Florida Football: Gators set up in secondary will be the difference vs LSU

If one were to ask what the biggest weakness within the Florida Gators’ defense is, most people would respond with the depth of the linebackers. From a positional standpoint that may be true, but the secondary for Florida football has started to show a couple of deficiencies that are being exploited.

Unlike the depth at linebacker, these are not unfixable issues. But they are concerns that must be addressed this week or LSU will come into The Swamp and have a field day on Saturday.

Florida Football: Can’t play soft

We’ve said our peace about Trey Dean and his flexing act before. While he had another coverage bust on third-and-long against Missouri in the fourth quarter, he is not alone in struggling with where to be. Jason Marshall and Avery Helm have had their moments too. Jalen Kimber has lost favor with the return of Jaydon Hill, the latter of which struggled mightily in his first game back against Eastern Washington before doing a 180 against Missouri.

To be fair the secondary as a whole has cut down on the coverage bust compared to the Todd Grantham years, but there is a noticeable habit that they all seem to still cling to. They seem like they are uncomfortable challenging opposing wide receivers at the line of scrimmage.

We noted in our season preview that Florida’s corners were not the most physically built people and their play on the field last year reflected that. As a result, the corners tend to play off the ball more often than not.

When it works out, Florida has picked up key interceptions including Kimber’s pick-six against USF and Hill’s pick-six against Missouri by staying back and sitting on slant routes. But it has also opened the door for teams to dink and dunk their way down the field.

Eastern Washington’s opening two drives against Florida football weren’t a byproduct of deep vertical routes, they we simply taking the 5-7 yards Florida was surrendering and evading a couple of Gator tacklers (most notably Hill).

The Gators took away any of the deep shots that Missouri loves to take, but in the second half when the Tigers found a little more success it was because they took advantage of the simple passes Florida was telling them to take (in addition to coverage busts while trying to play cover three).

Florida Football: LSU loves to dink-and-dunk

Enter Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers making the trek to Gainesville this Saturday. Halfway through the season, the Tigers are averaging 25.2 points per game, only good for 83rd in the country. Part of their woes are self-inflicted, like missing extra points, but part of it is because their offense is modeled after Tennessee’s offense minus one very important component.

Tennessee loves to run plays quickly and take underneath yardage. They ultimately want teams to be confused to set up a deep vertical route. If Hendon Hooker doesn’t like what he sees, he won’t throw it and he will either take a sack or run for it (like he ultimately did against Florida).

LSU also loves underneath routes. LSU also has a QB that can run.

But LSU doesn’t have a vertical threat.

So as a result, Kelly’s offense can best be described as five-yard routes where Kelly seems to be amazed that he finally has athletes to work with after years in South Bend and hopes those athletes turn the five-yard reception into a 15-yard reception.

Sometimes it works, but a lot of the time it has turned out that everyone else in the SEC has athletes too. LSU QB Jayden Daniels, a transfer from Arizona State, is averaging 6.9 yards per passing attempt (91st in the country).

This is where the approach Patrick Toney’s secondary takes can make or break this game. If the corners for Florida football insist on playing seven yards off the ball, LSU will take advantage of the free yards. Combined with Daniels being a willing runner (the QB is top 100 overall in the country in rushing yards), LSU has a pathway to move the ball if Florida opts for the cover-three looks that Toney seems to prefer.

The Gators will need to employ some kind of spy to negate Daniels’ running, something they struggle with against Hooker. But it would benefit the Gators to try and play some press-man coverage combined with a spy (cover-one) and take away the easy throws from Daniels. If he hits a deep shot, so be it. But much like Hooker, the first instinct for Daniels, if he doesn’t see an easy throw, is to run.

LSU can be held in check. FSU and Mississippi did it for three quarters. Auburn and Tennessee did it for four. And despite all the flaws that Florida football’s defense may have there is still a pathway for the Gators to keep the Tigers off the scoreboard.