- Jun 19, 2014
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Of course the final results (10-2 with wins over Tennessee, Ole Miss, UGA, and USCe and a berth in the SEC Championship game) were FAR better than most expected but an honest examination of our last few games reveals that we look a lot like we did last year. Stingy defense, inept offense. You can argue that we looked better against a stronger FSU team on the road last year than we did against a weaker FSU team at home (at night!) this year. So what happened? What went wrong? What's our hope for the future?
Well, at the beginning of the season, teams didn't know how to play our offense. Didn't know the players' strengths and weaknesses. It was a new system under a new coach with a new QB and new OL.
We rode that uncertainty for a while. Teams were covering our only offensive playmaker from last year, DeMarcus Robinson, and giving true freshman Antonio Callaway space. They didn't think Cyontai Lewis or DeAndre Goolsby could catch. They assumed our young patchwork OL would be better at run blocking than pass blocking and that Kelvin Taylor was going to be the workhorse of the offense.
You could see them trying to figure us out as the year progressed. The early focus was stopping Kelvin Taylor. Tennessee didn't blitz Will Grier on some important plays and counted on their talented d-line to abuse our OL and get pressure. Grier made them pay. Ole Miss saw this and figured the solution was to blitz him early and often and Grier used his lightning quick release and ability to see receivers downfield to burn them too. Turned out our OL was better at pass blocking than run blocking and that Callaway was the best WR we had (and Powell was our other playmaker). Nobody knew that going in and it took a few games of game tape to figure it out.
Mizzou figured it out and had the horses on the DL to stifle us. But then Grier got suspended and opposing teams had to figure out a whole new QB. Against LSU, Treon looked just fine. The staff was able to roll him out where he was more comfortable and he hurt teams with his legs. Teams again didn't know to blitz or not blitz, to assign a spy or not, whether he was better against zone or man. It took a couple of games, but teams figured out Treon's strengths and weaknesses. They decided they had to keep him in the pocket and play zone so they could keep eyes on his scrambling.
That's why we looked so good at times and so inept at other times. It's a phenomenon not limited to this team or this year. Remember Tebow won the Heisman with an incredible season in 2007? We were theoretically much more talented on offense in 2008 and 2009 but opposing teams were better prepared to play us in those subsequent years than they were the first time they saw that offense with Tebow at the helm in 2007. Make sense?
Yeah, Grier is a helluva lot better than Treon. Treon has certain limitations. Grier has NFL upside. But much of what we have seen on offense this season is teams figuring out how play us.
The defense has been nearly elite. Frankly, I can't believe we did as well as we did with only 2 linebackers this year. That base nickel worked out well for us and thank God Antonio Morrison and Jarrad Davis got healthy and stayed healthy. I don't think many Gators truly understand how close we were to a complete disaster on defense this year. You can have the best DL in the country and the best secondary in the country but without any linebackers, you're no good. We only had two. Somehow, those guys held it together. The DL was a pleasant surprise. Bullard is a beast but the young guns are damn good. I didn't think McAllister or Cox were ever going to amount to much but Cox was a stud all season long and McAllister was a very good pass rusher. In the secondary, the question was at safety. Neal was a big hitter all season long and Maye somehow managed to be around loose balls all season long.
Special teams was a disaster (except for punting and kick coverage). I suspected going in to the season that we weren't going to be great, but this was so much worse than expected. New coaching staffs tend to lots of time on base offense and defense. They are bringing in a new system, a new language, and they focus on their bread and butter. Often special teams don't get as much attention. So expectations weren't too high but boy, were we over optimistic.
This is Florida. We always have somebody back there that's a threat to return a kick or punt all the way. Not this season. Kickoff returns were abysmal early in the season and only improved marginally by the end of the season. Callaway showed promise as a punt returner later in the season but overall, nothing like what we expect around here. We didn't block kicks or punts the way we are used to either. LSU's fake field goal was cringe-worthy. The field goal kicking goes without saying. Dunno what's wrong with our guy but we must have set a record for blocked kicks this season. He was line-driving them straight into armpits and elbows. You didn't even need to jump to block his kicks. And when a kick somehow managed to clear the LOS, it missed. Just an unmitigated disaster. Disgusting. Stomach churning.
Luck. Luck played a big role. Like it did in 2012. We caught a lot of breaks. Converting that 4th down for a TD against Tennessee. Getting a few game-changing turnovers against Ole Miss. Catching UGA without Chubb and Missouri with their back-up QB. Catching USCe with a walk-on QB and no Spurrier. All that good luck ran out towards the end of the season, especially in that FSU game. Every 50-50 call seemed to go against us, and and they were huge, momentum shifting calls. We should have recovered that fumble in the endzone for a touchdown. That block in the back on Callaway's return was pretty damn ticky-tack, especially being behind the play. Couple of missed PI calls that would have kept drives alive, let the defense rest, and at least flip field position if not result in scores, not to mention our missed kicks or theirs bouncing IN off the upright. Nothing broke our way in that game.
Overall, big picture? We hired the right guy and we're on the right path. You could often see that the right play was called. It didn't always work because of talent or execution, but it was the right play call. The players seemed to know what they were doing, and that's a huge improvement over the past.
I think we're seeing a much more disciplined, well-coached bunch. Remember all the delay of game penalties the last few years? All the illegal procedure penalties? The self-aggrandizing late hits and showboating? I think this is a much better team in that regard.
We're doing ALL the things we need to elevate this program. Not just Xs and Os. Have you noticed all the official pregame hype videos? All the social media badges and watermarks? The official UF social media stuff? This is what kids share with each other. This gets them interested in your program. This will pay off recruiting dividends in the future. The facilities are improving as demonstrated by the IPF. Recruiting will improve as The Swamp is starting to feel a little more Swampy.
We're ahead of schedule. We may very well lose our last 3 games and still call the season a success. I'd much rather lose in Atlanta than not go to Atlanta. This is going to be a huge learning experience for this team. That said, there is no guarantee we're going to be in Atlanta again next year. We still have a construction project with the OL. We still have a linebacker sized crater on defense. We need an outside receiver opposite Callaway. We need a QB. Del Rio? Franks? Treon until Grier comes back? Will Grier ever come back?
I dunno. But I do think we've got the right guy and we are heading in the right direction.
Go Gators.
Alex.
Well, at the beginning of the season, teams didn't know how to play our offense. Didn't know the players' strengths and weaknesses. It was a new system under a new coach with a new QB and new OL.
We rode that uncertainty for a while. Teams were covering our only offensive playmaker from last year, DeMarcus Robinson, and giving true freshman Antonio Callaway space. They didn't think Cyontai Lewis or DeAndre Goolsby could catch. They assumed our young patchwork OL would be better at run blocking than pass blocking and that Kelvin Taylor was going to be the workhorse of the offense.
You could see them trying to figure us out as the year progressed. The early focus was stopping Kelvin Taylor. Tennessee didn't blitz Will Grier on some important plays and counted on their talented d-line to abuse our OL and get pressure. Grier made them pay. Ole Miss saw this and figured the solution was to blitz him early and often and Grier used his lightning quick release and ability to see receivers downfield to burn them too. Turned out our OL was better at pass blocking than run blocking and that Callaway was the best WR we had (and Powell was our other playmaker). Nobody knew that going in and it took a few games of game tape to figure it out.
Mizzou figured it out and had the horses on the DL to stifle us. But then Grier got suspended and opposing teams had to figure out a whole new QB. Against LSU, Treon looked just fine. The staff was able to roll him out where he was more comfortable and he hurt teams with his legs. Teams again didn't know to blitz or not blitz, to assign a spy or not, whether he was better against zone or man. It took a couple of games, but teams figured out Treon's strengths and weaknesses. They decided they had to keep him in the pocket and play zone so they could keep eyes on his scrambling.
That's why we looked so good at times and so inept at other times. It's a phenomenon not limited to this team or this year. Remember Tebow won the Heisman with an incredible season in 2007? We were theoretically much more talented on offense in 2008 and 2009 but opposing teams were better prepared to play us in those subsequent years than they were the first time they saw that offense with Tebow at the helm in 2007. Make sense?
Yeah, Grier is a helluva lot better than Treon. Treon has certain limitations. Grier has NFL upside. But much of what we have seen on offense this season is teams figuring out how play us.
The defense has been nearly elite. Frankly, I can't believe we did as well as we did with only 2 linebackers this year. That base nickel worked out well for us and thank God Antonio Morrison and Jarrad Davis got healthy and stayed healthy. I don't think many Gators truly understand how close we were to a complete disaster on defense this year. You can have the best DL in the country and the best secondary in the country but without any linebackers, you're no good. We only had two. Somehow, those guys held it together. The DL was a pleasant surprise. Bullard is a beast but the young guns are damn good. I didn't think McAllister or Cox were ever going to amount to much but Cox was a stud all season long and McAllister was a very good pass rusher. In the secondary, the question was at safety. Neal was a big hitter all season long and Maye somehow managed to be around loose balls all season long.
Special teams was a disaster (except for punting and kick coverage). I suspected going in to the season that we weren't going to be great, but this was so much worse than expected. New coaching staffs tend to lots of time on base offense and defense. They are bringing in a new system, a new language, and they focus on their bread and butter. Often special teams don't get as much attention. So expectations weren't too high but boy, were we over optimistic.
This is Florida. We always have somebody back there that's a threat to return a kick or punt all the way. Not this season. Kickoff returns were abysmal early in the season and only improved marginally by the end of the season. Callaway showed promise as a punt returner later in the season but overall, nothing like what we expect around here. We didn't block kicks or punts the way we are used to either. LSU's fake field goal was cringe-worthy. The field goal kicking goes without saying. Dunno what's wrong with our guy but we must have set a record for blocked kicks this season. He was line-driving them straight into armpits and elbows. You didn't even need to jump to block his kicks. And when a kick somehow managed to clear the LOS, it missed. Just an unmitigated disaster. Disgusting. Stomach churning.
Luck. Luck played a big role. Like it did in 2012. We caught a lot of breaks. Converting that 4th down for a TD against Tennessee. Getting a few game-changing turnovers against Ole Miss. Catching UGA without Chubb and Missouri with their back-up QB. Catching USCe with a walk-on QB and no Spurrier. All that good luck ran out towards the end of the season, especially in that FSU game. Every 50-50 call seemed to go against us, and and they were huge, momentum shifting calls. We should have recovered that fumble in the endzone for a touchdown. That block in the back on Callaway's return was pretty damn ticky-tack, especially being behind the play. Couple of missed PI calls that would have kept drives alive, let the defense rest, and at least flip field position if not result in scores, not to mention our missed kicks or theirs bouncing IN off the upright. Nothing broke our way in that game.
Overall, big picture? We hired the right guy and we're on the right path. You could often see that the right play was called. It didn't always work because of talent or execution, but it was the right play call. The players seemed to know what they were doing, and that's a huge improvement over the past.
I think we're seeing a much more disciplined, well-coached bunch. Remember all the delay of game penalties the last few years? All the illegal procedure penalties? The self-aggrandizing late hits and showboating? I think this is a much better team in that regard.
We're doing ALL the things we need to elevate this program. Not just Xs and Os. Have you noticed all the official pregame hype videos? All the social media badges and watermarks? The official UF social media stuff? This is what kids share with each other. This gets them interested in your program. This will pay off recruiting dividends in the future. The facilities are improving as demonstrated by the IPF. Recruiting will improve as The Swamp is starting to feel a little more Swampy.
We're ahead of schedule. We may very well lose our last 3 games and still call the season a success. I'd much rather lose in Atlanta than not go to Atlanta. This is going to be a huge learning experience for this team. That said, there is no guarantee we're going to be in Atlanta again next year. We still have a construction project with the OL. We still have a linebacker sized crater on defense. We need an outside receiver opposite Callaway. We need a QB. Del Rio? Franks? Treon until Grier comes back? Will Grier ever come back?
I dunno. But I do think we've got the right guy and we are heading in the right direction.
Go Gators.
Alex.
