David Wunderlich’s Cocktail Party postmortem is worth a read. He softly dings Mullen for some of the same reasons I mentioned yesterday.
Down two scores with 10:01 to go against Georgia, Florida did score a touchdown but needed 17 plays and 6:50 to do it. That left 3:11 left on the clock with only two timeouts, meaning that even if they got an improbable (given how the game had gone) three-and-out, they’d have had almost no time for the final desperation drive. After preseason talk of pushing the tempo, Florida appears unable to actually do that. Maybe Mullen only trusted Feleipe Franks with that package.
The real strange thing was all the coaching blunders on the Florida side. Mullen had to burn three timeouts due to either the wrong players or wrong play or both going in, and they still got a delay of game after a sack and an ineligible receiver downfield penalty when one of two senior receivers lined up incorrectly. The initial OL lineup didn’t make sense, nor did the jet sweep to Toney. The third down defense was atrocious and remained so all game. Coaches are human too and will have some bad games, but having one in a hugely important game coming after an open date boggles the mind.
Despite that, he’s comforted by the thought that Florida only wound up losing by one score. There is that, although I’d argue that the slow pace of the game from both teams meant it was unlikely there was going to be a large scoring gap between the two, barring turnover luck that never materialized for either.
Get The Picture 
Sometimes it’s said, “The game was closer than the final score indicated.” Usually due to a late score or two by the winning team.
This game was more like, “The game WASN’T as close as the score indicated.” The 3rd down conversions and the rushing stat disparities, along with the feel from simply observing the game, obviously makes the latter true in this case. The Gators were down two scores twice in the game for a considerable amount of time and never seemed to gain a sustainable upper hand.
I’ve never been so proud of a defense against a drive that actually gave up a TD as that last one. That was bend and still break but give the ball back to our O with little time on the clock to seal it kind of defensive series. Well done, lads.
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Exactly what I’ve been saying. I was never nervous in the 2nd half, even on the final 3rd down conversion that put it away. Our D wasn’t giving anything away for free. I would have loved to put a few more points on them, but we owned them (save Pitts) all day.
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Agree, Senor. Even as a bettor who had given the 6 points to FU, I didn’t feel threatened in the 4th because I knew they couldn’t drive the field twice against our defense, and they couldn’t settle for FG on either drive. The chance for success would have had to come from the refs, who ignored holding all night long, with PI calls. We saw that once. I honestly don’t think there is any idea of what constitutes holding or PI in the SEC.
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Not to mention Georgia left 7 points on the board thanks to Landers holding call and in another Landers effort problem, he could have and should have caught that ball in the end zone. Put Cager or Pickens in that situation and we put 7 more points on the board.
You’re right, this game was not as close as the score indicated.
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What DawgByte said.
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I would find Landers a nice spot on the bench (with cushion) and let him stay there. He has never done crap at Ga. and never will. I guess he had not gone through his stretching exercises so he couldn’t reach for the ball (might pull something)
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It’s not unthinkable that Fromm would have hit Cager on that drive late in the second quarter that ended in a field goal. And as mentioned, Lander’s unnecessary hold took 7 off the board.
It could have easily been 27-3 going into the 4th. It was definitely not as close as the score indicated. Any thoughts of the refs changing the outcome are nonsense.
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I often venture to Gator Country or Alligator Alley after the Dawgs beat the Gators. Gator tears and all that. I read Wunderlich’s report and wondered to myself if he watched the same game I did. Yes, they were within 7 at the end but at no time did I feel they were even close to tying, much less winning that game. Dawgs dominated that game once they controlled the tight end. The fact they went into softer coverages to prevent a big play allowed Florida to gain some yards and eventually score, but it took most of the 4th quarter. I guess if it makes Gator fans feel better that it was only 7 points they can stick to that, Georgia won that game in dominating fashion and it was a thing of beauty.
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Well, you have to remember the Gators barely lost by three scores last year. I mean, they had the lead with only 22 minutes left in the game. It was a real nail biter.
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Heck, Russ, according to some of the gator players in 2017, THAT game was much closer than the score indicated.
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Georgia controlled this game from the kick off until it ended. Never felt like that last year until we got into the 4th quarter. UF couldn’t move the ball quickly because UGA didn’t let them. Mullen was outschemed the entire day, couple that we dominant line play all day. It’s Georgia/Florida – so I was amped up – but never felt like Georgia wasn’t in controlled. Yes, UF had less talent, but they were out coached as well. Put up with the Genius Coaching Crap at Tech and already sick of it down in Gainesville.
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Hah! Georgia had one TD called back on a phantom holding call and FU was given at least one gift TD by the refs flagging them down the field. My lying eyes (and the stats) tell me that Georgia beat FU by 3 TDs.
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Here’s the thing – this year’s game felt more like a domination than last year’s affair, even though the score doesn’t reflect it. Last year UF went man for man against us, and were only down 6 early in the 4th Q. This year, however, UF never really threatened UGA and didn’t score their first touchdown until the 4th Q.
If not for a questionable holding penalty on Swift’s long run, the score would have been 23-3 in the 3rd, and again the game mostly was a two score one with no threat from UF until the very end, when we went with a more conservative D to help chew up clock.
UF fans and Mullen will convince themselves that they are getting closer to UGA with a mere 7 point loss, but in reality that game should set off alarm bells for UF types of what may be to come: domination along the LOS by UGA, coupled with an obvious talent gap and coaching gaffes from Mullen to boot.
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Mid way through the 2nd qtr., ya started to feel/see the los control was in UGA’s favor…(just dreaming here) no holding penalty gives UGA 6 more and if UGA scores 6 instead of 3 on any one fg attempt there is your 3 score difference, which to me felt about right..so the FU hc using the final point differential as some sort of ballast for his ineffectiveness plays into the FU mentallity, blowing up on a staff memeber during the game on national tv was a really good look….#FTMF
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And throw in the potential loss of 6 starters on offense and 7 on the defense, good luck having that same rabbit’s foot up his ass next season.
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Dominating games and only winning by one score leaves too much to chance. One bad play or mistake and you are tied. We don’t need to be settling for field goals. It may be fine to get away with for some games but doing this against a team like Allbarn , Alabama or LSU is risking fate too much.
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I have felt the same way since the SC game. Concede some efficiency for explosiveness when down and distance tell you to take the shot. I know manball says on 2nd and short at our 40+ go short pass or run for 3-4 yards. Take the deep shot in that situation. It gives you more room for error and we don’t end up having the stat line we had vs USC where the turnover battle really does decide the game.
Old GT and Army choose efficiency over explosiveness and TOP over scoring quickly to negate talent advantages. WE have the talent advantage, use that talent for explosiveness and then clamp down.
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As mentioned before, I’m not going to complain about anything in the UF game. I loved every bit of it. Especially every “Third and Grentham.” That said, moving forward I agree that being too conservative can equate to living too dangerously. It’s hard to expect that acheiving a 66% conversion rate on third downs in order to win by 1 TD to be sustainable.
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But somehow Mullet is the better, smarter coach?
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I actually find it encouraging that Mullen, the Gator beat writers, and their fan base are believing that the separation between the two programs is that narrow. That will most likely lead to just ‘tweaking’ their efforts to close the gap when in reality they’ve still got quite aways to go, starting with the recruiting battles. It’s very telling to see the disparity of stars. I said before the game that UF could maybe match UGA starter to starter, but depth of talent would make the difference as the game went along, especially into the 4th quarter.
Dawgs are still a very young team that will return many starters next year. If Fromm comes back for his final year, there’s little doubt the streak should continue. That would also give them another year to develop the future QB1 going forward from there.
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+1
I spent some time on 247 looking at the Gators class and was struck by some of the offers that there commits had. Saw several Gator commits with offers listed from Louisville, USF, Maryland. Urbz and Boom appear to have recruited at a much higher level than what Cousin Dan is doing.
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Speaking of tempo (or Florida’s lack thereof), was anyone else surprised that we didn’t try to use tempo against Grantham’s defense? I’m not complaining because what we did was effective, I just thought for sure going into this game that we’d need to use tempo to put them on their heels at some point.
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The blowout was there, and it was about to happen. Re-watching the game Sunday night, it was remarkable to me just how much Georgia left on the field. Give me the holding penalty back on the Swift touchdown or connect a receiver’s hands to one of the dropped downfield passes and that game is a three score affair. Hell, Georgia let Florida off the hook on the Gators’ last scoring drive, we had them three and out on the first set of downs if not for a dumb penalty.
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I’d say this observation had a lot to do with the outcome:
“His [Trask] lack of experience showed up again with the sacks he took, particularly the second one where he lost 19 yards, but at least he’s no longer fumbling nearly every time he goes down.”
“One of the most important numbers here is the zero sacks for Fromm. Florida could barely figure out ways to pressure him at any point at all, much less get him on the ground.”
I love how he takes comfort in the fact that “at least he’s no longer fumbling nearly every time he goes down.”
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Is everything they are saying now what we were saying in the 1990s? Maxwell Smart couldn’t have said it any better.
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Zero sacks and a few other tipoffs should have led Mullen to the conclusion that his D wasn’t getting the job done. With over 3 mins left in the game and after their last score, Mullen didn’t even give a thought to an onside kick because he still had unshakable faith in Grantham’s D to get the ball back. Someone should have done the math and sent the message down to Mullen on the field that the onside kick gave the better chance to get the ball back.
Those facts constitute poor coaching and poor advice from his backup team when it comes to stacking your probabilities best to win the game. Unfortunately, cult worship works in CFB as well as politics when the assholes keep posting Mullen’s coaching exploits where there are none (he hasn’t beaten Smart in 10 head-to-head meetings) you get the pundits carrying his water for him concerning coaching ability and are surprised when it doesn’t occur during play on the field. They all deserve their “but…but…but…” preface to their Monday morning QBing.
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I really missed seeing Felipe Franks fumble near his own goal-line again. He owes us two next year.
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As a consequence was also the first time in a couple years we didn’t see tyrique McGhee with said game changing turnover, oh well maybe next year.
Do wish Jr Reed had made that interception, that would have been sweet.
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We have to improve our 1st and 2nd down SR. We will not have that type of SR on 3rd down in the SECCG or dare I say even against AU.
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Has Chaucney woke up yet??
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