Colleges

Defensive struggles fixable, Meyer says

By ANTONYA ENGLISH, Times Staff Writer
Published September 24, 2007

Tim Tebow may have had a career day, but the team's six-point win at Mississippi caused AP voters to drop the Gators a spot in Sunday's Top 25 poll.

Oklahoma's 62-21 victory over Tulsa Friday moved it back to No. 3. Rest assured, however, the rankings are not the biggest thing on Urban Meyer's mind today.

The Gators 4-0 are 82nd in the nation in pass defense after a 30-24 win at Mississippi, and it doesn't get any easier. Florida hosts Auburn at 8 Saturday night, then travels to Baton Rouge to play No. 2 LSU, a team some believe is the best in the nation.

"We did not play very well on defense," Meyer said Sunday morning. "To get out of there, I don't want to say relieved, but I'm relieved and it is a great teaching tool to use for the future to realize exactly where we are at."

He and his staff must work on the psyche of a young defense after polar opposite weeks: dominating against then-No. 22 Tennessee and struggling badly at Ole Miss, now 1-3. Meyer plans to use the past as a teaching tool.

"You look at our history ... our first year we beat Tennessee and played great defense, then just got crushed by Alabama two weeks later because everybody has all the answers," he said. "I am very concerned about that, especially with a young team. We did not play well in a lot of areas in this game."

HELP WANTED: Last week, Meyer said he wasn't too worried about Kyle Jackson's inconsistent play because "he's one of the most vested players we have on this team."

But after the senior free safety struggled again Saturday, Meyer said he needs to shake things up.

"We are four games into it and next week will be our fifth and it is going to be week to week," he said. "We will name a starter later in the week and see how Major (Wright, a freshman) and Kyle play, then compare the two."

Senior safety Tony Joiner said he realizes the defense has some work to do, but he won't allow the young players to panic.

"The first couple of games Western Kentucky and Troy came out and they threw the ball as well," he said. "It's just a matter of us buckling down in the secondary."

Expect future opponents, like Auburn, to come out testing that secondary from the start.

"Oh, yeah, they are going to keep testing us, they are going to keep testing our entire defense," Joiner said. "People are going to test us all the time, we've just got to come out with big plays."

PENALTY WOES: Say what you will about the shaky secondary, lack of a pass rush, or even Tebow's struggles to find open receivers Saturday. Florida's biggest problem may be penalties. The Gators rank No. 117 of 119 Division I teams in penalties, with 42 for 348 yards.

Antonya English can be reached at english@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 23, 2007, 20:56:14]