by Will Miles
SEC East Champs
Florida beat Tennessee on Saturday afternoon to win the SEC East.
I don’t think we should gloss over this accomplishment. Florida won a highly diluted SEC East in 2015 and 2016, but this isn’t that east. Instead, this is an east that has been run by Georgia for the past three seasons, as the Bulldogs averaged a 34-14 win over the Gators during that time-span.
Yes, Georgia was hit hard by injuries in 2020. And yes, they would have been a better team had Stetson Bennett remained third string behind Jamie Newman or a healthy J.T. Daniels. But football doesn’t work like that. Newman did transfer. Daniels wasn’t healthy. And for all of his recruiting prowess, Kirby Smart didn’t have the depth that he should have on the defensive side of the ball for whatever reason.
But more than anything, those 2015 and 2016 teams just weren’t very fun to watch. They went into those SEC Championship Games with pretty much zero chance to win. Both teams got clobbered by Florida State in the previous game.
Now, Florida has a high-flying offense led by a Heisman-worthy QB. Now, Florida has the potential to put up 40 or 50 points regardless of the opponent. I get that the wins over Vandy, Kentucky and Tennessee have been less than the Gators best.
But just think back to halfway through the first quarter when the Gators were down 14-0 to Georgia. Would you have taken where we are right now at that moment?
Trask’s “worst” game
Kyle Trask played his worst game of the season against Tennessee….and threw for 433 yards and 4 TDs.
Trask has been unbelievable this season, both because of his overall level of play but also because of his consistency of play. Saturday’s game against Tennessee was only the second time all season that his QB rating dropped below 188.
Against Kentucky, and even more against Tennessee, Trask was holding the ball an extra half-second. Defenses are starting to show one coverage pre-snap and then change post-snap more and more often against Trask, as he shows he can pick any defense apart if he knows what is coming before he gets the ball.
He’s been good for at least one duck out towards the sideline in each of the past three games that have been relatively dangerous in terms of being taken the other way for a pick-six. Most of those have been because of indecision about exactly what the defense is doing to him.
This is really nitpicking, but with the opponents coming up on the schedule, they’ll be able to take advantage. As crazy as it sounds, Trask is going to have to see what these defenses are doing to him and get even better.
Where’s the running game?
Of course, it would be nice if Trask could get some help from the Gators running game.
Fans probably feel like the Gators haven’t been doing all that well on the ground, and certainly that was the case against the Volunteers. But Florida ran for 227 yards against Arkansas and 173 against Vanderbilt.
So what’s the issue?
Well, against Ole Miss, Florida ran the ball for 196 yards, 37 from Emory Jones. Against Missouri, Florida ran for 169 yards, 54 from Trask and Jones (mainly Trask). Against Arkansas? 45 yards from the QBs. Against Vanderbilt? 32 yards from the QBs.
The Gators QBs ran for -10 yards against Tennessee.
If you listened to Dan Mullen when he came into the program, he talked about having a QB who is a willing runner. He certainly had that with Feleipe Franks, but that is less true with Kyle Trask. And as Trask becomes more and more valuable through the air, it isn’t really worth the risk to have him participate in the running game.
Except that Florida’s running game isn’t good enough to beat the opposition without the threat of the QB keeping the ball.
Sacks for everyone
It’s been a little bit sneaky, but Florida’s pass rush – left for dead after collecting zero sacks against Texas A&M – has had quite a resurgence of late.
The Gators sacked Tennessee QBs six times and their sack rate (sacks/pass attempts) has been over 10% in every game except against Vanderbilt since the Missouri re-start. Prior to that game, Florida was getting sacks on just 7% of pass attempts, but that has jumped to nearly 12% from that Missouri game.
Obviously that has a lot to do with the return of Kyree Campbell, but everyone has gotten in on the act. Zach Carter has four. Brenton Cox has 3.5. Ventrell Miller and Khris Bogle have 2.5 while Mohamoud Diabate and Campbell have 1.5 each.
In total, the Gators 29 sacks this season, which equates to 3.2 per game. That is behind last year’s pace (3.8 sacks per game), but is right in line with what you would expect if you replaced Jonathan Greenard with an average pass rusher.
That extra 0.6 sacks is a big deal though. That’s one extra sack every two games that ends a drive rather than allowing a third-down conversion. But more than that, sacks are a reflection of how often you’re making a QB uncomfortable. QBs have been more comfortable against this Gators defense than they have been in the past.
That taxes a secondary that has also struggled and is a big reason why third-down conversions have looked so easy at times against the Gators.
Late touchdowns
Florida was up 31-7 and in complete control of the game against the Volunteers. Then, the defense gave up a touchdown on an 11-play, 94-yard drive.
I know fans wanted to see the defense shut down the Vols, but other than the abysmal tackling, I’m okay with allowing that drive. It took 5:48 off the clock in a game that had 11:21 left when Tennessee took over. Had Tennessee hit a big play with 11 minutes left (ala Ole Miss), there would have been an opportunity to at least make the Gators think.
The second drive was much worse. Tennessee ran off 13 plays, but went 96 yards in 2:46 and Florida just looked disinterested in keeping the Vols out of the end zone.
I have no problem allowing Tennessee to dink and dunk its way down the field. But this is an opportunity to work on disciplines within your zone defense and making sure you keep things in front of you. Instead, back-up QB J.T. Shrout completed passes of 18, 15 and 22 yards on the drive.
Chunk plays happen from time-to-time in football. But giving up chunk plays when you should be playing zones to keep the opposition in front and use clock is an issue.
Because it was garbage time, I don’t want to read too much into it. But the idea of “finishing an opponent” appears to be something that is lost on this Gators team.
Killer instinct?
I’m more upset at offense during that last sequence actually.
The Gators took over with 5:33 left after recovering an onside kick attempt after Tennessee cut the lead to 31-12. They then proceeded to get a delay of game penalty. They had all of their timeouts, so how does that happen?
They then threw the ball twice on first and second down to pick up the first down with 4:30 left….and proceeded to run the ball twice to get to third-and-4 and then go backwards on a false start by Toney and a 5-yard loss on a run by Pierce on third-and-9.
My question is this. If you were okay with Trask throwing the ball in the same drive and trusted him to pick it up, why not just end the game and put the ball in his hands on third-and-9? The guy is either going to win the Heisman or finish as the runner-up. Let him throw the ball.
Instead, the ball went back to Tennessee, who blazed down the field in 2:46 to make the score more respectable, but also forced the Gators to answer questions about finishing yet again.
I think the Gators need to try and run the ball, perhaps more than others. I don’t get upset in the first half when they try to establish some form of a running game. But for this team, at this time, when there’s a chance to end the game, the ball shouldn’t be in Dameon Pierce’s hands.
It should be in Kyle Trask’s.
LSU comes to the Swamp
LSU comes to Gainesville this weekend to take on Florida, with the Gators having a chance to truly make the SEC Championship Game a play-in game.
The Tigers have been awful this year. Of course, most of us could see that coming after almost the entire team went to the NFL following the championship run last season. Combine that with starting QB Myles Brennan missing time because of injury and it just has been a nightmare season for LSU.
Of course, that hasn’t always mattered in this burgeoning rivalry.
Tyler Murphy led the 2013 Gators into Baton Rouge in 2013 against an LSU team that would end up 10-3. Yet, Florida was able to bring the game within one score early in the fourth quarter before finally falling 17-6.
In 2017, another bad Gators team welcomed Danny Etling and LSU to the Swamp and lost a nailbiter 17-16 after Eddy Pineiro missed the PAT after a would-be game tying TD late in the third quarter.
And of course, there was the underachieving 2010 UF squad that lost after LSU converted a fake field goal with 35 seconds left that actually bounced on the ground prior to being picked up by the kicker (ugh, I was in the stands for that one).
My point is, these games have been close even when Florida hasn’t been very good. I suspect we might get a similar scare now that LSU comes in struggling as well.
Kyree Campbell remembers
After LSU’s win over Florida last season, Tigers fans left the stadium chanting “it sucks…to be…a Florida Gator,” mocking the chant that Florida fans yell when their team wins.
Fans aren’t the only ones who remember that sort of thing. Kyree Campbell clearly remembers as well, as he retweeted video of some of those LSU fans earlier in the week.
And I think that makes sense because for these players, LSU really is Florida’s rival. I mean, think about it. The last relevant Tennessee game where Florida and Tennessee both had something big to play for was when? Maybe 2001?
The last relevant games against Alabama were 2015 and 2016, but those were both drubbings by the Tide, meaning the last time these players would have seen the Gators play a competitive game against the Tide was 2009….when some of them were 7-years old.
But there have been a ton of nailbiters with LSU. The fake field goals in 2010 and 2015. The goal-line stop in 2016. The pick-six of Burrow in 2018 and the uncalled pass interference on Tyrie Cleveland last year.
Add to that the animosity that still exists because of the rescheduled game due to Hurricane Matthew and there is real dislike for the other team that has been building for years. That’s what a rivalry is built on.
Maybe the ACC did the right thing by finking out and eliminating the last games for Clemson and Notre Dame. But it wouldn’t feel like a true SEC season unless Florida played LSU.
Alabama anxiety
My colleague Nick Knudsen has coined a phrase “Alabama Anxiety” to describe the Florida fan base as of late.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Florida clearly needs to improve to beat the Tide, and that’s the ultimate goal. Dan Mullen isn’t going to hang any “SEC East” banners in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
But how Florida plays against Kentucky, Tennessee, or even LSU won’t have anything to do with whether Florida can cover Devonta Smith in one-on-one coverage or whether Mac Jones will hit Najee Harris against Florida’s linebackers the way Dan Mullen embarrassed Georgia’s linebackers with wheel routes.
I get that Alabama is the gold standard right now in the conference and it’s where Florida fans want to be. I understand that Alabama looks like a buzz saw while Florida is showing inconsistencies. I get that there’s a reason that Vegas has installed the Gators as 14-point underdogs against the Tide.
But I also know that one of my favorite parts of the 2006 season was winning games nobody expected Florida to win. The 21-20 win over Tennessee with Tebow converting all of the fourth-and-shorts. The 17-16 win over South Carolina in Spurrier’s return to the Swamp. The evisceration of Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl after everybody assured us that the Buckeyes were going to roll.
In fact, that’s kind-of what this game against Alabama reminds me of. That Buckeyes team had a Heisman-winning QB and all we heard heading into that game was that Florida wouldn’t be able to compete. When Ted Ginn returned the opening kick for a TD, it seemed like that prediction might come to pass.
But then Florida showed who was better, and man was it sweet.
I’m sure there were fans who were anxious that Florida only beat Florida state 21-14 a week before the SEC Championship Game. There were probably fans who were anxious that the win over Arkansas was only by 10 points.
None of those fans had anything to do but cheer after the game against the Buckeyes.
Senior moments
2020 was the year Dan Mullen had to make a move. Part of that was because Georgia was going through quite a bit of transition. Part of that was that Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa were gone, so you figured Florida might be able to take advantage (hey, one out of two isn’t bad).
But the main reason Florida was picked by many in the preseason to end up in Atlanta was because of the senior leadership on the team.
Kadarius Toney – who came to the program as a quarterback and never had more than 25 catches prior to this year – has turned into a go-to receiver with 53 catches in 9 games.
Trevon Grimes didn’t have to come back this year, but decided to play his senior year and has put up almost identical numbers to last season.
Rick Wells had three total catches coming into this year and has gotten six in 2020. The safeties – for all of their struggles – have put their egos aside and played in rotations that didn’t always make sense to fans, and likely not them as well (Donovan Stiner, Shawn Davis, and Brad Stewart).
There were rumors that Kyree Campbell might opt out early in the season and boy, what a big deal it is that he decided not to. On and on the list goes, with Tedarrell Slaton Jeremiah Moon, C.J. McWilliams, Jacob Finn and of course, Kyle Trask contributing along the way.
Some of these guys might be back, since the NCAA has granted them an extra year of eligibility due to COVID. But if they don’t, I hope we appreciate what they’ve done for the program.
Coming off of a 4-7 season in 2017, the locker room could have splintered. Slaton could have bristled when transfer Adam Schuler came in and took his playing time. Wells could have entered the transfer portal to play elsewhere. And Trask could have divided the locker room when Feleipe Franks was named the starter in 2018.
Instead, these guys bought into Dan Mullen’s vision for the program. It’s a very different vision than the man they committed to – Jim McElwain – had. But this trip to Atlanta doesn’t happen without their buy-in.
So congrats to the seniors. Enjoy your last game in the Swamp. Hopefully you’ve still got four more games to play overall, but regardless, job well done.