SPREAD TOO THIN: Auburn Stops Gators Offense

The much ballyhooed spread offense has gotten a lot of love the last few years, but in Auburn's 20-17 win at Florida, they found the perfect way to stop it.

Josh Thompson and Pat Sims in the middle were stout in taking away the dive/draw plays that Florida had used so well early this season. For sure there were some running lanes in the fourth quarter for Tim Tebow to run through, but overall the Tiger run defense was admirable. Since Auburn didn't have to stack the middle to stop the run, they were allowed to play blanket coverage and swarm to receivers.

That leads to the next key point.

While Brandon Cox and the Tiger offense have struggled this season, there was no questioning the speed and tackling on the defensive side of the ball. The Tigers were able to swarm from sideline to sideline to stop the ball, and missed precious few tackles that the Gators would've used to generate cheap scores.

Auburn's defense was fantastic and forced the Gators to grind out yards instead of take them in chunks. And when a spread offense is asked to grind out yards it often struggles. That's why Auburn was able to slow down the Gator offense. And what can you say about Brandon Cox? In a statement game for him, he was poised in the pocket and created plays that weren't there. Auburn was decent at getting yards on the ground, and Cox was efficient, finding holes in the Gator zones for seven at yard yards at a time. It helps that the Gator defensive line, aside from Derrick Harvey, is very young and soft right now, but Cox stepped up just as a leader should.

The Mississippi State loss was a pretty bad one, but the Bulldogs are better this year than they've been in years past. And now Auburn's loss to South Florida doesn't look so bad with the Bulls beating everyone they play. With the victory at Florida, it isn't too late for the Tigers to turn their season around.

While for the Gators, it was exactly the kind of game young teams lose. Brandon Cox's senior leadership over the Gator defense's inexperience was a huge asset for the Tigers. This taste of mortality for Florida may do them some good in the long run, just as it did last year.

—E. Blasco