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Running the ball and stopping the run key to recent Florida dominance of UT
By John Hollis
Published:
The team that best imposes its will up front and runs the football usually wins.
It’s long been one of football’s most time-honored mantras, and for good reason. But perhaps nowhere is that tenet more apparent than in recent meetings between Florida and Tennessee.
The Gators enter Saturday’s rekindling of the SEC East rivalry at The Swamp having won the last 10 meetings. Not coincidentally, Florida has outrushed the Volunteers in each of those games, limiting UT to an average of 50.2 yards per game on the ground while averaging 179 yards itself over that same stretch.
Their encounter in 2009 marked the only instance in the last 10 meetings that UT rushed for more than 100 yards as a team against Florida. In half of those games, Tennessee managed a mere 37 yards or fewer, including negative totals in both 2006 (minus-11) and 2011 (minus-9) because of yardage lost in sacks. The Gators, conversely, have rushed for more than 200 yards in four of the previous 10 meetings against Tennessee, including a 336-yard effort in 2012.
The Vols hope to change the narrative this weekend with the quick legs of quarterback Joshua Dobbs and the talented running back tandem of Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara. Hurd already boasts five touchdowns and is averaging 100 yards per game to pace a Tennessee ground attack that’s tied for 16th nationally at 246.0 yards per game.
“Obviously, the two running backs, Hurd and Kamara, an Alabama transfer, they’re what you expect in this league,” Gators coach Jim McElwain said at a press conference earlier this week. “They’re going to play a long time beyond this league. They’re really, really good players. We’ve got to be really good tacklers this week and hopefully not give them a bunch of gaping holes. They can hurt you, and they can finish. Fun to watch.”
But finding room against a stiff Florida front seven is another matter entirely. The Gators rank seventh nationally and are tops in the SEC in run defense, limiting opponents to just 55.3 yards per game.
Linebackers Antonio Morrison and Jarrad Davis have been exceptional as of late, complimenting a ferocious front line led by defensive ends Jonathan Bullard and Alex McAllister. The two pass-rushing bookends registered a pair of sacks apiece last week as Florida dropped Kentucky quarterback Patrick Towles six times on the evening and harassed him into a forgettable 8-for-24 passing performance for 126 yards and two interceptions.
But the problems for Towles can be traced to his team’s inability to run against Florida. The Wildcats managed 115 yards but did so on just 2.8 yards per carry in the 14-9 loss. The lack of an effective ground game made the ‘Cats one-dimensional and allowed the Gators to exclusively set their sights on Towles.
Likewise, they hope to bottle up Dobbs and Co.
“They’re obviously strong up front,” Dobbs said of Florida’s defense at a press conference this week. “Then, in the back end, they have really good [defensive backs] that are able to play a lot of man [defense] well. It comes down to winning our one-on-one matchups.”
John Hollis is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia and Florida.
