Happy New Year to you and yours!
As we close the books on 2014 and begin to look forward to 2015, Gator fans should be cautiously optimistic of the future of the Gators football program – and the only reason I use the word cautiously is because I am not sure how dramatic of a change we will see immediately. After the close of the Will Muschamp-era after a 28-20 win over East Carolina in the Birmingham Bowl, head coach Jim McElwain officially takes control of the program in dire need of offensive improvement, and more importantly, fun. Fun, as in, something desirable to watch. Fun, as in, continually completely forward passes. Fun, as in, getting the ball to playmakers in space. Fun, as in, winning recruiting battles for offensive superstars. Fun, as in, win or lose, the game was not dreadful/boring to watch. Fun, as in, Florida Football.
Final Statistics on the Season
As per usual under Will Muschamp, the Gators finished with an atrocious offensive output. This season, the Gators finished 96th in the country in total offense, which means that during the four years under Will Muschamp the Gators ranked 105th, 104th, 115th, and 96th in total offense. Moreover, their passing offense finished 106th in the country, which follows a similar pattern of incredibly low numbers – 89th in 2011, 118th in 2012, and 109th in 2013. Finally, the Gators struggled mightily again on third down ranking 97th in the country, converting just 36.46% of their attempts. Under Will Muschamp, the Gators never converted than 38.73% of their third down conversions.
Their two highest bright spots on offense were in red zone conversions, which ranked 11th in the country with a 90.91% conversion percentage, up from last seasons 121st ranking at 69.77%; and in sacks allowed per game, which credit Mike Summers, for helping the Gators allow their fewest sacks per game since 2008.
On defense, the Gators finished out of the top-10 in total defense for the first time since 2007, mainly because their pass defense finished 42nd in the country – the lowest mark since also 2007. Moreover, coincidentally, the Gators allowed on average 21.1 points per game in 2014 and in 2013 – which means the average score of a Gators game was 30.3 to 21.1.
The Gators finished the season +.5 on turnover margin, by gaining 30 turnovers ( 14 fumbles, 16 interceptions) and losing the ball 24 times (10 fumbles, 14 interceptions). A +.5 is a +.67 gain over last season.
More charts and graphs coming in the next few weeks.
Upgrading at Coach at (Almost) Each Position
After reading the announcements of those have been formally announced, and those that have rumored, it looks like Jim McElwain is upgrading the staff at each position. Geoff Collins looks to be stronger than D.J. Durkin, if not solely because he ran a defense at a school that his heavily offensive and did it with success. Nussmeier has had more successes than Kurt Roper on his own. Randy Shannon is a much better linebacker coach than D.J. Durkin, Terrell Williams could be just as strong as Brad Lawing, other than not quite as much is known about him in recruiting. Greg Nord has over 33 years of collegiate experience with tight ends/running backs/special teams and will likely do much than Coleman Hutzler – it would be hard not to. Tim Skipper helped coach Ryan Mathews at Fresno State (when Nussmeier was the offensive coordinator) and has a very strong pedigree and was the Associate Head Coach at Colorado State. In my opinion, the running back coach is the least about coaching and is more about recruiting, strategizing, and scheming – something Skipper obviously has a lot of experience doing. Kirk Callahan is a heckuva recruiter and a growing coach in the college football ranks, and of course, comes with him the connection to Armwood High School, as Kirk’s father Sean, is the Head Coach.
We will never know the quality of staff by reading names off of a piece of paper, but based on what I can see, there are a lot of like-minded, smart, talented folks on this coaching staff.
Bullard Makes Right Decision
With the announcement that Jon Bullard will be continuing his playing career one more season at UF, I truly believe that he made the right decision.
This season Bullard made a huge gain in his personal numbers, but also in his impact on the field that numbers won’t show. However, since it is tough to talk about something qualitatively rather than quantitatively, lets look at his numbers.
Over the past three seasons, Bullard has seen his tackles rise from 27 total tackles in 2012, to 33 in 2013, to 52 tackles this season, with his last six games averaging 5.33 tackles per game. Moreover, Bullard had 8.5 tackles for loss this season, which is more than his 2012 and 2013 totals combined (7.5). Bullard also had 2.5 sacks, 12 quarterback hurries, and two passes broken up – all career highs.
Bullard, however, still has areas to improve including breaking off of his defender, bursting out of his initial first step, and his slightly improving his pad level. All in all, Bullard was a mid-round pick and has everything to gain, and not much to lose, by returning to UF and being the leader of the defensive line. And with Caleb Brantley, Jay-nard Bostwick, Gerald Willis, Joey Ivie, Khari Clark, Thomas Holley, Alex McCalister, Bryan Cox, and others, it should be an outstanding defensive line.
Must Read Articles of the Week
- Brad Wolverton | Confessions of a Fixer
- Teddy Wayne | The Unending Anxiety of an ICYMI World
- Brook Larmer | Inside a Chinese Test-Prep Factory
- Andrew Marantz | King of Clickbait
- Sam Quinones | The End of Gangs
Song of the Week
As you guys know, I have been big on Will Hoge recently. I have listened to him for years, but it wasn’t really until recently that I began really diving into his music, his lyrics, and the meanings in them. I think anybody that listens to any type of music can find something that they like Will Hoge.
Didn’t michigan just hire harbaugh, snowflame? How many recruits have committed to michigan since that big name hire?