Gators comeback to win against Furman; it could be worse

[travisduncan]

Gator Nation it could be worse, you could be a Florida State fan tonight, experiencing a one-point loss on a missed field goal at the end of the game against Virginia. Or you could be the Oregon kicker who missed a field-goal which could have sent a loss against USC into overtime, instead watching the Ducks' BCS title game dreams go down the drain.

But it's pretty bad when the Gators give up 22 first quarter points to a very talented well coached FBS team.

Despite the incredible plays which were made late in the game in a 54-32 win, this will go down as one of the worst for performances in 2011 the Gators for a variety of reasons.

The center snap over John Brantley's head in the first quarter, which resulted in a safety,was the icing on the cake for a procedure we expect collegiate athletes to master.

The Gators were penalized six times for 60 yards and didn't seem to have an idea exactly how to stop the Furman offensive attack when they stepped on the field.

Furham outgained the Gators 196-7 in the first quarter.

The most telling statistic is a familiar one: the Gators gave up 233 yards rushing on the ground. That's not about being lack of preparation, that's about pursuit of the football, plugging gaps and making tackles.

"Obviously in the first half we were completely scrambling on defense trying to adjust," said Will Muschamp.

"The next two series we had some eye control issues – we weren’t watching what we were supposed to watch. Defensively, more than anything I’m very disappointed. Offensively, we moved the ball in the first half and in the second half we had some big passes. With Andre Debose and Quinton Dunbar we had some vertical passes down the field. I’m not pleased with how we started, but we responded and hung in there.”

With the win the Gators are bowl eligible for the 21st straight season. A win next week against Florida State would be a tremendous way to close out the regular season. It's not expected. The bowl takes on extra meaning as a possible winnable game.

Muschamp said that he's looking forward to the Bowl game so that it can give some of his players even more experience. It will also be a one last shot at glory for seniors like Brantley, Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps.

Muschamp said, "When you’re bowl eligible it’s more practice, and I made that comment the other day. Our young guys have been scrimmaging better. That will help us a whole lot. Right now 70 percent of our offense is freshmen and sophomore athletes – we have a very young team. We’re looking for reps, more turns, improving, taking steps forward and continuing to step forward. As ugly as the victory may be for us, the most pleasing part for me is that no one really panicked. They went out there and kept on playing. "

Up next for the Gators, Florida State at home next Saturday at 7 p.m. ET ESPN2.

 

[DRU2012]

Yeah, that first quarter, AND its "reprise" at the start of the 2nd half, was SO bad, so stunningly inept and lackadaisical, it really WAS "a new low" for this season's squad. EVERY problem, weakness and "thought-that-was-fixed-or-at-least-getting-better" chronic bad habit, sign, and breakdown was on display: I finally began to wonder at the coaching, a reaction that I have consciously resisted, knowing that it isn't either logical or (until now) even fair to go down that road in their first season, especially considering all the circumstances (depth, injuries, youth, true nature of the state the program was left in, personnelwise)--and I sure as hell don't identify with all those whining and hysterical ignoramuses elsewhere whose angry cries of "fire 'em all!" started the moment all of these problems began to become obvious, with no regard for their true underlying causes, and the efforts our Head Coach had already necessarily been making to change the very nature of this team.
Yeah, there WERE some things you had to acknowledge were "in the plus column", no matter how bad the overall impressions. That refusal to panic, then the offense taking the lead (for a change) in bringing us back--and with so many key playmakers either missing or playing hurt, Brantley, Rainey and others (Demps WANTED to contribute, but he was TOO restricted: more on that in a moment) turning the score around as much by determined force-of-will as by virtue of the raw talent they normally depend upon. They (and therefore US) were fortunate that this was "only" Furman--and as I said at the time on the Game Day thread, that "truth", that "This is just FURMAN!", worked FOR us in allowing the players to believe they COULD come back, as much as it worked AGAINST them in the first quarter when they weren't ready and got hit in the mouth, then again, and AGAIN, while they STILL couldn't get past the idea that "This is just FURMAN!". What hurt us later helped us, in a sense; but how did it get away from us so completely to BEGIN with? By the time that snap-over-his-head forced JB IV to push it through the endzone for a safety (one of a NUMBER of WTF?-moments of bad habits absurdly all returning for this game), I was SURE we were on our way for a "signature loss". I couldn't blame some of our regulars talking about "If we lose THIS one, heads will roll..." But you're right, we DID end up getting it back under our control--though let's be honest: NONE of us were comfortable until the 2nd "Pick Six" late in the game. "It could have been worse", but it sure could have been "BETTER", too.
I think the worst part of this had to do with the fact that not only did we start so poorly, but it was our defense that seemed not just failing to be ready to play, but seemed to lose it's composure, and never really fully reestablished itself the whole game; what they DID accomplish happened in fits and starts, and it was mostly just a few individuals who came through when that did happen, Kitchens was one of the few standouts--he had his best day as a Gator. Some of our "talented head cases" reverted to their bad ways, UNdoing more than they helped (Easley comes immediately to mind). I believe all SIX of the stupid, terribly-timed penalties were committed by the defense this time, for eg., all extending possessions and escorting them down the field when we otherwise had them stopped. Worst of ALL, of course, was the apparent inability to adapt to the creative and imaginative game plan and play-calling on the part of the Furman offensive staff. They "surprised" us with "something different", OK--but is it acceptable that WE couldn't get our first-string "D" to understand and adapt in-game in a timelier fashion? Where DOES the responsibility for that difficulty rest?
Finally, unlike virtually every SEC team we faced since the first weekend in October, this time it was OUR lines, offensive AND defensive, that were the "bigger, faster" ones: WE should have been dominating the line-of-scrimmage, but once again, they pushed US up and down the field. Once more, we tackled poorly, and both lines were out-muscled.
Until now, I had come to accept the idea that we had to wait until this staff went out and got more of "their kind of guys", in the process got BETTER players with which to do what they have in mind, before we could begin to expect signs of real results, of wholesale changes ON the field. THIS game hasn't changed that view, but it DID rock my confidence that I was right to be patient, that this all was on track to happen in just that way. I don't know if it's my "innocence" that has been lost--I doubt that I was EVER that trusting here--but I WILL be looking more critically at how the coaches approach the rest of THIS season from here on out: things careened out of control for whole parts of a game that should have been closer to a scrimmage, and the coaches must themselves "look in the mirror" for answers now, rather than chalk it all up to things the players are or are not doing.