Ironically, the title for my blog is all too relevant for today’s post. I was able to attend the Florida vs. Tennessee game this past Saturday, but the wheelchair accessible seating in Neyland Stadium was atrocious. There was plenty of it, but it was all unelevated and situated directly behind the upper row of each section in the stadium. This meant, of course, that anytime anything interesting/exciting occurred and people stood up, my view was completely blocked. Gosh, who might have anticipated in the design phase, that people might stand up for the exciting moments of a major sporting event? As best as I could tell from the crowd noise and glimpses of the action, it was a great game in terms of fan experience for the able-bodied fans. Lots of big plays, huge crowd, and a tight finish.

There has been much written about the action by those who could see the game, so I’ll comment more generally about a concerning trend that is creating one of the biggest challenges for the Gators. If the Florida coaching staff can ascertain exactly what is happening to make the last minutes of the first half and the entire third quarter so difficult, the Gators could realistically finish 7-5 or even 8-4 this season.

Florida has lost the combined third quarter of the four games played by a score of 7 - 38. They’ve also allowed opponents to score on their last possession of the first half in every game. The Gators have started games and finished games pretty well (a combined 102 - 80 in scoring excluding the third quarters). One logical deduction is that opponents are making better adjustments during the halftime break. Not an especially surprising dynamic as the Napier era at Florida has begun with games against highly ranked opponents with established coaching staffs. Florida’s new staff is still gelling and refining processes.

Much progress, however, has been made by this coaching staff in many areas surrounding focus, discipline, and accountability. Once the staff also gets resolution to the “third quarter problem”, this progress will become even more evident and the final scores may begin to reflect the programmatic improvement being made.