Greetings, all... I hope everyone is doing well...
Well, it's that time again... Time for the Gators and Hogs to square off... And as always, since y'all have come to love me (or at least tolerate me) because I don't pull punches regarding my Hogs, here's my take on them: 1) Brandon Allen is a good quarterback, although he did try to do too much against A&M. We were missing him against Rutgers, and I have no doubt the outcome would have been different with him at the helm. He really doesn't get rattled that much and isn't afraid to run. He's no Tebow, but he's no Mallett either :) And oh yeah, he had more yards and more touchdowns in less attempts than Johnny Football in our game against A&M. :) 2) Alex Collins is a beast at running back. I am so glad the State Of Florida let us have him (even if his mom didn't want him to come up here and hid his LOI). He's rushed for 100+ yards per game in four of his five games so far as a true freshman. The only game he didn't was against Rutgers, but heck, they knew we were going to run since we started a walk-on QB who had been offered a scholarship (in fact, we had as many passing touchdowns from running backs as quarterbacks in that game :). And he's not just a Glory Hog (pun intended). Against A&M he threw a block on a rushing defender that flipped the guy over and put him out with a thigh injury. I hope we get to keep him more than a couple years. 3) At running back, we're not just a one-trick pony. Collins is the speed and power back, but Jonathan Williams is no slouch either. And Kiero Small is a bowling ball of a fullback who can also catch passes. Far and away our running game is our bread and butter, but we will certainly throw when we have to. 4) Defense. Oy vey. We have a strong defensive line, but most of our pressure comes from our ends. So if you've got good tackles like A&M did, we don't get as much of a rush. Our skill level really drops at linebacker and defensive back. Easily this is the area I worry about most. 5) Kicking game is pretty solid, especially with Hocker as place kicker. He consistently puts kickoffs deep into or out of the end zone, taking away one of the other team's weapons. He's also very reliable on place kicking too, recently becoming the all-time leading scorer in Arkansas history. Our punter is a rugby style punter who can kick with his left or right leg, so it doesn't matter which way he rolls to avoid the rush. He also threw a nifty pass on a fake punt against Rutgers. 6) Coaching: I like what I've seen from Bret Bielema so far, but of course, there are detractors. Most of them are the people who think a Big 10 coach can't come into the SEC and be successful. Seems like they forget about that guy named Satan^H^H^Hban. He's very disciplined and expects the same from his players. After Collins scored his first touchdown of the year, he got a penalty for celebrating too much with the fans. Coach B said that if he did it again, he wouldn't be playing for the team. Some folks thought it was harsh, but discipline has to include all the little details, and Coach B seems to expect that. And Collins got the message. Now he always finds a ref and literally hands (not tosses) the ball to him. And hey, Coach B grew up on a pig farm, so it's destiny! :) What do I think will happen? I guess it depends what team shows up. We didn't do well in our only other road game, but we didn't have a real quarterback either, so it's hard to judge by that. We certainly have the talent to make it interesting, but my gut feeling tells me an SEC road game is a loss until you can prove otherwise, My pick: Gators 24, Hogs 20 Let the chompin' begin :) - PiggieBert -- -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
