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3 keys for Mizzou QB Drew Lock to beat Florida’s talented secondary
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Florida’s secondary has several athletes who will be playing on Sundays in the near future.
From Teez Tabor, Quincy Wilson and Duke Dawson at the corner position to Marcus Maye and Nick Washington manning the safety spots, the Gators are stacked on the back end of their defense.
Coming off a bye week, Mizzou QB Drew Lock and his receivers will need to have a big Saturday if the Tigers are going to come close to pulling off the upset in Gainesville.
In Tennessee’s wild come-from-behind victory over the Gators a couple of weeks ago, QB Joshua Dobbs threw for 319 yards and four touchdowns to go with a pair of interceptions.
However, much of the Volunteers’ success through the air came in the second half. Dobbs and the entire offense were abysmal in the first two quarters, thanks in large part to Wilson, Tabor and the secondary.
If Mizzou is going to win at The Swamp, Lock will have to have an even better performance than Dobbs. For the Tigers, getting at least 350 passing yards will give them a chance to win.
Here are three ways Lock and the Mizzou receivers can have success against the Gators:
1. Be more physical at the line of scrimmage: LSU’s secondary (another unit loaded with NFL talent) manhandled the Mizzou receivers at the line of scrimmage.
Star WR J’Mon Moore was rendered irrelevant by Tre’Davious White, Jamal Adams, Kevin Toliver II and the rest of the Tigers’ secondary, catching only one pass for 16 yards.
In fact, Mizzou’s leading receiver against LSU, freshman Johnathon Johnson, was held to only three catches for 42 yards.
Mizzou doesn’t need to have multiple 100-yard receivers like it had against weaker opponents, but it will need multiple players to have more than 50 yards in order to beat Florida.
The Tigers have now seen what a good secondary can do. Coming off the bye week, we’ll quickly see if they learned anything from the drubbing at the hands of LSU.
2. Get better offensive line play: Even though the Florida secondary is one of the best in college football, they can only cover for so long.
If Mizzou’s offensive line can keep Lock clean and allow receivers to run double-move routes, some passing lanes will open up.
If Lock has to get the ball out of his hand in three or fewer seconds on every snap, the Gators will likely still have the Mizzou receivers smothered.
3. Take care of the ball: This seems obvious and the principle applies to every game, but Mizzou can’t afford to turn the ball over Saturday.
It won’t be easy; despite playing one fewer game, Florida shares the SEC lead with eight interceptions.
The Florida offense hasn’t been impressive yet in 2016 outside of a 45-7 outburst against a struggling Kentucky team, so winning the field-position battle is imperative.
Even if the offense goes three-and-out on a few series, maintaining possession through those three plays and ending the series with a punt will keep the Tigers in good shape.
From there, a decent defense (that is looking to regain its elite form) will have a chance to keep the Gators out of the end zone.
Mizzou and Florida will square off at 4 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday. The game can be seen on the SEC Network.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
