Truth Takes: And That's The Bottom Line...

[Gatorraid81]

Before I begin, I am writing this while reviewing the game utilizing the SkyCam feed with the broadcast feed on another TV.

First off, obviously well wishes go out to everyone injured like Zuniga and Franks. And this is all I will say on this issue, comment as you like, hate on this comment, let it change how you see me, I don't care, if you were one of the so-called Gator fans cheering about Franks' injury last night you are a bad person. I have not liked a lot of UF players, Driskel and LDR to name two, but in no way did I cheer when Tennessee ended Driskel's 2013 campaign or North Texas ending LDR's 2016 season. Some of you may see this as a self-righteous rant, its not. Its a how low of a person do you have to be to cheer one of your own players getting hurt. That may be FSU or Miami stuff, we are better than that, act like it.

Anyways, as usual I will look at offense, defense, happily debate anything but the above in the comments. I think this was a good win. I think this Kentucky team is better than I gave them credit for and I think there are things we can do to be better going forward.

I am looking forward to the Kyle Trask era starting. I think it would be over at Swamp Gas (which times out threads so probably gone now), maybe here, where I said I thought Trask should be the starter out of Spring a couple of years back (BMF, Traz or other Gas refugees may remember this) and some of the people were like "look at ______" and refusing to acknowledge what quarterback was working with a scholarship line and what one was working with a walk on line (because of the terrible position numbers hat are now improving for the line).

Offense
With the exception of very few drives the offense moved the ball well last night. We did not punt until the 4th quarter, sorry for using facts, Twitter couldn't handle that last night.

Anyways, our running game still needs some work. I think we need to go to more quick strike passing to help it out (If this hasn't been plastered in every write up I've done this season I'd be shocked). We started doing this more when Trask came in. Yes, he has a much quicker release, but there were also quicker routes as well. I think we will be fine.

Franks

1. Franks hits Grimes for 18 yards. Pitts did dive at this ball, but somehow it hit Grimes perfectly in the numbers. I'll go on record saying this ball was to Grimes, I'd love to see the luck of throwing a ball a yard behind and high on a person, but somehow being a perfect pass to another person your weren't throwing to. I'll get ahead of the "tipped passes" comments...I'm not saying a ball caught by a second person, I'm saying a ball that went perfectly to the numbers of another person and properly hitting their route.
2. 15 yard pass to Pitts on a corner route, perfectly thrown.
3. Franks throws a pick off of his back foot. If he takes the half a second to set his feet its a TD. This was his big mistake. Jefferson, on Franks' scramble breaks down field and is behind the D. Franks throws the ball off balance off his back foot and the ball goes inside and short. IF he sets his feet and leads Jefferson, it's six. Go pause around 12:51 on the game clock on ESPN's sky cam to see Jefferson behind. Safety is in the literal middle of the field and would not have made it to the back corner. Good decision on where to throw, awful decision not to set feet and throw. Predictably, not setting feet and throwing the ball literally 50 yards (back foot is slightly behind the 50) is a BAD idea. Arm strength impressive to get that distance on a back foot throw.
4. Perfect out route throw to Pitts for 6 yards.
5. Franks hits Grimes on a good throw on a slant...TARGETING, Grimes drops it. Doesn't show up on stat sheet.
6. Not the best throw, but a good enough one to an open Swain for 15 yards and a TD. On the Sky Cam, this looks like a good back shoulder throw, however, a completely unnecessary one that could have been thrown regularly for an easier catch.
7. Beautiful perfect strike to Jefferson for 31 yards. ****Next play is the strip sack. Feleipe moves up in the pocket and has Hammond wide on a corner route for a big gain, possibly a TD. Delance and Bleich both royally miss blocks. However, the QB fake play design, especially for the blocking scheme was poor. Pitts, the TE lined up on the right ends up rushing to the middle for his assignment, Bleich, the Right Guard is assigned the outside of the left side. If this was a normal zone blocking, we hit the big play. Instead, Delance gets eaten by the line backer on the right and Bleich can't get to the left side of the line to make his block fast enough. If Pitts stays and doubles with Delance, Feleipe has enough time on the right and if Forsythe is assigned to 59 on the left, Dude doesn't get 3-4 yards into the backfield before seeing a blocker. I know, strip sacks are 0% on the line and 100% on the QB 100% of the time, but I'm just saying I agree with Mullen that the line failed here and would also put some of this on the play design.
8. Swing to Perine for 9 yards.
9. Line breaks down, Franks keeps the play alive, rolls left and hits Grimes for a 32 yard gain.
10. Quick Screen to Swain for 9 yards.****Franks runs for a TD, but called back due to Delance holding. Arguably, there is a guy open before the throw, but Franks is not looking down at that moment as he's trying to find his way out of the pocket (literally what some complained about for the strip sack) and he runs for a TD. Some kid that couldn't get into Santa Fe on Twitter tried arguing with my brother in law that QB's are meant for running and Franks going 20 yards for a TD was a bad play on his part.
11. Franks throws only his second incompletion of the half as he's getting hit in the direction of three Gators as Greise whines multiple times that it should be grounding.
12. 12 yard completion to Kyle Pitts under pressure.
13. Quick Swing to Perine (TO THE SHORT SIDE OF THE FIELD) for 6 on 3rd and 8. Play designed to go to Perine on the Swing. I want to highlight the dumbest thing I see in playcalling in my opinion. If you are running a wide play, why give the defense the 12th defender, the sideline by going to the sideline when you are on the closest hash mark? If Perine has the extra 40 feet by this play going left instead of right he probably gets the first down if not more. ****Franks finishes the half 10/12 and people call that "inconsistent". If you think 10 of 12 is inconsistent, I don't even want to know what your objective measurement for consistency is.
14. No one open, Franks rightfully throws it away. Plenty of morons yelling that he should have thrown it in triple coverage that was in front of him.
15. Hits Van Jefferson for 9. ****PI on the offense. 100% Franks fault that Jefferson ran too far forward, also 100% on Franks that the receivers blocked before Franks hit Jefferson at the designed spot. What ALSO is Franks' fault and in NO WAY coaches fault, is delaying on snapping the ball quickly before replay could take a look and enforce the PI call.
16. High throw towards Davis on a swing. Bad pass, but worked out as we were about to lose big yards if caught.
17. Throw behind Cleveland. I think Franks expected a stop route and Cleve did something different. Would have been a tough catch, but if you get two hands diving towards the ball, should be caught.
18. Excellent strike to Swain for 13 yards and a first down. Franks hit on the play getting a roughing the passer. Franks last pass of the season. 12 of 17, 174, 1 TD, 1 INT 23 yards rushing. That 4th down play had NO ONE open in the direction he rolled as designed, only option is to try and run for it, we know what happened.

Trask

1. Quick stop route to Jefferson that gets 8.
2. Good comeback by Hammond and strike by Trask for 14 yards.
3. WIDE OPEN Jefferson who is like 3 yards down the field and runs to get a 20 yard gain.
4. Quick slant to Jefferson for 13.
5. Throwaway by Trask. It's the throwback play Mullen loves. Trask had a guy in his face and throws it across the field, where possibly Krull could get it if no one else. ***What a F-ing play by Trask for the TD. He takes the hit and pitches to Perine for the TD.
6. Poor throw on the 2 point conversion. Went for the slant.
7. Quick stop route to Jefferson for 8 yards.
8. Trask throw tipped at the line of scrimmage.
9. Good throw to Swain for 20.
10. Bad decision to force a throw to Swain, Kash McDaniel almost picks the ball off.
11. Screen to Jefferson for 1 yard on 3rd and 10. AWFUL blocking. Leads to first punt of the game for UF.
12. Deep pass to Hammond (GRIESE SAYS DEAN WAS THE PI), it gets PI, doesn't count. The arm is barred.
13. Trask overthrew Jefferson 20 yards down the field and thrown away out of bounds, however, he actually had Perine about 8 yards down the field. Next play is the Targeting Griese WHINES to Matt Austin that any other player being hit wouldn't be a targeting, gets smacked down saying it was called because of the crown of the helmet like Griese is a child.
14. Great throw and YAC by Pitts for 30 yards. Trask 9 of 13 for 126.

Once Trask came in we saw more, but not all of the passes were quick hits that allowed YAC to build Trask's confidence. Have I mentioned quick hits and YAC put our receivers on display? He also had a few good downfield throws. He had some questionable throws as well. Overall, about as good as you could hope for a guy coming in off the bench.

About Hammond's TD. Should he go down? Probably, but as I've said before, I'm not telling a kid not to score. Here's my question and same one I had on Stewart's TD against LSU last season. If you score and are up by 7...WHY NOT GO FOR 2? If you get it, it's game and 9 points.

Defense

Have I ever mentioned how a quick passing game negates a pass rush? Not sure I have. Kentucky, like Miami, came out with a quick passing game. Funny how that works. Losing Zuniga early definitely did not help either. Stewart and Shawn Davis got 3 turnovers combined. I think we've found our safeties. Stewart was noticeably all over the place throughout the game. That excessive celebration call was BS. Davis carelessly tosses the ball on the field. It does not show up on the broadcast, but does on the Sky Cam. He basically tosses it to the ground near an official, but probably got called for a spike.

I did not realize that Kentucky's primary receiver's were 6'5" and 6'6". That is hard to defend as 6'1"-6'2" DBs. Why we don't scheme up more for Pitts and Grimes, those heights respectively, I'm not sure. That first TD pass was a ridiculous thing of beauty by a big receiver on a small corner. Marco played that as well as he could be asked to. His deep PI flag was an absolute joke. For those of you that are new, I will call our guys out for a bad PI, but that one was total crap.

What also doesn't help is the soft zone we seemed to play a lot. Like I say on offense, if the defense is 5+ yards off, just snap and throw to the receiver and let him play a one on one . Kentucky did this quite a bit with success. Have I mentioned the glory of quick passing?

David Reese continues to be a beast. What are we missing most about Burney at LB? His coverage skills on at least one occasion Reese got stuck on on a TE and that will not work out well. Greenard, when he had time caused some trouble for Kentucky, even without putting up some stats. I am sick though of only rushing 3 on 3rd and 20+. Both times we have done this, we gave up the first down. Also, both times the opposing team has gone on to score a TD on the drive. On such a down and distance, there's less of a chance of a quick pass, bring at least 4 and get some pressure.

Quick Hits

• Outplayed, but we got three TO's and only punted once?
• "Florida only had a chance to win because Kentucky missed a FG", no mention of our missed FG?
• No mention of the missing players when discussing our team? Heck, if you didn't notice, Miller was missing near the end as well as Greenard (who was seen in a boot post game).
• Brilliant idea to give Kentucky's QB a bunch of quick passes to take pressure off (have I mentioned this yet?)
• Elam with two picks in two games, don't care about the scenario, it still counts and shows good positioning...see the height match up mentioned earlier.
• Oh, and NICK BUCHANAN may be a top 5 favorite on this team after he walked to midfield post-game with two water bottles and went all STONE COLD! STONE COLD! STONE COLD!

I think this Kentucky team will get 8 wins or more, I don't see three more losses on their schedule, but would love people to name drop some teams. We should be fine next week, UT is bad. Lost to a team in Georgia State who beat them with lots of quick passes and runs (have I mentioned that this strategy allows receivers to make plays?) Then we basically have a bye week with Towson before hosting Auburn. This will give our young db's time to get more experience. However, we may see Toney and Hendo back in the next three weeks. Burney was almost back this week. Hopefully, Miller, Greenard and Zuniga are fine. We can start tailoring the offense around Trask's strength, which appears to be quick passing (I don't think I've used this or any related phrase yet).

I know, it's too long. Point is, we won. We are missing pieces right now and we won. Evan McPherson somehow missed a chip shot and we still won. We now get to go home and play our rival the mighty Tennessee Volunteers with a secondary so good they allowed a BYU team (who beat USC) to complete a 60 yard pass with 17 seconds left. Maxed out post characters lol. So, my around the nation will be moved below.

Go Gators!

Correction, LDR's season didn't end with North Texas injury in 2016, he actually came back and played that year. He beat UGA that year. He was shut down after the pitiful performance against Arkansas when it was revealed that he had a messed up shoulder that he was supposedly hiding from the staff. He suffered a season ending injury against Vandy in 2017, broken collar bone I think.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

The part about Floyd and Granthem as you well know. I have no idea how one convinces any kid to go anywhere, but one thing I have to imagine intrigues them all is getting on the field as a freshman.

 

[lizardbreath]

Maybe Stoops would be a good fit at FSU if he’s teaching that kind of stuff....

He doesn't have to teach it. They're hillbillies - anything goes in a fight. Anything. Same goes for W VA, they're dirty too. Spurrier ran it up on them in the sugar bowl back in the early 90s after they pulled some hinky shytt that Steve didn't appreciate. That "hill folk mentality" BS is for real. UT is cut from the same cloth as well. Phukkemall.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

The part about Floyd and Granthem as you well know. I have no idea how one convinces any kid to go anywhere, but one thing I have to imagine intrigues them all is getting on the field as a freshman.

That works on 3*s. Blue chippers don't worry about the depth chart.

 

[Zambo]

3 star kids wash their hands after they pee. Blue chippers don't pee on their hands.

 

[TLB]

Poor throw on the 2 point conversion. Went for the slant.

I don't recall (and the ESPN play-by-play only lists 'failed 2-pt conversion, not what the play was), but it seems to me when we are goal line with Trask it is consistently trips right and a quick slant. I believe we saw this in an earlier game with him, and the exact same call that didn't work on the first 2pt conversion, and my mind is thinking it was the same again on the last failed 2pt conversion. I understand he's good with a quick slant, but when you've got the defense lined up and packing the goal line like that, we see where it's too much traffic and we're risking an INT at worst, and an incomplete at best. I don't mind doing the same formation again, but have a back corner fade or something else to switch to if it is too crowded.

David Reese continues to be a beast. What are we missing most about Burney at LB? His coverage skills on at least one occasion Reese got stuck on on a TE and that will not work out well.

Honestly, early in the game I didn't notice him OTHER than sucking in coverage. I kept asking the wife why he was out there, and stated clearly that if I were UK I'd be throwing against him all day. Then, I realized the great plays he was making up front and I chilled on him a bit recalling LBs aren't known for coverage.

I am sick though of only rushing 3 on 3rd and 20+. Both times we have done this, we gave up the first down. Also, both times the opposing team has gone on to score a TD on the drive. On such a down and distance, there's less of a chance of a quick pass, bring at least 4 and get some pressure.

Fully agree. It ain't working. Put 5 in the box, drop one and rush the other to make a 4man rush - mix it up, make them wonder, but STOP only pushing the obvious 3 and giving the QB all day.

Elam with two picks in two games, don't care about the scenario, it still counts and shows good positioning...see the height match up mentioned earlier.

I was excited to explain to the wife who Elam was as he earned some screen time for good plays. Look forward to the future with him.

I know, it's too long.

Didn't feel like it to me. It felt just about right. Then I see all the quotes of the FULL post and realize how long it was...I'll let it go, based on solid content.

Around the Nation

Ok, now it's too long Good choice to break that out to a second post.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Just saw an article on what play has the most success on 2-point conversions. Care to guess.

 

[SeabeeGator]

Went back and rewatched the offenses. Trask only threw 2 passes less than 8 yards past the LOS (not including goal line). You need to rewatch Trask’s 3rd pass - Jefferson was 8 yards past the LOS.

After rereading your take, it seems like you’re minimizing Trask’s passing and excusing Franks. They both had the same number of boneheaded passes but at least Trask is consistently attacking intermediate routes. I think the difference between the two in this game was that Trask is more comfortable anticipating the zone while Franks will opt for open passes (generally short). Not sure it translates later in the season but Trask certainly attacked Kentucky better through the air.

On the other hand, poor Franks is snake bitten. I’m not arguing the flags but he lost 2 rushing TDs because of penalties. How often does that happen? You could make the argument that he should’ve gone earlier the second time - he circles back for some reason which causes Delance to hold his guy - but the point still stands.

 

[Zambo]

Just saw an article on what play has the most success on 2-point conversions. Care to guess.

Play action to the TE in the middle?

 

[SeabeeGator]

Play action to the TE in the middle?

JUMP PASS!!!

 

[ThreatMatrix]

The receivers were there for Franks. He chose not to throw to them. I don’t think it is all play calling, more QB decision.
Whenever I bothered to rewatch Franks seems to be looking downfield (this season) but choosing the short/wide open throw.

 

[gatormandan]

The receivers were there for Franks. He chose not to throw to them. I don’t think it is all play calling, more QB decision.
Whenever I bothered to rewatch Franks seems to be looking downfield (this season) but choosing the short/wide open throw.

I agree.

 

[NOLAGATOR]

Went back and rewatched the offenses. Trask only threw 2 passes less than 8 yards past the LOS (not including goal line). You need to rewatch Trask’s 3rd pass - Jefferson was 8 yards past the LOS.

After rereading your take, it seems like you’re minimizing Trask’s passing and excusing Franks. They both had the same number of boneheaded passes but at least Trask is consistently attacking intermediate routes. I think the difference between the two in this game was that Trask is more comfortable anticipating the zone while Franks will opt for open passes (generally short). Not sure it translates later in the season but Trask certainly attacked Kentucky better through the air.

On the other hand, poor Franks is snake bitten. I’m not arguing the flags but he lost 2 rushing TDs because of penalties. How often does that happen? You could make the argument that he should’ve gone earlier the second time - he circles back for some reason which causes Delance to hold his guy - but the point still stands.

THIS

 

[GatorTruth133]

Went back and rewatched the offenses. Trask only threw 2 passes less than 8 yards past the LOS (not including goal line). You need to rewatch Trask’s 3rd pass - Jefferson was 8 yards past the LOS.

After rereading your take, it seems like you’re minimizing Trask’s passing and excusing Franks. They both had the same number of boneheaded passes but at least Trask is consistently attacking intermediate routes. I think the difference between the two in this game was that Trask is more comfortable anticipating the zone while Franks will opt for open passes (generally short). Not sure it translates later in the season but Trask certainly attacked Kentucky better through the air.

Trust me, I'm not trying to minimize Trask. Also, not sure where the arbitrary 8 yard line is. I would hold 10 or less myself. He completed 4 of these. Also, I would think being down by 2 scores with 1 1/2 quarters left would dictate we would run less designed swings to Perine...but hey, situational football. Also, no, I'm not excusing Franks, in fact I think I said "BAD idea" about the pick and have criticized him plenty. I do think that people are doing the opposite actually.

The receivers were there for Franks. He chose not to throw to them. I don’t think it is all play calling, more QB decision.
Whenever I bothered to rewatch Franks seems to be looking downfield (this season) but choosing the short/wide open throw.

Can you give me a few examples and yes, this happened, but give me a few exact plays so I can check it out. MANY times I hear this complaints about QB's people will look where a DB is in relation to a receiver once the ball is in the air as if a DB or whoever doesn't leave their assignment to help once the ball is released. Example (these are what I'm asking for), the last pick against Miami a dude was crying on Twitter about how "open" Perine was...except when the ball was released Quarterman was standing a foot in front of Perine and backpeddling. Again, and I repeat before someone changes what I'm saying, it definitely happened, but I would argue not as much as many say (which for some is even on designed screen passes where a receiver runs a clear out route). I'll even give an example from last week, Hammond was deep, but Franks checked down to Perine after a play action on 2nd down with 2:30 left to go in the first quarter. BTW, can't see that on the broadcast, but I took note of it and put it in the post game thread. Looking forward to watching the plays you give me so I can be better informed.


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General Statement, not Related to a Quote, Mostly

Further, and I'm not sure I've mentioned this a single time this season and definitely not in this thread...I do not give a F*ck how far the ball travels in the air. Bama had two big TD's early, when the game was still close, with a combined yardage of over 120 yards that traveled a combined 10 yards in the air. One was on a 4th down call. Most of their first half game plan was that. In fact, and again, something I don't think I've mentioned ever, With the offensive line we have and receivers we have (anyone see Hammond score Saturday where he found space and made a play? Think guys like Cleveland, Grimes, Toney, Copeland, etc. aren't as fast as Hammond who I didn't think had that much speed until that play), to throw a bunch of quick passes to back the linebackers and DB's. Kentucky was smart as hell when we kept playing DB's off 5+ yards to throw a quick pass and let their guys work. I'll repeat because I know I haven't said it a single time this season, I would love to see a bunch more quick short passes, no matter the QB, and let our athletes do their thing.

I don't know why so many people have the mindset of "short distance in the air=bad" and "long distance in the air=only good pass", but it's hilarious. Literally, plenty of people in the stands bitching when we get a first down because we didn't hit a 60 yard bomb. Would I like to hit deep passes more? Hell yea, am I going to lower credit to a QB who completes the vast majority of passes and keeps the chains moving because his passes happen to be within 10 yards? No.

 

[MissouriGator]

I wasn't able to watch the game, but I did follow here on the chatbox. Perhaps Ox will repost it at some point, but it looked like we were really, really, REALLY bad.
Then Trask comes in and, on the road and down two scores against a formidable SEC opponent, executes a great game to bring us back and win by 8 points.
And to think that this kid has practically NO live experience since middle school.
And he doesn't look like any kind of slouch either.
It might be that we just found ourselves a pretty damn good QB.

I'm truly sorry about what happened to Franks, and I hope he makes a full recovery and moves on to great things.But I'm not taking anything away from Trask at this point.
He earned his chance to start for UF.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Trust me, I'm not trying to minimize Trask. Also, not sure where the arbitrary 8 yard line is. I would hold 10 or less myself. He completed 4 of these. Also, I would think being down by 2 scores with 1 1/2 quarters left would dictate we would run less designed swings to Perine...but hey, situational football. Also, no, I'm not excusing Franks, in fact I think I said "BAD idea" about the pick and have criticized him plenty. I do think that people are doing the opposite actually.



Can you give me a few examples and yes, this happened, but give me a few exact plays so I can check it out. MANY times I hear this complaints about QB's people will look where a DB is in relation to a receiver once the ball is in the air as if a DB or whoever doesn't leave their assignment to help once the ball is released. Example (these are what I'm asking for), the last pick against Miami a dude was crying on Twitter about how "open" Perine was...except when the ball was released Quarterman was standing a foot in front of Perine and backpeddling. Again, and I repeat before someone changes what I'm saying, it definitely happened, but I would argue not as much as many say (which for some is even on designed screen passes where a receiver runs a clear out route). I'll even give an example from last week, Hammond was deep, but Franks checked down to Perine after a play action on 2nd down with 2:30 left to go in the first quarter. BTW, can't see that on the broadcast, but I took note of it and put it in the post game thread. Looking forward to watching the plays you give me so I can be better informed.


***********************************************
General Statement, not Related to a Quote, Mostly

Further, and I'm not sure I've mentioned this a single time this season and definitely not in this thread...I do not give a F*ck how far the ball travels in the air. Bama had two big TD's early, when the game was still close, with a combined yardage of over 120 yards that traveled a combined 10 yards in the air. One was on a 4th down call. Most of their first half game plan was that. In fact, and again, something I don't think I've mentioned ever, With the offensive line we have and receivers we have (anyone see Hammond score Saturday where he found space and made a play? Think guys like Cleveland, Grimes, Toney, Copeland, etc. aren't as fast as Hammond who I didn't think had that much speed until that play), to throw a bunch of quick passes to back the linebackers and DB's. Kentucky was smart as hell when we kept playing DB's off 5+ yards to throw a quick pass and let their guys work. I'll repeat because I know I haven't said it a single time this season, I would love to see a bunch more quick short passes, no matter the QB, and let our athletes do their thing.

I don't know why so many people have the mindset of "short distance in the air=bad" and "long distance in the air=only good pass", but it's hilarious. Literally, plenty of people in the stands *****ing when we get a first down because we didn't hit a 60 yard bomb. Would I like to hit deep passes more? Hell yea, am I going to lower credit to a QB who completes the vast majority of passes and keeps the chains moving because his passes happen to be within 10 yards? No.

LIke I said, when I bothered to rewatch. I dont think I have any games recorded so someone else would have to look at it. I'd be curious how many times after the snap he looked downfield only to throw short. I don't think he even bothered to do that last year. Without the all-22 i have no clue if anybody is open but I suspect since Trask had no problem finding open receivers they were.

BTW: IT was Zambo crying about how open Perine was all though he wasn't.

 

[SeabeeGator]

Trust me, I'm not trying to minimize Trask. Also, not sure where the arbitrary 8 yard line is. I would hold 10 or less myself. He completed 4 of these. Also, I would think being down by 2 scores with 1 1/2 quarters left would dictate we would run less designed swings to Perine...but hey, situational football. Also, no, I'm not excusing Franks, in fact I think I said "BAD idea" about the pick and have criticized him plenty. I do think that people are doing the opposite actually.



Can you give me a few examples and yes, this happened, but give me a few exact plays so I can check it out. MANY times I hear this complaints about QB's people will look where a DB is in relation to a receiver once the ball is in the air as if a DB or whoever doesn't leave their assignment to help once the ball is released. Example (these are what I'm asking for), the last pick against Miami a dude was crying on Twitter about how "open" Perine was...except when the ball was released Quarterman was standing a foot in front of Perine and backpeddling. Again, and I repeat before someone changes what I'm saying, it definitely happened, but I would argue not as much as many say (which for some is even on designed screen passes where a receiver runs a clear out route). I'll even give an example from last week, Hammond was deep, but Franks checked down to Perine after a play action on 2nd down with 2:30 left to go in the first quarter. BTW, can't see that on the broadcast, but I took note of it and put it in the post game thread. Looking forward to watching the plays you give me so I can be better informed.


***********************************************
General Statement, not Related to a Quote, Mostly

Further, and I'm not sure I've mentioned this a single time this season and definitely not in this thread...I do not give a F*ck how far the ball travels in the air. Bama had two big TD's early, when the game was still close, with a combined yardage of over 120 yards that traveled a combined 10 yards in the air. One was on a 4th down call. Most of their first half game plan was that. In fact, and again, something I don't think I've mentioned ever, With the offensive line we have and receivers we have (anyone see Hammond score Saturday where he found space and made a play? Think guys like Cleveland, Grimes, Toney, Copeland, etc. aren't as fast as Hammond who I didn't think had that much speed until that play), to throw a bunch of quick passes to back the linebackers and DB's. Kentucky was smart as hell when we kept playing DB's off 5+ yards to throw a quick pass and let their guys work. I'll repeat because I know I haven't said it a single time this season, I would love to see a bunch more quick short passes, no matter the QB, and let our athletes do their thing.

I don't know why so many people have the mindset of "short distance in the air=bad" and "long distance in the air=only good pass", but it's hilarious. Literally, plenty of people in the stands *****ing when we get a first down because we didn't hit a 60 yard bomb. Would I like to hit deep passes more? Hell yea, am I going to lower credit to a QB who completes the vast majority of passes and keeps the chains moving because his passes happen to be within 10 yards? No.

Yards in the air matters because it spreads out the defense. If everything’s a swing, screen, or bomb, it’s easy to defend. Start throwing intermediate routes and now the defense has to defend the entire field, not just two parts. You bring up Bama - those short passes are so effective because the defense doesn’t know what to expect. This is simple.

Regarding franks and Trask... you have long detailed explanations of his passes and quick mentions of Trask. I brought up 8 yards because he was definitely throwing from that point further downfield. Your analysis implies it’s all the same, which it’s not.

Don’t be so defensive. You aren’t the only person rewatching and others see things differently.

 

[Marine1]

My rewatch would say FF had more yards in the air. He had some deep shots and several 30 yd completions with little YAC. KT consistently hit quick slants and outs. Hit a nice one down the middle and took one deep shot. Where KT looks clearly better is those quick 8-12 yard timing routes. He reads them quicker and gets the ball out quicker.

I don’t know that he will see a lot of soft zones going forward. We need to see him on his progressions. He seems to have a firm grasp on the offense and I think with snaps he adjusts nicely.