Bits & Pieces: Florida vs. Alabama

Great summary as usual Cover.

Had some outside yard work and followed the second half on my phone listening to Mick and Lee. It was pretty cool to hear the crowd roar and know exactly when the Gators did something good. It had the old school feel of the big games with the HBC in the Swamp.
Was happy for EJ and saw an impressive stat that all 5 scoring drives were 75 yards or more against mighty Bama. No help with a TO or two to shorten the field.
McGriff made a comment that Emory gets in trouble when he rolls out and does not keep his focus downfield . He tends to look away, and when he looks back he is late to his target. He also is still late on his RPO reads. On the failed conversion McGriff pointed out a "crease" in the line that Davis had if he gets the ball early. Looking at the replay he appears correct.
It was impressive to see our front 7 go nose to nose with Bama's elite OL. Same for our OL who held their own with the Bama D. Holding Bama to under 100 yards rushing, while netting 245 was not the stat line that Saban was expecting.

No loss is good but in this case it can be positive if the team can build on it. Practice this week should tell a lot, and after the disappointment subsides we need to see the "pissed off" get turned back on. Coaching up mistakes, and positive leadership must be front and center, and we will roll the Vols in the Swamp.

What line of learning about recruiting does our UF staff do. Have they been interested enough to read any books on recruiting - I mean a compilation of historical coaches ideas on how to excel at the process.?

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Meat Market: Inside the Smash-Mouth World of College Football Recruiting Kindle Edition
by Bruce Feldman (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
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Is this a possible understanding of Mullen's QB thinking.? =
Bowing to his selfish ego, if Mullen turns AR loose, EJ's glory gets wiped out. That subtracts one QB from the great QB guru's raved-about great string of QBs Dan Mullen has developed. By holding AR back, Mullen gets him in follow-up to EJ's development. Thet's 3 in a row = Trask, EJ, AR instead of just 2, Trask, AR.??

Good morning

*Bama scored 4 TDs and a FG. We scored 4 TDs and FG. Moral victory? No. Cause for optimism? Definitely. Especially the way we looked doing it after the 1st quarter. Bama is known as a big fast physical team. We went toe to toe with them, especially in the trenches and in the running game on both sides of the ball. Very encouraging. 110 more total yards and 7 more first downs than them in this game. At some point hopefully the confidence that we can beat any team in the nation takes root and we actually do win the big games that get us some hardware.

*Why are we so bad in the 1st quarter? Perhaps one theory is that we practice too soft or we don't do enough full speed 1s vs the 1s. Seems like we are surprised at how strong and quick the other team is when we finally play a good squad and it takes some time to get our "sea legs." Maybe the angles and effort required to bring those scout team guys don't work on the best players in the conference? All I know is that a lot of plays that happened one on one in space made our guys look foolish trying to tackle. Often they didn't even get a finger on the other guy.

*Through the whole 1st half I was constantly harping the box to just let EJ play HIS game, which isn't standing in the pocket going through progressions. His game is take a couple looks and then run, or at least scramble and let someone get open. If we keep trying to force him to play that game it is just a photonegative of what we did with Trask trying to run options and QB power. Just stop. EJ is a slippery runner who can throw when he needs to, stop trying to make him something else. Hands down his biggest liability is making a quick decision, both passing and in option plays. So many times, especially on 1st down, he would be taking too long in the pocket when there was a wide open running lane or an open guy underneath. Just take it! 2nd down and 5 is so much better than 2nd down and 13 after you take an unnecessary sack. A good runner like EJ should almost never get sacked.

*Look at the end of the 1st half against FAU. 3rd and goal, terrible mesh play with EJ and Davis. 4th and goal, unbelievably terrible qb run where nobody seemed to know WTF the play was. Our goal line offense is a goat fvk jamboree in these situations which is exactly was we saw again on the 2pt attempt. Unacceptable. On Bama's previous possession they were lined up to go for it on 4th and goal from the 2, then they got another of their many false starts and kicked the FG. I remarked that I wished they had just not gotten the penalty so we had the chance to stuff them. That's how little I think about our odds of getting a 2pt conversion right now.

*Weston might be the worst kick returner I've ever seen in my life. On any team.

*Mullen needs a class in remedial math. At the end of the game he held on to the timeouts too long. After failing the 2pt try, our only chance was to stop them on a 3 and out. If they get a first down, the game is over, which is what happened. Well they got a first down and then all we had were 4 seconds left, which shows that the decision to hold onto those timeouts was pointless. We needed to use those a couple plays earlier and hope that we could coach 'em up enough during the stoppage to prevent that 1st down. As soon as I saw Mullen sitting on the timeouts after Bama's first play I knew the game was over.

*It is a rare day when I point at the refs as a big factor, but yesterday was one of them. Sure we get emotional when close calls don't go our way but usually by the end of the game they all even out. Not yesterday. We can lament our slow start all day long, but there is no way to ignore the fact that the zebras played a big role in how the 1st quarter went. That PI call was one of the worst calls I've ever seen. It was basically a turnover. I'm still one angry monkey about it. WAFJ!

*All of that being said, the game was exciting but really almost meaningless. Losing it didn't really hurt our chances of winning the conference, just like winning it wouldn't have really helped our chances of winning the conference. The rest of the season has two main objectives: 1...beat UGA, and 2...just take care of business against the rest.

I'm glad I got to at least stay interested in the game all the way to the end. As big of a deal as this may seem and we did play up to the level of the competition I think the next game will tell us even more....will we play down to the level of competition kinda like the LSU game last year? We likely won't have the explosive play making ability to pull away score wise from teams like we could have(but still didn't)last year unless AR is unleashed(not happening).

Also how much improvement will teams like LSU and UK make over the next 2-4 weeks? Could be enough to ruin our season if the Ham & Egger(Mullen) calls a flop of a game like he is known for doing at least once or twice a season?

And how long before teams start putting 7 or 8 closer to the LOS and making us beat them through the air? We also haven't had any impactful injuries to this point in the season...not wishing them on anyone BUT they will happen.

While I think it's ok to feel a little better about yesterday it's not a magical measuring stick for the rest of the season and it doesn't guarantee any wins even over the likes of UK or Mizzou, it doesn't guarantee that if we somehow make it back to Atlanta that we will face the same Alabama team we "hung" with yesterday either.

Swamp Donkey said:

yeah once you're at the mesh point usually the decision must be made. the running back has to hang on to the ball because he doesn't necessarily know that's even the quarterback's hand in there. it could be a defender getting in trying to rip the ball.

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The only qb I’ve ever seen pull that off successfully was Lamar Jackson.

Again Cover 2 is Top Shelf...IMO better than ESPN or SECN

THAT SAID:

DORKY Dan has sealed his position for years.

By default so has Grantham.

What I got out of it was we are better than I thought.

Like last year we could have won this game.

Mullen is stubborn...like last year...his best player was on the bench...but Cousin Eddie/Dan would not play him even though he was cleared to play.

And like last year...Danny boy calls ridiculous plays at ridiculous times and has poor clock management skills.

You can hold your head up higher saying you lost fair and square rather than coming close and claiming a moral victory which is for losers.

That said we have to guard against thinking that because we took the fight to Bama and were getting the best of them that it's going to be smooth sailing here on out. When the Gators play inspired they tend to play very well, but we also tend to play down to our opponents and that's when we get embarrassed. One of the things that has been a hallmark of Nick Saban is that he gets his teams to play consistent. Alabama, for the most part, doesn't let down against opponents and doesn't get sucked into trap games. One of the hallmarks of the Gators is that they can look like world beaters one week and struggle against a Vanderbilt or Kentucky the next. Just sayin'.

Okeechobee Joe said:

When the Gators play inspired they tend to play very well, but we also tend to play down to our opponents and that's when we get embarrassed. '.

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So frustrating. The sign of poor coaching.

It is always good and bad with this staff.

We came out playing at FAU and USF speed it took 21 point to speed up. It’s more on the D to me you can’t give up the 21 at home. Also, the D needs to get a turnover or two, I never saw us punching at the football. I was there the crowd was rocking we fought hard just missing a few details that keep us from playing at a championship level.

One thing I can’t stand with football today is lining up in the shot gun on short yardage...making 3rd a short 3rd and 6 after the snap. We aren’t the only one that does it. Probably just me.

Swamp Donkey said:

3rd QTR Nice work by OL, Davis Pierce and, yes, EJ. He is feeling pressure better and he is a run first QB. As strange as it is for me to say that's, bc you know I want the passes flying around everywhere, a run team is just what we have to be. EJ throws better on the run, too. Our skillset right now is run, run, run and we are pretty unimpressive at TE and WR. Just run.

I really like what Pierce has become. He is a load in short yardage. Davis has the hands we knew he did and seems to have the burst he has lacked since his freshman year and that injury. Sometimes it takes a while post injury. Nayquon flashed too.

I didnt watch closely, the way I used to do. Not really sure what Trailerbammer did defensively in the second half. They have a 4-3 look although I think one's a Jack/Buck DE/LB and the other is a safety backer hybrid. It should be enough numbers but they are small for an Alabama team. Good for us.

Honestly I'd like to see us with more of seven in the box rather than six, and playing a star who was better vs the run.

Those few throws to the tight ends seem to have softened them up a little.

There's no way around it we just don't play well on the first quarter. We haven't under Mullenz usually, especially in games vs decent teams. In many ways it's the exact opposite of Sharky, who would have a few good scripted plays at first and then be terrible the rest of the game.

We undoubtedly are better after halftime most games. This does mean good coaching responses in the lockerroom, I must admit.

I just wish we were prepared at the start of the game and didn't keep falling so far behind vs Bammer and Ugly. I don't really know what causes that, what part of preparation we're not getting right. Or is it just motivation, I don't know. maybe we stick by the game plan no matter what and prefer to not make changes until halftime? It is hard to know.

Defense. DL in general showed up. It was no longer just effortless movement for their offense. Again I didnt watch slowly and see what each position was doing like I used to. I didnt take a lot of notes on defense. in general safety play is not completely garbage like it was the last 2 years. I like what I see out of 22, 16, 27 and even how 24 has developed since his poor start.

Moon covers a LOT of ground. He is a liability inside but his ability to cover the flat is huge. We have been missing that.

They were moving the ball but it's still not just too damn easy like it was in first QTR. Everything worked for them innthe 1st Qtr and was effortless.

Our edge defense on goal line is crap. I dont know why our jumbo package has a safety playing LB instead of you know a LB especially since we have a dozen little fast LBs. We looked bad versus USF I think on their last play and we look no different today. It was 4th down on Alabama's first scoring drive in the third quarter. To me that is just lack of preparation like that could have changed the final score. It's not happenstance that they ran the exact same formation that USF did.

Weston, the Mullen special, it hard to believe we can't find someone to catch kickoff without letting the ball get into his pads.

The 99 yard drive seem to take a couple years off Saban. he looked gray.

The 2 pt play...... wouldnt it have been nice to have a big fullback style QB battering that in? If only we had one. And a power RB, like you know, Pierce.

Watching that 2 pt play again, from the other angles they showed at the end of the game. Im not sure that EJ didnt try to pull it and Davis wasnt having it.

Also, if you just want to have some fun, pause all the plays Big Dez is on the field and watch Alabama try to slow him down. He wasnt having it. The think he was doing this to high school kids a few months ago.

Finally, Butters can DIAF.

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Some of your best work there Donk

Marine1 said:

Some of your best work there Donk

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long-catted the quote

Swamp Donkey said:

long-catted the quote

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Not my best work….

I thought the PI on Avery Helm was outrageous. It was a great defensive play with the kid playing the ball . Really poor call. Then again thought Trent got a favorable spot on the last drive 4th down play . It was close and I think would’ve stood but surprised there wasn’t a review there so kinda evens out .

It’s not a UF Bama game if trey dean isn’t getting knocked on his tail . He got obliterated on a rub that got Billingsley alone for his score . Definitely one of our best safeties , just wish he had better awareness . It was shocking Perkins didn’t play more . Especially since Travez got picked on some in the first half . He was much better in the second half .

Gatorbait25 said:

I thought the PI on Avery Helm was outrageous. It was a great defensive play with the kid playing the ball . .

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No. You can't get that other hand around his waist. They won't ever give you that.

GatorJ said:

When did I ever say it was an excuse?

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Shhh… he’s rolling.

Who is Johnson? Thought he made some good plays. Was he consistent? What did you guys see?

Gatorbait25 said:

Then again thought Trent got a favorable spot on the last drive 4th down play . It was close and I think would’ve stood but surprised there wasn’t a review there so kinda evens out .

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If this the play I’m thinking of, the rules expert on the broadcast (Gene Steratore?) did a good job of explaining how Whittamore extended and clearly got the first down.

cover2 said:

Dan’s getting roasted pretty good from the fans on social media and some of the press over that PAT call. It hasn’t helped that he’s offered up excuses of somebody going the wrong way, lining up incorrectly, etc., etc. That call was too pivotal for anything less than your best effort and idea.

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I don't understand why that's so obviously not the best play to call. I don't know that they didn't see from earlier in the game that the play they called could work. I have a much bigger problem with EJ's execution fo the play. As I and others have said and from what I can remember, EJ simply rode Davis too long. Davis may have crashed into the line and the pile refused to move, but there seemed to be other places he could have run. Unfortunately, EJ stole Davis' opportunity to show if his vision and skill would allow him to find the end zone.

That being said, I would have probably had Pierce in the game instead of Davis to begin with.

Oh, and thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree and appreciate your perspective.