Heading a Few Things Off at the Pass

Florida's offense by itself won't score 50 on Tennessee.

Even when UF beat Tennessee 59-20 in 2007, it wasn't all the Gator offense doing the scoring. Brandon James had a punt return touchdown, Dustin Doe had a fumble return for a touchdown, and the final score was on a 29 yard drive after a Jonathan Crompton interception. Florida's offense did have some good drives, including a 99-yard touchdown drive, but only 38 of the 59 points were solely the offense doing its thing.

That 2007 edition wasn't exactly a vintage Vol defense though. It was perhaps the worst of John Chavis' tenure, finishing 70th in total defense and 61st in scoring defense. Last year, Florida only scored 20 points from sustained drives, with a touchdown coming from another James return and a field goal coming on a one yard "drive." Granted, both teams wanted to shorten the game with rushing, so that held the scoring down. Florida did score on five of its seven drives, with its final drive of the game ending inside Tennessee's red zone with Urban Meyer electing not to try to run up the score.

Crompton's renewed commitment to turnovers means that the Gators could put a big number up on the scoreboard. It's not likely however that Florida will be running up huge numbers on long drives. Tennessee forced a lot of field goals last year, and Percy Harvin is gone.

Georgia's problems are not solved.

Only two teams in the country have lost more turnovers than Georgia has: Tennessee with its turnover machine of a quarterback, and Virginia, the team that lost to William and Mary. Only three teams that have played two games are averaging fewer plays per game than Georgia: Oregon, Colorado State, and Western Kentucky. The Buldogs are being outgained by an average of 84.5 yards per game. They are 108th in the country with an average of 10 penalties per game and 109th with an average of 83 penalty yards per game.

Yes, Georgia saved its season by beating South Carolina in that 0-2 would have meant crisis mode and no one has any margin for error in trying to beat out the Gators in the SEC East. However, it's still going to be a rough slog from here on out and if the Bulldogs win 10 games again, Mark Richt should win Coach of the Year.

Michigan's quarterback will look mortal.

A lot of praise is being heaped on Tate Forcier for his gutsy play against Notre Dame, and rightfully so. I said yesterday I was more impressed by him than I was by Matt Barkley against Ohio State. But, he is a freshman and that will kill Michigan in at least one game. Freshman quarterbacks who win a ton of games are ones like Mitch Mustain in 2006, who was asked to do little more than not fumble when handing off to Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.

Forcier is the quarterback of a quarterback-centric offense. At some point, he's going to make some bad decisions that will cost the Wolverines a game or two. It will likely cause a flood of articles about how he's not Superman anymore. Just ignore them; the kid's got talent but as with everyone good, it will take refinement.