As part of our ongoing public service to bring you, the Razorback fan, the best and most in-depth information about the Hogs and their opponents, we like to invite our fellow bloggers over to our little corner of the Internet to give us the scoop on their teams.
In our latest installment, we're pleased to present a Q&A with mimintampa from the excellent Florida blog, Alligator Army. Many thanks to him for his time and insights...now read on to find out how "Arkansas Tebow" would do against the Gators, what can stop them from winning their second straight BCS championship and other interesting tidbits:
1. We all know about Brandon Spikes, and most of us are vaguely familiar with the guy you have playing QB this year, but who are the other Gators we should look out for this weekend? Which players will Hog fans be cursing on Saturday?
This is supposed to be the week RB Emmanuel Moody finally gets touches and could be the breakout player for the offense. Moody is a workhorse back, but has spent more time in Meyer's doghouse than stable thanks to injuries and fumbleitis. But now healthy, Moody proved against LSU that he can carry the load.If the Gators insist on keeping the ball on the ground, expect a steady diet of Jeff Demps, Moody and Chris Rainey, with the occasional Tebow smash.
On defense, DEs Carlos Dunlap and Jermaine Cunningham will have to have big days. Florida is looking again at running a 3-3-5, in which Dunlap, Cunningham, Spikes plus a stud safety (Will Hill, Ahmad Black, The Major Wright) acting as the 4th linebacker. If these guys are over the LSU game, Arkansas could be in for a long day. Also, Spikes played out of his mind at LSU, but is still suffering from tendonitis in his heel. If Spikes needs to be held out, Florida loses a leader, but we have more bullets in the chamber.
2. With Tebow and an endless supply of five-star players at the other offensive skill positions, is it strange to see the identity of this year's Florida so centered around the defense? Is there any sense or concern among fans that the offense is underperforming?
There is a huge concern that the offense is underperforming. Florida's best reciever is TE Aaron Hernandez, who will be an NFL player. The rest are just athletic dudes like Riley Cooper, Deonte Thompson and David Nelson, who can't catch a cold. Not to mention, Tebow doesn't trust them and offensive coordinator Steve Addazio doesn't know how to get them in good spots. As for the defense, Florida won in 1996, 2006 and 2008 because of a monster defense.
Steve Spurrier only got to two National Championship games because he did not have the defense Meyer has. We knew coming in that the passing game would be a concern, but that our defense would win us ball games.
3. In your Power Poll ballot this week you wrote "Arky is Ryan Mallett and a bunch of dudes who are not very good." That seems pretty harsh to us - is that really your final assessment? Are there any players not named Mallett you're even remotely concerned about? (You can be honest...we can handle it.)
It's more based on the up and down play of Arkansas and that they are 11th and 12th in scoring and total defense. Mallett is very good, but they're not going to win anything with that defense. As for other comments about Arky, I also said about them after week three, "Much improved, but stuck in the hard division and having to play Florida and Georgia. An easier schedule and they are guaranteed 9 wins."
4. Along those lines, here's a fun hypothetical: let's say Tebow is the Arkansas QB and Mallett is the Florida QB, but all the other players are the same. And, let's say the game is played on a neutral field. Who wins?
Florida wins with running and defense and on a netural field. (Defense wins championships...Defense wins championships...) Florida Tebow could hand off every play and UF would be 5-0. Arkansas Tebow would have to pitch it around and not have Demps, Moody, Rainey behind him. Since Tebow is being handled gently right now, UF backup QB John Brantley would be just as effective.
5. Looking ahead to the rest of your season, will you consider anything short of another BCS championship a disappointment? And what do you see as the biggest potential threats that could keep that from happening?
They have to win a BCS Championship. Anything less is a failure. The only way Florida fans would accept something less than a BCS title is if some horrible disaster (swine flu, act of God, HPV outbreak) took down the team. But Tim Tebow would manage to avoid those last two scenarios, so we'd still expect victory. The other things that could stop UF are contentness, lazyness and Alabama.