Crunching the Numbers: Florida Gators vs. Vanderbilt Commodores

It wasn’t a pretty football game. It wasn’t a game that many coaches, players, or fans will look at and be particularly proud. But it was a victory for the Florida Gators.

In what many considered to be a trap game – a game sandwiched in between a rough loss and rivalry game at 11:00 AM against a team with a solid defense – the Gators found a way to win, despite mistakes and that’s what matters. The Gators continue their streak of wins over Vanderbilt in Nashville – having not lost since 1988.

But we cannot just gloss over this game. Florida played poorly on offense, struggled with play calling, and looked uninspired and fundamentally weak. The Gators will now head to their annual SEC West rivalry game against LSU with a 4-1 record, having struggled the last six quarters.

But before heads back to the Swamp to play LSU, let’s take a look at the Gators win over Vanderbilt.

 

Offensive Struggles

I’ll put it bluntly: the offense is offensive. The offensive line struggled all day. The play calling was strange. The offensive moved at glacial speeds. And for some reason, the coaching staff feels like they must play all four running backs, despite two (Scarlett, Perine) looking much better than the other two.

I am not ignorant. I know if Luke Del Rio were playing, they would have likely played a bit better. But, to me, Florida looks undisciplined, under-prepared, and bland on offense.

I will give some credit to Vanderbilt’s defense, they played well, but much of that had to do with Florida playing poorly. Vanderbilt had averaged 0.75 sacks per game before playing Florida, had two and should have had a few more. They held Florida to only 236 yards on offense, after allowing an average of 500.67 against Middle Tennessee State, Georgia Tech, and Western Kentucky. But is that Vanderbilt suddenly knowing how to play defense? Or is that Florida really being struggling on offense?

But after watching Florida the past six quarters, I am worried. The Florida offense is not difficult. The playbook is straightforward and concepts are simple. With a coach that said he could win with his dog at quarterback, why is a fifth year senior struggling in the offense? Offensive linemen are struggling in zone blocking. Receivers aren’t able to get open.

I am a pretty optimistic guy and really like Jim McElwain, and also know how bad the team that he inherited was, but this is just not good right now. 105th in the red zone. 77th in total yards. 89th in yards per pass completion. 94th on 4th down conversion. 74th in percentage of plays that result in a touchdown or first down.

And what is happening in third quarters? In the last two games, the Gators have had five drives, 22 plays, go for 17 total yards – 0.77 yards per play…. And why the heck didn’t Jordan Scarlett touch the ball in the third quarter?

I hope that what we have seen is the result of missing your quarterback, not a sign of the season to come.

 

Offense

First, let’s get some negatives out of the way.

  • The Gators scored the fewest points in Nashville against Vanderbilt since 1988.
  • The Gators failed to reach 100 yards rushing against Vanderbilt for the first time since 2013 (a year that you never want to compare offensive output to).
  • The 2.63 yards per carry that the Gators averaged is their lowest in a regular season game since LSU last season.
  • Over the last two weeks, the Gators are averaging 44 less yards in the air and 103 yards on the ground.
  • This is the fifth time under Jim McElwain that the Gators have scored 14 or fewer points.
  • This is the sixth time in 11 games that the Gators have amassed less than 300 yards of offense.
  • The Gators rank 108th in the country in offensive explosiveness.

For some positives…

  • Jordan Scarlett (4.98) and Lamical Perine (5.24) are both averaging the most yards per carry (five plus carries per game) since Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey in 2011.
  • Gators aren’t throwing interceptions. Their 3-to-1 TD:INT ratio ranks 36th in the country. They ranked 56th in the country last season.
  • C’yontai Lewis tied his career high for catches and had the most yards in a game since his game against New Mexico State last season.
  • Antonio Callaway is averaging 5.0 catches per game. The Gators haven’t had a receiver close to that many catches per game since Aaron Hernandez (4.9) in 2009.

 

Defense

This defense again had a stellar performance and recovered nicely from their atrocious second half against Tennessee.

  • The Gators have had an interception in nine of their last 10 games and have had multiple interceptions in three games this season. Their opponent TD:INT ratio (0.5) ranks 7th in the country.
  • The Gators have 19 sacks on the season. Their 3.8 sacks per game rank 6th in the country and their 16% sack per opponent pass attempt ranks 1st They are causing opponents to have a turnover, sack, or tackle for loss 19.13% of plays.
  • The Gators only allow 9.2 pass completions per game – 1st in the country – allowing only 139.8 yards passing – 5th in the country.
  • The Gators allowed less than 150 yards passing for the 7th time in the last two years.
  • Opponents only average 2.9 points every time they enter their 40-yard line – 2nd in the country in fewest points.
  • Jabari Zuniga ranks 12th in the country in sacks (5), while Jordan Sherit ranks 64th with three.

 

Miscellaneous

  • In the weird stat category: The Gators rank 119th in fewest opponent penalty yards. They haven’t ranked better than 112th in this category since after the first game of last season.
  • The Gators average 32 more penalty yards per game than opponents.
  • Johnny Townsend ranks 3rd in the country in yards per punt (50.21), but is he potentially out-kicking coverage? Because the Gators are allowing 2.6 punt returns per game (117th in the country) for 8.54 yards per return.
  • Gators still struggle returning punts ranking 103rd in the country at 3.73 yards per return and rank 85th in the country in kickoff return yardage.
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.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Mason commented in his weekly press conference prior to UF that he was glad to play a traditional O, this is why the Tech, MT, etc., racked up all kinds of yards, our O is way too predictable, especially our running game that goes out of the same set and just tries to run downhill. It’s equivalent to third and long when a defense can “pin their ears back” and rush the passer. The defense has the advantage and puts the OL behind pre-snap.
    We have to be able to run from different looks, pro-style is fine but when you can’t lineup and knock the piss out of someone then you have to be creative, this is football. That part is the most disappointing.