Florida football: Pressure the key to handling Auburn’s Bo Nix
He could be the best quarterback Florida football has faced so far this season. Auburn freshman Bo Nix will, at least, present a challenge for the Gators’ defense.
Okay, he’s good, we get it. But, has he faced Florida football? No.
There’s a lot of hype about Auburn freshman quarterback Bo Nix and what he has accomplished this season.
To be sure, the rash of freshmen quarterbacks this season has put a spotlight on those, like Nix, who has been successful in the first weeks of the season.
However, as I said earlier, Nix and the Tigers’ offensive line hasn’t come up against Jon Greenard and the Florida football defensive unit.
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Yes, Nix did do well against Oregon in the season-opener, but it was the season-opener. I’m not sure if you don’t play that game 10 times, it’s an even split.
He also was okay against Texas A&M, but he was forced to win the game on the final drive of the game.
Part of that was due to the Aggies’ offense making Auburn’s defense look bad in the fourth quarter, but the other part was the Auburn offense not being able to do much of anything in response.
Saturday, when No. 7 Auburn comes to The Swamp for the first time since 2006 to face No. 10 Florida football, it’s going to be a lot different for Nix.
In addition to Gainesville being an extremely tough place to play, there’s the Florida defense.
With the Gators, you have one of the best defenses in the country. They are second in the nation in sacks (24), seventh in tackles-for-loss (45) and is the best in the county in red-zone defense (allowing just five scores).
The Gator’s defense is best in the Southeastern Conference in both sacks and interceptions (9).
Florida football as the 17th-best total defense, allowing an average of 281.2 yards per game.
Auburn, on the other hand, has the 36th-best total offense, averaging 454.4 yards per game — most of that through the air on Nix’s arm.
But, I am going out on a limb here to think that Florida football defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is spending a lot of time working on a myriad of blitz packages and coverages to force the young quarterback into making mistakes.
After all, he’s been doing that all season long.
Against Kentucky and quarterback Sawyer Smith — who is no spring chicken, but was new to the Wildcats’ system — Florida forced three interceptions.
Then, there was Miami. In the first game of the season, the Gators sacked Jarren Williams 10 times, using various blitz packages to fluster the young Williams — plus Miami’s offensive line was horrendous.
The fact of the matter here is that, despite the hype, Nix hasn’t seen a defense that includes David Reese, Jeremiah Moon, Ventrell Miller and the aforementioned Greenard. Combined, the four have nearly 90 tackles this season, nine sacks, an interception, six pass breakups and seven quarterback hurries.
It will be the best defense Nix and the Tigers have seen this season.
It also means that the defense will have to be on its game, blitzing and showing various coverages at the line of scrimmage to throw Nix into flux.
That will be the best way to contain the young quarterback and keep the Florida football offense on the field.
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No. 10 Florida will host No. 7 Auburn at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville.