The good, the bad and the ugly: Florida Gators vs. Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Despite a sloppy first half of football Alabama was able to take control of the game in the second half and outclassed the Florida Gators to the tie of a 42-21 drubbing at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from Florida’s first conference loss of the season.

The Good: Florida was able to create turnovers

The Gators offense was lifeless in Tuscaloosa. All 21 of Florida’s points came as a direct result of the defense creating a turnover. Actually, Florida’s offense only accounted for 14 points because Keanu Neal’s scoop and score — the first fumble recovery for a touchdown by the Gators since Jaye Howard accomplished the feat against Kentucky in 2011. Neiron Ball forced the fumble and Neal was able to take it 49 yards into the end zone.

Marcus Maye forced a fumble that Vernon Hargreaves recovered in the first quarter. Leon Orr forced a fumble on Alabama’s first drive of the second quarter that was recovered by Dante Fowler Jr. Ball also tipped a pass at the line of scrimmage that Antonio Morrison was able to come away with.

Four turnovers against the No. 3 team in the country is no small feat and a positive to take away from this game.

The bad: Jeff Driskel

Jeff Driskel’s final stat line reads: 9-28, 93 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions.

Treon Harris didn’t play a single snap tonight, the second game in a row that Harris hasn’t played. With Driskel stringing together two bad performances together it had fans on social media calling for a quarterback change — even a very famous alumni weighed in.
https://mobile.twitter.com/EmmittSmith22/status/513458747289907200

The Ugly: The defense

We credited the defense for being able to take the ball away but they had a terrible night on third down (Alabama converted 12-of-16 attempts) and gave up a school record 645 yards of offense.

The defensive tipping point was when Alabama was able to run a 16-play, 66 yard touchdown drive that ate up 7:15 of the clock and gave the Tide a 28-21 lead. Florida never recovered from that point.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

4 COMMENTS

  1. Nick, as always, well said. I was so upset we didn’t change QB’s and so amazed we allowed so many bloody yards I completely forgot we were such ball hawks during the game. Great stuff on the turnovers. We should have a new QB, and let Driskel earn his place back, if he can, by fighting for it. With Driskel we’re so excited when he actually makes a throw and it works!!After all, he is a QB…Bama did anything they wanted, to the tune of 645 yards…I think even Kiffin caught some balls…oh well. Frustrating.

  2. I wasn’t surprised by anything except Alabama turning the ball over four times. One silver lining is hat, based on the results we have seen so far this season, that it’s possible, still, for UF to have a good year. Today Indiana, a team that lost to Bowling Green last week, beat Missouri at Missouri. South Carolina struggled with Vanderbilt, last week Boston College easily beat Southern Cal. My point is that it appears that anyone can beat anyone this year, which means that, as bad as they have looked, there’s still a puncher’s chance that UF can turn it around. For that to happen though, I think the Jeff Driskel experiment needs to end immediately. I think the excuses have run out for this guy. UF is at crossroads, lose at Tennessee and the entire season can go down the tubes just like last year. I warned earlier that UF’s coaches and players were acting much too cocky at the SEC media days. It’s one thing to have confidence, but if it’s a false c, one that isn’t based on reality, it’s very hard to pick up the pieces when you find out that it was a mirage. Losing a game like this, where the score doesn’t reflect the total domination of Florida is a serious blow to the psyche of this team. Last year’s team wasn’t strong enough to overcome adversity, we’ll see if this team is better able to adapt.

  3. I’m sure the Gator coaching staff is in a meeting room this morning contemplating the thought of Harris taking over. Not sure how I feel about giving a freshman keys to the car just yet, but with the way Driskel played it would be hard to argue. His passes were never really on target and it’s not like he didn’t have the protection either. I thought the OL did a decent job. Roper seems to be dialing up some good plays and receivers are getting open…he just can’t get it to them…..Also, the defense is just as much to blame. Busted coverages again for 2 huge plays? Seriously. And you would think with that bootleg roll to the right that bought Sims an extra second or two we could have had an answer by halftime…guess not. If Jeff starts against Tenn the same way he did against Bama and KY, Muschamp needs to pull the trigger and make a change. Our athletes can match theirs and I thought we held our own on the line of scrimmage thru the first 3 quarters, but when there is that much of a gap in QB play between 2 teams you’re going to lose.