We saw this exact same gameplan from South Carolina. The goal for them was not to win, it was to keep their offense on the field and just grind out the clock to limit how much time our offense could have the ball. That wears our defense down and then we can't get stops.
That is essentially the blueprint on how to beat us. I hate to say it but the Will Muschamp philosphy of coaching a team is the one way you beat Florida. Texas A&M did the same thing too, long sustained drives and we could NOT get them off of the field.
We have done a terrible job in taking opposing teams out of their gameplan in the fist half this year. We basically let them dictate that first half, and it seems to be the same each weekend. Come halftime we make adjustments and overall the defense has performed much better in 2nd halves. Get up by 2 scores and get a stop on KY to start the 3rd quarter, and that completely took them out of their run first gameplan because they were then forced to start throwing to try to catch up which isn't their strong suit. Then you're in a track meet with Florida which you will lose. We need to get them off of their grind it out gameplans sooner in the games.
And I absolutely DO NOT AGREE with Dan Mullen pulling the plug on the offense at the start of the 4th quarter and going all conservative run-the-clock-out mode. We need to be using those 4th quarters to prepare for Alabama. Going into drain the clock offense doesn't help us one bit at all prepare for The SEC Championship game. No Gator here can ever forget the choke at doak for that matter.
Thinking outside the box for Bama.
Do we all agree our defense is going to get run over by Bama? That we will likely go into a deep, keep everything in front of us style which will let them run play after play until our defense is exhausted (and they will STILL get some big plays?)?
We need to consider going for it on fourth down (except inside field goal range) and onside kicking after every score.
Think about it. What's the point of field position if you can't stop the other guys? It just keeps the ball out of your offense's hands and gets your defense exhausted being out there all game. I'd like to see us try to keep every drive going and steal some possessions with the onside kicks. Short fields don't bother me, in fact, it would put more pressure on them, they wouldn't have the option of running a 15 play drive, and if they start on our 30 we don't have to worry about them throwing it 50 yards downfield. Get a few stops deep in our own territory, they will kick field goals, and it's more likely we get stops deep if our guys aren't worn down from a long drive.
I would kick field goals because if we don't get it on 4th down then we are giving our defense a long field, don't want that, plus by scoring we can try an onsides again.
Their defense isn't great either, I'd love to be 44-42 after 3 quarters and have their defense bent over grabbing their shorts while ours is fresh.
This is against everything football is about, but heck, it's an upside down season anyway, why not play upside down football?
