With the Gators star cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III out, how was the “Best Defense in the Nation” (#BDN) going to respond to East Carolina’s non-stop offense?
In January, the Pirates logged 101 plays and 536 yards against almost the exact same defense, minus the third overall pick in the NFL Draft in Dante Fowler Jr. But gone were Shane Carden and Justin Hardy, the dynamic quarterback-receiver tandem that helped ECU to a top-25 scoring offense. So the expectation of many fans was that Florida would win handily. Even with Hargreaves sitting out, most fans probably expected to be heading for the exits by the start of the fourth quarter, not realizing the extremely dangerous position the Gators were in on Saturday night.
As Jim McElwain had stated earlier this week, the Pirates are a rather well coached squad led by Head Coach Ruffin McNeil, who said himself that the Pirates were the only ones in the country who actually believed they could win. At first glance, that would appear to be obligatory “coach speak” because a coach is obviously not going to go on the record as saying his team has no chance, but for every last second of their 31-24 contest with the Gators, the Pirates truly did believe. That confidence in their offense, combined with their up-tempo, no-huddle attack was what made a truly difficult test for the Gators vaunted defense.
While most of the emphasis will once again be placed on the offense, there is plenty to discuss about the defense as well; some good, some not so much. In a game where the offense made more mistakes than last week, where almost every call that could go against Florida did, and where the opponent ran 80 plays, the defense had their work cut out for them.
On the very first drive of the game, the Pirates’ quick-strike passing game got the better of “BDN,” marching 75 yards down the field in eight plays and scoring a touchdown. With things looking grim, the defense shored up their game and didn’t even allow ECU’s offense to amass another 40 yards for the rest of the half. The defense also forced the Pirates to cough up a fumble in the second quarter, completely shutting the Pirates’ offense down until after half.
In the third quarter, things got a bit dicier. After a very catchable Will Grier pass was bobbled by Alvin Bailey and intercepted by ECU’s Bobby Fulp, the Pirates had the ball on the Gators’ 27-yard line. On the very next play, ECU scored on a touchdown pass to Isaiah Jones. One argument concerning this play would be that if Florida has such a great defense, why did they allow an underrated team in ECU to score so quickly?
The answer to that would be that that is what the Pirates do, and that’s a risk that is present on every play they run against an opponent. The better argument in favor of the defense, is that the offense should never put the defense in that kind of situation with a close game on the line. That was essentially the story of last year. Even with a top-20 defense, the Gators finished 7-5 due much in part to the offense giving the ball to the other team and asking the defense to constantly bail them out. What’s important to remember is that as much as people like to separate the offense and defense- and special teams for that matter- into their own categories, they can never be completely separated. Each side of the ball must work in synergy together or the vision comes crashing down. Just food for thought when looking at points scored against a defense directly after a turnover. Besides, the best of the defense is yet to come. Just two ECU drives later, Jalen Tabor, a Freshman All-SEC cornerback a year ago, intercepted Pirates quarterback Blake Kemp and ran it back 39 yards for the score. Through three quarters, the Gators defense did most everything that could be asked of them.
This was fortunate as the Florida Gators offense turned the ball over on the first drive of the fourth quarter. The fumble set up ECU’s offense at the Florida 34, a very short field. This time “BDN” held strong and allowed the Pirates to only come away with a field goal. That is the best that can be reasonably expected when the opposing team starts a drive on the edge of field goal territory.
After the Gators went up 31-17 with seven minutes remaining in the game, the defense was placed with the onerous task of fending off a desperate and quick ECU offense that believed and needed to score in a hurry. As time ran out, Florida seemed to be trading time for points and allowed a score after a four minute drive that left only three minutes on the clock. Unfortunately, the game was not yet over. As Florida’s offense went out onto the field it just needed a first down and that would have essentially iced the game. They weren’t able to do that, though, and had to punt the ball away with two minutes remaining. ECU hurriedly conducted nine plays chipping their way down the field until Joey Ivie knocked the ball out, and it was recovered by Florida with 12 seconds left- ending the game.
At the close of the game, Florida’s defense relinquished a total of 333 yards- 203 yards less than they surrendered to the Pirates in the Birmingham Bowl. More specifically, Florida gave up 427 passing yards to ECU in the bowl game and allowed 346 in Saturday’s matchup. While that is still an 81-yard difference, the biggest difference came in rushing yards. Once again, Florida’s defense found a way to take yards away from a team by the end of the game, allowing the Pirates a grand total of -13 yards rushing. That’s a vast improvement upon the 109 rushing yards given up by the defense in the bowl game.
Additionally, concerning the relationship between the offense and defense, the offense possessed the ball for six minutes and 49 seconds less than last week. While a lot of fans probably do not focus much on time of possession, this is integral in defensive performance as the less time the offense has the ball, the longer the defense has to burn energy on the field. While this is obvious, it can’t be stressed enough that the more they are playing, the less time they have to regroup to effectively stop the next drive. Especially holding off a hungry ECU team with nothing to lose and everything to prove, the Hargreaves-less Gator defense passed.
With the Gators traveling to Lexington to face off against a confident Kentucky Wildcats team next week, it will be fun to see how the defense, with Hargreaves back in the lineup, fares against a more conventional offense not named New Mexico State. Despite the growing pains that are bound to continue on the newly minted offense, the defense should keep the game competitive no matter who the opponent is. So whatever the situation, we should all remember that the Gators have been blessed with a ton of talent and top-flight coaches and all of Gator Nation should just keep believing.
Game Notes:
- This was the first game in Hargreaves college career that he did not play in.
- ECU was 10-20 on third downs while the Gators went 4-13.
- Florida’s defensive success rate was 82 percent in the first half and 58 percent in the second half, due much in part to the two turnovers by the Florida offense. On the night, the Gators defensive success rate was 68 percent. These rates are adjusted to include Florida’s defensive penalties, of which they committed two. In comparison, last week’s first half defensive success rate was 64 percent, jumping to 94 percent in the second half. Florida’s overall rate was 73 percent. Florida’s largest win ever recorded against the Pirates came in January by eight points. This win ties for their second largest (and smallest) win against the Pirates, as their only other match against ECU resulted in another seven point win in 1983.