Thoughts of the Week: Week 2

The season finally started and it went off with more success than just about anyone could have predicted. If I told you that the Gators would score 65 points, allow zero points, would have Clay Burton catch the most passes, and they would have two plays go greater than 70 yards you would have called me crazy – you would have liked to see it, but you wouldn’t expect it. Well, welcome to the Kurt Roper era in Gainesville and welcome to a new and improved Florida Gators football team.

Sure, it was “just” Eastern Michigan, but Florida played “just” Georgia Southern last year and lost. And even though it was “just” Eastern Michigan, the Gators looked like a brand new team, one that should give Florida faithful some excitement – something they have seldom felt over the last few seasons.

This week we finally have some statistics to analyze, a game to look forward to, and a week of thoughts behind us.

Not Your Same Gators

It has been five years since the Florida Gators offense was exciting, and four offensive coordinators later, they have finally found someone that will make them exciting again.

Looking back on Saturday’s game against Eastern Michigan, you saw some of the similar firepower you saw under Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier, with the Gators amassing 655 total yards and a total yards per play average of 7.62, a total they haven’t had since week three of 2012 – the only time it happened during the Will Muschamp era. Of those 655 yards, 396 yards came in the air, something you haven’t seen since the 2009 Sugar Bowl against Cincinnati. Moreover, the Gators had two plays go for greater than 70 yards against Eastern Michigan eclipsing the total they had last season (one) in the first game, and in fact is good for third in the country this season, behind Arizona and UAB whom have both played an extra game. Florida’s offensive statistics are ridiculous ranking 2nd in the country in total offense, 4th in the country in passing offense, 2nd in the country in scoring offense, and 22nd in the country in rushing offense. This is the first time Florida has had an offense ranked in the top-10 of the country since 2009.

On the defensive side of the ball, it was similar Will Muschamp defense They shutout Eastern Michigan, something they haven’t done since shutting on Jacksonville in November 2012. (This shutout was the fourth shutout of Will Muschamp’s career at UF.) UF looked strong in all facets of defense and are currently ranked 1st in total defense, 1st in scoring defense, 1st in passing defense, and 17th in rushing defense. Furthermore, with five turnovers, the Gators had their highest turnover margin in the Muschamp era and had a +5 turnover margin for the first time since September 11, 2009 when they played South Florida. That +5 turnover margin is also good for tops in the country.

In nearly every traceable category the Gators are near the top nationally, except in penalties (121), 4th Down Conversions (50) and redzone conversions (65). Overall, very solid performance and something that gives Gators fans a ton of hope.

 

Also Not Your Same Kentucky Wildcats

When Mark Stoops became the Head Coach at Kentucky, he talked about building a contender and making football a priority at a school that is focused almost exclusively on basketball. While his first season at Kentucky was not anything to write home about after going 2-10, he proved he was a good recruiter and that there would be a new product on the football field.

Kentucky has already matched their win total from last season with a 59-14 win over UT-Martin and a 20-3 win over Ohio. While neither team is supposed to be very good this season, they still look to be a better team this season over last season. Kentucky currently is ranked 21st in total offense, a drop from 8th after the first week – a drastic improvement over last season where they were ranked 109th. Further, they are ranked 39th in total defense, a huge improvement over 92nd from last season. Their best defensive ranks come in scoring defense (6th) and turnover margin (2nd), while the rest fall in the 39-61 range – an above average ranking.

Further analysis shows that they dropped from 1st in the country in sacks allowed down to 96th after playing Ohio when they allowed five, something that Florida needs to capitalize on. (Florida is ranked 25th in the country in sacks per game with three).

Looking at just two weeks of stats, which provides nothing definitive, we saw a big drop from Kentucky after their second game against Ohio, perhaps regressing to their mean, in scoring offense, passing offense, total offense, sacks, sacks allowed, and red zone conversions, while at the same time they did improve in scoring defense, rushing defense, passing defense and total defense.

We are still too early in the season to be able to determine much of anything from the statistics, but soon we will!

Gators in National Rankings

Kelvin Taylor – Rushing Yards/Game – 97th
Jeff Driskel – Passing Yards/Game – 49th
Treon Harris – Passing Yards/Game – 97th
Demarcus Robinson – Receiving Yards/Game – 10th
Quinton Dunbar – Receiving Yards/Game – 63rd
Mark Herndon – Receiving Yards/Game – 78th
Andre Debose – Punt Return Yards/Game – 1st
Frankie Velez – Kicking Percentage – 1st
Frankie Velez – Scoring Per Game – 4th
Neiron Ball – Sacks/Game – 3rd
Alex McCalister – Sacks/Game – 26th
Neiron Ball – Tackles for Loss/Game – 8th
Duke Dawson – Interceptions/Game – 3rd
Neiron Ball – Fumbles Forced/Game – 3rd
Caleb Brantley – Fumbles Forced/Game – 3rd

 

Not Sure What The Future Holds For McGee…

When Jake McGee went down on Saturday, it was a tough loss for a team that was truly hoping to have a great tight end threat, and while Clay Burton stepped up nicely into the role, it still hurts the Gators that McGee was lost – especially only a few snaps into his first game.

Although Will Muschamp gave no timeline on recovery for McGee’s broken leg, it is suspected that McGee will miss the entire year.

So what does that mean for the fifth year senior tight end?

While Will Muschamp remained mum on the what the future could hold for McGee, I am not sure he has the option to stay, something that Muschamp made seem like was option through a “medical hardship”.

I opened the 2014-2015 NCAA Student Athlete manual and was drawn to three different by-laws, and I took the liberty to bold the parts that pertain to McGee.

12.8.1 Five-Year Rule. A student-athlete shall complete his or her seasons of participation within five calendar years from the beginning of the semester or quarter in which the student-athlete first registered for a minimum full-time program of studies in a collegiate institution, with time spent in the armed services, on official religious missions or with recognized foreign aid services of the U.S. government being excepted. For international students, service in the armed forces or on an official religious mission of the student’s home country is considered equivalent to such service in the United States. (Revised: 4/2/10, 7/31/14)

12.8.1.5.1 WaiverCriteria. A waiver of the five-year period of eligibility is designed to provide a student- athlete with the opportunity to participate in four seasons of intercollegiate competition within a five-year period. This waiver may be granted, based upon objective evidence, for reasons that are beyond the control of the student-athlete or the institution, which deprive the student-athlete of the opportunity to participate for more than one season in his or her sport within the five-year period. The Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement reserves the right to review requests that do not meet the more-than-one-year criteria detailed in this bylaw for circumstances of extraordinary or extreme hardship. A student-athlete who has exhausted his or her five years of eligibility may continue to practice (but not compete) for a maximum of 30 consecutive calendar days, provided the student-athlete’s institution has submitted a waiver request. The student- athlete may not commence practice until the institution has filed such a request. Further, if such a request is denied prior to exhausting the 30-day practice period, the student-athlete must cease all practice activities upon the institution’s notification of the denial. (Revised: 4/17/91, 1/11/94, 8/10/94, 10/12/95, 8/12/97, 4/27/00, 1/9/06, 7/30/10, 7/31/14)

12.8.1.5.1.2 Circumstances Within Control. Circumstances that are considered to be within the control of the student-athlete or the institution and cause a participation opportunity to be used include, but are not limited to, the following: (Adopted: 8/10/94, Revised: 10/12/95, 10/9/96, 7/30/10, 7/31/14)
(a) A student-athlete’s decision to attend an institution that does not sponsor his/her sport, or decides not to participate at an institution that does sponsor his/her sport;
(b) An inability to participate due to failure to meet institutional/conference or NCAA academic requirements, or disciplinary reasons or incarceration culminating in or resulting from a conviction;
(c) Reliance by a student-athlete upon misinformation from a coaching staff member;
(d) Redshirt year;
(e) An inability to participate as a result of a transfer year in residence or fulfilling a condition for
restoration of eligibility; and
(f) A student-athlete’s lack of understanding regarding the specific starting date of his or her five- year period of eligibility.

After reading the by-laws I am not sure McGee stands a chance to receive a medical hardship like Andre Debose did, because he was not redshirted the first time because of injury.

Sure, McGee can apply, but his career in Gainesville could be over before it began.

 

Current Heisman Rankings

Of course, subject to change, but if I were to have a vote for the Heisman Trophy, which I don’t, and had to vote today, which I wouldn’t, this is how I would vote:

  1. Todd Gurley
  2. Marcus Mariota
  3. Kenny Hill

 

Must Read Articles of the Week

Roger Parloff | Peter Thiel disagrees with you

Brooke Lea Foster | Dads Want to Have It All, Too

Rick Maese | Adam Schefter is NFL reporting machine

David Kushner | The Masked Avengers: How Anonymous incited online vigilantism from Tunisia to Ferguson.

Maria Konnikova | The Hazards of Going on Autopilot

Song of the Week

This Friday, I plan on buying tickets to the Garth Brooks concert in Jacksonville in October – someone I have always wanted to see.

Ergo, this week’s song will be on my favorite Garth Brooks songs. (Unfortunately, YouTube does have much Garth Brooks by Garth Brooks, he doesn’t allow much of his music to be played out of his control.)

So let’s go back to 1982…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuO3FhA3PWc

 

Daniel Thompson
Dan Thompson is a 2010 graduate of the University Florida, graduating with a degree in Economics and a degree in Political Science. During this time at UF, Dan worked three years for the Florida Gator Football team as a recruiting ambassador. Dan dealt daily with prospects, NCAA guidelines, and coaching staff. Dan was also involved in Florida Blue Key, Student Government and Greek Life. Currently, Dan oversees the IT consulting practice of a Tampa-based company. Dan enjoys golfing, country music, bourbon, travel, oysters, and a medium-rare steak. Dan can be found on Twitter at @DK_Thompson.

4 COMMENTS

  1. It’s just plain silly to list ANY statistics about Florida or Kentucky since neither team has played a good team yet. To give you an example of why Florida’s game against eastern Michigan is meaningless, is that Arkansas scored 73 points against it’s chosen victim last week. Alas, they have actually played a good team o go along with the cupcake, so we actually have some valid data on how good a team they are. Maybe UF is number one in all the land, but you have to play somebody before you can make that claim. Maybe Kentucky is a good team this year, but just like Florida, the only valid data is from last year. That tells you that both Florida and Kentucky are still bad teams. Maybe Both or one of them changes that fact this year. But we won’t know until either plays a good team. This next game doesn’t qualify, since neither Florida or Kentucky has yet done anything to prove that they have improved to the point of being called a good team. Florida gets it’s chance September 20. Until then, this listing of statistics from a meaningless game don’t say anything except that Florida can do the same thing many teams can do, like Arkansas, namely, beat up on a paid stiff.

    • Snowprint – one of the points to this weekly article is to provide the readers with statistical information…this was communicated to everyone a couple weeks ago. Whether you appreciate it or not, statistical information will be provided each and every week as a courtesy……….feel free to gloss over that portion of each weeks article…….similar to the way so many members choose to gloss over any comment you make.

    • Oh where to begin….
      1.
      “Maybe Kentucky is a good team this year, but just like Florida, the only valid data is from last year. That tells you that both Florida and Kentucky are still bad teams.”
      To say that because a team was bad *last* year means they are still a bad team *this* year is, well, ridiculous. I would even go so far as to say that it’s even more ridiculous than someone who boasts that Florida is “back” after beating up on EMU. Although, I will say that beating up on EMU means something. I’ll get to that in a second, though. To say that looking at data from *last* season as the only “valid data” is a mistake as teams may change drastically from one year to another. Just look at preseason polls. Especially a team that has the talent the Gators appear to have.

      2.
      “Maybe Both or one of them changes that fact this year. But we won’t know until either plays a good team. This next game doesn’t qualify, since neither Florida or Kentucky has yet done anything to prove that they have improved to the point of being called a good team. Florida gets it’s chance September 20.”
      You have now begun to contradict yourself. You have also claimed many times on this very website that we won’t know anything until the Alabama game, but then say in your most recent post that Florida is still a bad team. How can you not know anything yet, but then claim it as a fact that Florida is still a bad team? Maybe pick *one* side of the argument? Either we know nothing until the Alabama game, or Florida is still a bad team.

      3.
      “Until then, this listing of statistics from a meaningless game don’t say anything except that Florida can do the same thing many teams can do….”
      Now this can be argued, but isn’t it a step in the right direction that Florida is now able to do something other good-ish teams can do? We weren’t able to beat up on inferior opponents the previous three years, and most certainly not last season. Not like we saw on Saturday, anyway. Sure, the statistics are inflated, but since you’re so big on *facts*, the fact is that the Florida team from *last* year that was in *fact* bad was never able to do what this Florida team did on Saturday. Maybe this team won’t win 10 games or an SEC title, but Saturday showed improvement. A move in the right direction. If nothing else the fact that we attempted multiple deep passes in one game and that Driskel’s passes on the deep balls no longer seemed filled with helium shows at least some change. I could go on and on about the differences we saw on Saturday, but I feel this is running long now. To argue against the differences both small and large that you saw on Saturday you’re either being deliberately contrary, or you didn’t watch the game.