Currently: - Game info: 12:21 pm EDT Sat Sep 12, 2009
As the overwhelming favorite to repeat as national champs, Florida wasn’t tested in its season opener against a Football Championship Subdivision team.
The competition isn’t expected to get much tougher in their second game Saturday when the top-ranked Gators host Troy.
Expectations have soared at Florida since Tim Tebow and linebacker Brandon Spikes announced in January they would return for their senior seasons. With their offensive and defensive leaders back, the Gators returned 18 of 22 starters and were an obvious choice to win it all again.
Florida opened its most anticipated season in school history with a near-perfect performance, defeating overmatched Charleston Southern 62-3 on Saturday. The Gators jumped out to a 42-3 halftime lead and most of the starters rested for the second half as the team rolled up 624 yards of offense.
Tebow completed 10 of 15 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown, and also ran for a score—the 44th of his career.
“It’s hard to evaluate that game,” coach Urban Meyer said.
This game could have a similar outcome.
While Florida is coming off its second BCS title in three years, Troy ended the 2008 season with a 30-27 overtime loss to Southern Mississippi in the New Orleans Bowl.
The Trojans, who opened this year with last Thursday’s 31-14 loss to Bowling Green, have dropped eight straight against ranked opponents since defeating then-No. 14 Missouri 24-14 in 2004.
One of those defeats came at the hands of Florida.
In the only other meeting between these schools, the then-No. 4 Gators beat Troy 59-31 on Sept. 8, 2007. The game wasn’t as close as the final score indicated, as the Gators built a 49-7 halftime lead.
Tebow completed 18 of 25 passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 93 yards and two scores. He would go on to win the Heisman Trophy that year.
“They may have the best football coach in America,” coach Larry Blakeney told Troy’s official Web site. “They have the best football player in America, and probably the most dynamic group of guys on defense that they have ever had.”
That defense gave up 323 yards in the opener and looked nothing like the unit that slowed down Heisman winner Sam Bradford and Oklahoma in last season’s BCS title game, but Meyer isn’t too concerned.
The Gators used limited formations in their offensive and defensive packages, trying not to show too much for future opponents to scout.
One offensive unit that they previewed a few times was their new banzai package, a version of Oklahoma’s no-huddle offense.
After preparing for the Sooners’ up-tempo, quick-snap offense for last season’s championship game, Florida installed the banzai package during spring drills, worked on it throughout two-a-day practices and debuted against the Buccaneers.
“What you saw Saturday was the tip of the iceberg as far as what’s available to us,” Meyer said.
Meyer believes it’s something his staff will unveil more and more each week, possibly even to the point where it becomes an every-down deal.
“We like it, we feel comfortable with it and it’s been fun because it gives us a different tempo, a different style,” Tebow said. “You get up on the ball and go play again and hit them in the mouth again. It’s good.”
Even if the Gators only use the banzai package a few times this week, it’s still one more thing for overmatched Troy to try and stop.
The Trojans allowed 389 yards against the Falcons and were run over for 500 in their last meeting with the Gators.
“We’re going to try to improve a whole lot from the last time we went,” defensive end Brandon Lang said. “I feel like we’re a much better team than we were the first time we went. We have got the players and the talent. We just have to show up and play.”
