Some positive vibes for the Florida game...

The fact is we actually went toe to toe with Oregon for close to three quarters, and after two games we have some areas where we can feel pretty good going into the Florida game for the first time in about 4 years.

#1 - Tauren Poole -  Whatever Lane Kiffin was thinking last year in regards to putting Poole at #3 was apparently WAAAAY off.  Guess who leads the conference in rushing after two weeks?  Yeah, this guy...  he's not only getting more carries than anyone else in the conference but he's not regressing to the mean because of it, and he doesn't have some 95 yard run skewing his numbers.
40 attempts for 272 yards
6.8 yards per carry
Long of 39
3 catches for 17 yards

 

 

#2 - Our offensive line -  That thing I said about Tauren Poole?  Well, David Oku is averaging 6.5 yards per carry so it's obviously not solely because of his amazing skill...  unless of course we have two guys who could run for 1,000 yards.  We've also given up one sack...  not bad for the youngest Tennessee line since 1892(I'm guessing here).

 

 

#3 -  Florida's rushing defense vs. South Florida - The Gators gave up 262 yards(6.7 ypc) rushing to South Florida before sacks were taken into account...  granted, many of those yards were picked up by a fast QB...  but that same fast QB was absolute no threat to pass and Matt Simms will be a significant step up in that department(despite how odd that sounds).  Stony Brook, at least statistically, was more effective stopping the USF rush in week one.

 

 

I reiterate, Tennessee's bread and butter is the same area that Florida is most vulnerable...   If we play disciplined defense and special teams, we should be able to run fairly well on the Gators.  We won't be able to make our living passing, and trying is a recipe for disaster...  but if Florida has to load the box up to try and stop the run, we'll have our chance to beat them over the top too.  And we all saw what these receivers can do one on one versus Oregon.

Poll

How many rushing yards will Tennessee have versus Florida on 9/18?

3%

<50

3 votes

1%

51-75

1 votes

10%

76-100

8 votes

12%

101-125

10 votes

17%

126-150

14 votes

33%

151-200

27 votes

21%

>200

17 votes

80 votes | Poll has closed