During spring practice GatorBait.net unveiled a new feature - a blog updated periodically by members of the staff. Included will be tidbits, rants, raves, opinions, etc… on the athletic programs at the University of Florida as well as recruiting and sports in general.
This Blog will be updated continuously throughout the week. Make sure to hold the shift key when you hit the refresh button in order to see the latest additions.
Monday, September, 17, 2007
8:37 p.m. Grading the Gators
Offense
Player of the Game: In a change up, we're not going with a player here but rather a coach. If you thought it didn't get any better than Steve Spurrier, think again. Dan Mullen called an incredible game. From protecting Tim Tebow the first two drives when the Gators were buried deep in their own territory (why try something out of the ordinary with the lead when it could backfire and ruin his confidence), to the balls to the wall call on 1st and 10 from your own 1 yard line, to getting each and every one of his play makers involved in the game – that was game planning, and play calling at its finest.
Player on the Rise: After seeing nothing but spot duty in the first two games, a healthy Percy Harvin exploded for 195 total yards and a touchdown.
Player on the Decline: After that performance, no one is deserving of being called out in this category this week.
Grade: With six offensive touchdowns, twenty-three first downs and over 550-yards – is there any question whatsoever that this is going to be an A+? How could it be anything else?
Defense
Player of the Game: He's been mentioned a couple of times in our Grading the Gators feature as a POG candidate and as a POTR. While Brandon Spikes has owned this award for the first two weeks, for this game, linebacker Dustin Doe gets the nod. Not only was he active in the tackling department, his fumble return for a touchdown all but sealed the deal for the Gators.
Player on the Rise: After a pitiful performance to open the season, it looked as though both Clint McMillan and Javier Estopinan would be overtaken by younger, more talented players. Estop actually lost his starting job last week to Brandon Antwine. But with Antwine sitting out the Tennessee game, this duo stepped up and led a defense that shutdown the Volunteers running game.
Player on the Decline: It never feels right to put a player on here because of an injury, but if something doesn't change, cornerback Markihe Anderson is going to get a reputation as being fragile. If he sits out next week, he will have missed three of UF's first four games. However, he hasn't earned this distinction – at least not this week – instead it goes to Kyle Jackson. His missed tackle on a 3rd and 13 (where he had the Vol player dead to rights 7 yards short of the 1st down) helped to extend a Tennessee drive. Unless something out of the ordinary happens, it looks as though Major Wright has earned the job as the starting free safety.
Grade: For the first two games the defense was graded on a curve because of their youth and inexperience. Three games into the season, that's no longer going to be the case – and no longer needed. Urban Meyer said beforehand the plan was to shut down the run and make Tennessee one dimensional – mission accomplished. The Volunteers were held to 37-yards on the ground, earning the defense an A- on the day.
Special Teams
Player of the Game: Despite scoring Florida's opening touchdown on an 83-yard punt return, it was almost a mixed day for Brandon James after he fumbled a punt (that he should have never fielded in the first place), that he eventually recovered at the 1 yard line. Earlier in the game, at the end of a return, the ball got lose. Yes it was because he was down and the ground caused it, but again, you never want to leave that call up to the officials. It's not as though, even with replay, they have never blown an obvious call.
Player on the Rise: While he doesn't get a lot of distance on his punts, Chas Henry gets enough hang time that the opposing teams aren't able to return them.
Player on the Decline: The entire kickoff coverage team. They gave up a God awful amount of return yardage (260) to Tennessee, helping put the Volunteers in better field position than they should have been and putting a young defense at a big disadvantage a couple of times.
Grade: Because of the big return and the field goal, they'll get a B for the effort.
Observations
# Did you notice that Eric Rutledge saw more action on Saturday than he did in his first two games? Meyer knows that when it comes to tough (at least they usually are), physical teams such as Tennessee, there are times he needs that extra blocker in the backfield.
Rutledge isn't the blocker or even the offensive threat catching the ball out of the backfield, but watch for him to see increased time as the Gators get into the meat of their SEC schedule.
# Re-watching the game Sunday morning, what made Florida's defensive effort even more amazing is that they didn't go with much of a rotation along the defensive line. With Antwine out (elbow), the coaches pretty much stuck with Derrick Harvey, Jermaine Cunningham, McMillan and Estopinan for much of the first half before throwing Terron Sanders, Lawrence Marsh and Justin Trattou in the mix.
# Not everything is perfect in the Gator Nation. Part Meyer's plan to win is and has always been to limit mistake, but with nine penalties on Saturday, Florida still seems out of sorts. Some of it you can blame on the Gators being a young team. But then on the other hand there are penalties on upperclassmen such as Estopinan, where he had the offsides on 4th and short which gave Tennessee a 1st down.
Sooner or later (no later than the LSU game), one of these contests will be so close, a penalty one way or the other could decide the outcome. For the Gators sake, they better hope they become more disciplined by then.
# On the surface it's easy to dismiss a player like Jackson because he isn't the player on the field everyone (including me) thought he was going to be.
But then you have to remember, that one of the reasons Major Wright is ready to step in and help as a true freshman is because players such as Jackson have helped them out considerably.
During the opening of practice, Jackson was spotted quite a few times behind the secondary helping 'coach up' Wright, basically helping get his replacement ready.
He deserves credit for that.
# If Tony Joiner has a weak link in his game, because he looks and is built more like an outside linebacker, he's not the fastest Gator on the field and can be a liability at times in pass coverage.
However, for the most part Saturday he more than held his own in coverage – including a play early in the game where he had excellent coverage on a play in the end zone.
# Much was made over the fact that it was Riley Cooper's route running that caused Tebow's interception return for a touchdown. But there is give and take there. While the pick might go on Tebow's statistics, think of all the spectacular catches – especially the one Harvin made where he stole the ball from the defensive back – where Tebow didn't make the best of throws, but still got big yardage out of the play.
It works both ways.
Interestingly Enough (courtesy UF SID)
# A total of 11 Gators have made their first career start this season (Tebow, Ma. Pouncey, Pupello, Hernandez, Cooper, Cunningham, Jones, Pierre-Louis, Haden, Munroe, Antwine).
# With the win over Tennessee, Urban Meyer became the only head coach in Florida history to open his career with three-straight wins over the Vols.
# By leading the Gators to a 59-20 win over Tennessee last week. UF head coach Urban Meyer improved his record against ranked teams while with the Gators to 10-3.
# Florida's 59 points against Troy in its last game were the most scored against the Trojans since their first season in Division I-A in 2001.
# In its last outing, Florida defeated Tennessee, 59-20. The loss was the worst for the Volunteers since a 44-0 loss to Georgia in 1981 and the 39-point margin was the highest in the Tennessee series ever for a Gator win.
# The Gator defense held Troy to 53 rushing yards on 26 carries for a 2.03 average. This season, UF opponents have gained 101 yards rushing for an average of 1.7 per carry (T13 nationally).
# Florida's 59 points against Tennessee were the most points scored against a top 25 team this season. Previously, LSU had scored 48 against Virginia Tech.
# Florida's scoring offense is ranked second nationally (55.7). This is the first time in school history a Gator squad has opened the season scoring 45-or-more points in each of its first three games.
# Against Tennessee, the non-running back trio of Percy Harvin (9-for-75), Tim Tebow (18-for-61), Cam Newton (2-for-15) and Jarred Fayson (3-for-29) accounted for 32 rushes for 180 yards and four rushing touchdowns. The first 11 carries of the game were by non-running backs (nine by Tebow and two by Harvin). Tebow, Harvin and Moore each rushed for more yards individually than Tennessee did as a team.
# Tim Tebow's passer rating of 228.8, is the second-highest in the nation. Tebow has completed 73.8 percent of his passes, which is the fourth-highest mark in the country and is the best in the Southeastern Conference. Tebow has thrown seven passes for 40-or-more yards this season, which is already two higher than UF did all of last season. Against Tennessee, he completed passes of 25-yards or longer to four different receivers.
# Against Tennessee, Percy Harvin became the fourth Gator to have a 100-yard receiving game. Last season, only two Florida receivers went over 100 yards and they did so only four times. Florida is one of three teams nationally to have four different receivers with single-game 100-yard performances (BYU, Hawaii).
Percy Harvin averaged 15 yards per touch against Tennessee. He had four catches for 120 yards and ran the ball nine times for 75 yards. He led the Gators in both rushing and receiving on the day to become the first Gator wide receiver to lead the team in rushing since he did so in the 2006 SEC title game (six carries, 105 yards, one touchdown). Last season, Harvin led the Gators in rushing five times This season Harvin has seen the ball 26 times and is averaging 14.2 yards per touch.
# The Gator defense held Tennessee to 37 rushing yards on 21 carries for a a 1.8 average. UF opponents have gained 138 yards rushing for an average of 1.7 per carry (seventh nationally). Under Coach Meyer, UF has given up just 92 rushing yards on 62 carries in the three meetings with Tennessee (avg. 1.3 yards per carry).
# Against Tennessee, the Gator defense pitched a shutout in the second half, limiting the Vols to three first downs and 87 total yards. Despite the Vols having the ball for 9:37 in the first quarter, the unit held the Vols to just three points. On the day, Florida did not allow Tennessee a rushing first down.
# Against Tennessee, Florida intercepted a pair of passes as Markihe Anderson and Jerimy Finch each picked off the first of their collegiate careers.
# The attendance of 90,716 for the Tennessee game on Sept. 17, 2005 established a school record. The previous school record of 90,707 was set against Wyoming in the 2005 season opener on Sept. 3. The school-record-setting crowd was the largest ever to watch a football game in the state of Florida. The state has hosted 13 Super Bowls, two BCS national title games and has featured a team that went on to win at least a share of the national title in a bowl game 18 times.
The chart below shows where UF ranks as a team and individuals in the SEC and nationally
SEC NTNL
Scoring Offense (55.7) 1 2
Scoring Defense (18.0) 4 T25
Pass Offense (286.7) 1 24
Rushing Offense (234.7) 3 15
Rushing Defense (46.0) 2 6
Total Offense (521.3) 1 12
Total Defense (279.3) 3 19
Punting (36.1) 4 42
Pass Efficiency (222.4) 1 2
Pass Def. Eff (113.1) 9 43
First Downs (72) NA NA
3rd Down Conversion (50.0) 2 16
Opp. 1st Downs (47) NA NA
Opp. 3rd Down Conv. (30.0) 4 28
Sacks By (1.6 per game) 7 T69
Sacks Against (0.66 per gm) 2 T6
Red Zone Offense (95.2) NA NA
Red Zone Defense (70.0) NA NA
Tebow (2288 Pass Effic.) 1 2
Tebow (10.0 points per gm) T3 T26
Harvin (123.67 all purp) T10 T74
Spikes (9.67 tkls per) 4 T43
Harvey (.67 sacks per gm) T4 T39