It’s tune-up week in the Southeastern Conference.
The week where SEC programs reward themselves for an exhausting season by scheduling opponents from small conferences to beat up on for 60 minutes.
Among just three SEC matchups, Week 12’s riveting slate of SEC football games will include thrillers like Alabama-Citadel, Georgia-UMass and Florida-Idaho.
But there’s plenty of opportunity for Florida to capitalize on in its Saturday afternoon play date with the Vandals ahead of its regular-season finale against Florida State. Here are three:
Eliminating the big play
Allowing explosive plays has been an Achilles' heel of this Florida defense all season, and each game has illuminated that weakness.
Even the Charleston Southern Buccaneers managed a 70-yard play when UF trounced them 53-6 in Week 1.
South Carolina only got away with a few of those plays Saturday, but when the Gamecocks did get those huge chunk plays, it led to scores.
The Gamecocks’ first two touchdowns came because of busted coverages by the Gators. But two times South Carolina moved down the field and scored because the Florida defenders were unable to wrap up and gave up big plays because of it.
“I think it’s a combination of matching better and tackling, and we’ve got to do a better job of tackling in space, getting guys down,” he said. “You’ve just got to understand your match and your fit and things like that.”
The Gators did make necessary adjustments to clean up some of those mistakes in the second half of that game, but they have yet to go a game without giving up a play of at least 20 yards.
Idaho has tallied 18 rushing plays of 15 or more yards and eight passing plays of at least 30 yards this season, so this won’t be an off week for the Gators’ defense.
“To be a better defense we have to play fast, physical and aggressive,” linebacker James Houston said. “So we’re working on that this week.”
More fire from Feleipe Franks
It was clear that Feleipe Franks was angry in Saturday’s win against the Gamecocks.
He ran with more purpose and physicality than he has all season.
Perhaps it was the outside noise and Twitter babble that got to him. But he wanted the ball, and he wanted it at the most critical points in the contest.
“I just wanted to run somebody over. I was just super pissed,” Franks told reporters on Monday. “I just wanted to lower my head.. I mean I have faith in myself and confidence in myself to go and...especially on fourth-and-1 you know. I wanted the ball and I wanted to score.”
The Gators need more of that from their redshirt-sophomore quarterback. And there’s no better way of building on that fiery persona he established than in a tune-up match.
More action for younger guys
It’s unknown if and when freshman Emory Jones will see the field in the remaining games this season. But it could happen on Saturday.
Even if he doesn’t, there are plenty of other young players who need the experience and the boost in confidence from being thrown into some game action.
“I want to see them young guys,” right guard Fred Johnson said. “Rich (Gouraige), Noah (Banks), all them. I wanna see all them, you know, go after it, get after it, you know, hype them up, you know like they do (for) us when we’re playing.”
The Gators have a lot of youth at the defensive back position and a lot of young guys will replace their veteran offensive linemen. And the plan with more flexibility to play different guys in their remaining non-conference games is to gear them up for more reps for the rest of the season.
“This is an opportunity for guys to go play, because you’re not limited on who can dress,” coach Dan Mullen said. “In SEC games, you’re very limited on the number of guys that can play in a game within all the rules … so there’s going to be more opportunities for those guys situationally to get into a game, whether it’s special teams or whatever the situation is.”
Follow Alanis Thames on Twitter @alanisthames or contact her at athames@alligator.org.
UF quarterback Feleipe Franks seemed to run with purpose and physicality on Saturday against South Carolina. "I just wanted to run somebody over," he said.
