College Football News on Florida in their 2012 Preview: "Everything is in place for Florida to field a national title-caliber team...there are future NFL players across the board ready to come up with a whopper of a year...Muschamp is still considered a great head coaching prospect and he has a terrific staff in place...The pieces are all there...winning the (SEC) East is a must for a team with this much talent." Rankings: AP: LSU #4, Florida #10 USA Today: LSU #3, Florida #11 kickoff -- 2:30 pm Louisiana time, 3:30 pm Florida time (sun sets in Gainesville at 6:08 pm Louisiana time, 7:08 pm Florida time)
forat least the last 25 years, LSU hasn't won in the Swamp against a Florida team that finished with more than 8 wins... 2010 -- W 33-29 over an 8-5 Florida team that finished not ranked 2008 -- L 21-51 to a 13-1 Florida team that won the National Championship 2006 -- L 10-23 to a 13-1 Florida team that won the National Championship 2004 -- W 24-21 over a 7-5 Florida team that finished not ranked 2002 -- W 36-7 over an 8-5 Florida team that finished not ranked 2000 -- L 9-41 to a 10-3 Florida team that finished ranked #10 1998 -- L 10-22 to a 10-2 Florida team that finished ranked #5 1996 -- L 13-56 to a 12-1 Florida team that won the National Championship 1994 -- L 18-42 to a 10-2-1 Florida team that finished ranked #7 1992 -- L 21-28 to a 9-4 Florida team that finished ranked #10 1990 -- L 8-34 to a 9-2 Florida team that finished ranked #13 1988 -- L 6-19 to a 7-5 Florida team that finished not ranked
Florida's pass D is currently: --#5 in the NCAA (and #2 in the SEC behind Bama) in Pass Efficiency D, opposing QBs only have a 88.33 rating against them (using the NFL rating system, that would be a 53.0 rating that opposing QBs have against them) --#4 in the NCAA (and #2 in the SEC) in fewest yards allowed per pass with 4.8 --#3 in the NCAA (and #1 in the SEC) in fewest passing TDs allowed with 2 --opposing QBs are only completing 51.3% of their passes vs. Florida this season (Florida is #2 in the SEC in that regard) ...and all that is despite being heavily tested... Florida is #25 in the NCAA with most passes throw against them... and Florida has already faced 3 of the current Top 5 QBs in the SEC by passing ypg: Maxwell Smith, Johnny Manziel, Tyler Bray a look at the talent in Florida's secondary: CBs #5 Marcus Roberson (6-0, 184), SO -- returning starter --Rivals #2 CB, 4-star, #37 on the Rivals100 --ESPN #9 CB, 4-star, #112 on the ESPN150 --247 #10 CB, 4-star, #112 on the Top150 --offers to Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Florida State, Notre Dame, Auburn, Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Miami, Illinois, etc #15 Loucheiz Purifoy (6-1, 183), SO -- played in every game last year --Rivals #11 CB, 4-star, #147 on the Rivals150 --247 4-star, #186 on the Top200 --ESPN 4-star --offers to Bama, Florida, Auburn, Miami, etc reserves #14 Jaylen Watkins (6-0, 187), JR -- played in every game last year --Rivals #4 CB, 4-star, #47 on the Rivals100 --247 #4 CB, 4-star, #48 on the Top100 --ESPN #5 CB, 4-star, #50 on the ESPN100 --U.S. Army All-American --offers to Bama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee, etc #31 Cody Riggs (5-9, 179), JR -- returning starter --ESPN #7 CB, 4-star, #79 on the ESPN100 --Rivals #11 CB, 4-star, #127 on the Rivals100 --247 4-star, #209 on the Top100 --Under Armour All-American --offers to Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, etc Safeties #22 Matt Elam (5-10, 206), JR -- returning starter --ranked the #1 strong safety for the 2014 Draft by NFL Draft Scout --ESPN #2 S, 5-star, #9 on the ESPN100 --247 #1 S, 5-star, #15 on the Top100 --Rivals #2 S, 5-star, #25 on the Rivals100 --U.S. Army All-American, Parade All-American, EA Sports All-America, FL Gatorade Player of the Year, FL Mr. Football --offers to Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Tennessee, West Virginia, etc #9 Josh Evans (6-1, 199), SR -- returning starter --Rivals 4-star --ESPN 4-star --offers to Oklahoma, Nebraska, Penn State, Florida, Miami, West Virginia, etc reserves #26 De'Ante Saunders (5-8, 192), SO -- played in 12 of 13 games last year --ESPN #10 ATH, 4-star, #78 on the ESPN100 --Under Armour All-American --offers to Florida, Florida State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Clemson, etc #10 Valdez Showers (5-11, 198), RS FR --247 #13 S, 4-star, #179 on the Top200 --Scout #13 CB, 4-star --Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year --offers to Florida, Michigan, Michigan State, Auburn, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, etc
Oh how I've yearned to hear Danielson tell us how bad we suck all season. My prayer will be answered in under 24 hours.
i did see a couple quotes from him regarding the game: "The film doesn't lie," CBS college football analyst Gary Danielson said about Florida. "They're a tough football team." Gators sophomore QB Jeff Driskel "has probably been the surprise of the season so far in the SEC," said Danielson
article from a UF blog titled "Florida vs. LSU: Not a 'rivalry,' just the best rivalry of recent memory" ... and it covers every game from 2003 to 2011 http://www.alligatorarmy.com/2012/10/3/3449486/florida-vs-lsu-rivalry-history-jump-pass
and part of that can also be attributed to Florida's DL.... they have five 5-star recruits in the rotation... DE #2 Dominique Easley (6-2, 282), JR -- returning starter --2012 Preseason Third Team All-SEC by the Coaches --rated the #5 DT for the 2014 Draft by NFL Draft Scout --ESPN #1 DT, 5-star, #3 on the ESPN100 --247 #1 DT, 5-star, #4 on the Top100 --Rivals #2 DT, 5-star, #7 on the Rivals100 --offers to Florida, Georgia, Oregon, Miami, Michigan, Penn State, Tennessee, UCLA, etc #34 Lerentee McCray (6-2, 246), SR -- injured 4 games last year, but appeared in the other 9, starting 5 of them --ESPN #6 OLB, 4-star, #80 on the ESPN100 --Rivals #10 OLB, 4-star, #115 on the Rivals150 --U.S. Army All-American --offers to LSU, Florida, Florida State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Auburn, Clemson, Wisconsin, etc reserves #90 Jonathan Bullard (6-3, 271), FR --Rivals #1 SDE, 5-star, #6 on the Rivals100 --247 #2 SDE, 4-star, #30 on the Top100 --ESPN #4 DE, 4-star, #37 on the ESPN100 --U.S. Army All-American --offers to Bama, Florida, Ohio State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Auburn, Nebraska, Miami, Clemson, UNC, Cal, etc #6 Dante Fowler Jr. (6-3, 277), FR --247 #2 WDE, 5-star, #15 on the Top100 --Rivals #3 WDE, 5-star, #28 on the Rivals100 --ESPN #10 DE, 4-star, #71 on the ESPN100 --Under Armour All-American --offers to LSU, Southern Cal, Florida, Florida State, Oregon, Ohio State, Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, Miami, UNC, etc #91 Earl Okine (6-7, 272), SR -- played in every game last year --Rivals #11 WDE, 4-star --offers to Florida, Florida State, Virginia Tech, etc DT #73 Sharrif Floyd (6-3, 295), JR -- returning starter --2012 Preseason Second Team All-SEC by the Coaches --rated the #2 DT for the 2014 Draft by NFL Draft Scout --247 #1 SDE, 5-star, #3 on the Top100 --Rivals #1 DT, 5-star, #4 on the Rivals100 --ESPN #3 DT, 4-star, #25 on the ESPN100 --U.S. Army All-American, USA Today All-American, Parada All-American, EA Sports All-American --2010 Coaches’ Freshman All-SEC Team --offers to Southern Cal, UCLA, Florida, South Carolina, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Miami, UNC, etc #99 Omar Hunter (6-1, 305), SR -- played in every game last year --Rivals #2 DT, 5-star, #17 on the Rivals100 --ESPN #2 DT, 4-star, #37 on the ESPN100 --Under Armour All-American --2009 SEC All-Freshman team, 2009 CollegeFootballNews.com Second-Team Freshman All-American --offers to Southern Cal, Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, Michigan, Notre Dame, etc reserves #44 Leon Orr (6-5, 310), SO -- played in every game last year --ESPN #8 DT, 4-star, #81 on the ESPN100 --247 #8 DT, 4-star, #98 on the Top 100 --Rivals #11 DT, 4-star, #95 on the Rivals100 --Under Armour All-American --offers to Florida, Florida State, Miami, etc #4 Damien Jacobs (6-3, 310), JR --Rivals 4-star JUCO DT --247 #5 JUCO DT, #40 on the JUCO Top 40 --offers to Florida, Florida State, Miami, Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Miss State, etc
Les: "We are looking forward to playing a very quality Florida at The Swamp." "This is a very talented Florida team that is well coached by Will Muschamp," Miles said. "They are efficient on offense and they are going to come at you on defense. They have a talented defensive front that gets to the ball and pressures the offensive line." "It's always a challenge to go into The Swamp...and it will be no different this weekend."
