Saturday, October 10, 2009
In this era of wide open offenses, high scoring games and spread offenses, the top ranked University of Florida football team went old school to defeat LSU Saturday night in Baton Rouge.
The Gators weren't wearing leather helmets but they might as well have been as they win this game with a rock solid defensive effort and a bruising, grind it out rushing attack that dominated time of possession while keeping LSU's offense off the field as the Tigers ran only 47 plays on the night while Florida ran 64.
I believed going into this game that Florida had an advantage on LSU on both lines of scrimmage and it turned out to be true as both of Florida's lines did superb jobs against the fronts of LSU.
All week long on our "Sportscene" radio show we also spoke of this game being laid at the feet of the Gator defense and that group responded big time. LSU was held to only 162 yards of total offense and it sacked LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson four times.
Senior Brandon Spikes, the leader of the defense as Tim Tebow is for the offense, came through with 11 tackles and two and a half sacks as the defense completely throttled LSU's offensive attack. Fellow linebacker A.J. Jones added 10 tackles and Spikes says everyone on defense is contributing.
"We don't listen to all the hype," (about the defense) Spikes said. "We just come out and play together and as a team and a defense and you know when the whole unit is flying around relentless and just making plays it's a lot of fun out there."
And how about Tebow. Medically cleared to play on the day of the game, he didn't put up great numbers but did lead his team to a win, throwing a touchdown pass while carrying the ball a Tebow-like 17 times. Gator coach Urban Meyer loved his effort.
"He's unique," Meyer said. "He's a once in a lifetime type player and we're very blessed to have him be part of the team; his effort was tremendous and his toughness was tremendous and offensively execution wise we can get a little better but we're awful proud of these guys."
It's true that the offense wasn't electric most of the night but the game plan for Florida was a conservative one and it worked. It relied heavily on its running game and its defense and won the game, beating a good but not great LSU team. Florida dominated time of possession, keeping it for 36:30 to only 23:30 for LSU.
With its vertical passing game almost non existent and a quarterback that didn't take a hit for two weeks because of his concussion, the Gator passing attack may still be a work in progress. But who cares? What I love about this team is that it seems to have an instinct to know what it must do each week to win a game. It doesn't care about blowouts, statistics or who gets the glory, the team just goes out and wins and does what it takes to win that week's game.
Next up is Homecoming and a very dangerous Arkansas offensive team led by a very good quarterback In Ryan Mallet. The Gators cannot afford to savor this win for long but this win was a big one. Beating LSU in Baton Rouge is never easy but Florida got the job done.
And this week will certainly be a lot more normal. No more drama about Tebow playing and full concentration can be placed on getting ready for Arkansas. Hopefully, it will be a happy Homecoming!