The Florida players and coaches often refer to their opponents as nameless, faceless teams. Their own defense might fit that description, too.
Rather than relying on a few stars to come through with big plays, the Gators seem to be getting a balanced contribution from front to back, including solid performances from second-stringers. None of their players is among the SEC statistical leaders.
“You’ll hear me to say to the guys, ‘I think the best player on our defense is our defense,’” defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said. “We have a number of guys who we feel like can make plays on our defense; I think that’s good.”
Good is an understatement. No. 4 Florida’s cohesive, star-deficient defense has a chance to be one of the best in school history. Heading into Saturday’s game at Vanderbilt (6 p.m., ESPNU), the Gators (5-0, 4-0 in the SEC) are 10th in the country in total defense and sixth in fewest points allowed. They have forced opponents into three-and-outs on 41.7 percent of their possessions, the third best success rate in the conference.
The Commodores (2-3, 1-2) have been a doormat for UF, losing 21 straight in the series, and their offense does not present much of a threat this year. South Carolina (36.3 points per game) and Georgia (41.3) loom in the following two weeks.
Florida is allowing 11.4 points per game. If that holds or improves, it will be one of the top 10 years the program ever has had. It would be UF’s stingiest defense since 1975.
The Gators are the only team in the FBS that has not given up a point in the fourth quarter. LSU was the most recent victim, mustering two first-half field goals in a 14-6 loss at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium last week.
Prior to that game, the Tigers were 5-0 and scoring 39 points per game. The five teams Florida beat this year averaged 24.5 points in their other games.
The Gators are doing it with a group that has no statistical standouts. Their leading tackler, safety Josh Evans, ranks 38th in the SEC. Their nine sacks are spread among seven players, led by linebacker Jon Bostic and defensive end Lerentee McCray with two each. The team’s seven interceptions came from six players.
“Everybody’s making plays when you need them to,” said Bostic, a senior from Palm Beach Central High School. “Don’t try to jump out and make plays because yeah, sometimes it works, but other times it may kill you. We said that from the start of camp. You’ve got to let the plays come to you.”
The absence of eye-catching individual statistics does not mean this defense has no stars. Defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, a junior, is projected to be a first-round pick if he leaves after this season. Matt Elam, a junior from William T. Dwyer High School, fits the profile of an NFL safety. Some of the younger players, particularly in the secondary, show signs of heading that direction.
The Gators are not bland, either. In the days leading up to the game against LSU, a team that scored 41 points on the Gators a year earlier, McCray said firmly, “That ain’t gonna happen this year.” Elam is a notorious talker on the field. Then there is dancing, jabbering defensive end Dominique Easley, the ultimate wild card.
“Oh, Easley’s in his own category,” cornerback Jaylen Watkins said.
“Matt Elam, he brings a different type of energy to the defense. When he’s up and he’s going, everybody plays around him … Lerentee McCray, too. Him and Matt Elam kind of have the same personality. That bad-boy persona works for them on the field.”
None of those attitudes has been overly problematic this year, and it seems like most great defenses have a few players like that.
This is the type of elite defense Florida paid for when it gave Will Muschamp his first head-coaching job last year. In five seasons as a defensive coordinator at LSU and Auburn, his teams always ranked in the top 10 nationally in total defense. The Gators did it last year, too, checking in at No. 8.
Since 2002, the collective college teams that employed Muschamp allowed 286.4 yards per game, which would be the third-best mark in America if somehow Coach Boom University was an actual school. Only Alabama and LSU have better numbers during that span.
“A lot of defensive coaches and defensive coordinators try to take something away,” Vanderbilt coach James Franklin said. “It might be the run or it might be the deep passes. You look at these guys — they really take everything away.”
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