Florida Gators -- Week #6

Ouch, take 2.

Let’s start with the good. Jacoby Brisset. I thought he looked incredibly smooth out there. Not just for a true freshman starting his first game, but as an overall athlete all of his movements were so coordinated and fluid. I’m thinking there’s going to be quite a battle for the starting quarterback position come spring and next fall. His first interception came on a route that Jordan Reed gave up on and his second interception will hopefully be a learning experience; put the ball where your guy gets it or no one gets it. I thought it was kind of funny that we were running so much option. I know Charlie Weis had to plan with the athletes he had available but it still made me chuckle at the irony. The sad part is that it looked better than it did last year under Urban!

The other good that stood out to me was Dominique Easley. No newsflash here but he’ll be playing on Sundays. He is so fast off of the ball! He is regularly the first lineman making contact with the opposing lineman. Sometimes he is so fast he seems to be across the line of scrimmage before the ball is even snapped, but never mind that part for now.

On to the bad. The defensive line was once again exposed. The only way to keep from getting worn out over 4 quarters is to make third-down stops early on. With LSU coming out so jacked up with the home crowd behind them, those early stops just weren’t happening. The “Mad Hatter” made a nice call on the second play of the game going deep when the Gators were surely selling out after a first play 13 yard run. Of course, the call was made to look all the better when Pop Saunders blew his deep middle coverage.

I have to call out the coaching here a little bit. This will sound like second-guessing but I promise you these were my thoughts before the outcomes of the plays:

On our third possession, down 14-0 on 4^th & 1. I loved the call to go for it even though it isn’t by the book. At the time it felt like 21-0 would not have felt any worse than 14-0. So no problems there. But later on in the same drive, faking the punt on 4^th & 6 did not seem necessary. I felt we had controlled the ball for a few minutes by making a couple of first downs and that things were calming down (at least from a fan’s point of view). It doesn’t matter that Burton probably should’ve made it, it was definitely not the right call.

The other coaching call I questioned was after the LSU punt after our failed fake punt. LSU pinned the Gators back at the 8 yard line but there was a procedure penalty against LSU. My thought was to add the 5 yards to the kick and take the ball at the 13 yard line. The best thing that could have happened by making them kick again was a touchback which would have been a 7 yard gain. Instead, LSU gets another chance and the punter ends up calling his own number and runs the ball into the end zone (which was subsequently called back to around the 25 yard line). I can’t say I knew that was going to happen, but from the television angle behind the punter, you could clearly see the entire left side of the special teams open up. Even though I was watching the game by myself, I said, “Uh-Oh,” out loud as I saw both guys who were covering the left gunner just turn and take off.

Here’s something that I wasn’t sure about. How did LSU get the ball to start the second half AND get fourth-quarter wind? LSU won the toss and deferred until the second half. In the second half they chose to receive the ball, of course. That left the Gators to decide direction. Shouldn’t they have chosen to go against the wind in the third quarter in hopes of having the wind at their backs should a last-second field goal be necessary? Maybe they just didn’t want to kick off into the wind to start the half? LSU made the same choice in the first half (chose to kick off with the wind) so maybe I’m way off on that strategy?

Penalties! Enough with the penalties! Do all of those encroachment/offsides penalties reflect on the coaching staff or the players? Whoever’s discipline problem it is, fix that shit!

And finally, shouldn’t a major Division I program have a better punter than what the Gators have? Can Chas Henry grow a 'stache and re-enroll for four years?

Just Joe

Florida Gators -- Week #3

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!"

Florida Gators -- Week 2 Impression

Having watched this game on television, what made the biggest impression on me can be summed up in two words... Kristina Akra! Apparently she's a former Gator & Heat dancer. I'll leave the googling to the readers.

Okay, I know it's hard to complain after a 39-0 shutout, which is pretty close to the 41-3 score last week, but I definitely feel like the team took a step backwards. I would be feeling much better if this had been game #1.

The defense was exposed a little more this week against UAB. The Gators had a heckuva time staying on side in the first quarter. I would have expected that in week one but not this week. They were bailed out on two calls that likely saved 10 points: the first was a holding call on UAB's first drive that stalled them out near field goal range and the second was of course the touchdown that was called back for an illegal shift. I feel like overall the defensive line still got a good bit of pressure and did well to stop the run. The secondary... well, let's just say that the two starting freshman looked like two starting freshman. It'll be interesting to see the defensive line next week when tackle Shariff Floyd returns from his two-game suspension.

The offense... maybe they should pretend that they are only allowed to score a touchdown from 20 yards or more away. Three short field goals in the first half against this team really isn't acceptable. With the schedule coming up, it's hard enough getting into the red zone but when you get there you need 7s not 3s. Again, it didn't much matter in this game but I'm trying to apply this to future SEC games. 4-12 on third-down conversions was a big problem as well. I was very excited to see Trey Burton so involved this week. I know he was injured during the game last week but watching Mr. Do Everything in action is really special; from running the dive option to trucking over some poor DB who must've been exhausted from earlier trying to keep up with Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps. I love watching those guys run. Chris Rainey scares me a little because when he's spinning like a gyroscope the ball gets a little loose. Ironically enough, his fumble took place when he was carrying the ball high and tight. The offensive line kept Brantley pretty clean, except when he was blasted on the first play of the game (the flea flicker). It was cool to see Charlie Weis open up the playbook a little just to give Tennessee a few things to prepare for.

The special teams was again very good. Another huge runback to start the game, plenty of field goals and even a punt or two! The only thing that bothered me a little was none of UAB's 6 punts were returned; not even the 47 yarder. Pretty minor but it would be nice to save a few yards there.

Okay, that's all of my nitpicking for this week. Bring on Tennessee!

Just Joe