Truth Takes: Moral Victories Are For Losers

GatorTruth133

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I've got to say, pretty decent atmosphere last night in Atlanta considering everything going on in the world. One of the most shocking things with an 8pm kickoff though was in the immediate area of the stadium the majority of the restaurants closed at 2:30 pm. Luckily, after not eating all day we stumbled into an empty Subway. I bring that up because you would think Atlanta businesses would circle this date as a date for a good payday in a time where they are hurting, but I guess that SEC Title game money doesn't sing like it used to.

I've seen on the Twitter machine, and even heard from members of my family who were there with me that only losing to #1 by 6 points is great, grand, wonderful. I'm hear to tell you that although such a point spread is a great thing if your Vandy, moral victories are for losers. To quote Will Muschamp, "you are what your record says you are." Don't have to agree with the former head coach on much, but he is right about that. This is not the season wrap up so I don't need to go much further other than to say, good we lost by six, what does that do for the program as we lose most of our offensive production and a good bit of experience (albeit mostly poor experience) going into next year? I'm getting ahead of myself.

Last night was a culmination of everything we have seen this year, sorry defense that still was able to get a few stops, offense that when the defense actually got those stops couldn't capitalize on those stops, poor coaching, and of course, a passing offense that when it is clicking is perhaps the best passing offense the Gators have ever had.

Before I get into it, what kind of message are you sending to your players and your fans by making Marco "Shoe" Wilson the sole captain for the coin flip? I don't care if he did it for about every game this season, after last week, take it away, show there are consequences, not rewards, for one's actions. Are you telling me Kyle Trask hasn't earned that spot this season? Or maybe you're saying everyone else needs that last bit in the locker room, but Marco isn't paying attention anyways so might as well send him out early?

Offense
Make no mistake, our offense overall played their hearts out in a very admirable way. We even missed a few big plays by just a hair. Trask did all he could do to get us a win. I love this offense, but am very sad that we will never see it again as Kyle Pitts has declared he is done with this program. You put up 46 points on an Alabama team in regulation and made them sweat. You got the ball back with a few seconds and hope for a miracle that could win you the game after being down 18 at the half. I don't see the offensive performance as a moral victory, but one of the best for a UF offense as an underdog all-time. It's easy to be good against lower competition, but to fight like that after being down 18 is something else. There are no moral victories, but there is recognition of heart and guts.

There is some down side to that though. When your defense gets it's first stop of the night (I'm going to ignore the Dean interception as Bama simply changed field position), you can't essentially go 3 and out (I mean there was a first down due to penalty on the drive). At that point, you have a chance to make it a one score game and to steal a drive essentially in a game where neither defense is really making stops and you choke. That's a problem. Then on the next Bama possession, the defense gets a stop, but this time you score. Had you done that on the previous possession, you are now in the lead and in a prime spot to exchange drives with Bama. In a game where we know the defense is useless, you have take advantage of each opportunity. We did not do that and it cost us.

Trask, Toney, and Grimes put up ridiculous numbers. Trask is the first Gator to ever throw for 4,000 yards in a season. He threw for two 50+ yard TD's on Bama. I doubt we ever see that again, unless Brian Johnson comes back as head coach down the road (I'll dodge the objects being thrown now). Toney put up 168 total offensive yards. Pitts mossed a triple team for a TD and also went over the century mark. Grimes put up 78 yards, most of which did come on a 50 yard TD, but that was spectacular on his part. Besides what was written in the previous paragraph, I could not be more proud of these players last night.

Now, the O-line did some good things and some bad things. From what I read on the Twitter machine, the Trask draw on the FG drive would have been an easy first down if not for Reese having a whiff. Delance of course went all Delance and it hurt us in important moments. Probably will still grade out a champion because we've seen it.

There are no moral victories, but it is not a moral victory to say that on the whole, this offense did enough of what it should have done to get a win. We shouldn't need them to be perfect, it's not their fault they are required to be. No team is perfect and gets TD's every drive, but these guys tried. Sorry your teammates don't care as much as you do.

Defense
I'll start out positive, we picked off Mac Jones and got a few stops. We benched Marco for a while and when he came back, that's when the defense went down again. Seriously, Jaydin Hill was doing well with Elam and then Elam went down.

Anyways, that's about it. A good metaphor for this team is that Trey Dean interception. He worked hard, stole it from the player's hands, and then gave all of that work away immediately. We saw what we have seen throughout the season, but more in the last several weeks, a team that cannot get out of its own way for one reason or another.

On Bama's first drive of the game, Marco has a chance to make a tackle and it's 4th and 6, which would have probably been a FG attempt for Bama. However, a senior cannot be bothered to make fundamental or even "shoe string" tackles and Harris ends up getting a first down (after review). Bama scores a TD a few plays later. Then the Dean thing happened and Devonta Smith, arguably Bama's best offensive weapon, is left alone for a TD on the next play. How does that happen? Of all the players, it is not like we left Forstall, the TE open on a busted coverage, this is the Heisman candidate you need at least one player assigned to at all times. Later on Marco would blow coverages for TD's or even miss more tackles that could have set up FG's instead of TD's. Imagine, 8 less points from Bama just from tackling. Completely different game on that alone. On another drive, we were doing well and then had 12 men on the field because a player didn't get off fast enough. I'm sure you will see this next thing on Gator Nation podcast's defensive breakdown, several times we played with 4, yes 4, players at least 10 yards off the ball. What did Bama do when they saw that? If you guessed run for 5-10 yards, you would be correct.

The fact I am seeing people defend Grantham on the Twitter makes me sick. @u220e on Twitter literally asked me about halftime last night "you gonna fire a DC that helped get you a .800+ winning % and two straight NY6 bowls?". He blocked me after saying yes, dropping Todd Grantham facts, history and then dropping the question on if he thinks Spurrier is an idiot for removing his DC after 1995 where the only loss was in the Natty. Well, after saying that I "had no facts" other than "some stat from '95". That exchange is sadly the mental state of a sizable portion of the base. And listening to some people on the MARTA and at the airport this morning, more than I would want. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if Mullen keeps Grantham after this season, his fate should be tied to Grantham's based on next year's results.


Coaching
I don't normally have a section like this, but this needs to be discussed. There were many coaching errors last night and Mullen even confessed to some clock management ones. Players were still not getting lined up on time, players were failing to make tackles, at times playcalling went off the rails, all of that is coaching.

The second timeout to go for two was ridiculous. If you aren't ready, just kick the XP. Go for two the next drive when it matters. We had two drives already in 1:35 or less for TD's in the game. Bama would probably be a little softer to prevent the big play and we know the team can take advantage of that. Instead we waste a timeout and give ourselves little time.

Another coaching error, and this I complain about and some people agree, some disagree. Why not go for the block, or at least act like you are there. By either going for the block or by acting like it, Bama would have less gunners going to Toney. In the last two seasons, if we have 100 yards on punt returns total, I'd be shocked. We did have that TD on some trickery, but without trickery we have been awful. We don't jam at the line, we don't force players to stay in to block, the entire punt return team is a waste. And we wasted 10 seconds for nothing. If you go for the block and get it, it's either a TD or a lot closer field position. Go all out, or rely on a return, something we rarely see for any yards these days.

Speaking of coaching and some ridiculous takes, this morning, I see another guy on the Twitter machine saying Mullen is building this team like Meyer, with offense first and then defense. Guy actually cited the '10 class with Floyd and Easley of proof that Meyer ignored recruiting defensively until that point. Didn't like that I pointed out Spikes came in with Tebow and that Black, Haden, and others were also much earlier than that '10 class.



The result of the game was predictable, but how it got there was disappointing. I had 52-31 Bama and I can say I'm not happy to be right on Bama's score, but happy to be wrong on our score. We now approach a bowl game against Oklahoma and a fork in the road. Thomas Goldkamp said last night around halftime that if people were still watching going into the 4th quarter UF fans should be excited going into the off-season. I don't know how that translates when you probably lose 4 OL (mixed ranges of loss there, but still "experience"), a generational talent, possibly the best passing QB in school history, and an electric player in Toney along with 3 main DT's, most of the secondary (see OL), and other depth on the defense. But golly shucks, all those back ups got to see us lose by 6 in Atlanta.

It was great to see the team put up a fight, but in the end, there are only one group of people that embrace moral victories in sports, the losers. Let's strive for something better.

Go Gators!
 

Swamp Donkey

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CGgater

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Good take, @GatorTruth133.

I try to look for the bright side where I can, but absolutely agree this season's performance is unacceptable and as a result, exotic todd has to go. You and others have mentioned the roster holes we'll face next year and it doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy.

The coaching issues you pointed out are also a big concern. Didn't know Marco was a team captain, never mind the sole rep for the coin toss. After last week's freshman mistake, he has no business retaining that honor when he clearly can't handle the responsibility. Truly baffling and that leadership decision falls squarely on DM. I want to believe DM can build something here, but even my "wait and see" optimism is down to it's last 10%... or less.
 

BMF

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The coaching section could have been much longer - the QB keepers were unbelievable. Trask did make a few runs, but the dive into the endzone where he fumbled was unbelievable (luckily we got it back on a penalty. The 2nd & 13 keeper wasted that drive where we could have gone ahead. We run some time off the clock at the end of the first half (and they don't score to end the half) we take the lead on the opening 2nd half drive. It's mind blowing. Then the excuses.

The turnovers were unbelievable also. We had 5 fumbles, and probably got lucky that two others weren't considering fumbles.

CG pointed out the leadership issue falling on Mullen. That's pretty much it. He's done a poor job with leadership this year. And if he wants to prove he's a leader, he'll make the staff changes that everyone in the world knows needs to be made.
 

Towels 'N Sporks

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Moral victories be damned. Any of zooks teams would have had this record with this schedule. Same with most of muschamps teams and mccelwains.
 

soflagator

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Moral victories be damned. Any of zooks teams would have had this record with this schedule. Same with most of muschamps teams and mccelwains.

You are obviously hammered. Zook could barely get to 8 wins with 2-3 OOC fluff games. And JM needed an uncovered WR, fluke TD or FG at the end of every game. Our average margin of victory was probably 2TDs.

To the original point, no I don’t believe in moral victories. But I will say this. In Jan of 1996, when the plane returning from the Fiesta Bowl arrived, it was greeted with a large gathering of fans who came out to support a devastated team that was close to winning its first national title. They went on to win it a year later. There are no moral victories. No one finds pleasure in losing. But sometimes you appreciate what you have and just be a fan.
 

Towels 'N Sporks

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You are obviously hammered. Zook could barely get to 8 wins with 2-3 OOC fluff games. And JM needed an uncovered WR, fluke TD or FG at the end of every game. Our average margin of victory was probably 2TDs.

To the original point, no I don’t believe in moral victories. But I will say this. In Jan of 1996, when the plane returning from the Fiesta Bowl arrived, it was greeted with a large gathering of fans who came out to support a devastated team that was close to winning its first national title. They went on to win it a year later. There are no moral victories. No one finds pleasure in losing. But sometimes you appreciate what you have and just be a fan.

I know it's very trendy nowadays, especially around here, to act like somebody is crazy or being ridiculous when you disagree with them, but let's talk about some facts...


Zook went 6-2 in the SEC twice, with a much harder SEC regular season schedule than what we play. One of those 6-2 years with zook we played 4 SEC teams in the top 15. We went 8-2 in regular season this year and only had 2 in the top 15 (and the other 8 teams we played are not even top 25 now).

is it really that far out of the realm of possibility that zook could have gone 8-2 with an easy schedule when he went 6-2 with a hard one?
 
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stephenPE

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The coaching section could have been much longer - the QB keepers were inconceivable.
Trask did make a few runs, but the dive into the endzone where he fumbled was inconceivable (luckily we got it back on a penalty.
The turnovers were inconceivable, also.
 

jdh5484

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The coaching section could have been much longer - the QB keepers were unbelievable. Trask did make a few runs, but the dive into the endzone where he fumbled was unbelievable (luckily we got it back on a penalty. The 2nd & 13 keeper wasted that drive where we could have gone ahead. We run some time off the clock at the end of the first half (and they don't score to end the half) we take the lead on the opening 2nd half drive. It's mind blowing. Then the excuses.

The turnovers were unbelievable also. We had 5 fumbles, and probably got lucky that two others weren't considering fumbles.

CG pointed out the leadership issue falling on Mullen. That's pretty much it. He's done a poor job with leadership this year. And if he wants to prove he's a leader, he'll make the staff changes that everyone in the world knows needs to be made.
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jdh5484

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I couldn't get past..."I'm hear to tell you" :lol:
I come before you, to stand behind you,
To tell you something I know nothing about.
Next Thursday, which is Good Friday,
There will be a mothers' day meeting for fathers only.
Admission is free, pay at the door,
Pull up a seat and sit on the floor.
We will be discussing the four corners of the round table.
 

Swamp Donkey

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You are obviously hammered. Zook could barely get to 8 wins with 2-3 OOC fluff games. And JM needed an uncovered WR, fluke TD or FG at the end of every game. Our average margin of victory was probably 2TDs.

To the original point, no I don’t believe in moral victories. But I will say this. In Jan of 1996, when the plane returning from the Fiesta Bowl arrived, it was greeted with a large gathering of fans who came out to support a devastated team that was close to winning its first national title. They went on to win it a year later. There are no moral victories. No one finds pleasure in losing. But sometimes you appreciate what you have and just be a fan.
Sofla too is a Champion of Life.
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