Five thoughts from the Florida Gators 13-6 win over Vanderbilt and where the team is heading now.
Gators are 8-0 when Jim McElwain has his starting quarterback
Two weeks ago, after the Gators lost to Tennessee, I noted that Jim McElwain was just 1-5 against ranked opponents. It was a stat from the game notes that Florida provides to the media and most fans weren’t happy that I pointed it out following the loss.
Many of you instead pointed out to me that McElwain is undefeated when he has his starting quarterback. Although McElwain never officially named Will Grier the starting quarterback he didn’t need to, the reps and playing time did that.
Is it spin to say when Mac has his guy at quarterback the Gators are undefeated? Yeah, maybe. That doesn’t make it less true and doesn’t change the fact that Florida was forced to play a fifth year graduate transfer from Purdue in back-to-back road games. Barring a setback this week in practice Mac will get his guy back under center this week and look to push that record to 9-0 when he has his starting passer.
Running back rotation has got to go
Much was made about Florida’s deep running back stable and through the first month of the season the Gators have distributed carries fairly evenly. It worked for a while. Florida gashed Kentucky for 244 yards and 255 on a staggering 5.93 yard-per-carry night against North Texas as well. Now, it’s not working. The Gators barely broke the century mark (106) against Tennessee on 31 carries and just 92 yards on 35 carries against Vanderbilt.
The rotation doesn’t seem to have any direction other than Jordan Cronkrite being the go-to guy on third down and Mark Thompson being the goal line back. Other than that Jordan Scarlett has been the most impressive running back followed by freshman Lamical Perine. Florida doesn’t need to put three running backs on the shelf to collect dust, but it’s time to make Scarlett the feature back and let the rest of the guys back him up.
Florida’s rush defense has taken a hit
Through three games the Gators had the nation’s best rushing defense (42.3 yards-per-game). In their next two games the Gators have given up 323 yards on 3.89 per carry. Losing senior defensive tackle Joey Ivie (thumb) won’t help the Gators’ efforts either. Saturday Jordan Sherit was a spectator thanks to a left knee injury and Bryan Cox Jr. was limited.
Next week doesn’t get easier. Florida hosts LSU and a Tiger offense that averages 237 yards on the ground at a 6.27 yards-per-rush clip. LSU just steamrolled through Missouri, rushing for 418 yards on 53 carries and six touchdowns without Leonard Fournette, whose status for the game this week is not known.
Either way it’s a gut check game for the Gators’ defense.
CeCe Jefferson is better at end than tackle
With the aforementioned missing defensive linemen last Saturday, sophomore lineman CeCe Jefferson moved back out to his old home at defensive end after living inside at tackle for the first four games.
The result: Four tackles, giving him 11 on the season.
Jefferson has taken the move inside in stride. At 6-1 Jefferson doesn’t have the length that NFL teams are looking for at defensive end, so Jefferson views the move as a long-term business decision. Also, looking at the Gators’ defensive line in 2017, losing Ivie and likely Caleb Brantley, Jefferson will likely be asked to start at tackle next season. Moving him this year will help that transition when he’ll be asked to take on a bigger role inside.
There are growing pains going on right now, it was nice to see Jefferson back in his comfort zone on Saturday though.
Time to look in the mirror and make a decision
“We’re running out of opportunities. We only have so many opportunities,” Jim McElwain said last Saturday. “Don’t wait. Go do it yourself. Take the initiative. Jump out there. Be somebody. It’s not that hard.”
McElwain was responded to a question about how his team has come out and waited for the game to come to them rather than taking the game to their opponent.
The Gators didn’t come out with the right mentality against Vanderbilt, marking the third time in five games that Florida has played down to its opponent. You won’t have to worry about playing down to an opponent this week with LSU coming to town but Florida badly needs to come out with a fire lit