The first three weeks of football have proven that there are two different Florida Gators football teams. Actually, I take that back. There are two Florida offenses. The Kentucky game showed what the offense is capable of, but there has simply been no consistency game to game.
The wins and losses from the 32-0 win against North Texas are pretty cut and dry. The defense put on a beautiful performance while the offense was lackluster.
Losses
There wouldn’t normally be a lot of bad to take from a 32-0 win, but the mood following the game was more like the Gators lost by 32.
LOSS #1: Losing Luke Del Rio
Obviously Del Rio’s injury was the biggest loss of the game. All the Gators needed from the North Texas game was to pull out a win and to stay healthy heading into Tennessee week. The whole feel of the game changed right in that moment, as Florida lost their voice of reason and leadership on offense. It’s sad to say, but the catastrophic event could’ve easily been prevented if the Gators would have come out strong on offense. Had the offense found a way to score touchdowns in the red zone in the first half, Florida would have been leading 37-0 at halftime. Even if the Gators could have capitalized on two out of three of their missed opportunities in the red zone, the game would’ve been in the bag early and Del Rio would have been chilling on the sidelines late in the third quarter.
This week Florida will head to Knoxville for the biggest game of the season to this point, and they will have to rely on Austin Appleby to manage the offense. Although Jim McElwain said the game plan won’t change at all, it will. The Gators will have to adjust to Appleby’s strengths for a few weeks, but just like with Del Rio, they really don’t need him to do too much. When Del Rio went down it was like the entire team finished out the game with a chip on their shoulder. They will need to carry that same chip with them to Tennessee.
LOSS #2: Pass protection by the offensive line was rough
The offensive line took a big step in the Kentucky game. Del Rio even said that he was only touched once or twice the entire game. The offensive line showed their youth again against North Texas. Del Rio was pressured almost every play, much like the UMass game. Not counting the injury, he got hit HARD several times throughout the game. I will not blame all of Del Rio’s ill-advised throws on the offensive line, because as we’ve seen in previous games Del Rio is still working on his decision making, but he was forced to rush a great deal of his throws on Saturday.
The thing with this offensive line is it is all about developing consistency, being able to play with the same aggressiveness and energy game in and game out. We have not seen that yet from them, and it’s something that will have to get a lot better as the season moves along. Tennessee’s defense will be the best they’ve faced yet, but in reality their defense is not that great. Tennessee is ranked 46th in overall defense and 110th in sacks (with three), while Florida’s defense is number one in both of those categories.
LOSS #4: Penalty issues still haven’t been resolved
I didn’t even realize how many penalties the Gators had in the game until looking back at the stats. Florida gave North Texas 97 free yards in the game with 11 penalties called on them. The most troubling of the penalties was three pass interference calls between the Gators’ stellar cornerback duo, two on Jalen Tabor and one on Quincy Wilson.
Florida has struggled with penalties all season, and it’s something that has to be fixed in order for them to be successful. The teams the Gators have faced to this point have not had the ability to take advantage of the opportunities Florida has handed to them. If this continues, the Gators will pay eventually. Giving 97 free yards to teams like Tennessee or LSU would basically be like giving them a couple of free touchdowns.
Wins
While some of us may still be hurting after watching the Gators somewhat struggle in week three, there are still a couple of very good things to take away from the game.
WIN #1: The entire defense
Besides the pass interference calls, you would’ve had to look pretty hard to find much to complain about with the way Florida’s defense played on Saturday. As mentioned before, the Gators are now ranked first in total defense and sacks. To go along with that, they are second in passing defense and fourth in rushing defense. Everyone on defense wanted to get a piece of freshman quarterback Mason Fine. Florida had seven sacks on the night, highlighted with two sacks by redshirt freshman Jabari Zuniga. North Texas finished the game with 53 total yards of offense (which is the fewest yards allowed in program history), -13 yards rushing, and zero points on the scoreboard. The defense had a fire in them all night, because whether they would admit to it or not, they wanted that shut-out bad. Florida was firing on all cylinders, defensive line, linebackers, and the secondary.
If one thing has been consistently good for the Gators all season, it has been the defense. They are the backbone of this team. While the offense is still figuring things out, the defense is behind them the whole way. Florida does not have to score a lot of points to win football games.
WIN #2: The running backs are still going strong
Surprisingly, the Gators are still going with the rotation of four different running backs. No single running back has emerged leaps and bounds over any of the others, and McElwain seems perfectly content with continuing to run down the throats of opposing defenses with a different look from each guy. Jordan Cronkrite, Jordan Scarlett, Mark Thompson, and Lamical Perine each scored a touchdown of their own on Saturday as they combined for a total of 250 yards rushing. Mark Thompson led the group with 85 yards and averaged 7.7 yards per carry.
The running backs have been carrying a heavy load on offense so far this season, but it is likely about to get even heavier for the next few weeks. With Appleby taking over, the Gators probably won’t take many chances throwing the ball and this group of four is going to have to give him as much backup at possible in his first start as a Gator at Tennessee.
“Del Rio was pressured almost every play, much like the UMass game. ”
I disagree with this assessment. I rewatched the game, focusing on the OL. The times Luke was pressured were almost entirely because he went through his progressions without throwing the ball. He’d have 3-4 seconds of a clean pocket before the pressure go to him. To me those hits were as much on the WRs not being open or Luke not making a quick enough decision.
RDJ looked great, although after one of his best blocks in which he pancaked a defender, he had a false start and was taken out.
I think Johnson looks good at guard. I thought Buchanan and Sandifer did pretty good, although they were mostly in for run blocking at that point of the game, so we didn’t see much pass protection.
Bottom line, to me — this OL is a lot better than it was last year, and it has good depth.
Will the OL struggle some with the Vols? Sure, but they’re a big boy team just like we are, and they recruit well along the line. Still, I like our chances.