THE SCOOP
As a young offensive coordinator, Brent Pease would get caught up in the numbers game.
These days at Florida, Pease focuses primarily on the final score.
The Gators were more efficient than electric, but Pease rejected the notion that his offense was “vanilla” or that he held back any plays so as not to give an early preview to this Saturday’s opponent, Miami.
“First off, I don’t know what vanilla … I’ve heard the word vanilla, I don’t know what vanilla is,” Pease said. “I’ve never made a game plan with vanilla. … We can stretch the field if we want to stretch the field. Did we have to stretch the field at a certain point in time? No. Did we have it in the game plan? Yes.”
The Gators played ball-control offense to slow Toledo’s up-tempo attack, which returned nine starters to a unit that averaged 31.5 points in 2012. Florida ran the ball on 16 of 20 first-down plays, finishing with 262 rushing yards and a time-of-possession edge of 19:36.
ROAD GAME AT HOME
Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long isn’t quite ready to talk about the long-term future of football games at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium, where the Razorbacks plays Samford on Saturday.
The game is one of two annually that Arkansas is under contract to play in Little Rock through the 2016 season. Long said there has been no discussions about changing it, yet.
Coach Bret Bielema brought it into the discussion when he spoke about his first game in Little Rock. “To be quite honest, I know that is a home game on our schedule, but we as coaches and players have to treat it as a road game,” he said.
Long said he agrees about the road game regarding the travel. To help with Bielema’s concerns, Long said the Razorbacks will take a flight home to Fayetteville following the game rather than make the 3 1/2-hour drive by bus. “When you bus to that game, it is your longest road trip of the year, and it’s a home game,” he said.
RECUITING EDGE?
UGA’s football recruiting is getting some big help from the athletic department. Beginning Saturday against South Carolina, recruits attending UGA home games will have better seating.
The majority of the UGA targets will sit in the lower-level section behind the West end zone — allowing them to be much closer to the field and better experience the atmosphere at Sanford Stadium. In past years, UGA recruits were seated far away from the field in either a mid-level section or the dreaded upper deck. Some of the mid-level seats will be retained, but the majority of recruits will be in the lower section.
NEW HALL OF FAMERS
Former Georgia players Matt Stinchcomb and Peter Anderson will be joined by former Florida players Jevon Kearse and Lindy Infante as the Class of 2013 for the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame. They will be inducted in November.
BY THE NUMBERS
10 for 178
Vanderbilt receiver Jordan Matthews’ stats despite becoming ill in last week’s game against Ole Miss. He was nauseated because of a hit to the stomach and not from a concussion, he said.
About the Author
