Bits & Pieces: Florida vs Kentucky

[cover2]

I knew we were in trouble after UK’s first three offensive plays that were very similar.
In all three plays Davis was to the second level without being touched. He was then met by Jalen Kimber doing a spot on impression of Deion Sanders as a run defender.
If you can stomach it, go back and watch those three plays and then explain to me why you would let him back on the field the rest of day. He could at least pretend to want to play.

Watch out…Coach Prime getting some love around these parts I referenced Kimber in the OP though not by name or number. Not ready for certain. Thinking you can do it isn’t the same as knowing you can and then producing. That’s part of the disconnect of youth, inexperience I believe.

 

[cover2]

10 penalties at critical times are pathetic!

Agreed, but I believe a couple were questionable at best. But that’s life on the road in cfb.

 

[Marine1]

I just can’t get past the idea that we are coaching this team like a professional NFL team coming off back to back Super Bowl wins. Seems as though all discussions are supportive and measured and spoken with the respect due proven champions. But there is a reason few teams repeat or sustain that level of success. It’s because it’s much harder to maintain that level of success when your sleeping on silk sheets.

We have a young team that needs to be driven with fire. They need to be pushed and they need to be held accountable. Deon ripped Cormani McClain and would not give him snaps. What happened? He came out of his slumber and played a good game against USC. A message was sent. Spurrier yanked QB’s….mid-drive! Urban said stars would be treated like stars.

We need that level of accountability and fire.

I like Billy and I want him to succeed but he has to make the adjustments. As MJMGator said he is clearly put on notice after this loss. Billy knows the heat will be on….you could see it in his presser. He simply has to win the next 2 or it’s going to get much uglier.

 

[g8tr76]

Agreed, but I believe a couple were questionable at best. But that’s life on the road in cfb.

I also agree about home cooking; good teams must beat the refs also. Ky only had 3 penalties to our 10.

Questionable calls happen; and even though they should go in both directions, we can't blame the refs for our poor play.

 

[Sec14Gator]

Hand in there Cover.

I think Mertz is struggling more than we’d like to admit. Some is coaching and scheme, but he struggled downfield in that game. I’ll give two examples, the throw to Pearsall that he “dropped” was bad ball placement downfield. Something we see a lot of. If he leads Pearsall in to the field more the defender never even gets there.

He also missed a WIDE open Jackson 15 yards downfield when he would have been running for many yards with even a mediocre pass.

He also checks down very quickly and misses open guys downfield far too often and right in his line of sight.

Last, did others see walkon WR #30 Spierto getting action. Is that truly our best personnel usage? No Mizell, but spierto. Wow.

Add on stats - “Mertz's 7.3-yard average depth of target in the game (per PFF), despite Florida being down on the scoreboard from nearly the beginning, prevented UF from moving the ball down the field. His season-long aDoT is 6.6 yards, the worst among SEC starting passers.”

https://www.si.com/college/florida/football/florida-gators-takeawats-momentum-crushing-loss-kentucky-wildcats

Laughably, the announcers said yesterday Mertz was “efficient”. He’s not. The offense is not. A high completion % does not equate to high efficiency.

 

[CGgater]

CG, what is this “working 7 days a week” stuff? I thought you retired.

I needed to pick up some temporary work to supplement our income while Mrs CG works on a career shift. Driving an 18 wheeler was starting to wear on her.

 

[Sec14Gator]

I’m not interested in any coachspeak at this point

To me the worst part was him defending his penchant for super conservative third down calls by mockingly pointing out the 3rd and 9 run by Johnson in the first quarter that seemed to get a first down. He was NOT happy when the reporter asked if he meant the one that worked due to a holding call and it was called back.

 

[wrpgator]

I needed to pick up some temporary work to supplement our income while Mrs CG works on a career shift. Driving an 18 wheeler was starting to wear on her.

A “Like” and a

 

[G8trwood]

I needed to pick up some temporary work to supplement our income while Mrs CG works on a career shift. Driving an 18 wheeler was starting to wear on her.

Tiring

 

[Sec14Gator]

The offense couldn't help because we got whipped at the line of scrimmage there too.

It sure felt that way, and maybe we did a number of times, but I found myself frequently re-watching specific running plays and our individual blockers did fine. We just didn’t have enough bodies to block everyone and the defense played sound/didn’t run the unblocked defenders into the wrong gaps or over pursue.

This game was long coming for the offense/running game due to our schematic stubbornness.

 

[Treebeard]

If we keep the baton, the players should have to put on pink socks with bells so they jingle on the sideline. Maybe a tu tu.

The pathetic part is that there seems to be a guy on the sideline in charge of said baton, and handing it to players. I think I saw this out of the corner of my eye when Pearsall came off the field after his touchdown. To Pearsall's credit, he didn't seem to take it - we were already at a point of being so manhandled that celebrating here was kind of pointless.

 

[itsgr82bag8r]

I read Cover's recap and not much else in this thread so forgive me if this is a repeat. There's been some discussion about the lack of Billy's fire on the sidelines. I happened to be watching the end of the first quarter of the Bamma game. Bamma was screwing up every which way but Sunday. At the end of the quarter Saban went bat **** crazy on the field in front of the crowd yelling at everyone. Bama got their act together after that trade. I thought Billy was a Saban disciple. Fire alone will not fix our problems. We have a myriad of issues. But a little fire sure wouldn't hurt.

 

[Sec14Gator]

Kentucky destroyed Armstrong yesterday.

Here are some numbers to back up what I saw - that scheme was not the primary issue - tackling when in position to do so was. Worse Scooby and Shemar were some of the worst offenders and they have played great this season so far. The others, like both Mitchell’s and Kimber were less surprising.

“
Entering the game, Pro Football Focus dinged UF for missing 6.75 tackles per game, down from 10.2 in 2022. Kentucky running back Ray Davis, who accounted for 280 of the Wildcats' rushing yards, forced eight misses over UK's first two offensive series on his own. PFF knocked Florida for 19 misses in total on Saturday.

A concerning 189 of Davis' rushing yards gained were generated after contact.”

Source - https://www.si.com/college/florida/...wats-momentum-crushing-loss-kentucky-wildcats

189 yards after contact means the scheme, while not perfect, was not the primary cause. Maybe the 11 am local start (always bad for UF), or maybe some guys were sick, more dinged up, or Davis was just tough as hell and they wilted. I don’t know, but we just reverted. I’ll wait for a trend before I blame Armstrong or Bateman completely/believe they are part of our problems.

 

[Cozumel Gator]

Cover2 thank you so much for taking the time to write and comment. Hopefully, Billy can see the light that a run-first team no longer works in this era. When you see a stacked box you must throw and have athletes that can beat one-on-one coverage. If he can change his ways and tendencies he is a coach I want to see stay around.

 

[jdh5484]

It sure felt that way, and maybe we did a number of times, but I found myself frequently re-watching specific running plays and our individual blockers did fine. We just didn’t have enough bodies to block everyone and the defense played sound/didn’t run the unblocked defenders into the wrong gaps or over pursue.

This game was long coming for the offense/running game due to our schematic stubbornness.

You're right too. There were times when we should have called a pass, and call run. There were times when we called a quick pass but the TE didn't chip the DL before going out. There were times when they stunted and we didn't pick it up.

 

[MJMGator]

To me the worst part was him defending his penchant for super conservative third down calls by mockingly pointing out the 3rd and 9 run by Johnson in the first quarter that seemed to get a first down. He was NOT happy when the reporter asked if he meant the one that worked due to a holding call and it was called back.

It was cringeworthy but hilarious at the same time.

 

[maheo30]

He also checks down very quickly and misses open guys downfield far too often and right in his line of sight.

It has been shown on tape that when given a choice to throw to a wide open receiver 15 yards downfield or throw to a 5 yard dink pass, Mertz will choose the dink pass almost every time. That's who he is. He is part of the problem. However, Napier's primitive passing concepts are making things much worse. I was against the OC hire last season. I wanted more evidence. I've seen enough. He is needs help with the passing game. This could be a Muschump 2.0 issue. CBN gets fired because he refuses to change his philosophy on offense. He'll adapt to everything but that.

 

[TN G8tr]

Even though I am posting now, and @cover2 posted yesterday, I still stayed with the Coffee with Cover this am. Admittedly after the game I just turned off the computer and left it alone til today. @cover2 you were spot on as always. This young team will have you scratching your head at times. Yes, they lack leadership and hopefully that will come over time. But that timeline is running short. They need to grow up and in a hurry. And also, so does this staff and Napier. We just got flat out whupped. They came out and smacked us in face and we didn't know how to respond.

Many have mentioned the changes that need to be made and rightfully so. What worries me more than anything else is with what this program had been stripped to in order to rebuild is the fear of starting all over again. Thus, making it worse. I really hope that after an azzwhuppin' like that, realization sets in on a personal level and I mean Billy. I really hope he can get it worked out and want him to succeed. If not, I feel that it will take way much longer.

 

[Silverback Gator]

Here are some numbers to back up what I saw - that scheme was not the primary issue - tackling when in position to do so was. Worse Scooby and Shemar were some of the worst offenders and they have played great this season so far. The others, like both Mitchell’s and Kimber were less surprising.

189 yards after contact means the scheme, while not perfect, was not the primary cause. Maybe the 11 am local start (always bad for UF), or maybe some guys were sick, more dinged up, or Davis was just tough as hell and they wilted. I don’t know, but we just reverted. I’ll wait for a trend before I blame Armstrong or Bateman completely/believe they are part of our problems

I suspect we aren't working on fundamentals or appear slow because staff is practicing slow to avoid injury. Don't know. We are all just looking for answers. But if a team misses tackles, is out of position to make plays, or a step behind the other team, it makes one wonder. While it doesn't seem plausible we aren't working on tackling, or having slower practices, how else can we explain the level of play, the slow offense, the other issues?

 

[Sec14Gator]

This could be a Muschump 2.0 issue. CBN gets fired because he refuses to change his philosophy on offense.

Like Muschamp, it’s not just the philosophy on offense. It’s his entire strategy to win. And it does not work consistently.