The Florida Gators (4-1, 2-1 SEC) face the No. 1-ranked LSU Tigers (5-0, 2-0 SEC) on Saturday, October 8, at 3:30 pm. The game will be played at LSU and one can only imagine what the atmosphere will be like. There is a reason why Tiger Stadium got the nickname Death Valley. The crowd will be louder than anything Jeff Driskel and most Gators have experienced before. The fans will be crazy and rabid. And the sea of Purple and yellow will be staggering. The Gators will face a top ranked defense and offense on Saturday that will not let up until the last second ticks off the clock. They will be in for as tough or even tougher matchup than they had last week. Though historically though the Gators have faired well.

Since 2001, the Gators & Tigers have split their 10 meetings, with each winning 5 games. However, Florida has the upper hand historically vs LSU, leading the all-time series, 30-24-3. In 2003 a freshman quarterback by the name of Chris Leak started for the Gators against LSU. He led Florida to a victory. This was the only loss of the season for LSU, who went on to win the National Championship that year with a 13 – 1 record. Hopefully, for the Gators sake, history will repeat itself on Saturday. But for that to happen we need Jeff Driskel to grow up, and grow up fast, like in one week. We also need our offensive line to actually give him a chance to throw the ball. Overall its not the defense anybody is really worried about, even though they gave up 181 yards rushing last week to one human being. Its the offense that needs to produce. I am confident that our defense will be able to keep us in this game, however if our offense can’t put points on the board than we my as well just forget it and head back to Gainesville.

This weekend will give great insight to the rest of the Gator season. Either we are going to see the future of the Florida Gators take control of his team and perform like they are capable of performing or we are going to see a freshman get crushed by a top defense and the media frenzy to follow. Hopefully its the first statement and not the latter.

The Matchup: No. 18 Florida (4-1, 2-1 SEC) vs. No. 1 LSU (5-0, 2-0 SEC)

When: October 8, 2011

Where: Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Tiger Stadium

Game Time: 3:30 pm

TV: CBS

Radio: Sirius 91 / XM 91

Jeff Driskel was the #1 rated quarterback in the country coming out of high school. He is a former Gatorade Player of The Year and threw for 4,844 yards and 36 touchdowns in his career at Oviedo Hagerty High School. Driskel ran for 1,333 yards and 20 touchdowns in his senior year. He will be the fifth quarterback to start as a true freshman for the Gators. One of those quarterbacks (Chris Leak) eventually led the Gators to a National Championship in 2006. He is 6-4 235 lbs and runs the 40 yard dash in 4.5 seconds. This kid is an athletic specimen and everyone knows it.

What everyone doesn’t know is which Jeff Driskel will show up on Saturday against LSU? Will it be the high school Driskel that had confidence, a ridiculous athletic ability and an arm like a cannon that could hit a target in stride while rolling out to his non throwing side? Or will it be the the same, timid, college freshman that showed the world on primetime television that he was just not ready for that Alabama Defense. I mean lets be honest, most freshman would have crumbled the same way he did if their offensive line protected them as well as the Gators protected Driskel. They basically got him killed. But, regardless of that, you could see it in his face before he even stepped on the field. When CBS showed him on the sideline, while Brantley was being helped off the field, he looked like he had seen a ghost. I can only imagine what was going through his head… “I’m gonna get killed, I’m gonna get killed, I’m gonna get killed…” Nonethless, he came out in the second half, had a few horrible offensive series that were highlighted by a 31-yard scramble and finished out the game.

Driskel has a chance to become one of the greatest Gator quarterbacks ever. He has all of the attributes that you would want in a quarterback. He’s tall, athletic, fast, versatile, has a cannon for an arm and is game smart. Offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis had this to say about Driskel, “He runs our team well…The team is not afraid when he is in there. He can make every throw. Gaining experience, that’s what he’s doing. Every time he’s out there it’s a good thing regardless what happens because he’s just gaining experience.” All I know is that I interpret this quote two different ways. One: He is going to succeed out there because everyone believes in him and he can make the plays, Two: this is probably not going to happen anytime soon as it is obvious he needs a boat-load of additional field experience to effectively manage the game and compete in the SEC.

Hopefully for every single Gator fan out there this isn’t the case. I can honestly tell you that I am praying for a miraculous win on Saturday: Driskel beats LSU in his first collegiate start and sets the Gator Nation in a FRENZY. Nothing would make me happier.

It was amazing, John Brantley completed his first pass of the night to Andre Debose for a 65 yard touchdown.  This was the start we needed. This was what would give Brantley the confidence he needed to have a monster game and dissect the Alabama defense. This was Brantley’s coming out party.  This was….nothing like I expected after that first play.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like I thought we were going to crush Alabama, it was just that I believed it was going to be a good game and we were going to hang in there.

Unfortunately, we did hang in there, but only until our senior quarterback got injured and had to leave the game.  At that moment our ship’s sail was just deflated. Yes the score was 24 – 10 and we were down by two touchdowns, but Brantley had just driven down the field right before the end of the half and put his team in scoring position.  We had some great momentum. Then our offensive line made a couple of mistakes, which in return caused Brantley to be sacked two times in a row, one of them, causing his leg to bend awkwardly underneath his body and forcing him not to return to the game.  This is where the night ended, even though our defense still gave us a chance.

It was apparent, Brantley wouldn’t be returning and the game would be turned over to the Gators Freshman quarterback, Jeff Driskell.  In high school this guy was a phenom. He was the number one rated quarterback by Rivals.  He threw for a million yards and touchdowns. He was everything a team wanted. However on this night, he was just a freshman boy playing against a defense full of men and there was nothing he could do.  The Florida defense came out of the second half on fire. They were dominating the front line of the Crimson Tide and stopped their offensive drives on the first three series of the third quarter. They held Alabama to zero points in the quarter. But there is no way our defense was going to keep that effort up if they couldn’t get a break. Driskell tried to lead the offense, but he himself couldn’t muster anything other than two consecutive three and outs and one series where he ran for a 31-yard scramble, but produced nothing else. It was clear; Driskell was not ready for this top ranked defense and who could blame him. Alabama was vicious. They held the Gators to 15 total yards rushing.

Overall the final score does not give any insight to how this game played out.  The Gators star quarterback got injured and after that, it wasn’t much of a game. IT would have been a different story if our line could have protected Brantley a little more. This would have been a better game and much closer towards the end.

Next week will be telling for Jeff Driskell. He will probably start against the number 1 rated defense in the nation in LSU. Driskell better get prepared for them, because he will be coming into Death Valley trying to get a win in one of the most hostile environments in all of College Football.

Saturday’s game against Alabama will be one of the toughest match-ups for the Gators all year. Alabama is coming of an impressive victory over Arkansas last week, which was led by one of the most talented running backs in the league, Trent Richardson. Richardson torched the Razorback Defense for 126 yards on 17 carries and 85 yards receiving on 3 receptions. Alabama will look to establish the run early and it will be up to the Gator defensive line to bring their “A’ game if they want to stay in this ball game. If Trent Richardson is allowed to run wild, the Gator Nation will be in for a long evening. However, most football games are never just one sided. The Gators offense is led by one of the best backfields in college Football. Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey have totaled 731 rushing yards (7.5 yards per a carry) and 6 touchdowns. With those statistics and the way Demps and Rainey have been playing, I can share the same sentiment with the Crimson Tide as I did for the Gators a couple of sentences above. If Demps and Rainey are allowed to run wild, the Crimson Tide will be in for a long evening. The Crimson Tide averages 456 yards per a game and the Gators average 461.8 yards per a game. In reality, it is up to the defenses to decide the outcome of this game.

Alabama’s defense is ranked nationally in three separate categories. The Crimson Tide is 2^nd in total defense, 3^rd in rushing defense and 2^nd in scoring defense. However the rankings aren’t one sided. Florida’s defense is ranked nationally in the same three categories. The Gators are 5^th in total defense, 5^th in rushing defense and 4^th in scoring defense. The Gators are led by Linebackers Jon Bostic and Jelani Jenkins, however it is the Gators defensive line that really needs to step up this game. Jaye Howard, Ronald Powell, Omar Hunter, Sharif Floyd, and several others all need to come to play. They will be the deciding factor in this game.

The Matchup: No. 12 Florida (4-0, 2-0 SEC) vs. No. 3 Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC)

When: October 1, 2011

Where: Gainesville, Florida – Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

Game Time: 8:00 PM

TV: CBS

Radio: Sirius 220 / XM 199

The Florida Gators (4–0, 2-0 SEC) didn’t look so good on the first offensive series of the game. They went 3 and out. Thankfully that was the only time the. For the rest of the game the Gators dominated with one big play after another on both sides of the ball. The Gators defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 48 – 10. The Gators first score of the night came off of a perfectly thrown ball to tight end Gerald Christian to put the Gators up 7 – 0. It was a 45-yard touchdown strike and the first for Gerald Christian. John Brantley played efficiently the entire game managing 8 – 14 completions, 115 yards passing and 1 touchdown. But Brantley isn’t the story of this game, senior running backs Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps are.  Demps finished the game with 10 carries for 157 yards and two touchdowns. More than half of his yards came from an 84-yard sprint into the end zone. Chris Rainey finished the game with 15 carries for 105 yards. The Gator offense tallied over 400 yards rushing, the most rushing yards for a Florida team since Emmitt Smith was on the roster. Coach Muschamp summed it up rather poignantly. “We have that quick strike ability to flip the field and score…all those things are deflating to a (opposing) team).”

The offense can’t get all of the credit though. It was the Florida defense that recorded four turnovers (2 interceptions, 2 fumbles). Although the Wildcats did manage to edge out the Gators in the amount of time they held on to the ball, it didn’t seem to help. The gators front line controlled the game for the most part, although it was the young Gator secondary that really did some damage. They held Kentucky’s Morgan Newton (QB – Jr.) to 124 yards passing, and two interceptions. Newton did throw a 19-yard touchdown in the second quarter which should have been called back for offensive pass interference as the receiver clearly pushed off.

Overall, it was a great victory for the Gators and their 35^th consecutive win over the Wildcats. However the Gators aren’t getting caught up with this victory. According to some of the postgame interviews, The Gators are well aware of who their next opponent is.

Florida Hosts Alabama next week at home and is looking forward to a rematch of last years defeat (Alabama 31 Florida 6).  Florida Coach Will Muschamp summed it up after getting asked several questions on how talented Alabama is; “We just worry about Florida…At the end of the day, we’re going to take care of the University of Florida. We’re going to be fine versus everybody we play. Starting with Alabama.”