Gators Online writers Zach Abolverdi and Nick de la Torre preview the Florida-UCF game. We break down Florida's bye week, players that earned more snaps and keys to Saturday's matchup.
Gators Online Podcast
Ep. 106: Florida vs. UCF Preview | Gators Online Show
what's up get a nation welcome into latest here's online shows that got a birdie in niktail tour here back at it as for the returns to action saturday in the swamp against ucf not the central for the golden nights apparently don't call them that they don't want to hear it but we'll talk about that match up this week we'll also get a lot into the buy and kind of some things that we learned from for this break what they did during their week off and and what that could mean for saturday's game as we kind of see where this team can improve after the first month of the season we missed you guys last week unfortunately we got hit with the storm and had no power so we're back running i hope everybody out there that's listening around the country is um doing well and recovering if you were impacted by the storm uh the worst storm i think i've ever seen in terms of the impact that it had across the nation and you know seen uh flooding and stuff in beach towns which is terrible but to see the flash flooding that happened up in Tennessee in North Carolina it's crazy so um thinking about everybody that's been dealing with that uh fortunately we get to return to football this week nik and uh see another in-state matchup in the swamp which is great yeah i think at one point uh UCF were the golden knights of Pegasus which honestly that's a dope name um like not taking any shots as you see up there uh a school i went to um but like dope name it'll be interesting it'll be interesting this week it um this is the longest i'm from south florida um but the house i grew up in was built after hurricane andrew so uh very strict construction guidelines standards after the devastation of hurricane andrew caused um the longest i've ever been without power and was not prepared in the slightest thank you elan for the tesla wife and i thought we're we're in north central florida um you know we can just hunker down in our rural basement and we'll be fine um slept in the tesla uh was able to keep the babies was able to keep the babies temperature regulated um almost like camping in the garage um but yeah thoughts and prayers to everyone uh especially up in that north georgia east Tennessee area who uh typically don't get storms like this we're kind of used to it here in florida but uh some pretty devastating pictures that are are coming out of those areas so hope you get power soon uh and your life gets uh back to normal a little bit yeah man it's uh it was crazy to see the devastation that that came from that and obviously for florida they didn't have a game and we were kind of able to hunker down and just try to get power back and uh you know high springs got hit pretty hard out where i live um and it's just it's crazy uh to see what happened but nonetheless florida needed a bi-week and they needed some time off not only get guys back off of injury which still don't know what that is going to look like we'll talk about that a little bit on the episode um but florida made some changes during the bi-week uh did some things differently did some things that you don't normally see and at the very least definitely there just seems like they're trying to make an effort to as Spurrier said earlier in the season on one of his podcasts uh Nick do something different and switch it up you know uh and and maybe they've done that uh Nick you wrote a story off of monday uh about their unique approach to the bi-week and it felt like almost like spring ball out there it looks like yeah interesting decision to do that considering how banged up you are but i like it get competitive split the team up into two uh nobody likes to run after practice uh and to put gasters on the line for all the team stuff that you're doing and you've got your team split up that's good i mean one source i talked to said it's been the best five practices of the year the three last week and then the two uh leading up to when i talked to them uh heading into the UCF game um kind of at the point those acronyms like cool sounds good see you saturday yeah i mean it's and he said that during those comments about hey now we got to go out and prove it and show that the things that we try to do to get better actually improved us and um i do think though that if they would have uh to use his word coddled the guys during the bi-week and let them have an easy week and uh let them just kind of go through the motions especially coming off of a win in Mississippi state uh that's not what this team needed uh it's definitely not what they needed on defense and uh i don't know whose idea was to split the roster and to have like a spring camp like week but it sounds interesting all the players uh seem to like it so um we'll see what that does to the competitiveness on saturday but it was to your point Nick they said it's been their most competitive week of practice dating back to the bi so um that was something that was notable that came out of this past week um i i do think maybe a little bit more important was what we learned about the defensive issues Nick uh obviously they went into the bi needing to solve some things on that side of the ball and figure out what what was the issue like why do they keep having these drives where they disappear uh Mississippi state was able to run some tempo on them and and really have success and then you know we heard from bridges after the game Nick and then heard from Jason Marshall on monday who was informed about bridges comments and you know we heard from both of those guys and i guess learned i mean i guess you could see it out there during the game in starkville but like these guys were having trouble getting lined up before the play they were not getting either the signal or they were not getting they were getting the signal warrant getting that call communicated amongst themselves uh and to use the quote from Jason Marshall there were times where they were just standing around looking for the signal and to hear something like that from your senior cornerback uh in year three uh of SEC play is alarming and um something that they worked on uh they emphasized hard during the bi-week because that they felt like those were the reasons why they had those issues in starkville defensively and we're going to see more tempo glad they're getting taken care of just in time for the season to start um and that's kind of why like i'm sitting here and like everyone's talking about like the body was so good this week of practice is so good it's like you had a great spring according to you you had a great fall camp according to you you worked out harder than you've ever worked out in the summer according to you um so like talks cheap uh it's crazy to me that you've made this is your third and three years your third different play caller but you keep saying it's the same system so why is it that you don't know how to get aligned if you're in the third year of a defensive system so to me it seems like a live dysfunction and and i will say nick you remember they have this issue with Grantham guys not getting lined up pre snap uh i mean it's not a it's not a floor-to-player issue but we have seen this happen before and we've seen the results that it leads to well defense is reactionary you're reacting to what the offense is doing so getting aligned is just your first step like hey this is where we need to be aligned based on what they've done like hey we don't we now in an office we're trying to get into good situations like hey if they sub somebody on an offense and brought a fourth receiver on and the defense didn't catch it and now you've got an extra line back on the field we'll shoot now we have to have a linebacker aligned over the slot guy and we have to try to figure out what we're going to do because we don't have the right personnel in the field so getting aligned you get kids in p-wee football aligned to start a defensive play and we're talking about guys who are 18 he about four years old 29 if you're the miami tight end um eight years old it's just stuff that it can happen it can happen during games and in situations for them to point out and maybe they're just lying and covering it up and this isn't really an issue and they just want to say this because it's easy to know it sounds like an issue and i'm giving them a play devil's advocate i guess give them a benefit a doubt to not be able to get aligned in year three of a defense in the in after four games and to have it happen in week one and then probably not week two against samford but week three and week four it's just like what are we doing here on october 3rd child some mean girls and when it's getting worse because as as um good as jeff leby is with his offensive attack and his tempo pace you see f and tend to see are better and old missus and old miss is the best at it uh although they're coming off of a loss shout out to leon giffin but what lane is gonna fit right in watercolor recent floor coaches love losing the kentucky oh man don't don't don't go there nick um we're not we're not the kentucky week yet sorry we're trying to get through ucf week um but look i mean i again i appreciate the honesty from marshal and bridges but again those are alarming comments and you know that they can they can do what they did during the bi-week to try and improve it and we'll talk about one of the things that they did do uh that we learned on wednesday night but just for that to be admitted and for that to kind of be the what they feel like is the root of the issue so far um it's alarming because i don't know how what you can do to improve that especially as the teams are going to keep running tempo against you uh but forda did try to do something about it um like the unique approach to the bi-week that they took splitting the rosters up into two teams and having them basically have a spring ball like bi uh they also mic'd up their players in practice and not no not just the you know quarterback and inside linebackers who've been mic'd up all season with the new in helmet communication uh no they decided to mic up uh also the center on offense but then the signal callers on defense the inside backers and the safeties and uh they not only had them mic'd up on the field so that they could hear each other but then they would take their audio from that mic'd up and they would take the video from practice and then basically pair them together so that they could watch the highlights of them playing with their audio synced up um a very interesting uh you know practice that they put in place to try and improve the communication on defense and i thought the key quote from napeer was you know being able to see who does a great job and who doesn't do a great job you know who's who is not getting that message clearly or those calls clearly who's communicating the wrong things to his teammates um it would be fascinating to get on those headsets nick and to hear them discover ah here's who's here's what's what's being screwed up here um maybe that tells them who should be playing and who should not be playing which we'll get to a little bit as well um but what you think about them being mic'd up in practice and what if anything can that that do to help identify their issues i think that's a great teaching tool both for the coaches and and also for the players um i i've seen like a lot of NFL teams and some college teams putting um go pros on quarterbacks like right on the top of their like in between their eyes right on the top of their face like attaching it there and that's to be like okay as a coach i'm really only looking at it from the sideline or if i'm on the field um but i'm not looking through my quarterback's eyes and that's kind of you know the GoPro obviously your eyes can scan without you moving your head but you're getting the best look if you're asking your guys to communicate and then you're only you're running 60-70 plays in practice and then you go you go back to look at them well why did this happen well now we have audio of here was the communication this is what happened from the play being signaled in to communicate to the other guys to execution and hey here boom we can easily pinpoint something so yeah i think that's something that every team should do um if you have the means and the capability what which Florida certainly does um that's something you should be doing in the spring in the summer in the fall um anytime anytime you're running practice i think that that's a valuable tool and i think uh it was good hearing from Jack Pibern first was just a good hear from him he's got a great story um and he's you know fought his way back from from an ACL injury but also hearing like what he appreciated about the miked up situation um because it seems like the coaches might have proved a point to some of the defensive players because they wanted them to listen to the mike linebackers and all the responsibilities that they have every single play pre snap and how much they have to take in from the coaches on the headset and then how much they have to then communicate it to the defensive line into the safeties so when their teammates can actually hear that in real time and hear all the stuff that they're having to process like dude you've got no excuse to not get your one call or your one signal that you need at your spot like yeah these these guys are having to do three or four things before the ball is snapped so like um i can imagine that that was probably beneficial um an eye opening for some of those guys yeah there's no hiding there's no hiding from that like you you you can tell the coach oh yeah i made the call that maybe they shouldn't hear it and then you get yelled at well you gotta be louder and then you go back and coach has got the receipts now coach has got the receipts now you didn't say what you were supposed to say you said nothing um so yeah like i said good that you're doing it now would have been cool to do it in march would be cool to do it in august do it after the miami game better late than never but like you're two and two one and one and trying everything like good good yeah yeah they're trying everything keep trying new things um you know don't say that bill gave your coach for his buyout um because they're trying everything they're trying everything yeah it would it would have been it would have been like super dope to try that in in the spring in march when you're when you're doing spring ball to kind of learn that uh we've been super dope to do it in august and to your point to your point nick he did say that they've done it before but they've done it with like rookies with like isolated situations or they put it on one player who needs it and they need to hear what i think all the players need is that yeah i think every single player needs it yeah um i think that they've learned that and um maybe you need joe houston to be the defensive coordinator my guy has just got specialty in tip top shape yeah they're uh they don't need any uh help or changes right now in that phase of the game that they've been doing well knock on wood but um look jack pibern and pup Howard both said that it helped they said it made guys more accountable to your point nick they can't hide anymore um and maybe they discovered some of the guys that were screwing things up and uh from a communication standpoint and they've either addressed it or they've known that now this guy is is continuously having this issue and and he can't handle it right now we got to put somebody else there we'll see what that leads to but that you know kind of brings me you know into uh our next discussion nick and um you know before we do that i want i want to get this first ad every what's that i got to get to this ad read first go ahead go go where i'm wearing my shirt right now uh it's got ben hoe Griffin stadium on it uh it is from roebach there's only one way to describe roebach it's the best 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the go-to brand for college athletes use the code gators 20 on roebach.com for a generous 20 off for all new customers now it is just new customers through the end of this week that's called or spelled roebach r h o b a c k dot com and that's 20 off of all the performance polos which you see me wearing and shorts with code gators 20 yeah check it out we've gotten uh rave reviews from some of our listeners who uh swear by roebach so uh check that out take advantage of the code as well and um we'll see if forda can take advantage of the bi-week to evaluate some things obviously they split teams up miked up players in practice uh but also did a lot of personnel evaluations and uh as napier said took a good look in the mirror and the comment that he said that a lot of people stuck to is uh you know maybe we need to adjust who's playing and who's not playing and um we did a deep dive on that at gators online the past couple weeks uh power ranking the players on offense and defense uh me listing three guys i think need to play more on both sides of the ball and then we got to hear from napier this week about some guys that actually have earn more playing time uh he divulged some names um but as we get into this naked on offense or defense uh and you know also we learned a little bit about the offensive line as well in that rotation but uh is there anybody in kind of your work the past couple weeks that that jumps out to you as it relates to this conversation of guys that you feel like need to be on the field more for florida you're muted um i think when i was going through and doing um jason marshall really stuck out to me but like he's playing almost every snap i think he's having the best season um he's had an orange and blue jake slaughters is is jumps off the page as a guy who i think we were all probably ready to like write a transfer portal story before last year or at some point before kingsie went down last year and he's turned into florida's best offensive lineman um i've been saying that austin barber needs to just stay on the field unless he is hurt and or uh needing a oxygen um but florida's kind of and there's been a lot of pushback and jokes to the story i wrote um on wednesday about florida sticking with the five but if you just open the link and don't just read the tweet you'll see the snap breakdowns um there and you can see that they've for the most part stuck to those five and austin barber is playing more and more reps um the one that i that like out in the table for has been erin gates but i think shariep denson with erin gates being out i think shariep denson played really well um so those two guys um and then i guess aden misele you know with eugene wilson returning to practice he was in non-contact jersey on wednesday night uh or out of his non-contact jersey wednesday night excuse me um i still want to see aden misele if he's healthy can can he still play because he's still be a contributor can you get him and eugene wilson another plane similar positions but like yeah they play the same position yeah can you get them in a different position um so i think aden misele's guy that you know kind of sticks out to me and then uh the folks down in uh tiburon uh down in central florida gave our boy jacoby jackson a plus 11 that's right upgrade in the video game i'm sure he uh got some text messages yesterday no longer in the sixties yeah they tried him mid-seventies player now um you know it's just interesting the running back rotation i don't think montreal johnson's going to see a chunk taken out of his reps how did the reps shake out with jayden balltran web and jacoby jackson i i think katie daniels is certainly the low man on the totem pole yeah i mean if anything i he'd be a red shirt candidate at this point i mean why why why burn a year uh of his when you don't need to um and and nicked out that was three players that uh billy was willing to divulge on wednesday night uh he said all all three of the running backs um or i have earned more reps and more opportunities who gets those each week is kind of areas depending on who has the best week of practice but all three of them have earned the right to to get more touches um and so that's something that i i think to look for to me you know uh i think tran web has uh consistently been viewed as the backup to montreal and i think that he he's solidified that like he's really look good with his opportunities i think again jacoby jackson has been the surprise of the position and every time he's gotten his opportunity he's done well but it's just something about number 13 man like he might maybe he's like the the the weakest past blocker and knows the playbook and the responsibilities the least among the guys but you just got to keep finding ways to get him on the field i mean he leads the team in yards per carry uh you know he's only got 10 carries on the season but he's almost got a hundred that 32-yard run that he had against uh mr b state he looked fantastic on so uh he's one guy to me that uh i would like to see four to play more or just try to find ways to get the ball and obviously i agree with you on a to my zell the one guy that i was um i wrote and kind of lobbied for and i think the the grades the pff grade support this uh but but judging by napier's comments on the sec teleconference wednesday it looks like they're starting five which they've started consistently pretty much now um are going to get the lion's share of the rotation and maybe they're not going to keep rotating at left guard as much as they've been doing the past couple games because naja heres and brice love it um in the last couple games have been pretty similar in their snap counts um and again just based off the pff grade brice love it has outperformed harris so far and not only has he outperformed him but he's been one of the team's best past blocking lineman uh with an 88.3 grade uh which is very good um whereas harris is ford's lowest graded lineman out of all of them um so that that was one where hey like it kind of doesn't make sense why they were rotating so much but then you see that love it was actually outperforming harris and i guess i i get it like they saw that love it might be doing better in practice and therefore been giving them reps on the field but now there might be scaling that back and just sticking with harris i don't know if that's the answer they're both red shirt freshman like not one guy deserves the right over the other like it should it should just be who's the best um so we'll see if that continues nick if you read his comments though he did leave a little wiggle room and say the caden jones is of the world and the brice lovers of the world will be the ones that still get to rotate but um i just thought that that's something that was interesting well yeah it's uh listen uh he was also asked if he's had any talks with scott strickland about his future he said no nothing out of the ordinary um so you're still walking a fine line like i've mentioned with graham mertz and dj lagway you're still walking a fine line like Brandon crenshaw vixen's gone after this year he doesn't have any eligibility left um jake slaughter good ended up being one of the top three centers and uh get first or second or third round braid and might decide to leave a year early uh austin barber has made it very clear i think made it very clear before last season that he wanted to go to the nfl after the 2023 season yeah and i think if if it's possible for him he would leave early so you need to get brice love it fletcher westfall caden jones those guys reps so that they're not you know i think caden and and rod rod crenney has 13 reps and caden's got nine and fletcher's got nine that you know all came against samford's like you've got to find opportunities to get them reps you had that opportunity because you had any lead against samford late you did not have that opportunity because missy v state kept it close your defense allowed missy v states continue to score keep that close i don't know that there will be more opportunities but if you're looking towards the future those are going to be the guys you're going to count on the offensive line you'd like them to get more than a handful of reps so yeah i think picking spots to get them opportunities but a lot of a lot of what dictates that is is the game and the ebbs and flows of it and and not putting a freshman in it right tackle on the drive where maybe you're up seven in the third quarter like that's not the time for flexor and caden to go in there hey hey guys go in there and cut your teeth there i'd have to go back and watch nick and and really go play by play with the series that dj lagway has received but i do feel like the opportunity for guys like jade and bah price love it um to get opportunities on the field aid in my zeal will be the drives when dj is in the game because it seems like they have also played some second team guys when dj is in the game maybe just out of familiarity with him repping with them so much in the spring and fall because it seems like often when dj is in the game jane bahs in the game and are you just doing that because they they've done so many handles in practice that you know and then is love it is that his opportunity to get in the game because he's repped so much with dj who knows um but that's something to monitor i think the bigger question and and i think the bigger personnel changes that might need to happen are on the defensive side of the ball um we've wrote about some guys nick but one one that billy has just come out and said uh right out of the gate that he's going to get more snaps and sounds like he might even be in contention to start over tj sircey is jack piber um you know billy praised him after the miss if he stayed game for the way that he played having two stops during that goal line stand and then once again uh when asked what defensive players have earned uh potentially more playing time jack pibern was the first and only guy that he listed off by name so um that might be something worth monitoring nick uh obviously really cool for jack uh if he can produce and get that chance because he's fought back from a lot and uh we got the visit with him on on wednesday night and seem like he was in good spirits yeah he's playing three games um i asked him a question you know a lot of guys sometimes you'll see like a running back come back from acl and be like i didn't want to wear the knee brace is bulky um i was asked like i wonder maybe it's just me being weird and i was like hey is that like physical because it's for shifting or mental and he's kind of like it's more mental it's both it's more mental it's like it's a constant reminder when you look down or when you feel it that hey you tore your knee up and you don't need to be thinking about that um so i think as he gets further and further removed from that we're not even a year removed from him tearing his acl and he's played in three of florida's first four games um he says he was back in six months that's wild i mean he's he's a madman watching him i remember why he started posting clips on instagram and me thinking like i think he's doing too much too early that's a lot uh typically don't see guys um split squatting on their bad knee uh you know three months after surgery um but i'm not a doctor didn't even say the holiday end last night um but yeah it's impressive i i don't know i think tj seriously has a higher ceiling i think he's a better player that he's more talented um and if it's close that you play the younger player with a higher ceiling but i don't want to take anything away from jack piper and i think he's clearly a competitor just the way he attacked rehab um and and the job he was able to do to get himself back onto the field yeah um it's and i and i will admit that i i definitely kind of counted him out uh as a contributor early in the season because of the injury and he's he's proved me wrong just by how quick he's been able to get back and it sounds like he's going to be a little bit more involved at that jack spot along with tj sersey and george gums i mean hey maybe the the jack spot was made for jack uh we'll find out if he can uh get more playing time on saturday um he he's really the only one that it sounds like is like for sure in line for more playing time um you know two guys that i mentioned in the secondary tricoise bridges and dijon johnson i think both of those guys i think bridges need to be starting at safety with castell and i think that dijon johnson needs more opportunities that corner because he's look good with the ones that he's gotten and fort is still struggled to kind of get consistent play there opposite jason marshall um and then you know i line backer nick uh billie came out and said that erin child's and miles graham are both kind of progressing and have a role in the defense pup power said that as well like those guys are part of the game playing each and every week to get on the field to have some type of um snaps that they're going to get uh but you know honestly another young line backer is jane robinson uh he actually leads the team on defense with a tackling grade of 86 two uh he's been really solid it just just off of grade wise he and pup power had been actually been afforded his best line backers according to the pff grades so um shmargains is ranked in the 300s in the nation in terms of line backers yeah what's the guy that we thought was going to be lord his best line backer you're absolutely right i think jane robinson pup power had been great i think dijon johnson has for his best coverage grade he does as well according to proof of focus yeah and then you know something that napeer said not only just as part of this conversation but just in general that they need to generate more of a pass rush on defense um even though erin child is a line backer i think that he's a guy that can help with that i think they can put him on the edge and um have him do some things rush in the passer that i think he's going to get opportunities to see the field strictly based off of that um and look right now for the starters at the edge position for all the games so far have been camera and james and tj sersey um and just in the past rush conversation they actually have two of the lowest pass rush grades on defense 54.8 and 54.5 respectively um so for does not getting a pass rush and those two guys have not provided it thus far um tyreak sapp has actually been for this highest graded player on defense and he's not been starting at the f spot uh camera james has been getting to start over him uh but he's he's actually been very effective uh so far and then lj mccray it seems like is a guy that uh is also kind of chomping at the bit to get more playing time and it's probably going to get more opportunities um but those are some of the names nick that i think that we've heard about or certainly that billy has mentioned to maybe watch for is they they try to get some better results on defense got try some different listen it's uh it's such a low bar that you could trip over it on accident so getting a better result on defense not asking for a lot you know um i i think that obviously uh the bi-week came at a good time for this team uh they they try a lot of new things and look they are going to have to show improvement and be better on saturday against ucf because this team is explosive on offense uh they're going to be tough tough to stop against the run and that's something that forda's not been able to do so far this year uh before we get into our preview of florida ucf um want to give a shout out as we do each in every episode to my perfect franchise.net if you're ready to leave the corporate rat race for the american dream looking for a side hustle while working your current job wanting to diversify build wealth and or leave a legacy and he can help he's a franchise consultant as well as a franchise owner and helps people find franchises that fit their skill sets financial requirements time to commit and more his services are 100 free and he's here to help if you have any questions about business ownership you can learn more and contact andy any time at my perfect franchise.net or calling or texting him at 404-973-9901 and nick it is time for florida ucf uh these teams last met in 2021 at the gas for relabel the nights got the win so little payback is needed for forda some of the players that were on that team are still on the team and uh Jason martvier was on the field that night he was as the uh coach named um would be a weird uh bookends to his career to have two losses to ucf i guess starting in envious tenure yeah that would not be good uh this is an important one for florida not just because of that uh game in 21 and need a little bit of payback but obviously for the state of florida's season the state of florida's or uh napier's tenure uh and what's next uh this is a must win game for them there's no there's no way around it um the must win or is a must not lose but get back into that i mean i've said it before and i'll say it again i i think he's reached must win territory like i i don't know that he can survive a loss at home at ucf or a loss at home to kentucky i think either one of those next two games he can't afford to lose and maybe i could be wrong maybe he could lose one of those games and he still gets to finish out the season and gets all 12 games to prove himself but man that is going to be a tough one for the fan base to take uh if they can't be either one of those teams i think either one of them a lot of it i was talking with some of the students in in in terms that working florida with it last night after really building napier's uh press conference i said back in june i said like i hey i might talk myself into picking ucf and them being see their current students or former students were like what do you mean ucf can't beat florida and i'm like well that's that's just your mentality the transfer portal guss malzahn being their coach this isn't the ucf that florida played when like tim tebow was there yes when they launched 42 to nothing when it's a bunch of like two star three star kids who nobody else wanted these are a bunch of kids who are good our jharbi ran for a 1300 plus yards last year kid is jefferson already has a win in the swamp um they've done a great job of building their roster i think ucf might have advantages on both lines of scrimmage like this isn't a just ucf but i totally get the florida fan's perspective that's a little brother like we don't think about you you're constantly like a little chihuahua nipping at our heels and it's annoying go away that's not this ucf team that's coming into the swamp so yes ucf can absolutely beat florida physically on the football field saturday this isn't the ucf of old um but i get the standpoint that you should never be at a point to lose to ucf i i understand that but i'm telling you it's a very real possibility oh oh it is it definitely is and in the fact that we're having this conversation and that it's a competitive enough matchup that the nights could win just shows you how far ucf has come as a program and how far florida has fallen as a program because the last time these two teams met in gainsville in 2006 the gators won 42 to nothing and won the national championship not this year and since then ucf has allegedly won a national championship i mean listen he's been going there come on let's be real uh but nonetheless they they're in a major conference now uh they've got big-time players um they recruit the state at a at a much different clip than they used to and they have enough talent to come into the swamp and and win this game and the fact that we can even say that and florida's having the type of season and type of program that it does where it is you know uh regressed to the point that a team like ucf can come here and get a win is is this is a sad state of affairs Nick well see to me i think it's yes listen is this a juggernaut florida team far from it but i think it's more of just who the head coach is at ucf and the nature of college football with the transfer portal being a thing guys are looking to go places kj jefferson could not in 2006 leave arkansas leave an scc program and be back in the swamp seven months later quarterbacking a different team so a lot of it is yes florida is down florida has been down since uh two thousand ten with with a speckling of a couple good years has been down since tibo left there have been some good years i won't take that away from from the gators but for the majority of the time since tibo left it has been down uh since 2013 we can say it's been down um but i think while that is true i think it more so is just the nature of who's leading ucf getting a name like that uh at a program that i always thought i thought when scott frost got there i thought he should stay because there's too many kids in the state of florida for the big three schools to get and then you got kids going to george attack um and going to auburn and going to north carolina and you can just say like listen mom can literally get on the on i-95 from miami and be at our game every single saturday and you don't have to make her drive up or try to fly and go to all these other places stay at home win at home and every once in a while we're gonna play for the state we're gonna play miami we're gonna play for it and you can show them that they should have offered you a scholarship um i thought if you got the right coach and scott frost was killing it uh until he decided to go to nebraska where i don't think anyone will ever win again um so to me it's not so much as like this is because billy napier has run florida into the ground so much as ucf has a big name coach and it's an era where big name coaches can attract all different kinds of players it's not just having to recruit whatever the big three have left in the state of florida sure and to ucf's credit they've been on that like you said they've been on that ascension since the scott frost era uh and obviously continued it with josh hyple and uh and they have kept it going with guss mouths on so um a lot to look forward to in this matchup uh i think as we talk about keys to the game nick uh numero uno is defending the run against this ucf attack that ranks number two in the country currently at 326 rushing yards per game uh nick mention rj harvey uh over 1300 yards rushing last year already up to over 500 this year and eight touchdowns um they got a couple other backs boond among gumery as well uh that are talented and of course kj jefferson the dual threat quarterback uh that can do damage on the ground as four to found out in the swamp last season um the gators have been getting gash up the middle nick their the run defense has has not looked good how in the heck do they stop and slow down this ucf attack and camping ha ha when i say last year's act and then normally they apologize they sink on the spirit to sound throw them in you start praying um because you've been atrocious now ucf's uh run offense does take a hit like nearly a hundred yards against conference teams which was tcu on the road uh and then the blowout last week to uh the cholera primes um they're only averaging 233 now they are one dimensional they average 49 rushes a game against conference opponents um and then average 52 a game total um so you need to make them one dimensional in the other dimension uh you need to stop the run and force kj jefferson to beat you with his arms that was the blueprint last year against arkansas when kj jefferson was here he very big arm doesn't always know where it's going uh can turn the ball over will have a low completion percentage if you force him to sit in the pocket like danino's did by the way the only guy who could stop kj jefferson last year is on florida staff he'll be up in the box maybe he gave him some tips over the last 10 days um i just don't have any faith in florida being able to stop the run um as you pull up their rushing defense uh and if you go verse um one a opponents just taking out samford who had no interest in running uh florida is giving up 231 yards a game 4.82 per carry sticks rushing touchdowns um they've given up nearly 700 yards in three games against power four opponents um florida has not can not uh and until they prove me wrong will not stop the run as billy said we are who we are great we can practice though yeah and i asked him what can they do to stack the box more within their scheme to try and slow down the run and uh he gave us the you know if you stack the box your coverage is now cool well what the what calro did last week was travis hunter and listen florida doesn't have a travis hunter nobody has a travis hunter that kid is a monster of freak um i look forward to watching him every week my guy's playing like a hundred and ten snaps a game on offensive defense travis you got one you got one lere severs on the outside i don't even know who there's the quarterback is you're putting guys on islands or mine in mcclean oh no no no you're putting guys on islands and you're saying you're playing man to man and yeah listen when you're playing man to man that you become more susceptible to a quarterback run because now you've got your secondary where they're back to the quarterback and that's something you need to have a spy on the quarterback a linebacker but that's the answer the answer is not to play zone the answer is to play man to man and commit to stopping the run the answer is there it's like then it gets down to the buzzword of the season can you execute it yeah we'll see if florida can stop travert rtn on saturday according to billy yeah probably not uh he if you guys didn't see that nape here without naming trever uh compared ucf running back um to trever etn rj harvey and honestly uh if you watch his highlights it's a pretty good comparison uh even where's the number seven that trever had at florida dude is good um someone uh one of one of my sources text me after the uh after the i guess that was my i guess that was the last question i know it was really the last question because i asked billy what court what running back to you did you coach that he reminds you of thinking you can only be nake one right or trevory tn he's and he said that my source text me goes that's nasty work asking that at the end of the press conference i was asking for clarification man could i want to guys yeah i i need i've wrote a story about it so i i appreciate nake i need i needed the clarification um well we know forda's got to try to stop the run um what are your other keys to this game nake how does forda win this game in your mind outside of stopping the run yeah i mean if if you can stop the run i went back and i was looking at like stats that popped off the page to me turnover margin i mean ace a turner who obviously has been hurt said we have to run if we don't get three interceptions a practice um the season started off great second drive interception shamar james it's hands on the ball i'm thinking man that coolay they were selling i don't know if i bought enough of it uh florida has a negative four turnover margin um they have gained that one interception which is on the second drive of the game um and they have uh gained two funnels they have they rank they rank a host 114 and turn over margin 111th and takeaways and 113th and interceptions better than Auburn Auburn somehow has a negative 11 turnover margin through five games which is just phenomenal you have to think you have to go out of your way to try to have that bad of a turnover margin um lorda is and and plans won't like to hear this i've said it multiple times throughout the off season now this is going to be a close game you're going to have to win the turnover battle and i know you don't want to hear that florida you see us going to be a close game but i'm anticipating that it's going to be a close game and if you go out and you give kj jefferson drop a pick and give them another set of downs or or give them another chance to extend a drive um you're not going to win this football game you have to get off the field florida has been non-existent um on third down only team worse than them in the sec is missippi state florida is allowing their opponents to convert on third down 46.55 percent of their attempts i think they're not good on fourth down either yep last in the sec uh opponents are four or five on fourth down so just getting off the field and we've talked to billy about that you know i think gram mentioned it and billy mentioned it they kind of sound just like the same person you can almost just have gram show for billy's press conference and it would sound the same which is good media training good quarterback uh always having his coaches back there but um like man we only had 12 play yeah you only have 12 plays because your defense refused like a kid refusing to give up the ball on the recess yard like no this is mine wait your turn i would like to play 93 snaps today don't need it off the field trying to get my nil game up need more tb time let's play some more defense that's not a recipe for success it hasn't been and uh look in every matchup in every game it's this is always a key you got to stop the run you got to be able to run the ball i don't know fort is going to be able to do either one of those things um i don't know if they're going to be able to stop ucf's run game and ucf actually has uh the number one rush defense in the big 12 right now and they rank 11th nationally they're only giving up 80 yards a game now they colorado try to run it all that much against them um but that is something that they also do well uh and to your point nick about them at the line of scrimmage like that that goes to show you right there um for me because of that yeah fort is going to try to establish a run they're going to get their backs involved but like i think the opportunity with this defense is going to be to attack them through the air they rank 106 nationally and pass defense um we'll see if for to get stray wilson back uh but even without i mean the gators ranked 30th nationally and passing offense they've been pretty good with lagway and uh and uh mertz since they started that two quarterback system uh to me you got to protect mertz and lagway you got to air it out you got to ope you know attack them through the air and try to give yourself an opportunity to run that way um and and protect your quarterback UCF uh has not been able to get to the quarterback they rank 132nd in the country in sacks so they they have not been able to get pressure on the QB and to me just looking at the numbers and how these teams match up um fort has got to just try to not take water uh and and with the rush defense try to get enough production with the rushing offense to keep them honest but i think there there's some matchups to be exploited in some production to be had in the passing game you got to build off of that performance that you had at Mississippi state where you were really sharp throwing the ball uh and showcase that in the swamp on saturday night i think that's a key to win yeah colorado worst rushing uh offense in the big 12 um but they won at both lines of scrimmage they protected shador uh which they don't ever yeah protect shador um and they stopped in one up front on defense um like i said i i don't know that fort has the advantage on either line of scrimmage this Saturday and made a bunch of plays in the passing game had guys i mean shador was uh lighting them up uh responded from that early pick so um look colorado kind of gave the Gators the blueprint on what it takes to beat this team uh they hadn't taken a loss until they faced the buffaloes so um we'll see what happens as we are back in the swamp saturday night uh night game looking forward to that and uh seeing if uh the Gators can keep the central fort of golden knights in their place we'll uh it's just it's respectful they asked they asked very kindly and politely to call the UCF knights yeah we're not doing that um UCF golden knights of pegasus this this this is your school this is your school so i shouldn't disrespect my wife my wife went to UCF as well so um all right well we will see you guys on saturday night late saturday night in the swamp we're doing a rapid reaction i hope you guys again yeah it'll be late hope you guys are up uh look for the notification we'll promote it and uh we'll see you guys from the swamp uh for niktile tori i'm zakaba birdie
Gators Online writers Zach Abolverdi and Nick de la Torre preview the Florida-UCF game.