By Will Miles
The Swamp is alive
After Auburn lost to Florida back in 2019, Quarterback Bo Nix said that the Swamp was “the loudest I’ve heard” and that the crowd noise really impacted the game.
I suspect Alabama QB Bryce Young knows how he feels.
Florida let Alabama race out to a 21-3 lead, which dampened that effect a little bit, but when it came time for the crowd to support the Gators, that was the loudest environment I’ve ever experienced. It’s part of what makes Florida football so special.
You could feel it on campus during the day as well. Tailgates were buzzing early. There were plenty of Alabama fans on campus, but it seemed like to me less than in years past for various road games I’ve attended. There just seemed to be a feel in the air that something special might be in store for the fans and the program on Saturday and that nobody wanted to miss it.
Those fans almost got their wish. Multiple times, Young and the Tide experienced false starts. None of those was more critical than the fourth down from the 1-yard line midway through the fourth quarter. Florida got the stop they needed after the crowd caused a false start and forced Alabama to settle for a field goal.
There aren’t any moral victories, and just playing Alabama close isn’t the goal. But part of college football is the experience, and despite the loss, anybody who had the privilege of attending that game certainly got an unbelievable experience.
Early Struggles
Last season, Alabama raced out to an 18-point lead in the SEC Championship. Multiple times, defensive penalties played a key role in keeping the Gators defense from getting off of the field.
Saturday, Alabama raced out to an 18-point lead. Multiple times, defensive penalties played a key role in keeping the Gators defense from getting off of the field.
Early in the game on Saturday, it felt like déjà vu. The same story played out in a very different way (these offenses were way worse than last season), but the end result was that Florida had to play from way behind. Some of that was self-inflicted and some of that was on the officials.
But the reality is that you force officials to make calls when you stress the defense. And other than the offensive pass interference that went uncalled on the long throw to Jahleel Billingsley, none of the penalties directly resulted in a touchdown.
This isn’t the NFL. Pass interference is only a 15-yard penalty. Yes, it can be deflating to get one, but you can’t then just use that as an excuse to let the opposition drive the rest of the field.
Florida had a chance to win this game. They didn’t because they made too many mistakes and they couldn’t execute when the game was on the line. Did Bama get a little bit of help from the officials? Sure.
But the early struggles were just as much on the Gators as they were on the zebras.
Bama couldn’t run
The reason I say that is because the strategy for the defense coming out of the gate was perplexing.
It was pretty clear from the statistics and from watching the Miami tape that the Tide were really missing Najee Harris. They had been unable to run the ball all that successfully against the Hurricanes, and then were just average running the ball against Mercer. Combine that with Bryce Young showing some inaccuracy on mid-to-deep throws, and I thought the strategy was going to be to force him to throw the ball downfield or to hand it off to his back.
Instead, Florida essentially gave Young open short throws hoping to come up and make the tackle. It’s easy to say now that strategy was flawed, but I wrote in my preview that they should play dime and dare Alabama to run the ball.
That was the adjustment that Todd Grantham made in the second quarter. He pulled a man out of the box and focused on taking away the short throws based on his pre-snap alignment. That forced Young to either hand the ball off, which put Alabama in third-and-long a bunch because the Tide were unable to run the ball. He then wasn’t accurate enough when asked to throw the ball downfield.
The result was that Young threw for 138 yards in the first quarter and only 102 from then on. But that’s the confusing thing: that was something that Young had already shown on film. I’m not quite sure why Florida didn’t come out with that strategy rather than having to switch to it down 21-3.
Florida definitely could run
You can actually say the same thing about Florida on the offensive side of the ball.
Dan Mullen had the team come out of the gate with some really creative pass plays to the tight ends – something they hadn’t shown this year yet – to move the ball down the field. Yet, for a run-heavy team that was going to need to push Alabama around to win, Florida threw the ball 7 of its first 15 plays.
That strategy again flipped in the second quarter (after Emory Jones’ interception) and the Gators ran the ball 63% of the time as they put up 26 of their 29 points.
In the moment, I liked the game plan to hit the tight ends early on. It definitely kept Alabama on their heels. And when Dameon Pierce was getting stuffed near the goal line on the opening drive, it looked like that might be Florida’s best chance.
But the reality was that Florida was going to have to run the ball to win this one. That is their identity. In fact, after the game against Alabama, Florida now has the number one rushing offense (7.6 yards per rush) in the entire country.
I understand why Mullen did what he did. But at the same time, I didn’t know that Anthony Richardson wasn’t going to be available. Had I known that, I would have suggested that Florida only had one path to victory: pound the ball.
John Hevesy and the offensive line
Offensive line coach John Hevesy has taken quite a bit of heat this offseason. Part of it is because he hasn’t recruited very well when it comes to rankings. Part of it is because the Gators offensive line has been pretty bad in the running game the past two seasons. Part of it is because of the struggles of Stewart Reese and Jean Delance last season.
But Delance and Reese have played great this season. Hevesy has led a replacement of almost the entire left side of the offensive line with Richard Gouraige, Ethan White and Kingsley Eguakun. And reserves Josh Braun and Michael Tarquin have started to show some flashes as well.
I thought the offensive line played better last year than fans thought. Advanced stats at Football Outsiders indicated that while the line wasn’t the strength of the team, it wasn’t the weakness people were making it out to be. I also thought that a shift to a more run-heavy scheme would help Reese and Delance, in particular.
All that has proven to be true and more. As mentioned above, Florida currently has the number one ranked running game in all of college football. This after having the seventh ranked passing offense in 2020. To be able to switch back and forth that rapidly is a testament to Dan Mullen.
But it’s also a testament to Hevesy and the offensive line.
Emory Jones’ performance
If I were to choose one word to describe Emory Jones’ performance against Alabama, it would be inconsistent.
There were plenty of flashes. The touchdown drives in the second half and his contributions on the final touchdown drive to move the ball close on third-and-19 and then convert on fourth-and-2 were significant. But he is still missing too many throws, and regardless of Mullen indicating that he made the right read on the interception, you still can’t turn the ball over at the rate he has been doing.
Yet, the 77 yards rushing and 19 rushing attempts were an integral part of what Florida is doing on offense. Make no mistake, Jones’ threat to run the ball is holding defensive linemen and allowing the Florida offensive line to have an advantage at the snap that they are clearly taking advantage of.
So what you end up with is a QB with an overall QB rating of 109.3, which is decidedly below average. He’s also averaging 5.5 yards per rush, right in-line with his career average. If he can improve in the passing game just to average, this offense has the potential to be really good, even without Anthony Richardson.
It wasn’t quite enough against Alabama. Perhaps it will be enough against Georgia. But I suspect that the QB play is going to have to get way better before Florida travels to Baton Rouge and Jacksonville. Whether that is because Jones gets better or Richardson takes over is an open question.
I’m proud of the way Jones played after the interception. I wish the fans wouldn’t boo him when he struggles. But the reality is that Florida wins that game easily with last year’s offense and last year’s QB.
Passing game improvements
The running game is about as good as can be expected. The passing game….not so much.
Florida ranks 59th in yards per attempt at 7.5 yards per attempt. The fact that the Gators are averaging more yards every time they hand the ball off than they are every time they throw the ball is a problem since offense – particularly sophisticated passing offense – has proliferated college football over the past decade.
If it felt like Alabama was just more “dangerous” on Saturday, I think that’s why. While Florida had the ability to run the ball up and down the field, they didn’t have one guy who could take the ball to the house. Thus, even though the Gators had far more explosive plays (6) to the Crimson Tide (3), Alabama took shots at a higher rate.
If I’m Georgia or LSU looking at this film, I’m pressing the line of scrimmage, filling the box and daring Emory Jones to throw the ball. Jones is now averaging 6.0 yards per attempt in 2021, in-line with his 6.6 yards per attempt average over his career. What that means is that had Emory Jones been the Gators only starter this year, Florida’s pass offense would rank 99th, two spots behind Miami.
Regardless of how Dan Mullen gets there, the passing offense has to improve. You can beat many teams in the SEC East being one-dimensional. Florida proved that last year the other way around. But I’m not sure you’re going to beat the teams you want to beat without improvement on that side of the ball.
Extra Points?
When kicker Evan McPherson decided to leave for the NFL after last season, I think Gators fans probably assumed that there would be a smooth transition to the next kicker. Sure, maybe the next guy wouldn’t have as strong of a leg, but with Jace Christmann transferring in from Mississippi State, we all assumed the drop off wouldn’t be severe.
Well, Christmann didn’t even win the job. That left senior Chris Howard out there shanking an extra point about as bad as you’ll ever see after Florida scored to pull the game to 21-9 in the second quarter. To be fair to Howard, this is his first ever PAT miss in 23 attempts and he’s never missed a field goal (3 for 3). Also to be fair to Howard, this isn’t even close to the most famous extra point miss for Florida. That one belongs to Jonathan Phillips in 2008 against Ole Miss.
But can you tell me one time when Florida’s special teams has truly made a difference in the Dan Mullen era?
Kadarius Toney returned one punt for a TD against Kentucky last season. Freddie Swain returned one for a TD against Colorado State. But have there been any kickoff returns for scores? Any blocked punts? Any blocked field goals? I don’t remember them.
That was what was going through my head as Ja’markis Weston dropped a kickoff in the endzone and watched as it tumbled out at the one-yard line. That was incredibly bad luck for Florida, but at what point is the bad luck just the expectation.
I grew up watching Frank Beamer build Virginia Tech on special teams with “Beamer Ball.” Urban Meyer’s 2006 Florida team doesn’t win the SEC or National Championship without Jarvis Moss and Brandon James. That stuff is important.
And it needs to improve.
Anthony Richardson health
Is Anthony Richardson going to play against Tennessee? Word is that he was held out of the game against Alabama with the thinking that he would be 100% for the Tennessee game, so that probably means he won’t play at all.
I joke, but the lack of information coming out about Richardson – combined with him doing his signature backflip before the Alabama game – is somewhat frustrating. You don’t really prepare for him or Emory Jones all that differently. It’s the same offense, with the same general schemes. It’s just that Richardson has been, thus far, way more explosive.
So I’m not sure what being cagey about his availability does, other than deflate fans when he doesn’t come out for the third series of the game.
I’m actually fully in agreement with what Mullen said after the game. Hamstring injuries are absolutely the kind of thing that can get worse if you don’t allow them to heal properly. And while the loss to Alabama is disappointing, winning that game is less important than knowing for sure who the 2022 starter is going to be. If holding Richardson out as a precaution allows him to be available the rest of the season, then it was absolutely the right move.
I just wish Mullen would let us in the loop a little bit before the game.
Tennessee expectations
I’m worried about this one.
Ever since Hendon Hooker took over at QB for the Vols, their offense has been much better than it was under Joe Milton. And Tennessee’s defense has been its strength this year, particularly against the running game (1.9 yards per rush allowed).
Florida should win this game, but given Hooker’s pay, questions around Anthony Richardson’s availability, the possibility of a hangover from the Alabama loss and Florida greatest strength being the running game, I can see a scenario where this is much, much closer than people may initially think.
Indeed, Florida is nearly a three touchdown favorite against the Vols, indicating that Vegas – or at least the people betting in Vegas – expect the Gators to take care of business. But Tennessee was a worse team last year and Florida only won by 12.
I think we found out a lot about Florida last week, but this is where I think we truly find out about the Gators. Come out and squeak by the Vols and it becomes clear that Florida has the ability to play with the big boys but isn’t really a big boy yet. Blow them out of the water and I think that’s one more step towards proving that Florida isn’t just capable of playing with Alabama when it gets up for a game, but is capable of playing at a high level for sustained periods of time.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Tennessee game was the measuring stick game early in the season. Alabama served that purpose last week, but I think Tennessee tells us how accurate that measurement was this week.