Game Day Thread: Wildcats @ Gators - 9/22

Pick in the endzone...we got SCREWED that time...should have been set up with 1st down on the 12!I liked that we went for it all on the next play--but then again, with Sturges, in a situation like that we probably ought to just pick up soem yards, get it closer to the middle of the field, and take the FG as a consolation in that situation.

OK, D--let's shut 'em down and give this funky offense another chance to get on track...we are CLOSE on offense, you can feel it. (another bad throw by their "top-rated QB"). #rd down, and PICK SIX!!! Watkins broke on it perfectly! THAT'S how ya do it!!!

Like I say, we took their best, have NOT played that well yet on offense ourselves, and STILL we're up 17-0 now early in the 2nd qrtr. Think we might win this one?

Now we hand 'em field position on the out-of-bounds kick...In the gun, but Bostic breaks it up...3rd and 5 now...DAMN--let him get away--NOW he's deep on our side...TERRIBLE playing by our secondary. We are giving up BIG yardage on the ground--no containment! This SUCKS: they are inside our 30, and it has been all on our defense , letting them get away. Now 4th and 3--and they will GO for it? No, FG-try...No good! Long enough, but wide-right! Boy, we are VERY fortunate this is nothing LIKE a complete SEC-team we are playing...

Sloppy, choppy play by the offense, no flow.
Taking terrible angles to the runner, poor tackling and generally lackadaisical play against the run by our defense.
What's wrong with us today? (Hold penalty, on what WOULD have been a nice 1st down--we are back to picking up too many of 'em again this week). Jones is finally getting the back-up role it seems on running plays now--as he should--Here's a long pass after a scramble by Driskel, underthrow to Hines--he's GOT it! Nice one! Down at their 20!--as I was saying, Brown, just has NOT been getting it done as a running back--though he HAS been good on special teams.
Hey, where is Burton? Haven't SEEN him so far, I don't think, which is weird, considering how he has TORN apart these Wildcats the last 2 years...Hurt? Another incomplete down deep--and Sturges finally misses one, kind of a dead kick, seemed like.

At least the coach made some adjustments and it looks like we are stopping the run now.

So, what's with our offense today? Let-downs AND breakdowns all OVER the place, by just about all our best players, over the course of the 1st half (Btw--showing replay of FG attempt--and it WAS tipped).
Roberson let it hit--and it COSTS us a good 15 yards. Not a good play by him.

That was a damn good throw for the TD right there.

Great catch by Reed! Penalty on that hit, too! (STUPID that HE has to come off, tho'--his helmet was knocked off by the foul! That rule HAS to be adjusted...) Incomplete--but we had a receiver running FREE there! Overthrow to the endzone--or WOULD have been a TD to Dunbar. Not a good throw...
TD on next play to Dunbar! COULD have run most of the way to the endzone TOO!

Well, 24-0 ain't bad for an offense having a mostly poor 1st half...Now here's the pick! Let's get some more!

Sack--the ONE thing that stops us without another play there...oh well--but STILL a damn uneven half of play by our offense.

Muschamp has it right re the D--we have GOT to contain AND tackle better...he's gonna go in and get on that defense; his coaches WILL make adjustments, count on it--the angles guys are taking to the ball-carriers, sloppy tackling, the overall success of their running game (though we HAVE kept them out of the endzone).
Now, do you think Pease goes in and BLISTERS his offense? He CAN'T be happy with certain things--the worst of it being the inconsistency. That's been spread around, but most obvious has been Driskel's NOT making the kind of improvements he showed the previous 2 weeks...to be expected here and there, probably, but NOT in a game against THIS Wildcat defense, even on their BEST day (and this may well BE their "best"). Let's see if he can come out and sharpen up in the 3rd qrtr--then get Brisset out there for a qrtr or so to keep him sharp and involved...
Actually, I'm more concerned about our health and injury situation. Gilly should probably get to sit most of the 2nd half--maybe give him a possession or two (and THAT only if he's no worse than he came in), then let's see what our other guys, especially Matt Jones (who is clearly now getting his shot at the back-up role, as I noted earlier, over Mack Brown, who has just never ignited at RB--tho' he IS force on special teams, as I say). It's too bad Gilly ISN'T healthy: you get the feeling that if we could just get untracked, we are slowly wearing down their defense and a steady running game could begin to break through...
(OK, here's the report on Trey Burton: Apparently he had back spasms yesterday and they still hadn't fully subsided coming into the game, so they decided to hold him out of the game...Too bad, too: He's been such a Wildcat-killer, that they would have HAD to plan for AND put guys ON him, and that might have helped our offense immeasurably here. I just hope he's OK the rest of the way--he is a kind of "wildcard" playmaker for us.)

OK--after another poor stop by our D to allow a 1st down, we stop them on plays and force a punt...Drop! by Debose, but he jumps on his own muff.
Gilly back in. No room though. Keep hammering them now, though. Another run by him...3rd and short. Gilly runs for a 1st. Even hurting, he's a sneaky fast LOAD!

Mack Brown run--nice one, too (for a change). Toss sweep to Brown--nice run, but ANOTHR penalty...DAMN, I HATE these kinds of "screw ourselves"-flags! A 30 yard loss on the exchange! Nice screeen by Driskel--looked great, but Brown gets taken down and OUT by ONE GUY! Nice throw on next play by Driskel for a 1st down, tho' (but that last play showed what's WRNG with Brown as a runner).
Reed drops it at the 7! That's the 2nd time Reed has jumped at the wrong time and blows the play! DAMN! Throw to GILLY gets them the first down anyway...but REED should have had it in close (What is WRONG with REED today? These sorts of plays were his forte before today...)

Driskel getting sharp now--DART to Hammond. Gilly a couple to the 11. (Btw--I'm tracking play this closely 'cause we've got a few guys overseas with ltd. access who've asked us to do so when possible). Jeff to the goaline--fumble? TD?!!! No, they say his knee was down at the "1/2 yd line"...1st down...and TD on QB-sneak!

Weird game...we haven't played that well, certainly not consistently, and haven't LOOKED very good much of the time--but with the score 31-to-zip after a 9-min. drive, late in the 3rd qrtr it probably looks and sounds like we are "taking care of business as expected" to anyone who ISN'T following the play-by-play.
NOT the kind of game we all were hoping to see, though--and we STILL haven't gotten to put our back-ups and less-experienced guys in there yet, for the most part--and may not until into the 4th, with some work still necessary for the starters, it seems, in the coaches' view.
KY punt on 4th down...ball out to our 26.

Could be worse, friends--look at what Alabama-Birmingham is doing against tOSU (another nice run by Brown, who begins to look prettty good against this admittedly slowing-down KY defense...can only imagine what a healthy Gillissley might be doing against them by now had we been able to run him even MORE consistently against that Wildcat defense all game)...Anyway, Ala./Birm. is only down 21-15, and they are driving now, inside the Buckeye 30 as the 3rd qrtr ends...

OK, I guess we are going for the shut out now--Defense deserves it. Would like to see more efficient work by the offense, but not sure if it's worth risking injury to key players--we haven't been real lucky that way, and anyway I'm not so sure there's much more this O-squad can accomplish experience-wise this week...GOOD: Brisset is up and throwing, so Muschamp has the same idea...
So do the KY coaches, it seems--they've put in another QB themselves.

Well, I guess by the "quiet" here, the lack of excitement either WAY here at GE today, that this game IS turning out pretty well the way we thought outcome-wise--although unless Brisset and Co. proceed to put on a show in the 4th qrtr (if they ARE even allowed to do so in the first place), we won't be (in the ol' Ball Coach's words) "hangin' half-a-hundert on 'em" today after all.