Those margarita hangovers are a bear, aren’t they?
- A spring game attendance chart for your perusal, if you’re so inclined.
- The Zooker goes to the Middle East. I wonder if our troops know anything about sleeping fast.
- Brian Cook equates bowl expansion with the housing bubble.
- Here’s an excellent rant about ‘Bama’s bye week battle.
- If you’re the Mountain West commissioner in a conference expansion-talk age, you’ve got to be feeling a bit helpless these days.
- Stewart Mandel says the new Florida defensive coordinator is “moving the Gators to more of a 3-4 scheme”, which is the first I’ve heard about that. Any of GTP’s Florida readers care to enlighten me about it?
- If ULaLa’s beat writer should be taken at face value – “Personally, I think the Cajuns can find a way to win all of their non-conference games in 2010 (at Georgia, Oklahoma St on ESPN2, at Ohio and at Ole Miss).” – we’ve all been missing who this year’s BCS party crasher will be.
Get The Picture 
I think the notes at the bottom of the attendance chart should explain that G-Day has coincided with Saturday of the Masters the last couple of years. It significantly alters the attendance in Athens.
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I follow Florida pretty closely,and this is the first I have heard about it. That said, Florida ran a “joker package” last year with 3 down linemen. The rest of the defense saw 3 to 4 LBs and 3 to 4 DBs, depending on the down and distance.
Florida ran it a lot against Bama with 4 LBs and got dominated by Bama’s power running game
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And that vulnerability to the smash mouth running attacks seen in CFB is my biggest fear. There will be a lot of talk about having the correct personnel, and rightly so, but the space between the DE’s with only one down lineman almost requires a Tommy Nobis-like ILB, or the willingness to commit one of the 2 ILBs to run blitz every play.
I admit to having no X and O talent regarding the 3-4, but it just looks like the attack point every one will use to test you. Attacking a weak point is what offenses always do, but facing a good running game 7-8 times a year is much different than making 1-2 good QBs beat you with their arm. I am excited about the changes, and love the flexibility and aggressiveness it provides, but I will toss and turn until I see us shut down a good SEC power running game.
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They’ll use their standard D the first part of the season then use the off-week before the WLOCP to finalize the 3-4 package and spring it on the Dawgs first.
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Austin has said that he’s mostly going to run the same kind of defense that Charlie Strong did, so no, there’s not going to be a big switch to a 3-4 defense. Mandel’s probably thinking of George Edwards, the guy who was the DC for a month back in January, who announced that he would install a 3-4 in Buffalo.
Re: the Joker package, it’s a 3-3-5 stack scheme similar to what Rich Rodriguez’s West Virginia defenses employed. It was mainly just used in passing scenarios and it not related to a 3-4.
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I’ve not heard anything of a 3-4. I don’t believe it. We did use the 3-3-5 last year, but it was primarily against spread teams.
Btw, this line:
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey combine for 2,000 yards.
Makes me really doubt anything else has to say about UF. Meyer has never had a 1,000 yard rusher, so he’s going to have two next year? And Rainey who was moved into a slot receiver is going to break 1,000?
I’m not buying it.
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I agree with not trusting that article. My money is on he got Florida and Georgia confused. (I know, something neither set of fans wants.)
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uh no, he is not moving them to a 3-4. There are too many players and coaches there that know the system and to be honest with you coach heater and coach mccarney have over 50 years of coaching between the two of them. Teryl is a good coach , but wet behind the ears for sure. he does bring youth and he is the only ethnic coach on that side of the ball. i know that may sound off, but that does matter to a lot of players. so believe you me it will be the same shit, different day. more speed, good depth and a good bit of experience coming back and they will be running the same train.
and yes as much as i find mandel amusing at times, i think he just shot off at the mouth to meet his deadline on this one.
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