- Jun 12, 2014
- 8,927
- 32,357
Founding Member
In a time when 8-2 might be considered disappointing, it was good to see the Gators dismantle Vanderbilt 56-0 at BHG. In times past, the Commodores had been known to play us tough, maybe even catching us looking past them. Not today. Vandy was softer than they have been. And we don't have anything to look past them for. At least in terms of big goals that we can control. So it was good to see us take care of business, even if we did sputter some at the beginning.
Among the stories of this Saturday in Gainesville, the defense pitching a shutout had to be at the top after a couple of stinkers in our two biggest conference games. Even though the competition wasn't comparable, the fact that we played with some purpose and enthusiasm was welcome. "Dr. Pressure" was living up to his nick and guys like Diabate, Greenard, Reese, Davis, et al were turning in stellar performances. At one point, on Vandy's lone scoring threat, they had 60+ yards on that drive and only 12 on their prior possessions combined. We didn't allow them to run it on us and between the pressure and the coverage, they couldn't throw it either. A complete defensive performance. Only problem...it was against Vandy and that a collective loss of give-a-sh!t after conference aspirations was dashed probably dampened the enjoyment for many. Not me, however. Being a firm believer in making sure that you get back up after being knocked down, there's always something to cheer about in every win. There's always something to be gained.
Offensively, the story was one we've enjoyed before...just about every one of our great corps of receivers either was targeted or ran the ball. One of the announcers pointed out how the fact that they all contribute to the offense had to be appealing to the receivers we were recruiting, knowing that they'd see the field and get balls thrown their way. Pitts continues to be a primary threat and it was pointed out that he and Trask worked a lot together leading up to this season. Their chemistry is pretty evident. Grimes' catch and run was a thing of beauty and it was good to see Cleveland make some plays. Kinda seemed like he was a little overshadowed, but maybe it was because of how well we are distributing the ball. No doubt, this group has to be among the deepest we've ever had and ranks right up there with the best in cfb. The running game is still pretty meh, but too many other things went right, so the moaning and wringing of hands maybe got a little break.
Missouri, our next (and last) conference foe, fell to the Dawgs. They looked pretty impotent offensively, though they were without their starting QB, but they had some moments defensively as they held UGA to a bunch of FG attempts before ultimately falling. The fact that they've been a thorn in our flesh of late should be enough to get us up for them even though a win won't put us in the SECCG (there's always something to play for). At this point we're building for the future as best we can and it's still important to enter the regular season finale with the Nole$, who won their first post-Taggart game today, on a bit of a rise.
Here are a couple of more items from today's game:
*Trask looked pretty mortal at times today. His picks didn't resemble the QB he looked to be becoming and a few of his passes, even a couple that were caught, didn't look quite as precise. His first two series were forgettable, but he settled in and played better thereafter. It's good he's created high expectations from us fans. Better still he was able to help lead us to a win when he was not at his best.
*The OL didn't look any worse with a new face at RG. They weren't great by any means, but they had to be doing something right for the offense to have been as productive as it was. We had a little more success on the ground (e.g. EJ rushing for three scores) so maybe it was some better, despite some rushes that got blown up, even if it was against Vandy. Better than getting overwhelmed I guess.
*Watching the game with c2Jr, we both thought that the flanker screens, jet sweeps, etc. were successful. We also wondered why they weren't a bigger part of the offense last week.
*Grantham's plan looked good against the Commodores, better than it did against the Tigers and the Dawgs. Plan, players, or both? I'll pick "C."
*The backs figured into the passing game today. Even though it looked improv-ish, the toss/push to Perine was nice and Pierce had two nice catch and runs for first downs. At this juncture, I'm still looking for Pierce to get more touches.
*I'd like to think we could put 20-25 more pounds on Diabate and retain his speed and quickness. He had a whale of a game and it's always good to see a young guy step up.
*If Stewart was the only significant injury (and I haven't heard for sure), then we should be pretty healthy next week. What about Zuniga?
*It's still a loss, but LSU's big win over Bama makes me feel a little better about our effort against them. Not pandering for a moral victory by any means, but the Tigers look to be the real McCoy. They're where we want to be (and their defense might not be quite as bad as I've heard proclaimed - they've got some guys that can play on that side of the ball and even though they might not be beautiful statistically, they have held all the teams they've played below what their offense has scored).
"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime...you just might find...you get what you need!" What we need, at this point, is to win out and maintain both relevance and the impression that we are on the rise, if not sky rocketing. Mick must've had us Gators in mind. Onward to Mizzou and a chance for another forward step. Until then, I'll leave you with this thought about patience...my granddaddy told me that he knew I'd have a lot of patience when I grew up because I didn't use a damn bit of it when I was young. He knew I bled Orange and Blue ;)
Go Gators!
Among the stories of this Saturday in Gainesville, the defense pitching a shutout had to be at the top after a couple of stinkers in our two biggest conference games. Even though the competition wasn't comparable, the fact that we played with some purpose and enthusiasm was welcome. "Dr. Pressure" was living up to his nick and guys like Diabate, Greenard, Reese, Davis, et al were turning in stellar performances. At one point, on Vandy's lone scoring threat, they had 60+ yards on that drive and only 12 on their prior possessions combined. We didn't allow them to run it on us and between the pressure and the coverage, they couldn't throw it either. A complete defensive performance. Only problem...it was against Vandy and that a collective loss of give-a-sh!t after conference aspirations was dashed probably dampened the enjoyment for many. Not me, however. Being a firm believer in making sure that you get back up after being knocked down, there's always something to cheer about in every win. There's always something to be gained.
Offensively, the story was one we've enjoyed before...just about every one of our great corps of receivers either was targeted or ran the ball. One of the announcers pointed out how the fact that they all contribute to the offense had to be appealing to the receivers we were recruiting, knowing that they'd see the field and get balls thrown their way. Pitts continues to be a primary threat and it was pointed out that he and Trask worked a lot together leading up to this season. Their chemistry is pretty evident. Grimes' catch and run was a thing of beauty and it was good to see Cleveland make some plays. Kinda seemed like he was a little overshadowed, but maybe it was because of how well we are distributing the ball. No doubt, this group has to be among the deepest we've ever had and ranks right up there with the best in cfb. The running game is still pretty meh, but too many other things went right, so the moaning and wringing of hands maybe got a little break.
Missouri, our next (and last) conference foe, fell to the Dawgs. They looked pretty impotent offensively, though they were without their starting QB, but they had some moments defensively as they held UGA to a bunch of FG attempts before ultimately falling. The fact that they've been a thorn in our flesh of late should be enough to get us up for them even though a win won't put us in the SECCG (there's always something to play for). At this point we're building for the future as best we can and it's still important to enter the regular season finale with the Nole$, who won their first post-Taggart game today, on a bit of a rise.
Here are a couple of more items from today's game:
*Trask looked pretty mortal at times today. His picks didn't resemble the QB he looked to be becoming and a few of his passes, even a couple that were caught, didn't look quite as precise. His first two series were forgettable, but he settled in and played better thereafter. It's good he's created high expectations from us fans. Better still he was able to help lead us to a win when he was not at his best.
*The OL didn't look any worse with a new face at RG. They weren't great by any means, but they had to be doing something right for the offense to have been as productive as it was. We had a little more success on the ground (e.g. EJ rushing for three scores) so maybe it was some better, despite some rushes that got blown up, even if it was against Vandy. Better than getting overwhelmed I guess.
*Watching the game with c2Jr, we both thought that the flanker screens, jet sweeps, etc. were successful. We also wondered why they weren't a bigger part of the offense last week.
*Grantham's plan looked good against the Commodores, better than it did against the Tigers and the Dawgs. Plan, players, or both? I'll pick "C."
*The backs figured into the passing game today. Even though it looked improv-ish, the toss/push to Perine was nice and Pierce had two nice catch and runs for first downs. At this juncture, I'm still looking for Pierce to get more touches.
*I'd like to think we could put 20-25 more pounds on Diabate and retain his speed and quickness. He had a whale of a game and it's always good to see a young guy step up.
*If Stewart was the only significant injury (and I haven't heard for sure), then we should be pretty healthy next week. What about Zuniga?
*It's still a loss, but LSU's big win over Bama makes me feel a little better about our effort against them. Not pandering for a moral victory by any means, but the Tigers look to be the real McCoy. They're where we want to be (and their defense might not be quite as bad as I've heard proclaimed - they've got some guys that can play on that side of the ball and even though they might not be beautiful statistically, they have held all the teams they've played below what their offense has scored).
"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime...you just might find...you get what you need!" What we need, at this point, is to win out and maintain both relevance and the impression that we are on the rise, if not sky rocketing. Mick must've had us Gators in mind. Onward to Mizzou and a chance for another forward step. Until then, I'll leave you with this thought about patience...my granddaddy told me that he knew I'd have a lot of patience when I grew up because I didn't use a damn bit of it when I was young. He knew I bled Orange and Blue ;)
Go Gators!
