Grading The Gators vs. UGA
Lead: It is Tuesday Morning, hey; they don't call it the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party for nothing and the Armchair Quarterback grades the Gators on their performance vs. University of Georgia. The Florida Gators defeated the University of Georgia Bulldogs 49 - 10 before 85,000 fans at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville on Saturday night. The victory gives the Gators control of the SEC Eastern division and provided a little payback for last year's 42 - 30 loss. Led by an opportunistic defense, the Gators broke open a fairly tight contest in the third quarter that recorded 4 turnovers, which the Gator offense turned into 21 points. FIRST IMPRESSIONS IMPRESSIVE: The defense, Joe Haden, Dustin Doe, Brandon Spikes, and a host of others, Tim Tebow SOLID: The offense NEED WORK: No looking past next week's opponent, Vanderbilt THE GRADES DEFENSIVE LINE: A solid effort as a group, no one player really stood out, but collectively the defensive line was very effective in limiting the Bulldogs to just 106 yards on the ground and record one and a half sacks. DT Terron Sanders provided the biggest highlight with his rumbling stumbling 20-yard fumble return. GRADE A- LINEBACKERS: MLB Brandon Spikes anchored the run defense, setting the tone early with a jarring hit on Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno on the second play of the game. WLB Dustin Doe handled the pass defense recording an interception and tipping a pass that was intercepted on another pass attempt. GRADE A++ DEFENSIVE BACKS: The Gators gave up passing yards in order to stop the run. What the Gators didn't do was allow the Bulldog receivers to get behind them, by keeping the receiver in front and tackling extremely well, Florida was able to patiently wait for Georgia quarterback to make a mistake and when he did the Gators pounced. CB Joe Haden's 88-yard pass interception return changed the game around midway through the third period. S Ahmad Black's interception in the fourth quarter sent the Bulldog fans running for the exits GRADE B OFFENSIVE LINE: Florida's offensive line couldn't get much going on the inside as the Bulldogs clogged the middle, but pass protection was awesome, the Gators allowed just one sack. Without much of an inside running game, Florida had better results running outside the tackles. The Gators finished with 185 yards on the ground, but 71-yards were provided by RB Emmanuel Moody on Florida's last two possessions of the game. GRADE A- RECEIVERS: WR's Percy Harvin, Louis Murphy, and Deonte Thompson each recorded a touchdown reception, for Thompson a career first. TE's Tate Casey and Aaron Hernandez, along with WR Riley Cooper also had at least one reception. Once again downfield blocking helped pave the way for the outside running game. GRADE A RUNNING BACKS: RB's Jeffrey Demps and Chris Rainey were pretty much non-factors. RB Emmanuel Moody looked really good leading all Gator rushers with 71-yards on 7 carries, but all Moody's yards came after the game was no longer in doubt. GRADE B QUARTERBACK: Tim Tebow was responsible for 5 touchdowns on Saturday, 3 rushing and 2 passing. What was impressive was not that Tebow produced 5 score, but rather the efficiency with which he did it. At one point in the second half Florida ran 12 plays and Tebow produced 4 scores. GRADE A+ KICKING/SPECIALTY: Another kickoff out of bounds and a long kickoff return were the only blemishes on an otherwise steady performance by special teams. P Chas Henry ability to punt the ball inside 20 kept the Bulldogs bottled up most of the night. K Jonathan Phillips was rock solid on extra points. GRADE A- COACHING: Offensive coordinator Dan Mullen's used speed to the outside, kept Georgia honest with runs up the middle, passed over the top, against an inferior secondary when need in the first half. In the second half, like Kentucky the week before, great field position made play calling mute. Defensive coordinator Charlie Strong was not going to let Knowshon Moreno beat the Gators like Moreno did the year before. To stop Moreno the Gators committed eight men to the line of scrimmage and dared Georgia quarterback Mathew Stafford to beat the Gators with the pass. Moreno couldn't run and Stafford couldn't pass consistently. Mission accomplished Special Teams coach Urban Meyer continues to struggle with consistent kickoff kicker. GRADE Offense A, Defense A++, Special Teams A- FANS: The Gator faithful wanted payback, so they came with their game faces on. I am willing to bet most fans at the game woke up Sunday with no voice. GRADE A FINAL THOUGHTS Having suffered through many losses against the mangy mutts, I want to say thank you to this year's team, Saturday was sweet. To Urban Meyer, I say I think you get it; I really enjoyed the timeout routine at the end of the game. One question, though, why didn't you throw long? ;-) Terron Sanders will never be confused with Jeffrey Demps. By early 4th quarter it seemed like only Bulldog fans left in stadium was the band and the player's parents' section. It is always good to beat Georgia, but now it is time to concentrate on Vanderbilt so that this great win doesn't go to waste. OVERALL GRADE: A++ Randy Platt The Armchair Quarterback Later GATORS, after while the rest! E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.0.0.386) Database version: 5.11040 http://www.pctools.com/en/spyware-doctor-antivirus/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
