A few thoughts on what we learned Saturday night

[AlexDaGator]

1. I hate to say this because he seems like a good kid and he's given nothing but blood, sweat, toil, and tears for the Gators but Jeff Driskel is scared. Remember all that preseason hype about his confidence? Kentucky's defense exposed that myth. Driskel is more accurate than what we saw last night. He wasn't overthrowing his receivers because he was missing them. He was overthrowing them because he was scared of an INT. A QB has to trust his receivers, has to give them a chance to catch the ball, to make a play. In the back of his head was a little voice saying an INC is way better than an INT and he sailed those balls where the Kentucky DB would have no chance at all of getting anywhere near them. Unfortunately for us, our WRs couldn't get anywhere near those balls either. That's bad. When that happens, the other team loads the box and makes life tough for your offense. It's not enough to uncork a bomb once a quarter or so...the defense isn't going to loosen up unless you hit one of those or at least put the ball in a place where the WR can make a play on it.

2. Losing our TE is going to hurt all season long. Burton showed that last week's great game was fool's gold. So many times last night, the offense needed a big, sure handed target and he was on the sidelines on crutches. Somebody else needs to step up.. I'm looking at you, Gooslby.

3. No called QB runs in the first game and when he did run Driskel slid. No biggie, right? We know the kid can run? It's the best part of his game. Coaches just didn't want him to get hurt in a blowout game, right? Driskel looked like he was wearing cement shoes last night. Dunno if it is mental or physical, but it's a serious concern. You take away the threat of his deep ball, take away the threat of his run, and what do you have left? I'll give you a hint, it looks like 2013.

4. With the deep passing game in trouble, I think the offense could have benefited from a Debose jet sweep, or maybe runs or short passes to Showers or Powell. You want big plays, you get the ball in the hands of people who can make big plays. Dunno why we didn't see this.

5. If we don't learn to pick up that blitzing corner, we're going to see Treon sooner rather than later.

6. Kelvin Taylor might be our best back, but Matt Jones is no slouch. He ran hard last night.

7. I like the Stoops family dating back to Bobby coaching the D here in the late 90's. That said, it looks like somebody has been coaching Kentucky to play a little dirty. We all saw the late hit spearing of Kelvin Taylor, but remember a little while later when Dante Fowler, Jr. went down along with a Kentucky player? Fowler jumped up after a few minutes and jogged off the field. Announcers said cramp. BS. If you watch the replay, Fowler got tangled with a Kentucky OL and wend down. While he's on the ground, another Kentucky OL dived on top of him. This is standard for OL. Takes the DL out of the play. However, in this case, the Kentucky OL stiffens his neck and dives on top of Fowler in a way that smashes his helmet Fowler's facemask. That's dirty. It happens, but it's dirty.


Alex.

 

[The Original DC]

The worst possible thing a qb can do on any long throw where the WR is one on one, is overthrow it, or if it's up the sideline, throw it out of bounds. Jeff has to know this, has to have been coached up on this, yet it still happens too often. But Driskel also has great moments, the two TD passes to DRob showed beautiful touch and timing, and the one in OT was the most clutch play of his career. Also, 14-3 as a starter. If he makes it 15-3 in a week, people, including me, need to stop harping on any imperfections and start appreciating his winning.

 

[NVGator]

TLDR Alex

 

[GatorJ]

Great post Alex. Point 1 is pretty astute. I saw it more as an accuracy/lift issue but it very well could be this risk/reward mantra. Playing for a defensive coach and an awful OC may take some undoing of a mindset that had 3 years of fortification.

A QB has to take chances down the field in one on one matchups. You just have to make sure that they're the right matchups. It's funny that that the times he has taken chances has been in the red zone into multiple coverages. At least that hasn't happened this year.

 

[williston_gator]

Here's the spear.

[video]https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/3493B2D4651122940241012035584_25d0b9773d7.5.1.1589 8159130366241752.mp4?versionId=hvF85VoRtUQMqwVVnDp RCqGjlRJJy3dE[/video]

 

[AlexDaGator]

The worst possible thing a qb can do on any long throw where the WR is one on one, is overthrow it, or if it's up the sideline, throw it out of bounds. Jeff has to know this, has to have been coached up on this, yet it still happens too often. But Driskel also has great moments, the two TD passes to DRob showed beautiful touch and timing, and the one in OT was the most clutch play of his career. Also, 14-3 as a starter. If he makes it 15-3 in a week, people, including me, need to stop harping on any imperfections and start appreciating his winning.

Like I said, the guy has given his all for us. Top QB in his recruiting class and he stayed committed despite a changing coaching staff and offensive system. After Brantley's injury, we sent him out like a lamb to the slaughter. He's played behind lines that couldn't pass block and never complained. He's had receivers who can't catch and a new O coordinator every year. He broke his leg playing for us and walked off the field. I'm rooting for him, I really want him to succeed, I'm just telling you what I saw Saturday night on those long throws.

Alex.

 

[AlexDaGator]

Great post Alex. Point 1 is pretty astute. I saw it more as an accuracy/lift issue but it very well could be this risk/reward mantra. Playing for a defensive coach and an awful OC may take some undoing of a mindset that had 3 years of fortification.

A QB has to take chances down the field in one on one matchups. You just have to make sure that they're the right matchups. It's funny that that the times he has taken chances has been in the red zone into multiple coverages. At least that hasn't happened this year.

High throws can have several causes. Plain old inaccuracy, too much adrenalin, or fear. If you're inaccurate, you tend to miss all over the place. He was consistent in his misses, too deep or out of bounds. That leaves adrenalin and fear.

Remember Doug Johnson? He had the adrenalin problem. Against overmatched opponents, he was stellar. NFL size and arm, very accurate. Understood the offense and where to go with the ball. No lack of confidence. If anything, he was overconfident. However, when it was a big game, or a close game, he got too excited. He put too much behind his passes and consistently overthrew his receivers. In this sense, Johnson was the opposite of Danny Wuerffel. Danny never got too high or too low. Pure ice water in his veins. Johnson sailed balls in big games and threw INTs because he had trouble controlling that emotion. He wasn't scared, he just let the moment get bigger than him.

Driskel's issue on those deep throws was confidence. He wasn't trying to hit the receiver. He was trying to avoid the INT.

I'm hoping the win will help his confidence going forward. We're not good enough on offense to waste downs like that.

Alex.

 

[AlexDaGator]

The worst possible thing a qb can do on any long throw where the WR is one on one, is overthrow it, or if it's up the sideline, throw it out of bounds. Jeff has to know this, has to have been coached up on this, yet it still happens too often. But Driskel also has great moments, the two TD passes to DRob showed beautiful touch and timing, and the one in OT was the most clutch play of his career. Also, 14-3 as a starter. If he makes it 15-3 in a week, people, including me, need to stop harping on any imperfections and start appreciating his winning.

Spurrier used to say that if you throw an INT on a short pass to the flat it's a pick 6 or at best you've left your defense in a hole. If you throw an INT on a bomb it's the same as a punt.

Driskel needs to be more aggressive on the post routes where an INT doesn't hurt so much.

Alex.

 

[TheDouglas78]

High throws can have several causes. Plain old inaccuracy, too much adrenalin, or fear. If you're inaccurate, you tend to miss all over the place. He was consistent in his misses, too deep or out of bounds. That leaves adrenalin and fear.

Remember Doug Johnson? He had the adrenalin problem. Against overmatched opponents, he was stellar. NFL size and arm, very accurate. Understood the offense and where to go with the ball. No lack of confidence. If anything, he was overconfident. However, when it was a big game, or a close game, he got too excited. He put too much behind his passes and consistently overthrew his receivers. In this sense, Johnson was the opposite of Danny Wuerffel. Danny never got too high or too low. Pure ice water in his veins. Johnson sailed balls in big games and threw INTs because he had trouble controlling that emotion. He wasn't scared, he just let the moment get bigger than him.

Driskel's issue on those deep throws was confidence. He wasn't trying to hit the receiver. He was trying to avoid the INT.

I'm hoping the win will help his confidence going forward. We're not good enough on offense to waste downs like that.

Alex.

We don't know if it is confidence or just plain old poor inaccuracy (ruling out adrenalin because it's too consistent for that). He has been this way for 3 years. He has been given poor coaching and a lot of coaching turnover, which also could be a major part of the issue. He has a cannon, but his growth has been stunted by coaching turnover (in my opinion). He obviously has some touch issues on short passes, which also might lead to some of the over throws on his deep throws. Wuerffel didn't have the strongest arm, but could throw a nice college deep pass due to touch. I'm hoping that the new coaches can add that to his game.

 

[GatorJB]

He was terrible in the first half, but much better (not great but better) in the second half and overtimes. I was worried at half-time that he would continue to play poorly, but he calmed down and did what was needed to win the game. I think Driskel and the coaches deserve some credit for that.

To me the most encouraging play of Driskel's was the first play of the 2nd overtime. Driskel threw a beautiful and perfect pass to Dunbar that drew in an obvious pass interference. That was Driskel's deepest throw past halftime, and it was on the money. It showed that he had regained some of his confidence and can make a big play when needed. Of course, he probably did regain his confidence the play before on the TD strike to Robinson.

The bottom line is that this win and the big plays he made in overtime is a huge confidence booster for him. No he is not perfect; he made plenty of mistakes and will make more in the near future. But now he knows that he can bounce back after a rough start and make big plays when needed. It doesn't matter if no-one here believes that. In fact, I'm not even sure if I believe it even though I witnessed it Saturday; however, as long as he believes he can make plays, then I think that significantly increases the chances that he will.

Also agree that he needs to run more. I don't know if him not keeping the ball is his decision or the coaches', but if he has less than 8 carries this Saturday (not including sacks), then there is no way UF will win.

 

[ATXGator]

I think Alex hit the spot with his post. Driskel does not look confident. One the second to last drive in the 4th quarter (where we punted on 4th and 1) Driskel got sacked on second down. Watching that play, he had Pittman wide open over the middle for an easy first down and didn't hit him. It is almost as though he goes through his progressions too fast because he is so used to getting hit and not having time.

I think when a QB consistently plays behind poor offensive lines they get gun shy and never learn to be comfortable. Driskel has never had a decent OL for pass protection and maybe he just hasn't been able to get over that and that is why he freezes up in games and possibly plays better in practice.

The bottom line is that if Driskel can't figure out how to get comfortable and make the correct reads then it's going to be another long year. I don't see Treon moving into the starter position and although he looked great on his two passes for EMU, I have no idea how to judge his real skill set. I'd prefer to keep Jeff for the starter this year and see him figure things out.

I hope I am wrong, but I have a feeling we get destroyed by Bama.

 

[NavetG8r]

He was terrible in the first half, but much better (not great but better) in the second half and overtimes. I was worried at half-time that he would continue to play poorly, but he calmed down and did what was needed to win the game. I think Driskel and the coaches deserve some credit for that.

To me the most encouraging play of Driskel's was the first play of the 2nd overtime. Driskel threw a beautiful and perfect pass to Dunbar that drew in an obvious pass interference. That was Driskel's deepest throw past halftime, and it was on the money. It showed that he had regained some of his confidence and can make a big play when needed. Of course, he probably did regain his confidence the play before on the TD strike to Robinson.

The bottom line is that this win and the big plays he made in overtime is a huge confidence booster for him. No he is not perfect; he made plenty of mistakes and will make more in the near future. But now he knows that he can bounce back after a rough start and make big plays when needed. It doesn't matter if no-one here believes that. In fact, I'm not even sure if I believe it even though I witnessed it Saturday; however, as long as he believes he can make plays, then I think that significantly increases the chances that he will.

Also agree that he needs to run more. I don't know if him not keeping the ball is his decision or the coaches', but if he has less than 8 carries this Saturday (not including sacks), then there is no way UF will win.

Fantastic post.