media are WAY overreacting to the AU game.
I don't think their offense can. I'd like to see us clean up the TOs, though. If we fumble on OUR one yd line, that could be an easy score. If we throw that bubble screen that travels 35 yds in the air against a better defense, that might go for 6 the other way. Anything can happen.
