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EX-Gators Coach Will TEST UF Football In CRAZY Way! | Texas Longhorns · A Peek Inside Gators Football: A Show About the Florida Gators

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to A Peek Inside Gator Football. Allie Peek here.
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  Speaker 1: This video is presented by PrizePix. And there's a pretty
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  Speaker 1: interesting storyline developing ahead of Florida's trip to Austin this weekend.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm not hearing nearly enough people talking about it.
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  Speaker 1: It's not about Arch. It's not about Sark. It's not
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  Speaker 1: about who's going to start at quarterback for Florida. But
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  Speaker 1: it's actually about a guy who Florida fans know very well.
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  Speaker 1: And that's Will Muschamp. The former Florida head coach is
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  Speaker 1: now running the defense of Texas. And on Saturday, he's
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  Speaker 1: going to have an opportunity to make life absolutely miserable
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  Speaker 1: for his former program. And here's the thing. Texas might
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  Speaker 1: have just lost to Oklahoma, but if you think that
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  Speaker 1: means the Longhorns have problems defensively, well, you need to
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  Speaker 1: think again. Will Muschamp has put together one of the
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  Speaker 1: most impressive defenses in college football. And unfortunately for Florida,
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  Speaker 1: the Gators are running into that defense at a time
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  Speaker 1: where their own offense has started to struggle. But there's
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  Speaker 1: another wrinkle here that I think makes this matchup even
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  Speaker 1: more fascinating. Will Muschamp and Buster Faulkner actually coached together
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  Speaker 1: at Georgia. So this isn't just a former Florida coach
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  Speaker 1: facing an old team. It's two coaches who know each other,
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  Speaker 1: understand each other's philosophies, and are now going head-to-head in
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  Speaker 1: a game both teams desperately need to win. And I
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  Speaker 1: want to spend some time today talking about what Muschamp
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  Speaker 1: has done at Texas, how his defense operates, and what
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  Speaker 1: Florida has to do to avoid another ugly offensive performance.
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  Speaker 1: I think this could be one of the most important
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  Speaker 1: matchups on the field on Saturday. So let's get into it. First,
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  Speaker 1: let's talk about Muschamp. I think sometimes Florida fans remember
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  Speaker 1: how things ended in Gainesville, and they forget just how
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  Speaker 1: good of a defensive coach this guy actually is. Muschamp
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  Speaker 1: was hired at Florida in December of 2010 to replace
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  Speaker 1: Urban Meyer. And he wasn't just some up-and-coming coordinator. He
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  Speaker 1: was one of the hottest names in college football. He'd
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  Speaker 1: been the defensive coordinator at Texas from 2008 to 2010.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, Texas thought so highly of him that the
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  Speaker 1: Longhorns had actually named him their head coach in waiting.
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  Speaker 1: He was supposed to eventually replace Mack Brown. But when
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  Speaker 1: Florida came calling, Muschamp took the opportunity. And at the time,
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  Speaker 1: I think it made a lot of sense. He had
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  Speaker 1: a tremendous defensive reputation. He had SEC experience, and he
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  Speaker 1: had grown up in Gainesville. But his time as Florida's
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  Speaker 1: head coach was certainly, let's call it a mixed bag.
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  Speaker 1: He went 28-21 in four seasons. In 2012, Florida went 11-2.
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  Speaker 1: They finished in the top 10, and they had one
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  Speaker 1: of the best defenses in college football. That defense allowed
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  Speaker 1: just 14.5 points per game. Think about that. Less than
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  Speaker 1: 15 points per game against an SEC schedule. And the
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  Speaker 1: Gators allowed fewer than 100 rushing yards per game that
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  Speaker 1: season as well. That is outstanding defensive football. But we
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  Speaker 1: all know what happened after that. The offense struggled mightily,
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  Speaker 1: and they became impossible to overcome. Florida went 4-8 in 2013,
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  Speaker 1: and by the end of 2014, Muschamp was out. And
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  Speaker 1: I think there's an important distinction there. Muschamp didn't lose
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  Speaker 1: his job at Florida because he couldn't coach defense. He
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  Speaker 1: lost his job at Florida because they couldn't consistently move
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  Speaker 1: the ball or score points. And now, more than a
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  Speaker 1: decade later, he is preparing to face a Florida team
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  Speaker 1: that is dealing with some pretty significant offensive problems of
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  Speaker 1: its own. There is a certain amount of irony there. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this isn't Muschamp's first time facing Florida since leaving Gainesville.
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  Speaker 1: He did that as head coach at South Carolina. But
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  Speaker 1: this matchup feels different to me. He's back at Texas,
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  Speaker 1: the school he originally left to become Florida's head coach,
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  Speaker 1: and he's back doing what he's always done best, coaching defense.
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna take a quick break from this video to
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: give a little love over to Price Picks. Guys, make
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: sure that you download the app. If you are a
• 3:36
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• 3:40
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• 3:46
  Speaker 1: make a lineup though. All right, so let's see some
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: of these Texas and Florida options here. I've got Jaden Baugh, 0.5
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  Speaker 1: anytime touchdowns. We're gonna go with the more on that. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: And then let's see, can Coleman more or less than 0.5 touchdowns?
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  Speaker 1: We're going to go the more there too. All you
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: got to do is pair a couple of things like
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: that together and you have got yourself a lineup. We
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  Speaker 1: appreciate prize picks for all their support. When Steve Sarkeesian
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  Speaker 1: decided to make a change at defensive coordinator following the
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  Speaker 1: 2025 season, he didn't go looking for some unknown young assistant.
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  Speaker 1: He went and got Will Muschamp. And remember, Muschamp had
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  Speaker 1: most recently been at Georgia, where he spent time as
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  Speaker 1: co-defensive coordinator under Kirby Smart. He was part of Georgia's
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  Speaker 1: back-to-back national championship teams in 2021 and 2022. So even
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  Speaker 1: though his head coaching career didn't work out the way
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  Speaker 1: he wanted, his reputation as a defensive coach never went away.
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  Speaker 1: And if you look at Texas this season, you can
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  Speaker 1: understand why Sarkeesian wanted him. Through five games, the Longhorns
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  Speaker 1: are allowing just 16 points per game. They're giving up
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  Speaker 1: approximately 265 yards of total offense per game, and they're
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  Speaker 1: allowing just over 96 rushing yards. Now, compare that with
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  Speaker 1: what Florida has done offensively its last two games. Against Missouri,
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  Speaker 1: the Gators managed just 42 rushing yards. Against South Carolina,
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  Speaker 1: they had 120. And the offense that was putting up
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  Speaker 1: huge numbers over the first month of the season has
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  Speaker 1: managed just 36 points in its last two games combined.
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  Speaker 1: So here's what concerns me. Florida is having difficulty establishing
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  Speaker 1: the running game. And now the Gators are facing a
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  Speaker 1: defense built specifically to take away that part of your offense.
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  Speaker 1: That's a really bad combination. Now I want to talk
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  Speaker 1: about the Texas-Oklahoma game because I think there's a misconception
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  Speaker 1: people have coming out of that result. Texas lost 27-24.
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  Speaker 1: Oklahoma knocked off the number one team in the country.
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  Speaker 1: So naturally, people are looking at what went wrong for
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  Speaker 1: the Longhorns. But Oklahoma's offense scored just 13 points against
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  Speaker 1: Will Muschamp's defense. Thirteen! Seven of Oklahoma's points came on
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  Speaker 1: a blocked punt return for a touchdown. Another seven came
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  Speaker 1: off a pick six. The other 13 came from the offense.
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  Speaker 1: Oklahoma finished the game with only 238 total yards. Only
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  Speaker 1: 83 of those were rushing yards. Texas also had nine
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  Speaker 1: tackles for a loss. Colin Simmons alone had two sacks,
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  Speaker 1: three tackles for a loss, and forced a fumble. Rasheem
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  Speaker 1: Biles finished with 12 tackles. So if you're Buster Faulkner
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  Speaker 1: and you're studying that game, what are you seeing? You're
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  Speaker 1: seeing a defense that did more than enough to win.
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  Speaker 1: Texas didn't lose because Oklahoma marched up and down the
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  Speaker 1: field on Muschamp's unit. Texas lost because of turnover, special
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  Speaker 1: teams mistakes, and some costly decisions. And that's an important
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  Speaker 1: distinction heading into Saturday. Florida can't approach this game thinking
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  Speaker 1: that Oklahoma somehow exposed a Texas defense. They didn't. If anything,
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  Speaker 1: that performance reinforced just how difficult this defense is to
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  Speaker 1: play against. So what makes Muschamp's defense so difficult? Let's
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  Speaker 1: look at some actual football here. What exactly does Will
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  Speaker 1: Muschamp want to do defensively? And why is that such
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  Speaker 1: a difficult matchup for the way Florida is currently playing? Well,
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  Speaker 1: Muschamp's defenses have always been physical. They want to stop
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  Speaker 1: the run. They want to put pressure on the quarterback
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  Speaker 1: and they want to make the offense uncomfortable. And I
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  Speaker 1: think sometimes people hear that description and they automatically assume
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  Speaker 1: it means they're just going to blitz everybody, but that's
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  Speaker 1: not necessarily the case. Muschamp has a pretty sophisticated coverage system.
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  Speaker 1: He's known for using man coverage and variations of cover three,
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  Speaker 1: along with the match coverage principles he worked with at Georgia.
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  Speaker 1: And one of the ways his defense attacks an offense
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  Speaker 1: is by bringing an additional defender into the box without
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  Speaker 1: completely sacrificing coverage on the back end. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: he wants to have enough bodies near the line of
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  Speaker 1: scrimmage to stop the run while still being able to
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  Speaker 1: defend the pass. And that's a challenge for an offensive coordinator.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes you look at the defense before the snap and
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  Speaker 1: you think you're getting one coverage. Then the safety moves,
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  Speaker 1: the responsibilities change, and suddenly the quarterback has a different
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  Speaker 1: picture after the snap. And when you've got a defensive
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  Speaker 1: line capable of generating pressure without having to send extra defenders, well,
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  Speaker 1: that's when things get really difficult to defend. Which brings
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  Speaker 1: me to one of the biggest concerns I have about
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  Speaker 1: this game. Florida's got to figure out a way to
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  Speaker 1: handle Colin Simmons. Through five games, Simmons already has nine
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  Speaker 1: and a half sacks. Nine and a half sacks. He
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  Speaker 1: had five and a half against Tennessee alone. And then
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  Speaker 1: he followed that performance up with two more against Oklahoma.
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  Speaker 1: This is one of the most disruptive defensive players in
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  Speaker 1: college football. And he is facing a Florida offensive line
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  Speaker 1: that has had a rough couple of weeks. Aaron Filo
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  Speaker 1: was sacked three times against Missouri. He was sacked three
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  Speaker 1: more times against South Carolina. And there have been far
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  Speaker 1: too many situations where Florida is getting behind the chains
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  Speaker 1: because it can't protect the quarterback or generate consistent yardage
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  Speaker 1: on the ground. Now think about what that looks like
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  Speaker 1: against Muschamp. First down, let's say you run ball for
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  Speaker 1: two yards. Second down, Philo or Trammell, whoever is starting,
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  Speaker 1: gets pressured and throws an incompletion. Suddenly it's third and eight.
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  Speaker 1: That is exactly where Muschamp wants you. Because now you
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  Speaker 1: have to throw. The pass rush can get aggressive. And
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  Speaker 1: Simmons knows he doesn't have to worry about nearly as
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  Speaker 1: much for defending the run. Florida can't continually put itself
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  Speaker 1: in those situations. And they have done that the last
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  Speaker 1: couple of weeks. I don't care how good your quarterback is.
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  Speaker 1: If you are asking him to operate in obvious passing
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  Speaker 1: situations against this defense all afternoon, it's going to be
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  Speaker 1: a very long day. Now, here's the storyline I really
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  Speaker 1: want to spend a minute on. Buster Faulkner and Will
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  Speaker 1: Muschamp were both members of Kirby Smart's staff at Georgia.
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  Speaker 1: Faulkner was an offensive quality control coach working with quarterbacks
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  Speaker 1: from 2020 through 2022. Muschamp joined Georgia in 2021 and
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  Speaker 1: became co-defensive coordinator for the 2022 season. So those two
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  Speaker 1: were in the same building for two seasons. They were
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  Speaker 1: part of a staff that was winning consecutive national titles.
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  Speaker 1: And that adds a fascinating element to Saturday's game for me.
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  Speaker 1: Faulkner has seen firsthand how Muschamp approaches football. He knows
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  Speaker 1: the philosophy. He's familiar with the terminology and the concepts
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  Speaker 1: from their time at Georgia. And he understands what those
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  Speaker 1: defenses are trying to accomplish. But here's the flip side.
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  Speaker 1: Muschamp also has familiarity with Faulkner. Now, obviously the offense
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  Speaker 1: Faulkner is running at Florida isn't exactly the same one
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  Speaker 1: as Georgia was running in 2022 under Todd Munkin. Muschamp
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  Speaker 1: isn't running an identical copy of that Georgia defense at Texas,
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  Speaker 1: but the familiarity is there. And it makes me curious
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  Speaker 1: about who is going to have the better plan. Does
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  Speaker 1: Faulkner have some answers because he worked alongside Muschamp? Or
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  Speaker 1: does Muschamp understand enough about Faulkner's offensive philosophy to anticipate
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  Speaker 1: what he's trying to accomplish? I think there's a small
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  Speaker 1: detail there, and I would love to know how much
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  Speaker 1: time the two of them spent competing against each other
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  Speaker 1: on the practice field at Georgia. I think there could
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  Speaker 1: be a little bit of a chess match happening on
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  Speaker 1: Saturday that people aren't necessarily paying attention to. So what
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  Speaker 1: does Florida actually need to do? For me, it starts
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  Speaker 1: with first down. And I know that sounds incredibly basic,
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  Speaker 1: but against a defense like Texas, first down production is everything.
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  Speaker 1: Florida has got to find a way to make the
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  Speaker 1: running game productive. And that doesn't necessarily mean handing Jaden
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  Speaker 1: Ball the ball 25 times and then hoping something finally breaks.
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  Speaker 1: It means creating opportunities for him, getting him into space,
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  Speaker 1: using motion. making the defense account for different formations and
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  Speaker 1: different possibilities. If Texas knows Florida is going to line
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  Speaker 1: up and run the ball between the tackles, I don't
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  Speaker 1: love that matchup. Not with the way Florida's offensive line
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  Speaker 1: has been playing, and certainly not with the defensive front
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  Speaker 1: that Texas has. The second thing, I want to see
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  Speaker 1: Florida challenge the defense vertically. Now, I am not saying
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  Speaker 1: that Trammell or Filo needs to throw 40-yard passes every possession,
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  Speaker 1: but Florida can't spend the entire afternoon throwing the football
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  Speaker 1: at or behind the line of scrimmage. Muschamp will absolutely
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  Speaker 1: take advantage of that. You've got Dallas Wilson. Bailey Stockton
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  Speaker 1: just had eight catches for 127 yards against South Carolina.
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  Speaker 1: He's questionable at the moment, so we'll see if he's there.
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  Speaker 1: But both those guys are capable of making plays. I
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  Speaker 1: do really want to see how Eric Singleton does at
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  Speaker 1: 100% in this offense. This is going to be the
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  Speaker 1: first game since FAU where coaches have said he is 100%.
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  Speaker 1: So how does he contribute? Does BB3 play or not?
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  Speaker 1: That's a huge question as well. I want Florida to
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  Speaker 1: put pressure onto the Texas secondary, make those DVs defend
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  Speaker 1: the entire field. If Texas can squeeze everything towards the
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  Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, you've just made Muschamp's job a lot easier. Third,
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  Speaker 1: I want to see how Faulkner handles the pressure. Can
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  Speaker 1: he use screens or quick throws to make Simmons and
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  Speaker 1: that defensive front think twice about getting upfield? Can he
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  Speaker 1: change the launch point for Philo or Trammell? Can he
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  Speaker 1: find opportunities to get the football out before the rush arrives?
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  Speaker 1: And can Florida punish Texas when it gets overly aggressive?
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  Speaker 1: If the Gators just try to win this game by
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  Speaker 1: lining up and beating Texas physically, I don't think that
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  Speaker 1: that will work. That is not the best approach. There
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  Speaker 1: has to be some creativity. But more importantly, there has
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  Speaker 1: to be execution. You can call the perfect play against
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  Speaker 1: the perfect defense, but if you miss a block or
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  Speaker 1: turn the football over, none of it matters. And I
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  Speaker 1: want to finish by going back to Muschamp for a minute.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's easy to turn this into some sort
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  Speaker 1: of revenge storyline. Former Florida coach gets an opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: beat the school that fired him. And yeah, I'm sure
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  Speaker 1: this game means something to him. How could it not?
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  Speaker 1: But I don't think we need to invent a personal
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  Speaker 1: grudge to make this storyline interesting. Muschamp's coached a lot
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  Speaker 1: of football since leaving Gainesville. He's been the head coach
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  Speaker 1: at South Carolina. He's won national championships at Georgia. And
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  Speaker 1: now he's back at Texas. And he's built a pretty
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  Speaker 1: impressive coaching career, even if things didn't work out for
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  Speaker 1: him as head coach at Florida. And I think it's
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  Speaker 1: fair to acknowledge two things can be true. Will Muschamp
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  Speaker 1: was not the right fit for Florida at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: And Will Muschamp is still one of the best defensive
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  Speaker 1: minds in college football. Those are not contradictory statements. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: Florida fans probably understand that better than anybody. They watched
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  Speaker 1: some tremendous defenses during his four years in Gainesville. They
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  Speaker 1: also watched an offense that too often struggled to move
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  Speaker 1: the football. And now, 11 years after he coached his
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  Speaker 1: final game for the Gators, there's something almost fitting about
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  Speaker 1: this situation. Florida's traveling to Austin, where Muschamp, once again,
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  Speaker 1: is coaching a terrific defense. And Florida's biggest concern heading
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  Speaker 1: into this game? The offense. So while everyone is spending
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  Speaker 1: this week talking about Arch Manning and Sark and whether
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  Speaker 1: Florida can recover from two consecutive losses, and who Florida's
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  Speaker 1: starting quarterback's going to be, I think this matchup deserves
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  Speaker 1: some serious attention. Will Muschamp versus Buster Faulkner. Texas' defensive
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  Speaker 1: front versus Florida's offensive line. Colin Simmons versus an offense
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  Speaker 1: that has struggled to protect Aaron Filo. an old Georgia
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  Speaker 1: coaching connecting that adds another layer to this entire thing.
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  Speaker 1: Saturday at noon in Austin, we are going to find
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  Speaker 1: out whether Buster Faulkner has some answers for a coach
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  Speaker 1: he knows pretty well. But here's what I can tell you.
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  Speaker 1: If Florida comes out and plays the way it did
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  Speaker 1: against Missouri and South Carolina, Will Muschamp is going to
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  Speaker 1: make it a very long afternoon. But if Faulkner can
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  Speaker 1: find ways to create favorable matchups, get Jaden Baugh going,
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  Speaker 1: and give Philo or Trammell, whoever the starter is, time
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  Speaker 1: to operate, then maybe Florida can make this a much
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  Speaker 1: more interesting football game than people expect. And I'm really
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  Speaker 1: curious to see which coach wins this chess match. All right,
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  Speaker 1: now I want to hear from you. What do you
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: remember most about the Will Muschamp era at Florida? And
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: how concerned are you about facing his Texas defense this weekend?
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Let me know down in the comments. Make sure you
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: guys are subscribed. Like this video. I appreciate you for
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: tuning in and watching. As always, go Gators!