Thoughts of the Day: September 21, 2021

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning: THE GATORS, TENNESSEE AND OTHER THINGS

Mullen wants the decibel level raised to seriously high levels again this week: The 11th-ranked Gators (2-1, 0-1 SEC) have been established as 20-point favorites for Saturday’s game (7 p.m., ESPN) with unranked Tennessee (2-1) in The Swamp, but even though the Vols are big underdogs, Dan Mullen is hoping for another sellout crowd and ear drum shattering atmosphere like the one with Alabama last Saturday.

A near record crowd of 90,887 had The Swamp rocking last week and the noise level caused Alabama four false starts, a delay of game and a burned time out. With the Gators down a game to Georgia (3-0, 1-0 SEC) in the SEC East race, Mullen knows the Gators can’t afford another defeat, so he’s imploring the crowd to show up in force Saturday.

“All the Gator fans need to go maybe get some warm tea and lemon, make sure their throats are refreshed,” Mullen said at his Monday press conference. “We need an even more raucous environment to continue to give the home-field advantage. I think you saw the effect that had on the game last week.”

Emory Jones said when the crowd gets into the game, the Gators feed off the energy.

“The Swamp, it’s real,” Jones said. “That’s why a lot of guys come to the school to do. They come to the school to come play a top team in The Swamp. The fans definitely help us out a lot. It’s something we love and feed off of. We love to play in that environment.”

Mullen answers the $64,000 question: What’s the status of Anthony Richardson? Dan Mullen offered an update on Monday.

Mullen said, “He was cleared to play in the game, but there’s a big difference between ‘I’m cleared to play in the game; I’m not going to be 100 percent but I can’t make the injury worse,’ and ‘I’m cleared to play in the game; I’m not 100 percent and this one- to two-week injury could turn into a six week injury and those are always big differences.

“We’ll see how he responds this week. We did an MRI on Friday. It came back much better than we thought it would be but it’s still not at 100 percent. So, we wanted to be pretty precautious. In meeting with the medical staff there was a pretty solid feeling [that] if he didn’t play in the [Alabama] game that he would be 100 percent by this Saturday.”

Florida’s offensive line is VERY good: I know this is going to raise the hackles on the John Hevesy haters, especially those who have had it in for Jean Delance for years, but the Florida offensive line is VERY, VERY GOOD. Alabama’s front seven is widely proclaimed as the best in the country. It’s the most experienced and supposedly the best front seven Nick Saban has had since 2016, which featured four NFL first rounders (Foster, Allen, Evans and Payne) and two second rounders (Tomlinson and Anderson). Saturday night at The Swamp, Florida beat them to a pulp. Consider Florida’s final three drives, all of which resulted in touchdowns. The Gators went 10 plays for 75 yards, consuming 4:40 of clock time, 11-99 taking up 4:04 and 12-75 using 6:20.

Florida’s offensive line was the football equivalent of Jake LaMotta, delivering one body blow after another to Alabama’s midsection. When it was time to throw, it didn’t matter if Alabama was rushing three, four, five or even six, the protection held. Alabama got one sack that was clearly on Emory Jones, who held the ball way too long waiting for a receiver to break clear, missing out on an opportunity to tuck and run when there was a lane that could have given him 8-10 yards. Alabama was credited with only four quarterback hurries.

Jean Delance had a false start but very few other mistakes. He spent much of the day brutalizing Phidarian Mathis and when Michael Tarquin came in while Delance was getting medical attention, he hit Mathis with a couple of blows that Ajax won’t take off. Essentially, the fears about Delance and the right tackle position in general seem a bit overblown.

The Gators are second in the nation in rushing: 340.33 yards per game, 7.68 yards per carry, 11 rushing touchdowns. Through three games, they’ve allowed only two sacks for -10 yards and on both of those, it wasn’t for adequate time to throw. Through three games, opponents have been credited with exactly five quarterback hurries, four by Alabama. You win a lot of games when your O-line plays that well.

The UF secondary has to tackle better: It’s actually hard to fault the coverage against Alabama because the Gators forced Bryce Young to basically dink and dunk all day. Of his 22 completions for 233 yards, only on three of his completions did the ball travel more than 10 yards (two on passes to Jameson Williams, one to Jahleel Billingsley). The coverage was there, the pressure from the Florida defense was there (two sacks, six quarterback hurries) and that forced Alabama to alter its typical throw it down the field game plan to more of a horizontal game.

It is in the horizontal game that the Florida defense had its issues. The Gators had nine missed tackles in the secondary, five in the first quarter. If you’re looking for the real difference in the game, that’s it right there. The Gators would have won the game handily if they had put Alabama receivers on the ground.

This is where the Gators have to improve defensively. Opponents are averaging only 97.33 yards per game and 3.07 yards per carry. The front seven is getting the job done against the run, but opponents are getting far too many yards after contact on pass plays because of poor tackling. Nobody is throwing deep on UF, but they will keep dinking and dunking until there is better tackling in the secondary.

Paul Finebaum on a radio show with Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic about the matchup of Dan Mullen calling plays vs. Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding: “Big picture, it’s about Alabama, but Greg, as you get deeper into the game, Dan Mullen vs. Pete Golding is not a fair fight.”

Chris “Bear” Fallica of ESPN on Twitter about Mullen and the Gators: “I know Florida isn’t into moral victories, but Dan Mullen again showed why he’s one of the best game-planners around. To nearly upset Alabama with a QB that doesn’t offer much of a passing threat and dominate in run game. Cocktail party sure feels a lot more interesting this AM.”

OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC Alabama (3-0, 1-0 SEC): Nick Saban said that in the final 2-1/2 quarters against Florida the Crimson Tide “became an ordinary team.” Saturday: Alabama is a 45-point favorite against Southern Miss.

Arkansas (3-0): A year ago, because of COVID-19, Arkansas had to play Texas A&M in College Station but there is no reciprocal visit by the Aggies to Fayette Nam. Arkansas will play the Aggies in a neutral site game in Arlington, Texas, which prompted HBC Sam Pittman to say, “I don’t feel great about it ... We’re in a contract. I get that.” Translation: He really likes his odds if the Aggies had to come to Fayette Nam, not as much at Jerry’s World. Saturday: The Hogs are 5.5-point underdogs to Texas A&M.

Auburn (2-1): Paul Finebaum on with McElroy and Cubelic on Auburn having a good season: “The problem for Auburn now is the most obvious. It’s the schedule. They are just littered with extremely difficult games and I’m still not convinced this is going to be a great season. It can be a good season but they really needed that Penn State win, guys, to have something of significance.” Saturday: Auburn is a 27-point favorite over Georgia State.

Georgia (3-0, 1-0 SEC): The media once again is ga-ga over JT Daniels, who threw for 311 yards with three TDs and one INT against a very bad South Carolina team. When is Daniels going to have a big game against a decent SEC defense? Last year he faced Mississippi State, Missouri and South Carolina. Saturday: Georgia is a 34.5-point favorite on the road at Vanderbilt.

Kentucky (3-0, 1-0 SEC): HBC Mark Stoops called the win over D1AA Chattanooga “aggravating” because it took a pick six and a late Kentucky drive to seal a 28-23 win. Saturday: Kentucky is a 5.5-point favorite on the road at South Carolina.

LSU (2-1): Andre Anthony, LSU’s best pass rusher, is out for the season after tearing an ACL in the first quarter against Central Michigan. Saturday: LSU is a 2.5-point road favorite at Mississippi State.

Mississippi State (2-1): On Saturday Down South, Matt Hayes talked about Mississippi State getting screwed by the SEC zebra crew: “Good officials stay; officials who consistently miss calls aren’t rehired. Does that make Mississippi State feel any better about a couple of calls that directly contributed to a loss at Memphis? Not even close.” Saturday: The Bulldogs are a 2.5-point underdog to LSU.

Missouri (2-1, 0-1 SEC): Through three games running back Tyler Baddie has gained 345 yards (7.19 per carry) for three touchdowns and caught 15 passes for 142 yards and three more scores. Saturday: Missouri is a 2.5-point road favorite at Boston College.

Ole Miss (3-0): Ole Miss leads the nation in total offense (638.3 yards per game, 7.69 per play) and scoring (52.7 points per game). The Rebels are sixth in rushing (298.67 per game) and 12th in passing (339.7 per game). Saturday: Open.

South Carolina (2-1, 0-1 SEC): HBC Shane Beamer says QB Zeb Noland is “struggling with getting feeling back” in a hand that was stepped on during South Carolina’s first possession of the game against Georgia. Noland was 1-2 passing for 61 yards and a TD. Saturday: The Gamecocks are 5.5-point underdogs to Kentucky.

Tennessee (2-1): Through three games, the Vols have limited opponents to 163 rushing yards (54.33 per game), an average of 1.7 yards per carry. Saturday the Vols face Florida, which is averaging 340.33 yards per game on the ground, second in the nation. Saturday: The Vols are 20-point road dogs at Florida.

Texas A&M (3-0): Injured against New Mexico and listed day-to-day as the Aggies prep for Saturday’s game with Arkansas are offensive lineman Luke Matthews, DB Keldrick Carper and wide receiver Ainias Smith. Saturday: The Aggies are 5.5-point favorites over Arkansas.

Vanderbilt (1-2): A very telling stat for the ineptitude of the Vandy offense – the Commodores are averaging only 5.0 yards per pass attempt, which is the seventh worst per attempt nationally. Saturday: The Commodores are 34.5-point underdogs to Georgia.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: For all the hype about Cincinnati as the potential College Football Playoff party crasher from the Group of Five, everybody seems to be overlooking BYU. Cincinnati is ranked 8th in the latest AP poll, 9th in the Coaches. The Bearcats own wins over Miami (Ohio), Murray State and a not so impressive win over an Indiana (Big Ten) team that is vastly overhyped. They’re off this week but when they resume play they will be at Notre Dame. The rest of the schedule will be against American Athletic Conference opponents and quite frankly, the league doesn’t look very strong. Meanwhile, BYU is 3-0 against Pac-12 opponents and has remaining games against Power Five opponents Baylor (Big 12), Virginia (ACC), Washington State (Pac-12) and Southern Cal (Pac-12). I’m far more impressed with BYU at this point than the Bearcats. College Football Playoff voters should be, also.