October 10, 2023 — Comments are off for this post.

From Where I Sit- Vandy at Florida- October 7, 2023

The outcome of this week's game against Vandy was close to what most Gator fans wanted to see. Florida controlled the line of scrimmage, ran effectively, and covered the spread in their 38-14 win. The Gators also navigated/survived a number of circumstances that might have shifted the momentum to make the game much closer. Good teams do this with regularity. Florida hasn't reached the point of consistently shrugging off bad breaks and mistakes to quickly "right the ship". When bad things happen, especially in away games, the tendency has been to stagger around and collapse. This week, the Gators bounced back pretty quickly from giving up a first quarter 85-yard touchdown pass. They survived a 52-yard pass completion that placed Vandy at the Florida 7-yard line. They recovered from a turnover on a failed trick play. And... they overcame 70 yards in penalties. Clearly, the goal is to avoid these type things in the first place, but developing the ability to survive them is also progress.

The Gators are at the midpoint of the season with a 4-2 record despite facing good competition (three nationally ranked teams, two of them on the road). They are 2-1 and tied for second in the SEC East. Certainly, things to feel good about. The road ahead, however, is a very tough one. Florida will be the underdog in at least 5 of the 6 remaining regular season games. The nations #1 and #4 teams are among those ahead for the Gators. Florida will also face two additional teams that are, or have been, nationally ranked. The current cumulative record for Florida's remaining opponents is 24 and 10. To become the best, you have to play the best. It will be tough for Gator fans to maintain perspective through this gauntlet. Attaining bowl game eligibility will be a challenge.

The tough schedule provides Florida's young team opportunities for growth. A baptism by fire, of sorts, for the twelve TRUE freshmen on Florida's two-deep roster. The Gators are very young even beyond the freshmen playing. Twenty-eight of the forty-four players on the two-deep roster are sophomores or younger. Five non-freshman starters are transfers in their first year with the Florida program. Ricky Pearsall is the only senior starter on the team. If they survive, this team should be good the next two years.

This week’s highlights from a statistical perspective include a really effective running game for the Florida offense. The Gators rushed for 215 yards and averaged 7.2 yards per carry. This occurred without two offensive line starters and without Trevor Etienne. Graham Mertz continues to be among the nation's most efficient quarterbacks. The Florida defense, despite the two long pass plays mentioned earlier, was stout. Coming in to the game, Vandy was the best in the SEC in terms of third down conversions. This week, the Gators' defense allowed only 1 successful conversion on 13 third and fourth down plays.

South Carolina is a two-point favorite at home this week. Florida has another opportunity to move beyond the recent road game struggles and get a win that would make bowl eligibility much more attainable. Win or lose, this is an opportunity for the young Gators to compete with poise and focus in a hostile environment.

Published by Dug Jones in Sports
Tags: commodores, Florida, Football, Gators, SEC, University of Florida, vanderbilt, Vandy

October 10, 2021 — Comments are off for this post.

From Where I Sit- Vanderbilt at Florida- 10/9/2021

The Gators performance against Vanderbilt was solid, not spectacular, just solid. The sports headlines and a 42-0 final score might imply otherwise, but the “progress” pieces are what really matters. Last week’s loss at Kentucky raised three concerns that Florida needed to address. This Vandy game was really about correcting last week’s problems. Some progress was made. Plenty still left to be addressed.

This week Florida reduced the number of offensive penalties by about half. The two illegal procedure penalties and three holding penalties are still too many, but didn’t bring the same drive killing impact we saw last week. Clearly, Vanderbilt is not Kentucky and a home game in the Swamp is different then an away SEC game.

Special teams play this week was an asset. In the punting game, Florida flipped the field by averaging a net +47 yards compared to Vandy’s +35 per punt. Toss in Jeremy Crenshaw’s 28 yard run (from the Gator’s own 27) on a fake punt and the punt game differential is even more significant. The Gator’s made all four place kicks and covered kickoffs well. Progress.

The third area for focused improvement was the level of offensive aggressiveness. Florida’s offense had been productive, but not explosive in games against SEC teams. This week, the Gators had seven plays for over 25 yards. In the Kentucky loss, they had zero plays of over 20 Yards. We saw a bit of a vertical passing game this week. The fake punt on the first drive of the second half (mentioned above) was another indication Florida might be ready to be more aggressive moving forward.

The Gator defense pitched a shutout, but was the beneficiary of three missed Commodore field goal attempts. In the first half, especially, there were missed tackles and assignments. Vandy possessed the ball nearly twenty of the thirty first half minutes and rolled up over 200 yards of total offense. The Florida defense was more focused in the second half, holding Vandy to negative rushing yardage and less than 100 yards of total offense. More work to be done in the weeks ahead.

Teams are rarely as bad as they seem in losses or as good as they seem in wins. The margins are often narrow. A few crucial plays, here and there, create momentum and shape the outcomes. Florida should feel better about themselves this week, but Vandy at home isn’t a tall task. Next week playing LSU in Death Valley will be a growth opportunity.

Last year, LSU was reeling when they came into Gainesville and derailed the Gator’s season. This year, LSU is still talented, but also still inconsistent. They’ve struggled on both sides of the ball in the run game. Head Coach Ed Orgeron’s seat has gotten hotter. The Tigers lost their biggest offensive threat (Kayshon Boutte) this past week and Florida benefits from a noon kickoff. Still, the LSU crowd will be the largest and loudest the Gator’s will encounter this season.

The outcome this Saturday will rest heavily on whether Florida can focus and function offensively in the noise. If Florida runs the ball effectively and avoids drive killing penalties, they should prevail. This game represents another opportunity for the Gators to better handle a tough away SEC environment and take a step forward.

Published by Dug Jones in Sports
Tags: 2021, commodores, Florida, Football, Gators, SEC, University of Florida, vanderbilt, Vandy

November 21, 2020 — Comments are off for this post.

From Where I Sit- Florida at Vanderbilt- 11/21/20

With four minutes left in the Florida/Vanderbilt game, Kaiir Elam intercepted a Ken Seals pass in the Florida end zone to effectively close out the Commodores. After the play, Elam displayed a symptom of the Gators’ defensive struggles this season. He lost big-picture focus and chose to dance. Chester Kimbrough followed Elam’s lead and danced, too. This type of behavior will draw an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty every single time. Both players have been around long enough to know better and Elam should be a leader. For some people the thought is “who cares?” with a 21 point lead late in a game. Honestly, that’s the point. Does an interception in a game against a 35 point underdog warrant excessive celebration? Is this defense so good it doesn’t need to maintain focus? Of course not, to both questions. The Vandy game was an opportunity for the Florida defense to take steps in the right direction. Instead, the Gators struggled to get lined up right, struggled to limit yards after contact (YAC), and somehow felt finger wagging and dancing were warranted after the occasional good defensive play.

The point is this Florida defense doesn’t execute the fundamentals well enough to lose focus and waste time on “swagger”. Offenses in college football today are complex. Being physically gifted on defense isn’t nearly enough. To compete, defenses must line up correctly and have all eleven guys playing “assignment football” as a unit. It’s necessary for players to understand down and distance, setting the edge, gap control, and where they have help and where they don’t. Getting to that point should be the full time job of this defense.

The Gator offense wasn’t especially crisp today, but played well enough deserve the win. Yet again, Kyle Trask was effective, spread the ball around and managed the offense well. Gator fans have grown accustomed to this luxury. Florida would’ve liked to have run the ball better, especially early in the game, but did enough to provide an adequate cushion for the defense. Kadarius Toney continues to be a feast or famine type player. Every time he touches the ball something overtly good or bad happens.

There are some likely contributing factors for the inconsistent play today. Florida used a completely different pregame ritual that included dressing at the team hotel and staying out on the field during halftime. The Gators also used a lot of different and younger players throughout the game on defense. On offense, true freshman, Josh Braun started at guard and sophomore Ethan White played important snaps.

Next week, the Kentucky Wildcats will provide greater challenges for the Florida defense than those created by Vandy. This will be especially true depending on the extent of Ventrell Miller’s injury and the availability of Jeremiah Moon. Playing in the Swamp and Kyle Pitt’s return should both help a great deal.

Published by Dug Jones in Sports
Tags: commodores, Florida, Football, Gators, SEC, vanderbilt, Vandy

November 9, 2019 — Comments are off for this post.

From Where I Sit: UF vs. Vandy

Florida started slowly on offense but ended up with 560 total yards in a lopsided 56 - 0 win over Vandy in the swamp. The Gator defense was, perhaps, even more, impressive than the offense. The Commodores generated only 128 yards of offense for the game.

In what has become a pattern for the Florida offense, scoring early has been difficult. The Gator's first two drives ended with a failure to covert a 4th down and a red-zone interception. Florida also had a missed field goal attempt and a second red-zone interception later in the first half. Throughout the early offensive scoring challenges, the Gator defense controlled the game by limiting the Vandy offense to a paltry 19 yards of total offense.

The second half was a different story for the Florida offense as the Gators scored 28 third quarter and 14 fourth-quarter points. The Florida defense secured the shutout by forcing four punts, a fumble, a long field goal attempt, and an interception in the second half.

The highlights for Florida included nine players each with two or more receptions and eight players with multiple carriers. Trevon Grimes led the receivers with 95 receiving yards. Kyle Trask threw for three touchdowns and Emory Jones ran for three touchdowns. On defense, James Houston had eight tackles, Donovan Steiner had two interceptions, and Jon Greenard had an 80-yard fumble recovery return for a touchdown. Mohamoud Diabate emerged with three sacks and a forced fumble.

Beyond the slow start offensively, the only other problem areas were a missed 41-yard field goal and one kickoff return beyond the 40-yard line. Very little went wrong for Florida today.

The Gators had four new starters against Vandy. Ethan White and Richard Gouraige in the offensive line and Mohamoud Diabate and Zach Carter on defense.

Florida’s next opponent, Missouri, was shutout 27 - 0 today at Georgia but played without their starting QB, Kelly Bryant. Bryant should return next week. The Gators have struggled in recent years against Missouri and the Tigers have been mostly good at home this year. Florida will need to get off to a better start in Columbia to avoid the upset.

Published by Dug Jones in Sports
Tags: 2019, College Sports, commodores, Football, SEC, University of Florida, vanderbilt, Vandy