1. Jalen Tabor takes center stage
All-American cornerback Vernon Hargreaves left the sideline early in the second quarter with an illness. The Florida Gators defense has been the strength of the team this season and one of the best units in the country. Other than the two established names of Hargreaves and Jon Bullard, the defense is really doing what they’re doing this year kind of like the 1972 Miami Dolphins did with a “no name defense.”
That’s the mentality the players have taken on as well, but one player in particular has taken over and is making a name for himself.
Jalen Tabor had five pass breakups on Saturday against FAU, that’s more than every Florida Gators other than Brian Poole has all season long. Tabor leads the SEC with 18 pass breakups, one shy of the school record that was set by Louis Oliver in an All-American season in 1987.
Tabor has taken a starring role on Florida’s defense. He’s playing at an All-SEC and an All-American level as a sophomore.
2. Florida’s offense is regressing
This has been true for several weeks now, but Saturday exacerbated the point to another level.
Florida Atlantic ran for more yards, passed for more yards, had more first downs, was better on third down and ran 23 more plays that the Gators — who had become an offense that could at least hold on to the ball, limiting their opponent’s possessions.
The Owls also tallied five sacks on Saturday. They had not registered a sack in their previous three games against FIU, Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee State.
The offensive line didn’t get any push and made defensive tackle Brandin Bryant look like an All-American. Kelvin Taylor willed himself to 98 rushing yards on 25 carries.
The Florida offense needs to find answers but none are readily apparent. Jim McElwain and Doug Nussmeier are talented, impressive offensive minds, but even they are coming up blank in trying to figure out ways to make this offense run more efficiently.
3. Mixed bag on special teams
Johnny Townsend was named a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award prior to the FAU game and he looked every bit of the best punter in the country on Saturday.
Townsend tied a career high with nine punts, totaling 391 yards (43.4 average), had six punts downed inside the 20 and two that sailed more than 50 yards.
Similar to Kyle Christy in 2012, Townsend’s efforts have allowed Florida to stay in games, pinning opponents back deep in their own territory, which, in turn, allows Florida’s defense to play more aggressive.
On the other side of the coin, Florida’s placekicking continues to be a mess. Austin Hardin missed two field goals inside of 35 yards on Saturday and had an extra point blocked in overtime.
Hardin has plenty of leg to make field goals from 50, as you can see based on his ability on kickoffs, yet twice on Saturday Jim McElwain elected to punt when Florida was on FAU’s side of the field rather than letting Hardin kick a 50-yard field goal.
McElwain continues to publicly support Hardin, but his decisions on game day tell the real story. There is no confidence in Florida’s placekicking and with games coming up against Florida State and Alabama, placekicking may come into play and could determine the outcome of a game.
National Championships have been lost because teams did not have place kickers…you only have to look at the years FSU was also named wide right. I kicked in high school and college… it is not that hard. If you practice it all day, you ought to be able to do inconsistently when your teams needs it unless you can not handle the pressure, in that case you should not be a kicker. THE GATORS HAVE TO GET A PLACE KICKER THIS YEAR IN THE 2016 COMMITS…THIS IS A PIECE OF THE PUZZLE THAT MUST BE IN PLACE NOW.
Tabor has for sure be stellar… he is a great defender… Uf is awesome at defense… but even they are going to be put is a bad situation if the O doesn’t pick it up a ton.
The punter Townsend has indeed kept opponents back in their end and thus is a vital and crucial weapon for UF. This is the same weapon the placekicker ought to be but has proven time and again he is not that good. I am still surprised he made the pressure kick against Vandy.
offensively we are getting too predictable. The biggest problem I see is that the QB – Harris holds on to the ball too long… With Grier he threw many timing passes… 1 2 3 throw…instead Harris holds on to the ball too long and then gets sacked, or he gets the ball knocked away for a fumble…How could the SEC network pick him as player of the game…. should have been Tabor, or Townsend…NOT HARRIS.
Treon may have maxed out his talent. He can’t throw bullets into small windows like Grier could. He seems to hold the ball too long because he is waiting for someone to get open. He doesn’t have the arm to “throw receivers open” so he waits and this puts additional pressure on pass protection. Way too much time and then the protection breaks down and the defense catches him. He has to learn to get rid of the ball quicker to avoid the sacks and the losses from running out of bounds. There are some problems with the O line, but quick decisions and stronger short throws would help the offense. I love the Gators, but it is so disheartening to see no improvement in the offense. This is not a coaching issue but a personnel issue. We have game breakers now, but Treon is rarely finding them. As Coach Mac gets his type of players to run his offense, watch out. It will be fun and high scoring. I am still proud of this team and the future looks bright. Go Gators!