Three months ago we wondered if there would be an SEC season. Three weeks ago we wondered if games would start without additional delays. Three days ago we wondered about the quality of play. Check. Check. Check. Florida launched the 2020-21 season with a solid win against the new look Ole Miss Rebels (or Bears or Landsharks). Lane Kiffin lived up to the hype surrounding his ability to create effective offense of schemes, but the Gators were even more impressive offensively. Florida departed Oxford with justified confidence on the offensive side of the ball. Unfortunately, the Gator defense was inconsistent, at best, and has work to do.
Kyle Trask and Kyle Pitts have erased any concern that last season was an anomaly. Both demonstrated that they have become even better players than last year. Trask’s gaudy 201 point quarterback rating (QBR) was eye-popping. His numbers included three dropped passes, one of which would’ve been a touchdown. Pitts dominated the Ole Miss secondary and had four touchdown catches despite double coverage most of the afternoon. He looks to have added the ability to win the 50-50 balls that he lacked last year. The rest of the Florida receiving corps played well, too. Eleven different players caught passes, including six new contributors. Of note, three running backs caught five passes. A good start for replacing the productivity lost with Lamichael Perine’s graduation. The running game was more than solid. Florida averaged 6.8 yards per carry and totaled 196 rushing yards. Even if Kadarius Toney’s 55 yards on two jet sweeps is removed from the equation, the team yards per carry was still 5.2. The offensive line also did a nice job in pass protection. Kyle Trask was harassed a handful of times, but mostly as a result of how long he held the ball. There were only a few minor concerns on the offensive of side of the ball. Emory Jones threw one bad interception. Trask had one strip sack that could’ve been avoided and the receivers had the previously mentioned three dropped passes. No procedure penalties, no delay of game penalties, and no confusion. The offense was poised and productive throughout.
The Florida defense was puzzling. On one hand, they asserted themselves physically and had 11 tackles for loss. On the other hand, Ole Miss receivers were running free all afternoon. The Gators were abysmal in third and long situations. This was an issue last year, as well. The Rebels have a number of very elusive players, but Florida’s tackling problems extended beyond that variable. With the exception of Ventrell Miller (15 tackles), who was incredible all day, most other Gators had trouble squaring up the Ole Miss ball carriers. The Florida defense played without Kyrie Campbell, Jeremiah Moon, and Brad Stewart. They lost safety, Shawn Davis, on a targeting call early in the game. Beyond the tackling problems, the other biggest concern was an inability by the defensive backs to have good ball awareness. Some positive notes, the Gators played a bunch of freshman and younger players. Brenton Cox was disruptive, as hoped. Despite some frustrating dynamics, the defense played with poise. No stupid penalties.
The special teams approach deployed by the Gators looked to be very safe. Lots of fair catches. No big effort to block kicks. I suspect Florida was more interested in safely managing the variables in a game they expected to win. It’s worth noting, however, that Jacob Finn handled himself well as the new punter and holder for placekicks. Evan McPherson may be the best place kicker in the country. He was dead center on every kick, including the 55 yard field goal.
It appears the Gators finished the Ole Miss game with no new significant injuries. Next Saturday, South Carolina comes to Gainesville on the heels of their 27 -31 home loss to Tennessee. The Gamecocks may be better than expected on offense with grad transfer, Collin Hill, as their new quarterback and Mike Bobo as offensive coordinator. Survive and advance.
October 5, 2019 — Comments are off for this post.
From Where I Sit: UF vs. Auburn
Today’s solid win over a really good Auburn team was a big step for the Gators. Not only is today Florida’s tenth consecutive win (over two seasons), but it came against a national top ten team. The Gators continue to make head-scratching mistakes each game, but have also shown an impressive resilience. Just when you think they’ve made a fatal mistake, they come up with a big play to restore order. The Florida defense has the ability to erase mistakes and keep this team in games. The offense, while erratic, has the capacity to move the ball in a variety of ways.
Here’s the good from today. Auburn has a very good defensive line. Two of their starters will be high draft choices in this next NFL draft. Despite this, Florida was diverse enough on offense to deflect the pressure and roll up nearly 400 yards of total offense. Almost half of it (184 yards) came on three big plays. The anecdote for high-pressure defenses is big plays. The Gators kept moving the ball around, spreading the field, and looking for seams. Lamichael Perine’s fourth-quarter 88-yard touchdown run was a major nail in Auburn’s coffin. Kyle Trask managed the game well for the most part and made three or four NFL caliber throws. He made good reads and delivered the ball to the right receivers. It was his best week yet for resisting the urge to force the ball into coverages. Freddie Swain and Kyle Pitts (again) had big games. Pitts is a mismatch nightmare for defenses.
The Gator defense was impressive all day. This week, both CJ Henderson and Marcus Wilson we’re available. Having two very good cover corners allows Todd Grantham to be very aggressive with the front seven. Wilson seems to have moved past the early season struggles he endured after sitting out injured all of last year. The defense, as a whole, tackled very well today. Auburn is a national leader in the run game and Florida controlled that threat very nicely. David Reese had 13 tackles. Greenard is a powerful force in both run and pass defense. Once Auburn was forced to throw, the Gator secondary (DBU) picked Bo Nix off three times. I think Auburn might have had only one play for 25+ yards today.
Special teams were good for Florida. Converted on all placekicks. Covered three punts inside the Auburn twenty yard line and recovered one muffed punt. The Gators take special team play seriously and it shows.
Now the areas for improvement. Defensively, there is very little to complain about. One 46 yard pass completion on what may have been a busted coverage. Only two sacks, but constant pressure leading to three interceptions and a completion rate of about 40% for Nix.>> The offense (Trask) must take better care of the ball. Three sack/fumbles usually means a loss. In every case, Trask held the ball too long and was hit from behind by guys who had been blocked beyond the pocket. He simply must step up further and/or get rid of the ball a half second sooner. Florida’s receiver’s had several uncharacteristic drops today. Perhaps four and all in the second half. The O line is still a work in process.
I haven’t heard why we didn’t see Zuniga today, but presume he’s still recovering from the injury in the Kentucky game. His return will strengthen an already impressive defense. Assuming Trask’s knee is okay, Florida is banged up (Delance, Peirce, and Shawn Davis), but didn’t lose any additional players for next week.
Dan Mullen made a couple of shaky decisions this week. I typically prefer a coach who isn’t afraid to be unpredictable, but...the fake punt and the throwback pass were both I’ll-advised. The fake punt occurred while Florida led, but was trying to recover from back to back turnovers on their own end of the field. The Gator defense was playing well enough to where flipping field position with a good punt was a better choice than risking giving Auburn a third consecutive short field. Happily, the gift of 7 points wasn’t the difference in the game. The throw-back pass was also an unnecessary risk. With an 11 point lead and less than five minutes to play, the better choice is to play field position and trust your defense. My site line was perfect to see that Krull threw a blind pass to Trask. A pick-six at that time would have placed a game well-in-hand back into serious question. Again, happily the pass was completed and helped Florida by making Auburn begin burning time outs. Still, an unnecessary risk.
Auburn/Florida was the marquee game for the SEC today, so you’d expect the best officiating crew to be assigned. Perhaps they are a strong crew, but it just didn’t seem like it today. I may change my mind once I’ve watched the replay, but there were several questionable no-calls. I thought the Peirce injury/fumble was caused by a head to head hit that could/should have been targeting. It looked like Townsend was intentionally tripped on the fake punt attempt. There were also several likely pass interference calls ignored on crossing routes before this crew finally began throwing flags.
This was a great win for Florida, but the reward is an even tougher opponent (LSU) at their place next week. Such is life in the SEC. Joe Burrow is a more experienced quarterback than Bo Nix and the Gators should not expect to get three interceptions. Florida must take care of the ball themselves next week to have a chance of winning.