Bits & Pieces: Florida vs. Miami

IMHO, Nick Savage should get a bonus raise. The defense played with determination and energy 'til the final play; standing tall at critical moments despite boneheaded penalties, turnovers and missed tackles that gave Miami ample opportunities to win and kept the Gator defense on the field.

It's a W.

BruceWayne said:

I stand corrected. Miami fumbled 3 times. So it was 5 total fumbles and we recovered zero. Embarrassing.

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I believe they fumbled twice earlier in the game too but could be wrong. Anyways, it’s not embarrassing to not recover a fumble - it’s luck. We weren’t in a position to recover their fumbles. We weren’t in position to recover our first fumble either. The second one that Davis and Buchanan both failed to secure was the only “embarrassing” one. Just one more example of how lucky Miami was last night and how much better we are than them. They had literally everything in their favor except two calls all night and still couldn’t win.

It was a game everyone said Florida had to win, we won. Now its a matter of cleaning things up and using this next few weeks to get ready for SEC play.
Mullen and Co. have their work cut out but I still think were going to have a pretty good football team and Im sober.

SeabeeGator said:

I believe they fumbled twice earlier in the game too but could be wrong. Anyways, it’s not embarrassing to not recover a fumble - it’s luck. We weren’t in a position to recover their fumbles. We weren’t in position to recover our first fumble either. The second one that Davis and Buchanan both failed to secure was the only “embarrassing” one. Just one more example of how lucky Miami was last night and how much better we are than them. They had literally everything in their favor except two calls all night and still couldn’t win.

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Dude it's embarrassing when we can't hop on one of 5 to 8 fumbles. That's not luck. That's we ****ing suck at hopping on fumbles.

1) like ChiefGator said : We have no true gauge as to what a hard-nosed team Miami is. For the little we know UM can press many a team into cracking = we did not crack. Let's watch how both week-0 teams play it forward.

2) we weren't ready ... did the team look ready?

3) stumbling quarterbacking - stumbling HC

4) catch and release tackling ? inexcusable.

5) Mullen had better re-invent this team.

6) UF had a rotten audition for the Top-10

7) FF requires too much perfect protection with too much perfect routes that demand his WR instantly get clear of DBs.

8) our DL saved the day

9) PI flags showed our DBs' inability to cover and play the ball -- too many times.UM knew : call pass it's guaranteed

10) so they've got AI blocking dummies, why not AI referees?

11) we wanted to speed the game up ... to 90 plays ... = we got 58 ??

12) is CFB too fast for FF?

13) zero questions answered, with new questions appear

14) sloppy FB-play mentality not there

15) again, UM was not a cupcake .... yet we came out with a win

16) should have come in with a game plan more featuring Toney (at least plenty of "go-to" plays if all else was flopping)

17) FF should have been brainwashed that he's a battering-ram runner

18) we allowed Miami's D to determine what we didn't do and agreeably we did not do those things

I posted this in the game thread, but meant for it to be here. Sorry for repetition. Excellent write up as always cover. Always enjoy reading these and I’ve decided to start posting a bit more. A few of my added takeaways.

I really liked how the coaches realized that getting Toney the ball early was made a priority. But he takes his one reception the distance and doesn’t see another catch. What totally blew my mind is the lack of looks and touches both Jefferson and Grimes got. Neither had a target or reception in the first half. Emory might/should be seen sooner rather than later if we can’t even find a way to get our “stacked” wr group attempts to make plays. Pass rush lived up to expectations and I think we can all agree they were our saving grace.

Of no ones fault be my own as I always tend to have high expectations and come down to earth realizing it’s week 0 against a very reasonable opponent and rivalry game. I just anticipated a little bit more offense and the spreading of the ball around to these wideouts. Their talents are being wasted unfortunately. The coaches play calling was suspect, but they have to find a way to get these kids the ball. I’m also extremely relieved Perine was able to bounce right back in after what looked like a minor injury. That would have been a devastating blow in week 0. Always good to see too that it appears the entire team stayed relatively healthy. Props to savage.

BruceWayne said:

Dude it's embarrassing when we can't hop on one of 5 to 8 fumbles. That's not luck. That's we ****ing suck at hopping on fumbles.

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No, what's embarrassing is that we caused ALL of the fumbles, including our own.

BruceWayne said:

Dude it's embarrassing when we can't hop on one of 5 to 8 fumbles. That's not luck. That's we ****ing suck at hopping on fumbles.

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Rewatch the game. We only had a shot at our own fumbles because of how the ball bounced - hence luck. Davis was the worst offender - he should’ve just laid on his fumble. What you should be saying is... our defense did awesome dislodging the ball and if that keeps up we’ll get lots of TOs this year.

rogdochar said:

4) catch and release tackling ? inexcusable.

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That is a perfect and hilarious descriptor.

SeabeeGator said:

Rewatch the game. We only had a shot at our own fumbles because of how the ball bounced - hence luck. Davis was the worst offender - he should’ve just laid on his fumble. What you should be saying is... our defense did awesome dislodging the ball and if that keeps up we’ll get lots of TOs this year.

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No way man! We had a shot at the one Jarren Williams fumbled when he got hit from behind.

The worst thing out of all the dumbass stuff that happened in this game falls on coaching. Idc how much they focused on taking away Toney after the TD. You gotta get him the ball more. And not on end-arounds. They should've had a wildcat package for him just like scUM had for Deejay Dallas.

BruceWayne said:

No way man! We had a shot at the one Jarren Williams fumbled when he got hit from behind.

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From Football Outsiders:

If you are new to the party: we don't claim that forcing fumbles is not a skill, nor do we claim that some running backs aren't very fumble-prone. (Bryce Brown, take a bow!) What we claim is that once the pointy ball hits the carpet, there is a lot of luck involved in which team claims the possession that comes with a recovery. In a 16-game season of close games, a lot of games can turn based on a few unlucky bounces on fumbles. These things tend to regress to the mean over the time. To name one example of how quickly a percentage can turn, in 2010, the Oakland Raiders kept a league-high 65 percent of their offensive fumbles, recovering 15 of 23 balls that hit the ground. In 2011, the Raiders fumbled 14 times, and recovered just seven of them.

BruceWayne said:

No way man! We had a shot at the one Jarren Williams fumbled when he got hit from behind.

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Yeah, think thats the one Moon whiffed on

Nice points in this thread. I’ll add a few.

Franks is still going to have bad moments, but he’s obviously the guy we’re going with so I’ll try to be positive. Bad game last night. Hopefully it was the defense, the stage and opening game jitters. He still has his moments.

OL will improve. Thought they handled their front 7 fairly well given their circumstances.

I’m really souring on Davis. This is twice now that he has had a game changing turnover. The bomb to Cleveland in ‘17 isn’t even needed if he doesn’t fumble at the goal line against ut. Twice he has killed momentum and helped a team almost beat us. And I have no idea why he was trying to get up with the football. Doubled down on a bad play.

On that note Buchanon has the ball. When a player is seen with hands on the ball and visible stops fighting, it should be pretty clear that even if only for a few seconds, he has it. Mullen should’ve challenged that.

Safety play is atrocious again. I know we bag on Taylor and Stiner, and rightly so. But they shouldn’t be playing. They’re backups/STs guys at best. We should have fixed this via recruiting and we haven’t. And if we’re honest, the person we should be pissed at is Stewart. The other two are playing to their best and trying to help the team. He’s being a clown and hurting it.

No idea how we can force 12 fumbles and recover none.

We should never schedule a big game to open again. We aren’t a week 1 team. Professional players who do nothing but play football are given joint practices and 4 exhibitions before wins and losses start counting. Why would we expect amateurs with limited practice time to be flawless right out of the gate?

Refs were putrid. I was drinking. Still think we need to either make this an annual game, which we won’t, or kill the series. It makes no sense to do these random years, and too often benefits them. Glad we won and it’s over.

SeabeeGator said:

From Football Outsiders:

If you are new to the party: we don't claim that forcing fumbles is not a skill, nor do we claim that some running backs aren't very fumble-prone. (Bryce Brown, take a bow!) What we claim is that once the pointy ball hits the carpet, there is a lot of luck involved in which team claims the possession that comes with a recovery. In a 16-game season of close games, a lot of games can turn based on a few unlucky bounces on fumbles. These things tend to regress to the mean over the time. To name one example of how quickly a percentage can turn, in 2010, the Oakland Raiders kept a league-high 65 percent of their offensive fumbles, recovering 15 of 23 balls that hit the ground. In 2011, the Raiders fumbled 14 times, and recovered just seven of them.

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C'mon dude. You played football right? Falling on a loose ball is a skill. We obviously suck at it. One or two fumbles is one thing. When it's more than a handful, it's a pattern of sucking dick at getting on a fumble. It just falls along the lines of being an undisciplined team. It's obvious this team is as undisciplined as it could probably get.

BruceWayne said:

C'mon dude. You played football right? Falling on a loose ball is a skill. We obviously suck at it. One or two fumbles is one thing. When it's more than a handful, it's a pattern of sucking dick at getting on a fumble. It just falls along the lines of being an undisciplined team. It's obvious this team is as undisciplined as it could probably get.

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It is for sure... if you’re near enough to do it. Maybe I missed the Moon chance but that’s one of 6ish opportunities? That’s just pure bad luck. It’s not like we fell on each fumble and they just squirted away.

Good post as always C2. I don;t post much anymore as everyone knows how I feel about Cousin Eddie, but I know you and most of the people who post in your always eloquent thread, tend to see more that just the final score. Yes it was the first game and there are going to be mistakes aplenty, but for the very reason I never wanted Cousin Eddie to begin with just always seems to show every Saturday so clearly that even a blind man can see it. For the love of what ever, he just can't manage a game to save his life and it was always my biggest criticism of him in the past. Thank goodness scrotUM's oline was horrendous and scrotUM made enough special team gaffes to help us out.

Our Oline is not good but we knew that was going to be the case. Our safetys are horrendous and we knew that was going to be the case. I have decided that if you wear a Gator uniform and play safety you are going to suck, regardless of the coach. Forget RFN, I would settle for a Todd Johnson or Ahmad Black at safety.

I know the coaches don;t tackle or take pursuit angles, but boy it does not seem to get coached either. But here are the few things that can't be given a pass (no pun intended) regardless of the outcome. With a 4 point lead and under 5 minutes to play, you get the ball and have to know that 2 first downs and/or 6 or so positive plays will probably ice the game. So how is it possible that you would even consider throwing the ball on 1st down? You don;t have Manning or Brady at QB and even if you do, you don;t throw it!!!!. Doesn't Cousin Eddie know yet that he has a mental midget at QB? You can't ask Lerch to make a decision when in a tight situation. Sure he has a big arm and can throw it a long way, but you can never ask him to make a read unless you are behind and you need a miracle. Lerch is Lerch. It is not going to change. We know what his floor is, but sadly his ceiling is not much above his floor. That one call was/ is Cousin Eddie in a nutshell. That was 100% on him, regardless of what Lerch says happened.

How is it that a UF team can't stop a 4th down and 600 to go for a first down? that play reminded me of the 4th down and 8000 that LSU converted to beat us b/c Muscrat said they had a check with me and Brian Poole missed the call! There is only one defense for 4th down and 6000. Yes this was a PI penalty, but it just shows that there is no physical practice of the mental aspects of the game. It is amazing how unaware the players are of situational football and that rests with the HC. There was a 3rd down and 17 earlier in the game that scrotUM easily converted, but that defense on that play was exactly the defense we should have been in on 4th and 8000. 3 guys about 3 yards in front of the sticks and 4 guys about 15 yards from the line of scrimmage. No press no bump and run. Just know the situation.

I said last year when Lerch was terrible and even when he improved, that it would be best if he left and it would allow Jones free reign. Do I think Jones is a star? I have no idea, but I do know that Lerch is Lerch. He can play for a lot of teams, but not at a championship level and his ceiling is low. Coupled with what appears to me that Cousin Eddie just can't seem to understand and manage these limited intelligent issues, will continue to lead us to so-so quality of play and a few upside surprises and also a few downside disappointments, Low level of consistency relying on a few big plays to win games is not a great recipe for success.

@FireFoley you're one of the few people I’ve ever seen complain about his game management. Most informed criticism is directed at his coaching hires and recruiting. Maybe want to rethink this one.

Zambo said:

I feel like we are a QB away from having a great team.

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ho lee fukk



we are three players away from being FAU

SeabeeGator said:

@FireFoley you're one of the few people I’ve ever seen complain about his game management. Most informed criticism is directed at his coaching hires and recruiting. Maybe want to rethink this one.

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Mullinz is absolute garbage 90% of the time.

This is how you have a 33-39 career record.