The Florida Gators enter today’s matchup with Michigan in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl as 7.5-point underdogs.
The Wolverines (10-2) lead the nation in total defense, allowing only 262.5 yards per game and have flourished under quarterback Shea Patterson, who’s passed for 21 touchdowns to only five interceptions. UF is also 0-4 all time against Michigan, making the mountain for Dan Mullen’s squad to climb a little steeper.
Here are three areas that Florida needs to be successful in to get its first win against the Wolverines:
Florida needs a complete, sound game from Feleipe Franks
Little of the glamour of this matchup will come from either team’s passing game. The Gators ranked 76th in passing offense this season, averaging 217 points per contest. The Wolverines ranked 81st.
Florida’s offense did just enough this to put up points and help the team to a 9-3 record. And if the Gators 27th-ranked defense is gonna do its part, quarterback Feleipe Franks and the Florida offense have to play their most efficient, mistake-free game of the season.
Franks showed this season that he’s capable of being a game manager and making plays out of the pocket when he needs to.
He completed over 50% of his passes this season and threw for 2,284 yards and 23 touchdowns. And he’s improved in almost every area since he faced the Wolverines last season.
This year, the redshirt sophomore quarterback faced good defenses in Mississippi State (No. 3-ranked defense), Georgia (No. 13) and LSU (No. 29). None of the three teams allowed more than 4.8 yards per play.
Franks averaged 162 passing yards against those teams. And none of them presented the same challenge that the Wolverines will.
Michigan’s fast defensive front will require Franks to be near perfect. And he’ll need to get the ball out quickly and accurately to give Florida’s offense a chance.
It likely won’t be a high-scoring affair, and the absence of defensive end Rashan Gary and linebacker Devin Bush, both of whom will miss the Peach Bowl to prepare for the draft, may give Florida a bigger edge on offense.
So Franks will need to do what he’s done in all of the Gators’ impressive wins this season: play with enough poise and aggressiveness to eke out a win.
Gators need to pressure the quarterback
Florida tends to win when it gets to the opposing team’s quarterback.
Its two marquee wins over then-No. 23 Mississippi State and then-No. 5 LSU saw UF sack the quarterback 11 times. The added pressure forced the opposing signal caller into making costly mistakes, as shown with LSU’s Joe Burrow’s two interceptions against the Gators.
If they want to win against Michigan on Saturday, they’ll need to do more of the same.
Florida is undefeated in games where it gets two or more sacks.
Against a Wolverine team that has allowed 1.5 sacks per game, getting to the quarterback might be a challenge. Their 18 allowed sacks is the 27th lowest in the NCAA.
Florida, however, has the talent to get there. Defensive lineman Jachai Polite has 11 of Florida’s 32 sacks on the year. Defensive lineman Jabari Zuniga added 6.5 more, linebacker Vosean Joseph had four sacks and star safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson had three. Even safety Donovan Stiner recorded a sack, showing that defensive coordinator Todd Grantham isn’t afraid to send any player after the quarterback.
The Gators have the tools on defense to pressure Michigan’s Shea Patterson. They just need to put them to use.
Stop the Run
The magic number for the Gators is 4.50.
UF gave up more than 4.50 yards per carry in all three of its loses this season. And in all but one of its wins over Power Five opponents (Vanderbilt on Oct. 13), Florida held its opposition to under 4.50 yards per rush.
Another important number for UF is 15, the lowest tackle-for-loss yardage it has accumulated in every Power Five victory in 2018 (Vanderbilt, South Carolina on Nov. 11). Florida never eclipsed 12 tackle-for-loss yards in its defeats.
Kentucky, Georgia and Missouri all pounded the rock over 40 times in their victories over UF. So Florida will need to limit the amount of touches of the experienced Wolverine backfield.
The Wolverines will miss senior Karan Higdon, who averages 20.36 rushes per contest and 5.26 yards each touch. Higdon’s Michigan’s leading rusher with 1,178 yards and 10 touchdowns. But UM’s change of pace backs, juniors Chris Evans and Tru Wilson, average even more yards per attempt (5.45 and 6.02, respectively).
The Gators enter the Peach Bowl as the nation’s No. 73 defense against the rush (169.67 yards per game) and they’re facing a Michigan team that averages more yards on the ground (214.33 yards per game) than through the air (212.90).
They’ll need to improve their run defense if they’re going to have any hope of lifting the Peach Bowl trophy. The Wolverines have the No. 26 rushing attack in the country, which ranks higher than Missouri (43) and Kentucky (35).
Gators quarterback Feleipe Franks has thrown for over 680 yards with seven touchdowns and zero turnovers over the last three games.
