- Oct 5, 2017
- 2,303
- 6,263
In 2007, I had the most obnoxious Auburn fans in my section, we lost on a last second Wes Byrum field goal, my brother's g/f at the time couldn't walk through crowds so I had to sit in that stadium for a good while before walking to my car (and here comes the text message), then I was directed to Museum instead of my usual route which added 45+ minutes to getting out easily, and it was a bad taste I have waited a dozen years to get out of my mouth. And when Perine extended the lead to 11, I couldn't help chanting "War Eagle!" (as I chanted "Roll Tide" during the Nelson pick in our last throwback game against Bama in '06)...which then turned into "War Gator!" That happened multiple times during the final bit of the game with 4 of us getting into it.
Starting the way we did and ending with the dominant defense. That's the Gator Standard.
This wasn't just a game it was a statement. As I've said before many times, Gus Malzahn is the best OC/Playcaller in football. Of the 15 real Auburn drives (not counting the last play of the game), the Gators gave them a 3 or 4 and out (I'm only counting the 4 play drives that were turnover on downs, if you count the drives with 4 plays where they got the 10 yards on the first play it's higher) on 9 of those drives. A team that just beat the ever loving hell out of #FailState last week was held to one series on 60% of their drives. That's insane. Yes, field position yielded some points on those, but still, could have been MUCH worse with the field position.
Offense
Our offensive line is still an issue. I think Delance or Bleich just got called for another holding. Speaking of the line, I was so happy that Swain gave them a piece of his mind after Trask went down. Speaking of, what a gutsy performance by Trask to go down and comeback. Was he perfect? No. Are all the strip sacks on him? No. Things for him to improve, but this team will only go as far as the line. Second fumble, he had less than 3 seconds, no one open, but I think someone was just making a break who he is trying to throw to.
I didn't like Emory coming in when he originally did. I did like what he did when Trask went down and think playcalling hindered him at the end leading to the FG. Either way, good job by him.
Happy to see good things from Swain and Perine. Guys that have been here for 4 years, done the right things, and have had slow starts this season. If we can get Perine in space, he will do damage. I thought when he first got free it would go for 20-30, but him shrugging off the safety sealed it. I didn't see him cross the goal line because I was looking for a flag. Same type of big run we saw him make at FSU and against Michigan to end last season. Perine also had multiple 7+ yard runs besides the 88 yarder.
The good news going forward? This was the best D-line we will see this season. Now that doesn't mean others are chumps, but they aren't quite Brown and co.
Trask:
As I said above, this defense was dominant. I would like to address one issue, Safety. In Auburn's lone touchdown and in their lone big drive, guess who was at Safety...Stiner. On the drive, Stiner missed two tackles on the first two plays and then didn't play over the top for Hendo on the big pass. I won't repeat the string of four letter words I used to describe him, but he did catch a ball thrown right at him. Kid called me out, "Bet your glad he stayed in", I said "nope, ball thrown to him and Auburn doesn't get that far without him." Seriously, does anyone make such big plays while doing as little as Stiner? Also, luckily Nix missed a guy Stiner blew a coverage on 3rd down after Perine's TD.
Davis was a sure tackler coming up to the plays after that.
We still haven't seen our best 11 on the field, but seeing what we had without Zuniga gave me confidence going forward. The picks by Davis and Wilson were things of beauty. We rushed only 4 most of the game, why? Because we were fine doing it. We still blitzed some, but if your getting pressure with 4, no need to blitz and one more in coverage to make smaller windows.
Make no mistake this defense treated Auburn like they were Tennessee.
Quick Hits
Go Gators.
Starting the way we did and ending with the dominant defense. That's the Gator Standard.
This wasn't just a game it was a statement. As I've said before many times, Gus Malzahn is the best OC/Playcaller in football. Of the 15 real Auburn drives (not counting the last play of the game), the Gators gave them a 3 or 4 and out (I'm only counting the 4 play drives that were turnover on downs, if you count the drives with 4 plays where they got the 10 yards on the first play it's higher) on 9 of those drives. A team that just beat the ever loving hell out of #FailState last week was held to one series on 60% of their drives. That's insane. Yes, field position yielded some points on those, but still, could have been MUCH worse with the field position.
Offense
Our offensive line is still an issue. I think Delance or Bleich just got called for another holding. Speaking of the line, I was so happy that Swain gave them a piece of his mind after Trask went down. Speaking of, what a gutsy performance by Trask to go down and comeback. Was he perfect? No. Are all the strip sacks on him? No. Things for him to improve, but this team will only go as far as the line. Second fumble, he had less than 3 seconds, no one open, but I think someone was just making a break who he is trying to throw to.
I didn't like Emory coming in when he originally did. I did like what he did when Trask went down and think playcalling hindered him at the end leading to the FG. Either way, good job by him.
Happy to see good things from Swain and Perine. Guys that have been here for 4 years, done the right things, and have had slow starts this season. If we can get Perine in space, he will do damage. I thought when he first got free it would go for 20-30, but him shrugging off the safety sealed it. I didn't see him cross the goal line because I was looking for a flag. Same type of big run we saw him make at FSU and against Michigan to end last season. Perine also had multiple 7+ yard runs besides the 88 yarder.
The good news going forward? This was the best D-line we will see this season. Now that doesn't mean others are chumps, but they aren't quite Brown and co.
Trask:
- Good throw, even better run by Swain for 64 yards and a TD to put the Gators ahead for the rest of the game.
- Screen to Pitts for 4 yards.
- Decent throw to Copeland, good play by Auburn's DB to break it up.
- Swing to Perine for 10 yards and a first down.
- Dump to Perine for a loss of 1 yard.
- Great Strike to Swain for 26 yards.
- Screen to Cleveland for a yard. If blocked well, this goes for quite a bit more.
- High throw for Hammond. Hit him in the hands so technically a drop, but would've been hard to catch.
- Throw down the sideline to Pitts...PI, not counted in stats. (We will get to the PI or lack thereof calls)
- Decent throw to Jefferson, but a bang bang play that may have been PI, but not blatant, yet.
- Swing to Perine for 3 yards
- Swing to Perine for 3, Grimes whiffs on a block or this may go for more.
- In route to Hammond for 13 yards and a TD.
- Floats one well over Swain.
- Stop route to Pitts for 7 yards.
- Slant to Pitts incomplete...still wondering why you don't have a quick snap play.
- 11 yard stop route DROPPED by Hammond...Trask goes out.
- Lobs a ball over Pitts head. Pitts slanted, I think Trask thought he was going deep.
- Stop to Hammond for 9 yards. FLAG for holding...Doesn't count.
- High throw on a screen. Its a longer play to run the clock. For the height of the throw see #5 of Emory, but with no pressure on the reception end.
- Throws it away to go to the half without Auburn getting a chance to make something happen.
- The "incompletion" to Swain. He catches it, turns and then it's poked out. Should've been a first down and fumble in my opinion.
- Bobbled by Pitts on the in route, lucky not picked.
- Rolling right, hits Swain running left for 12 yards and a first down.
- 4 yard stop route to Pitts
- Slant to Pitts for 6. I think the review overcorrects this spot. Hell, when the rules analyst doesn't agree with the call on the field, you know its bad.
- Get a lucky PI on a one hop pass. Doesn't count.
- Pass to Cleveland incomplete...PI?
- In route knocked down...PI? Hand on back
- PI on throw to Jefferson, Ridiculous that the Official right there doesn't throw the flag.
- See #30.
- Great throw to Swain for 10 yards.
- Good throwaway by Trask...HOLDING, doesn't count.
- Screen to Grimes for 4.
- Brilliant back shoulder throw to Pitts for 32.
- Good throw to Hammond for 10 in a tight window though he had running room for days if he wanted it.
- Deep slant to Pitts for 17. We would fumble on this drive. If I told you that Trask would throw his last past with 12 minutes left, you'd probably call bs.
- Screen route I guess by Pitts who is tripped with the chance for a big gain if he keeps his feet.
- Little too much on a deep ball to Swain. Last year I was upset that Jefferson had a habit of not laying out on close balls, I won't forget to mention it for Swain here.
- Swain makes up for it by catching a striking down the middle for 14 and a first down.
- Post to Swain for 20 yards.
- Screen to Cleveland for a loss of 2. The LB is in the passing lane which raises the ball trajectory. This takes Cleve wider than he should be and suddenly Forsythe is out of position. If it could be a direct ball, Forsythe has the man sealed outside.
- Overthrows Pitts on the corner route.
- Screen to Pitts for a loss of 4 on a 3rd down. Questionable call.
- 3 yard trick pass to Trask for a first down. Same play Trask ended his season practicing last year. I had just said to someone in between plays I was shocked we hadn't seen a trick play and there it was.
As I said above, this defense was dominant. I would like to address one issue, Safety. In Auburn's lone touchdown and in their lone big drive, guess who was at Safety...Stiner. On the drive, Stiner missed two tackles on the first two plays and then didn't play over the top for Hendo on the big pass. I won't repeat the string of four letter words I used to describe him, but he did catch a ball thrown right at him. Kid called me out, "Bet your glad he stayed in", I said "nope, ball thrown to him and Auburn doesn't get that far without him." Seriously, does anyone make such big plays while doing as little as Stiner? Also, luckily Nix missed a guy Stiner blew a coverage on 3rd down after Perine's TD.
Davis was a sure tackler coming up to the plays after that.
We still haven't seen our best 11 on the field, but seeing what we had without Zuniga gave me confidence going forward. The picks by Davis and Wilson were things of beauty. We rushed only 4 most of the game, why? Because we were fine doing it. We still blitzed some, but if your getting pressure with 4, no need to blitz and one more in coverage to make smaller windows.
Make no mistake this defense treated Auburn like they were Tennessee.
Quick Hits
- Underrated Gators storyline, Randy Russell still gets to patrol the sidelines in a jersey each home game.
- Shocking that Josh Hammond who had no drops in over a year, if ever, had two in this game.
- Delance should be benched once the coaches see how badly he whiffed on the first fumble recovery possibiliy.
- After the game, I saw a Wes Byrum sign being carried as I was getting in my car...guy got a "War Gator" for his efforts.
- UF had scored on the first drive against an FBS school ONCE in the Dan Mullen era before the season. They have gone 3 for 4 this season. At UK, we threw a pick...then scored like 5 game plays later.
- Nix is still the greatest QB in the history of the SEC, but had 118 attempts without a pick...we got 3 today. Almost like he hadn't played a defense.
- Townsend did have some touchbacks...on 60+ yard punts.
- Why run Trask after injury, why run Emory during it?
- Anyone think the fake punt was a good call with the momentum and circumstances?
- Kudos to Chuck Oliver for saying he didn't know how Florida was going to score.
- Kudos to the crowd for being the best atmosphere from start to finish since probably LSU 2012 in my opinion.
- All of Auburn's 13 points came on some sort of turnover, yes I am counting that abortion of a fake punt call. Oh, and Mullen not calling a TO after Auburn lined up in a way he hadn't seen before is a joke. That's the obvious time to call a TO. And that information is from his post game.
- Last time UF had back to back Gamedays I can remember? '06 beat LSU at home and lost to Auburn on the road.
- Won't Back Down is easily the best new tradition in college football in the last decade.
- I bought the Throwback jersey, I've never owned a blue Gators jersey.
- Insert UCF here
Go Gators.