- Oct 5, 2017
- 2,315
- 6,299
Well, we've reached the end of the regular season. 12 games in 13 weeks. 1/4 of the year. For the first time I was lucky enough to attend all 12 regular season games. UF finishes 6-6 for the second straight year.
I hate losing to FSU. For me, a guy who grew up in the 90's they are our top rival. It sucks even worse because we lost all 4 games that could be considered rivalry games. LSU being the debatable one.
AR was definitely a mixed bag. Starting 5 for 7 and 3 TD's and ending up 9/27 but still almost threw for 200 yards. He had some great runs and some iffy decisions not to run. He whiffed on some throws and then through terrific strikes that receivers failed to hold onto. I'm still not sure why he can't throw screens and I'm also not sure why we try to run as many as we do as that might be the worst route he throws. In the first half we saw terrific touch on his first TD to Pearsall and excellent ball placement on the second. We saw him terribly overthrow Odom on the last 3rd down of the game. We saw him hit Douglas multiple times and Douglas not coming up with the catch including in between multiple defenders at the 5 on the last drive. I've said it all year, I expect scholarship receivers to be able to make tough catches at UF. We saw some missed PI calls (ABC had awful reviews on the broadcast, the Stadium had better/multiple angles of replays and that PI the announcer was crying about on our last drive was definitely PI from the endzone shot those at home didn't see). AR did also miss quite a few. Was what it was and has been for the majority of the season. The curious question is with so many guys out, did it impact his timing at times with guys like Pouncey who he assuredly doesn't practice with too much and hung a ball up for him that was just short, but a different WR may have been in that spot on the route.
The running backs were great. Going into the game I had done research and talked about it on the podcast that in our 5 losses before the game Johnson had poor ypc's. Kentucky and LSU each had a long run that masked the poor ypc's unless you looked further. Example, LSU take out the one 40+ yard TD he was 12 carries for 18 yards, 1.5 ypc. That's 12 wasted plays in a shootout. Obviously, if it isn't a shootout, a long TD means more. In a shootout, can't be wasting 12 plays on 1.5 ypc. Based on looking at that, I determined our team goes as Johnson goes. Well, this game was the exception. He was 3.93 ypc outside of his 22 yard long and 5 ypc overall. It helped ETN was 5.25 ypc removing his long and 7.6 overall. These guys were great and ETN deserves extra credit for gaining momentum back with a big kickoff return after FSU's first TD.
The receiving corps/tight ends were mixed results. Only 3 guys caught balls and only 2 caught multiple balls. That is partly to be expected with so many guys out. However, after a big week last week it was weird that Reynolds disappeared. Douglas had multiple balls in his hands he failed to secure. Pearsall began the night on track to having an all-time game. He was also victimized by a few PI no calls though he earned a few too.
Overall the OL wasn't bad, but a few failures in situations did hurt. The biggest one I can think of was the last drive of the game. We called a play I didn't hate, a QB draw on 1st down. Eguakin, like too many times this season, missed his block in a situation where the runner would've had a long run. Seriously, lots of room for AR if he makes the block.
Wouldn't be fair to end without talking playcalling. The running backs did well in the first half and you give them 1 carry on the first 9 plays of the second half. That's ridiculous. No angle routes to take advantage of an aggressive FSU D with the RB's. No quick routes that weren't screens until late in the game and we hit those well. I know this is taboo, but maybe, just maybe, things could've been done to put the offense in a better position.
The defense was overall poor again. I can't say anything better than that when you give up 45 points and almost 500 yards. Make no mistake, Toney is on the hot seat next year. Giving up 31+ 5 times and 40+ 3 times. He had essentially the same pieces from last year and it shouldn't be asking a lot for the floor to be the same as the previous year. Instead, he hit a new floor. This spring, he needs to focus on tackling, tackling, and tackling. If the defense could tackle even 50% better UF wins by multiple scores. However, letting FSU off the hook and get TD's on multiple missed tackles on 3rd downs (they scored TD's on the drive after what would've been field goals at best) really hurt the Gators. I'm also not sure why on a key 4th down you have a DT spying an athletic QB, but that is exactly what Toney did. If anyone can justify that to me, please explain, I'd love to hear it.
We did get another turnover for 12 games this season with a turnover so that is silver lining. We also dropped a pick 6 again so good with the bad.
I won't make any big picture commentary further right now. Just that this defense cannot stay this bad.
It was the roller coaster season I thought it would be, but we took a few drops we shouldn't have and are kind of lucky we didn't take some drops we could have. We do have the highly enviable moral victory of being down 10+ in all of our losses, but coming back to at least 1 score at some point during those losses. Now to see what the bowl game looks like, the early signing period, and transfer portal.
Go Gators!
I hate losing to FSU. For me, a guy who grew up in the 90's they are our top rival. It sucks even worse because we lost all 4 games that could be considered rivalry games. LSU being the debatable one.
AR was definitely a mixed bag. Starting 5 for 7 and 3 TD's and ending up 9/27 but still almost threw for 200 yards. He had some great runs and some iffy decisions not to run. He whiffed on some throws and then through terrific strikes that receivers failed to hold onto. I'm still not sure why he can't throw screens and I'm also not sure why we try to run as many as we do as that might be the worst route he throws. In the first half we saw terrific touch on his first TD to Pearsall and excellent ball placement on the second. We saw him terribly overthrow Odom on the last 3rd down of the game. We saw him hit Douglas multiple times and Douglas not coming up with the catch including in between multiple defenders at the 5 on the last drive. I've said it all year, I expect scholarship receivers to be able to make tough catches at UF. We saw some missed PI calls (ABC had awful reviews on the broadcast, the Stadium had better/multiple angles of replays and that PI the announcer was crying about on our last drive was definitely PI from the endzone shot those at home didn't see). AR did also miss quite a few. Was what it was and has been for the majority of the season. The curious question is with so many guys out, did it impact his timing at times with guys like Pouncey who he assuredly doesn't practice with too much and hung a ball up for him that was just short, but a different WR may have been in that spot on the route.
The running backs were great. Going into the game I had done research and talked about it on the podcast that in our 5 losses before the game Johnson had poor ypc's. Kentucky and LSU each had a long run that masked the poor ypc's unless you looked further. Example, LSU take out the one 40+ yard TD he was 12 carries for 18 yards, 1.5 ypc. That's 12 wasted plays in a shootout. Obviously, if it isn't a shootout, a long TD means more. In a shootout, can't be wasting 12 plays on 1.5 ypc. Based on looking at that, I determined our team goes as Johnson goes. Well, this game was the exception. He was 3.93 ypc outside of his 22 yard long and 5 ypc overall. It helped ETN was 5.25 ypc removing his long and 7.6 overall. These guys were great and ETN deserves extra credit for gaining momentum back with a big kickoff return after FSU's first TD.
The receiving corps/tight ends were mixed results. Only 3 guys caught balls and only 2 caught multiple balls. That is partly to be expected with so many guys out. However, after a big week last week it was weird that Reynolds disappeared. Douglas had multiple balls in his hands he failed to secure. Pearsall began the night on track to having an all-time game. He was also victimized by a few PI no calls though he earned a few too.
Overall the OL wasn't bad, but a few failures in situations did hurt. The biggest one I can think of was the last drive of the game. We called a play I didn't hate, a QB draw on 1st down. Eguakin, like too many times this season, missed his block in a situation where the runner would've had a long run. Seriously, lots of room for AR if he makes the block.
Wouldn't be fair to end without talking playcalling. The running backs did well in the first half and you give them 1 carry on the first 9 plays of the second half. That's ridiculous. No angle routes to take advantage of an aggressive FSU D with the RB's. No quick routes that weren't screens until late in the game and we hit those well. I know this is taboo, but maybe, just maybe, things could've been done to put the offense in a better position.
The defense was overall poor again. I can't say anything better than that when you give up 45 points and almost 500 yards. Make no mistake, Toney is on the hot seat next year. Giving up 31+ 5 times and 40+ 3 times. He had essentially the same pieces from last year and it shouldn't be asking a lot for the floor to be the same as the previous year. Instead, he hit a new floor. This spring, he needs to focus on tackling, tackling, and tackling. If the defense could tackle even 50% better UF wins by multiple scores. However, letting FSU off the hook and get TD's on multiple missed tackles on 3rd downs (they scored TD's on the drive after what would've been field goals at best) really hurt the Gators. I'm also not sure why on a key 4th down you have a DT spying an athletic QB, but that is exactly what Toney did. If anyone can justify that to me, please explain, I'd love to hear it.
We did get another turnover for 12 games this season with a turnover so that is silver lining. We also dropped a pick 6 again so good with the bad.
I won't make any big picture commentary further right now. Just that this defense cannot stay this bad.
It was the roller coaster season I thought it would be, but we took a few drops we shouldn't have and are kind of lucky we didn't take some drops we could have. We do have the highly enviable moral victory of being down 10+ in all of our losses, but coming back to at least 1 score at some point during those losses. Now to see what the bowl game looks like, the early signing period, and transfer portal.
Go Gators!
