After a 33-23 victory in the Swamp over a game Tennessee team, a text I received from one of my Gator buddies sums up my feelings quite well, "Should've been by more but I'll take it!"
With 3 touchdowns and 4 field goals, the red zone/near red zone problems are still there, obviously. Way too many penalties! The freshman in the secondary were still freshmen after 2 games, go figure. And some questionable playcalling. Those are the only 4 gripes I can think of at the moment. The first two are pretty big complaints because they WILL cost the Gators victories over better teams. And although the secondary is young, the only way to improve is to play. Even with a promising season ahead, I'm already excited to see this defense for the next two years! As for the playcalling, it seemed like once it was 16-0, Charlie was more interested in showing off (reverse pass from the wildcat) than continuing what was successful. Of course, at that point he may have been feeling the pressure to score a touchdown after 1 touchdown and 3 field goals.
The offensive line looked stout, especially in the passing game. Sure there were a couple of sacks, but the rest of the plays Brantley stayed relatively clean. I'm not really sure I can say enough about Chris Rainey. I guess the most succinct thing I can say is he should be in the Heisman discussion. I know it's early and I know he splits time, but he does it all; over 100 yards rushing, over 100 yards receiving, returning punts and even blocking one this game (not to mention the blocked punt he returned for a touchdown). He definitely deserves consideration.
Special teams again looked great save one lousy punt from out of the end zone. Sturgis remains perfect on field goals and both coverage teams look superb.
All in all, I'll take that first SEC victory of the year!
Just Joe
PS The hardest part about writing about the Gators is not saying "we" and "us!"
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