Parker: Florida week poses challenge

Eric Berry (14) was all smiles after picking off a pass against the Blazers on Saturday. He and his teammates in the secondary will have their hands full versus Florida. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

KNOXVILLE -- "We can, we must and we will play better as we go along."

Coach Phillip Fulmer's message after his Tennessee Vols dispatched UAB 35-3 at Neyland Stadium on Saturday rang clear.

The Blazers stood on the schedule as a way for the Vols to rid themselves of the bitter taste left behind from losing in overtime to UCLA in the season opener and as a practice game prior to the Southeastern Conference over against rival Florida.

The very second the blowout over UAB ended, Florida week officially started. And, it took even less time for the postgame questions to center around the heavily-favored Gators.

After taking down Florida in back-to-back seasons, the Gainesville boys have won three straight under coach Urban Meyer, including last season's embarrassing 59-20 rout.

The contest features two of the three winningest SEC teams since the 1998 season. Over that time, Florida is 95-34, while Tennessee is 94-35. Georgia tops the list at 100-30.

Saturday's matchup is a toss-up. If the offense that took the field in Los Angeles shows up, it will get ugly in a hurry. With the defense -- namely the secondary -- starting to click on all cylinders, the game may still be in question when the fourth quarter begins.

Florida's spread option and seemingly endless amount of athletes makes them one of the more dangerous offenses in the country. However, Miami gave Tennessee and the rest of the college football world a great look at how to slow down that particular style of offense.

The Vols were off that week and several got a chance to view the game on television. Cornerback Brent Vinson and defensive end Robert Ayers both mentioned how aggressive Miami looked defensively.

The Hurricanes brought extra people on all downs from multiple spots. In turn, the defensive backs played a lot of man-to-man press coverage. With receivers, tight ends and running backs spread all across the field, rare is it that the Gators have more than 5-6 in for blocking. Thus, extra pressure often leads to blitzers running free at quarterback Tim Tebow.

Miami held Florida to only nine points through three quarters before eventually losing 26-3.

UT defensive coordinator John Chavis admitted he hadn't looked at Florida on film yet, instead preferring to not put the cart before the horse and look past UAB. But, he did say there's a general theme to facing talented offenses.

"We've always been multiple in our approach and we'll look and see what we can do and look at the matchups," Chavis said. "Obviously, the biggest thing is staying out of bad matchups."

Gerald Jones comes down with UT's first home touchdown pass of the season. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

Any team that wants to hang with the Gators has to have defensive backs good enough to start. They'll run four- and five-star recruits out wide off the bench.

Vinson is joined in the secondary by all-world safeties Eric Berry and Demetrice Morley. Sophomore Dennis Rogan has shown great maneuverability and possesses the athleticism necessary to match up with Florida playmakers. Cornerback DeAngelo Willingham and Berry both have two picks already.

Chavis said that unit has matured leaps and bounds since last season's debacle.

"It's not even close," he said. "We'll see how we'll play. Hopefully it will show up on the field that way, but it's not even close.

"We took a receiver (Vinson) last year getting ready for Florida on Tuesday and he started on Saturday. So, it doesn't take a lot of figuring to figure out where we were from that standpoint."

Berry and Vinson both have gone on record saying they were playing on sheer talent for a defense that yielded 554 total yards, including 299 through the air.

"Actually this is going to be my first game against Florida," Vinson said. "Last year I played but, to me, it's going to be my first game because I wasn't really prepared last year."

Tennessee tailback Arian Foster (27) outruns the UAB defense to the goal line. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

A ball control offense could be UT's best friend. They racked up 266 rushing yards on 41 carries versus the Blazers.

"Our guys looked like they'd forgotten what an intimidating drive is supposed to look like," Fulmer said.

Everyone knows the Gator defense will be tremendously better, but any effort even vaguely similar could spell a win.

With that in mind, does new offensive coordinator Dave Clawson put his thirst to develop the passing game on the back burner?

"There's a balance there that we don't want to be three-and-out and take 13 seconds off the clock," he said. "I don't think that's our personality anyways. We've got to run plays that make first downs. Teams that stall and play keep-away ... you've got to outscore people. Sometimes the tempo of the game will dictate how that goes."