Florida vs. UT-Martin: Three key matchups for Saturday's game

The spread is 41-points in Florida's favor, but the Gators aren't sleeping on their opponent. Which three matchups could decide Saturday's game?

Credit: utmsports.com

To the rest of the world, the matchup kicking off at 7:30 P.M. on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is known as a "cupcake game" - an easy win for the home team.

But the Florida Gators are paying no mind to the 41-point spread in their favor, and are honed in on completing their assignments to play a perfect ball game against the University of Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks.

With that being said, here are the three key personnel matchups to Saturday's game between Florida and UT-Martin, which could ultimately factor into the result of the game.

Florida's offensive line vs. UT-Martin's defensive front

The Gators starting offensive line unit played a lot better than most expected them to against Miami, allowing only one sack to one of the best pass-rushing units in college football in 2018. GatorMaven broke down the offensive line's tape to grade their performance, which you can check out here.

However, UT-Martin has some playmakers on their defensive front. Nose tackle Austin Pickett and linebacker Sherrod Pittman combined for four tackles for loss and a sack in their opening game against Northwestern State, and defensive end Julian Crutchfield - who stands at 6-5, 300 lbs., led the team with nine tackles for loss in 2018.

Skyhawks defensive line coach Clint McMillan noted these players specifically in an interview with GatorMaven yesterday, praising their drive and approach to games like this. Keep an eye on this group against Florida's young OL on Saturday.

QB John Bachus III vs. Florida's defense

The Skyhawks gave Bachus III his first career start as a redshirt freshman last Saturday, and it could have gone better. He completed less than 50% of his passes (8-20) and recorded 130 passing yards, however, he did throw two touchdowns and rushed for an additional 20 yards.

Bachus' inexperience should have Florida licking their chops to take on at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, where the voices of 88,000 screaming fans are all but guaranteed to affect his play. Could Florida post another ten sack game this week? Or perhaps snag a couple of interceptions off of errant passes? The odds should be in their favor to wreak havoc on UT-Martin's passing game.

Florida's tackling woes vs... themselves

Head coach Dan Mullen acknowledged that he believes half of Miami's total yards from their Week Zero game came about from Florida missing tackles at his Wednesday press conference.

Listen, it doesn't matter how strong or weak your opponent is, poor tackling can make-or-break football games. This is an area of concern for Florida until it's not, and in order for that to happen, the Gators' defenders need to get back to basics and focus on tackling fundamentals this week.