It's back: Florida Football 2011

I know it's been over a year since I posted on my blog. In the meantime, I've been writing for Foxboroblog, a New England Patriots site run by a few avid fans who happen to have some writing skills. Recently I joined another great site, NEPatriotsdraft.com, which has a huge following as a great draft and scouting resource. While I don't always cover the Gators over there, I plan on posting weekly again on Battle in the Trenches to give Florida fans the scoop on their beloved Gators.

Quick recap of the season so far...

Week 1: New coach Will Muschamp's debut couldn't have gone any better. With Charlie Weis in charge of the offense, the Gators opened the season with an impressive 41-3 beatdown of in-state FAU. Weis dialed up the run game often as the Gators rushed for 197 yards on 33 carries. Jeff Demps led the way with two touchdowns and Chris Rainey proved why is he such a versatile player, racking up 146 all-purpose yards and three TDs. Senior quarterback John Brantley played well in his debut despite tossing two picks.


Week 2: In a matchup against UAB, it was once again the Chris Rainey Show. The redshirt senior rushed for 119 yards and a TD and caught three passes for 43 yards. His speed and elusiveness in the open field is second to none. The Gators rushed the ball 55 times, and Brantley played another efficient game. The defense pitched its first shutout of the year, holding UAB to a paltry 3.1 yards-per-carry on the ground.


Week 3: After playing two subpar teams, the Gators faced its first decent matchup in its first SEC game of the year against Tennessee. Led by talented quarterback Tyler Bray, many thought the Volunteers would have a chance to upset the 16th-ranked Gators. They were wrong. Florida dominated the first three quarters as Rainey solidified his status as the go-to guy in the offense. The Heisman hopeful caught an 83-yard TD pass and carried the load with 108 yards on 21 carries. Brantley played perhaps his best game of his career, tossing two TDs on 14 of 23 passing.


Week 4: Florida traveled to Kentucky, and frankly, it was the Wildcats who didn't show up. UF's defense dominated the line of scrimmage and the running game put on a historic performance. Within the first five minutes, the Gators scored three TDs to put the game out of hand. Brantley completed a beautiful 45-yard TD to tight end Gerald Christian down the seam to open the scoring onslaught before the Speed Team took over. Demps showed why is he regarded as the fastest player in the nation, racking up 157 yards on only 10 carries. Rainey didn't do too bad himself, averaging 7 yards a pop. Two young guys on defense - linebacker Michael Taylor and safety Matt Elam - recorded interceptions as the Gators held the Wildcats to an average of 3.8 yards per pass.


Week 5: Fresh off a four-game winning streak to open the season, the Gators hosted perhaps their biggest rival, the Alabama Crimson Tide, in a battle of Teacher (Nick Saban) vs. Student (Muschamp). Like many of these matchups go, the teacher still did the teaching. Saban's physical and tough defense, along with the powerful running of Heisman candidate Trent Richardson was simply too much for the younger and leaner Gators to handle. Richardson continually broke tackles en route to a career performance. After shutting down opposing running games, the Gators surrendered 226 yards on the ground and were continually beaten at the line of scrimmage. Alabama's defense took some heavy shots, forced turnovers and ended up knocking Brantley out of the game with an ankle injury. Despite scoring 10 points in the first quarter, the Gators were shut out the rest of the game in the Crimson Tide's 38-10 stomping.

Week 6: Reeling from a tough loss at home, the Gators had the unenviable task of traveling to Death Valley to take on the top-ranked LSU Tigers. Unfortunately for the Gators, it was more of the same. LSU dominated on both sides of the ball as running back Spencer Ware played a Richardson-like role in grinding out yards and forcing missed tackles. The former high school quarterback had 109 rushing yards and two scores as LSU piled up 41 points on the helpless Gators. Playing without Brantley or backup Jeff Driskell, the Gators offense looked like the 2010 version with Trey Burton and freshman Jacoby Brissett running a lot of option plays. The Tigers limited the Gators to a paltry 100 yards passing and 113 yards on the ground as they left the young team demoralized.