PD’s Postulations – Thoughts on the Florida Gators/Tennessee

Ah, what a difference two weeks make.

Or does it?

I’d say it’s both. Certainly the big difference is the way everyone is feeling right now. Whether you are beset with concern about the offense or not, there is no denying that the supreme elation of a scintillating final play victory over our second-most bitter SEC rival, is a far cry from the devastation of losing to Michigan and its insufferably arrogant coach and fan base. Again. Worlds apart. Starting the SEC season 1-0 is so much different from starting the season 0-1.

But in most ways, very little changed in those two weeks. It was the same team, the same coaching staff, the same quarterback, same play caller, same huge number of suspended players, same offense, defense and special teams. There was no quantum change in any of those things from Game 1 to Game 2. But the results were immensely different. Some insist that the only difference is that Michigan is elite and Tennessee is terrible. I am not sure that holds water or will bear out over the season, however. After all, Tennessee looked immeasurably better in their two games prior to beating the Gators (clobbering Indiana State and beating a really good Georgia Tech team), than Michigan did in their two games after playing Florida (struggling mightily to unimpressively subdue ne’er-do-wells Cincinnati and Air Force).

So, if we can concede that it is not just as simple as the change in opposition, what changed? And was it the proverbial significant step every team makes between Game 1 and Game 2? Leading up to the game I made a list of the things I wanted to see change from the Michigan game that I thought would spell a better chance to beat Tennessee, and spell a positive trajectory for the rest of the season. Most of them were on the offense, since the only real issues I saw on defense were youth and missing depth due to suspensions (and again, youth). Both of which will only be improved with time. Let’s review that offensive checklist…

 

1) Tempo. Much faster-developing plays. Less time between plays.

While we didn’t see much of a change in the quickness of relaying plays and getting the snap off, both of those did go more smoothly. Benefits of having one game under their belts, no doubt. But what was very promising here is the play selection of much quicker-hitting plays than two weeks ago. Runs and passes were called that developed faster on average than in Game 1. Part of it may have been players being more comfortable and practiced in the game atmosphere, but the plays themselves were largely from a different chapter of the play book. Primarily:

 

2) Outside runs and passes.

3) Quick passes to get playmakers in space.

Both of these were clearly on our team’s to-do list. From the first drive, that focus was evident, and they stuck to it throughout the game. I was happy to see this, and it helped the offense move the ball early and throughout the game. If not for the perpetual mental errors and critical physical mistakes on drive after drive, the Florida side of the scoreboard and the discussions around the water coolers Monday morning would be much different.

 

4) Feed the monster. Ride the hot hand. If a certain play or player works, that better not be the last time we use either. Make them stop it; don’t do their job for them by stopping it ourselves.

 

This was a major frustration in Game 1. The few times we hit a successful offensive play, we never went back to it or to the player who made it. But against Tennessee, the staff made a concerted effort to feed the monster, early and often. Could have done it even more, but you have to walk before you can run. They targeted Tyrie Cleveland on the second play of the game, and got a pass to him in the second drive for 10 yards. They threw to him 5 more times, which may not be a lot, but it was the most of any Gator catcher and nearly a third of our pass plays. Malik Davis got involved with a carry in the first series as well, and they gave him three more carries in the game. Again, not a lot, but much better than the one carry he got in the opener. Perine and Thompson got the bulk of the carries, but I look for those carries to siphon off to Malik more each week. The staff wants to have a balanced rotation to keep backs fresh, but they know who the game breaker is here. Kadarius Toney didn’t get his hands on the ball until the second quarter, but the staff more than doubled his touches over the opener, with 6 targeted throws in his direction and run from a direct snap. Look for all three of these game changers to get more and more touches as the season goes on.

 

5) Less confusion among the OL on who to block, when.

This was a very evident improvement. Against Michigan, we saw a familiar foible rear its ugly head: rushers flooding into the backfield, running right past blockers who did not even try to make a block because they thought it was someone else’s assignment. A sight far too familiar during the Muschamp years and the early McElwain era. I did not review every play for it, but I don’t remember seeing this happen against UT. When Vol rushers would blow by unblocked, it was because the Gator player simply got beat on the attempted block, not because he was ignoring the rusher, confused about the assignment. This is progress.

 

6) ANYTHING from the tight ends besides olé practice.

I did not see much, if any improvement here, but tight ends are going to be a long-term project.

 

A few things I did not list because they were too obvious. Such as offensive linemen winning more one-on-ones, and running backs and tight ends doing a better job picking up blitzers and blocking in general. I thought we saw more wins at the line of scrimmage, but the blocking from running backs and tight ends are still very poor, the few times they are able to engage any sort of block at all. Oh what I wouldn’t give to have Errict Rhett show up at practice and teach these kids how to block.

 

Overall, I saw a lot of improvement in these critical areas Saturday, and they certainly they played a part in the victory.

 

Getting Offensive

 

The offense of course was the focus of the game for everyone. For fans, coaches, players, concession workers, passers by, feral hogs, very small rocks…there was no mystery and no shortage of suggestions as to how it could be better.

 

Predictability, running too much on first down, lack of creativity, not spreading the defense out, on down the list. Well the tale of the tape indicates that there was marked improvement in these areas, even if it didn’t show up on the scoreboard.

 

Overall, Florida was very balanced, throwing 30 passes and running 27 times. For a team that led almost the entire game, and seldom by any appreciable margin, that’s a pretty aggressive balance toward the passing game (52% of the time). In fairness, only three of those passes were thrown downfield, and only about the same number were intended to go downfield but could not for lack of open receivers or time to throw. But the intent to keep UT off balance with the passing game was there. And there was almost perfect balance on first down, 12 passes to 13 rushes. However, the balance was far more pass-heavy against Michigan (60% of all plays, and 59% of first downs), although that is somewhat skewed because Florida had to lean heavily on the pass in the final quarter to try to catch up.

 

Where the difference came primarily against Tennessee was on second down – specifically second and long. Against Michigan, Florida ran the ball almost half the time (47%) on second down and long. Against Tennessee, that number was only 35%. Constantly leaving themselves in third and long was the slow death on offense against Michigan. Against Tennessee, the more aggressive second and long strategy helped extend drives by creating more third down and manageable distances. Incidentally, Florida has yet to pass the ball one time this year on third down and short yardage, which may be a very nice tendency to go against to surprise a future opponent in a critical spot with a deep strike for pay dirt.

 

At the bottom line, though, on the day Florida racked up 380 yards, 14 first downs, 27 offensive points (counting the PAT that we were denied and the touchdown that we were stripped of an inch short). Not a dominating performance by any stretch, but nobody was expecting 500 yards of offense after last week. And it is in line with the historical performance against Tennessee. Since Urban Meyer left, the Florida averages against Tennessee are 385 yards, 27 offensive points and 18 first downs. And those six games represent a 5-1 record for Florida. This is certainly not what we want to be the standard, and the Florida offenses of the last six years have been a serious pain point for fans, but viewing this as a season progress report, these are very good numbers. Because in Game 1, Florida only tallied 192 yards, 9 first downs, and 3 offensive points. I will be very surprised if we do not improve on all three numbers again next week against Kentucky, as well.

 

And as a small measure of outlook, Florida scored 3 offensive touchdowns in the 4th quarter Saturday. Yes, one was negated because we got blind-stripped at the goal line, but that’s not a reflection of the offense. It was a pretty fluke play. We scored 3 offensive touchdowns instead of zero like Game 1. We had a handful of big plays on offense, as opposed to zero in Game 1. We had a bona fide put-away game-icing touchdown drive in the 4th quarter that would have stood up 99 times out of 100, if we didn’t go out and give up a 2-play touchdown drive and throw a bad interception when all we needed to do was hold the ball. Against Michigan, we could have played 10 more quarters and we wouldn’t have put together a touchdown drive like that one.

 

And in addition to the long Malik Davis touchdown that was taken off the board for poor ball security, consider that Dre Massey dropped a long pass that hit him in the hands, Toney dropped a touchdown pass, Perine fumbled after ripping off a long momentum-stoking run to open our third quarter offense, and throughout the game there were at least a dozen plays where we were one broken tackle or one whiffed block away from a breakaway touchdown. We were really close to having a very productive offense against Tennessee.

 

It wasn’t the Fun & Gun, and it wasn’t usually pretty, but it was improvement. In some important ways, it was significant improvement. And that’s what we need to see: improvement every week.

 

About Those Wheels…

 

I read many times on Gator Country and other social media sites from fretting Gator fans, that it appeared to them like the wheels were coming off the Gator bus, because of the suspensions and the loss to Michigan. Well, anyone who watched the postgame celebrations and interviews know that we can put that notion out of our mind completely.

 

The celebration speaks for itself. But of course nobody is going to yawn and drag their feet to the locker room after that kind of fantastic finish. It was the interaction on the field long after the initial explosion of elation that tells the story. Feleipe Franks and Coach Mac embraced in a hug that seemed to last for days, the kind of hug that was no courtesy. It resembled a father and son embracing after one of them returns from a long military deployment. Players went Full Teddy Dupay and went into the first row of the crowd all over the Swamp as they high-fived and danced with fans. Hugs and clowning carried on forever across the field. When Franks was giving his postgame interview to CBS, he ran through a thank you list like he was giving an Oscar acceptance speech. Then in mid-sentence, Tyrie Cleveland comes skipping over like a little kid and throws his arm around Franks. Franks looks at him and they just smile at each other ear-to-ear and grab each other like long lost brothers. A full 5 seconds into the hug, their center TJ McCoy rolls up and hugs both of them, lifting them into the air (uh…he’s strong). The interviewer shifts to Cleveland, and Feleipe’s hug shifts to TJ. This was no ordinary postgame celebration. It was a brotherhood on display out there.

 

Coach Mac got emotional, as he is apt to do, and gushed over the fans and how they showed up in such numbers in the midst of massive hurricane calamity. He got wispy speaking about how he will cherish for the rest of his life the memories of watching his kids earn this special moment. Feleipe called Florida fans the best in the land. Tyrie did, too; said he absolutely loves them. Tyrie – whose family already had to live through the devastation of Hurricane Harvey – said the team knew they had to win this game for the people in Florida, because of Hurricane Irma. This wasn’t rehearsed – this was what was on the team’s mind. Winning for each other. Winning for the fans. Winning for Florida.

 

Because that was the other thing that really jumped out after the game. The coaches, the players, during the interviews they were all just scanning the crowd with looks of amazement. You could feel the impact it was having. I was shocked to see at game time that the Swamp was as close to a full house as it was. Considering how many pre-sold tickets were to people who had no way of making the trip, and many others who had to take care of their homes and families, that THAT many people still packed it in there….simply amazing. And they knew it. And while it wasn’t the loudest the Swamp has ever been, it was easily the most volume per person that the building has ever seen. And the players and coaches marveled at it and felt the love.

 

Wheels? This looked and sounded like a wagon with its wheels super-glued to the axles. Like a group invested not just in mind and body, but in heart and spirit. I think the fan bubble at times makes us see things that aren’t there, and not see things that are. For anyone who doubted the resolve, the unity, the dedication or – heck, I’ll say it – the love this team has for all things Florida, for all things Gator, this was one of those times.

 

Statistically Speaking

 

  • CJ Henderson became the first true freshman to have a pick-6 in 2 consecutive games in the last 7 years. He is the first Gator to turn the trick since 1996.
  • By beating Tennessee, UF avoided a loss in its home opener for the first time since 1989, and avoided its first 0-2 start since 1971.
  • This was Florida’s 13th-consecutive win in SEC openers, and 7th-straight home win over the Vols.
  • The win moves Florida to 27-20 all-time against Tennessee, matching the biggest margin the Gators have enjoyed in series history.
  • With 3 interceptions, the Gators notched their 31st multi-interception game against an FBS team since 2010, which is the most in the SEC over that span.

 

Life Is Good

 

I am sure many of you know the story of the Life Is Good apparel company. For those who do not, Bert and John Jacobs started the company based on a family tradition started by their mom. A family of six kids, the Jacobs were a very poor family squared away in a $15,000, 720-square-foot house in a Boston suburb with no heating. They struggled to get by, living hand-to-mouth, paycheck to paycheck. Each night before supper, rather than complain or commiserate about how tough their day was, their mother would ask each of her children to tell her something good that happened that day. No matter how bad a day they had, she insisted that they could always find at least one good thing that happened. And they did. This was their inspiration to start designing t-shirts, an idea that led to a $100 million dollar company.

 

When I first read about that, I did not want that brief reading to be the only impact it had on me, so I started a tradition with my own family: whenever we go on trips or local outings, and especially whenever anyone has had a really bad day, we all come up with one good thing that happened that day, write it on a post-it note, date it and put it in the Life is Good Jar. Then every year between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, we take turns pulling out the post-its and remembering and re-living the good experiences of that year. It’s amazing what you forget.

 

And I try to apply that to other things. Like, oh I don’t know, Gator football. And like the Life Is Good Jar, it’s amazing what you forget about Gator football and all the fun and good fortune we fans have been lucky enough to experience. At the end of spring, when we tallied up the last of our 4 national championships (yes, I am counting women’s indoor tennis), and numbers started running across news feeds, wasn’t it amazing to remember all the national titles this athletics program has tallied, with so many in the last ten years, and across so many sports?

 

Well, when that 63-yard touchdown pass floated into Tyrie’s hands, it was just a matter of time before everyone started listing all the incredible fantastic finishes we Gator fans have been lucky enough to be part of. And most of them have been against our biggest rivals, and right at home in the Swamp. Or the Swamp away from the Swamp.

 

We only have to go back a few games to remember the incredible goal line stand to win our dramatic and storyline-intoxicated home game on the road against LSU. And the Tyrie catch was eerily similar to that other 63-yard, game-clinching 4th down touchdown pass to beat Tennessee the last time they visited the Swamp. Before that of course was the 2006 South Carolina game, known simply as The ‘Cock Block. The 1997 FSU game, knocking #1 out of the national title game. The nanosecond touchdown catch from Jesse Palmer to Jabar Gaffney against Tennessee in 2000 that Vols fans still won’t shut up about. The 1994 SEC Championship game with the mysterious 1-play Wuerffel “injury,” the Kresser bomb, the Doering wide receiver pass, and the Doering touchdown pass for the league crown. The 1993 Kentucky game, jump-starting Danny Wuerffel’s career, immortalized with Mick Hubert’s legendary call, “DOERING’S GOT A TOUCHDOWN! DOERING’S GOT A TOUCHDOWN! DOERING’S GOT A TOUCHDOWN!” The 1991 FSU game, withstanding two desperation passes to the end zone. The 1991 Tennessee game, “The Cup Game,” with Larry Kennedy’s pick-6 icing it away. Even going all the way back to the 1980s, with “The Miracle,” when Kerwin Bell took 15 entire minutes to stagger around and reenact the last play of The Longest Yard to score the 2-pointer to beat Auburn. And farther back still to 1982, when James Jones’s one-armed touchdown catch capped a long drive to beat hated Miami. And for those old salts in Gator Nation, all the way back to 1966 when some guy named Spurrier booted Auburn to the curb and kicked his way to the Heisman Trophy. And all these gems for a program that for most of the last 30 years has not had many opportunities to have fantastic finishes because they’ve been so darn good that most of their games haven’t been close.

 

And that’s just one sport. Florida has a long line of fantastic finishes waiting to be remembered in other sports, as well. Chris Chiozza says “Hi”.

 

So even though the offense is still not a point-a-minute juggernaut; even though we are not going to run the table this year; even though not everything is perfect just yet in the land of orange and blue footballs; just remember that we are always Gators. And those players and coaches are looking into the stands with the same warm appreciation and admiration with which we look at them when we watch them play and coach. This is our Nation. Gator Nation. And life is good.

David Parker
One of the original columnists when Gator Country first premiered, David “PD” Parker has been following and writing about the Gators since the eighties. From his years of regular contributions as a member of Gator Country to his weekly columns as a partner of the popular defunct niche website Gator Gurus, PD has become known in Gator Nation for his analysis, insight and humor on all things Gator.

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