Five things we learned from the No. 25 Florida Gators dominating win over the No. 3 Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday night.
1. Antonio Morrison
For as good of a player as Antonio Morrison has been during his time in Gainesville, the weakest part of his game has always been in in coverage. With the Ole Miss passing attack coming in to Gainesville this week it appeared to be a bad matchup for Florida’s starting middle linebacker.
Au contraire, Morrison finished with a game-high 13 tackles and 3.5 for a loss, earning him National Defensive Player of the Week honors from the Walter Camp Foundation.
Morrison was all over the field for the Gators but his tackle for loss on a third and goal that forced the Rebels to settle for a field goal after an 18-play drive to open the second half was the one that set the tone for the rest of the half and game.
2. Punters are people too
Johnny Townsend was your boy last night, Gators fans.
The redshirt sophomore averaged 47 yards per punt on five kicks, had two go over 50 yards and dropped two inside the 20.
Townsend’s impact was felt immediately. After the Florida Gators offense went three-and-out to start the game Townsend’s 57-yard punt pinned Ole Miss back on their own 15-yard line.
Right off the bat Townsend flipped the field on the Rebels, the Florida defense responded with a three-and-out series of their own and the offense went on to score on their next possession.
Townsend has had some forgettable punts this season, but he was fantastic last night and made an impact.
Punters are people too.
3. Offensive line progressing
They took one on the chin against ECU and then again against Kentucky. Florida’s offensive line is young, inexperienced and as they struggled with the lesser teams on the schedule it looked like they would be a liability the rest of the season.
Then Florida’s offensive line played their best game of the year against a good Tennessee defensive front and even better against an Ole Miss front that has sure fire first round picks on the defensive line.
Enough can’t be said of the job that Mike Summers is doing to get the line playing competently and confidently as they head into the most difficult stretch of the season. If the offensive line keeps this up Florida’s offense will be one to be reckoned with the rest of the way.
4. Most unselfish team in years
Last week it was Brandon Powell getting a huge block for Antonio Callaway’s game-winning touchdown. This week Ahmad Fulwood and Callaway paved the way for a 77-yard Powell touchdown. On Vernon Hargreaves interception in the fourth quarter both Jalen Tabor and Jarrad Davis hustled to get in front of Hargreaves, diving for blocks trying to spring Vernon into the end zone.
Florida is playing unselfish football on offense defense and special teams and that is a credit to Jim McElwain and the coaching staff for instilling a sense of care, and team into the guys.
5. Quarterback battle dead and buried
The Florida Gators will release a depth chart on Monday afternoon and there will likely be an “or” in-between Will Grier and Treon Harris.
Make no mistake about it; there is no quarterback battle in Gainesville.
Grier took the battle out back, dug a hole, dropped it in there, packed some dirt on it, said a prayer and laid it to rest.
Over his last five quarters of play Grier has completed 35-of-47 pass attempts (74.4 completion %) for 412 yards, six touchdowns and no turnovers.
Harris did get into the game for a designed quarterback run but, right now, there is no imminent threat from Harris to take over Grier’s role as the starter. McElwain will continue to find ways to get Harris into the game and keep him involved, Florida still wants teams to have to prepare for two quarterbacks, but this is Grier’s team.
He’s the starter no matter what that depth chart says on Monday.
5 things …..1) We are better on both sides of the line of scrimmage than I thought we would be. Amen, about your comment on Summers – incredible job. The DL can be nasty when they want to be….and moving Bullard inside has made his draft stock soar.
2) Grier won the job weeks ago IMO. Not that Treon did anything to lose it, but the whole argument between the two was Treon could extend plays with his feet. Then we found out so could Grier. He just looks better each week and is calm under pressure. He is sliding around in
the pocket more comfortably and is always looking down field. He is going to have a special career here in Gville before it’s over with. And I think Mac doesn’t want Treon to mail it in, so he’s going to make the competition appear tighter than it is.
3) VH3 is not giving it a 100% on every play. I hate to be THAT guy and I know he is probably the best CB in CFB on just talent alone. He over commits sometimes in coverage and the dancing nonsense doesn’t look good either. I will say he wrapped up better this week, but come on…..this guy could be the best CB to ever where a gator uniform and I just don’t think we’re getting a 100% of Vernon.
4) The race for the crystal is wide open. There is no real separation with teams like halfassU in 2013 or Bama in 2012. I know it’s early, but every team has some flaws. There are at least a dozen teams I can see holding that trophy.
5) we need upgrades at RB. Is it just me or does KT look up and down from one week to the next.? Would love to see Scarlett get more reps. I’ll be the first to say that the arguments that we had no playmakers was a bunch of crap…..we just had poor offensive coaching and QBs that would implode each week. It’s great to see we have some leadership on that side of the ball where we haven’t in the past. I just don’t think we are consistent enough with our running game.
Not complaining…..nobody had us 5-0 before the season started or even last week for that matter. Coach Mac and staff have done a remarkable job.
Bullard played inside pretty much ALLL LAST YEAR. Vernon is giving it 100% I guarantee it. KT is playing great at RB. His pass protection has been spot on, and now that our passing game is a threat, teams won’t stack the box and/or call run blitzes every other down. Expect his numbers to increase.
Treon did lose the battle. By getting his suspension. But we need him involved because we will need him this year.
VH3 has not been 100% because his health hasn’t been 100%. No way towles catches a healthy VH3 and he is getting healthier every week. But he gives his all when he is in.
The SEC is wide open, as is the race for the crystal. let’s see how we match up against LSU, a power running team. That will be the test. I did NOT think we would blow ole miss out, but we matched up very well against a passing offense like theirs.
KT has played great… His vision is what separates him from an average back. He is blocking this year… Holding onto the rock… Playing well. The line is young (up and down and improving weekly) which makes him look up and down.