Bits & Pieces: Florida vs. Auburn

I hope your (and our) boy is fine after that nasty helmet to helmet meeting. Mullen had a real funny comment about it. When asked about Pierce he said "we'll see. He is always a little off or goofy so its hard to tell." I was paraphrasing but that was his message. Every time Fla stopped them third and short you could just see the Def and the team gain more confidence. I was also worried the wild card was Nix taking off. But we never let him get too much. Our team speed and tackling were obvious. These guys now BELIEVE and have bought in to the coaching Mullen and crew have delivered. I think it is VERY telling about Savage and his methods with our domination of the fourth Qtr this year. Many new fans got a taste of the Swamp magic and what it was like when SoS was roaming the sidelines..............

 

Spot on.

I felt like our line didn't really start to gel last year until LSU. Let's hope we see that this Saturday as well.

 

Nice write up as always!

 

Based on what I have seen this year, this OL will not gel. My seats are up high so I see all of the missed assignments and the OL picking themselves up after every play with the defensive lineman around our RB's or QB. I see very little in-game coaching by Hevesey on the sideline while the D is on the field.

4-Star and 5-Star OL should be knocking down the door to come here and play early...but they're not. Currently we have 3 3-Star and 1 4-Star OL committed...

 

You may be correct, but dang, buzz kill. Enjoy the big win for a day.

 

Thanks for jumping out of bed to write this one up. Your write ups are part of my Sunday mornings.

 

My thoughts from the game:

1. I'm hard on Moon because I think he's just an athlete. Well, dude stepped up yesterday to play some solid run defense against a good, veteran o-line. He deserves some props.

2. Bleich has been getting his azz kicked all year long. It was worse yesterday. They moved Heggie to his spot and played Gouraige at LG. The run game improved a bit and Heggie didn't get manhandled like Bleich did. Is the switch permanent? I hope so.

3. EJ played calm in his time. I was impressed. He needs to work on his accuracy. But, I see real promise.

4. With Kyle Pitts being used the way he was yesterday, I imagine it got Darnell Washington's attention. I'd love to land him. Consider this from a 247 article written on Thursday, "Sources have told 247Sports that it was Washington who reached out to Florida to set up the trip after what he has seen on the field through the first month."

 

Oh, it is ABSOLUTELY a Huge win and the best ever defensive scheme from Third and Grantham. The SWAMP was rocking yesterday. Definitely great to win a big game at home...but, there are issues...

 

Who needs the Sunday sports section when you can read Cover 2's analysis.After listening to the pundits I was worried about Auburn's speed but we were the faster team. No matter the situation the defense answered the bell. While we have some warts we also have some big time weapons on offense. God bless The Swamp, The Gators and Gator Nation! On to bigger and better things!

 

OL still isn't a position where stars matter that much. Having those big eaters in a strength program for four years and playing a group of mostly upper classman is all we need to develop.

Hev is still one of the best in the business. Even at Cowbell, his lines were solid.

 

Thanks for the writeup. I wasn’t sure Townsend had a good game, based on the touchbacks and the bonehead fake. If that was his call, it wasn’t a good day for Townsend.

 

I am old. therefore, I have read a lot of morning after sports columns, and I have read a lot of in season analysis columns. I really don't remember any with better content, or better written, or more a pleasure to read than cover 2's.

Grantland Rice look out.

 

Cover2:
Having been born and bred in central Florida and raised correctly to be a Gator, I grew up reading Tom McEwen. I eagerly read anything he wrote and hung on every word. The world is different now and I no longer get a daily paper. It makes me sad, sometimes, that those days are over. We now have you, cover2, and you are a better writer than any writer I would care to “search” for on the inter webs or newspaper/magazine stands. Today I couldn’t help but think about the “good old days” and Tom McEwen (minus the Breakfast Bonus). Thank you, and Go Gators!!!

 

I was raised on Tom McEwen also..........great post!

 

Last year the line seemed to gel roughly halfway through the season and played noticeably better down the stretch. Not sure if yesterday was just more of the same from our line, or if the barn's D front is just that good. Maybe if they go into every game thinking about blocking the dudes they had to block yesterday the light bulb will come on.

I think a couple of Trask's fumbles were because he was hit while throwing. Only one was a cough up while just moving in the pocket. IMO its hard not to fumble when you get hit from behind during your wind up. Maybe Mullen can put one of those shock collars on him during practice like dogs wear. If he's still standing in the pocket with the ball after 3.5 seconds he gets the juice.

Oh, and I thought EJ did a great job at quarterback. With Trask in the locker room, Mullen was hesitant to put him in a dangerous spot running so it was mostly the same dropback plays that Trask runs and he executed at a fairly high level.

One play I'd like to see more of if we are going to run the ball is option sweeps like the one Trask should have pitched to Davis. We ALWAYS seem to get good yardage on those plays. We used it twice to great effect against the corndogs last year.

 

Great analysis, Cover! Like you, it seemed to me as if we went back in time to the Swamp of old, and it electrified and inspired our guys to leave it all on the field (even left the ball, a few times, unfortunately). The big takeaways for me was the play of our interior D and Trask. Those boys on that interior D really showed me something yesterday. We may not have a lot depth there, but we've got some guys with talent and a lot of heart. They really got after that Auburn O yesterday. Now we need them rinse and repeat for an even greater performance in next week's game against LSU. And Trask's leadership really shines through. You can see it in the demeanor of the guys around him when he's on the field. They seem so much more as a team with him in there, and not just a collection of guys in pads.

I'm really liking Mullen more and more. His playcalling sometimes gives me cancer (the called Trask runs into the line, late in the game with a bum knee, for example) but he is capable, loves his job, loves his players, and loves UF, so I believe he's only gonna get better. Hopefully he will find a way to keep them focused to do it all over again next week. It's been forever since we've seen a high level of consistency out of these guys, so I'm more than a little nervous about next week. I can't wait!

Go Gators!

 

Mullen said post game it was Mullens call.....

 

well you old fckkkk. He was my hero for many years...........78 can tell you stories about him cause he worked with him........Tom was a great writer and A GATOR...........The Morning After. With my two fresh scrambled eggs,toast with guava jelly and half of grapefruit these thoughts:

 

I wonder if he is protecting the kid.