A 42-21 loss to Alabama that saw the Florida Gators give up 672 yards of offense, more than any other defense the University of Florida has fielded in more than 100 years of football.
It was the second week in a row that a SEC opponent gashed the formerly vaunted Florida defense. Kentucky piled on 450 yards in a triple overtime game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Couple with the 449 passing yards that Alabama put up last week and it leads to a situation where no job is safe in the secondary.
“We’re looking at a lot of different guys in different spots,” Will Muschamp said. “Can’t continue to do the same things. We just are.. . the mistakes we’ve made in some situations back there are inexcusable.”
Muschamp took some of the blame — a good head coach does. The first play against Alabama, Tide quarterback Blake Sims read the defense and checked into a different play. The defense didn’t adjust and it left Antonio Morrison in a bad situation, trying to cover Kenyan Drake. “We put Antonio in a bad situation to start the game. Bottom line, he shouldn’t have been in that situation. That’s on me.”
But at some point there has to be accountability put on the players themselves. The coaches can only prepare the team during the week. They don’t put on pads and go between the white lines on Saturday. Coming into the game on Saturday it was obvious who the Tide liked to get the ball to on offense. Receiver Amari Cooper entered the day with almost 50 targets on the season and was far and away the leading receiver for Alabama.
Cooper finished the game with 10 receptions for 201 yards and three touchdowns. Florida prepared for the talented receiver but the game week preparation didn’t show up on the field. Muschamp and he defensive coaching staff had prepared the secondary to shade to Cooper’s side, roll over the top to give the player who was covering him support over the top. Too many times the help never showed up.
“That’s what we had planned in those situations based on that formation and based on that call and we didn’t,” said Muschamp. “So again, the frustrating part I have is those are things we had practiced and we had gone over but obviously we didn’t go over them enough and that falls on my shoulders.”
Muschamp informed the secondary that they will be practicing this week and next week for playing time. With youth in the secondary, stringing together a series of good practices together is key for building confidence in the coaching staff.
“What happens to you as a coach is a guy that’s never been out in front of 90,000 people, he goes out and has five busted assignments in critical situations in a Tuesday practice what’s he gonna do in front of 90,000 people?” Muschamp said.
The options don’t change. Vernon Hargreaves and Keanu Neal are still expected to hold down their starting positions but after them we still have the same cast of young, mostly untested, freshmen.
Quincy Wilson was the first cornerback off the bench when Vernon Hargreaves came out against Alabama. Jalen Tabor played sparingly and Duke Dawson is a player that Muschamp says the team is “trying to bring along as quickly as we can.”
There’s a rich history of great defense and secondary play at Florida, especially under Muschamp. He believes he has the players and the talent in place, he’s just waiting for it all to click.
“We need to move forward and just improve the play, improve the urgency in the group to understand the expectations and how we’ve played here.”
No Muschamp. I’m tired of you taking your frustration out on the secondary when all they are, is young and inexperienced. But very talented. Quit holding them to the highest standards, calling them out in the media etc, when all you do is change your quarterback’s diapers and stick a bottle in his mouth.
Have some accountability for yourself. Lane kiffin took you and Durkin out to the wood shed in front of the entire nation. You guys couldn’t adjust.
The entire GatorNation knows Driskel is your baby, and you’re scared that if you put a true freshman in, it’ll probably be all she wrote for him. He played exactly like how you’d expect a true freshmen to play.
Driskel may be the better practice QB. But he’s not getting hit. In a real game, he’s nervous and plays like shit.
YouTube Harris’ maxprep highlights… You’ll see what he does to a blitz.
Stop hanging your DB’s out, and grow some balls. Deal with the REAL situation first.
I’m tired of hanging my head!!
Are there any more 1st round draft choices on the schedule. They love Florida. The last one Florida played, Kelvin Benjamin, caught nine passes for 212 yards. Tennessee’s Von Pearson, if healthy, and Marquez North are probably looking forward to playing Florida. The guys in Florida’s secondary better be watching them play Georgia Saturday to try to learn something about them. I can understand Hargreaves job being safe, but I don’t understand Keanu Neal getting a pass. He seemed as bad as the rest of them. maybe one or more of the freshman will be able to plat. Alabama’s Tony Brown did a pretty good job on Demarcus Robindson
Are there any more 1st round draft choices on the schedule. They love Florida. The last one Florida played, Kelvin Benjamin, caught nine passes for 212 yards. Tennessee’s Von Pearson, if healthy, and Marquez North are probably looking forward to playing Florida. The guys in Florida’s secondary better be watching them play Georgia Saturday to try to learn something about them. I can understand Hargreaves job being safe, but I don’t understand Keanu Neal getting a pass. He seemed as bad as the rest of them. maybe one or more of the freshman will be able to play. Alabama’s freshman, Tony Brown did a pretty good job. One thing that would greatly help out the secondary is a better pass rush, it could help mask the poor play if it continues.
It was a tough game for the secondary.
Tony Brown is going to be a first rounder in a couple of years.
The story drips with both the irony and hypocrisy of Coach Boom’s philosophy. For the DBs, Boom is considering and appears likely to give different players a chance at solving some of the Gator’s secondary problems. BUT, as for QB, Jeff Driskel gives us the “best shot” at winning; and, we’ve heard not a peep about Treon Harris assuming any more significant role. Or, if Coach Boom thinks he’s fooling anybody by not saying anything about Treon and then putting him to “surprise” a defense, then he’s gullible and fooling only himself.
So, it appears that Coach Boom is somewhat the chameleon, changing his philosophy depending on the position. I acknowledge the QB is probably the most important position, but then again there is no debate that Driskel has been extremely ineffective (to be kind) and downright terrible without any varnish to an assessment. Yet, crickets are chirping as to what the Gators are doing to fix or eradicate our significant QB problems…
Coach’s behavior reminds me of Tony Dungy when he was the HC at Tampa Bay. He held the defense to a HIGH standard, but when it came to the offense…not so much. All it cost him was his JOB, and the inability to reap the benefit of all of the hard work that went into making Tampa a winner. From where I sit, that was a HIGH price to pay for failing to hold EVERYONE accountable, BOTH sides of the ball. When I saw the commentary that changes were coming to the secondary, I was stunned that it STOPPED there.
To be fair, this is an article and a conversation about the SECONDARY, not the entire team. I’m sure the offense got their butts chewed out for all of their mistakes. Just because Muschamp’s quotes in this article are about accountability in the secondary, we shouldn’t assume the DBs are the only positions being held accountable.
Besides, if we’re going to beat Tennessee, the secondary needs to get a LOT better.