Bits & Pieces: Florida vs. Mississippi State

How would you grade the Gators performance?

  • A

    Votes: 22 21.8%
  • B

    Votes: 79 78.2%
  • C

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    101

Ancient Reptile

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2015
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No. I think the team is better but I dont think we've played anyone with a pulse outside of UK. So, I'm not gonna get too high or low. Miss St will struggle to be 6-6. 13 pts isn't gonna win too many games. I will say that Dan is doing a good job overall so far.
I don't disagree. I thought you were confused about our road games which were msu and ut where we averaged a lot more than 14.5 pts/game.
 

ThreatMatrix

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Oddly this is the first A I've given all season in spite of only 13 points. Maybe really a B+. But my grading is based on what I think we are capable of at this point not where I hope we eventually will be. So the curve goes up each week.
 

GatorStud

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I try to make it simple for myself... hmm, we go to their SEC West house and beat them (ok, not the pillage and finger pointing bravado of the old days, but we're pointed in the right direction, lol)... but, I'm pretty much good with the Coach's and Player's preparation and execution when the curtain rose. It's been a little while since we've had attention to detail ball around here. Here's to witnessing again a team that grows to a it's peak and competes... Go Gators!!

:chomp:
 

ChiefGator

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I would have given a B+, we had too many penalities in the first half for my tastes. Some poor oline play costs us a score.

Second half was an A.
 

lagator

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Nah.
Sure he was happy to be down only three. But he did miss an opportunity. He could have called TO with 30 or 40 seconds left then, reset the D for third down, and then call another TO on 4th.

Watching again, it appears the booth alerted him to time remaining & down/distance...just by watching his reaction on the sideline.

This wasn’t a major transgression but, would be interesting to know his mindset
100% correct. I don't think I've ever seen a coach not call TO in that situation. After a sack on 2nd down on the opponent's 10 yard line putting them in 3rd and 28 or something, and we had all 3 TO's left and over 40 seconds on the clock? On top of that, their punter was averaging about 35 yards a punt to boot (pun intended).

He looked confused for a minute and I'm pretty sure he didn't know the down and distance and time remaining because there is no logical reason not to call TO immediately after the sack. Don't try and tell me he just wanted to run out the clock because that doesn't make any sense at all when you've got your opponent pinned back in the shadow of their own goal posts, and he eventually called a TO anyway, but way too late.

Overall he called a good game and it didn't come back to bite us so nothing lost, but clock management is an important job of the HC and can make the difference between a W and a L so hopefully that was a one time deal.
 
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bayou gator

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Aug 30, 2014
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Exactly. Somehow we demand FF to be flawless and literally critique his every play and decision and break it down endlessly. Every QB throws bad passes or misses a read in the course of a game. I have never seen a QB held to this standard.

I could do it in reverse.....he threw 1 INT and 1 near INT. He also had 1 dropped, 1 blocked and 1 thrown away. He had another incomplete under heavy pressure avoiding a sack. Otherwise he was 22-25 with another deep pass called back.

Actually a very, very good game and executed the game plan masterfully.

I’ve read where FF was affected last year by all the negativity directed at him and Mullen had to work hard on getting him to tune out that noise. Makes you wonder if the opposite would hold true....what if the base really got behind this kid and took his confidence to another level? Interesting thought.

Damn good post
 

rogdochar

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Marine1 does a lot of good posts and they all express rational uplifting, When has ripping down young kids ever helped? We've got so many of those helpers that if they had full swat, where would these kids be, where would the team be?
 

g8tr72

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I admit I haven't had sufficient time to read through all the game threads, but I have a question maybe some one can answer.

Was David Reese hurt or limited in this game? Seems like he wasn't on the field much in the first half, although stats show he had 3 tackles.

Thanks.
 
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Gatorpastor1975

Active Member
Sep 9, 2018
42
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Simply put it was nice to win a game most predicted preseason as a lost for the Gators. Are we improving? Sure we are. I was proud of the throw a ways that Frank threw. I rather see a throw away than trying to force something not there. Nothing made me prouder to see the end of the cowbell noise.
The corndogs are coming up next. Praying that we finally get rid of the stench of losing to them.
 

TLB

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A few thoughts from my seat:


The timeout situation was bad - he should have called it at the sack and used the last 40sec to get a FG before the half. He made it worse in calling for the TO with 4sec left. :facepalm: He's experienced enough to know better, so I'm not hoping he learns from this and does better in the future...this is his future, he should already do better than that. I'd love to hear anything to explain his rationale, but I'm not sure he'll address it in any Q&A.

Folks continue to chime in that Pierce needs more carries, and earlier. I am not in love with Scarlett, but am ok with how the RBs are used to date. Scarlett is what he is - experienced, stone hands, able to block a bit, sometimes hits holes but not always. However, he has the experience and knows how the SEC D will hit him. Perine is only a little behind Scarlett for experience (maybe not even that much with Scarlett sitting 2017). However, I'm fully OK with the coaches using Scarlett to pound it for the first quarter or two. Let him pound the D and give our QB time to throw in pass protection. I'm good bringing Perine in behind him to continue the pounding. I think part of why people see Pierce as stronger and deserving more carries is that he is coming in FRESH against a TIRED defense in nearly all cases. This builds his confidence, and gets him ready for a good career here in the coming years. We don't need him to be THE back right now, we need him to know how to read the holes, learn how to pass protect, learn how to catch the outlet passes (has he been thrown to yet?) and learn the offense. He has talent, but we're not in a position to require him to be the starting back, and his development can be done properly. I think he may have the highest ceiling of the three backs, but he's also lower on the learning curve than the other two, and he is benefiting from the work they are doing before comes in.

Special teams continues to stand out to me as a difference maker for us this season. Something that is unexpectedly pleasant. It could be 'expected' that we would improve without Nord, but I didn't expect us to get this much better.

Others pointed out in this thread the fact that our conditioning is starting to shine through. 4th quarter Defensive domination....one could say the other team started to get tired. I didn't see it that way as much as I saw our D take it to the next level (by play calling and individual effort). I've seen FL defenses in the past that could dominate all game long. It seemed like this one did what was needed for 3Q then decided it was time for beast mode. Perhaps we can get to that level for the entire game before long.
 

Marine1

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Dec 20, 2015
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A few thoughts from my seat:


The timeout situation was bad - he should have called it at the sack and used the last 40sec to get a FG before the half. He made it worse in calling for the TO with 4sec left. :facepalm: He's experienced enough to know better, so I'm not hoping he learns from this and does better in the future...this is his future, he should already do better than that. I'd love to hear anything to explain his rationale, but I'm not sure he'll address it in any Q&A.

Folks continue to chime in that Pierce needs more carries, and earlier. I am not in love with Scarlett, but am ok with how the RBs are used to date. Scarlett is what he is - experienced, stone hands, able to block a bit, sometimes hits holes but not always. However, he has the experience and knows how the SEC D will hit him. Perine is only a little behind Scarlett for experience (maybe not even that much with Scarlett sitting 2017). However, I'm fully OK with the coaches using Scarlett to pound it for the first quarter or two. Let him pound the D and give our QB time to throw in pass protection. I'm good bringing Perine in behind him to continue the pounding. I think part of why people see Pierce as stronger and deserving more carries is that he is coming in FRESH against a TIRED defense in nearly all cases. This builds his confidence, and gets him ready for a good career here in the coming years. We don't need him to be THE back right now, we need him to know how to read the holes, learn how to pass protect, learn how to catch the outlet passes (has he been thrown to yet?) and learn the offense. He has talent, but we're not in a position to require him to be the starting back, and his development can be done properly. I think he may have the highest ceiling of the three backs, but he's also lower on the learning curve than the other two, and he is benefiting from the work they are doing before comes in.

Special teams continues to stand out to me as a difference maker for us this season. Something that is unexpectedly pleasant. It could be 'expected' that we would improve without Nord, but I didn't expect us to get this much better.

Others pointed out in this thread the fact that our conditioning is starting to shine through. 4th quarter Defensive domination....one could say the other team started to get tired. I didn't see it that way as much as I saw our D take it to the next level (by play calling and individual effort). I've seen FL defenses in the past that could dominate all game long. It seemed like this one did what was needed for 3Q then decided it was time for beast mode. Perhaps we can get to that level for the entire game before long.

Great post! I think Pierce is ready now but can’t disagree with your reasoning. It’s working so I guess we’ll stay with it until it doesn’t.
 

ChiefGator

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Marine1 does a lot of good posts and they all express rational uplifting, When has ripping down young kids ever helped? We've got so many of those helpers that if they had full swat, where would these kids be, where would the team be?

I hope the players don't go to any boards like this one, if they did I would stop them from doing so if possible.
 

Marine1

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I think they are primarily on Twitter, IG and Snap but these kids are social media addicts. They are aware of message boards. They think of us the same as they think of their parents being on Facebook. Loserville.
 

Tay Bang

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I think they are primarily on Twitter, IG and Snap but these kids are social media addicts. They are aware of message boards. They think of us the same as they think of their parents being on Facebook. Loserville.

Yes. In other words, we ain’t in their social circle.
 

ATXGator

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What a great win! Feels like we got ourselves a coach. If he can get some recruits we will be dangerous.
 

soflagator

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100% correct. I don't think I've ever seen a coach not call TO in that situation. After a sack on 2nd down on the opponent's 10 yard line putting them in 3rd and 28 or something, and we had all 3 TO's left and over 40 seconds on the clock? On top of that, their punter was averaging about 35 yards a punt to boot (pun intended).

He looked confused for a minute and I'm pretty sure he didn't know the down and distance and time remaining because there is no logical reason not to call TO immediately after the sack. Don't try and tell me he just wanted to run out the clock because that doesn't make any sense at all when you've got your opponent pinned back in the shadow of their own goal posts, and he eventually called a TO anyway, but way too late.

Overall he called a good game and it didn't come back to bite us so nothing lost, but clock management is an important job of the HC and can make the difference between a W and a L so hopefully that was a one time deal.

I was on the fence about that at the time as well. But I don't think it was about being confused, or poor clock management. He clearly was ok to get into half and make the adjustments that ultimately won us the game. The reason he called the TO with :01 was to force a punt and give us either a chance to block it, or return it. The only thing he could've changed there was calling it with :10, so they couldn't just heave it and call it a day.

But otherwise, I'm totally fine with that decision. It was 3rd and 18, from their 15. And they gained 17 on the next play. If by some chance they'd converted, they'd be approaching midfield with :30 left, which gives them time to try to set up a FG or deep pass. The defensive adjustments were night and day in the second half, and I'm pretty sure he just wanted to get to the locker room down 3 in that environment. Maybe hope for a fluke ST's play to close. But he was not going to risk being down more. Especially with us getting the ball to start. Considering the second half play, I think it was clearly the right move.
 

Marine1

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Dec 20, 2015
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I was on the fence about that at the time as well. But I don't think it was about being confused, or poor clock management. He clearly was ok to get into half and make the adjustments that ultimately won us the game. The reason he called the TO with :01 was to force a punt and give us either a chance to block it, or return it. The only thing he could've changed there was calling it with :10, so they couldn't just heave it and call it a day.

But otherwise, I'm totally fine with that decision. It was 3rd and 18, from their 15. And they gained 17 on the next play. If by some chance they'd converted, they'd be approaching midfield with :30 left, which gives them time to try to set up a FG or deep pass. The defensive adjustments were night and day in the second half, and I'm pretty sure he just wanted to get to the locker room down 3 in that environment. Maybe hope for a fluke ST's play to close. But he was not going to risk being down more. Especially with us getting the ball to start. Considering the second half play, I think it was clearly the right move.

I think you got it right. I think he did exactly what he wanted to do. Not the least bit confused. Most of us would rather have had the early TO but we ain’t the coach. I have no problem with it.
 

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