My Thoughts on the Florida Game, After Sleeping on it

[508mikey]

If they stick with the rugby style punter then he needs to kick it away from the returner - there was no hang time on those line drive punts - hence the 2 long returns in the 4th Q of course the non call block in back didnt help matters

 

[Wahoooo]

Let me add this about Florida....they're not a bad team. They suffered a blowout loss at home to a top 5 Miami team week 1 and it sort of created a narrative that they're terrible. Week 1 games can be misleading, though. Their 2 prior losses were to Miami and aTm, who, it turns out, is a good team.

I don't know how severe the Mertz injury is (or the RB, Johnson), so those could hamper them. But if injuries don't derail their season, they absolutely have a chance again LSU, Kentucky, and Ole Miss, all of which are in the swamp. They should beat Florida State. They might actually make a bowl game. And I'll say this...those kids are still playing hard for Napier. That doesn't look like a team that thinks its coach is a dead man walking. That speaks well of Napier.

I may be one of the few who agree with you about Napier. I kind of hope they get rid of him because I feel if they extend him 1-2 more years, he will turn Florida around. UF finally put money into facilities to catch up with others. That team has not quit on him and in my opinion, that is admirable,

 

[Carl Pickens]

 

[GordonC]

If they stick with the rugby style punter then he needs to kick it away from the returner - there is no hang time on those line drive punts - hence the 2 long returns in the 4th Q

WTF
Ross is the guy. He's been solid for a couple of years now.
There was an uncalled and egregious block in the back on the second line drive punt last night.

 

[BigALWiLson]

I'm gonna throw in one observation. We all complain (justifiably) about holding penalties being called on us and not on our opponents. However, the penalties can't be called if we're not doing it. Rightly or wrongly, the refs are likely looking for it because we've got a rep of obviously holding. I know it's hard in the heat of play sometimes, but we need to be more disciplined. Same with false starts.

Did you actually watch some of the things the last three teams did on OL ? Sure we committed some penalties but when a DE is bulldozed or drug down from behind wtf would you call that ? Any idiot with a remote can find at least 5 times in each game for the last 3 games that should have resulted in a flag against the opp.

 

[adam.vol]

Your team is not elite if the phrase, "through the hands of, ..." gets thrown around a lot.

You missed some really good football during Peyton Manning’s college career. His receivers had as many dropped passes as receptions.

 

[KTrain]

Emotions run high in rival games. Nico with a good amount of coaching has a high chance of being something special for tenner.

He is making high school mistakes in year one.. he is a freshmen.

Even saban had issues with freshmen quarter backs at times.

Give him time.

He's a collegiate Sophomore he has eligibility as if he was a Freshman but he played in 5 games last year and started the Bowl game. He's been with the team 22 months, played 11 games and started 7. He will get better, right now he is in 2nd guess mode, the Oklahoma strip sacks and 2nd half seemed to make him lose some confidence IMO.
The fumbled read handoff vs UF really screwed up the whole 1st half we were rolling and I figured they'd fake an injury to slow us but we fumbled and it changed the whole dynamics in the first half.

 

[508mikey]

WTF
Ross is the guy. He's been solid for a couple of years now.
There was an uncalled and egregious block in the back on the second line drive punt last night.

so now your saying something bad about the refs ?

 

[GordonC]

so now your saying something bad about the refs ?

that should have been called
everybody saw it
not seeing how good Ross has been for a year and a half is crazy

 

[Delmar]

Not only that but the fake injuries.

Something has to be done about this. It deflates the offense in such a way it is hard to recover at times.

That includes us as well. I’ve been vocal about Ole Miss and they still are the royalty for flopping but we did it twice (poorly) last night. Once by Norman-Lott when FL was near the goal line. (And he came off the field grinning like the Cheshire Cat. And once late in the game when one of the DB’s fell down for no reason like he’d been shot. He hopped up about 15 seconds after the refs called the injury timeout. Probably the most obvious flop I’ve ever seen. It has gotten to the point of being ridiculous and it needs to be addressed.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Did they ever show a replay? If he did, he did, but I at least wanted to see it. Or maybe I just missed them showing it.

Did they ever show a replay? If he did, he did, but I at least wanted to see it. Or maybe I just missed them showing it.

I think they did and it showed he on the line two times before the whistle was blown.

 

[Delmar]

And with a ref looking right at it.

We were sitting directly in front of the block in the back and I yelled it immediately. It caused our guy to miss the returner. And two refs were staring right at it. It was hard to ignore.

 

[Delmar]

that should have been called
everybody saw it
not seeing how good Ross has been for a year and a half is crazy

I think Ross has been outstanding 90% of the time. Those two punts under pressure from the end zone were both end over end line drives. He didn’t hit those well at all. One of the returns should not have been allowed because of the obvious clip.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

He's a collegiate Sophomore he has eligibility as if he was a Freshman but he played in 5 games last year and started the Bowl game. He's been with the team 22 months, played 11 games and started 7. He will get better, right now he is in 2nd guess mode, the Oklahoma strip sacks and 2nd half seemed to make him lose some confidence IMO.
The fumbled read handoff vs UF really screwed up the whole 1st half we were rolling and I figured they'd fake an injury to slow us but we fumbled and it changed the whole dynamics in the first half.

Nico looked confident that whole first drive until he botched the fake and fumbled

 

[508mikey]

I think Ross has been outstanding 90% of the time. Those two punts under pressure from the end zone were both end over end line drives. He didn’t hit those well at all. One of the returns should not have been allowed because of the obvious clip.

ok let everybody get back to bashing Nico now

 

[KTrain]

Nico looked confident that whole first drive until he botched the fake and fumbled

Yep, IMO that play got in his head for the rest of the game because he knew we had offensive rhythm where rolling and the fumble happened. I think he's a great young man and cares so much, he let it effect the rest of his game. Its hard but he needs to flush those mistakes and just play with his high ceiling athletic ability.

 

[Delmar]

ok let everybody get back to bashing Nico now

Can’t bash Nico. He’s still learning. Shows flashes of brilliance and then makes poor decisions (when to run and also when to throw it away) and errant throws. Typical talented freshman to me. And after watching it closely firsthand last night, the OLine is really struggling at pass blocking especially Heard. And I’m not sure a couple of them are in good enough shape to run the hurry up offense. Pretty tough run blockers although they struggled there in the first half too.

 

[SpookyAction]

You missed some really good football during Peyton Manning’s college career. His receivers had as many dropped passes as receptions.

I saw most of his games at UT. You're correct.

 

[OptimisticFan]

As a supporter of the Heuple hire from the start (I have the receipts), I hate to feed into any negativity that the Legions of the Miserable have trademarked, but one thing I do want Heuple to stop are the bad fourth down decisions in huge games. He panicked last year against Bama and went for it deep in our territory. But going for it inside our 20 in such a tight game yesterday was just an awful decision. We converted, but that doesn’t make the decision good.

It showed some nuts and trust in your guys. I dig it.

 

[NighthawkVol]

That includes us as well. I’ve been vocal about Ole Miss and they still are the royalty for flopping but we did it twice (poorly) last night. Once by Norman-Lott when FL was near the goal line. (And he came off the field grinning like the Cheshire Cat. And once late in the game when one of the DB’s fell down for no reason like he’d been shot. He hopped up about 15 seconds after the refs called the injury timeout. Probably the most obvious flop I’ve ever seen. It has gotten to the point of being ridiculous and it needs to be addressed.

I think Squirrel faked an injury on that sideline catch late in regulation so they’d have time to review it. They did and they changed the call to complete. Smart move by Squirrel if so.

And of course, we have the designated fake injured guy on PATs when we score quick to give the defense a chance to rest.

 

[sami]

Did they ever show a replay? If he did, he did, but I at least wanted to see it. Or maybe I just missed them showing it.

I thought the same thing initially, but watch it over again and you can see Nico kick up some sideline chalk.

 

[allenrikvik]

Thought after the game:

I think that Oklahoma stunned UT. In my opinion, our offense was not hitting on all cylinders. The OU D is good and showed gaps in our game. Think if impacted the offense confidence and swagger. Next, Arkansas basically punched the offense in the nose. That did impact the UT Offense team.

With Florida, I dont think that the UT O was playing with confidence or swagger. Took a few long passes and a couple of runs, but the defense carried the game even with 3 / outs. This was mostly true until the OT. Once Florida missed scoring (all D), the UT O played much difference and pushed the run down Florida through. Played with confidence and swagger, as in, I am going to pound you in the ground and you cant stop it.

NOW - I think this was a big deal for the UT O and will know very quickly next week. If that confidence and swagger is back (as I think), we may not score 60 points, but we will have drives long enough to let the defense recover.

 

[volbound1700]

Thought after the game:

I think that Oklahoma stunned UT. In my opinion, our offense was not hitting on all cylinders. The OU D is good and showed gaps in our game. Think if impacted the offense confidence and swagger. Next, Arkansas basically punched the offense in the nose. That did impact the UT Offense team.

With Florida, I dont think that the UT O was playing with confidence or swagger. Took a few long passes and a couple of runs, but the defense carried the game even with 3 / outs. This was mostly true until the OT. Once Florida missed scoring (all D), the UT O played much difference and pushed the run down Florida through. Played with confidence and swagger, as in, I am going to pound you in the ground and you cant stop it.

NOW - I think this was a big deal for the UT O and will know very quickly next week. If that confidence and swagger is back (as I think), we may not score 60 points, but we will have drives long enough to let the defense recover.

Good post. I think this offense can be turned on and when it does, it will look good. I don't know when this will happen. I thought Florida was a great chance but that didn't happen.

 

[mgu7]

double post

 

[mgu7]

I thought the curse was real and said "Here we go again" when they converted 3rd and 18 at the very end for the game tying TD. Have seen it too many times before.
Defense saved the day with the sack in OT.