Thoughts of the day: September 22, 2022

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning:

It is a two-fold challenge for the Gators (2-1, 0-1 SEC) Saturday when they travel to Knoxville to face 11th-ranked Tennessee. The Vols’ Blur Ball attack takes temp to a whole new level, particularly with 25-year-old Hendon Hooker at the throttle of the attack. Hooker is a very accurate passer but he supplements his arm with his ability to run the football, which wears opponents out.

The Gators run a lot of tempo, too, but nobody runs it as quickly as the Vols, which has been a problem for preparation.

“I think the issue when you play these teams is simulating it in practice,” Billy Napier said Wednesday night at his midweek press conference. “Like how do you recreate this pace in a practice setting with the look squad or a practice squad to some degree? We have ways in our system where we can ramp it up and go quickly. We work on tempo throughout the year. It’s part of our practice plan in spring practice and in training camp, but to do it each and every play? These guys are really good at it. I think they’re one of the best at it when it comes to pushing the pedal and playing at a pace. I mean, we’re talking every 20.5 seconds they’re snapping the ball.

“I think that they’re in year two and certainly they’ve got the personnel, in particular the quarterback. His ability to rush the ball, in particular, I think makes him unique.”

Hooker has thrown for 844 yards (9.9 per attempt) and six touchdowns without an interception. He has only run for 68 yards so far, but a year ago he ran for 613 yards and five touchdowns.

Hooker’s ability to take off and gain positive yards is a real problem for a Florida team that has had problems setting the edge to keep opposing quarterbacks contained. Utah’s Cameron Rising avoided sacks all night and wound up with 91 rushing yards and a TD. Kentucky’s Will Levis was sacked three times in the first half, but he avoided second half sacks by getting outside against the rush to extend plays. Last week against South Florida, Gerry Bohannon ran for 102 yards and a TD.

“In particular this past week, I think we had some conflict plays on the edge,” Napier said. “The good thing I’m going to tell you is in the second half we eliminated that issue. I think it’s a good thing when the staff understands it and the players understand what happened, what the concept was, what went wrong and how to fix it. I think that’s when you start to see some growth from your players, when they can make adjustments. They can speak the language, they know when it happened, they know why it happened and we’ll call this, I’ll be a part of the defense and it fits together. I think work-in-progress is how we’ll describe it and hopefully we can do it better moving forward.”

Depth chart for Tennessee (starter in bold face)

Offense

WR: Xzavier Henderson; Daejon Reynolds or Marcus Burke

WR: Justin Shorter; Ja’Quavion Fraziars

WR: Ricky Pearsall; Trent Whittemore; Ja’Markis Weston LT: Richard Gouraige; Josh Braun LG: Ethan White; Richie Leonard IV C: Kingsey Eguakun; Jake Slaughter RG: O’Cyrus Torrence; Jalen Farmer RT: Austin Barber; Kamryn Waites

QB: Anthony Richardson; Jalen Kitna or Kyle Engel

RB: Nay’Quan Wright; Montrell Johnson Jr. or Trevor Etienne; Lorenzo Lingard

Defense

DE: Princely Umanmielen; Justus Boone

NT: Desmond Watson; Jalen Lee; Jaelin Humphries, Jamari Lyons

DE: Gervon Dexter Sr.; Tyreak Sapp; Chris McClellan JACK: Brenton Cox Jr.; Antwaun Powell-Ryland Jr.; Lloyd Summerall III; David Reese

LB: Shemar James; Derek Wingo

LB: Amari Burney; Scooby Williams; Diwun Black

STAR: Tre’Vez Johnson; Jadarrius Perkins; Kamar Wilcoxson

CB: Jason Marshall Jr.; Devin Moore; Jordan Young

S: Rashad Torrence II; Kamari Wilson; Corey Collier Jr.

S: Trey Dean III; Donovan McMillon or Miguel Mitchell CB: Avery Helm; Jalen Kimber; Ethan Pouncey

Special teams KO: Adam Mihalek or Trey Smack

PK: Adam Mihalek or Trey Smack

P: Jeremy Crawshaw; Jacob Watkins H: Jeremy Crawshaw; Jacob Watkins KOR: Ja’Markis Weston; Trevor Etienne or Nay’Quan Wright; Tre’Vez Johnson

PR: Xzavier Henderson; Jason Marshall Jr. or Trevor Etienne

Injured: TE Arlis Boardingham out; OL David Conner out; CB Jaydon Hill probable; QB Jack Miller III out; LB Ventrell Miller questionable; LS Marco Ortiz out; LT Michael Tarquin out

UF volleyball: The 12th-ranked Gators (9-2, 1-0 SEC) opened SEC play Wednesday night at the O-Dome with a straight set (25-19, 25-19, 25-17) win over Alabama (6-7, 0-1 SEC). Florida coach Mary Wise is now 49-0 for her career against the Crimson Tide. Freshman setter Alexis Stucky had 25 assists, three kills, one service ace, five digs and a block to pace the Gators. Florida travels to South Carolina (6-4, 0-0 Sunday).

SEC football

No. 2 Alabama (3-0, 0-0 SEC): Freshman wide receiver Aaron Anderson is practicing but listed day-to-day for the Vanderbilt game Saturday.

No. 10 Arkansas (3-0, 1-0 SEC): Defensive back Myles Slusher and defensive lineman Jashaun Stewart are expected to be back from injury Saturday against Texas A&M.

Auburn (2-1, 0-0 SEC): When asked if QB T.J. Finley will be ready to go Saturday against Missouri, HBC Bryan Harsin replied, “We’ll see.”

No. 1 Georgia (3-0, 1-0 SEC): Wide receiver Kearis Jackson praised Kent State’s defense, saying “Them boys are flying around.” Yes, and they’re giving up 29.3 points per game and they’re favored to lose to the Poodles by a mere 45 points.

No. 8 Kentucky (3-0, 1-0 SEC): Five of the six Kentucky football players who were arrested after being charged with burglary last year have filed a federal lawsuit against the Lexington Police Department. Charges were later dropped against the players.

LSU (2-1, 1-0 SEC): Brian Kelly says the Tigers are trying to get wide receiver Jack Bech untracked. He has just two catches for 22 yards so far. He caught 43 passes last season.

Mississippi State (2-1, 0-1 SEC): In the loss to LSU, Mike Leach says the Bulldogs spent a lot of time playing with nine guys instead of 11.”

Missouri (1-2, 0-0 SEC): In talking about what has gone wrong for the Tigers this season on the SEC Coaches Teleconference Eli Drinkwitz said, “It’s easy to point at the quarterback but everyone has to improve. I’ve got to improve.”

No. 20 Ole Miss (3-0, 0-0 SEC): The Rebels are allowing only 13 points and 264 yards per game. They’re favored by 21.5 against Tulsa this weekend.

South Carolina (1-2, 0-2 SEC): The Gamecocks hope to get Spencer Rattler untracked this week against Charlotte. He has only thrown one TDP and three picks in the last two games, losses to Arkansas and Georgia.

No. 11 Tennessee (3-0, 0-0 SEC): Wide receiver Cedric Tillman and running back Jabari Small are expected to play against the Gators Saturday.

No. 23 Texas A&M (2-1, 0-0 SEC): The Aggies may come out throwing Saturday against an Arkansas secondary that is allowing 352.7 passing yards per game. Opponents are averaging 8.5 yards per pass attempt.

Vanderbilt (3-1, 0-0 SEC): The Commodores had only nine sacks all last season. They have seven thus far in 2022. They’ll need all the pass rush they can get against Alabama Saturday.

Our SEC orphans in the Big 12

No. 6 (Oklahoma 3-0, 0-0 Big 12): When Oklahoma joins the SEC, its longstanding rivalry game with Oklahoma State will become a thing of the past.

No. 21 Texas (2-1, 0-0 Big 12): Bijan Robinson, who was on a lot of Heisman lists when the season began, has only 311 yards in three games, but 183 came last week so he could insert himself back in the Heisman race with a big game against Texas Tech Saturday.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The Extinct Species List grew by one when Arizona State announced that Herm Edwards is no longer gainfully employed. If Georgia Tech gets its doors blown off by UCF Saturday, Geoff Collins could be the next member.

Countdown to Firing Day: Week 4

Extinct Species List

Scott Frost, Nebraska: There was a report Nebraska contacted Urban Meyer. If he goes back into coaching (doubtful) any time soon, it won’t be to Nebraska but will be someplace he can win instantly. The one guy who could turn Nebraska around is Lance Leipold who has Kansas unbeaten at 3-0. Nobody ever goes 3-0 at Kansas.

Herm Edwards, Arizona State: The NCAA violations were the fallback that allowed Arizona State to fired Herm with cause. In reality, it’s all about a 1-2 start with Utah, Southern Cal and Washington the next three games on the schedule. The guy they ought to hire is Bryan Harsin, who will be job hunting rather soon when the zany Auburn alums and boosters have their way.

On Life Support

Bryan Harsin, Auburn: He was a goner the day athletic director Allan Greene left one step ahead of the pink slip. The loss to Penn State ensures that the only way Harsin will be back is to win the next nine games, one of which is Alabama.

Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech: Somehow he survived last week’s 42-0 loss to Ole Miss. If UCF wins by 20 or more Saturday, he may need to win seven of the eight remaining games to save his job. Buzzards are circling.

Scot Loeffler, Bowling Green: Lefty shocked the world by knocking off Marshall in overtime last week. Marshall probably was still hung over from its win at Notre Dame the week before. Bowling for Dollars travels to Starkville this week. This won’t be pretty. He’s probably good until the end of the season but he’s not going to be back next year.

Jake Spavital, Texas State: Last week’s hosing by Baylor was expected. D1AA Houston Baptist comes to San Marcos this week so the Bobcats will be 2-2. That means a 4-4 record the rest of the way keeps the lights on his office.

Mike Bloomgren, Rice: Rice is 2-1 so far after that shocking win over Louisiana last week. Bloomgren shouldn’t be too giddy. His schedule says the Hoot Owls are a 3-9 or 4-8 team at best. If he can beat Houston this week, he will save his job and probably pink slip Dan Holgorsen.

Endangered Species List

Dana Holgorsen, Houston: The Cougars can’t run the ball and they can’t stop anyone from throwing it. That’s why they are 1-2 and why Houston boosters are asking themselves, “Why are we paying this guy $4 million a year?” The Cougars are favored by 17.5 over Rice. The boosters won’t be happy unless it’s a 30-point win.

Willie Taggart, Florida Atlantic: FAU got boatraced by UCF in Boca Raton last week. They’re 2-2 with a paycheck game at Purdue this week. Taggart really needs seven or eight wins to feel comfortable. Lane Kiffin showed the folks in Boca that championships can be won at FAU.

Seth Littrell, North Texas: It’s not that the Mean Green are 2-2 right now that troubles the boosters and alums. It’s that the two losses were by a combined 69 points. A bashing by Memphis this Saturday will have the buzzards circling.

Neal Brown, West Virginia: Saturday at Virginia Tech might be the last time the Mounties can win a game this season. They’re 1-2 right now with the only W is against a D1AA team. This si not going to end well.

Ken Niumalatalolo, Navy: Since winning 11 games in 2019, the Midshipmen are 7-17. They’ve lost to D1AA Delaware and they’re only averaging 10 points a game. They’re 16.5-point underdogs at East Carolina Saturday. The folks in Annapolis are very nervous.

Karl Dorrell, Colorado: The Buffs are 0-3 and in desperate need of a win. They get UCLA at home Saturday. Win and the heat would ease on Dorrell but increase substantially on UCLA’s Chip Kelly.

Brent Brennan, San Jose State: The good news is he didn’t lose last week. That’s because it was an open date. Lose to Western Michigan this week and he’ll be 21-39 for his SJSU career. This doesn’t have a good ending in the script.