The Gators (5-5, 2-5 SEC) outlasted Samford in a shootout in the Swamp on Saturday, 70-52. Here are my five thoughts on the game.
1. Without doing any research on the early years of Florida football, that had to be the worst defensive performance in school history.
They’ve given up more than 52 points and 530 yards in a game before, but, when you adjust for the level the competition, this was probably their worst game ever.
They were dominated across the board by an FCS team. Liam Welch threw for 400 yards. They had three receivers with 90-plus receiving yards. They allowed Samford to convert seven of 15 third downs. They only forced two punts.
They couldn’t generate a pass rush or make plays on 50-50 balls down the field. They busted several coverages and left receivers wide open. They missed a plethora of tackles. They had issues with substituting and getting lined up correctly in time for the snap.
The only thing that they did a decent job of was stopping the run, which, ironically has been one of their biggest weaknesses throughout the season.
I didn’t expect some miraculous turnaround to happen now that Todd Grantham is gone, but I expected much better than what I saw.
2. There seems to be a giant disconnect between the defensive players and coaches.
There were several times throughout the game where Christian Robinson yelled and pointed at the players while they tried to substitute and get lined up, and yet they still messed it up. They had to burn a couple of timeouts because of substitution and alignment issues.
Obviously, that only played a small part in them giving up 52 points, but it’s been a recurring issue against teams that play at a high tempo for several years.
The coaches talk to the media about needing to clean up those issues, the players acknowledge those issues and there seems to be an effort on the sideline to fix things. But, for some reason, it just keeps happening over and over.
The players seem to really like Robinson and want to play for him, so I don’t think that’s the problem. Whatever the issue is, it cannot continue into next season.
3. All of that being said, I think the defense can be fixed a lot quicker than you might expect if Dan Mullen hires the right defensive coordinator.
Every time something goes horribly wrong, one of the first things a lot of fans do is blame the Gators’ poor recruiting for it. While the recruiting certainly needs to get better, I fail to see how recruiting is the primary source of their defensive problems.
Recruiting can explain the losses to Alabama and Georgia. However, they had more talent than what amounted to LSU’s junior varsity team. They were vastly more talented than South Carolina’s offense and significantly more talented that Samford’s offense.
They didn’t play poorly against those teams because they didn’t have good enough players; they played poorly because their players woefully underperformed.
So, if Mullen brings in a defensive coordinator who has a terrific scheme and can clean up the aforementioned communication issues and adds a true middle linebacker via the transfer portal, they could turn things around next year.
To be clear, I don’t expect them to be back to Will Muschamp-level good next year, but I think they can definitely make significant progress if Mullen makes the right hire.
4. The special teams units are almost as bad as the defense.
They gave up a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown and allowed Samford to recover an onside kick that the coaches had just told them to look for.
Of course, this has been a recurring theme throughout the season. They missed an extra point and muffed a kickoff out of bounds at the 1 against Alabama. They had a field goal blocked and returned for a touchdown at Kentucky. They missed a couple of field goals against Georgia.
And those are just the plays that I can remember off the top of my head. I’m sure there are others.
They just give away points in almost every game on special teams.
Their technique, awareness and overall attitude toward special teams looks really bad.
They’ve generally been solid on special teams under Mullen, and this year is a discouraging step in the wrong direction. Special teams also need a ton of work this offseason.
5. On a positive note, hats off to Emory Jones.
Yes, I know Samford’s defense is awful, but he still deserves recognition for breaking Tim Tebow’s record for total offense in a game with 550 yards. With 464 passing yards, he came just 18 yards away from tying Tebow’s record for passing yards in a game. He also tied the school record with seven total touchdowns.
While the defense’s poor performance caused the offense to throw the ball more than it otherwise would against an FCS team, it’s still impressive.
Jones didn’t exactly light it up against a couple of low-quality FBS teams earlier this season in Florida Atlantic and South Florida, so it was fun to watch him put on a show.
Even though the offense likely felt some added pressure to keep scoring because of the way that the defense played, Jones rarely tried to force the ball downfield for a big play. Instead, he stayed composed and took the completions that were available.
Any time someone scores more touchdowns (seven) than they throw incompletions (six), they deserve a shoutout regardless of the circumstances.