Bits & Pieces: Florida vs. Miami

cover2

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Welcome to another year of Gator football! Expectations are high after a good (not great, mind you) start of the Mullen era that featured a strong finish after a couple of disappointing conference losses. My own expectations are high, but tempered considering positional question marks (OL, LB, Secondary, etc.). While I'm glad we are playing an old rival in the season's first real game, I'm not real wild about playing so early, yet it should be an opportunity to be embraced. The audition for deserving top ten and conference contender...do we nail it, or forget our lines?

The answer in the first half was that we weren't ready for Broadway. Hell, we weren't ready for summer stock in the Pocanos! The only consistency was our inconsistency. OL got no push. Ground gains were mostly due to athleticism, speed (Toney), and second effort. Ball security cost us a couple of scores. Defensively, we tackled like dog sh!t, couldn't get off of blocks, and gave up several big plays that gave the Hurricanes life when they were seemingly ready to croak. We lacked a lot of things, but poise was not to be found when needed.

Second half has featured more of the same and looked more like an AAU basketball game...or an adolescent male trying to "score" for the first time. Holy Sh!t and praise the DL! We dodged a bullet but got our pants pulled down in the proces. Let's look at a few specifics:

*Tommy Townsend stood out. Converting the fake punt early was a gutsy call, but the kid obviously has the stones that make it an easy decision for the coaches. Like his brother before him, he can boom it with hang time.

*Zuniga and Greenard stood out on the DL. Campbell made some plays, too. They made good plays against the run and applied pressure (with sacks) in passing situations. Zuniga, if he can stay healthy, can have a special year and maybe as important, draw enough attention that it will take some of the pressure off of the developing defenders. This whole group saved our @ss.

*Despite a couple of security issues (fumble, pitch in a bad relationship), he didn't hurt us with his decision-making early on. I think he still has problems making his mind up before the snap despite what a proper read would suggest. He did have a couple of good check downs, but I also think he gave up in the pocket prematurely on several plays.

*We cannot continue to give up big plays to opposing offenses on third down. Leadership can be overused to explain these type of gaffs, but I think it's clear that we are looking for some players to provide that component and it needs to be from the back seven. My kingdom for a Peterson, Spikes, etc.

*We look like we're back to square one with the OL. As stated earlier, we got little to no push for most of the running plays. Pass Pro was 50/50 at best. Hevesy will have to do his best work...and quickly. This unit resembled a scout team for much of the game.

*We break coverage almost every time a play is extended. Occasionally you can understand, but as often as seen tonight speaks toward a lack of experience and communication/cohesion among the coverage players. Hard, thorough coaching provided rapidly and consistently can help. Keeping contain up front is a factor as well.

*Im going to share a pet peave. In my opinion, a lot of football nowadays on the defensive side relies way too much on speed and not enough on proper technique (esp. tackling, pursuit, and body position/control). I know the rules (penalties and coach/player contact time) makes it difficult, but a lot of what I see today is just hot garbage, especially our tackling. Though all position groups were guilty, our secondary looked a lot more like Matador U than DBU tonight. Combined with a distinct lack of "want to," you get what we all saw. We played like the Fightin' Camel C0cks in terms of pad level when tackling.

*To quote Lombardi on the pass play/INT late..."What the hell's going on out here?!" That call was beyond dumb. Same could be said for the late interference penalties. I thought we upgraded the coaching position with this group?

*Can't say the officiating crew was at peak form, but we were the beneficiary of a couple of their goofs. Unsportsmanlike call hurt, however. Our lack of disciple was a contributing factor to the quality of the officiating.

We've got problems' but at least they weren't compounded by a loss. The adage that a team improves the most between the first and second games could be severely tested. I hate sloppy, inconsistent play punctuated with moments of poor effort. Show us some players that want to be the guy who makes the plays and I'll be happy. Until then, I'll just have to be content that the Hurricanes are 0-1! **wink**

Go Gators!
 

InstiGATOR1

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I agree with a lot of what you say and here are some of my thoughts after this game:

1. That is why you schedule a cupcake the first (suspension) game and schedule a game like this the second game.

2. Miami has a tough front so I thought the OL acquitted itself quite well. The pass protection was ok and the run plays did not get blown up in the backfield. I think the staff felt as described on this site that the Miami weakness was their safeties and tried to attack that rather than run.

3. Also as described here often in the off season UF is not exactly strong at the safeties either and that showed in some of the tackling.

4. Still as Herbstreit described UF's tackling left a lot to be desired tonight though UF was good at getting their QB to the ground.

5. As I feared after 3 years, Franks is what he is. UF will need to coach around him but he does have skills.
 
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GatorAuthor

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Franks makes me want to take the season off. I can’t watch that freaking idiot. He’s bad enough on the field, but the mugging and talking to the crowd behind the bench is ridiculous. The stuff he said to the camera was just embarrassing. Any new posts about the Heisman or him leaving early for the NFL?
 

GatorJB

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Excellent analysis as always. Hopefully, we'll see a different, disciplined gator team as the season goes on.
 

5-Star Finger

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Cover, while you were posting this the Dline just sacked the QB again on his way to the parking lot - while his offensive linemen tried to tackle them.

Whew...bit of a stinker this one. I only saw it live so far, but did it look like to you they got the look they wanted that last putrid interception and Franks just blew it? Looked to me we were baiting the safety with an out to sneak a guy deep. I'm pretty sure it was there too and Too Tall threw it inexplicably into a sea of white.
 

Gatorbait25

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Moving forward run blocking is my primary concern .
Ball security was careless inside the ten there early on . Definitely left some points out there . I felt the pass pro was decent for the most part. Definitely better than the run blocking . Of course there were a few times Franks bailed early scrambling to his left . Whenever this happened it resulted in an incomplete pass or on the first drive a short gain.


Stewart could form a solid pair with Davis if he gets his head out of his ass. Shawn was easily our best safety tonight . We will face Auburn , LSU and UGA shortly. All of which are better on D than the canes . There is a lot to work on with this bunch . But the OL definitely looks like our main concern .
 

maheo30

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1. Ventrel Miller took the starting spot from Burney. He looked really good at times tonight.

2. For the love of god, can we please move Burney to safety? Please? If I have to watch any more of Stiner or Taylor I'll off myself.

3. Franks is Franks. He just isn't any good. I see people blaming playcalling. I think the playcalling was a result of not trusting Franks. He was clearly shellshocked after that second turnover.

4. Greenard was a beast tonight.

5. I thought out tackles played well considering how good their DEs are.

6. I'd rip Krull a new one for his shyte blocking. That was an abomination.
 

SeabeeGator

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Very frustrating game. Florida was a better team but had far too many boneheaded plays. Franks isn’t the answer. Mistakes are understandable but the BS with the crowd with how he was playing? Not sure he’ll ever get it. He almost lost that game by himself. The fumbles? Could be blamed either way but he certainly was a part of the problem and definitely wasn’t on the same page as his RBs. The interceptions? The first one was one of two things - he either threw behind and high to his underneath guy or threw short of his over guy and the under guy mistakes it as his. The over guy scores a TD with an accurate pass. Forgivable. The second? What in the world was that? Did he just not know the play? Did someone run the wrong route? Is he that terrible? Only he and the staff know. Either way, those TOs in addition to the boneheaded penalties almost cost the game. Maybe should’ve.
 

BMF

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Next time somebody wants to argue about great play calling and make fun of Kirby's fake punt call let's talk about throwing an INT on first down after getting a turnover with 430 to go....smh
 

Theologator

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I agree with a lot of what you say and here are some of my thoughts after this game:

1. That is why you schedule a cupcake the first (suspension) game and schedule a game like this the second game.

2. Miami has a tough front so I thought the OL acquitted itself quite well. The pass protection was ok and the run plays did not get blown up in the backfield. I think the staff felt as described on this site that the Miami weakness was their safeties and tried to attack that rather than run.

3. Also as described here often in the off season UF is not exactly strong at the safeties either and that showed in some of the tackling.

4. Still as Herbstreit described UF's tackling left a lot to be desired tonight though UF was good at getting their QB to the ground.

5. As I feared after 3 years, Franks is what he is. UF will need to coach around him but he does have skills.

Stewart was suspended. Did Stiner play?
 

SeabeeGator

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Next time somebody wants to argue about great play calling and make fun of Kirby's fake punt call let's talk about throwing an INT on first down after getting a turnover with 430 to go....smh
(But seriously, don’t tell Georgia fans)
 

SeabeeGator

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We won, but lucked out!
Nah. Miami was the beneficiary of more luck than us. We gifted them two fumbles. We knocked the ball out multiple times and didn’t recover once. Their last drive was fueled by PI that hadn’t been called all game (not disputing the calls, just saying they let physical play happen most of the game until the 4th for some reason).
 

deuce

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Nah. Miami was the beneficiary of more luck than us. We gifted them two fumbles. We knocked the ball out multiple times and didn’t recover once. Their last drive was fueled by PI that hadn’t been called all game (not disputing the calls, just saying they let physical play happen most of the game until the 4th for some reason).
We are the better team but were lucky to win that sloppy game. The better team doesn't always win.
 

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