Thoughts of the Week 01-02-19
by David Parker
Wow, what a ride, eh? A 7-game improvement in the win column, a New Years 6 bowl victory and finishing in the Top-10 in the nation. And it wasn’t a case of the ball bouncing our way all the time. It was no charmed season. We had a game at Kentucky taken away from us with real points taken off the board by the refs that would have won the game. We lost our best player on defense for the year very early in the season, and in the biggest game of the season, we lost our new best player on defense in the second half, which allowed Georgia to log a come-from-behind win. We didn’t have any huge breakout year by a player on offense, or defense really. We just had a team that got a lot better in every facet of the game, played with focus and purpose and most of all took to their coaching and bought in completely. And the new coaching staff – particularly the new HBC – did it all.
And the difference was so easy to see and to show. I think the success of any Gator season, and certainly a measure of how fun it was for the fans, can be measured by how many games I save on the DVR to re-watch throughout the year. There were so few of these during the Muschamp and McElwain eras that I honestly can’t think more than 2 or 3 in Muschamp’s 4 years, and only one during McElwain’s (and a few plays, like the bomb to Tyrie and the goal line stand against LSU, and a couple miracle game winners against Tennessee). But this year, there were over a half dozen. And really all 10 wins were worth savoring at least a second time.
As I look forward to the Dan Mullen era unfolding over the next several years, I think I am going to have to upgrade my DVR for a lot more hard drive space.
Attention to Detail
Among the seemingly countless things that Dan brings to the table to put the program on an elite level, attention to detail is one of the most sorely missed and hasn’t lived in Gainesville since Dan did in 2008. I’ll point out just a couple things, but you can surely add to the mile-long list.
First thing that stands out is all of the subtle little wrinkles he puts in on otherwise standard plays to draw the defense’s attention 2 to 3 different ways before hitting the play. The quarterback fake run unto the line before stepping back to pass (basically a play-action motion to himself). The holding the ball out and freezing in fake confusion as if a play has been busted, before flipping, tossing or passing the ball somewhere else on plan. The fake handoff to pull in the defense’s edge guardian before an option toss to the same back. Watch any game and you will see these tiny little tricks he adds to bring extra complexity to standard plays.
Another is of course using new or seldom-used wrinkles to improve or enhance a standard play. In the Peach Bowl, Lemical Perine scored on a nifty play that was run successfully for a first down in the first quarter on the first scoring drive of the contest. To my memory, this was the first time we had gone to this play this year. I mentioned that I’m the game thread, but those things move 100 miles per hour and it was lost between the cracks. So to elaborate on that observation, is the nice new element Dan added.
The play itself was a seldom-used Tunnel Screen (watch either play and it’s easy to see why they call it a tunnel screen – Perine runs right through a tunnel created by the wide blockers). Traditionally, you have 3 receivers on the play side, and one or two weak-side receivers run short hitch routes; the QB looks to them like they’re the primary receivers, to keep the defense spread. Usually the center and/or guard have a delayed release to the play side (where Perine was lined up) to block the linebacker and/or safety/corner that marks the intended receiver from the inside. The defensive back lined up opposite the intended receiver is the responsibility of the guy getting the ball – he has to beat him.
The play will usually work well (like it did for us) if the play side has 1×1 coverage. If they have an extra man there, there are too many to block, and Feleipe Franks would instead hit one of the weak-side hitch routes (which should be open if they’re over-loading the play side), or change the play. So it is the quarterback’s call at the line to go one way or the other, depending on which side the defense is spread. Michigan played it even, a hat on a hat, on both sides.
But Dan did a different style Tunnel Screen, with 4 receivers on the play side and only 1 on the weak side. The weak-side receiver engages his man with a block as if it is a running play, and no linemen pull to block defenders in the middle of the field. Those defenders were cleared out by the inside receiver on the play side running straight at the safety. And whereas the target receiver usually just has to beat their man, in Dan’s version, the third receiver just inside of Perine basically takes out his defensive back AND the defender chasing Perine. The drag action into the “tunnel” draws both defenders into close proximity to facilitate the double block. Kadarius Toney drew this assignment both times – another little stroke of brilliance using the smallest guy on the field to take out 2 defenders rather than one of our tall, square-shouldered catchers. On the first quarter play, the defenders converged perfectly and Toney got a solid body on both; on the third quarter touchdown, the Michigan defender altered his route (no doubt an adjustment from having seen it before), so Toney could only get a paw on him, but the effect was the same. By altering his route to the ball carrier to get around the block from Toney, that gave Perine even more separation and he blew by him easily.
So, a standard play, but with many novel wrinkles that throw off traditional defensive keys and help the play succeed. Knowing exactly when to run the play, and the alignments that Michigan would run that best facilitate its success – these are the small detail-oriented aspects of the coaching that separate the good ones from the great ones.
Axioms, Shmaxioms
Many moons ago, broadcasting great Bob Griese said during a Gator game that when you get a punt blocked, you usually lose the game. Thus is the enormity of the momentum swing (and usually the scoreboard swing), as well as the mental impact of a blocked punt. He had looked that up and the numbers were very heavily in that direction. I remembered that, and as far as I can remember, the axiom held up for well over 90% of the games I saw since, in both Gator games and other teams’ games. And his words popped back into my head when Michigan blocked a Florida punt in the first half of the Peach Bowl with the game tight as a drum and neither team showing signs of breaking away. But not only did the Gators minimize damage by holding them to a field goal, they retook momentum and the lead very quickly thereafter. Then of course, Florida had a second punt blocked well after the game appeared to be in the bag, but had Michigan cached in the ensuing possession for a touchdown, the game’s conclusion would have been much more worrisome. I just wonder if a team has ever blocked two punts in one game and still lost, let alone been blown out.
Expansion Contraction
For those who want to expand of the playoffs, I believe there are arguments against every conceivable angle that would make expansion a nonstarter. But we don’t need to get into any of them. What we just saw in the opening round of the playoffs this year should be the first and last word, and should always be enough to end any argument that we should expand the playoffs. We saw once again that expansion of the playoffs would only do one thing: create more ugly, needless blowouts. And it’s not just this year. The semi-finals have been an annual bloodbath. There have been 10 first round games since the CFB playoffs started. Only two of those games have been a 1-score affair. All 8 other games were double digit finals, with seven of them ranging between 17 and 39-point blowouts. The average margin of victory is over three touchdowns.
That should end all arguments, but let’s discuss more for fun. The arguments for expanding the playoffs are myriad, but they all come down to flawed premises. One of them is that they want to improve the playoff product, which is totally irrelevant to determining the proper and deserving national champion. The most prevalent argument I see is that they want to be as inclusive as possible, and give everyone a chance.
Well that premise falls flat on his face for the simple matter that every team in the country already has the chance. It’s called the regular season. Everyone knows what they have to do to get in the playoffs. And if they don’t do it, they can be left out and shouldn’t be able to argue about it. This is not a participation trophy sport. The playoffs are supposed to be in place for one reason and one reason only: to determine the proper and most deserving national champion of college football.
Of course, we know the reason the most people outside the SEC want to expand the playoffs: to SEC-proof the national title. But that will never happen. When it was a 2-team playoff, the SEC took both spots in 2011, and would have done it again in 2012 if the Notre Dame-Pitt game was officiated properly. When it expanded to 4, the SEC put in 2 last year, and almost did it again this year. Expand it to 8, and the SEC will put in 3-4 every year.
And folks better get used to it. Because the time is fast approaching when the SEC will have the 4 best teams in the country. Because Alabama and Georgia aren’t going anywhere. And guess what? Here comes Florida under Dan Mullen with two natty rings on his fingers as OC. Oh yeah, and here comes Texas A&M with Jimbo Fisher with a natty ring on his finger. And, yes, LSU and Auburn aren’t going anywhere either.
I can see a scenario as early as 2019 or 2020 where the SEC champ is undefeated, and the SEC title game loser has 1 loss – let’s say those are Alabama and Florida – and behind them, Georgia and Texas A&M each have only 1 loss, coming to Alabama and Florida.
And unless there are 3 other undefeated conference champs out there, it will be hard for the playoff committee to deny any of the 1-loss SEC teams a seat at the table. I mean, they’d do it. There’s no way they’d ever put 3 SEC teams in a 4-team playoff, let alone 4…but I can see a year coming very soon where they should, based on merit.
So all the folks out there in Big 10, Big 12, PAC 12 and Group of 5 territory who are clamoring for an expanded playoff to help you out, you better go back to your bars, your temples…your massage parlors…because there’s no way to SEC-proof this thing. The more you tamper with the process, the more the SEC will benefit instead of you.
Bowl Bonus
The Gators certainly demonstrated the benefit of the extra bowl practices. Receivers got open more than they had all year, despite going against the statistically best defense in the country. Franks was throwing guys open. He’s NEVER done that. We were frequently converting 3rd-and-long through the air and on the ground, even 3rd-and-10+ multiple times, something we’d only done once all year (and it was just in our last game).
UCF: You Have Been Weighed, You Have Been Measured, and You Have Been Found Wanting
Hey I used to be a UCF fan on the side, as many of us I suspect have been, because how great would it be for them to supplant both FSU and Miami as the “other” power team in Florida behind UF? But, UCF has made it impossible to root for them. The nonsense about being national champs is bad enough, made only worse by the constant belly-aching about the system that they choose to be left out of by never scheduling a decent Power-5 team. But when their Athletics Director, Alleva Jr, let’s call him, went after UF, that was the final killer. Coming out and playing against LSU in their bowl game like thugs and punks Tuesday just makes it worse.
I’d still respect them if they had approached the game as a business-like challenge, but pretending they’re the ‘80s ‘Canes or the ‘90s Semis with all the late hits, over-the-top smack talk after every play, and the intimidation idiocy makes it impossible not to hate them.
So, UCF, you managed to stay within striking distance of the 6th-best team in the SEC, despite being dominated for most of 60 minutes. You were within a single possession at the end because LSU was missing virtually half its team by injury, ejection and voluntary abstention from the game, and frequent self-inflicted wounds from low-I.Q. football plays by their third stringers.
Good for you. Now go home and be quiet until you decide to actually schedule someone decent in the Power 5 for t least one game a year.
Final Shot
Funniest thing on New Years Day? While all the bowl scores flash along the chyron, seeing the FSU basketball score and having the immediate thought, “I can’t believe FSU is playing in a bowl game against Winthrop.” And then thinking, “Didn’t Dan Akroyd play him in Trading Places?”
Looking bad Louis. Feeling bad, Willie Ray.
