- Jun 10, 2014
- 16,578
- 20,016
Founding Member
Ok so I'm just going to start off by saying for those of us who attended the game, we witnessed college football history in person, so we got that going for us!
But onto brass tacks here. It's obvious we all got a little overenthusiastic about the Charleston Southern game. I still think a lot of what I said about that game holds true. There's a new attitude in this program, and it's going to turn around. Unfortunately for now, we're left with the least talented team UF has had in decades, and the depth chart is a puddle. UK has built a solid roster (by their standards) over the last 4-5 years, and they flat out whipped us. It sounds absolutely insane to say that, but that's how it is. Give them credit, though. They dominated the line of scrimmage, set up a lot of gadget plays that worked to perfection, and held on at the end when so many UK teams before them collapsed under the pressure of ending the streak.
For the specifics of the game, I wouldn't be blowing anyone's mind by saying Franks had a rough game. However, I think a lot of that had to do with the fact he never got in a rhythm because the defense couldn't get off the field by giving up 8 of the first 9 3rd down conversions of the game. We had four actual possessions in the first half, and scored on half of them. I was baffled by Mullen's decision not to kick the long FG on the first drive. He's been bragging on this kicker's leg, let's see it in action! But instead, we punted for a touchback and gave up a touchdown drive. In the 2nd half, the Franks of old reared his ugly head. He went into full on gunslinger mode and started rifling every pass as hard as he could instead of putting touch on them. In a low-pressure game like Charleston Southern, he relaxed and made some great passes. It's on Mullen to somehow reign in the psychological aspect of Franks' game and get him to chill out when it's a higher pressure game. Also, the two point conversion at the end was a designed throwback, so Malik Davis wasn't even part of the progression. I'm not even sure he ever looked in Davis' direction on the play because he wasn't supposed to. It is what it is.
The completely embarrassing effort by both lines also speaks for itself. That just goes back to years of neglect on the recruiting trail, no other way to put it. On defense, our guys were flying upfield and giving UK's QB lanes to run, and then they were sitting back waiting on him to throw the ball and he torched us for a long TD pass. Maybe put a spy on the dual-threat QB? The OL couldn't open holes again, but our backs did what they could trying to bounce and make something out of nothing.
What really bothered me was the fact that the middle of their pass defense was clearly the soft spot, but we kept opting for bombs down the sideline or WR screens. We made some great play calls getting the RB's out into space behind the DL, and Franks even missed Perine late in the game on what would have been a HUGE gain had he put some touch on the pass. I think we scored on that drive anyway, so it's moot, but I just think we missed a lot of opportunities to exploit their weaknesses on D and just ended up playing to their strengths most of the night.
Defensively, the tackling was as bad as I can ever remember, and it almost reminded me of the '15 UT game. Good thing is, after that game that year, they shored up their tackling issues and had a great season. I don't have any confidence that'll happen this year, so we just need to hunker down any time we play a power running team, cause it might get ugly.
Other than that, it was just the little things that always seemed to go our way against UK that didn't this time around. A toss pitch that was fumbled inside their own 10 that turned out to be a forward pass. A scramble drill play that turned into a long TD. A field goal that went directly over the upright and would have been good had it been kicked from 5 yards further back. As far as the controversy over that missed FG, SQ and I had a perfect angle on the kick, as it was kicked straight at us, and we can both confirm it went directly over the upright. From most other angles in the stadium, it probably looked good, but had the upright been 30 feet taller, it would have smacked right into it. UK has been so close, so many times, and they finally got one on us. The reason the 31 game streak was so impressive was that we had survived SO many close calls. Law of averages caught up with us, plain and simple.
Good news is, there's plenty of football left to be played, and we don't have a coach who will give up like his predecessor did. I still think he has these guys motivated and believing in his process, we just have to go through some growing pains. It's not easy to ask people to be patient after what we've been through for the last 8 seasons, but that's what it's going to take. Regardless, we'll be there in the stands again this week, hoping for the best.
But onto brass tacks here. It's obvious we all got a little overenthusiastic about the Charleston Southern game. I still think a lot of what I said about that game holds true. There's a new attitude in this program, and it's going to turn around. Unfortunately for now, we're left with the least talented team UF has had in decades, and the depth chart is a puddle. UK has built a solid roster (by their standards) over the last 4-5 years, and they flat out whipped us. It sounds absolutely insane to say that, but that's how it is. Give them credit, though. They dominated the line of scrimmage, set up a lot of gadget plays that worked to perfection, and held on at the end when so many UK teams before them collapsed under the pressure of ending the streak.
For the specifics of the game, I wouldn't be blowing anyone's mind by saying Franks had a rough game. However, I think a lot of that had to do with the fact he never got in a rhythm because the defense couldn't get off the field by giving up 8 of the first 9 3rd down conversions of the game. We had four actual possessions in the first half, and scored on half of them. I was baffled by Mullen's decision not to kick the long FG on the first drive. He's been bragging on this kicker's leg, let's see it in action! But instead, we punted for a touchback and gave up a touchdown drive. In the 2nd half, the Franks of old reared his ugly head. He went into full on gunslinger mode and started rifling every pass as hard as he could instead of putting touch on them. In a low-pressure game like Charleston Southern, he relaxed and made some great passes. It's on Mullen to somehow reign in the psychological aspect of Franks' game and get him to chill out when it's a higher pressure game. Also, the two point conversion at the end was a designed throwback, so Malik Davis wasn't even part of the progression. I'm not even sure he ever looked in Davis' direction on the play because he wasn't supposed to. It is what it is.
The completely embarrassing effort by both lines also speaks for itself. That just goes back to years of neglect on the recruiting trail, no other way to put it. On defense, our guys were flying upfield and giving UK's QB lanes to run, and then they were sitting back waiting on him to throw the ball and he torched us for a long TD pass. Maybe put a spy on the dual-threat QB? The OL couldn't open holes again, but our backs did what they could trying to bounce and make something out of nothing.
What really bothered me was the fact that the middle of their pass defense was clearly the soft spot, but we kept opting for bombs down the sideline or WR screens. We made some great play calls getting the RB's out into space behind the DL, and Franks even missed Perine late in the game on what would have been a HUGE gain had he put some touch on the pass. I think we scored on that drive anyway, so it's moot, but I just think we missed a lot of opportunities to exploit their weaknesses on D and just ended up playing to their strengths most of the night.
Defensively, the tackling was as bad as I can ever remember, and it almost reminded me of the '15 UT game. Good thing is, after that game that year, they shored up their tackling issues and had a great season. I don't have any confidence that'll happen this year, so we just need to hunker down any time we play a power running team, cause it might get ugly.
Other than that, it was just the little things that always seemed to go our way against UK that didn't this time around. A toss pitch that was fumbled inside their own 10 that turned out to be a forward pass. A scramble drill play that turned into a long TD. A field goal that went directly over the upright and would have been good had it been kicked from 5 yards further back. As far as the controversy over that missed FG, SQ and I had a perfect angle on the kick, as it was kicked straight at us, and we can both confirm it went directly over the upright. From most other angles in the stadium, it probably looked good, but had the upright been 30 feet taller, it would have smacked right into it. UK has been so close, so many times, and they finally got one on us. The reason the 31 game streak was so impressive was that we had survived SO many close calls. Law of averages caught up with us, plain and simple.
Good news is, there's plenty of football left to be played, and we don't have a coach who will give up like his predecessor did. I still think he has these guys motivated and believing in his process, we just have to go through some growing pains. It's not easy to ask people to be patient after what we've been through for the last 8 seasons, but that's what it's going to take. Regardless, we'll be there in the stands again this week, hoping for the best.
