Gator Country Report: Florida Gators Sports News August 30

Florida Gators In the Past

August 30th is the earliest day (not counting bowl games played at the end of a season) that the Florida Gators football teams has played a regular season game. The Gators opponent for the game was the Georgia Southern Eagles who were coached by Erk Russell. The Gators did better in their first game against the upstart Eagle beating them by a score of 38-14 than the did the last time they played the Eagles.

Since that game on August 30th the Gators have only played just five more games in the month of August and are currently undefeated in the month as they have also won contests against Southern Mississippi, San Jose State, Hawaii, Southwestern Louisiana and University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

Last season Idaho would have been the seventh August game, but of course that game was canceled as it was called after one play because of weather (lightning).

The largest margin of victory for an August 30th game was a score of 65-3 in 2003 to start Coach Zook’s second season with the Gators. The closest game we have played on August 30 would have been a 21-6 win over Southern Mississippi.

 This Season

The Gators do not open their season this year until September 5th. This week I will look back each day on the games that have taken place on August 30-September 4. As the days pass and the season deepens I will not only look at the past, but on Fridays will look at the game that will played the following day. Just as a point of information I will bring past scores on that date to be played as well as the opponent we are playing.

Hopefully this will be a fun place to be as we journey through this 2015 season, the 110th year of Gator football with a brand new start with a start with a new head coach.

 Today in Gator Sports

Each morning I will name the events of the day to be played along with where you can find media coverage. On forum comments for this article on the Bull Gator Den I will post some news articles and links for information on the games and matches to be played that day.
Sunday, August 30, 2015

1:00 Soccer against Florida State (defending national champions). The game will be on WatchESPN along with live coverage on SEC Network. The Seminoles are ranked #1 and come into the match 3-0. The Gators are 3-2 on the young season and are ranked #14.

After the soccer match you can turn your attention to Gator Volleyball as the Gators will take on American in Washington DC. The match will be covered on ESPN Radio 95.3 FM/850 AM out of Gainesville. Live video on Gatorvision.

 Looking Ahead in Florida Football

Also each day I will take a look at some statistics, today and maybe each day this week we will look at offensive offense or Gator football from 2011-2014.

One of the aspects I like to look at after a game and in anticipation of the next game are the statistics that I think are important for the Gators. As a fan it is about making adjustments. By that I want the Gators to exceed their offensive production this season by at least 15%.

While that may sound like quite a bit, when you look at the components of what makes up total offense it is not that significant of an improvement and most fans will want more.

However, with the players we have coming back, the new coaches having to teach the system and the question marks that were left after the 2014 season that would be at least a good place to start.
Scoring: last year we averaged just a hair over 30 (30.2) points a game, so a 15% improvement is just 4.5 points more or just about 35 points a game.

Admittedly, a 15% increase in passing yardage will not make our passing game what we need it to be, probably not even close. Last season we average 179.9, so not even 180 yards. The 15% will only get the Gators a 206 yard average.  However, with an unproven quarterback,  receiving corp that has not showing it is good for the long haul and an offensive line that most everyone questions, 15% could be about right.

What the Gator fan has to hope for is that the coaching was as bad last year as many suspected and by not just trying to win by playing keep away the Gators will improve their offense as much as anything else.

Last season the rushing game was good for 187.7 so the 15% addition there would mean about 215 yards a game and move the total offense to over 400 yards per game.  Maybe that is an amount that would get the Gators to win those games that they could not the last two seasons.

 Happened in Sports August 30!

  • August 30, 1988 Tennis star Chris Everett weds skier Andy Mills
  • August 30 1990 Ken Griffey & Ken Griffey Jr become 1st father & son to play on the same team (Seattle Mariners), both single in the 1st inning.
  • August 30. 1991 Dan O’Brien sets US decathlon record with 8,812 points

 A #1 Tune this date

Obviously there are more than one #1 tunes this date so to keep everyone from hearing something from my age group each day, I will choose the song that was #1 this date the longest.

Whether you’ve got your own teeth or not keep smiling everybody!

 

gatorgrowl
David Shepherd has been a member of Gator Country since 1996. He retired from CSX Railroad in 2001 after nearly 30 years of service. Since that time he has worked for Gator Country, Waycross Journal Herald and First Baptist Church in Paris. He loves listening to his grandchildren plqying music. He has been married to Donna for 42 years.