Gator Country

Coach Charlie Strong / TIM CASEY

Finish is one of the most popular words used in the coaching community. The first quarter of Saturday's game with Hawaii was chock full of mental mistakes, timing issues and missed tackles by Florida. You’d have thought the Gators were the team playing at 6:30 a.m. Honolulu time. By the time the final whistle sounded for the half, Florida had a 28-0 lead. By the time the final whistle blew, the Gators had finished off the Warriors, 56-10.

The first quarter was sloppy, rife with mental mistakes that led to five penalties, poor execution and missed tackles. The Florida offense ran just 10 plays for 77 yards and was unable to get into rhythm. That certainly didn’t do the defense any favors. The Gators were prepared to go for it one fourth and one at the Hawaii 41 yard line on their first possession, but a false start on receiver Riley Cooper set the ball back five yards and head coach Urban Meyer was forced to punt the ball back to Hawaii.

The defense racked up four penalties including three offsides violations.  Hawaii ran 17 plays for 72 yards. Those four penalties accounted for four of the Warriors seven first downs in the opening quarter.

The quarter ended on a positive note when Tebow hit tight end Tate Casey for 34 yards down the left sideline. Tebow added a terrific eight-yard run in the Warriors red zone from the nine-yard line. The Heisman Trophy winner started right and ran left using a nice stiff arm on a Hawaii defender before stepping out of bounds a few feet from the goal line.

The play energized the Florida offense and the 90,575 gathered in The Swamp. Big plays were the difference in this game. And, in my opinion, Tebow’s red zone run seemed to be the play that swung the momentum to the Orange and Blue. And they never relinquished it.

One play later, junior Brandon James ran the ball in from one yard out for the Gators first score.

The Florida defense immediately responded with some big plays of their own. Defensive end Jermaine Cunningham and cornerback Joe Haden sacked Hawaii quarterback Greg Alexander on first down for a nine yard loss. Alexander was intercepted by Major Wright at the 32 yard line and Wright returned it for the Gators second score.

The defense picked up their second turnover when Alexander lost the handle and fumbled. The ball bounced into the hands of Haden.  In fact, the Gators defense picked off four Hawaii passes, returning two for touchdowns and gobbled up a pair of fumbles. Creating turnovers was one of the pre-season goals for this unit. Those turnovers were the second key to today’s victory.

There was a third key to Florida’s 56-10 victory over Hawaii --- coaching. Who were today’s stars? It seems perfectly fair to say that Ahmad Black, Lawrence Marsh, Major Wright, and Joe Haden looked vastly improved. Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps looked like they had been launched by a rocket when they ran the ball. What do all these guys have in common? These guys have all benefitted from coaching changes that have shuffled the staff and brought in new coaches Vance Bedford, Kenny Carter and Dan McCarney. It was a great start for these assistant coaches.

You can’t coach speed like that of Demps, Rainey and Brandon James, but good coaching is putting players in position to win and the Gators staff did just that.

Would you like one more reason to acknowledge the Florida staff? There was no Percy Harvin, Jim Tartt, Brandon Spikes, Aaron Hernandez, and a limited Emmanuel Moody, who sprained his left ankle on his only carry of the game. 

Three Keys to Winning - Big Plays, Turnovers, and Coaching.

What must they correct before taking the field against Miami?

• The Florida defense must do a better job of wrapping-up and tackling the ball carriers. Warriors running backs Leon Wright-Jackson and Daniel Libre broke tackles on occasions early in the game. That was especially true after hauling in shovel passes. 

• The Gators need to avoid costly mental mistakes. Offsides penalties are simply unacceptable. Again, many of the players committing these errors were inexperienced, but you can bet the patience of coaching staff will wear thin quickly next game.

• Florida must come out against Miami and take control early. As I noted, the Gators didn’t take control of this game until the second quarter. You can’t afford to allow Miami or Tennessee to gain any confidence in thinking they can hang in there with Florida.

Was there a unit that should probably receive kudos for their efforts?

It’s a tie- cut the award in half and pass it out to the secondary and running backs. There were three areas that Florida coaches wanted to see improved- defensive line, secondary, and running backs.

Safeties Ahmad Black (2) and Major Wright picked off three of the four passes secured by the Gators secondary today. Cornerback Jacques Rickerson got the other interception. The gators secondary appeared to do a pretty good job in coverage today. There were certainly some missed coverages, but it was still very good for a season opener. Also, consider that the cornerbacks are coached now by Vance Bedford, while the safeties are now coached full-time by Chuck Heater, who takes over for Doc Holliday.

The Florida running backs ran for 255 yards on just 38 carries for an average of 6.7 yards per carry. Demps and Rainey broke loose for 134 yards and needed only eight carries to do so. Obviously some of that credit goes out to the offensive line, but even when the gap was covered, the backs found the seam.

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