I am posting this with permission from Ray at GatorCountry. This was Andrew Spivey’s post, “My thoughts and suggestions.” with his take on the game. At the end of his post, I am adding my post in response.
Jerry I didn't post this last night because I wanted to sleep on everything and not post anything without stepping back a little but here's my thoughts, what I observed and what I think should happen. Behind the scenes notes * Let me start by saying that I'm severely upset with the way Jeff Driskel handled himself after the game. He walked into the presser with his head down and acted like he didn't have to talk to the media and he was very rude. He acted like a child instead of an SEC QB and that shows through his play at times. I've been very supportive of Jeff in the past but after that I lost a lot of confidence in him. * Keanu Neal was the opposite he walked in, sat down and took the questions and answered like a man and took responsibility for his screw-ups. Neal was upset and look like a man that had just took a beaten (even had grass on his face and head still) but he answered like someone that I would go to war with. * In the press box my seat was right by the Florida coaching box and I was literally inches away from Roper and the guys and it was mixed emotions up there. When Florida scored they would slap the table or the window (by my ear) but when Alabama scored it was opposite. Here's where this part gets interesting. Florida's coaches were honestly calling 75% of Alabama's offensive play calls up in the box. On the 3rd down screenplay I heard the coaches screaming, "a screen is coming, a screen is coming." On offense they were very upset upstairs at Driskel and was screaming at times. I mean they were telling him where to go with the ball and it was seconds later before Driskel would do it, if he ever did. I say all of this because I fully believe that Roper is upset and frustrated at Driskel by his tone upstairs. Now to my observations of the game itself. * The offensive line played extremely well in my book. They had a few mess ups but didn't give up a snap at all and that's with Trenton Brown getting hurt, Chaz Green missing a few plays and still missing D.J. Humphries. The OL was picking up blitzes and Rod Johnson played maybe the best game overall. * Matt Jones played really well and ran the ball extremely hard but when the defense doesn't respect the run they move up and take away the second level. * The receivers played well and ran go routes for the most part. They had a few drops but they were open several times and Driskel flat out missed them. * Clay Burton is still struggling; he made three pretty catches but had two bad drops and missed several key blocks in the running game. Losing McGee hurts here because you have to rely on Burton. * Now to Driskel, I'm not sure what to say but to say he flat out stinks and I don't see how he's going to better. He has a good pocket and he still gets nervous and doesn't set his feet. He has receivers open and he just can't hit them. His confidence is gone. He doesn't have to make many reads because Roper's offense is simple but he still struggles making the right decision. Driskel even had a bad hand-off to Jones as he put it on his hip that lead to a fumble. * The defense didn't play good at all as the secondary had several mis communications but those can be fixed with going back to the basics with those guys and getting lined up quicker. Keanu Neal said it best that the team is slow getting lined up which hurts communication. Vernon Hargreaves didn't play a bad game but he was up against the best receiver in college football and balls were thrown perfectly to him. * Defensive line didn't play bad at all until they were flat out exhausted in the fourth quarter. They didn't get a ton of pressure but Sims was getting rid of the ball pretty quick for the most part and they stopped the running game until the fourth quarter or late third quarter. Defensive tackles have to do a better job of not getting to far up the field as that led to Sims being able to run the ball but the linebacker's should be there as well so fault on both of those guys. * Linebackers played OK but not great. Morrison had a good first half but a terrible second half. The linebackers aren't good against the pass and that hurts against teams like Bama who run a lot of stuff into the flats. * Keanu Neal gets out of control at times by going for the big hit against the run and that hurt at times. Just make a good tackle and get the stat. How to fix the problems * First of all you have got to see what Treon Harris can do at quarterback. These days playing a freshman quarterback isn't as bad as use to be and also Roper's offense is simple enough that he just needs someone to get the ball from point A to B. Harris also will excite recruits. * Get Goolsby involved in the passing game so that you have a vertical middle of the field threat that McGee was suppose to be. * Get Gerald Willis on the field and let Bullard play more inside as he's getting great starts the last few games. * Jarrad Davis needs to play more than Antonio Morrison because he's more athletic and can defend the running game. * Work on getting Duke Dawson more involved at safety over Jabari Gorman and try to work in Tabor more at corner so Poole can play some more nickel back. Final thoughts * Firing Muschamp isn't the answer in the middle of the season but he needs to make a few changes to show the fans and his players that he understands the problem. I know Driskel is a junior quarterback but he doesn't show the experience factor of one so he doesn't have much advantage over Treon Harris or even Grier at this point. * T-Rob it's time to show why you want to be the next DC at Florida by getting your guys in gear and fixing these miscummications mistakes. * The season is still very long and the Gators still have a chance at the goal of getting to Atlanta and the QB switch could be the answer if they make it. * Lastly this is your team so rally behind the players even if you don't like the coaches or the quarterback. Last edited by a moderator: Today at 1:40 PM Andrew Spivey Recruiting Coordinator at Gator Country.com www.gatorcountry.com<http://www.gatorcountry.com/> http://twitter.com/#!/AndrewSpiveyGC http://www.facebook.com/andrew.spivey#!/profile.php?id=100002387447477 Now here is my response that I posted this evening. I really liked your thoughtfulness, perhaps in part because I agree with just about everything. I think you might have been to charitable about our defense. I would argue that our defense often did not seem to line up correctly. (Several times Alabama's tight end was not covered.) There seemed to be a lot of confusion on defense. That speaks to me that the defense was not prepared properly. Most of that would appear to be coaching. Muschamp might be a great defensive coach, but as head coach, does he have the time to do what needs to be done? I am not convinced that his DC was a good promotion. Perhaps we should have gone after a better Defensive Coordinator rather than promoting from within. That mistake might ultimately cost Coach Boom his job. Unfortunately, that is not a problem that could be corrected quickly. Coach Muschamp should consider being more active in coaching the Defensive side of the game. -- -- 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 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
