- Jun 10, 2014
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Founding Member
Well how about that, I finally saw us beat the Canes in person. After attending the Peach Bowl in 2004 and the fiasco in 2013, third time's a charm!
Last night had to be one of the stranger games I've ever been to. The whole experience was bizarre. The stadium is 100% certified garbage, they kept having this hype man come on the field during timeouts and do idiotic contests like a minor league baseball game, there was never any rhythm to the game because both offenses played with no tempo, and the local laundromat had to be sponsoring the refs with all the grass stains their flags had to have on them. Either way, as the old saying goes, the best thing about being 1-0 is the chance to go 2-0. So now onto brass tacks.
As I always seem to start off with, let's look at how Franks did last night. (
) We saw a lot of the same inconsistencies that plagued him throughout the first 3/4 of the season last year. Inconsistencies both with accuracy and decision making. The fumble in the red zone was simply a botched RPO, which is the inherent risk with running those types of plays. In those plays, the running back is supposed to grip the ball as if he's carrying it, and it's the QB's responsibility to keep a firm grasp if he's pulling the ball back. That's the kind of stuff we expect to see in the first game, though. The killer was, Hammond was set up pretty well on a quick screen to the left if Franks gets the ball to him. If we go up 14-3 there, the discussion today is a lot different on here.
The first pick was simply an overthrow, which we all know he's capable of doing. He could have hit that throw a little sooner, but even then, the timing was good enough for a big gain if he didn't sail it 5 feet over the receiver's head. The second pick was astoundingly bad. I didn't realize it till I watched the replay, but we had called one of those fake quick screens with Grimes carrying out the fake behind the LOS and Jefferson going deep. Miami's CB read the play and stayed with Jefferson. So instead of just throwing the ball 20 yards over Jefferson's head and out of bounds, he made the bizarre choice to throw it away behind him, and because of the pressure, couldn't get a full throw out and fluttered it. I appreciate the aggressive call by Mullen, but damn dude, if you want to take a shot like that, don't make it a play that has one possible receiver that's gonna catch the pass. The only other option there is throwing it away, and at best, you've stopped the clock late in the game.
That brings me to the play calling. There were some truly puzzling calls on our 3rd downs last night. The worst was the designed QB run on 3rd & goal from the 9. What exactly was he thinking was going to happen there? Miami had five defenders on the right side of the formation and we only had 4 guys to block for it. Franks should have either checked out of it, or the box should have alerted Mullen to get out of the play and/or call timeout. The second was the 2 yard hitch to Jefferson on 3rd & 17. That might have been on Franks. We had Swain in motion going left with three WRs out there to block on a bubble screen, but instead, Franks threw to Jefferson on a quick hitch. I mean WTF??
And why weren't we throwing the ball downfield more? I know Mullen's offense tends to go east and west a lot, it is what it is, but Miami was clearly vulnerable in the secondary. We knew going in their front 7 was tough (and it showed), but we didn't complete a downfield pass until the very end of the 1st half. Thankfully we started throwing more intermediate and deep balls in the 2nd half, but we could have torched them if we were doing that the whole game. The good thing is, despite his rough game, Franks still made the gorgeous throw to Hammond to set up the game winning TD. That might have been the best throw he's made as a Gator.
As for the rest of the team, our defensive line completely and utterly dominated on a scale we haven't seen in a very long time. This Greenard kid might be our best pickup from last offseason. Zuniga, Campbell,and Moon were all absolute studs, as well. Some of our expected defensive weaknesses showed last night, but if these guys can control the LOS all season the way they did last night, we'll be in good shape.
The one truly unforgivable play the defense had was the long TD run in the 2nd half. I'd say half the defense just quit playing because they thought the kid was tackled. They are going to get absolutely torched in film today for that play, and rightfully so. Keep playing until the whistle! As for the other stuff, the late hits and taunting, it comes to be expected in a rivalry game like this, but they have to be smarter moving forward. I thought the first late hit was a horsesh*t call (more on that later), but the one on the fake FG was another WTF??
So onto what I think was the biggest thing from last night, which was the officiating. I'm not putting blame on what happened on the refs, but that's one of the 2 or 3 worst officiated football games I've ever seen at any level. They were missing blatant calls on both teams and made horrible calls in favor of both teams. I think half the PI calls weren't PI, the no-call on the intentional grounding on Miami was stunningly bad, they missed a false start on us on a 4th down, and they missed Greenard's jersey almost getting ripped off by a blocker on a Williams scramble. The Big 12 can take those clowns back and keep them.
I guess that's about it. On a side note, the band is now playing the "move back, you suck!" chant again, which was amazing given how many penalties Miami had. So for those of you attending games in the Swamp this year, be ready for it. I'm glad we got the win, and I'm glad we have three off weeks this year to keep improving and staying healthy. Everyone enjoy your stress-free holiday weekend next weekend and we'll see you in the Swamp for UT-Martin!
Last night had to be one of the stranger games I've ever been to. The whole experience was bizarre. The stadium is 100% certified garbage, they kept having this hype man come on the field during timeouts and do idiotic contests like a minor league baseball game, there was never any rhythm to the game because both offenses played with no tempo, and the local laundromat had to be sponsoring the refs with all the grass stains their flags had to have on them. Either way, as the old saying goes, the best thing about being 1-0 is the chance to go 2-0. So now onto brass tacks.
As I always seem to start off with, let's look at how Franks did last night. (
) We saw a lot of the same inconsistencies that plagued him throughout the first 3/4 of the season last year. Inconsistencies both with accuracy and decision making. The fumble in the red zone was simply a botched RPO, which is the inherent risk with running those types of plays. In those plays, the running back is supposed to grip the ball as if he's carrying it, and it's the QB's responsibility to keep a firm grasp if he's pulling the ball back. That's the kind of stuff we expect to see in the first game, though. The killer was, Hammond was set up pretty well on a quick screen to the left if Franks gets the ball to him. If we go up 14-3 there, the discussion today is a lot different on here.The first pick was simply an overthrow, which we all know he's capable of doing. He could have hit that throw a little sooner, but even then, the timing was good enough for a big gain if he didn't sail it 5 feet over the receiver's head. The second pick was astoundingly bad. I didn't realize it till I watched the replay, but we had called one of those fake quick screens with Grimes carrying out the fake behind the LOS and Jefferson going deep. Miami's CB read the play and stayed with Jefferson. So instead of just throwing the ball 20 yards over Jefferson's head and out of bounds, he made the bizarre choice to throw it away behind him, and because of the pressure, couldn't get a full throw out and fluttered it. I appreciate the aggressive call by Mullen, but damn dude, if you want to take a shot like that, don't make it a play that has one possible receiver that's gonna catch the pass. The only other option there is throwing it away, and at best, you've stopped the clock late in the game.
That brings me to the play calling. There were some truly puzzling calls on our 3rd downs last night. The worst was the designed QB run on 3rd & goal from the 9. What exactly was he thinking was going to happen there? Miami had five defenders on the right side of the formation and we only had 4 guys to block for it. Franks should have either checked out of it, or the box should have alerted Mullen to get out of the play and/or call timeout. The second was the 2 yard hitch to Jefferson on 3rd & 17. That might have been on Franks. We had Swain in motion going left with three WRs out there to block on a bubble screen, but instead, Franks threw to Jefferson on a quick hitch. I mean WTF??
And why weren't we throwing the ball downfield more? I know Mullen's offense tends to go east and west a lot, it is what it is, but Miami was clearly vulnerable in the secondary. We knew going in their front 7 was tough (and it showed), but we didn't complete a downfield pass until the very end of the 1st half. Thankfully we started throwing more intermediate and deep balls in the 2nd half, but we could have torched them if we were doing that the whole game. The good thing is, despite his rough game, Franks still made the gorgeous throw to Hammond to set up the game winning TD. That might have been the best throw he's made as a Gator.
As for the rest of the team, our defensive line completely and utterly dominated on a scale we haven't seen in a very long time. This Greenard kid might be our best pickup from last offseason. Zuniga, Campbell,and Moon were all absolute studs, as well. Some of our expected defensive weaknesses showed last night, but if these guys can control the LOS all season the way they did last night, we'll be in good shape.
The one truly unforgivable play the defense had was the long TD run in the 2nd half. I'd say half the defense just quit playing because they thought the kid was tackled. They are going to get absolutely torched in film today for that play, and rightfully so. Keep playing until the whistle! As for the other stuff, the late hits and taunting, it comes to be expected in a rivalry game like this, but they have to be smarter moving forward. I thought the first late hit was a horsesh*t call (more on that later), but the one on the fake FG was another WTF??
So onto what I think was the biggest thing from last night, which was the officiating. I'm not putting blame on what happened on the refs, but that's one of the 2 or 3 worst officiated football games I've ever seen at any level. They were missing blatant calls on both teams and made horrible calls in favor of both teams. I think half the PI calls weren't PI, the no-call on the intentional grounding on Miami was stunningly bad, they missed a false start on us on a 4th down, and they missed Greenard's jersey almost getting ripped off by a blocker on a Williams scramble. The Big 12 can take those clowns back and keep them.
I guess that's about it. On a side note, the band is now playing the "move back, you suck!" chant again, which was amazing given how many penalties Miami had. So for those of you attending games in the Swamp this year, be ready for it. I'm glad we got the win, and I'm glad we have three off weeks this year to keep improving and staying healthy. Everyone enjoy your stress-free holiday weekend next weekend and we'll see you in the Swamp for UT-Martin!
