LIVE: Does No. 7 Florida Gators Have Enough In the Tank To Beat No. 1 Alabama? Updates from Atlanta
ATLANTA—For the second week in a row, No. 7 Florida Gators Head Coach Dan Mullen promised a wishbone offense for the Saturday night game.
As the Gators got into an expected dog fight with the LSU Tigers last week, there was little time for gimmick plays or attempts at parts of the playbook that had been covered in cobwebs.
But against the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide, Mullen jokes again he’ll bring out the ancient run heavy offense.
“We're going to go back, I'm going back, kind of put in some of the wishbone stuff we did back in 2010,” Mullen laughed on Thursday.
The Gators won’t be running the wishbone against the Tide tonight in Atlanta when the two teams fight it out for the SEC Championship. One can’t help but think however that if Mullen and his staff elected to run the two back heavy set, they’d find some success, if for no other reason than they’ve often found success with whatever type of offense they want to run.
Florida offense under Mullen has the scheme to possibly defeat the vaulted Tide. We saw the Ole Miss Rebels put up 647 yards against the Tide back in Week 3 of the SEC season, albeit in a Rebs loss. Because to defeat the Tide this year, one has to be able to keep up with them. Ole Miss could, but just didn’t have the ball last.
Florida can keep up with this Alabama team offensively. The key will be defeating what has now become a stout Alabama defense in the past four weeks. They’ve accumulated 16 sacks in the last three games and six fumbles in the same span. Working around that front seven will require creativity that Florida can create with their scheme.
“I feel like he has some tricks up his sleeve, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to a team as ourself,” said receiver Tre Grimes of Mullen and the team’s game plan.
“We’ve practiced all year for this game coming up. Our goal all year was to play in the SEC championship and I know that he’s preparing us for this moment. We’re just going to go out there and do whatever he tells us to do, and like I said, come out victorious.”
But for the scheme to work, the players must win battles. That is the toughest part of playing Alabama. Even if you can keep up with them for a quarter or a half, can you run with the best athletes in the nation for a full 60 minutes? With two offenses that can put the pedal to the metal and go, do you have enough in the tank to last?
Grimes thinks the Gators garage is stocked and ready to race.
“If we’re talking cars, I feel like KT is one of the most elusive cars you could ever think of. I don’t even know how to describe it — he’s the most electric car you can buy on the lot. We have a lot of different cars. I always say I’m a Brinks truck — big-bodied, solid receiver. We just have a lot of weapons everywhere. It’s a very dominant receiving corp. As you saw last game, Copeland had 128 and KT had 182 and I had 98.
“So Kyle Trask has a lot of different, great receivers around him. We have younger guys like Shorter, Jamarcus, all of us, and then we have Kyle Pitts, and everybody knows how great he is. So going in there, Kyle Trask is surrounded by a lot of great receivers, and Alabama’s going to have to pick their poison.”
Of course this also will require the Gators defense to make at least 50% of their stops against the three headed monster that is quarterback Mac Jones, running back Najee Harris and receiver DeVonta Smith.
Said lineman Khris Bogle of Jones, “The key is to get pressure on the quarterback, like, always and just move him off the spot. We got a couple key plays that is going to get him off the spot and things like that.”
Added linebacker James Houston, “Well we got some schemes in there to, to kind of stop both those two guys. They're majority of their offense, 22 [Harris] and six [Smith] so we've got a couple of things in place to kind of slow them down a little bit. Being a linebacker I'll probably be taking care of 22 a little bit more. Six, we should be able to handle too as well with all the dudes in the back. But they got other dudes as well on offense that we prepare for and that we're ready to adjust to if they start making plays as well.”
As of now, less than an hour until kick-off, the Gators remain a 16-point underdog. Grimes doesn’t care.
“We don’t look at it at all like we’re underdogs. At the end of the day, it is what it is. If they think we’re underdogs, then let it so be it. We’re still going to come out there and play like we have to play and come out victorious. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it, and we’re looking forward to the challenge, and we’re going to come out victorious.”
Check back periodically for live updates and observations from Atlanta where GatorBait Magazine is on the ground.
Kyle Pitts was announced as a starter at tight end, officially confirming he has returned form injury and will play tonight.
Shawn Davis was also announced as starter at safety. It's his first game back after missing Tennessee and LSU games with injury.
The following Florida football student-athletes will be unavailable for tonight’s game against Alabama: 4 David Reese 6 Shawn Davis 7 Jeremiah Moon 17 Kahleil Jackson 21 Ethan Pouncey
22 Rashad Torrence II 54 Lamar Goods 66 Jaelin Humphries 95 Lucas Alonso
Tre Grimes is PUMPED UP
Florida wins the toss and defers. Mullen will attempt another 2-for-1 score, one of the best in the country to do so this season.
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