The Florida Gators finally kicked off their season on Saturday. My takeaways from our game and other thoughts on the weekend that was, without further ado…
5. The Big 10 is on Life Support for a Berth in the College Football Playoff.
The specter of Ohio State struggling this year reared its head against Navy. On Saturday the Hokies took advantage of the struggling Buckeyes by beating the Buckeyes 35-21 at Ohio Stadium. The Buckeye’s freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett struggled mightily against the Hokies turning in a final stat line of 9-29, 219 yards, 1 touchdown with 3 interceptions, the last one being returned 63 yards for the final touchdown in the game. This was arguably the best team in the Big10 before Braxton Miller’s injury. The result has caused some fans at Ohio State to call for Coach Urban Meyer to be put on the hot seat; and to think, some people thought SEC fans were ruthless.
On the heels of Ohio State’s loss, Michigan laid an egg against Notre Dame. The 31-0 final score provided Notre Dame its largest margin of victory against Michigan in the history of the series. This victory immediately caused Notre Dame fans to pencil themselves into the college football playoff and Everett Golson to make reservations to be in New York in December. However, it was just a nice solid win against a middling Michigan program that can’t seem to find its footing under Brady Hoke. I imagine Hoke’s tenure in Ann Arbor might be in jeopardy unless he can make something happen in the Big 10.
Finally, after these two gems the Big 10 sent Michigan State out to Eugene, Oregon to take on the Oregon Ducks. For two and a half quarters the Spartans of East Lansing, Michigan looked like they might pull off an upset that their namesakes couldn’t at the Battle of Thermopylae. However, an upset wasn’t in the cards as Oregon’s vaunted offense woke up and buried the Spartans under 28 second-half points. The Spartans were picked by a lot of experts to end up in the College Football Playoff, but this loss is a stinging rebuke to those hopes.
Along with Wisconsin wilting last weekend against LSU, the take away from this past weekend’s trio of games is that the Big 10’s best are simply not playoff ready. Hopefully, this past weekend puts things into proper perspective for Big 10 apologists. However, they are a diehard bunch of fans that simply refuses to acknowledge their conference’s proper place in college football’s pecking order. I am sure they will be stomping their feet in tantrum come early December.
4. The Pac-12 Looks Interesting.
In the first conference game in the Pac-12, USC downed Stanford 13-10 over the weekend in a competitive, hard fought contest. I still like Stanford to make some noise in the Pac-12 despite the loss to the Trojans. However, USC has depth problems and they are a couple of injuries away from being a mediocre team. Such is the lingering effect of scholarship losses and former head coach Lane Kiffen.
In the Pac-12 North, Stanford consistently gives Oregon trouble when they play head to head and they have produced the blueprint on how to beat the Ducks. I think that game will still be competitive and compelling as a clash of styles. I think the Ducks should win the Pac-12, but they always seem to find a way to stumble somewhere and disappoint me; maybe they stumble against Cal or Washington. However, the Ducks looked poised and battle-hardened against the Spartans. Maybe they finally have it figured out.
In the Pac-12 South, outside of USC, UCLA has looked pedestrian, but with a wealth of talent the light bulb could go off at any moment for that club. If UCLA can get it together in the next couple of weeks they will be my favorite in the South, but what I have seen over the past two weeks has not impressed me. Ultimately they may simply be a team of potential that looks great on paper, but can’t get it to translate on to the field. Arizona State looks like they could be dangerous and give UCLA and USC a fight for the Pac-12 South. It will be another interesting season in the Pac-12, which for my money is the second best conference in college football.
3. Vanderbilt is in For a Long Season.
James Franklin’s departure looms bigger and bigger each passing day. While James Franklin sits at 2-0 at Penn State, his jilted squad played Ole Miss on Saturday. Ole Miss summarily dealt Vanderbilt its second straight loss. However, Vandy is simply not just losing, they are also losing ugly. The Commodores offense only managed an anemic 167 total yards. The team now sits at 0-2 and 0-1 in conference play. Unfortunately, it looks like Vanderbilt is regressing towards the mean.
Vanderbilt has very high academic standards and they tend to go after and attract student-athletes that other SEC schools pass over. Vanderbilt student-athletes represent a lot of what is right about college athletics; watching them succeed the past few years did not leave a bad taste in my mouth. However, they clearly look like a different program under Derek Mason.
I know Derek Mason has the pedigree to coach at a program like Vanderbilt because of his experience at Stanford. Moreover, Vanderbilt is a young team. In the contest against Ole Miss they played 25 true and redshirt freshmen; however, there seemed to be little improvement from week 1 to week 2. I am not sure if it is schematic changes or just changes in coaching philosophy, but this program looks like a hot mess right now.
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for improvement Vandy fans. South Carolina comes to town in two weeks; if I don’t see any improvement in that game I think it will be safe to say that Commodores reign of terror against the SEC East is probably over. However, even if the Commodores can’t right the ship this year, Derek Mason may get this program moving in the right direction; but it may be a multi-year project.
2. Charlie Strong Gets Introduced to BYU, Irony.
While I love Coach Strong for all his contributions at Florida, I couldn’t pass up this little dose of irony doled out to Longhorn fans by the football gods.
Last season Texas lost to BYU 40-21. In that game the Longhorns gave up 550 yards rushing to the Cougars. The embarrassing loss led to the immediate firing of Longhorn defensive coordinator Manny Diaz. By all accounts the Longhorns were manhandled in the game.
As a result, Mack Brown faced the balance of the 2013 season under siege amid constant speculation of a coaching search for his successor. After a very embarrassing public coaching search that had every name attached to it from Nick Saban to Will Muschamp, the Longhorns finally settled on then-Louisville head coach Charlie Strong.
During the offseason, Charlie Strong used the 2013 BYU game as a motivator for the Longhorns. He used highlights of the game to motivate his players and to change the tone of the program. He publicly emphasized that the BYU game to his players and Longhorn fans. The table was all set for the Longhorns to get some much needed revenge.
On Saturday the Cougars came calling again. While the Longhorns did not field their starting quarterback and three starting offensive linemen, BYU held the Longhorns to 258 total yards. Moreover, the BYU offensive attack was more balanced running up 429 total yards against the Longhorns. However, the final score was an even more embarrassing 41-7 Longhorn defeat.
It would only have been funnier had Alanis Morissette sang Ironic right after the game. Somewhere Mack Brown must be smiling.
1. The Florida Gators Did What They Needed to Do.
65-0; take it in Gator fans it’s been a long time coming.
But don’t worry, I will say more.
Critics will point to the level of competition and say that our contest against Eastern Michigan did not really tell fans anything; however, the Gators dispensed of an inferior opponent they way they should have. Good teams destroy inferior opponents. Had the score been 37-12 I would have been concerned.
Jeff Driskel looked solid in his debut in this offense. He wasn’t spectacular and he made a couple of dubious decisions; but overall, he looked comfortable, poised, and in control of the offense. That was what I wanted to see out of Jeff Driskel.
I think he will get more comfortable in this offense over time at game speed. He didn’t need to run the ball to do damage offensively; which is a very good sign for our offense. I am sure that will change once we get into the meat of our schedule and we will need to take advantage of his ability to run the zone read. In the passing game he looked more decisive than I remembered him last year. His arm and athleticism are professional level, now he looks like he is finally progressing mentally to match his physical gifts.
The first team offense only had a couple silly penalties, but they got to the line and got off 86 offensive plays. The running backs found seams and looked explosive in this new offense. The wide receivers made plays and beat defenders causing several pass interference penalties. Our offensive players looked like they were playing faster than EMU and it showed up on the score board.
On a basic level of analysis, we looked very organized and ready to play on the offensive side of the ball; I couldn’t say that the past two years, so these early results are encouraging. I am not sure how this offense will stack up against the top of the SEC, but those answers are coming. I certainly feel better about our prospects going forward.
However, it wasn’t all good news because we lost tight end Jake McGee for the season to a broken leg. Hopefully, his injury isn’t an omen of things to come. His injury was really disappointing as I was hoping to see a lot more of him this year; however, I am sure all Gator fans wish him well and a speedy recovery.
Our special teams looked much improved. Frankie Velez made the field goals we should have made and we didn’t miss any extra points. Kyle Christy looks like he is back to his 2012 form. Additionally, Andre DeBose looked dangerous in the return game again. I saw what I needed to see out of special teams against an opponent like Eastern Michigan.
Our defense did what they do. They shut down EMU and forced 5 turnovers. All in all they held the Eagles to 125 yards of offense. We managed 3 sacks and 37-yard pick 6 by Duke Dawson. Not a bad day at the office. However, this was EMU and we will have to wait to see how good this defense is when we travel to Tuscaloosa in two weeks. I just hope the voters keep us out of polls until then, I want our Gators nice and angry.
TWO-MINUTE DRILL
- It was good to see Tyler Murphy playing football again; hope he and Ian Silberman have good seasons up there in Boston.
- Not sure what to make of Tennessee yet. They played great against Utah State and looked ordinary against Arkansas State.
- Nebraska was taken to the wire by McNeese State in a game that didn’t even have a betting line. It’s just another warning sign for the Big 10.
- Bama looked decent. They relied on a short passing game with Sims and Cooper turning short passes into longer yardage. They looked human, not sure that game plan works in the SEC portion of their schedule.
- FSU 37-12 over the Citadel; I was not impressed. However, if their warning lights were blinking, would anyone in Tallahassee know?
- Pat Haden should stay in the luxury box; as a member of the Playoff Committee he has to understand that coming on the field and doing whatever he did with the refs just looks bad.