It’s hard not to feel a little sorry for Tim Tebow and Greg McElroy.
When the quarterbacks take the field for Saturday’s Southeastern Conference Championship Game, they’ll have to fight through the two best defenses in the nation.
It’s time for them to find out how opposing offenses have felt all season.
The No. 1 Gators and No. 2 Crimson Tide are the SEC’s top two teams in eight of 11 defensive categories, and they both rank in the top three of two others.
UF has the nation’s best scoring and total defenses (UA ranks second and third) while Alabama has the No. 1 pass efficiency and No. 2 rushing defenses (Florida is second and eighth).
The Gators have given up just 118 points (9.83 points per game), a number that would be lower if not for 13 points allowed by the offense. Likewise, the Tide has allowed just 130 points (10.83 per game), and 16 of those came against special teams and the offense.
But for all their similarities on paper, players on the two units don’t know much about each other, as they spend all their time in the film room studying offenses.
“I haven’t kept my eye on Florida’s defense at all,” Alabama linebacker Rolando McClain said. “Obviously, they’re a very good defense because they dominate opponents, or else they wouldn’t be getting the recognition they have been getting.
“I really don’t know what they do. I know they have very good players, I know they’re well coached, and I think we’re pretty much the same way.”
But for McElroy, who has faced his defense in practice and watched Florida’s on film, the parallels don’t extend beyond stats on paper. McElroy said UF is just as fast and talented, but his squad has a more cerebral approach.
“As far as schematics, they’re not nearly as confusing as our defense, I feel,” McElroy said. “They have a lot of confidence in their defensive backs and their secondary. And they do some different things with their pass rushers in their front. And they do a good job of mixing things in. However, it’s not overly complicated. It’s mostly based on a talent.
“So really as far as what our defense does and their defense does, they’re pretty different. Tries to confuse you as opposed to trying to line up and beat you with talent.”
That doesn’t mean Alabama doesn’t have the talent, though. Return man-turned-stud-cornerback Javier Arenas and 365-pound defensive tackle Terrence Cody are both ranked by ESPN’s Scouts Inc. in the top six at their respective positions for April’s NFL Draft.
Cody controls the middle of the line with his size, while Arenas relies on quickness and instinct. Arenas is fifth in the SEC in tackles for loss (12) and 14th in sacks (five), making him the only defensive back in the top 20 in either category.
But there’s no question who leads Alabama’s defense. Where Florida has Brandon Spikes and Ryan Stamper, Alabama leans on McClain.
Ranked the nation’s top linebacker by Scouts Inc., McClain has 96 tackles (12 for loss) and four sacks, and he serves as the head of the Tide’s scheme.
“They change their defenses, they change their blitzes, and when you do that you have to be extremely intelligent,” Tebow said. “Not a lot of defenses are that sophisticated, and you have to have smart people to run it… [McClain is] really that smart guy on their team that can really get them in the right situation, the right place.
“And he’s also not only is he extremely smart getting people in the right place but he’s a great player, stout linebacker and athletic guy who makes a lot of plays.”
The clash between the Gators and Tide will decide the SEC’s champion, award a berth in the national title game and probably go a long way toward deciding a Heisman Trophy winner, but it’ll also give one of two proud defenses the right to call itself the best in the land.
