Urban Meyer of the Florida Gators and Lane chatting it up

Week 3 prediction--Tennessee

I don't want to dwell on the obvious emotional layer of this game, so I will set it aside for now and talk match-ups.

Florida Offense, Tennessee Defense
This I believe will be the most intriguing and evenly contested match-up of the afternoon. Tennessee's strength is their defense, both from a talent and a coaching standpoint. Their talent allows them to play a lot of different schemes and throw a bunch of different blitz packages at you. Tennessee will stymie Florida early on by playing Eric Berry as a spy on Tim Tebow. But as the game progresses, Florida's offense will wear them down, while making the necessary adjustments to move the football. Plus Tennessee's offense is prone to mistakes, so the defense will have to defend the short field several times throughout the game.

Florida Defense, Tennessee Offense
This is a mismatch and why I think Florida will win handily. Johnathon Crompton has been so bad at QB, I think Tennessee will try to run first and dink and dunk second. With Lawrence Marsh back at nose, Florida will shut the run down and Crompton will be asked to do something he is not very good at--throw the ball downfield. I think Florida's defense will score at least once and will get at least three turnovers while holding the Vols out of the end zone.

Special Teams
Advantage Gators. The talk has been Nu'Keese Richardson, the super frosh who jilted the Gators. He returns punts, and I look for him to fumble at least one time during the game giving the Gators a chance for an easy score. I also see Brandon James affecting field position. If they kick it to him, he will burn them. If they kick it out of bounds, they will give up valuable field position.

Intangibles
We have all heard over and over again Lane Kiffin's off-season comments. I have no problem with coaches running their mouths because it will all be settled on the field. The real intangible will be the Swamp. Tennessee has a lot of freshmen who see significant playing time (both punt returners are freshmen), and they will not be prepared for the noise or the intensity of the match-up. Can you imagine trying to field a punt with 11 thoroughbreds drawing a bead on your chest while 90,000-plus fans are screaming DROP IT?

My Prediction: Florida 38-9

Pick 6 Update

The rules were tweaked for Pick 6. The updates are in the original post (below). Changes include:

--only 1 guess (instead of 2) at margin-of-victory is accepted. A guess within 6 points of the correct margin will earn a player a point, while guesses within 3 points of actual margin will earn 2 points.

--kick returns for touchdowns count for the touchdown category

--instead of declaring an overall winner per game, we will add our points for any category wins or ties as we go, and an overall winner will be declared after the bowl game. (Ties are ties--no breakers, even at the very end.)

--also, just to be clear, if you select two players that tie for the lead in a category, you get a point for each just like you get 2 points when you select a player twice that is the winner of the category

(If anyone does not specify which margin guess they want to keep, we will accept their first guess of the two. Submissions can be entered or changed anytime before kickoff. The previous post's comments section will still contain our picks this week, so make any changes in those comments and latest entries will count.)


Thanks for playing.

Pick 6- Tennessee

If you would like to play Pick 6 for the Tennessee game, write your picks in the comments section of this post

Pick 6 (updated!)

Welcome to 'Pick 6'- The Gator fantasy game

Here are the rules:

-Anyone can play. Each week there will be a 'Pick 6' post; participants just need to write their picks in the comments section

-We will post the results and declare a winner after each game for each category. There will also be an overall winner at the end of the season which is based upon cumulative points. Points will be based on number of categories that you pick correctly on.

-Only SEC, FSU, and championship/bowl games count

*The Game*

-There are 6 categories: most yards from scrimmage, most touches from scrimmage, most receptions, most touchdowns, defensive mvp (according to 'the Sun'), and margin of victory (regardless of winner)

-Each week you will make 2 picks in each of these 6 categories. You get 1 point for each correct pick, even if the player you pick ties for the lead in that category. On the margin pick, you only get 1 guess--1 point is awarded for being within 6, 2 points for being within 3.

-You make your picks independently of other participants. For example, if I picked Demps for 'most yards', anyone else may also pick him for any category, including 'most yards'

-You can pick the same player for multiple categories. You can also pick the same player twice for the same category. For example, if I feel strongly that Hernandez will have the most receptions, I can use both of my 'most receptions' picks on him. If he ends up with most receptions I would get 2 points, because both of my picks are correct.

--if two players tie for the lead in a category, and you picked both, you get the 2 points

--Kick returns for touchdowns count in the touchdown category

-All stats are according to ESPN.com

-QBs are off limits

Some cool stats--enjoy them while you can

I found these little tidbits at the end of Edward Aschoff's article this week on Gatorsports:
--Florida leads the nation in total offensive yards (1,287)
--Florida leads the nation in yards per touch (10.5)
--Florida leads the nation in offensive touchdowns (16)
--The Gators have three running back in the top 10 nationally in yards per carry:
--No. 1 Jeff Demps (14.7)
--No. 5 Chris Rainey (9.8)
--No. 9 Emmanuel Moody (9.8)
--No other school in the country has two in the top 10.
--With a win Saturday, it would be the first time Florida has led in the all-time series with Tennessee. The series sits at 19-19

These stats were culled from ESPN:
--Tim Tebow (197.9)is second in the country in QB rating to Arkansas' Ryan Mallet (210.3). ND's Jimmy Claussen is third (196.3).
--Jeff Demps ranks 40th in the country in rushing yards (176), but he does only have 12 carries, with three TDs.
--Riley Cooper ranks 23rd in the nation in receiving yards (187 yards on 10 catches).