Gators Football

A blog about the 2013-2014 Florida Gators football season

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Florida fires embattled O-coordinator Pease

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Florida has fired offensive coordinator Brent Pease after the program’s first losing season since 1979.

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Ok I admit it...now it's bad.

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Even though our season is pretty much over, can't wait for next year.

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I'm not giving up yet. We can still reach a bowl game if we win out but the odds of doing that are slim even if we get past South Carolina with the way that Florida State has been playing. We are almost like a one-legged horse right now just waiting to be put down. Let's take a look at our injuries that will affect tomorrow's game.

PlayerPositionStatus/UpdatedSolomon PattonWRProb Sat - Knee - 11/12/13Marcus RobersonDBQues Sat - Ankle - 11/12/13Tyler MurphyQBQues Sat - Shoulder - 11/12/13D.L. PowellWRQues Sat - Ankle - 11/10/13Dominique EasleyDLQues Sat - Knee - 11/10/13Quinteze WilliamsDLQues Sat - Disciplinary - 11/10/13Antonio MorrisonLBOut for season - Knee - 11/11/13Tyler MooreOLOut for season - Elbow - 11/6/13D.J. HumphriesOLMid Nov - Knee - 10/30/13Jeremi PowellLBOut for season - Knee - 10/23/13Matt JonesRBOut for season - Knee - 10/14/13Jeff DriskelQBOut for season - Leg - 9/21/13Matt RolinLBOut for season - Knee - 9/5/13Chaz GreenOLOut for season - Shoulder - 8/30/13Jordan SherittDLOut indefinitely - Knee - 9/20/13Andre DeboseWROut for season - Knee - 8/14/13

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Sometimes there just are no words.

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Is It Basketball Season Yet?

Yet again, we come up with the short end of the stick. The 23-20 loss against Georgia is definitely the nail in the coffin when it comes to the SEC championship game which after the LSU and Alabama game on Saturday will likely feature Alabama and Missouri. We are going to be extremely lucky to even get a bowl bid this year. 

I am not exactly sure what to contribute this loss to except our stale offense yet again. The inability to throw the ball for more than 5 yards at a time has plagued us all season long. There are some strong points that we established in this weeks game against Georgia though. Tyler Murphy did prove that he can throw the ball down the field if the O line gives him enough time and we now have another proven running back in Kelvin Taylor. Now all we lack is for a stand out wide receiver to emerge and to patch up our offensive line and make them start run and pass blocking better. Our defense is just as strong as they can be with all of the injuries that have plagued them all year long.

Our next game against Vandy should tell us if we are going to become bowl eligible or not. We definitely need this game with games against South Carolina and Florida State (in my opinion, no matter how much I hate to say it, the strongest team in the country right now). I guess I will just suck it up for the rest of this year and wait for basketball season to get here. 

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Complete Preview for Georgia vs. Florida

The Georgia Bulldogs and the Florida Gators are both outsiders looking in at the SEC East race, but with plenty left to be decided, this rivalry game will once again bear significance thanks to its divisional implications...

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The countdown is on to the one of the greatest rivalries in college football. First team to 3 wins.

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Bye Week Blues

After two consecutive losses, Florida head coach Will Muschamp is back to the drawing board this week as the Gators prepare for Georgia next week. Muschamp is well aware of his offensive struggles in the recent weeks and you can rest easy knowing that they are doing all they can to fix it before their next game. I do not think that this is all on the coaching staff. If you will remember, this is a staff that came a game away from playing for the national championship. Instead this has to do with the Gators taking a long hard look at their personnel on offense and defense and not playing players just because of their seniority. This decision needs to be based on play making ability and the fact that we need to start utilizing these top ranked recruiting classes that we have gotten over the years. I would expect to see more of highly recruited players such as Kelvin Taylor, Ahmad Fulwood, Demarcus Robinson, and the likes. Vernon Hargreaves has already been in the mix a lot and rightfully so. He was the number one corner in the country and he has proved himself in the Florida defensive lineup. This bye week should consist of competing for playing time because the Gators definitely have to do something to gain their footing. The SEC east is not closed yet with Florida still having to play Georgia and South Carolina, who beat Missouri in double overtime last night. These guys now have something to play for but have a lot of work to do to get to an SEC championship game in Atlanta. I remain optimistic of this opportunity until the door closes but these issues have to be fixed.

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Proper Form

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WHAT IS GOING ON?

Our 22nd ranked Gators have fallen out of the top 25 following an embarrassing loss at Mizzou this past Saturday. The Gators offense only managed to put up 151 yards versus Mizzou's 500. This game was evident that if someone does not wake up our O line and get these boys to start pass and run protecting better, then our season is only going to get worse from here. 

Good news is that we have a week off to try to correct the issues at hand, bad news is that our next opponent is an arch-rival who would love to see us fall again this year. In my honest opinion, even with the play makers for Georgia being out, they still have a more potent offense than Missouri. You can expect Georgia to exploit our weaknesses that were exposed even more so in this past week's game in Missouri. 

So where do we go from here? Our defense who was averaging only 235 yds a game ended up giving up more than double that this past weekend and in my opinion Aaron Murray is probably one of the best in college football when he is throwing the ball. This is going to serve as a problem if our defense does not step up and play the game they should play. Also, THE OFFENSE HAS GOT TO START MOVING THE BALL AND PUTTING POINTS ON THE BOARD. If our offense can complement the d, then there is no reason why we would be where we are right now. While Tyler Murphy does (or did) look good throwing the ball, the offensive line has got to give him time to do so. We have also got to get out of predictability mode on offense. Our gameplan for the past three years has been run it on first down, run it on second down, pass on third and long, with a little quick screens thrown in every now and then. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO START THROWING THE BALL DOWN THE FIELD? MURPHY WAS 15/29 FOR 92 YDS FOR GOD'S SAKE. You are not going to win football games now passing the ball for an average of six ypp. I'm not saying lets go and through hail marys every play, but throw the ball 10 or more yards some and see what these new wide outs are made of. It is like a vicious cycle that never ends. Do not get me wrong, Brent Pease is an excellent offensive coordinator but our offense is so predictable that I bet a pee wee team could figure it out. We need to throw some curveballs in there and I know that running the ball lets us win the time of possession, but time of possession is not what wins championships. Even more so, it does not look like defense wins championships. In today's football environment, the offenses rule the game so our offense better step it up or come late December we will be watching the bowl games from home.

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Complete Florida vs. Missouri Preview

The reins of the SEC East are up for grabs. No. 22 Florida packs its bags to face No. 14 Missouri, who is flying high after last week's 41-26 upset at Georgia...

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Is Florida's Season Hanging In The Balance?

With all of the injuries that have plagued the Gators and the two losses looming overhead, is the Gators season riding on their upcoming game with Missouri? The answer to this question would be yes. The Gators offense has struggled thus far and is not producing enough points to complement their swarming defense which is now holding opponents to an average of 13 points per game. 

It looked like, if only for a moment, that Tyler Murphy was going to be the knight in shining armor and come to save the Gators season after starting QB Jeff Driskel suffered a broken leg in the Tennessee game. Murphy was producing not only with his legs, but also with his arm which is an element that has been missing from the Gators offense in recent years. In the most recent loss against LSU, Murphy was sacked 4 times an was disrupted in the passing game all day long, but it was the offensive line who was getting dominated. They could not keep LSU out of the backfield and that led to a long game for Tyler Murphy and exposed a huge weakness in the Gators offensive line.

The now 22nd ranked Gators travel to Columbia, Mo. this weekend to take on the 6-0 Missouri Tigers who upset Georgia this pass weekend. What is it going to take for the Gators to win this game and still be a contender in the SEC East? It is going to take some outstanding play from Florida's secondary which usually does their part. The receivers from Missouri are big and physical and it will be interesting to see how they match up with the Gators elite secondary. They will also have to do a better job at plugging the holes and stopping the run. The Gators run defense protects the edges very well, but as we saw in the LSU game where Jeremy Hill gashed the Gators for 121 yards on 19 carries, they have trouble defending the runs between the tackles. This is going to prove a daunting task as Missouri is averaging 239 yards per game on the ground. One advantage is that the Gators will not be facing Missouri's dual threat quarterback, James Franklin. Franklin separated his shoulder in the win over UGA this weekend. Maty Mauk will be taking the snaps in place of Franklin. Mauk has only thrown 6 passes in his career and his inexperience could prove to be a deciding factor in the game on Saturday as he will be facing a swarming secondary and active linebackers to the likes of which he has more than likely never seen before.

The Gators must step up and get things going on offense if they are going to have a chance at winning out their SEC schedule and making it to Atlanta for the championship game.