ChompTalk.com

After a disappointing opening game against Miami last weekend, the Florida Gators are set to face off with the Samford Bulldogs on Saturday night in the Swamp.

One of the biggest storylines coming into Week 2 for the Gators is the insertion of freshman phenom DJ Lagway into the starting quarterback position. With Graham Mertz in concussion protocol after an injury sustained against the Hurricanes, Lagway will get his first collegiate start Saturday.

Florida is coming off an “embarrassing” performance in the eyes of third-year head coach Billy Napier against Miami. The Gators gave up over 500 yards of total offense to the Canes while only totaling 261 yards themselves. They will try to hit the reset button against an FCS opponent who gave Florida some trouble the only other time they met on the gridiron.

Florida hosted Samford in 2021, and the Gators pulled out a victory but it wasn’t pretty. Florida won 70-52 and was down 42-35 at the half. The 42 points the Bulldogs scored in the first two quarters were the most Florida has ever given up in the first half of a game.

While the Gators will look for a similar offensive performance this time around, the defense will need to be better if they want to keep the fanbase on their side. Florida will try to sure up the defensive side of the ball without some key names who were left off the depth chart for this week.

Devin Moore, Sharif Denson, Asa Turner and Joey Slackman were all not listed as available for Florida against Samford. Moore, Denson and Turner all started in the secondary for the Gators against Miami. Ja’Keem Jackson will start in place of Moore at cornerback, Aaron Gates will get the nod at STAR for Denson and DJ Douglas will play for Turner at safety.

After being torched on multiple occasions by Miami and the fact the position group is limited this week, the Florida secondary will need some players who were not expected to start this early in the season step up in a big way.

On the offensive side of the ball with Lagway leading the charge, there will most likely be a huge emphasis on the ground game against the Bulldogs. Montrell Johnson Jr., the veteran leader of the running back room, ran for 106 yards last week with 71 of them coming on a long touchdown run. He will get the bulk of the carries again as we will see lots of option plays with him and Lagway in the backfield.

It will be interesting to see how much Napier and Lagway try to attack the secondary of Samford, a team that surrendered 271 yards and two scores in the air in its Week 1 loss to West Georgia.

As for the Samford offense, it will be led by junior quarterback Quincey Crittendon. Crittendon, just like Lagway, is a true dual-threat for defenses to deal with. He threw for for over 300 yards and two touchdowns last week and ran for 90 more with two scores on the ground. His ability with his arm and legs is something Florida will have to look out for after Miami’s Cam Ward was able to get out of the pocket and make explosive plays multiple times last week.

With the gauntlet of a schedule Florida has this season, this game against Samford is the only one where the Gators should be able to win convincingly. However, with a true freshman getting his first start and a team that looked deflated after last week’s disaster, it may be tougher sledding for the Gators than some expect.