Albert and Alberta in the Swamp (Florida Field). Image captured by Tampa Gator September 2004. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We win, they lose, Gator Nation!

That pretty much sums up how I feel. We are not the flashiest of team, but in Muschamp‘s era, it boils down to that statement. Arkansas comes to The Swamp in our first night game at home since 2011. Apparently, that is a big deal, although it is worth noting we just won a game last weekend in Lexington at night so I’m hoping most of our team recognizes that it is nice at night in The Swamp. Also we will be wearing all blue and the fans in a blue-out for the game. I’m not really big on gimmicks. Mainly we should just line up as we always do and knock the other team off the ball. We win, they lose. It’s not a hard concept to follow. Let’s talk some football…

Bret Bielema is the new coach for the Razorbacks coming by way of Wisconsin. It is interesting to note that Bielema was having great success at Wisconsin (a major Big Ten school) and was poised to be there for as long as he wanted. Yet decided to up and takeover a program that had moderate success in the SEC. He has transitioned the team from pass-happy…which is an understatement..during the Bobby Petrino days to run first and mostly always now. They run the ball 70%. I’m wondering if any of you see something familiar with this? The Razorback attack is led by Alex Collins who has 597 yards on the ground in five games against mostly porous defenses, but give this freshman his due. He lines up each game and gets the yardage. This will be the stiffest test the Gator D has had to date in terms of rushing attacks because they also have a sophomore Jonathan Williams who has 471 yard. There is no secret to Arkansas’ success this season. Passing will be a secondary and little used option, though it is worth noting that when they do pass they can be successful. Their QB, Brandon Allen, had 282 yards and 3 TDs against Texas A&M last week. That’d be impressive if everyone wasn’t doing the same against Texas A&M this season. Arky has a “line ’em and knock ’em down” approach they use. Still we win, they lose.

Our Gator D was impressive last week against UK in the face of losing Dominique Easley. His loss will be apparent at times, but you coach what you got and we seem to “got” quite a bit on D. I think it will be very unlikely that we stack the box to stop Arkansas’ rushing attack. It’s all about the guys who line up and penetrate into the opposition’s backfield which we do pretty well. We continue that trend and we force Arkansas into a passing attack that just begs for our secondary to come in and snatch a few. Speaking of our secondary….Vernon Hargreaves III (VH3 from now on) is everything as billed. A true freshman who earned a starting position, VH3 has 3 interceptions in 4 games for the Gators. Fewer and fewer passes are going to go his way this season, so if he makes any interceptions then you need to PAY ATTENTION because they were hard fought for him. I could write this entire post about him, but I won’t. He’s good and Loucheiz Purifoy and Marcus Roberson (both NFL talents) are now looking at him as the standard. I digress. Tyler Murphy is making the most of his playing time. Sometimes it’s good to be the 2-star backup with few expectations. He is careful with the ball, but he is also extremely relaxed in the pocket which seems to have relaxed the entire offense altogether. He doesn’t turn the ball over this game we win, they lose. We are going to hold the ball for 8 minutes a drive score in the 20’s and hold the opposition to as few points as possible. That’s the theme. We win, they lose…I’ve actually used this before…but it seems to be the best measure in the Muschamp grand scheme of things. Works for me. Florida 28 Arkansas 13. Game time is 7pm EST, 4pm PST on ESPN2. In the grand spirit of all things defense, I’m hoping for a VH3 interception and return for a TD because let’s face it, that’s the best kind of quick strike offense we have. Hoping for a Kelvin Taylor appearance as well. I’m joining my local Gator Club, like you should do, where a Gator Victory at night is best served with Gators! ‘Nuff said.

Go Gators!

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