Bruce Fowler is no stranger to Florida’s football team.
The Paladins’ first-year coach served as the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Vanderbilt for nine seasons before taking the job in Greenville, S.C., in December.
“The key thing is obviously just trying to control their speed on offense,” Fowler said Tuesday. “They get the ball on the perimeter. If you break down anywhere, they have a chance to turn a play that could be average into one that’s a really long gain.”
While he has experience gameplanning for running backs Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps — Rainey had 136 total yards and a touchdown against Fowler’s Vanderbilt defense last year while Demps ran for 57 and a score in 2009 — Fowler’s biggest concern is stopping the Gators’ defensive line.
As the only FBS team on Furman’s schedule this season, UF presents an unprecedented matchup problem for a Paladins offensive line that has allowed just 14 sacks in 10 games.
Although Fowler has been impressed by what he has seen across Florida’s defensive front, he is also concerned about the matchup between senior right tackle Ryan Lee and Florida’s Sharrif Floyd, who had a career day against Fowler’s Vanderbilt team last season with five tackles, including two and a half for a loss.
“Their front three guys and their whole front is very athletic,” Fowler said. “They’re big; they move exceptionally well; they pressure people well, but they’re good in the run game.”
Florida’s athleticism could make for a long day for quarterback Chris Forcier.
Forcier leads the FCS with a 180.9 rating, completing 65.4 percent of his passes for 2,099 yards and 22 touchdowns.
With his next touchdown pass, Forcier will pass former Furman quarterback Ingle Martin, who transferred from UF after the 2003 season, for the school record for passing touchdowns in a season.
But to do that against a tough Florida defense and in front of the biggest crowd the Paladins have seen all season, Fowler knows his team will have to execute, something it couldn’t do in a loss to Elon last week.
“The excitement around the game will obviously get our juices flowing,” Fowler said. “We’re still going to have to execute really well and do the things down after down that it takes to win games.”
Contact Tom Green at tgreen@alligator.org.
