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Florida Defense Went 'Bare' To Slow Down OU's Fast Tempo

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By MICK ELLIOTT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 9, 2009

FT. LAUDERDALE - To say the least, after averaging 54 points and more than 562 yards per game, the Oklahoma Sooners' offense was left looking a bit disappointing by the Florida Gators.

The Sooners finished with 363 yards of defense and the 14 points they scored in Thursday night's 24-14 loss to Florida in the BCS Championship Game were 21 less than their previous low of the season.

Do not, however, think the no-huddle, hurry-up attack that produced 80 plays a game for the Sooners, didn't catch Urban Meyer's eye and might not find its way into the Florida playbook.

"I've been really intrigued by the no-huddle, by the up-tempo, and we actually went to that the whole first week of spring ball a year ago,'' Meyer said. " I sent Dan Mullen to Missouri and came back with the mechanics of it. I hired Scot Loeffler. He's had some of that in his background. I think the tempo of the game, that's a pain in the butt, and if you only have two days to prepare.

"We did well because we had a whole month and Coach (Charlie) Strong and his staff and our players really worked hard. I'm going to really study it because I love their offense.''

WORD POWER: In case anyone is still wondering how much importance Florida coach Urban Meyer places on psychological play with players consider wide receiver Percy Harvin's comments Thursday night after the game.

According to the Gators' multitalented playmaker, Florida's 10-point victory over the Sooners was particularly rewarding because "nobody gave us a chance.''

Considering the Gators kicked off as 4 1/2 underdogs, Meyer's manipulation of his team's psyche must have been quite a piece of work.

"Who said that, Percy?'' Meyer responded, breaking into a big smile. "The last couple days were real intense, just getting these guys ready to go. Coach Strong addressed the team. I'm very cautious who we allow to talk to our team. Those guys were ready to play. I don't want to get too much into it because that's our business.

You know what the good thing is, guys listened.

"I think a lot of it had to do with we didn't have a chance to stop this team. Statistically it will tell you it would be a hard deal to stop them. So I'm sure that's where he was headed.''

HOW DID GATORS DO IT? So just how did the Gators put the brakes on OU's Sooner Schooner?

Oklahoma came into the game with a streak of five straight in which it had scored 60 or more points.

"We really put in two packages that our defense did a great job,'' Meyer said. "One was bare defense, and they did a great job, and then a lot of odd. We played much more three down than we've ever played. Basically the whole game was four down against Alabama and then this game played three down and they call it bare defense, where they kicked down to stop the inside run.

"(Assistant) Chuck Heater and I were talking a couple nights before the game -- we'd do everything an offense doesn't like to see, and a lot of it was new. So they did a great job.''

RAINEY OK: Running back Chris Rainey suffered a sprained ankle that has was reported Friday as not serious.

It didn't look that way then the redshirt freshman from Lakeland went down in the third quarter, the ankle folding underneath him during a tackle.

"I texted him last night,'' Meyer said. "He said he was real sore. It was right in front of me and I was worried about it. But I think it's an ankle sprain and he should be fine.''

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