With the start of college football season about a month away, the Bottom Line will be looking at and previewing all of the teams in the SEC to determine which has the best change of winning the league and possibly the conference’s second consecutive BCS Championship.
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FLORIDA
I wonder if Urban Meyer took a look at his depth chart after the national championship game and starting crossing off names. And when he was done, do you think he took a look at what was left of his defense, which was arguably the stalwart of that championship squad, and said, “Oh crap?”
Offensively, the Gators will dynamic and explosive. No surprise. This is going to be Tim Tebow’s team but some have to be worried when Meyer says things like this:
“I’d like two quarterbacks,” Meyer said. “Dan (Mullen) and I have talked about it. In this conference, with the style of offense we play and the styles of defense, the quarterback will get hit.”
He can’t be serious. And if he is, who is the foil to Tebow? Will it be Cameron Newton? Or Gatorade National Player of the Year John Brantley? Or what about juco transfer Bryan Waggener? If I were Urban Meyer, I’d be careful not to overthink last year’s success. At some point, your offense needs a proven signal caller to provide consistency and continuity to the unit. The Gators are not deep at running back and they haven’t been in Meyer’s tenure in Gainesville and expect that trend to continue. Tebow will have no shortage of weapons with Percy Harvin, Andre Caldwell and Louis Murphy lined up wide and with four of five offensive lineman returning, he should have plenty of time to chuck the ball around. He will have the opportunity to win or lose a lot of games for this team.
Defensively is where it gets really shaky for the Gators. The only defensive lineman the Gators are returning from last year’s squad is Derrick Harvey, who lead the Gators in sacks, tackles for loss and fumble recoveries. They’ll have to find an end on the other side to prevent Harvey from being consistently double-teamed every down. Gone are Brandon Siler, Earl Everett, Reggie Nelson and Reggie Lewis. The Gators are horribly shallow at the defensive back and linebacker positions and they’re one injury to a starter away from being as porous as a fish net. Florida isn’t going to be grinding out any games this year.
The Gators play the weakest road schedule in the SEC (LSU, Kentucky, Ole Miss, South Carolina) and play host to Auburn, Tennessee and Florida State. If Florida makes it through their visit to Death Valley on Oct. 6 undefeated, Urban Meyer could be looking at another run at the BCS title. But with a defense like they one they’ve got, I wouldn’t bet on it.
Bottom Line Prediction: 10-2. I don’t see the Gators having the defense to make it out of Death Valley with a win and I think they drop a game to either Tennessee or Auburn but not both.
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