Postgame: Auburn 17, Florida 6

[travisduncan]

Update: Muschamp said after the game (video) that the Gators are going to "stay the course:.

Jeff Demps was a game time decision and was not where the coaches wanted him to be in order to play.

Muschamp said he was happy with the Gators effort. He feels the offense needs to find a way some how some way to gain positive momentum.

Muschamp wouldn't say much about Driskel or Brissett, to reveal what the coaching staff is thinking in terms of who the starter would be vs UGA if Brantley can't play. He said Brantley's rehab is going very well.

He did point out that on the flea-flicker in the second half that Driskel missed the pass.
Muschamp said the reason to pull Brissett was simply a matter of the offense not able to move the ball in the first half.

"We had six points at halftime, we needed to do something," Muschamp said. "If you continue to do the same thing you're going to get the same results."

Muschamp was asked about the offensive line play, and was unwilling to place the blame on a single offensive position.

"I'm not going to get into the bashing of one position."

On the false starts, Muschamp said that he needed to do a better job of coaching and the staff would find another way to emphasis the point in practice from this point forward.

On Mike Gillisee's lack of touches-he said the simple reason was the run game just wasn't producing to merit many rushing attempts.
________________________

The Good: The Gator's overall defense. 12-out-13 times on third down the Gators stopped Auburn. The Gators also had nine quarterback hurries and one sack.

Though Auburn totaled 17 points and scored two touchdowns, it could have been worse. In the first quarter, the Tigers found themselves on the Gators 32 yard line after Chris Rainey's first punt-return fumble. Two straight Auburn rushes for seven and then no gain, and then the Tigers got a a free-play for defensive off-sides. They took a shot to the end zone, resulting in a 25-yard touchdown from Barrett Trotter to DeAngelo Benton.

The Gator run defense limited Auburn running back Michael Dyer to 73 yards on 23 carries. He was averaging 113 yards per contest going into the game.

The Gator secondary, save for one touchdown, limited the Auburn passing attack. Auburn QB's were 7-for-16, passing for 123 yards.

The defense held up their end of the bargain quite well.

The Bad: Inability for Jeff Driskel to accurately throw the out pattern with Deonte Thompson to complete a 4th down conversation in the fourth quarter. In general Driskel showed his big arm and mobility but lacked the touch.

Additional bad: the wide outs and QBs weren't able to hookup for completions.

Freshman punter Kyle Christy made his Florida debut. He punted effectively, 7 punts for 323 yards but mishandled a drop early in the 3rd quarter with a net yard result of 18 yards.

The Ugly: 3 dropped punts by Florida punt returners. Special teams has been criticized before this game, but now expect a ton of stuff to be thrown special team coordinator D.J. Durkin's way.

What we learned

The Gators really don't know whether to stick with Brissett or go with Driskel.

That the Gators may need to find another punt return man.

Kicker Caleb Sturgis is an MVP. Instead of kicking a field-goal, the Gators were forced to go for it unsuccessfully on 4th down.

We expected to see more Mike Gillislee, who was a captain for the game. He carried the ball just three times for 16 yards.

What it means

The Gators SEC title game hopes are almost gone at this point and they risk a four-game losing streak.

The Gators won't play next Saturday and will return to action Oct. 29 against Georgia in Jacksonville.

What they're hoping

The team is hoping John Brantley's ankle can heal in time for the UGA game in two weeks. Nothing official, but that's what the team is hoping for at this point.

The Final Stats

67 yards rushing on 31 attempts.

129 yards passing on 15-29 completions.

Time of Possession Florida 30:33 Auburn 29:27

Total Offense: 196 yards

Chris Rainey two receptions 30 yards, 16 carries 33 yards

Jeff Driskel 9-for-18 75 yards

Jacoby Brissett 5-for-10 45 yards and an INT.

Frankie Hammond 4 recs 40 yards

Trey Burton 4 recs 23 yards receiving 1/1 passing for 8 yards.

Deonte Thompson 3 recs for 16 yards

Andre Debose 1 rec for 14 yards

Jordan Reed 1 rec for 5 yards

 

[Escambia94]

My "WTH list":

WTH is wrong with Rainey? He looks lackadaisical out there.

WTH happened to giving Gillislee more carries? 3? When running Rainey outside the tackles failed, did it occur to anyone to try the middle with another running back on the team? Hello?!

WTH happened to the offensive line? Did they not travel with the team?

WTH is wrong with the defense? Dyer is not a big running back and he pushed the pile. By pile I mean, our entire defensive front.

WTH is wrong with the team psyche? Where are their heads?

WTH is with all the injuries? Name someone NOT injured!

 

[DRU2012]

Actually, "I Like This" is of course furthest from the truth...I HATE THIS!!! But it IS the truth.
Here is my answer, short and sweet--and it will be my theme for the forseeable :
We are a GUTLESS TEAM.
I blame MOST of this on the last regime and the players they brought in--but SOME of the responsibility (and the answers to a couple of the Qs above) on this coaching staff. To their credit, the top 2 (Head Coach and OC) always step up and shoulder it first; now it's time finally to begin to agree with them. Too many fundamental FOOTBALL problems to do otherwise. I have been saying for a couple of weeks that we may need to "clean house", if it came to this: I WAS talking about replacing a large portion of our players...but there has to be SOME accountability in the coaching as well here: the Special Teams play has steadily gone from bad, to ugly, to sadly ridiculous--Did you see that crowd shot of the Auburn fans LAUGHING after the 4th drop (Yes 4, E-, Rainey 3 times, then Clark when they finally tried HIM out there!)? I don't blame them. We were a laughably bad team out there yesterday.

 

[CaliZona_Gator]

E, Rainey was being used too much. He was out of gas.

And I disagree about the defense. They played pretty damn well.

 

[Escambia94]

I can back down on the defense, but Rainey just needs to turn north when the opposing defense is sealing the corners, or they need to run between the tackles--with Rainey or any other running back. I really think that instead of swapping quarterbacks they could have swapped running backs.

 

[Escambia94]

I watched the game again, without any alcohol, and here are my final notes before I purge that game from memory.

- Problem: Chris Rainey cannot run between the tackles, and fast defenses are beating him to the corner (looks like he is injured). Solution: Run Rainey with Hunter Joyer in front of him.
- Problem: Not enough Gillislee. Solution: More Gillislee.
- Problem: Both Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel are freshmen. Solution: The receivers are mostly older than the QBs, so I think the receivers could have fought for the ball a little more to help out the QBs.
- Problem: The defenders give up easily--hit or bail. Solution: The secondary needs to focus on hawking the ball in addition to looking for slobber-knocker hits.
- Problem: Short ball does not work in the 2nd half of any game. All three defenses keyed in on those short passes in the 2nd half. Solution: Mix in some jailbreak screens with the flare outs if you want to keep throwing the short ball.
- Problem: the offensive line can hold the opposing rush just fine, but they cannot hold long enough to prevent the QB from getting pressured. Solution: QB needs to get rid of the ball more quickly, or the QB needs to roll out.
- Problem: Burton and Reed are too slow to run deep. Solution: Stop pushing the slow, newer TEs deep. Keep them shallow and let the pure receivers go deep.
- Problem: Florida special teams sucks, sucks, sucks! Solution: give Stan Drayton another unit to coach. Let Muschamp have them for a week.

The game did not look as ugly the second time around. We were in this game. If I had to pinpoint the problems, here they are:

1. Rainey needs a lead blocking fullback in front of him.
2. Special teams needs a reboot.
3. Receivers need to go deep and help the QBs by fighting for the ball, and the tight ends need to stay short.
4. QBs need to get rid of the ball. We do not have the personnel for long passing plays.
5. Florida needs to get healthy in this bye week.

 

[DRU2012]

As usual, E-, you are strong on the specifics, at collecting the pertinent points, digesting and analyzing them to reach practical conclusions. Me, I tend to go for the underlying theme, one key point I sense can make a difference. Consider this "in addition to" your recommendations.
Of course we were "in this game"--we were and are BETTER than Auburn, talent-wise, but the fact still remains: we might not beat ANYONE until we begin to solve and address the problems at the heart of our team...and I stand by my first impression after the game. We are gutless. What I would add now, several days later, is that this has a great deal to do with the kind of individuals we have far too many of, athletically-talented but almost devoid of the characteristics necessary to build a great team. Solution: you know who they are now, for the most part--it's always revealed when tested by fire--so now begins the work of replacing them. Play the ones who fight and keep fighting, the rest either work their way back or move on. This is not a matter of "blame" but of "responsibility": EVERYONE has to shoulder their share, including the coaches--and not just the Head Coach and OC, who already are so quick to do so. It doesn't have to be public; only the results matter. There's a lot of work to do. It's back to basics time: the players practice and the coaches coach. Take care of the details and the rest will take care of itself.
Right now we need to get one win. Then finish the season strongly, doing things more and more the right way, what coach calls "the Florida Way". Get a decent Bowl game for the exposure and (more importantly) for the extended practice time into the new year. Then move into recruiting, the "crazy season", full time, this one so important to us it can't be overstated. We're going to have a lot of openings, so it's quality AND quantity this time. And so on: we've got one giant, killer obstacle course of a race to run between now and next fall, and we must win it from where we are right now, the back-of-the-pack.

 

[Escambia94]

It is getting tough to enjoy these games when we are seeing repeats of last year, but with new faces. I keep thinking of a comment I read somewhere that under Muschamp, practice sessions are less intense then they were under Meyer. I am tired of hearing about arrests. Meyer had 30 of his players arrested between 2005-2010--5 per year. Muschamp has been on the job less than a year and has seven arrests on his players. Under Meyer we usually had about 80 of 85 scholarships used up. Under Muschamp we are down to 71 or 72 of 85. And for crying out loud...even the press conferences are looking the same. Do us a favor and just don't tell us anything. I am sick and tired of "we are going to play more Gillislee", then seeing him get three friggin' carries. Yeah, great game plan. Make the opposition plan for the 205-pound back and then throw the 170-pound back at them! That will ****ing energize the running game! I hate armchair quarterbacking, but there has to be a way to insert a personnel grouping for Gillislee in the first half, especially when Rainey is gaining negative friggin' yards. Without going into endless examples, the first year of the Muschamp Era looks too much like the last year of the Meyer Era...and that bothers me.

So, what is this Gator Way that we have been hearing about? I sure as heck hope the Gator Way does not involve hanging 100% of your hope on the starting quarterback and rolling over when that guy goes down. I hope the Gator Way does not involve blaming the refs when they make bad calls. (Yeah, they tend to do that. It is part of the game.) I hope the Gator Way does not involve spending more time yelling at the referees than at players. I hope the Gator Way involves clamping down on these kids in the locker room and watching that discipline translate to the field. Right now, Muschamp can take his Gator Way and shove it up his ***. I cannot believe we lost to Auburn. That pisses me off still. That was a sucky team! What does that make us? I don't want to get embarrassed by an equally crappy Georgia team, but are on track to get embarrassed again. This is what it is like being a loser, and this is not Gator football. Think about this for a second...the FAU Owls scored more against Auburn than we did. They amassed more offense in their loss! Utah State scored more on Auburn than we did...with a freshman quarterback. A freshman quarterback! This "Driskel and Brissett are freshmen" excuse just does not cut it! It doesn't! A 2-star freshman in a nothing college outplayed both of our 4/5-star freshmen quarterbacks! Is that the Gator Way! Again...keep your Gator Way and shove it where the sun don't shine, Will Muschamp. Go stare at some play books and some books on disciplining kids. Go yell at your special teams coach, your entire special teams, and your sucky players!

 

[DRU2012]

Wow. Again, if YOU feel this much anger and disappointment towards the Coach at this point, E, I can only imagine how it's going to be out there once he moves in the direction I believe he HAS to (and will) the rest of this season.
See, while I'm just as disgusted and sick of what I see on and off the field as you are, I just don't blame the coaches as much as I blame the numerical dominance of a certain kind of PLAYER, as I've been saying--and for the very reasons you talk about: the similarity of behavior and results by the same KINDS of guys, the very players Meyer & Co. have been recruiting the last 2 or 3 years. Remember, even this last class was mostly made up of guys who had already been courted by and/or committed to the previous regime...though I wondered about it at the time, I now think that for the most part Muschamp preferred to leave as many openings as possible to THIS year's class, his first full one going after all his own guys, once he knew where we were at and what we REALLY needed--and not get stuck with more people that didn't fit this idea he had of "the Florida Way". In other words, on some level he sensed there were deeper problems here than the obvious ones we ALL saw. Of course, that turned out to be the case "in SPADES", as they say. I think he's got to be tough and ruthless the rest of the way and into the spring, make the head-cases see and understand that either they grow up, show some humility, take responsibility for their arrogance and selfishness and buckle down, or they sit--or walk. We've already lost at least 1/2 a dozen or so that way, and it'll probably pick up from here. I bought into Coach Boom, his attitude, philosophy and specific approach for the long haul, though: he's got to get results, yep, but I know it's going to take some tough, hard work, and I'm for giving him the time and room to do it. This is a bigger job than ANY of us realized until the last few weeks, and I'm sure it has been a surprise even to him how much of the otherwise "highly-rated young talent" he inherited has turned out to be comprised of selfish, irresponsible young prima donnas devoid of self-discipline, self-motivation, or self-control.
Now, about the quarterbacks. I don't want to get in a whole discussion comparing who did what against whom with how much relative talent--Our offense stunk up the place, and while there are "plausible reasons" why that happened, I'm not buying half of 'em, and the rest beg the question "Why?!!". Then again, as you say, there are those horrible special teams, lousy tackling, dropped INTs, ENDLESS stupid penalties--oh, there is something rotten at the core of this team, that much we ALL can see and agree on. I don't know how anyone else feels, but to ME the problem at QB is a perfect example of what can go wrong with recruiting in general--and HAS gone wrong across-the-board here on our team.
Now, in this case, it ISN'T that these young QBs are selfish "head cases", but they ARE "highly rated" recruits who may not be cutting it after all--if even one of them DOES turn out to have something, it'll be a long process bringing him up to "efficient and comfortable" back there. We're not alone in "missing" at QB based on "all the right signs, size, skills and diagnostics", not to mention "the killer highlight reel"--to varying degrees, virtually every program in the nation brings in kids they are "SURE" is the guy but turns out otherwise on an almost yearly basis (hell, a team like Texas, who could have almost anyone they want, brought in 8 different guys over the last 5 years, ended up with 4 of them--and not one of them has turned out; Ashe, the one they're going with now, is sort of in that "well, we'll see if we can develop him"-role that Driskel or Brisset will end up in, should we settle on going with only them). Meanwhile, that kid at Clemson ("Watkins?") nobody was very interested in, didn't play in a well-regarded prep league, was only a bit over 6 ft. and skinny (he was 17, for cryin' out loud!), was un-ballyhooed, and Clemson was the only pseudo-top-tier team that offered him: HE'S the top-rated QB in BCS-Div. football (yeah, ahead of Luck), a FRESHMAN who has single-handedly brought his otherwise "oh, pretty good" team into the Top Ten. What did Clemson see that everyone else missed? What do ANY of the "lesser" teams see that they manage to grab a beast-DE here, an overlooked long-striding WR there, another a catch-everything TE, still another a LB that stops EVERYTHING that comes into the middle of "His Field"--everyone of them good kids, good TEAMmates who are happy and proud to be right where they are--but could have and WOULD have likely JUMPED at an offer from The University of Florida Fightin' Gators. How do we get these "other" players, find them, identify them, recognize them for what they are and BRING THEM IN? What are we doing wrong...or what are we NOT doing?
Understand, it's not just at quarterback--although I believe we should start and KEEP looking to bring in "someone special"--and make no mistake: you know it when you see it, and we haven't seen it here in a few years. We will make do with one of these if we have to, which we probably will, at least for the time being. But we're going to be looking to fill a lot of openings this coming spring. It would serve us well to do things differently than they've been done by ourselves and everyone else of late. You can see where "conventional wisdom" has gotten us. Time for some UN-conventional thinking, seems to me.