By David Parker
Thoughts of the Week – SC Week
Another step. That’s what we saw Saturday, that’s what the team took. More importantly, that’s what the program took. And those are two different things that should be appreciated independent of each other. For the team, the step was simple. It was a step that we were almost ready to take last year, and that is entering the Georgia game where a win would send us to Atlanta if we won out in conference play. We weren’t ready last year ONLY because of injuries. We led the Bulldawgs well into the second half when we eventually lost the last of our defensive backfield and had to play the rest of the game with all of our starting defensive backs either out of action or playing significantly impaired by injury. This year, the step we took against South Carolina was taken in stride because we now enter the Georgia game very much ready to finish the drill and take them down. Coincidentally, the only thing that could prevent this from happening – outside of a much unexpected calamitous game by the good guys – is injuries. Last year it was injuries to the backfield; this year it is injuries up front that will determine our fate. Specifically our two all star defensive ends.
We have a number of other injuries to heal up, but those are the two medical setbacks that will force the game to pivot to one of the two teams next Saturday. But regardless of which was the ball bounces in Jacksonville, the bigger step taken Saturday was by the program. The step along the path back to elite.
I’m going to mention it for a second week in a row. The question. You know what it is. When will we be back, and when will we know we are back? And it happens at some point before the fans ever know it – it always does. Because the team has to be back in earnest before they can notch that huge win that shows the world that they’re back. And Saturday was saw an artifact that we might look back on as being that silent signal we’ve been waiting for. Because when you are facing a surging SEC opponent that just legitimized itself with a road upset of a top-5 ranked team, and you considered them just a stepping stone opponent, where winning was just a formality to get through to reach the bye week and start getting ready for the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party that will decide which team goes to Atlanta as the East champion to play for the SEC title and punch an automatic ticket to the college football playoffs….then that run-on sentence, my friends, might just mean we are already back, and just waiting for it to be confirmed next Saturday. We shall see. We SHALL see.
Random Thoughts
It’s been 6 games now. Five starts. And Kyle Trask has not had a single bad game so far. Not even a single game where he wasn’t immensely impressive. I am sure he will have a down game, maybe even a bad game, at some point, but it cannot be understated just how big of an impact he has had on this Gator season, on the ability of the program to continue to build for the future, and on Gator Nation’s positive mental and heart health.
It took me a couple weeks, but I have finally come to peace with defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s frustrating (to say the absolute least) decision to give the LSU receivers 5 to 10 yards of cushion on every play two weeks ago, which contributed heavily to our inability to win the game. I made the turn after seeing how difficult a time Florida had with many facets of the South Carolina offense because they again did not have their starting defensive ends. I think Grantham knew when Jonathan Greenard left the game on the first series that the gators would not be able to pressure the LSU quarterback. Given all day, he would be able to shred our defensive backs, and if we played tight man coverage, every pass was one slip away from a long touchdown catch and run. So the approach had to be to back off, let them have underneath catches, force them to take more plays to get down the field and hope that they have a drop or two or make a mistake. Most teams do. But they just never did. And the more plays they had to make, the more opportunities our defense would have to force a turnover or make a stop. But the Florida defense simply never made a play. Our defensive scheme, along with the incredible lights out performance of the Gator offense, forced LSU to play a perfect game on offense to win the game. Very rarely can any team do that. Unfortunately, they just did. And we still were just two bad plays away from taking them into overtime in their house at night.
Want more Trask? Saturday he became the first Gator to throw at least 4 touchdowns in a road game since Tim Tebow. Since 1994, the only other Gators to do that have been Danny Wuerffel, Chris Leak, Rex Grossman and Doug Johnson. When the season began, did anyone think that Kyle Trask would be earning his way onto an accomplishment list with those all star quarterbacks?
We all promised ourselves not to compare Dan Mullen to Urban Meyer or Steve Spurrier….but…Mullen just became only the fifth head coach in Florida history to win 17 of this first 21 games. He joins – you guessed it – Steve Spurrier (18-3) and Urban Meyer (also 17-4) in that category, along with Charles Bachman back in the 1920s, and the third Gator head coach with a national championship trophy in the case (named by the New York Times and The Sporting News), Galen Hall.
This week’s slice of irony: with all the problems Florida has had running the football, Dameon Pierce’s 75-yard touchdown run made 2019 the first season in school history in which the Gators have notched 3 touchdown runs of 75 yards or more (along with Lamical Perine’s 80-yarder against Auburn and Josh Hammond’s 76-yarder against Kentucky). This collides with this week’s slice of nostalgia: the only 2 times in Gator history the program has had 2 runs of 75 yard or more was in 1982 (John L. Williams: 86 yards; Lorenzo Hampton: 75 yards – both in the same game!), and 2008 (Chris Rainey: 75 yards against Arkansas; Percy Harvin: 80 yards also against South Carolina). How was that for some blasts from the past?
Chomps from the GC Staff & Columnists —
ANDREW SPIVEY
One guy to watch for in the coming weeks is athlete Marc Britt who is set to announce his decision on November 1st and the Gators are in great shape as Britt will choose between Florida and Penn State. Britt is projected to play safety at Florida.
The coaching staff will spend most of this week on the road recruiting as they will see many of their commits as well as some of the top targets remaining on the board. OL Marcus Dumervil is one of those prospects that will get a visit from Florida on Friday.
I’m told that WR Kadarius Toney is recovering and should be cleared to practice next week and right now the plan is for him to play against Georgia. As long as Toney doesn’t have a set back during practice, he should be a big addition to a Gators offense that’s already doing extremely well this year.
DAVID WUNDERLICH
haven’t been able to say this in the open week before Georgia in a long time, but: the end game of the season is clear. Florida knows what it is and how it can win every game left on the regular season slate. The challenge is to get everyone healthy all at once.
The offensive line still isn’t good by any stretch, but the lineup with Gouraige is serviceable enough to hold off a defense just long enough for Kyle Trask to work. Trask has shown himself to be a willing runner the past two weeks, completing the necessary components to being a good Mullen quarterback. A demonstrated willingness to put Burney at Star last week closed up the last loose thread on defense. He can and will be put there when need be, and he’s great.
This team will struggle to go 11-1 without at least one of Greenard and Zuniga. Getting Toney back will actually help there by injecting some more explosiveness into the offense, thereby giving the defense more margin for error. The availability of those three holds the key for the rest of the way.
Florida is good enough to beat everyone ahead of them between now and FSU with the scheme, coaching, personnel, and execution they’ve already shown. Get those last three pieces in place, and they can get it done.
ERIC FAWCETT
Florida’s season got off to an unofficial start with a (not so) “secret scrimmage” against South Florida on Friday. This closed-door exhibition was the Gators’ first chance to scrimmage an outside team and by all accounts things went really well for them. Kerry Blackshear Jr. went 6-7 from the three-point line, Tre Mann poured in 12 points off the bench, and late signee Ques Glover played 19 minutes and looked good. Ultimately they ended up winning by 18 points and it should be noted that USF has a talented roster this year and this wasn’t a team full of scrubs that the Gators handled easily. One negative was that the Gators had 20 turnovers, a number that could be chalked up to the fact this was the first semi-organized game of the season but could be something to watch for going forward.
That’s all, folks!
All the best,
Your friends at Gator Country
…where it’s GREAT to be a FLORIDA GATOR!