From the guys at our Florida site:
Opening statement:
"All right, here we go. Well, guys, what a night in the Swamp. It was something pretty special. The way our guys played was the way they practiced. I was really happy to see that. It was as good a defensive performance as I've probably ever been around, especially knowing who we were playing and their big-play capability. And we forced them to go long field. As good as our defense probably played in that game, it was a direct result of our offense controlling the ball a little bit. We had a decent time of possession and our special teams making them go long field. We never gave them short field all day, and forced them to earn whatever they gave. Got behind us one time and they missed it, and yet, you know, we had a coverage called that we didn't jam the corner. Or the corner didn't jam the receiver. Those are the details that we need to clean up. We tackled well. We didn't change anything from the week before. Just showed them on film when they didn't do it in practice it shows up on Saturday. There were a lot of guys that did a lot of good things.
"Offensively, you know, we're starting to do some things. We still have so far to go. We were on edge on a lot of runs. I thought we had an opportunity to hit some big ones and not sure our mike identification was right every time. We need to clean that up. However, their line movements, our guys handled it pretty well. And I think we didn't allow some of their dominant players to kind of take over the game on that side of the ball. I thought we mixed things up pretty good there. But really, what was great was our fans in that game had as much to do with their inefficiency, especially on some third downs, forcing them, and the knowledge of the fans. The fans staying till the end, that was something, man,that Swamp was uh. Look guys, I mean, I would have never expected in a million years I would be able to be a part of that environment like that. Man that was something pretty neat.
"I'm excited for where we're at. At the same time, it'll be really interesting to see how we handle the praise from all the people that obviously said they weren't worth a hill of beans and now are talking about them. People are rubbing their bellies and making them feel good. Yeah, they should get their bellies rubbed. I mean, they've done a good job. And yet how do you handle it? It'll be interesting. And this is another opportunity. We get an opportunity to go out and work today and put this last one to bed and finish up the corrections and get to work on as Missouri them that, guys, let's face it: they're the champ two years in a row on this side. We get to go play there. Their head coach, coach Pinkel. He won't even remember it, obviously, because I was at a little place, Eastern Washington, all the years that he was with Don James at the Huskies. We went there as often as we could to study how they run their program, how they coach when he was a receivers coach and then became an offensive coordinator. I've got the utmost respect obviously for him and how he runs his program. We tried to emulate a lot of things that coach James did in those 11 years or whatever it was coaching at Eastern because, let's face it, they were one of the kings of college football at that time. He learned from one of the best. Obviously, he and coach Saban were together under that, so I'm sure there were a lot of similarities in how they go about their daily business, and it shows up on film. You know, at the end, they're a little bit under the radar. No one has knocked them off. It'll be really interesting to see how our guys approach this week, what they learned from the past, to see how we approach this opportunity on Saturday.
"Offensively, they get the ball out quick, they've got an O-line that's got four starters back. They don't allow a bunch of sacks because of how they get it out and how they play quickly. I was really impressed with ...you can tell with Lock, if he's going to be the guy, they had packages for him all year, so it's not like he's a first-time starter who's never played before. But the way he commands, knowing where to go with it. I think that's a credit to what they do offensively."
"Defensively, just look at the statistics and that should tell you something. They're a top-10 defense in the country. They're a team that thrives on 10 negative plays a game, getting the ball back. Shoot, they had six turnovers combined against us last year on both special teams (and offense). Obviously, their takeaway capability is what makes it happen. They're really good up front, with size, speed, experience at the places they need to be experienced. Guys, this is a team that plays the way you're supposed to play. They take care of the football offensively, they get the ball back on defense, and their red-zone efficiency is fantastic when you see the amount of times they're down there and not giving up touchdowns. That's impressive.
"You know, it should be a fun week for us and yet, we'll see. We'll see how our guys handle the success, what little success it is. We'll see where we're at as a program. This will be a great, great challenge. It will be a lot of fun. That's why you come to the University of Florida, is playing games like this. We'll see how they handle it. It will be interesting. I want to tell you what, they handled their business last week. Now, if they can be mature enough to handle it this week will be really interesting to see.
"Injury report, you ready. Actually, other than general nicks and bruises and stuff coming out of a physical SEC game like that, we're actually in pretty good shape. Ahmad Fulwood will be no contact. Landed back on that arm of his. That one play up the middle. By the way, I love the fact -- I hate to regress here -- but Will's aggressiveness on that play was awesome. However, if he simply throws his hot, we probably get another Brandon Powell big play because they left the guy uncovered. But, I will not take away the fact that he looked to be aggressive with that play, and that was good. I'm a little upset about it, because you've got to take advantage of opportunities when they're given, and that was one that we didn't take advantage of. But, so where was I?
"C'yontai, we're somewhere between 25 and 50 percent heal ratio on his hand. They did shorten, or soften, the cast a little bit but not enough to play. That will be in evaluation Wednesday morning to see where he's at. We'd love to get him back, obviously."
"Jeremi Powell, we should see what kind of progress he makes and, you know that has been a big issue for us as far as the depth at linebacker and yet those guys are doing a heck of a job handling it. We'd sure like to get him back, I think we're trending in the right direction there, however, we're obviously, that's a training room and doctor call there.
It looks like he'll be out there today running around a little bit, which will be good."
"Got a couple guys still got a little bit of that flu stuff but it seems like it may be running its course. We had our shots last Monday actually, it was scheduled before this even occurred. Hopefully we're able to nip that before it becomes another issue moving forward. That's about it."
On C.J. Worton's injury status...
"He should, I don't know, he had a leg or something. I don't know. He'll be back. I think, he doesn't show up on here. He should be ok."
"I will say this before you even go questions wise, this was the first time I was really proud of our special teams. I think, other than the missed little chip shot thing, which got us off schedule a little bit. He did a great job of kicking it and we covered our tails off now. That's what we should be doing. We'll see if they respond and respond to the challenge and can put back-to-back together. That maybe is more so where we're at."
On the progress of the offensive line from the spring until now...
"Obviously, the influx of the new guys has been fantastic. Let's not downplay the fact Mason Halter's been doing a great job at a lot of different spots. That's been kind of an older guy that's been there and has brought some leadership. We're still nowhere where we're going to be, I'll say that. Getting Trip back has been great. Obviously, the young guys have been doing a pretty darn good job in there. I would say the biggest thing I see there is they're starting to understand the value of communication. We've got to get better on some of the points, and yet, that's on the quarterback as well. It isn't just on Cam or the centers. But I know this, that dark place you were talking about, it was really dark."
Opening statement:
"All right, here we go. Well, guys, what a night in the Swamp. It was something pretty special. The way our guys played was the way they practiced. I was really happy to see that. It was as good a defensive performance as I've probably ever been around, especially knowing who we were playing and their big-play capability. And we forced them to go long field. As good as our defense probably played in that game, it was a direct result of our offense controlling the ball a little bit. We had a decent time of possession and our special teams making them go long field. We never gave them short field all day, and forced them to earn whatever they gave. Got behind us one time and they missed it, and yet, you know, we had a coverage called that we didn't jam the corner. Or the corner didn't jam the receiver. Those are the details that we need to clean up. We tackled well. We didn't change anything from the week before. Just showed them on film when they didn't do it in practice it shows up on Saturday. There were a lot of guys that did a lot of good things.
"Offensively, you know, we're starting to do some things. We still have so far to go. We were on edge on a lot of runs. I thought we had an opportunity to hit some big ones and not sure our mike identification was right every time. We need to clean that up. However, their line movements, our guys handled it pretty well. And I think we didn't allow some of their dominant players to kind of take over the game on that side of the ball. I thought we mixed things up pretty good there. But really, what was great was our fans in that game had as much to do with their inefficiency, especially on some third downs, forcing them, and the knowledge of the fans. The fans staying till the end, that was something, man,that Swamp was uh. Look guys, I mean, I would have never expected in a million years I would be able to be a part of that environment like that. Man that was something pretty neat.
"I'm excited for where we're at. At the same time, it'll be really interesting to see how we handle the praise from all the people that obviously said they weren't worth a hill of beans and now are talking about them. People are rubbing their bellies and making them feel good. Yeah, they should get their bellies rubbed. I mean, they've done a good job. And yet how do you handle it? It'll be interesting. And this is another opportunity. We get an opportunity to go out and work today and put this last one to bed and finish up the corrections and get to work on as Missouri them that, guys, let's face it: they're the champ two years in a row on this side. We get to go play there. Their head coach, coach Pinkel. He won't even remember it, obviously, because I was at a little place, Eastern Washington, all the years that he was with Don James at the Huskies. We went there as often as we could to study how they run their program, how they coach when he was a receivers coach and then became an offensive coordinator. I've got the utmost respect obviously for him and how he runs his program. We tried to emulate a lot of things that coach James did in those 11 years or whatever it was coaching at Eastern because, let's face it, they were one of the kings of college football at that time. He learned from one of the best. Obviously, he and coach Saban were together under that, so I'm sure there were a lot of similarities in how they go about their daily business, and it shows up on film. You know, at the end, they're a little bit under the radar. No one has knocked them off. It'll be really interesting to see how our guys approach this week, what they learned from the past, to see how we approach this opportunity on Saturday.
"Offensively, they get the ball out quick, they've got an O-line that's got four starters back. They don't allow a bunch of sacks because of how they get it out and how they play quickly. I was really impressed with ...you can tell with Lock, if he's going to be the guy, they had packages for him all year, so it's not like he's a first-time starter who's never played before. But the way he commands, knowing where to go with it. I think that's a credit to what they do offensively."
"Defensively, just look at the statistics and that should tell you something. They're a top-10 defense in the country. They're a team that thrives on 10 negative plays a game, getting the ball back. Shoot, they had six turnovers combined against us last year on both special teams (and offense). Obviously, their takeaway capability is what makes it happen. They're really good up front, with size, speed, experience at the places they need to be experienced. Guys, this is a team that plays the way you're supposed to play. They take care of the football offensively, they get the ball back on defense, and their red-zone efficiency is fantastic when you see the amount of times they're down there and not giving up touchdowns. That's impressive.
"You know, it should be a fun week for us and yet, we'll see. We'll see how our guys handle the success, what little success it is. We'll see where we're at as a program. This will be a great, great challenge. It will be a lot of fun. That's why you come to the University of Florida, is playing games like this. We'll see how they handle it. It will be interesting. I want to tell you what, they handled their business last week. Now, if they can be mature enough to handle it this week will be really interesting to see.
"Injury report, you ready. Actually, other than general nicks and bruises and stuff coming out of a physical SEC game like that, we're actually in pretty good shape. Ahmad Fulwood will be no contact. Landed back on that arm of his. That one play up the middle. By the way, I love the fact -- I hate to regress here -- but Will's aggressiveness on that play was awesome. However, if he simply throws his hot, we probably get another Brandon Powell big play because they left the guy uncovered. But, I will not take away the fact that he looked to be aggressive with that play, and that was good. I'm a little upset about it, because you've got to take advantage of opportunities when they're given, and that was one that we didn't take advantage of. But, so where was I?
"C'yontai, we're somewhere between 25 and 50 percent heal ratio on his hand. They did shorten, or soften, the cast a little bit but not enough to play. That will be in evaluation Wednesday morning to see where he's at. We'd love to get him back, obviously."
"Jeremi Powell, we should see what kind of progress he makes and, you know that has been a big issue for us as far as the depth at linebacker and yet those guys are doing a heck of a job handling it. We'd sure like to get him back, I think we're trending in the right direction there, however, we're obviously, that's a training room and doctor call there.
It looks like he'll be out there today running around a little bit, which will be good."
"Got a couple guys still got a little bit of that flu stuff but it seems like it may be running its course. We had our shots last Monday actually, it was scheduled before this even occurred. Hopefully we're able to nip that before it becomes another issue moving forward. That's about it."
On C.J. Worton's injury status...
"He should, I don't know, he had a leg or something. I don't know. He'll be back. I think, he doesn't show up on here. He should be ok."
"I will say this before you even go questions wise, this was the first time I was really proud of our special teams. I think, other than the missed little chip shot thing, which got us off schedule a little bit. He did a great job of kicking it and we covered our tails off now. That's what we should be doing. We'll see if they respond and respond to the challenge and can put back-to-back together. That maybe is more so where we're at."
On the progress of the offensive line from the spring until now...
"Obviously, the influx of the new guys has been fantastic. Let's not downplay the fact Mason Halter's been doing a great job at a lot of different spots. That's been kind of an older guy that's been there and has brought some leadership. We're still nowhere where we're going to be, I'll say that. Getting Trip back has been great. Obviously, the young guys have been doing a pretty darn good job in there. I would say the biggest thing I see there is they're starting to understand the value of communication. We've got to get better on some of the points, and yet, that's on the quarterback as well. It isn't just on Cam or the centers. But I know this, that dark place you were talking about, it was really dark."
