In this episode of Locked On Gators, host Brandon Olsen breaks down the pivotal matchup between the Florida Gators and the Mississippi State Bulldogs this weekend. With the Gators facing a must-win situation, Brandon emphasizes the urgency for the team to turn things around after a challenging start to the season. He analyzes key factors that could determine the outcome of the game, including the performance of the offensive line, the effectiveness of the running game, and the critical role that quarterback DJ Lagway will play in leading the offense. Brandon also discusses the defensive matchups, highlighting how the Gators can exploit Mississippi State's weaknesses while tightening their own defensive strategies to prevent big plays. Additionally, he reflects on the stakes for head coach Billy Napier and what a win could mean for his job security and the morale of the team moving forward. With insights and predictions, this episode is essential listening for Gators fans eager to understand the implications of this crucial game and what it could mean for the rest of the season.
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Florida Gators, Billy Napier Approaching Must-Win Game Against Mississippi State Bulldogs
(upbeat music) - It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. - Okay, you can do this. - I know, I know. Karvana makes it so convenient to sell your car. It's just hard to let go. My car and I have been through so much together. - But look, you already have a great offer from Karvana. That was fast. - Well, I know my lessons played in been my heart and those questions were easy. - You're almost there, now to just accept the offer and schedule a pick up or drop off. - How'd you do it? How were you so strong in letting go of your car? - Well, I already made up my mind and Karvana's so easy. - Oh yeah, true. And sold. - Go to Karvana.com to sell your car the convenient way. - As embarrassing as it may be, the Florida Gators have a must-wing game this weekend against Mississippi State. (upbeat music) - You are locked on Gators, your daily podcast on the Florida Gators, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. - Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Locked On Gators, part of the Locked On Podcast, a network of your team every day. Thanks for making Locked On Gators, your first listen of the day, every day. We are available daily and free reviews in the podcast. And on YouTube, happy Friday. I'm Brandon Olson, finally on Twitter at WNS_brand. And now through September 22nd, all Fandal customers can get $5 and get a three-week free trial from NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit Fandal.com to get started. And like I said, the Florida Gators are embarrassingly enough in a must-wing game tomorrow against Mississippi State. Right now, both of these seems you're thought of as worse than Vanderbilt. Right now, both of these seem to the other of us, you know, this is not understandable, right? The worst teams in the SEC right now from the public perception, from a lot of people's opinions, that's where they're at. And for Florida, with Billy Napier as the head coach, we've talked about this quite a bit recently, of the run game has been just bad so far. It's been very underwhelming. We feel like, and I think most people recognize that where it feels like there's not really any sort of consistency. There's not any push. This is the team that right now is better at throwing the football than running the football. They're better at pass blocking right now than they are at run blocking. It's ugly, right? Florida's just been put on offense. They've just fallen flat offensively. They have the third worst rushing offense in the SEC right now, which is especially embarrassing considering they're supposed to be good at that, right? Like that, that's what they're supposed to be good at. That's what a Billy Napier led offense is supposed to be good at running the football and they're not good at it at all. It's ugly right now. And yeah, I think that things will get better, but for now, it's tough. Luckily for them, they are facing a Mississippi state team that has the only run defense in the SEC that's worse than Florida's. Not a great feeling, right? But they're the only run defense that's worse than Florida's. They're allowing 214 rushing yards per game. Florida's allowing 171, so it's a large gap there. I don't know why Mississippi state is insisting on doing this, but they come out in these three, three stacks or broken stacks, defense, so three down linemen just straight up. There's not like Ed Drushers lining up, not every time, but they come out in those three, three fronts and it leaves them really light in the box because even if you have a three, three, and there's the three linebackers behind them, that's still really light when you consider that offensive alignment are coming downhill with them. That tight ends are coming downhill with them. Players considerably larger than them are coming downhill with them. I mean, I know that we've talked a lot about just, I mean, in Twitter spaces and everything, we've talked a lot about, yeah, Toledo. This is a Mississippi state team that lost to Toledo, which, you know, everybody knows. If you're watching this on YouTube, you can see Toledo helmet above me, Toledo tattoo. If you listen, I went to Toledo. This is a team that just lost to Toledo. Running football was somewhat successful for Toledo, not as successful as it was for Arizona State two weeks ago, but this is a team that defensively hasn't been able to stop anybody really. But you look at the Toledo game, Toledo just killed them at the underneath passing attack. That's what they did. This year, they're more of a passing team. They went, okay, Mississippi State comes out in this three, three stack. There's three safeties over top sometimes. They're going to come out in that and they're going to play soft coverage. It's a thing I can't really explain. Like, I don't know what Mississippi State's defense is doing right now, but I know that they have the worst run defense in the SEC. I know that against Arizona State, they missed I think it was 25 tackles. They've given up yards after contact consistently. They've missed tackles consistently and had broken tackles consistently. This is a Mississippi State defense. Right now, it's just really bad. So for a Florida offense that's been struggling in the trenches, especially where their run game has not been able to get going at all. This is the get right game, right? Like, we've talked about it before. We talked about the Texas A&M game where we said, you know, if Florida's pass rush doesn't get going against Texas A&M, they're probably not going to get going at all because they weren't good against Miami. They weren't bad good against Samford and they weren't good against Texas A&M. But going into the Texas A&M game it was, you know, if their pass rush doesn't get going, probably not going to this year. Both teams, by the way, both Texas A&M and Florida, that was the approach going into it. Said that about welcome to say that if your pass rush doesn't get going, it's probably not going to because there's a difference between going, oh, they're off to a slow start and they're just not good at this. And so for Florida, I think that this is a game where if your run defenses or if your run blocking is going to get going, if your running game is going to get going, it probably has to be this game or it's not going to happen. Because again, this is a Mississippi State team that gave up 250 plus Russian yards to Scadibo with Arizona State. This is a Mississippi State team that comes out with really light boxes and comes out with just straight up three defensive linemen. Like, it's not even like, oh, yeah, a light box, three defensive linemen, an edge rusher and an off-ball linebacker, no. It's just straight up three defensive linemen, two linebackers sometimes, sometimes three. You got to be able to just move down field. I'm not saying, you know, oh, yeah, 40 yard rushes all the time. But this can't be a game where you go. Yeah, they averaged three yards per carry, three and a half yards per carry. It was gritty. It was, what's it saying? Three yards and a cloud of dust. It can't be that kind of football. You need to be able to pick up pretty consistent five yard gains here because that's what you're facing. And if you cannot do that, then you should accept, hey, our run game is just not going to get, like, if you're on the coaching staff, you have to accept our run game is just not going to get going unless we make a change at offensive line running back or quarterback. That's that quarterback, I say, because, of course, as we've talked about before, when DJ Lagway comes in, the running game opens up. It's the same thing with 2022 Anthony Richardson. When he was on the field, the running game opened up because of his threat to keep the ball and run. And so defenses have to, basically, they have to commit a defender to him. And that makes your run game work better. You've got more blockers, you've got more numbers, less defenders to make a play there. It improves your team, right? And if they don't commit that defender, then you take off running. But Graham, you don't have that threat with DJ Lagway, you would. But, I mean, this is just a game run. And then it's tough because I feel like even though this is a game, I think Florida should win. I'm not talking about it as if they will, because I am struggling thinking about it. I still haven't officially made my decision, which we're going to talk about in the third segment about what I think is going to happen with who's winning. But I honestly, at this point, have not yet decided where I stand. We are going to talk about the Florida Gators defense against Mississippi State offense next on lockdown Gators. With passion, drive, and patience, that's the formula for winning championships. And it's also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors says everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance with superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more, whether you're into speed, power, or style eBay Motors as you covered. 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And the Florida Gator's defense against Mississippi State offense is something that also throws me for a loop. It's weird to be in a spot where it's week four. Florida's played two power four opponents so far. And I still don't know truly what we're looking at here. Because when I look at last year, go back to the 2023 season with me for just a little bit. It was what? Fourth or fifth game of the season. Florida's going into that game against Tennessee. And a lot of people are talking about it as, oh, Tennessee's going to destroy Florida. You know, like, like Florida's a phony team there. Utah crushed them. All that stuff, right? And then they went out there and defensively they just put clamps on Tennessee. Tennessee's offense was shut down entirely by Florida last year. And it was a Florida Gator's defense. And pretty much after that game, it fell off a cliff production-wise. It was horrible. But when we look at this game, that offense isn't exactly Tennessee style, but pretty dang similar. It is a stylistically it's pretty similar. It's that that Braille spread system, right? Jeff Levy's father-in-law is our braille's. It's the Braille spread system. That's where he gets it, where they spread you out. They just demolish the margins and the hashes and they make this field really wide, truly make you defend every blade of grass. And then they run the ball. And they go up tempo. And when they throw the ball, they try to get rid of it quick or take a deep shot. It's that Braille spread system. It truly is. Now, you watch against Mississippi State or any other games. They go up tempo a lot. That's what they're going to do. But when you look at this, this Mississippi State team, it is pretty similar to watching Tennessee. You get that same feel when you're watching it. So that's what makes you think, I don't know if the Florida Gator's defense will do the same thing because don't forget last year, it was Austin Armstrong calling plays and running the defense. And this year, it's Ron Roberts, no matter how much it shouldn't be. But that's what it is. And so while we saw last year, Austin Armstrong put Tennessee's offense in a box. Are they going to take a similar approach? I don't know. You look at that Tennessee game. And this is the one time where I will really say they did a good job of attacking with their scheme and taking out the opposing offenses team, or the opposing officer scheme was when they would have whoever the edge defender was, his you'd see a lot of running back go in motion out wide. Whatever edge defenders on that side would go with the running back. And so Princely was out there a lot, just essentially playing slot corner at sometimes. And so Princely was out there a lot, but it made sense because you had a bigger body there to then step the run, make a play there, make a stop, whatever it may be. It's just, I don't know if they're going to do that this year. I feel like they should, because even against Miami, we saw TJ Circe and George Gums lining up its slot corner, like off ball, slot corner, just backed up completely and plan drop eight coverage. I feel like you can then look at that and say, okay, well, they're willing to put these guys out in the slot, basically, and allow them to play there. I don't know if they will do it. It's also interesting because Mississippi State plays 12 personnel. Like you watch, again, watch the game in, you can watch first or second drive, Mississippi State does it, where they come out in 12 personnel and it's QB out of the gun running back off set. And both titans are attached to the line of scrimmage. It's not like ones in the slot ones I want. They're both attached to the line of scrimmage as on the wing there, right? And then you've got a receiver all the way out to the right, and you've got a receiver all the way out to the left. And that's the spread, right? Like they've got a condensed box there, but they've also got receivers all the way out wide so you have to defend everything and it gives you a lot of room to work with. And they'll come in there and they'll run counter and they'll run power and those things are terrifying because if there's a pulling guard, I assume Florida's not going to stop them, but they will spread you out as much as they can and try to just run the ball. But it's 12 personnel. They're still going heavy. So I'm curious when you see that 12 personnel, will Florida still motion an edge guy out? Because now you're making the box lighter. And if they're running and attacking, you're making the box lighter. You're making their job easier to run the football there. If you're sending an edge or throughout, I don't know if maybe you go, hey, our nickel is going to follow one of the tight ends or the safety, depending on what side they're on. An off ball linebacker, I really don't know what the approach would be there. But I'm very interested in seeing how Florida comes out and defends this offense. Because it's a tough offense to defend. Because again, they're going up tempo. They're going really wide. And they're getting quick passes to the flats, quick passes underneath on drags. They run. They're running everything. They kind of quickly get the ball out of Blake's shape and sands or run the ball and just get you really spread out and attack you there. It's not easy to defend even when you're the better team. Okay. There's a reason that Tennessee last year had, okay, we'll say 2022. Listen, because last year, they weren't that good scoring wise a lot of the time because Joe Milton was bad, right? 2022, they averaged 46 points per game. 2021, they were 39 points for him. 2022, they were 46 points for him. Again, at Tennessee, I'm talking about when this offense is good and clicking. It was 46 points per game. Last year was bad with Joe Milton. This year, they're up at 63 points per game, which is just stupid. That is just wild. But right now, Mississippi State's at 32, which, by the way, is still better considerably than what Florida does when they were at 27. That's bad, right? Like, this isn't a bad trial spread team right now, because it's year one. But they're still considerably outscoring Florida, which is an embarrassing spot to be in. We are going to make our predictions. Again, still haven't decided at this point of recording. But next, I'm knocked on Gators. You've heard us talk a lot about Fandal, America's number one sports book. 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But look, you already have a great offer from Karvana. That was fast. Well, I know my lessons played in my heart and those questions were easy. You're almost there. Now to just accept the offer and schedule a pickup or drop off. How'd you do it? How were you so strong in letting go of your car? Well, I already made up my mind and Karvana is so easy. Oh, yeah. True. And sold. Go to karvana.com to sell your car the convenient way. Thanks very much. I'm Gator's your first listen of the day every day. We are available daily and free breakfast in the podcast and on YouTube and to wrap up today's show. I'm torn genuinely. And again, I think that's an embarrassing spot to be in as a program that I'm sitting here going, I'm torn to pick Florida to beat Mississippi State or not. Because here's the thing. I am confident Florida has a better roster than Mississippi State. I think Florida had a better roster than Texas A&M barely, barely. I think they're coaching the significantly worse for Florida. Okay. I don't think Florida has a bad roster throughout. I think they're coaching is horrendous right now. We were in the Twitter spaces on, I think it was Tuesday night, breaking down plays and looking at plays and half the time we were sitting in there just trying to figure out what coverage call it was because people looked like they were just doing bull crap out there. It was really weird. They were over there synchronize swimming down the sideline. Like it's a weird thing to look at. And so I think coaching right now is just really bad and gains it. And I understand we've seen players in the press conferences go, "Oh, you know what? I don't think it's that. I think we need to execute better." And we know Alex Golesh at USF was like, "Oh, if it's a good play call that's executed poorly, then it's a bad play call kind of thing." Which everybody of course then went, "Ah, that's a shot out of Florida for sure." It's a weird thing. But it just seems like coaching right now isn't good. Edge rush is dropping into coverage too often, rotations that don't make sense all the time, coverages where people kind of look lost out there, offenses playing offensive linemen that aren't SEC quality, aren't power for quality, and might be group of five backup quality offensive linemen. It's tough right now. It is. Receiver rotations that don't make a ton of sense. Like, I have no issue with playing Tether Spierto. I don't. Playing him more than Aidan Mizzo, then I pop a lot of the younger receivers. That's a decision. That's a decision. So when I look at this, I say, "I think Florida has a better roster than Mississippi State. I know Florida has a better roster than Mississippi State, but I don't trust this coaching staff." And that was my same hang up last week when we were talking about Texas A&M. I said, "I think these teams are really similar in talent. I think Florida is a little bit better, but really similar in talent. But I just don't have any faith in this coaching staff right now, and that's still where I'm at here." Again, part of me wants to go Austin Armstrong demolished the Tennessee offense last year. This is a worse version of that. Let Austin Armstrong have basically extended control this week than usual, but I don't trust them to do that. I can sit here and go, "Oh, get the ball out quickly to the sideline, get first downs, run the football a lot, especially when you get those three downloads." I don't know if they'll do that. Put DJ Lagway in, make him a rushing threat, give this defense more to worry about, allow you to take more deep shots. I don't know if they'll do that. And all of these things that I think of, go back to the Miami game. Go back to the Miami game, and I was talking about attacking Miami's secondary. And I said, "You do it. You keep Hayden Hanson in the pass protect, and then you can try to dial up some shots. You could try to work it out. Hayden didn't pass protect. R-listed one time and gave up a sack, and then he didn't do it anymore. Running backs were an active in pass protection. They just didn't try it. They were like, "Yeah, we're just going to go out there with our five offensive linemen." I don't get it. That's where I sit here, and I go, "I feel like there's so many things that we can look at and say, "Dah, that's obvious. Do it." And then they don't do it. That's frustrating. All of that being said, I'm going to pick Florida to win this game. Okay. Again, because I think this Florida team is the better team than Mississippi State, I think the talent gap is larger than it was in Texas A&M. All that being said, this is still a 2024 Florida Gator team, which I think is poorly coached, making their first road trip for a coach that has historically been a horrendous on the road. So while I'm picking Florida, I will be betting Mississippi State to cover the six and a half point spread, and I will be putting a little bit of money on Mississippi State to win this game as sad as that sounds. Embarrassing. Embarrassing is about to be in this program. Thanks for making a lot, Don Gator. Here's your first listen of the day. Every day, we are available daily and free videos in the podcast and on YouTube. We'll be back tomorrow after the Florida Gators and Mississippi State Bulldogs game regardless of the outcome. For a lot of Don Gators and Brandon Olson, don't forget to follow me on Twitter at WNS underscore Brandon. Find all my written work with New York Giants on SI and I'll see you all next time. A prime member. You can listen to this lock-down podcast ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today.
