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WHY???????????????
- Thread starter Leakfan12
- Start date
This game was winnable, but they let that early interception get in their heads. Will Muschamp, Brent Pease, and Dan Quinn were clearly out-coached in all phases of the game but special teams. The players were not focused. There were four players suspended for half the game for undisclosed violation of team rules. We had one player ejected for misconduct in the game. We had a couple players look as if they showed up out of shape. It was bad from the get-go.
NaffGutts
Gator Fan
I blame play calls too, we went from a run heavy team to passing? Wtf. Driskel looked like a deer in the headlights.
2nd half we onside kick? Wtf, the 2 more personal fouls put it in redzone.
Gilly had what? 4 touches
Wtf
2nd half we onside kick? Wtf, the 2 more personal fouls put it in redzone.
Gilly had what? 4 touches
Wtf
After thinking about this overnight, I have to blame the coaches. The Gators had 30 pounds on each of Louisville's offensive and defensive linemen. If the first play of the game were a run up the middle by Gillislee, the entire game would have unfolded differently. That one decision to switch from a run-based team to a passing team opened the door for the Gators' implosion. Making the best kicker in the country dribble the onside kick when they had not attempted an onside kick all year long was a questionably admirable call. In hindsight it looked like a silly call, but at the time the Gators needed some spark that was not coming from any other component of the game. I still grade the special teams an A, but everyone else gets a D- and a lump of coal.
(Laughing) Man, as you KNOW, I was GONE by halftime, on my way OUT of there!
(...I had a pretty girl and a hotel-room-with-mini-bar, though--THAT choice got easier and easier from the first play ON, don't-ya-know! "Through all kinds of weather", sure, but that is artificial weather inside the Superdome in ANY event, so choosing the right time to CHANGE it for ourselves rather than writhe-in-pain seemed the way to go...As a Gator, it is always important to keep one's priorities in order, right? That's MY story and I'm sticking with it...)
But you know, mentioning that Tide-loss to Utah may be very appropriate--and may well eventually be seen to have both similar root causes AND effects in the future of our Coach and OUR program as it did for Saban and his.
LF, ya CAN'T go down THAT road--straight to madness!
(I wouldn't read TOO much "big picture-stuff" into that "debacle", though--there were a whole LOT of factors setting us up for this BEFORE the game (and yes, these included things we did to OURSELVES, as Escambia94, and NaffGutts, note here and elsewhere)
Everything said above, both emotional and analytical, voiced important parts of my own feelings and "day(s)-later" reflection--and not-at-all-surprisingly (to me, anyway) hit most of the main points, in more intelligent and concise fashion than I see anywhere else on the web. I threw out a few more in my "clear-the-pipes"-rant/comment after travisduncan's column/analysis of the game ("...sour grapes...") above (ie. @ "Home")...
Anyway, THANKS--both for putting up with me, AND in general "getting it". "Out there" they'll be tying up a few of the last "loose ends" that comprise the 2012 College Football season--but for us, living, breathing, feeling and THINKING GATORS, we may have a few more points to throw out there and consider in order to work through the pain--not to mention HOPE that very real lessons are LEARNED and filed away for NEXT time--we're just about ready to turn our attention fully to 2013...RIGHT?
Anyway, THANKS--both for putting up with me, AND in general "getting it". "Out there" they'll be tying up a few of the last "loose ends" that comprise the 2012 College Football season--but for us, living, breathing, feeling and THINKING GATORS, we may have a few more points to throw out there and consider in order to work through the pain--not to mention HOPE that very real lessons are LEARNED and filed away for NEXT time--we're just about ready to turn our attention fully to 2013...RIGHT?
[quote="DRU2012, post: 69626, member: 2084
LF, ya CAN'T go down THAT road--straight to madness!
(I wouldn't read TOO much "big picture-stuff" into that "debacle", though--there were a whole LOT of factors setting us up for this BEFORE the game (and yes, these included things we did to OURSELVES, as Escambia94, and NaffGutts, note here and elsewhere)[/quote]
True then again I also should add Louisville did beat Rutgers on the road to get to win the Big East and go the Sugar Bowl. At least wasn't to BC or TOSU.
LF, ya CAN'T go down THAT road--straight to madness!
(I wouldn't read TOO much "big picture-stuff" into that "debacle", though--there were a whole LOT of factors setting us up for this BEFORE the game (and yes, these included things we did to OURSELVES, as Escambia94, and NaffGutts, note here and elsewhere)[/quote]
True then again I also should add Louisville did beat Rutgers on the road to get to win the Big East and go the Sugar Bowl. At least wasn't to BC or TOSU.
It really is simple. The Gators strayed from "the plan", the plan that won them 11 games--play great defense, control the line of scrimmage, run the ball, and play great special teams. 1st play of the 1st half: throw the ball. Bad things happen. Now the Gator players and coaches are panicking for the entire half. No problem. Wait until our half, the second half. The 1st play of the 2nd half the Gators again stray from the plan and attempt an on-side kick for the first time all season. Now they are panicking again--coaches and players.
Change the first play of the game to a run and execute the plan, and the Gators win this game. It is that simple.
I know. What about the way the Cardinals gashed the Gators on offense? Again, stop the panicking from play #1, and keep executing calmly until play #30 at the half. Adjust to the Cardinals pre-snap offensive shift alignment (the same 'effing shift each time, guys) at the half instead of getting all Les Miles with the trick plays and the riverboat gambling and the Gators shut down the Cardinals in the second half.
By the way, the statistics for the Gator loss and the K-State loss were nearly identical, but the games were announced very differently. It is interesting that viewers fell for the media trap. Again. Next year, I am muting ESPN and listening to the 5-second delay from WRUF. This is getting ridiculous.
Change the first play of the game to a run and execute the plan, and the Gators win this game. It is that simple.
I know. What about the way the Cardinals gashed the Gators on offense? Again, stop the panicking from play #1, and keep executing calmly until play #30 at the half. Adjust to the Cardinals pre-snap offensive shift alignment (the same 'effing shift each time, guys) at the half instead of getting all Les Miles with the trick plays and the riverboat gambling and the Gators shut down the Cardinals in the second half.
By the way, the statistics for the Gator loss and the K-State loss were nearly identical, but the games were announced very differently. It is interesting that viewers fell for the media trap. Again. Next year, I am muting ESPN and listening to the 5-second delay from WRUF. This is getting ridiculous.
...Oh, and one other thing: Something I HAVE to say in support of what Escambia94, mentioned in passing above...
Even with all the emotional and practical factors that turned out to have been stacked against us--some external and some self-inflicted--by gameday/gametime, WHATEVER chance we MIGHT have had of somehow pulling it together and at least playing a CLOSE game we'd have had a chance of winning at the end, as we did in our inimitable fashion against weaker teams this past season (though again--that wasn't with more-than-5 WEEKS LAY OFF and distraction between our last game and the next) went up in the proverbial "puff of smoke" on that 1st play-from-scrimmage...It really WAS like we "lost the game on the coin toss" (which was my one online contribution as I was leaving the Superdome, Btw). While the failed onside kick was the "final straw that blah blah blah..." as far as sealing our fate as to what kind of beat-down this would in fact be, I don't really blame the Coach for trying it, or something like it by then--it was our only hope to get a spark, sort of like "Clear!--ZAP!!!", at that point--though it was ALSO a perfect "symbolic-event" encapsulizing how far we'd strayed from what had gotten us there--like "Bad Bookends", that "Pass-on-1st-down"/volleyball set-up-Pick-Six to START the game rather than establishing our strength and START RUNNING THE BALL (if you're gonna go-against-tendency there, you start out with a BOMB, stretch-the-field in that situation), AND an onside kick rather than "kick-'em deep" with our top-rated senior kicker and (at one time, weeks earlier) "possibly best defense in the nation", we had pretty well conceded to ourselves what was painfully clear to any dispassionate observer (and more and more PASSIONATE ones, like ourselves) by then: That we were just not up for this game, the other team WAS, and we just didn't HAVE what had worked so well to get us there in the first place--not by then, on this night, on this field, in this stadium.
Yep--that Pick-Six-to-start WAS the final knife-to-the-heart--BUT ONLY THE "FINAL" KNIFE! I'm pretty sure we'd already done most of the damage OURSELVES (and/or had it done TO us, as the case may be) before getting there: Our opponent was getting stronger while we were getting weaker--given the difference in how the two teams approached the game in importance AND every OTHER emotional attitude that matters, well, in retrospect, I suppose at this point I'm "stating the obvious", so I'll let it go...
Just GOTTA learn from the whole experience, that's all...only good it'll do. Our eventual ranking, #6, say, instead of #3 and/or #2 (in AP poll) had we won, won't make much emotional difference after a month or so--and (as I think E- has well-established) hardly ANY practical (as in recruiting) way that really matters...Better something like THIS happening, and us learning everything it can teach us (IF we DO), than some "Big Easy Blow-Out" that left us thinking that making all the mistakes we made in getting there didn't matter, and thus setting us up for a MUCH more shattering, "too-late-to-make-a-difference" kind of loss NEXT year.
Even with all the emotional and practical factors that turned out to have been stacked against us--some external and some self-inflicted--by gameday/gametime, WHATEVER chance we MIGHT have had of somehow pulling it together and at least playing a CLOSE game we'd have had a chance of winning at the end, as we did in our inimitable fashion against weaker teams this past season (though again--that wasn't with more-than-5 WEEKS LAY OFF and distraction between our last game and the next) went up in the proverbial "puff of smoke" on that 1st play-from-scrimmage...It really WAS like we "lost the game on the coin toss" (which was my one online contribution as I was leaving the Superdome, Btw). While the failed onside kick was the "final straw that blah blah blah..." as far as sealing our fate as to what kind of beat-down this would in fact be, I don't really blame the Coach for trying it, or something like it by then--it was our only hope to get a spark, sort of like "Clear!--ZAP!!!", at that point--though it was ALSO a perfect "symbolic-event" encapsulizing how far we'd strayed from what had gotten us there--like "Bad Bookends", that "Pass-on-1st-down"/volleyball set-up-Pick-Six to START the game rather than establishing our strength and START RUNNING THE BALL (if you're gonna go-against-tendency there, you start out with a BOMB, stretch-the-field in that situation), AND an onside kick rather than "kick-'em deep" with our top-rated senior kicker and (at one time, weeks earlier) "possibly best defense in the nation", we had pretty well conceded to ourselves what was painfully clear to any dispassionate observer (and more and more PASSIONATE ones, like ourselves) by then: That we were just not up for this game, the other team WAS, and we just didn't HAVE what had worked so well to get us there in the first place--not by then, on this night, on this field, in this stadium.
Yep--that Pick-Six-to-start WAS the final knife-to-the-heart--BUT ONLY THE "FINAL" KNIFE! I'm pretty sure we'd already done most of the damage OURSELVES (and/or had it done TO us, as the case may be) before getting there: Our opponent was getting stronger while we were getting weaker--given the difference in how the two teams approached the game in importance AND every OTHER emotional attitude that matters, well, in retrospect, I suppose at this point I'm "stating the obvious", so I'll let it go...
Just GOTTA learn from the whole experience, that's all...only good it'll do. Our eventual ranking, #6, say, instead of #3 and/or #2 (in AP poll) had we won, won't make much emotional difference after a month or so--and (as I think E- has well-established) hardly ANY practical (as in recruiting) way that really matters...Better something like THIS happening, and us learning everything it can teach us (IF we DO), than some "Big Easy Blow-Out" that left us thinking that making all the mistakes we made in getting there didn't matter, and thus setting us up for a MUCH more shattering, "too-late-to-make-a-difference" kind of loss NEXT year.
How bad was attendance at the game? It looked bad on TV. Louisville did not sell out its 17,500 allotment, but it came close. Florida barely hit 10,000. The question is: did a few thousand Gators buy up the public pool of tickets instead and save $150 per ticket, or did literally nobody show up?
Escambia94,
You make two strong points here, E-:
The first, of course, is the shattering nature of that first-play--and our reaction TO it. As I hope I made clear already, we were in no position, physically OR emotionally, to absorb such a blow due to our mistakes in preparation for this game--but calling that play was like the final bad move in a whole series of them leading up to that moment...Think of it: The coin toss goes our way, we elect to "defer", start out kicking and playing defense, EASE into the game with our strongest squad leading the way, THEN (by now IN the game and KNOWING we've got a fight) getting the ball--I don't see them driving the field without that big emotional blow we were still (albeit WAY too slowly) recovering from--as you say starting in WITH OUR RUNNING GAME (again: at MOST you maybe start with a long bomb to stretch-the-field, something you've practiced a lot to hit THEM with a shock--something that puts a question mark in their heads even if you MISS on it).
The second point is this one about the way the game is announced, versus what actually was happening, and how that affects perception-of-overall-play--I KNOW that is true, and I have commented on it myself before, but that 5 second delay over-the-net is just difficult-to-rely-on...at home I find myself keeping it on low and turning it UP after something big happens. AT the game, in the Swamp there is a non-delayed "Stadium feed", I understand, one that you can pick up within a few blocks of Ben Hill Griffin.
While I didn't think of trying to monitor what was available inside the Superdome, I CAN tell you that this loss was NOT "improved" by being there...Again, I did NOT go back to the hotel and watch to see what was happening, so I can't directly compare the experience, but the fact that we left as early as we did should tell you how clearly we were getting and were clearly going to BE beaten. We were as flat as a team could be--to my view played an even worse game (what I saw of it--OK, criticize me for that if you like, but there were a number of factors I had to take into account: My own pain and my girlfriend's well-deserved pleasure, from my POV) than in J-ville at the Party against UGA this year...In that one we were TIGHT, OVER-hyped and stumbling, bumbling, FUMBLING all around the field--but our mistakes, best exemplified by the one that ended our shot at coming back in SPITE of it all, Reed's (once again, btw, unnecessarily) LEAPING thru' that gap-only-he-saw and getting separated from the ball in the process, were all as a result of TRYING TOO HARD...Here, it just "FELT" like we were "going through the motions"--For me, that was BY FAR the biggest disappointment: When I say this was "the worst game we played all year", I hope I convey what an across-the-board, team-wide poor-effort it was, from where I watched it. At no time this season, including that one previous loss, or during that "bad 12-to-15 minutes-of-play" in the FSU game for eg., did our DEFENSE look so pedestrian, so uninspired or unenthusiastic. Our O-line looked that bad at times this season, but seemed to either pick it up themselves or were PICKED UP by the play of Driskell and/or Gilly and/or others, too--but that didn't even "FEEL" like it was ABOUT-to-happen the other night. Maybe we did get back "into it", enough to show some pride and "play it even" the rest of the way--I wasn't there and I didn't watch anymore, admittedly--but YIKES! that was a painful display, what I DID witness. I'll have to take y'all's word for the rest.
You make two strong points here, E-:
The first, of course, is the shattering nature of that first-play--and our reaction TO it. As I hope I made clear already, we were in no position, physically OR emotionally, to absorb such a blow due to our mistakes in preparation for this game--but calling that play was like the final bad move in a whole series of them leading up to that moment...Think of it: The coin toss goes our way, we elect to "defer", start out kicking and playing defense, EASE into the game with our strongest squad leading the way, THEN (by now IN the game and KNOWING we've got a fight) getting the ball--I don't see them driving the field without that big emotional blow we were still (albeit WAY too slowly) recovering from--as you say starting in WITH OUR RUNNING GAME (again: at MOST you maybe start with a long bomb to stretch-the-field, something you've practiced a lot to hit THEM with a shock--something that puts a question mark in their heads even if you MISS on it).
The second point is this one about the way the game is announced, versus what actually was happening, and how that affects perception-of-overall-play--I KNOW that is true, and I have commented on it myself before, but that 5 second delay over-the-net is just difficult-to-rely-on...at home I find myself keeping it on low and turning it UP after something big happens. AT the game, in the Swamp there is a non-delayed "Stadium feed", I understand, one that you can pick up within a few blocks of Ben Hill Griffin.
While I didn't think of trying to monitor what was available inside the Superdome, I CAN tell you that this loss was NOT "improved" by being there...Again, I did NOT go back to the hotel and watch to see what was happening, so I can't directly compare the experience, but the fact that we left as early as we did should tell you how clearly we were getting and were clearly going to BE beaten. We were as flat as a team could be--to my view played an even worse game (what I saw of it--OK, criticize me for that if you like, but there were a number of factors I had to take into account: My own pain and my girlfriend's well-deserved pleasure, from my POV) than in J-ville at the Party against UGA this year...In that one we were TIGHT, OVER-hyped and stumbling, bumbling, FUMBLING all around the field--but our mistakes, best exemplified by the one that ended our shot at coming back in SPITE of it all, Reed's (once again, btw, unnecessarily) LEAPING thru' that gap-only-he-saw and getting separated from the ball in the process, were all as a result of TRYING TOO HARD...Here, it just "FELT" like we were "going through the motions"--For me, that was BY FAR the biggest disappointment: When I say this was "the worst game we played all year", I hope I convey what an across-the-board, team-wide poor-effort it was, from where I watched it. At no time this season, including that one previous loss, or during that "bad 12-to-15 minutes-of-play" in the FSU game for eg., did our DEFENSE look so pedestrian, so uninspired or unenthusiastic. Our O-line looked that bad at times this season, but seemed to either pick it up themselves or were PICKED UP by the play of Driskell and/or Gilly and/or others, too--but that didn't even "FEEL" like it was ABOUT-to-happen the other night. Maybe we did get back "into it", enough to show some pride and "play it even" the rest of the way--I wasn't there and I didn't watch anymore, admittedly--but YIKES! that was a painful display, what I DID witness. I'll have to take y'all's word for the rest.
I guess the summary here is:
- Never underestimate the power of momentum. Newton's second law: Force = change in momentum over time.
- The Gators gave momentum away, and then let the Cardinals gain momentum.
- You are who your records and statistics say you are.
- The Gators are not built for passing, onside kicks, or prevent defense.
- Do not switch horses midstream. Ride the horse that got you to the rodeo.
- The horse's name is Mike Gillislee.
NaffGutts
Gator Fan
Listen, Florida went 11-1 in the toughest schedule in NCAA. They played with their heads down since the loss to Georgia, and can you blame them? They knew that they had an outside shot to the BCS National Championship. Lets get over it, Louisville was given 100+ yards via penalties and 14 pts with the Int and Onside Kick. Everyone knows that the Gator team that played that not was not the Gator team that played in Oct/Nov.
Moving on, our future looks bright even with NFL prospects heading off. Watched the UA game last night and saw Hargreaves earn VIP with lock-down coverage every time the ball came to him, he is the type of guy that shuts down an entire half of field. Even on run plays, he attacked the ball with speed and physicality.
Lets look toward 2013 season, not the Louisville loss.
Moving on, our future looks bright even with NFL prospects heading off. Watched the UA game last night and saw Hargreaves earn VIP with lock-down coverage every time the ball came to him, he is the type of guy that shuts down an entire half of field. Even on run plays, he attacked the ball with speed and physicality.
Lets look toward 2013 season, not the Louisville loss.
I only threw in the Manziel story to illustrate that our perception is being perturbed and perverted by the media. The Gators are 11-2, but the media are busy blinding the masses to their favorite 11-2 team. Be proud of your Gators. They will improve. Help is coming--a new breed of offense and continued legacy on defense.
