Gator Country

Florida Gators quarterback Jeff Driskel stares down a great deal of history every time he takes the practice field. / Gator Country photo by Ben Cornfield

It Was the Best of Games; It Was the Worst of Games

Or at least that seems to be the opinion of Gator Nation, depending on who you ask. And both may be correct. There was the 38-point win over an SEC opponent and a blowout of an SEC foe — the first time either had been done in twelve months — and the first shutout of an SEC opponent in 11 years. There were the three interceptions, including a pick-six, and both quarterbacks scored rushing touchdowns in the same game. But then there was Driskel’s first interception of the year, opening the game with two three-and-outs, taking four possessions to make our second first down or to score a touchdown and looking surprisingly vulnerable to the running game on defense. Given the pathetic nature of Kentucky’s start this year, highlighted by a loss to Western Kentucky the week before, if someone had just caught the final score without having seen the game, the 38-0 tally would have been a tad baffling. How did Florida manage to score so little? Only six more points than Louisville or WKU managed. If one only looked in the box score, there would be similar curiosity over how the Wildcats managed 159 yards on the ground against a stout Florida defense.

But that’s why they play the games, as they say, and also why you have to watch the game to understand what may appear incomprehensible from the box score. As we know, Kentucky was averaging 322 yards passing per game, making it the league’s top passing attack, and the Gators staff prepared the team to defend against an aerial assault from Maxwell Smith. As it turned out, Mr. Smith went to Gainesville with a bandaged up shoulder and did not play. The Gators still rightly anticipated a passing attack, so they came out playing a lot of nickel package and rarely kept more than six defenders in the box. That helped facilitate a lot of open real estate for the Wildcats rushing attack in the first half, especially attacking the middle of the field where the Gators often had only one linebacker. But their backup signal caller Morgan Newton (or Newton Morgan, who could say?) was not up to the task of throwing the ball and the coaches simply adjusted to a more traditional run defense and the yards on the ground started to dry up. The defense surrendered 5.3 yards per carry in the first half, including four runs of more than 10 yards, but held them to only 3.5 yards per carry in the second half until UK ran off a cosmetic, garbage time 13-yarder on its last rushing play of the game when most Gators defenders already had one foot in the locker room.

More Football | RSS