The Gators got the win over the fighting Biffs of Charlotte!
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Week 4 Reactions: Gators Spoil Jalon Jones’ Homecoming with 22-7 victory over Charlotte
- Thread starter Escambia94
- Start date
Graham Mertz tallied a 195 passer rating. Season game log:
| Rk | Date | School | Opponent | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2023-08-31 | Florida | @ | Utah | L | 31 | 44 | 70.5 | 333 | 1 | 1 | 137.0 | 8 | -29 | -3.6 | 0 | |
| 2 | 2023-09-09 | Florida | McNeese State | W | 14 | 17 | 82.4 | 193 | 1 | 0 | 197.1 | 3 | 8 | 2.7 | 1 | ||
| 3 | 2023-09-16 | Florida | Tennessee | W | 19 | 24 | 79.2 | 166 | 1 | 0 | 151.0 | 4 | -3 | -0.8 | 1 | ||
| 4 | 2023-09-23 | Florida | Charlotte | W | 20 | 23 | 87.0 | 259 | 1 | 0 | 195.0 | 8 | |||||
| 3 Games | 64 | 85 | 75.3 | 692 | 3 | 1 | 162.0 | 15 | -24 | -1.6 | 2 |
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This is catch of the century!
Yeah--That's the bottom line.
But man, after that first drive we looked WEAK whenever we got to the red zone. It has been a growing problem. And a BIG part of THAT is PLAY-calling. Our Coach's purview.
That's what worries me. I'm starting to get the distinct impression Billy has a real "blind spot" when it comes to his offense's gameplans. I was HOPING it was just a matter of "job responsibility overload", that he would eventually recognize this and get himself some help in the person of a good OC.
However, I hate to say it but I'm beginning to get the impression that our Coach seems more and more stubborn, or at least somewhat inflexible, when it comes to even SEEING this, let alone doing anything to correct it.
WHATEVER the reason, we need to go downfield more. More often turn Graham Mertz somewhat more LOOSE. Opening things up even a little bit, going long a few more times per game as part of these regular long drives I suspect would do wonders for the whole offense--at the very least shake up opposing defensive gameplans. Avoid stalling out so often at the end of otherwise promising long drives.
It's a glaring weakness--and one that is, as our Coach likes to say, "Correctable".
I have been comparing my notes to reports from around social media, and all I have to say is that we need to remember that most of us predicted the Gators finishing 6-6 and this team still looks like a 6-6 team plus or minus a loss. That being said I was happy with this game. Rather than lining up in the same plays they used to run up the score on McNeese they tried a lot of new plays, personnel packages, and tempos. When I see reports that Napier ran the same 5 plays I know those people do not know football.
1. 9 plays, 95 yards, 4:27 touchdown with successful point after. 10.56 yards per play. 0:29.67 per play. This series featured Montrell Johnson running through the 2 and 4 holes to the right, through simple zones, behind the backup FR right guard #77 Knijea Harris and TrSr right tackle #74 Lyndell Hudson. Keep in mind that each of them is 15 pounds lighter than suspended starters Micah Mazzcua and Dameion George, and neither have much playing time against starters. Montrell is the harder runner and it made sense to have him test the run game behind the weaker offensive line. Also note this was an up tempo series, which is something we have rarely seen from Napier.
2. 7 plays, 67 yards, 3:25 field goal. 9.57 yards per play. 0:27.86 per play. Charlotte dropped into 4-2-5 defense and the Gators swapped in Etienne for Johnson. Etienne did not fare as well behind the second team offensive line. Mertz ripped off his longest career run because the 49er defense was in nickel and the two linebackers left large holed up the middle. Pearsall had to fight to get his one deep ball catch which a one in a million reception.
3. 10 plays, 91 yards, 4:27, field goal. 9.1 yards per play. 0:26.67 per play. The beginning of this drive was very good with deep passes of 22 yards (Pearsall) and 32 yards (Jean) before the running game stalled. The defense was getting a lot of push on the backup right side of the offensive line.
4. 4 plays, -3 yards, 2:49, field goal. -0.75 yards per play. 0:42.25 per play. The literally slowed down here and Mertz was sacked.
5. 3 plays, -1 yards, 3:27, punt. -0.33 yards per play. 1:10 per play. The Gators respond with three and a half minutes of horrible football as Johnson gets stonewalled and Mertz’s pass falls incomplete.
6. 3 plays, 5 yards, 0:59, fumble. 1.67 yards per play. 0:20 per play. Gators come out of the locker room flat.
7. 9 plays, 46 yards, 4:12, field goal. 5.11 yards per play. 0:20.84 per play. Etienne ripped off a 13-yard gain and the 49er defense shifted by loading the box. Johnson and Etienne did not get a lot of push here and the defense was getting to Mertz.
8. 7 plays, 45 yards, 3:51, fumble. 6.42 yards per play. 0:34.28 per play. The Gators alternated good and bad plays—including what might have been a 1st down catch that was fumbled away.
9. 5 plays, 24 yards, 3:12, punt. 4.8 yards per play. 0:36 per play. Even behind the starting offensive line Etienne could not get the ball moving consistently despite occasional bursts of 6, 17, and 6 yards. A sack and a negative run by Etienne (collapsed line) doomed this series.
10. 5 plays, 34 yards, 1:43, field goal. 6.8 yards per play. 0:21 per play. This series again alternated good plays with bad ones. The passing plays worked great. The running plays were all stonewalled. All those geniuses who said Napier should have tried running Etienne and Johnson against the stacked box take note that the 2 run plays gained 0 yards here, but the passing plays gained 25 (Boardingham) and 9 yards (Pearsall).
The takeaways:
- The running game depends on a healthy Eguakun, Mazzcua, and George on the right side.
- The passing game can work. Mertz is highly accurate and the receivers are pretty damn good. They are better when the running game is good.
- Special teams finally has a weapon in Trey Smack.
1. 9 plays, 95 yards, 4:27 touchdown with successful point after. 10.56 yards per play. 0:29.67 per play. This series featured Montrell Johnson running through the 2 and 4 holes to the right, through simple zones, behind the backup FR right guard #77 Knijea Harris and TrSr right tackle #74 Lyndell Hudson. Keep in mind that each of them is 15 pounds lighter than suspended starters Micah Mazzcua and Dameion George, and neither have much playing time against starters. Montrell is the harder runner and it made sense to have him test the run game behind the weaker offensive line. Also note this was an up tempo series, which is something we have rarely seen from Napier.
2. 7 plays, 67 yards, 3:25 field goal. 9.57 yards per play. 0:27.86 per play. Charlotte dropped into 4-2-5 defense and the Gators swapped in Etienne for Johnson. Etienne did not fare as well behind the second team offensive line. Mertz ripped off his longest career run because the 49er defense was in nickel and the two linebackers left large holed up the middle. Pearsall had to fight to get his one deep ball catch which a one in a million reception.
3. 10 plays, 91 yards, 4:27, field goal. 9.1 yards per play. 0:26.67 per play. The beginning of this drive was very good with deep passes of 22 yards (Pearsall) and 32 yards (Jean) before the running game stalled. The defense was getting a lot of push on the backup right side of the offensive line.
4. 4 plays, -3 yards, 2:49, field goal. -0.75 yards per play. 0:42.25 per play. The literally slowed down here and Mertz was sacked.
5. 3 plays, -1 yards, 3:27, punt. -0.33 yards per play. 1:10 per play. The Gators respond with three and a half minutes of horrible football as Johnson gets stonewalled and Mertz’s pass falls incomplete.
6. 3 plays, 5 yards, 0:59, fumble. 1.67 yards per play. 0:20 per play. Gators come out of the locker room flat.
7. 9 plays, 46 yards, 4:12, field goal. 5.11 yards per play. 0:20.84 per play. Etienne ripped off a 13-yard gain and the 49er defense shifted by loading the box. Johnson and Etienne did not get a lot of push here and the defense was getting to Mertz.
8. 7 plays, 45 yards, 3:51, fumble. 6.42 yards per play. 0:34.28 per play. The Gators alternated good and bad plays—including what might have been a 1st down catch that was fumbled away.
9. 5 plays, 24 yards, 3:12, punt. 4.8 yards per play. 0:36 per play. Even behind the starting offensive line Etienne could not get the ball moving consistently despite occasional bursts of 6, 17, and 6 yards. A sack and a negative run by Etienne (collapsed line) doomed this series.
10. 5 plays, 34 yards, 1:43, field goal. 6.8 yards per play. 0:21 per play. This series again alternated good plays with bad ones. The passing plays worked great. The running plays were all stonewalled. All those geniuses who said Napier should have tried running Etienne and Johnson against the stacked box take note that the 2 run plays gained 0 yards here, but the passing plays gained 25 (Boardingham) and 9 yards (Pearsall).
The takeaways:
- The running game depends on a healthy Eguakun, Mazzcua, and George on the right side.
- The passing game can work. Mertz is highly accurate and the receivers are pretty damn good. They are better when the running game is good.
- Special teams finally has a weapon in Trey Smack.
I just summarized the plays. The key to Napier’s offense is the offensive line. The Gators had a second team offensive line for half the game and it affected play calls. Oddly enough the second team offensive line is better suited for up tempo. When the first team right guard and right tackle returned in the second half it became apparent that they missed Kingsley Eguakun at center. Jake Slaughter is okay at center, but Eguakun is elite. In the second half when Napier returned to ball control it became apparent that it only works efficiently with Eguakun anchoring the offensive line.
Florida now is 358-113-13 all-time at The Swamp, holding the second-highest home winning percentage in the country since 1990 with a 177-34 record (83.8%).
Superb points here. I must admit that though I was considering much of that while watching, analyzing the last few moments of the 4th quarter, I sort of forgot about it all here later on last night and this morning...
Thankyou. I am happy to RE-include all that in considering what is to unfold in the coming weeks, and perhaps can in fact RELAX a little bit, (hopefully) trust Kingsley's return and hence our Coach's resulting shift to a (slightly?) More aggressive "turning loose" of Graham Mertz's now-PROVEN downfield passing game.
Everything else could well flow from just these relatively subtle potential changes.
Guess we now "wait'n'see".
Warning to all Gator fans: Napier’s offense is not going to be described as “aggressive” except at the beginning of the game. Watch his games at Louisiana, dig into the offense he influenced at Arizona State, Alabama (as analyst), and Clemson and the pattern is obvious: start aggressive, grab a lead, milk the clock. Repeat when the opponent gets the lead.
This game was interesting because Mertz is the best QB Napier ever coached and he was able to experiment with nuances to the offense.
Reminder that Mertz was a high 4-star (0.9689) in 2019 (#3 in the nation). By the way, that 2019 class looked like this:
1. Spencer Rattler 0.9942 - Oklahoma
2. Ryan Hilinski 0.9695 - South Carolina
3. Graham Mertz 0.9689 - Wisconsin
4. Tua Tagovailoa - Alabama
…
321. Jalon Jones 0.9001 - Florida
This game was interesting because Mertz is the best QB Napier ever coached and he was able to experiment with nuances to the offense.
Reminder that Mertz was a high 4-star (0.9689) in 2019 (#3 in the nation). By the way, that 2019 class looked like this:
1. Spencer Rattler 0.9942 - Oklahoma
2. Ryan Hilinski 0.9695 - South Carolina
3. Graham Mertz 0.9689 - Wisconsin
4. Tua Tagovailoa - Alabama
…
321. Jalon Jones 0.9001 - Florida
A couple more things, though:
(1) ANOTHER guy we didn't have and whose presence WOULD have likely affected positively our offensive difficulties and miscues of course is Wilson; I'm looking for his return--and it having a real impact on our overall offensive momentum.
(2) Perhaps (as Gator Dave and others have suspected) Montrell Johnson's health has him a bit off his game right now, but as things stand as far as what our eyes can clearly SEE, Trevor E. IS our dominant "#1 RB" right now, and our running game, so essential to this offense now, needs to generally fo us on HIM.
I ALSO was disturbed not just by the repeated problems getting the right people on the field for SPECIAL TEAMS play (only 10 men out there--TWICE--when we lined up to receive punts), but Napier's defensive denials of its importance was frankly baffling. How about YOU "owning it", "taking responsibility" for such things, Coach??!
"We're OK with that..." just won't DO...
(1) ANOTHER guy we didn't have and whose presence WOULD have likely affected positively our offensive difficulties and miscues of course is Wilson; I'm looking for his return--and it having a real impact on our overall offensive momentum.
(2) Perhaps (as Gator Dave and others have suspected) Montrell Johnson's health has him a bit off his game right now, but as things stand as far as what our eyes can clearly SEE, Trevor E. IS our dominant "#1 RB" right now, and our running game, so essential to this offense now, needs to generally fo us on HIM.
I ALSO was disturbed not just by the repeated problems getting the right people on the field for SPECIAL TEAMS play (only 10 men out there--TWICE--when we lined up to receive punts), but Napier's defensive denials of its importance was frankly baffling. How about YOU "owning it", "taking responsibility" for such things, Coach??!
"We're OK with that..." just won't DO...
We actually controlled, at times DOMINATED PLAY in last night's game.
Only all these basic errors and inconsistencies, unforced errors and yes, a general emotional letdown that began I think (for its own reasons) in the 2nd half of the Tennessee game and carried through the week and into play THROUGHOUT this one got us into an all-around lackadaisical, uninspired performance here.
We all KNOW that needs to be fully behind us going on the road against UK next Saturday.
Only all these basic errors and inconsistencies, unforced errors and yes, a general emotional letdown that began I think (for its own reasons) in the 2nd half of the Tennessee game and carried through the week and into play THROUGHOUT this one got us into an all-around lackadaisical, uninspired performance here.
We all KNOW that needs to be fully behind us going on the road against UK next Saturday.
I think some of our best sports analysts are forgetting that in the free agent transfer portal era, all the rules are different. Napier is doing an okay job managing a mix of high school talent and NCAA free agents. Now that there are two sets of recruits to manage it becomes important to play both sets.
QB free agent: Graham Mertz ‘22, n/a ‘23
QB high school blue chips: N/A ‘22 - whiffed on Nick Evers, Maalik Murphy. N/A ‘23 - Whiffed on Jaden Rashada.
WR free agent: Ricky Pearsall ‘22, n/a ‘23
WR high school blue chips: Tre Wilson, Aidan Mizell, Andy Jean
WR walk-on promotions: Kalheil Kackson
RB free agent: Montrell Johnson ‘22, Cam Carroll ‘23
RB high school blue chips: Trevor Etienne ‘22, Treyaun Webb ‘23
Deion Sanders’ recruiting model of grabbing 85 all-star free agents per year is not a sustainable model. Josh Heupel’s model of grabbing 40+ free agents is probably in the sweet spot for any recruiting grounds outside Florida, Georgia, Texas, and California.
QB free agent: Graham Mertz ‘22, n/a ‘23
QB high school blue chips: N/A ‘22 - whiffed on Nick Evers, Maalik Murphy. N/A ‘23 - Whiffed on Jaden Rashada.
WR free agent: Ricky Pearsall ‘22, n/a ‘23
WR high school blue chips: Tre Wilson, Aidan Mizell, Andy Jean
WR walk-on promotions: Kalheil Kackson
RB free agent: Montrell Johnson ‘22, Cam Carroll ‘23
RB high school blue chips: Trevor Etienne ‘22, Treyaun Webb ‘23
Deion Sanders’ recruiting model of grabbing 85 all-star free agents per year is not a sustainable model. Josh Heupel’s model of grabbing 40+ free agents is probably in the sweet spot for any recruiting grounds outside Florida, Georgia, Texas, and California.
Good points. In the military we refer to this as domain dominance, superiority, advantage, or parity. Against Tennessee and McNeese the offensive line exerted domain dominance over the Tennessee defensive line. Against Charlotte the offensive line exerted domain superiority in the first half or domain advantage in the second half.
We really never felt like our team was truly threatened in this last one. In FACT, that very reality made the way the rest of the game (AFTER the 95 yard opening-drive) played out feel as frustrating as it DID:
Drive confidently down field, get to red zone and begin to fart around; settle for 3 points. Repeat.
Maybe against UK we are more aggressive. Go for it on 4th-and-1 down there. With all the guys we'll (hopefully) have BACK (especially on the O-line), it'll be interesting to see what happens, if and when.
