- Oct 5, 2017
- 2,315
- 6,299
Hey guys. Saturday afternoon and night was an incredible environment for college football and more importantly the Gators won a thrilling 41-39 away game over the South Carolina Gamecocks.
There are a lot of good takeaways from this game. The most obvious is the Gators getting an away victory over a mostly healthy South Carolina team on the road for their second victory away from the Swamp in 9 tries under Billy Napier. The offense appeared to be taking a step forward while the defense showed signs of something I was concerned about. Plenty of good, some bad, and having momentum going into the bye week with some questions.
On offense, we saw an explosion of passing with Graham Mertz throwing for 423 yards while completing 30 of 48 attempts. He only had 7 attempts or 14% behind the line of scrimmage which is vastly lower than most games and according to PFF had just over 50% of throws under 9 yards. That is a big difference. In doing so he averaged 14 yards a completion and lead a comeback where the Gators were behind 10 with less than 5 minutes remaining. One thing that impressed me about Mertz in this game in particular is he stepped up in the pocket instead of rolling out like he did a lot so far this season. In climbing the pocket, he kept his eyes downfield and in doing so delivered several great strikes including the 21-yard TD with 47 seconds left on 2nd and 15. He wasn't perfect, but it was by far his best performance as a Gator. There is not much more you could ask from his performance. After Kentucky, I shared a text message I got basically saying that the sender felt bad for Mertz because he could be better, but was trapped in a bad offense. Last week, and again this week it appears that there are being changes in the offense that have improved it.
Some of the changes we have seen are better and quicker intermediary routes, routes that are sitting in open spaces in zones, and finding ways to get the ball into the hands of playmakers like Wilson, Pearsall and Boardingham. Boardingham and Hayden Hansen both had some good receptions on 3rd and long sitting in holes in the zone. Pearsall had some great catches including the game winner. Wilson had some great catch and runs including one to help set up a shorter field goal after we tried moving ourselves out of comfortable FG range. Jackson is making his lineage proud with his performances. On the drive home my brother asked me how many catches did I think he had, my guess was six. He only had two, on the same drive, but they were a big time highlight catch and a touchdown.
The running backs did well with each having over 4.5 yards per carry. They weren't asked to do too much in the run game, but did not need to. However, if the pass game can continue to be somewhat successful, I expect to see these guys with better performances against some of the better defenses we will face. Etienne did make what I consider the play of the game. On 4th and 11, down by 10 Mertz threw a horizontal pass to Boardingham. Boardingham made the first defender miss and Etienne made a great block to ensure Boardingham got the first down. Without that block, there is no first down and the Gators lose by 10. With the block, we have a game comparable to 2015 Tennessee and the 4th and 14. A multi-score deficit with less than 5 to go and a big TD pass to take the lead with little time left.
On defense, we gave up 465 yards. I was curious how the defense would perform against the first of several top 14 passing offenses they've faced and they did not do well. There were a few stops where Carolina stopped themselves. A bad snap and a false start on a 4th and 1. With all of that said, when it mattered most, they stepped up. They got to Rattler, they hit Rattler, they forced Rattler into throwing an interception to all but seal the win. There is a lot for the defense to work on, but better to do so after a win. Seeing that the defense is the younger side of the ball playing true freshmen like Castell, Thornton, Searcy and Collins, I expect there to be problems, but we are still better than in previous years if for nothing else, it truly is a youth movement that shows potential.
It is great to have momentum going into the bye week. It is great to get an away victory. What I'm not going to do yet is spike the ball and act like all problems have been solved. We definitely are seeing better schematics. There's a reason why I note how bad Carolina's D was coming into the game (though I wasn't sure if it was just because of the great O's they faced). It was great to see us attack Carolina's 126th ranked pass defense instead of trying to force the run. Will we still be effective against better pass defenses? That answer will tell whether we end up 5-7, 7-5, and/or better. To say that we faced a bad Carolina D takes nothing away from how great we played, the less predictable playcalling, and improved play design. It is to say we did well with this challenge and now we have to build on it. We have the bye week to get healthy and to hopefully be ready to face Georgia, possibly without Brock Bowers.
The Gators took a step Saturday, how big will be shown in the road that they continue to travel. For a week, the rest of that road doesn't matter, all that matters is the Gators pulled off a terrific comeback, survived the sandstorm, and won a road game.
Oh, and this:
Go Gators!
There are a lot of good takeaways from this game. The most obvious is the Gators getting an away victory over a mostly healthy South Carolina team on the road for their second victory away from the Swamp in 9 tries under Billy Napier. The offense appeared to be taking a step forward while the defense showed signs of something I was concerned about. Plenty of good, some bad, and having momentum going into the bye week with some questions.
On offense, we saw an explosion of passing with Graham Mertz throwing for 423 yards while completing 30 of 48 attempts. He only had 7 attempts or 14% behind the line of scrimmage which is vastly lower than most games and according to PFF had just over 50% of throws under 9 yards. That is a big difference. In doing so he averaged 14 yards a completion and lead a comeback where the Gators were behind 10 with less than 5 minutes remaining. One thing that impressed me about Mertz in this game in particular is he stepped up in the pocket instead of rolling out like he did a lot so far this season. In climbing the pocket, he kept his eyes downfield and in doing so delivered several great strikes including the 21-yard TD with 47 seconds left on 2nd and 15. He wasn't perfect, but it was by far his best performance as a Gator. There is not much more you could ask from his performance. After Kentucky, I shared a text message I got basically saying that the sender felt bad for Mertz because he could be better, but was trapped in a bad offense. Last week, and again this week it appears that there are being changes in the offense that have improved it.
Some of the changes we have seen are better and quicker intermediary routes, routes that are sitting in open spaces in zones, and finding ways to get the ball into the hands of playmakers like Wilson, Pearsall and Boardingham. Boardingham and Hayden Hansen both had some good receptions on 3rd and long sitting in holes in the zone. Pearsall had some great catches including the game winner. Wilson had some great catch and runs including one to help set up a shorter field goal after we tried moving ourselves out of comfortable FG range. Jackson is making his lineage proud with his performances. On the drive home my brother asked me how many catches did I think he had, my guess was six. He only had two, on the same drive, but they were a big time highlight catch and a touchdown.
The running backs did well with each having over 4.5 yards per carry. They weren't asked to do too much in the run game, but did not need to. However, if the pass game can continue to be somewhat successful, I expect to see these guys with better performances against some of the better defenses we will face. Etienne did make what I consider the play of the game. On 4th and 11, down by 10 Mertz threw a horizontal pass to Boardingham. Boardingham made the first defender miss and Etienne made a great block to ensure Boardingham got the first down. Without that block, there is no first down and the Gators lose by 10. With the block, we have a game comparable to 2015 Tennessee and the 4th and 14. A multi-score deficit with less than 5 to go and a big TD pass to take the lead with little time left.
On defense, we gave up 465 yards. I was curious how the defense would perform against the first of several top 14 passing offenses they've faced and they did not do well. There were a few stops where Carolina stopped themselves. A bad snap and a false start on a 4th and 1. With all of that said, when it mattered most, they stepped up. They got to Rattler, they hit Rattler, they forced Rattler into throwing an interception to all but seal the win. There is a lot for the defense to work on, but better to do so after a win. Seeing that the defense is the younger side of the ball playing true freshmen like Castell, Thornton, Searcy and Collins, I expect there to be problems, but we are still better than in previous years if for nothing else, it truly is a youth movement that shows potential.
It is great to have momentum going into the bye week. It is great to get an away victory. What I'm not going to do yet is spike the ball and act like all problems have been solved. We definitely are seeing better schematics. There's a reason why I note how bad Carolina's D was coming into the game (though I wasn't sure if it was just because of the great O's they faced). It was great to see us attack Carolina's 126th ranked pass defense instead of trying to force the run. Will we still be effective against better pass defenses? That answer will tell whether we end up 5-7, 7-5, and/or better. To say that we faced a bad Carolina D takes nothing away from how great we played, the less predictable playcalling, and improved play design. It is to say we did well with this challenge and now we have to build on it. We have the bye week to get healthy and to hopefully be ready to face Georgia, possibly without Brock Bowers.
The Gators took a step Saturday, how big will be shown in the road that they continue to travel. For a week, the rest of that road doesn't matter, all that matters is the Gators pulled off a terrific comeback, survived the sandstorm, and won a road game.
Oh, and this:
Go Gators!
