Sun Belt Predictions, week 2

September 06, 2007

Drew Champlin

Last week 7-0

Thursday
Louisville 52, Middle Tennessee 0
Saturday
Clemson 54, LA-Monroe 13
La-Lafayette 21, Ohio 17
Maryland 28, FIU 7
Arkansas State 21, Memphis 10
Oklahoma State 31, Florida Atlantic 17
SMU 17, North Texas 16
Florida over Troy, I’ll have my predicted score in Saturday’s gameday blog preview

Thursday links

Drew Champlin

Here’s my story on the Troy defense preparing for the Gators.

Here’s some notes from the Tampa Tribune, plus Andy Staples’ blog.

From the Gainesville Sun, a feature on speedy wideout Riley Cooper. Plus a notebook where Percy Harvin won’t be returning kicks, and Brandon Zimmerman, who made the trip to Troy, has a blog entroy worth reading.

From the Sun-Sentinel, Troy’s Florida-bred players would love to knock off the Gators.

A blog entry from the St. Pete Times has the Gators weary of Troy.

From the other side, part 2

Drew Champlin

I spoke with Andy Staples, the UF beat writer for the Tampa Tribune, about the game. Here’s what he had to say.

1. How much offensively do you think Florida really showed against Western Kentucky?

Florida held back almost all its designed quarterback runs, which the Gators likely will use a lot this year. QB Tim Tebow is an excellent runner, but UF coaches don’t want to risk injury by making him run when it isn’t necessary. Western Kentucky’s scheme allowed Florida to throw deep often. Troy probably will try to take away the deep pass, which means you’ll see a lot of the short and intermediate section of Florida’s playbook this weekend.

2. What about Florida will give Troy the biggest problem?

Florida will be faster at almost every position. This is the biggest problem smaller schools face against the Gators. Also, Florida will be much deeper. Troy’s starters may hold their own for a while, but when starters for both teams get tired, Florida can rotate in a fresh batch of blue-chippers.

3. Do you think there are any areas of the Gators that Troy can exploit?

Florida’s cornerbacks are very inexperienced, so going deep early might not be a bad idea. Florida didn’t get a very good pass rush against Western Kentucky, so Omar Haugabrook should have some time to throw if the Gators didn’t fix their flaws at practice this week.

4. Do you sense any looking ahead to Tennessee?

Not after Appalachian State-Michigan. This is a bad week to be a major underdog, because the superpowers will have their guards up.

5. What’s your prediction on the game?

Troy can probably pop Florida for an early touchdown, but the Gators probably will pull away by the end of the first half.

Radio in GatorCountry

September 05, 2007

Drew Champlin

If you’re up early, as Gator Country will be waking me up, I’ll be on at 8 a.m. CST talking Troy on Thursday.

http://www.gatorcountry.com/page/radio/

There’s the link

More on Kenny Mainor

Drew Champlin

Here’s a link to the story.

This hurts Troy, because Mainor has/had all the potential in the world, even though he lost his starting spot to Brandon Lang. He’s a guy that, against the big teams, you stick in and the depth doesn’t hurt you, as it does with most Sun Belt teams against BCS teams.

I talked to Blakeney briefly and while he’s obviously disappointed in the marijuana arrest, you have to get the feeling coaches are not happy he was out at the “local bar/lounge” at 1 a.m. on a school night. I don’t know what curfew is, but I do know it’s more of an issue this year.

So at defensive end, look for Brandon Lang and Cameron Sheffield to play more as starters, and when one comes out, senior Shawn Todd will come in. Junior Tagavailoa and Jeremy Hawkins are listed as third-teamers but I’d be surprised to see them for more than spot duty.