Kevin Camps will bring you a weekly series called the “charting the course” after each Florida Gators game. He starts with his first story after the Gators took down UMass 24-7 on Saturday night.
Where Have They Been?
This past weekend the Gators put on a less than stellar performance but not a bad performance. It was steady. You would have liked more explosive plays and excitement but at the end of the day a win is a win. On a night when the biggest cheers were for the pregame super star former head coach Steve Spurrier, I am not sure the team actually playing could have surpassed his speech and rendition of Mr. Two-Bits.
Many were anxious to see the newcomers wearing the orange and blue, specifically new quarterback Luke Del Rio. His performance was clean and efficient and he proved to know and understand the offense. He finished with 256 yards and 2 touchdowns completing 65% of his passes. That is a solid performance and provides plenty of room to grow.
Over all the offense was choppy. It had moments that showed its potential and moments that made you scratch your head. The offensive line was mediocre and failed to hold the UMass rush on multiple occasions. The running game was effective at times but only managed 4.1 yards per carry from the running backs excluding Del Rio’s rushing totals.
The defense was what we expected, dominate and fast. Alex Anzalone and Jarrad Davis were heat seeking missiles and were all over the field. Davis will need to clean up the personal foul and the defense, overall, cannot give the opponents free yardage consistently. The secondary struggled without Jalen Tabor and the injury to Dawson didn’t help. Both will return this week as competition takes a step up.
The major bright spot was Eddie Pineiro who nailed three kicks from 40, 49 and 48. This mean so much to the Florida offense and team overall knowing they have a legitimate chance of scoring points once reaching the 30-yard line. Unfortunately, all news wasn’t good news, the Gators lost receiver Dre Massey for the season due to a knee injury. He was a major part to the offense and the question is who will step in a fulfill his role will need to be answered.
What’s Next?
This week the Kentucky Wildcats come strolling into town coming off of a disappointing loss to Southern Miss. Kentucky blew a 35-17 halftime lead and have been outscored 58-0 in the last two second half performances dating back to last year. Kentucky has the potential to give Florida fits if the Gators continue the brain farts that assisted UMass last week.
Florida is obviously the more talented team and should handle the Wildcats but expect a motivated Kentucky team looking to redeem themselves from such a pitiful second half performance. Kentucky does have some talent on the roster, starting with running back Stanley ‘Boom’ Williams whose versatility can be a headache. Starting quarterback Drew Barker is capable of making some throws against the Florida secondary.
As for Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops, he needs a big win in the worse way. Stoops may not be on the official hot seat but despite his efforts as head coach he still has not been able to get the ‘Cats over the hump. What would be a better win than upsetting the Gators in Gainesville, something the Wildcats have not done since, well, 1979 and are riding the longest active losing streak to any team in the country which currently stands at 29.
What’s Down the Road?
Speaking of streaks, in a couple weeks the Gators will head up to Knoxville to face a Tennessee team that is already under fire because of their opening week performance against Appalachian State. Tennessee was on the brink of a very disappointing loss and there may have been more mattresses burned that night then when they found out Lane Kiffin decided to bolt town.
Before the Gators get a crack at the Vols, they will face a North Texas team that lost their opening game to SMU 34-21. Florida should be undefeated before playing Tennessee who may not be if they show up to the Battle at Bristol the way they showed up last week.
After watching the teams perform this week that appear on Florida’s schedule, the schedule appears to haven’t gotten easier. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, everyone has room to grow, unless your Brandon Harris. In what was the most embarrassing performance of all the teams remaining on the Gators schedule and maybe the worse in the SEC outside of Mississippi State. The LSU Tigers have yet to discover the importance of the forward pass, I am not 100% convinced that Les Miles knows how to use any other tool than a hammer. LSU has some serious pieces to use on offense but as long as the plan is to run into brick walls, they will continue to struggle.
Before the Gators take on LSU they have to face a Vanderbilt team that lost on a last second field goal to former Florida coach Will Muschamp. South Carolina is currently in the lead of the SEC East. That may last two weeks if they can beat the aforementioned Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville this week.
Two other opponents that muddied the waters for the SEC were Missouri and Arkansas. Missouri has gone through quite a bit in the past year and doesn’t look like it will get any better in 2016. They went on the road and lost to West Virginia 26-11. Arkansas nearly embarrassed themselves at home against Louisiana Tech winning a tight one 21-20.
If Tennessee remains the Tennessee of last week and does not match the hype they were given in the off season, and if LSU continues to use an elementary passing game. We should feel good about the Gators chances there. On the other hand, Georgia and Florida State will be a major challenge.
Kirby Smart chose to go with Greyson Lambert as the starter, which is understandable for game one, but the future is with #10 Jacob Eason. Only a freshman so you cannot guarantee how he looks when teams get film on him, but he has a boulder in Nick Chubb that looked like he didn’t miss a beat going for 222 yards and 2 touchdowns against North Carolina. Expect Eason to take over eventually which gives the Bulldogs the best chance to balance out a great rushing attack.
Florida State also has a freshman quarterback but once Deondre Francois got going, they smoked a quality Ole Miss team. If the Seminole team that showed up in the first half shows up against Louisville or Clemson those will be sure losses. But if the second half version shows up, man they look good, outscoring the Rebels 32-6. Francois showed why he received much praise throwing for 419 yards, his performance rivaled Winston’s debut and maybe surpassed it. But he is still a freshman and will have challenges moving forward. Looking beyond Francois’ unveiling and Demarcus Walker’s take over, the matchup I am drooling over is Eddie Pineiro versus Ricky Aguayo.
For the Gators, the schedule still sets up nice for a return appearance in Atlanta. Let us remember this was week one and there is room to improve but right now, the Gators are in good position to do some damage in the SEC.