If you thought the Florida Gators looked like a poor-tackling team during last Saturday night's 24-20 win over Miami to kick off the major college football season, you're not alone.
Florida coach Dan Mullen knows his team didn't wrap up well, which is always a risk for an Aug. 24 matchup.
"There is such talk about safety in college football and how we need to implement rules for safety," Mullen said Wednesday. "When it pertains to the Southeastern Conference, the 14 people who care the most about those players are the 14 head coaches in this league. So when you're trying to implement safety in how to tackle, the biggest thing for us wasn't tackling more in training camp but how we practiced and how we handled tackling techniques and finishing in nontackling practices.
"A lot of that in that transition from training camp into game week and the intensity of how we practiced and the sense of urgency and the attention to detail I don't think was good, so what happened didn't surprise me, because I'm used to that happening in week one. We are going to spend a lot of time teaching off of that."
By moving its opener up a week to celebrate college football's 150-year anniversary, Florida will have an open date this Saturday as well as Oct. 26 before the Georgia game and Nov. 23 before the Florida State contest. This first open date will be followed by a visit from UT-Martin.
"I've been through the two bye weeks before," Mullen said, "and in the back of my mind, I'm still treating this year like two bye weeks, which means treating the Miami game like a separate game - almost a bowl game. It's hard to call that a preseason game, because it counted, but to me it was kind of in that mold - like it was part of training camp and a one-game season."
OTHER PICKS
Texas A&M 49, Texas State 6Arkansas 48, Portland State 21Kentucky 26, Toledo 19Ole Miss 25, Memphis 24Mississippi State 42, Louisiana-Lafayette 25LSU 41, Georgia Southern 10Missouri 40, Wyoming 27Ohio State 43, Florida Atlantic 22Florida State 24, Boise State 23Michigan 47, MTSU 18Texas 35, Louisiana Tech 12Oklahoma 38, Houston 13Virginia 27, Pittsburgh 20N.C. State 34, East Carolina 9Central Florida 51, Florida A&M 14Washington 52, E. Washington 7Penn State 53, Idaho 16
Due to Florida starting preseason practices a week earlier than its SEC counterparts, which trimmed the summer by a week for the players, Mullen is giving his team some sizable time off this week.
The coach is using some of his down time to track what could be Hurricane Dorian by Saturday.
"Thank goodness, looking at these storms, that we did play the game a week earlier," he said. "It was great to get that game in. There is a lot we get to teach and learn off of this week."
Pasquali's Pix
Georgia Tech at Clemson: The Yellow Jackets have been playing football for a long time and have never been 37-point underdogs until this game, which is on Thursday night. Tigers 45, Yellow Jackets 10.
Eastern Illinois at UTC: If every game this Labor Day weekend was ranked by famous alums, Tony Romo versus Terrell Owens would be up there with the best of them. Mocs 24, Panthers 19.
Alabama vs. Duke: The Crimson Tide have lost two nonconference games during the regular season in the Nick Saban era, and those occurred in 2007. Crimson Tide 48, Blue Devils 7.
North Carolina vs. South Carolina: The Tar Heels lead this series 34-19-4, but the Gamecocks are 3-0 in this border matchup since joining the SEC in 1992. Gamecocks 31, Tar Heels 16.
Georgia State at Tennessee: Given that Tennessee's first football season was 1891 and that Georgia State's first was in 2010, that's just too much experience for the Panthers to overcome. Volunteers 41, Panthers 10.
Georgia at Vanderbilt: The Commodores may need to practice with crowd noise more than the Bulldogs this week. Bulldogs 44, Commodores 17.
Auburn vs. Oregon: The Tigers are 6-0 all-time against Pac-12 schools in neutral-site games, which includes Auburn's 22-19 topping of Oregon in the BCS title game of the 2010 season. Tigers 27, Ducks 24.
Notre Dame at Louisville: Scott Satterfield's rebuilding chore is reflected by the Cardinals having starting defensive ends who weigh 254 and 252 pounds and a starting outside linebacker who weighs 197. Fighting Irish 41, Cardinals 14.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.