- Oct 5, 2017
- 2,327
- 6,323
I will start off with this, when it has rained during the game, I have rarely, if ever, attended (or watched) a Gators loss. In the modern era (1990-present), the Gators have lost maybe 3 games where it has rained during the game at most. '01 Auburn and '04 Tennessee are two I think of, neither of which I watched as I was at a homecoming dance and working, respectively, while in high school.
What does that have to do with anything? Well, the forecast did not call for rain during the game going into the game yesterday. It was supposed to rain in the morning, but even that disappeared. Before it rained, UGA went up 14-0. The game changed once it began raining the first time. May mean nothing, but the observation needs to be made somewhere. Also, the last two rows in Jax have a overhang by the boxes and social distancing disappeared as everyone gathered under these overhangs each time it rained. I was 4 rows from the top of the lower bowl so easy observation to make. I don't care about the rain, heck, I was one of the few thousand who saw Valdez Showers' kickoff return live against Idaho in 2014, and just sat in the rain and laughed about the whole thing.
Back to the game, if you weren't about to break something after the first few minutes of the game, I commend you. If you weren't about to break something in the 4th quarter, I commend you.
We beat UGA. Something after the Texas A&M game many believed would happen. We won by double digits. The game was never within double digits after we got up. Yes, we tried to remedy that as much as we could, but we didn't. Magically, we wake up, the world isn't as dark, the birds are chirping, and UGA will go 40 years without a national title.
Offense
My single greatest complaint, which will lead to all the others stems from the fact that the first half, after our first drive, might have been the single greatest offensive half in Florida football history and we did it against this UGA defense. 38 points in a half against a top 5 team That's all more than anyone, even the brightest sunshine pumper, would have thought. Most people thought 38 points was impossible anyways. My greatest complaint is Mullen's continued desire to run out the clock from the minute we get up 3 scores up rather than put our feet on the necks of our opponents. We ended up surviving last night. There will games we don't survive doing that crap. Ron Zook was infamous for going into prevent D and letting teams back into games, this is prevent O. Make no mistake, I'm really, really, happy about the offensive performance and will sing a lot of praises, but I think this is a major takeaway that needs to be mentioned. Especially as it makes our offense look Day and Night.
Kyle Trask had over 300 yards and 4 TD's in the first half. That's insane, I don't care who UGA was missing, that is insane against any team, much less this UGA team. And let's not kid ourselves, in the first half we were abusing their linebackers and corners. They didn't have many missing from those positions. Trask ended 9 yards short of taking UF's all-time single game passing record. It would have been amazing to do that against UGA. If we didn't go into prevent and ultra-safe offense, he would have had it easily. I know that losing Kyle Pitts did hurt, but we still moved the ball well in the first half after losing him. He also trucked a UGA safety for a 3-yard game near the endzone, but we don't need to talk about that. He also may have gotten the record if not for some drops, but is what it is.
I would be wrong not to mention our 100-yard receiver from yesterday. Malik Davis in many ways made up for his fumble against A&M with 100 yards receiving and adding 21 on the ground. His per carry average dropped as Mullen played predictable run out the clock offense in the second half.
Toney has shown great improvement within the offense this season. You know what doesn't work? Forcing the ball to him and doing it very obviously. No, I'm not talking about the pick six where baby Hendo ran a bad route, I'm talking about the clear screen passes and the like. I think forcing the ball in these obvious plays didn't help him. His desire to not run north-south, especially on one third down, didn't help either.
Trevon Grimes proved he can be a bad man with that TD catch, but still dropped some balls he shouldn't have, including balls that would have gotten the first down. Shorter is really starting to come on. Kemore Gamble is good tight end. I think we don't realize that because he's behind a generational talent. Zipperer is a big man. I'm sick of seeing Jones come in when the offense is rolling. Really. sick.
Defense
Did we benefit from some drops and overthrows? Yes. Might it bite us in the future? Hell yea. Does it matter for yesterday? No. Were some of those issues caused by pressure and an early hit on the QB by our defense? Yes. Should they get credit for that as well? Yes. Did UGA also benefit from drops by our guys? Yes.
We had multiple three and outs during the game and then we started doing that bs we saw against Carolina where we let the other team bleed the clock on offense. How about we just keep playing our game and get more stops? I don't know.
The defensive line did well overall throughout the game. They got pressure, flushed the pocket and even had three sacks against an offensive line that many thought would dominate them. Carter did well in his lone half of play with 5 QB hurries. The rest of the team had 2.
We also had multiple slips leading to some big UGA plays on the wet grass. Davis may have picked the ball on UGA's last TD had he not slipped. We did get 3 INT's on the day and dropped at least one more.
Special Teams
McPherson is impressive with multiple 50 yards FG's. He might end up the best kicker in UF history and may be a threat to leave at the end of the season.
Toney scares me fielding punts inside the 10 and then waiting 2-3 seconds before even moving. He also catches the punts to his side consistently. I guess that's his comfort spot, but it is not typical.
Still not sure why we don't go for blocks more. We rarely return punts for even 5 yards under Dan Mullen. Why not try and get a big play? Also, if we try to block, more players have to stay in to block our rushers and this creates more space for a punt returner. Again, if we are fair catching most punts, what do we have to lose?
Quick Hits
We beat UGA. At times, it was the most beautiful game we could ask for. At times, it was the most infuriating part of our coaches decision making. The main point is this, it doesn't matter how we got there, we got there. We laid the smack down on UGA. We won by double digits. We also got to take shots at what looks like to be the future of the UGA QB position that may or may not impact his psyche for the future. We have the inside track to Atlanta. We don't have a ranked team left on the schedule and no offense that can compete with ours.
Also, I really enjoyed the players and Mullen greeting the fans. I enjoyed the middle finger to the media that is Mullen greeting the fans like he did.
We are in the position we want to be in and we beat UGA.
Go Gators!
What does that have to do with anything? Well, the forecast did not call for rain during the game going into the game yesterday. It was supposed to rain in the morning, but even that disappeared. Before it rained, UGA went up 14-0. The game changed once it began raining the first time. May mean nothing, but the observation needs to be made somewhere. Also, the last two rows in Jax have a overhang by the boxes and social distancing disappeared as everyone gathered under these overhangs each time it rained. I was 4 rows from the top of the lower bowl so easy observation to make. I don't care about the rain, heck, I was one of the few thousand who saw Valdez Showers' kickoff return live against Idaho in 2014, and just sat in the rain and laughed about the whole thing.
Back to the game, if you weren't about to break something after the first few minutes of the game, I commend you. If you weren't about to break something in the 4th quarter, I commend you.
We beat UGA. Something after the Texas A&M game many believed would happen. We won by double digits. The game was never within double digits after we got up. Yes, we tried to remedy that as much as we could, but we didn't. Magically, we wake up, the world isn't as dark, the birds are chirping, and UGA will go 40 years without a national title.
Offense
My single greatest complaint, which will lead to all the others stems from the fact that the first half, after our first drive, might have been the single greatest offensive half in Florida football history and we did it against this UGA defense. 38 points in a half against a top 5 team That's all more than anyone, even the brightest sunshine pumper, would have thought. Most people thought 38 points was impossible anyways. My greatest complaint is Mullen's continued desire to run out the clock from the minute we get up 3 scores up rather than put our feet on the necks of our opponents. We ended up surviving last night. There will games we don't survive doing that crap. Ron Zook was infamous for going into prevent D and letting teams back into games, this is prevent O. Make no mistake, I'm really, really, happy about the offensive performance and will sing a lot of praises, but I think this is a major takeaway that needs to be mentioned. Especially as it makes our offense look Day and Night.
Kyle Trask had over 300 yards and 4 TD's in the first half. That's insane, I don't care who UGA was missing, that is insane against any team, much less this UGA team. And let's not kid ourselves, in the first half we were abusing their linebackers and corners. They didn't have many missing from those positions. Trask ended 9 yards short of taking UF's all-time single game passing record. It would have been amazing to do that against UGA. If we didn't go into prevent and ultra-safe offense, he would have had it easily. I know that losing Kyle Pitts did hurt, but we still moved the ball well in the first half after losing him. He also trucked a UGA safety for a 3-yard game near the endzone, but we don't need to talk about that. He also may have gotten the record if not for some drops, but is what it is.
I would be wrong not to mention our 100-yard receiver from yesterday. Malik Davis in many ways made up for his fumble against A&M with 100 yards receiving and adding 21 on the ground. His per carry average dropped as Mullen played predictable run out the clock offense in the second half.
Toney has shown great improvement within the offense this season. You know what doesn't work? Forcing the ball to him and doing it very obviously. No, I'm not talking about the pick six where baby Hendo ran a bad route, I'm talking about the clear screen passes and the like. I think forcing the ball in these obvious plays didn't help him. His desire to not run north-south, especially on one third down, didn't help either.
Trevon Grimes proved he can be a bad man with that TD catch, but still dropped some balls he shouldn't have, including balls that would have gotten the first down. Shorter is really starting to come on. Kemore Gamble is good tight end. I think we don't realize that because he's behind a generational talent. Zipperer is a big man. I'm sick of seeing Jones come in when the offense is rolling. Really. sick.
Defense
Did we benefit from some drops and overthrows? Yes. Might it bite us in the future? Hell yea. Does it matter for yesterday? No. Were some of those issues caused by pressure and an early hit on the QB by our defense? Yes. Should they get credit for that as well? Yes. Did UGA also benefit from drops by our guys? Yes.
We had multiple three and outs during the game and then we started doing that bs we saw against Carolina where we let the other team bleed the clock on offense. How about we just keep playing our game and get more stops? I don't know.
The defensive line did well overall throughout the game. They got pressure, flushed the pocket and even had three sacks against an offensive line that many thought would dominate them. Carter did well in his lone half of play with 5 QB hurries. The rest of the team had 2.
We also had multiple slips leading to some big UGA plays on the wet grass. Davis may have picked the ball on UGA's last TD had he not slipped. We did get 3 INT's on the day and dropped at least one more.
Special Teams
McPherson is impressive with multiple 50 yards FG's. He might end up the best kicker in UF history and may be a threat to leave at the end of the season.
Toney scares me fielding punts inside the 10 and then waiting 2-3 seconds before even moving. He also catches the punts to his side consistently. I guess that's his comfort spot, but it is not typical.
Still not sure why we don't go for blocks more. We rarely return punts for even 5 yards under Dan Mullen. Why not try and get a big play? Also, if we try to block, more players have to stay in to block our rushers and this creates more space for a punt returner. Again, if we are fair catching most punts, what do we have to lose?
Quick Hits
- UF had 5 receivers with a 30+ yard reception for a second straight game. That's insanity.
- No bands was interesting, but they did play stuff on behalf of the bands over the loud speaker such as the alma maters and We Are The Boys.
- If we score a TD on that first dive of the second half, the game is over.
- For all the crap Reese gets on the line, his loss did hurt some.
- Imagine Trask's numbers if he had three cupcakes and FSU while not have A&M and Arky (though we haven't seen his numbers there yet.
- Not gonna lie, after the first TD though not happy, I did think of the '06 title game and our '11 game against Bama.
- Speaking of FSU, WOW, they traded the future of their program for that 2013 Natty. I have never been more disappointed about not facing FSU.
- Franks showed yesterday in the second half why he is the best QB remaining on the regular season schedule. And Tennessee...ouch.
- NC State showed us on Friday why not to play prevent offense, and we tried to do it anyways.
- For all the talk of ND and Clemson still both getting into the playoffs potentially, I don't know why Gators should care. We win out, we get in as SEC Champion, if we don't, we don't deserve to be there anyway. A&M is the only team who should care at this point.
We beat UGA. At times, it was the most beautiful game we could ask for. At times, it was the most infuriating part of our coaches decision making. The main point is this, it doesn't matter how we got there, we got there. We laid the smack down on UGA. We won by double digits. We also got to take shots at what looks like to be the future of the UGA QB position that may or may not impact his psyche for the future. We have the inside track to Atlanta. We don't have a ranked team left on the schedule and no offense that can compete with ours.
Also, I really enjoyed the players and Mullen greeting the fans. I enjoyed the middle finger to the media that is Mullen greeting the fans like he did.
We are in the position we want to be in and we beat UGA.
Go Gators!
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