If Wazzu gets the miracle win against stanford, we sure as hell better break into the top 25. Although, i am still in the camp that our close loss to auburn and win against usc had just as much to do with those two teams being down as it does to wsu improvement. Dont get me wrong, the cougs have made huge strides, but i dont see 8 wins on our schedule. Even with our defense being a really good defense and surprisingly, what is carrying us thus far.
I just saw where LSU has played 14 true freshmen this year. To look as good as they have so far and to play that many freshmen is pretty impressive.
I doubt they have played that many in key roles when the game was in doubt. We'll see a lot about them this Saturday. I'm not convinced their offense is a world beater just yet.
I'm hopin that at Ga and at MissSt in successive weeks will wear these Tigers out by the time Florida arrvives in Baton Rouge on the 12th. In the meantime UF goes to hapless Ky this week and then catches a down Arkansas in Gainesville..... advantage Florida. Defense and ball control has a way of pulling games out sometimes so I will watch UF-LSU thinking we have a chance. TOP vs. Tenn was 39 to 21 UF. Hard to score when you don't have the ball.
The Vols have also played 14 true freshmen this year and between true and RS they have played 22 freshmen. No doubt it Butch Jones wants to get them experience this year and hope that by the end of the year that they are starting to get it and turn the corner for the Vols.
Interesting that against Miami the TOP was also 39-21 in UF's favor. Heck if UF would have turned the ball over in the redzone against Tenn like they did vs. the Canes I think the Vols could have beaten Florida. UF's defense is 2nd in the nation in total defense.... giving up only 212 ypg. Taking away 2 TOs by the UF offense ( one for a score vs. UT and one on about the 5 yard line vs. Miami ) the UF defense has given up 6, 14 and 10 points in it's three games. If the offense could ever catch up a little and not turn the ball over the Gators could be dangerous. But this is an offensive world in CFB today and it seems like Muschamp is stuck on trying to beat quality teams like he did Miles and LSU last year.... 14-6. That kind of stuff hasn't been happening for over 20 years and even Bama with their great defense has been very efficient offensively under Saban.
Longhorns have the week off to get rested and ready for the prelim to OU a trip to Iowa State....but here's a photo essay on the revamped Cotton Bowl. Too bad Dallas took so long to spruce up the old gal, maybe they would have kept the "Cotton Bowl" Game instead of losing it to Jerry's World. Now it's HS football, Texas/OU and some insignifcant bowl game in Dec. Cotton Bowl
MCG, What Alabama's defense did for us was it allowed our offense to be good, or bad. In some years all we really asked of our offense to do was to not turn the ball over. We have had a run of great running backs that could burn the clock, score a little and not fumble. McCarron has given our offense more punch but that has actually been a luxury. Now that is in the past...this year we are going to need to throw more I think. As for Florida, the question is: is your defense good enough to cover bad games from your offense? Can your offense eliminate the turnovers? :?:
I know Muschamp coached with Saban....under Saban..... so maybe he is embracing the same sort of strategy. Muschamp certainly does recruit top notch defensive talent and coaches it up pretty well also. I think if he could learn to keep his nose out of the offense we would fare better though I do think UF could/would/will win a lot of games if the offense can just protect the ball better. Maybe Driskel has that as a weakness.... a critical weakness. Definitely his early game TD pick to Louisville set the tone for that game and the INts and TOs vs. Miami and then Georgia last year were critical in those losses as well.
Here is what I like about this season so far: "The Gators rank No. 1 in the SEC in a whopping seven defensive categories: total defense (212.3 yards a game), yards per play (3.88, scoring defense (14.7), rushing defense (55.3), passing defense (157.0), pass efficiency defense (82.9 percent), third-down conversions (18.9 percent) and first downs allowed (11.3 a game). They rank No. 2 in the nation in total defense. Despite all those lofty statistics, Muschamp and the Gators say there is room for improvement."
MCG - amazing that WSU's defense is about as good as Florida's at this point, with both teams having played a non-con against another AQ conference (yours ACC, mine SEC), one conference game (yours TN, mine USC), and patsies (yours MAC, mine MWC and FCS). Here's the breakdown: Code: <i> </i>Category WSU Florida Total Defense #10, 264.8 ypg #2, 212.3 ypg Yards per play #10, 3.97 ypp #8, 3.88 ypp Scoring Defense #8, 10.0 ppg #19, 14.7 ppg Rushing Defense #54, 146.5 ypg #1, 55.3 ypg Passing Defense #2, 118.3 ypg #15, 157.0 ypg Pass eff. Defense #15, 92.43% #3, 82.95% Red zone defense #15, 0.667 #58, 0.800 3rd down convers #13, 0.267 #1, 0.189 1st downs allowed #40, 15.0 per game #1, 11.3 per game My rush D could use some work, just like yoru pass D. Whoda ever put Florida and WSU Defenses in the same sentence before? Is this the beginning of the end of the perception that only the SEC plays defense? That perception should have gone away years ago, when the talking heads pointed out how many points the high-octane offenses were putting up against the PAC defenses, but now that the SEC has adopted modern offenses, we're seeing the same thing against their defenses. Food for thought.
Interesting Kesley. Actually UF's scoring defense is a little better than indicated because of offensive TOs giving the other team points and that would make the two pretty close in that category as well. I think having a great defense is better than having a great offense if you had to choose between the two. A great D can propel a team to a win in every game they play but a great offense/poor defense doesn't usually work vs. the very best teams IMHO.