That probably sealed the victory for Alabama. This is actually a good game. Still sucks to lose 50-something to 30-something. Maybe 40-something.
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SEC Championship Game: #7 Florida 46, #1 Alabama 52
- Thread starter Escambia94
- Start date
Looks like Slaton slammed an Alabama player too hard, and maybe additional penalties.
Unsportsmanlike conduct on Zachary Carter, not TJ Slaton.
Alabama has 606 yards to Florida’s 400-something.
Alabama has 606 yards to Florida’s 407.
Copeland let a third pass bounce off his hands.
Nothing to do here but play for style points for the bowl selection committee.
But the fumbles are EVERYTHING, really: This is a “very good Gator team”—that consistently of late SCREWS THE POOCH at key moments!
Personally. I am SICK OF IT...In MY “final analysis”, Mullen is a perfectionist; he’ll keep at it, make that more and more a feature of his teams (just as Saban does)...but that DOESN’T seem to NEARLY be of the same importance to Grantham...That way he STILL hasn’t seemed to address that play/personnel/substitution problem is a glaring example of what I’m talking about...there are just too MANY of those kind of half-assed, rinky-dink failures in “attention to detail”...I have a feeling that by now Mullen himself, loyal as he may be, is pretty damn sick of it too and will address it after the season—SHORTLY thereafter!
We’ll see. I do trust Mullen, regardless though. So I will accept whatever moves he makes...But I don’t think he can “stand pat” from here, no matter what.
Meanwhile, “Down the hole, Flyboy!”
The Gators are playing for an Orange Bowl berth against Cincinnati, basically as an F-U to Texas A&M.
Bottomline before I go:
I guess not really a surprise to hear that I am now trending towards the “can Grantham” camp...
What do Y’ALL think?
I am NOT so confident or sure in my current evaluation that I won’t reconsider, given reason and evidence that I am just reacting to my need to “blame SOMEONE”... But I am NOT “band-waggoning”, I SWEAR!
I arrived at this on my own, mainly in the “communication vacuum” that we share here now!
So please: Make your OWN cases!
I guess not really a surprise to hear that I am now trending towards the “can Grantham” camp...
What do Y’ALL think?
I am NOT so confident or sure in my current evaluation that I won’t reconsider, given reason and evidence that I am just reacting to my need to “blame SOMEONE”... But I am NOT “band-waggoning”, I SWEAR!
I arrived at this on my own, mainly in the “communication vacuum” that we share here now!
So please: Make your OWN cases!
Alabama has 3 time-outs and 1:13 to play. It is a certainty that Alabama will win, so everyone is playing for style points now.
The Gators actually challenged the Tide more than any other team this year. It sucks losing, but this was a performance to be proud of. Mac Jones (418) and Kyle Trask (408) both surpassed Danny Wuerffel in SEC Championship passing yards. Kadarius Toney is the MVG: 153 yards, 1 TD, 8 receptions out of 8 targets. Toney has 984 yards in the season and could become the first Gator with 1,000 yards receiving in a season since Taylor Jacobs in 2002.
If it hadn’t been for that LSU loss, we’d be THERE already after holding our own here. But THIS score was exactly what I most feared: A relatively close loss in a high-scoring game makes that LSU loss all the more damaging to us in the season’s outcome—and how it affects us going forward from here.
I have no IDEA how Mullen digests and SPINS this game, this whole SEASON now. I just feel empty at the thought, overall. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Is Emory Jones THE ANSWER at QB going into 2021? That would be for the best, obviously—and if he can truly throw accurately with consistency (as he has shown signs of being capable of), to go along with his clear running skills, well, For the first time since getting here Mullen will have the kind of kid he can finally build “his kind of offense” around. Assuming he’s been recruiting with that in mind, most of these questions may be about to ANSWER THEMSELVES.
But NOT the ones on DEfense! THAT’S where the bigger, deeper LONG TERM problems are—and THEY aren’t confined to personnel, either. It’s what they’ve been DOING, their behavior and performance that have been raising constant questions out there!
What might THIS TEAM have done with even a SLIGHTLY more competent and consistent defensive unit?
Painful as it is, that question must be asked.
(I’m bout to serve myself that cognac-dipped Dulce Leches, settle back for the climax to my movie, then (hopefully) crash...Goodnight, my Gator brothers. We’ll put some time and perspective between the game, the after game comments from Mullen and our own reflections...
Think on my own comments and questions-posed, and we’ll talk further soon.)
Think on my own comments and questions-posed, and we’ll talk further soon.)
(And more than EVER, I STILL don’t believe in “moral victories”!)
Been having this problem all day here.
Sorry. Might be my iPhone. I might just upgrade to a 5G after all—though I was resisting what I so far consider an “unnecessary expense”...USED to “chase the latest tech”, but over time have found that a “sucker’s game”!
Sorry. Might be my iPhone. I might just upgrade to a 5G after all—though I was resisting what I so far consider an “unnecessary expense”...USED to “chase the latest tech”, but over time have found that a “sucker’s game”!
This sucks. Does Grantham get another season? Also, will the Gators have enough playmakers coming back with Grimes and Toney graduating and Pitts going to the Draft? Can Jones fill the shoes of Trask? We've been burned before. Will the D improve? Also, will Marco Wilson F--K OFF?
Well—you understand, LF: I don’t “like” the FACT of your questions, that they must be asked—but I “like” very much that you pose them.
I woke up before dawn this Sunday post-Championship morning with much on my mind:
Here’s the thing...I don’t like to even SUSPECT myself of “bandwaggoning”—you know, that mob-think sudden glomming together to attack and blame one guy for the manifesting of a HOST of problems...I mean, YES there may well be at least SOME responsibility to be shouldered by “the man in charge” of ANY endeavor—but then again, you wanna be CAREFUL IN SUCH “Blanket blame and judgement”: We were LOVING his attack defenses there for an extended period—for a number of games over a coupla seasons he was a hot commodity, rumored much sought-after “out there” and credited with much of our rise even while the offense (though “improving”) under Feliepe Franks at best continued to sputter much of the time as well. Then we suddenly had Trask—and the offense improved LIKE THE SUN COMING OUT!
It isn’t as if Todd Grantham had meanwhile somehow suddenly forgotten everything we had come to think he knew about building, scheming and fielding a consistently high-functioning Defense, right?
But then again, the way (for example) his charges more and MORE kept NOT GETTING signals, not even GETTING THEMSELVES IN THE GAME in a crisp and timely manner often implied EXACTLY that! We’ve looked sloppily, blunderingly amateurish at times in REPEATEDLY failing this way, catching flags that HANDED opponents first downs—and worse, getting caught with the wrong people out there for key play...and getting BURNED for it!
And that WASN’T our only problem, our sole “bad look” on defense over the course of the 2020 season, let’s face it.
So. Knowing what we do about our Head Coach, is this REALLY just solvable with a handful of recruiting breakthroughs and maybe the hiring of a little “up’n’coming”, “talented support” for the guy we already GOT on the sidelines beside him? OR, FAILING that, who’s available out there that MIGHT best offer a likely “true, full-on UPGRADE” at Defensive Coordinator?
Make no mistake: while “the RIGHT move” might be a “Homerun” that gets us back where we need to be all the faster, an over-reactive “misfire” could turn out a disastrous setback, too.
So be judicious in your considerations and recommendations...Because THAT is exactly our proposed “Problem to be Considered Going Into the End- and Off-Season?”:
“What PRECISELY is prescribed for the Gator Program NOW?”
“performance to be proud of”?
I suppose I would have felt, SAID the same thing had we not had that strange, sad “NO SHOW” LAST week...
But we did—and now, exactly as I feared, an otherwise in-larger-context DECENT “performance to be proud of” instead becomes our minor subscript, at best an “EPITAPH” on a squandered campaign.
We were GOOD: BETTER THAN OUR RECORD REFLECTED!!!
We had better players, some prodigious talents together in one place, doing dazzling work that in the end is wasted and will be LOST, drowned in a tsunami of bad luck, bad timing, and I am starting to believe, the bad faith, less-than-full-effort work of one man, one Todd Grantham.
Not having the players and/or the talent in oneself—that’s a common problem that comes up often in sports. But having it there in your hands and squandering it, WHATEVER the explanation for that failure, is in MY view unconscionable!
These chances DON’T come often:
You pull that shit with my Gators and I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU.
More than that, I will see you flayed publicly and RIDDEN OUT ON A RAIL!
I’m the old hag knitting at the corner of the square, squealing “Guillotine!!!” happily as Robespierre goes to the Whoosh!/CHOP!!!
You get me?
So: What is our verdict here?
Check out some of the headlines around the country:
Now that I have slept on it, I am angry that Grantham could not get the defense to peak at the right time. Yes, he is limited by the players he has on the field, but it is up to Grantham and Mullen to drill the fundamentals into the heads of these kids. On one hand, no Gators were arrested or suspended this year, which is a friggin' miracle, but then again it could be because of the COVID lockdowns. On the other hand, the Gator defenders played out of position all season, took bad angles, and tackled with bad form.
What does this mean for next year? Well, it is too early to tell. If Steve Sarkisian leaves Alabama, the offense can take a step back next year. We have a pretty good idea of what Florida's offense will look like next year even if Brian Johnson leaves, because we have Dan Mullen, Billy Gonzales, and John Hevesy who have all be offensive coordinators in the Urban Meyer and Dan Mullen systems.
Bringing it back to this game, this was their best performance of the year, but they were slightly overmatched. Despite being overmatched, they were one or two plays away from beating Alabama. If John Metchie had not laid out Trey Dean on that perfectly legal slobberknocker during the interception return, this game likely goes to the Gators. If the Gators did not commit a penalty here and there, the Tide might have been held to a field goal here and there and made the game closer. If the Gators played with a bit more discipline, those missed tackles and missed receptions turn the tide of the game in their favor. This is not making excuses for the Gators. Alabama won fair and square, but Florida had the power to upset the Tide on this day and they fell 6 points short. This was the most entertaining game I have seen in a long time, and this could serve as a springboard into the future.
- "#1 Bama escapes #11 Florida 52-46" (ESPN)
- "Gators get no credit for moral victory against Alabama" (Orlando Sentinel)
- "The Gators are not there yet, but they are close" (Tampa Bay Times)
- "Trask knows he and teammates left it all on the field" (Swamp247)
- "Kyle Pitts is actually a human of Planet Earth, or so they tell me" (Al.com)
- "Respect earned", "They earned Nick Saban's respect...", "Heading in the right direction" (Rivals)
Now that I have slept on it, I am angry that Grantham could not get the defense to peak at the right time. Yes, he is limited by the players he has on the field, but it is up to Grantham and Mullen to drill the fundamentals into the heads of these kids. On one hand, no Gators were arrested or suspended this year, which is a friggin' miracle, but then again it could be because of the COVID lockdowns. On the other hand, the Gator defenders played out of position all season, took bad angles, and tackled with bad form.
What does this mean for next year? Well, it is too early to tell. If Steve Sarkisian leaves Alabama, the offense can take a step back next year. We have a pretty good idea of what Florida's offense will look like next year even if Brian Johnson leaves, because we have Dan Mullen, Billy Gonzales, and John Hevesy who have all be offensive coordinators in the Urban Meyer and Dan Mullen systems.
Bringing it back to this game, this was their best performance of the year, but they were slightly overmatched. Despite being overmatched, they were one or two plays away from beating Alabama. If John Metchie had not laid out Trey Dean on that perfectly legal slobberknocker during the interception return, this game likely goes to the Gators. If the Gators did not commit a penalty here and there, the Tide might have been held to a field goal here and there and made the game closer. If the Gators played with a bit more discipline, those missed tackles and missed receptions turn the tide of the game in their favor. This is not making excuses for the Gators. Alabama won fair and square, but Florida had the power to upset the Tide on this day and they fell 6 points short. This was the most entertaining game I have seen in a long time, and this could serve as a springboard into the future.
