Post-Game Discussion: South Carolina 6 vs. FLORIDA 38

It looks as if staff called a scheme that was ineffective, but not because the players were lost or incapable of playing man and pressure.

 

TBH, I think it looks more like our DC was running a base defense that was beneath our talent. The entire first half of the season we said we don’t have the talent to play a more aggressive system, yet, miraculously, it looks like we do.

 

Outstanding! I can’t think of a better hype video that I have ever seen.

 

Which is the reason some gave for not switching earlier in the season to a more press coverage.

 

I noticed something while reviewing and comparing film throughout the season. Irrespective of scheme, the Gator defense closed the spacing and made better reads. If I had to take a guess, earlier in the season Toney put “training wheels” on the defense by asking them to play an additional 5+ yards off typical spacing in zone or man to keep things in front as they learned to trust what they saw. Schematically I still see a similar defense with different disguises, but the defenders are now playing tighter to the offense or doing a better job reading and charging the line. It looks like a new scheme but it might be the same scheme without the training wheels and with better execution.

 

Interesting take, many of these players have been playing for years, so they just all figured out how to make reads after 8.5 games?

 

Maybe this staff has better teachers? Napier did stress the importance of learning playbooks and watching film in the offseason. How many times did we the fans call for Grantham to defend the wheel route right before the opponent ripped off a 50-yard score on a wheel route? It feels as if the Mullen coaching staff did not teach fundamental football, maybe because they were in a hurry to win games quickly using fancy schemes. I get it, we the fans have screamed at Toney over gaps, alignments, distancing, reads, et cetera, but it appears that coaching is starting to work late in the season. It could also be a combination of chemistry among teammates, plus the addition-by-subtraction with Brenton Cox. Plenty of factors could just now be aligning, including learning how to read an offense.

 

Cover 3 is played by many NFL teams. I don't know how you can possibly say the base defense was beneath our talent.

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