Wow, what a day. After the Florida Gators last game, I started my column with “Well that sure was a fun day.” And I bookended that opening paragraph by answering the question of how often this happens: “Not very often.”
How often what happens? Well you may recall that Florida beat up an Eastern division rival, Tennessee got humiliated by Alabama, Florida reclaimed the SEC East lead by virtue of those two games, our biggest rival Georgia was beaten at home by lowly Vanderbilt, Miami lost its second game in a row, FSU struggled mightily to beat a terrible ACC bottom feeder, and Notre Dame lost.
Well, maybe when I said it doesn’t happen very often, I spoke too soon.
Because not only did it happen again Saturday, it was even better. Florida rolled another SEC East foe, but this time it was our biggest rival of all, Georgia, knocking out two of the previous benchmarks with one game, and officially knocking Georgia out of the SEC East race. Then we got to watch Tennessee lose again, giving Florida an extra 1-game cushion of wiggle room with their SEC East lead, and the loss was to Will Muschamp and terrible South Carolina, making the schadenfreude even more satisfying. We got to watch Miami lose their fourth in a row, saw FSU lose their third game of the year, which was one of five teams ranked ahead of Florida to lose (including Baylor, who lost to unranked Texas and long-time Florida assistant coach and all-around good guy, Charlie Strong), and the only reason we didn’t get to enjoy Notre Dame losing is that they were the ones who beat Miami.
Now that’s a full working day, lad!
It just doesn’t get much better than this. And I hope everyone in Gator Nation drank it in Saturday, Sunday, Monday and will continue to bask in its glory all week. However, while we can’t expect to have a day like this repeat too often – where almost all the Gators’ most hated enemies fall while UF wins – the schedule is set up for the opportunity for much bigger and better days for the Florida Gators squad just by themselves. One thing necessary for that to happen is for the Gator offense to keep progressing on pace. Notice I didn’t say “get a lot better, fast,” because that’s just not the case anymore. And that’s a very good thing.
Getting Offensive
It’s often said that it all starts up front. That was certainly the case with Florida’s flagging offense for much of the last six years, and nothing has changed about its importance this year. However, Saturday the offensive line – where it all starts – started to look a lot better. And it was not because of any scheme change or personnel shift. The staff did not, as the previous regime would do to try to improve line play, go max-protect all the time or bring in a third offensive tackle. Georgia went for maximum protection for a good portion of the game (though far less than I thought they would), but it could not prevent quarterback Jacob Eason from getting pile-driven into the turf throughout the game. Though they only sacked him twice, rare was the drive that he was not put on his back at least once (which is saying something since most of their drives only lasted three plays, and there was more holding than a pot convention). Conversely, Florida went 3- and 4-wide much of the game and Luke Del Rio (LDR), though sacked three times because he held the ball too long, had his jersey and his pocket kept otherwise very clean all day.
They line also got pretty good push on most running plays. And I use the phrase “good push” as a relative phrase in the context of this unit’s recent and distant history of ineptitude. Overall on passing downs, Florida won most of the 1-on-1 battles, and on running plays, there was rarely penetration allowed and they usually gave Jordan Scarlett and Lamical Perine a hole to hit, small and brief though they were. This despite that fact that Georgia did a good job of stacking the line of scrimmage and keeping the Gator backs from ever reaching the second level. But look at the third down and other short runs (such as goal line sets) that Florida had Saturday: we did not see the Gators getting stoned on any of them as we have seen this year more times than has been comfortable.
Though he did not have a great game by any stretch, LDR rebounded nicely after throwing a terrible interception on the first series of the game, hitting 60% of his passes and being his best on third down, where he threw to convert as well as had a few good passes to move the sticks outright dropped. His biggest problem as I see it is still his ability to either trust his injured leg or to throw accurately when he does trust it, possibly signaling a mechanical compensation for pain or discomfort. The longer the pass, the more it effects his accuracy, with the deep ball still being always underthrown. As much as the offense has taken criticism lately, if LDR doesn’t under-throw all those deep balls, most of them were walk-in touchdowns and our opinion of the offense might be a bit different.
Perine did not rush with the authority he’d been showing lately, which helped keep his yards and carries down. Scarlett continued his tough running and nearly got himself another 100 yard game. As the offensive line gets better, the holes will be bigger and earlier and the running backs will be able to get into a better rhythm of planting and driving without as much dancing around trying to find the right flicker of daylight.
There were so many moments Saturday that were very satisfying but one of the offensive highlights to me came from a defensive player. It was a little extra satisfying, wasn’t it, to see CeCe Jefferson celebrating after clearing the road for Jordan Scarlett’s touchdown in the second quarter? He’s not from Jacksonville, but he’s close enough to be considered a local. Besides just being one of the most likeable and most talented Gators, there’s something about his signing class leadership in McElwain’s first recruiting mini-cycle when he stood tall for the Gators, as he led a Twitter campaign to Gainesville (even though he would not officially commit until National Signing Day). As the second-highest rated defensive lineman of the year, he and his clout helped bring and keep a lot of players in that first class when a thousand forces were trying to destroy the class.
Another common complaint right behind the offensive line (legitimate gripe) is the play calling (not legit, in my opinion). Yes, not as many plays work for big or even positive yardage as we would like, and it’s not overly aggressive play calling, but it works very well within the confines of our talent and experience level on offense and the buffer given them by the defense. There were a number of plays that stood out as particularly crafty, but the best had to be Antonio Callaway’s end around touchdown. Not only was it brilliantly timed and matched to the defensive front perfectly, it made AC the first player in Florida history to score a touchdown receiving, passing, rushing, punt returning and kickoff returning. I am sure that factored into the play calling decision making. Most players who have done that (only 21 in the FBS since 1996) have gone on to be NFL stars.
Predictability is another ding the fans give the play calling, particularly our wont to run the ball on obvious running downs (or any other downs…Gator fans just love the forward pass), but it is all part of the bigger strategic picture to pile up wins with the personnel we have. And it is working quite well. Jordan Scarlett scored a rushing touchdown for the sixth-straight game. That puts him in some of the rarest of Gator company. It is the longest streak by a Gator running back since Earnest Graham did it in seven straight in 2000-2001, starting in Steve Spurrier’s final SEC title season. It is the most by any Gator position player since 2008, and Scarlett is only the third Gator since 2008 to turn the trick – the other two being Kelvin Taylor and Tim Tebow. The player in 2008 who had seven consecutive games running for a score was a guy named Percy. The conservative play calling also allowed Florida to control a whopping 37 and a half minutes of the play clock, flipping the script on Georgia, which entered the game second in the SEC in time of possession. That means Georgia only had the ball about a third of the game (22 minutes and change).
And before we judge our offense for not suddenly waking up as a point-a-minute machine, we have to give a little credit to the Georgia defense. They made plays in space and did a very good job overall. They have a lot of SEC athletes, and Kirby Smart does know how to scheme up and coach up a defense. As much heat as the offense has taken since this game started, they did manage to throw up 24 against an athletic defense coached by a guy who is supposed to be one of the nation’s top defensive gurus. And the fact that the Gator coaching staff was not trying to run the score up, but rather execute a methodical ball control offense, other than leaving some points on the field, our offense did exactly what the coaches wanted it to do.
To address one final complaint a lot of fans file, many are impatient with the speed with which Mac is developing the offense to that end product we all want to see marching up and down the field at will, but I put it to you that this slower, very deliberate pace is intentional: the staff is ramping things up slowly because they know they can. The defense allows them to do this. And when you lose your first-time starting quarterback for two games and nearly a month of practice, that’s a luxury that is so very nice to have. And about that luxury…
Defensively Speaking
Where to begin…where to begin. We all know about the number 21. It is the number of yards Florida allowed Georgia to gain on the ground, and it is the age in most states where people can legally consume alcohol – which Georgia fans have done heavily since the second quarter Saturday. But there is another number – 19 – that goes right along with it. That’s how many carries it took for Georgia to gain those 21 yards. 19 is also the age of consent in this country, and after Saturday’s game, most Jawja fans would consent to never watching college football again. That means every time Georgia ran the ball, they gained an average of 1.1 yards. That would require ten carries to get a first down.
To put that number into perspective, Georgia was running up over 195 yards rushing per game this year. Nick Chubb himself was averaging 111 yards per game and 6.7 yards per carry, but Florida held him to just 20 yards and 2.2 yards per carry. Those backwards mathematicians among you know that means that the Dawgs only fed the ball to their perennial Heisman candidate nine times, Mrs Bueller. Maybe they should have given him the ball more often, because at 2.2 yard a clip, they could have reached the first down marker in just five plays!
The 21 yards was the lowest rushing total for the Bulldogs all year and in fact was their lowest rushing total in the last 15 years. Another great stat around the number 21: this was Florida’s 21st win against Georgia in the last 27 games. And half of those 6 losses were under Will Muschamp.
A few more items before we move on from the defense. Because the game they put together and the season they have built are jaw dropping. By holding UGA to 164 yards, Florida logged its fourth game this year keeping the opposition under 200 yards. Only Alabama and Michigan have also done that four times this year. The Gators became the only team in the country to hold 6 opponents to under 150 yards passing this year (143). Florida leads the SEC in total defense, pass defense, passing efficiency defense and scoring defense, and is third in rushing defense and sacks. The Gators also lead the nation in passing efficiency defense, and is second in the nation in total defense, scoring defense (just 0.1 behind), pass defense – all three behind only Michigan – and is top ten in rushing defense.
Georgia had 13 drives Saturday. Nine of them were 3-and-outs that failed to gain a single first down. That includes seven true 3-and-outs and two fourth-down stops. The four drives that included a first down went 7, 6, 5 and 6 plays, respectively. Combined they netted 129 yards. The other 9 drives amassed a total of 35 yards. That’s 3.8 yards per drive. Not per play: per drive. What’s more, if you take out the one scoring drive Georgia had all day that was not set up by the opening interception, the Dawgs’ offense gained a total of 89 yards on 46 plays (that’s just 1.93 yards per play). And just in case Georgia had any hope left after getting their halftime pep talk from Coach Kirby, the Gators defense crushed those visions by squashing them into just 47 yards total offense in the entire second half of the game.
Zoinks!
Take a breath.
How Old Must You Be?
This is a little something I like to do every year after the Georgia game, but because of the Muschamp Error, I haven’t been able to do it in 5 years. Now, however, we are back on top of this perspective of the Florida-Georgia series.
And that is looking backward on the head-to-head record. Everyone knows that Georgia still leads the all-time series, but Florida certainly owns it in my lifetime. And probably in your lifetime as well. Just how old do you have to be to know a time when Georgia won this game more often than Florida?
What if you were 10 years old? Florida holds a 6-4 lead in your lifetime. If you are a young 20-year-old, Florida has topped the Dawgs 14 times and only lost 6. You follow the logic? So what the heck, what if you were 50 years old? We all know that Georgia used to own the series back in ancient times – surely that’s far enough back, right? Nope. A fifty year old Gator fan has seen Florida own a 27-22-1 edge in this series. So how old do you have to be to have seen more Georgia wins than Florida wins?
How about 84 years old? That’s right, you would have to be born before October 29, 1932 to have seen more Georgia wins than Florida wins. And if you were exactly 88 years old, you’d be waiting on the 2017 game to break a 43-43-2 series tie. That’s if you were born during the year preceding November 10, 1928. Of course, the six years prior to that is when Georgia opened the series with straight wins against the Florida program that was just being thrown together. The series – now sitting at 43-49-2 – is separated only by those 6 games that started the series from scratch.
Check back in 2023 and see if the Gators haven’t taken over the series lead. That would make it a 9-game win streak. Seem too long to hope for? What do you think, Elevenessee?
Random Observations
*I wonder if Jacob Eason is having buyer’s remorse for spurning the Gators to join up with Georgia. While many have been praising him this year, and did again Saturday, simply because of the raw athletic ability we already knew him to possess, I think he had an incredibly crummy game. I don’t think he did anything at all to keep his team in the game, and he was in fact completely worthless as a quarterback. The only thing he did was not let himself be a liability by throwing into coverage. However, that was just as effective as making sure Georgia never scored, other than the one fluke drive when Florida defensive backs suffered from their odd weekly bout with tripping on their own feet for a drive or two. All he had in his arsenal all day was drop back, freak out, throw the ball away. I saw him make exactly one good pass all day, and that was after holding the ball way too long – and it was only successful because the receiver shoved Quincy Wilson to the ground to get separation into the end zone. The only reason they were ever in the game at all was because of Florida’s inability to run away with the game on offense. We gave them three points for nothing, then we were unable to take advantage of our constantly favorable field position to throw knockout punches. But back to Eason. I don’t think he is even trying to win games for Georgia this year. I think he is focused on the NFL and developing himself. He appeared to treat every play like a practice down; never tried to make anything happen. When you make a baseball slide well behind the sticks as many times as he did Saturday, especially in the third and fourth quarters, you have to question not just intestinal fortitude but whether he even cares about making that first down marker. He appeared to just be going through the motions to work on his skill set.
*Hey Jimbo Fisher: If you’re going to coach discipline and sportsmanship to your players, how about acting like an adult once in a while and exhibiting those traits yourself? Calling the officials gutless cowards because you think they got a call wrong (which they in point of fact did not)? You’re trying to coach your team on the field to be disciplined and not lose their cool and cost you yards and cost you a game, and you’re out there ramming your body into an official to throw a temper tantrum costing your team 15 yards? And then you’re in the press conference throwing a temper tantrum and daring the powers that be to fine you, like an insolent brat? Deplorable.
*Count me in the apparently small group of Gator fans who think we have a good chance of winning when we visit Red Stick in a few weeks. I am not predicting a win over LSU or anything, but if we can fit their run better than we did last year – and actually, we adjusted and clamped it down very well in the second half last year, but he damage was already done in the first half – so if we can fit their run defensively the entire game, we’ll have a good shot here. Because we can limit the LSU run game if we can do that. And that’s how you turn LSU into a very beatable team. LSU – as is every team left on or schedule – is in an emotional twister right now and is just a step away from full meltdown. If they get blasted by Alabama Saturday (remember that’s how, when and why Tennessee’s mental state went to pieces) or even lose two before we visit (Arkansas always gives them fits, no matter how good or bad they are – they even gave them one of their two losses in their national title year of 2007), they’re going to have their heads down over their pieces, brother.
*The much maligned Daniel McMillan and Marcell Harris both had a very good game. D-Mack hit his gaps with consistency and made a couple big tackles at the line for no gain. Randy Shannon is doing some work with those ‘backers. Mud Harris’s kid made 5 tackles, 3 of them in the open field, hurried the quarterback and notched a tackle for loss. And need I even mention that Jarrad Davis playing on a wounded knee led all Gators with 7 tackles in the game, including 2.5 tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry. Man’s effort.
*I was so impressed by the defensive game plan. We threw great coverages at the true freshman, and when we blitzed, it was at opportune times and usually had the right guy or guys going in to disrupt Eason’s focus. He had no chance at all. Absolutely none.
Sounds of the Weekend
Here are a few sound bytes over the weekend that may amuse you…
Atlanta talk radio host #1: “Georgia could have played four more quarters on offense, without Florida ever being allowed to possess the ball, and still not won the game.”
Atlanta talk radio host #2: “Win the game? They wouldn’t have even scored.”
Atlanta talk radio host #1: “Over/under on first downs?”
Atlanta talk radio host #2: “Oh….one.”
Verne Lundquist: “Those three points by Georgia were the first points given up by the Gator defense this year.”
Uh…no, Verne. They weren’t.
Gary Danielson: “Those defensive linemen just do not run good routes.”
Loves me some GD.
Kirby Smart: “We really thought we’d be able to run the ball better offensively.”
Kirby, you’d have had a better chance trying to run the ball defensively.
Atlanta talk radio host #1: “Utter humiliation. Complete domination of our offense.”
Atlanta talk radio host #2: “We’re talking ‘Bring out the gimp’.”
Atlanta talk radio host: “At what point do we stop treating Jacob Eason like a fragile china doll and call him what he is: a giant disappointment?”
Buck Belue: “I think it’s pretty clear right now that the Gators are just a lot better than we are.”
Caller: “How the hell did that happen? Will Muschamp was our chance to close the gap and leave them behind. Probably the only chance we’ll ever have. And we blew it! And now we’re stuck with Muschamp 2.0!”
Looking Ahead
One of the marks of a great head coach – certainly at Florida – has been the ability to beat the team’s biggest rivals. Steve Spurrier set that benchmark loudly and proudly by going 11-1 against Georgia in a series that had been owned by UGA in the previous decade. But he also ruled all our other annual rivals but one. He had his difficulties with FSU (and with their level of cheating that was exposed by multiple NCAA scandals covering those years, who didn’t?), but on top of the 11-1 mark against the Dawgs, he also went 8-4 against Tennessee, 10-3 against Auburn and 11-1 against LSU. That’s 40-9 against Florida’s four biggest SEC rivals they played every year. On top of that, he went 6-3 against Alabama, including 3-2 in SEC Championship Games. Flash forward four years to the next national title-winning head Gator Urban Meyer. He also by no coincidence owned most of our annual rivalries. He never lost to Tennessee, went 5-1 each against Georgia and FSU, and even threw in a 1-0 against Miami for good measure. LSU was the only annual rival that gave him difficulty, splitting with Les Miles 3-3. He went 20-5 against those five blood rivals in his five years, and 18-3 against the quartet before his final year, when Steve Addazio was the de facto head coach while Urban’s ghost zombie-walked the sidelines without any obvious purpose or awareness of where he was. And for what it’s worth, Urban split the four games against Alabama that were played before the non-season of 2010 when he was about as much the head coach as you and I were. Those included a split of two appearances in the SEC Championship Game.
Enter Jim McElwain. We all painfully remember losing to Tennessee this year, but before the third quarter began, he was well on his way to burying them. Had he had the services of his starting quarterback (and he is undefeated as a Gator head coach with his starting quarterback in the game), he would likely be 2-0 against them. He lost the first games to LSU and FSU, both of them being near the top of their historical capacity while he was trying to fix Muschamp’s dumpster fire, so it will be a year or two before he has a fair chance at getting on top of those rivalries. But in the really big one – Georgia – he is 2-0, and neither game has been remotely competitive. Given where he began and what he had to work with, this is a very good start to owning the upper hand again on most or all of our rivals over the course of his career. Even if we don’t beat LSU or FSU this year…though both would be big helps – and certainly both are very possible.
Looking at a more short-term future, the Arkansas game looms Saturday. Arky is not the toughest venue in the SEC in which to play, but the road trip there is the absolute worst. It is pure hell just to get into town and to the stadium. The old cartoons of Snuffy Smith clinging to the Ozark mountainsides as he inches along the 2-inch wide ledge is not too far from reality as far as transportation in and out of Fayetteville. Beyond that, I think Florida matches up very well here. But I will get into that detail in this week’s Picks & Pans.
Until then, remember that every day is a gift. That’s why they call it the present.