- Oct 5, 2017
- 2,329
- 6,328
I predicted 38-21. I was wrong. We gave South Carolina two short fields and they ended up with TD drives of 48 and 39 yards after turnovers. So it ended as 38-24. It was not a perfect game, but it was definitely a Will Muschamp type game. When given the ball and urgency, his team took over seven minutes to move the ball down the field to get no points.
It was something else to be in such an empty Swamp.
Muschamp did what he wanted, win time of possession. I still remember our grand 2013 time of possession national title year. At times, our offense was great and at times, frustrating and the same could be said for our defense. Ok, the defense was more frustrating than great, but statistically a better game than I think they get credit for at first glance.
The main takeaway I have is that the biggest defenders we have against our offense is ourselves and trying to be cute. We have weapons all over the field and will continue to grow. If we didn't have barely over 20 minutes of possession, we would have put up some big numbers.
Offense
First off, there shouldn't be any question about whether this offense is the best one we've had in over a decade. This offense could end up being top 5 all-time at UF. The number of weapons are ridiculous. Obviously Trask has a supporting cast of Grimes, Pitts, and Toney, but Cope, Whittemore, and Pierce definitely are impressive pieces as well.
The top two plays of the day in my mind are that Whittemore catch and Toney's TD catch and run. Speaking of Toney, one issue he will need to address, because I am picky sometimes, is trusting his speed. Last week, he juked while behind the D and it cost him yards. On the first punt return, he juked and got caught. In both, he could have gained more yards or got a TD on both by trusting his speed. On the TD today, he trusted his speed and kept going south. Granted he needed some poor tackling help, but it had he juked, he may have helped the poor tackling. He also cost us a first down on the first drive of the second half by trying to cut instead of continuing in stride and beating the guy to the edge. It is nitpicky, I know, but I have to critique something.
Pierce's 5.7 ypc is about as good as we can ask for at the running back position in this offense and no mobile QB.
Trask had a decent run and fumbled. Then he had a great run for a first down. With all of that said, I don't need to see us with many Trask run calls. His 21 of 29 (and if you subscribe to you touch, you catch multiple drops) for 268, over 12 yards per completion, is great. Now he gets to head to College Station and face a defensive backfield that gave up over 400 to Mac Jones this week. Trask is better than Mac Jones.
The last drive is an example of what I mean by getting too cute. If we are successful with Trask throwing the rock, no reason to expose a wrinkle of Toney at RB until we need it (though it would have worked if Pitts helped seal a block on the eventual tackler).
Defense
Well, let's get this out of the way. We need to improve all over the place. Stiner needs to be perma-benched for Dean at this juncture. Took all of three plays to watch him blow one. He also was bailed out by a few bad throws/drops throughout the day. He's not alone, but perhaps the most noticeable for me.
Allowing South Carolina to go 5 of 6 on 4th down was awful. Some missed tackles were awful. Allowing two 70+ yard drives, though they yielded a combined 7 points, was unacceptable.
But, I love to go against the grain (we all know this defense isn't doing well at this time) so I'll tell you what I see that I respect about the numbers today:
Quick Hits
Go Gators!
It was something else to be in such an empty Swamp.
Muschamp did what he wanted, win time of possession. I still remember our grand 2013 time of possession national title year. At times, our offense was great and at times, frustrating and the same could be said for our defense. Ok, the defense was more frustrating than great, but statistically a better game than I think they get credit for at first glance.
The main takeaway I have is that the biggest defenders we have against our offense is ourselves and trying to be cute. We have weapons all over the field and will continue to grow. If we didn't have barely over 20 minutes of possession, we would have put up some big numbers.
Offense
First off, there shouldn't be any question about whether this offense is the best one we've had in over a decade. This offense could end up being top 5 all-time at UF. The number of weapons are ridiculous. Obviously Trask has a supporting cast of Grimes, Pitts, and Toney, but Cope, Whittemore, and Pierce definitely are impressive pieces as well.
The top two plays of the day in my mind are that Whittemore catch and Toney's TD catch and run. Speaking of Toney, one issue he will need to address, because I am picky sometimes, is trusting his speed. Last week, he juked while behind the D and it cost him yards. On the first punt return, he juked and got caught. In both, he could have gained more yards or got a TD on both by trusting his speed. On the TD today, he trusted his speed and kept going south. Granted he needed some poor tackling help, but it had he juked, he may have helped the poor tackling. He also cost us a first down on the first drive of the second half by trying to cut instead of continuing in stride and beating the guy to the edge. It is nitpicky, I know, but I have to critique something.
Pierce's 5.7 ypc is about as good as we can ask for at the running back position in this offense and no mobile QB.
Trask had a decent run and fumbled. Then he had a great run for a first down. With all of that said, I don't need to see us with many Trask run calls. His 21 of 29 (and if you subscribe to you touch, you catch multiple drops) for 268, over 12 yards per completion, is great. Now he gets to head to College Station and face a defensive backfield that gave up over 400 to Mac Jones this week. Trask is better than Mac Jones.
The last drive is an example of what I mean by getting too cute. If we are successful with Trask throwing the rock, no reason to expose a wrinkle of Toney at RB until we need it (though it would have worked if Pitts helped seal a block on the eventual tackler).
Defense
Well, let's get this out of the way. We need to improve all over the place. Stiner needs to be perma-benched for Dean at this juncture. Took all of three plays to watch him blow one. He also was bailed out by a few bad throws/drops throughout the day. He's not alone, but perhaps the most noticeable for me.
Allowing South Carolina to go 5 of 6 on 4th down was awful. Some missed tackles were awful. Allowing two 70+ yard drives, though they yielded a combined 7 points, was unacceptable.
But, I love to go against the grain (we all know this defense isn't doing well at this time) so I'll tell you what I see that I respect about the numbers today:
- The may have had 36+minutes of possession, but with that, they had only 329 yards. Take away the 149 combined on their first and last drives, and it's only 180 yards the rest of the game. That's pretty good. The 180 yards for the majority of their drives.
- We forced four punts, two of which were three and outs, and a fumble.
- Two of their TD's came on short fields given by the offense, which also gave them momentum. D does need to step up there, but its at least not like we gave up 4 scoring drives of 70+ yards.
- We had 4 sacks.
- Shawn Davis is about as solid of a safety we can ask for right now.
- Carolina is not a great offense, but they do have Shi Smith and a RS Senior QB in Hill that has been in the system for multiple years now. We did better than Tennessee against them yards wise, and that's not nothing.
- Dexter, Cox, Elam, and Chatfield are doing well overall. They are young and inexperienced, which means they will be getting better.
Quick Hits
- Good to see both Hill and Kimbrough getting time, keeps McWilliams off the field.
- Before Toney's TD, I said to my wife that Toney had the first down pre-snap as the middle of the field was open and believe me, the broadcast view doesn't do justice on how open he was when Trask hit him.
- Trask's TD to Pitts was actually the wrong choice, but it worked out. Wright had no one on him and would have walked in. Good on him to notice where the ball was going and to make the block. Check my Twitter to see the view from the North End Zone to see just how open Wright was.
- McPherson added 8 on his march to all-time leading scorer.
- Dante Lang did make an appearance at DT. Would be nice to have more here. Pull a Mike Pouncey and move some backup OL for the year if necessary and you need size.
- Toney's punt returns of 26 and 15 yards are a sign of hope in the return game that has been missing for years.
- So MANY Georgia Tech Geoff fans doing the money thing on third downs, how about instead of that, you get loud?
- Go re-watch kicks toward the north endzone by UF. There are Devry dropouts masquerading as Gators and/or football fans by waiving their hands while McPherson is lining up and kicking the kick. You know, the way people try to distract kickers so they miss. Same people then had to be convinced by some loud guy in the section that they should try it when Carolina was kicking, they almost don't do it until right before the kick. Unreal.
Go Gators!
