The Monday Morning Quarterback: Mac Attack Is Whack, Gators Are Back

  
Wow!

Can you believe it?

From cardiac Gators to pure domination in one week?

Last week The Monday Morning Quarterback wrote that the Gators grew up against Tennessee.

Against Ole Miss they showed no growing pains whatsoever playing like a mature, experienced team. 

Especially quarterback Will Grier who played with poise and threw with precision despite dealing with the effects of a virus that had been described as a flu bug by head coach Jim McElwain but reported as a stomach bug by various media outlets.

Grier finished 24-29 for 271 yards and 4 td’s. And best of all he had zero turnovers.

“We’re growing up offensively,” McElwain said. “We’re getting a little bit better. That’s what we want to do.”

That might be the understatement of the year!

Since the ten minute mark of the fourth quarter of the Tennessee game, Grier is 35-47 (74.4 completion percentage) for 412 yards and 6 td’s.

That’s not only efficient, it’s Montana-esque as in hall of famer Joe Montana.

So much for the quarterback competition in Gainesville.

It wasn’t all Grier, however, as the work-in-progress offensive line played their best game by far.

While they still have work to do in the run game they played masterfully in the passing game holding off what many considered a stout Ole Miss defensive line giving Grier time to make throws to open receivers.

And defensively, they played their best game all season as well. The defensive line was disruptive rarely letting quarterback Chad Kelly get comfortable in the pocket.

The defensive backs shut down a potent Ole Miss receiving corps led by All American candidate Laquon Treadwell who finished with pedestrian numbers (5 catches, 43 yards, and no td’s). 

The offensive play-calling was masterful as well keeping the Ole Miss defense off-balance throughout using their aggressiveness against them with misdirection bootlegs, screens, and draw plays.

The Mac Attack is whack baby! 

And this team is growing up right before our eyes, much quicker than anyone expected.

The Monday Morning Quarterback believes that the Gators are truly back and have an opportunity to have a very special season.

Was Ole Miss overrated like so many other teams fans have claimed after the Gators big win?

The Monday Morning Quarterback doesn’t believe so after Ole Miss beat Alabama on the road and then Alabama demolished Georgia this past weekend. 

The poll voters don’t believe so either as the Gators made the third highest one-week leap in AP poll history jumping from #25 last week to #11 Sunday. 

Regardless, with Missouri, LSU, and Georgia left on the October schedule we’ll sure get a chance to see if this team can maintain focus and continue to improve. 

If so you’ll see a top five team come November. 

I’m the Monday Morning Quarterback and I’m out!

The Monday Morning Quarterback: Time For Florida Gators To Choose A Quarterback

  

The quarterback battle  between sophomore Treon Harris and redshirt freshman Will Grier that has engulfed the Florida Gator football program ever since Jim McElwain took over and former starter Jeff Driskel decided to transfer has yet to be decided.

The first two games ended up as de facto extended scrimmages, an extension of fall camp for the qb’s and a chance for coach Mac and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier to further evaluate the two passers.

Seemingly, neither quarterback has taken the job. Both have done some good things and done some not-so-good things. Neither has done much that would be considered great or has the “wow” factor.

Despite that fact, The Monday Morning Quarterback believes it’s time to name a “permanent” starter.

While it’s understood there is no permanence in a starting quarterback job, the backup is always the most popular guy on the team when the team struggles, it’s clear that somebody needs to be declared “The Guy”.

Why?

For continuity.

Plain.

Simple.

Continuity on offense is non-existent as long as they continue to rotate players.

The quarterback position is unlike any other spot on the field. He is not just an athlete who makes plays with his arm and his feet.

He’s a field general.

He makes the calls on the field, he makes decisions before and after the snap, he hands off the football, and he throws passes.

Huddle demeanor is important and every guy is different. Some guys are loud and vocal, almost a coach on the field. Some are quieter with a softer voice and hesitant nature.

The players around him are dependent upon the quarterback on every play to make sure they get the correct play call, are clear in where they line up, and understand their role.

Having one guy provides consistency for the offensive players. Rotating players creates a higher likelihood that mistakes are made in assignments and a different cadence can easily create false start penalties.

The handoff, which many take for granted as a mundane part of the offensive action, is highly important. It’s like a dance. It requires some level of coordination.

Where the quarterback meets the running back, where he places the football, how quickly the transfer is made, and the force applied all determined the difference between a successful handoff, which gives the back optimal opportunity to make a play, and a turnover.

The Gators turned the ball over against East Carolina in a QB-RB exchange on Saturday evening. While seemingly everyone but coach Mac placed the blame on the running back Mark Herndon, it shows the importance of getting that right and giving one guy the opportunity to play creates continuity in this area.

Jim McElwain said fumble wasn't Mark Herndon's fault. See no way it isn't. Reaches out with hands for ball. https://t.co/rQVJD7Bwd4

— Thomas Goldkamp (@ThomasGoldkamp) September 13, 2015

Finally every quarterback throws a different ball. His arm strength is different, his throwing motion is different, and he throws at a different trajectory, and he puts different touch on his throws.

For receivers, platooning quarterbacks forces them to get used to two different guys doing two different things in the areas mentioned above. This can be confusing and create issues for receivers.

A quick-out that might come in high on average by one QB might come in low or outside from another. A pass that might’ve been fired on a rope by one QB might float in an arc by another.

Quarterback-receiver play requires coordination. There’s timing and rhythm on every throw that determines success or failure. Naming a starter will create more cohesion on offense and more continuity.

It will also allow receivers to focus more on their routes and catching the football and create more reacting and less thinking.

That’s important.

Very.

So that leads us to who should be the starter.

It’s easy to say a starter should be named but at this point much harder to say who that should be.

For sure, both guys bring different things to the table.

Grier is taller with a stronger arm, is more decisive in the pocket, is quicker in his progressions, and is a better runner.

Harris plays safer, is more mobile in the pocket, throws a better deep ball, and throws better on the run.

Grier tends to lock in on a receiver missing better options at times and sometimes head-scratchingly makes bad decisions.

Harris holds the ball too long, is often late on throws, and floats balls that need more zip.

The Monday Morning Quarterback believes that Grier is the better QB long term and is the future for the Gators at the position.

As such, he should be named the permanent starter this week heading into the Kentucky game.

That’s not to say that Grier will light it up this season and lead them to a championship. In fact, with a problematic offensive line, Harris might very well give the Gators a better chance to win this season with his ability to throw outside the pocket and his penchant for playing close to the vest.

However, for all intents and purposes this is a rebuilding year. This team has zero chance of competing for a championship and, as such, they should prepare for the future. This means Will Grier should get the majority of first team snaps in practice as well as in live game action.

What say you?

I’m The Monday Morning Quarterback and I’m out!

Five Question Friday: East Carolina Pirates vs Florida Gators

  
Every Friday through football season Swamp Music will offer five questions pertinent to that week’s game.

1) This week the Gators are “flipping the script” from last week and giving redshirt freshman Will Grier his first collegiate start. Last week’s starter Treon Harris, of course, will split time just as they did last week. 

Will Harris and Grier continue to be as efficient as they were last week when they finished a combined 30-37 for 381 yards and 4 td’s with no interceptions? 

This week’s opponent is a major step up in competition from last week’s opponent New Mexico State and a team the Gators eked by in the Birmingham Bowl last January 3rd.   

For Harris to be successful he’ll need to speed up his decision making in the pocket, he was late on throws last week playing tentatively and had difficulty completing his progressions.

For Grier, ball security was an issue last week on the sack fumble sonething he’ll have to correct this week if he hopes to remain in competition for the starting job. His big arm, quick release, and decisiveness in the pocket, however, make him the odds-on-favorite to eventually win the competition.

2) How well will the young patchwork offensive line fare against a quality opponent like East Carolina?

Coming into this season the Gators had only one player (Trip Thurman) who had ever started a game at Florida after starting right tackle Rod Johnson was forced to quit football due to a congenital health issue.

The Gators received a boost when Fordham offensive tackle Mason Halter transferred in, taking advantage of NCAA graduate transfer rules. Sophomore David Sharpe is back at one tackle spot and is very talented as well as Antonio Riles, a converted defensive lineman, at guard who has been at Florida seemingly forever. 

Additionally the Gators will rely on a trio of talented freshman Martez Ivey, Tyler Jordan, and Big Fred Johnson this season. All are physically prepared to compete at this level although Ivey will sit at least another week before making his collegiate debut due to a knee scope to clean up prior issues which took place a couple of weeks ago.

The unit had some issues last week particularly in pass protection that they must clean up if the young quarterbacks have a chance to be successful.

3) Will the surprisingly disciplined Florida Gators team show up again this week?

The Gators had one, count it, one penalty against New Mexico State last week. The last time a Florida team only committed one penalty in a football game was back in the 70’s when Doug Dickey was the head coach.

If you’ve watched the Gators at all over the last three decades you understand that this team has long been one of the more penalized teams in the conference and in the nation. 

The one penalty game is a testament to how coach Mac and company coach the game. He’s a stickler for discipline and it showed last week.

For the Gators to be successful against a high powered offensive team like East Carolina they must control the football and the clock by sustaining drives on offense. In order to do so with a young team they must avoid costly drive killing penalties. 

4) Can the vaunted Gators defense shut down the high powered, quick tempo short passing game of the Pirates?

If so, they’ll have to get off to a better start than last week where they gave up 200 yards of offense and 13 points in the first half. Luckily they made some halftime adjustments and settled down to hold them to five second half yards and no points.

They cannot wait that long this week.

In the Birmingham bowl the Gator defense surrendered over 500 yards of offense and over 400 yards passing to the Pirates.

The good news? 

The quarterback who shredded the Gator defense is gone, replaced by a first year QB that was third on the depth chart, due to the expected starter going down with a season-ending knee injury.

Also, this is a different defense than the one that faced the Pirates in Birmingham.

Back is All-American corner Vernon Hargreaves, future first round defensive lineman Jon Bullard, and defensive captain and middle linebacker Antonio Morrison. 

But around him (Morrison) is a new set of linebackers including former five star Alex Anzalone who had stepped up his game considerably while Morrison was out rehabbing a knee injury of his own.

He showed last week why he was considered a five star recruit coming out of high school flying around sideline to sideline making plays and being a very vocal leader.

Bullard is also surrounded by a revamped cast of characters, all of whom are much improved, including Joey Ivie, Jordan Sherit, Caleb Brantley who has become a force on the interior, and Bryan Cox, Jr.

This unit will be tested by the up-tempo quick passing game of East Carolina and will need to rotate frequently as they’ll get winded chasing the quarterback.

Can they get to the quarterback? If they can it could be a long ride home for the Pirates.

The Gators’ secondary led by Hargreaves will be tested as well but the good news is they’ll get both Marcus Maye (suspension) and Keanu Neal (injury) back. They’ll need the depth as they will line up in nickel and dime coverage throughout Saturday’s game.

This unit is the deepest and most talented unit on the team and should match up well against East Carolina.

With Jalen Tabor and Quincy Wilson matching up with Hargreaves the Gators should be able to cover everything thrown their way this week.

5) Can the Gators receiving corps continue to catch everything thrown their way?

Considering how inept the Gators’ receivers have been the last few years, last week’s game was a welcome sight, where the only noticeable drop was Ahmad Fulwood’s gaffe.

Everyone expected the receiving corps to finally improve under this staff, particularly with head coach Jim McElwain being a former receivers coach, but it’s surprising how quickly their coaching has improved the play of the receivers.

In particular, the tight ends appear to be the strength of this corps with not one, not two, but three solid players at the position. The three 20th year grad transfer Jake McGee, sophomore DeAndre Goolsby, and redshirt freshman C’Yontai Lewis combined for 7 catches, 100 yards, and two Lewis td’s.

Keep an eye out for true freshman Antonio Callaway who secretly snuck into the starting lineup last week and was officially named there this week. The late steal in the last recruiting cycle came in prepared to not only play but play at a high level. 

Last week he had three catches for 26 yards, a speed sweep for eight yards, and one return for 19. Expect to see his level of involvement continue to increase moving forward. The kid is a flat-out playmaker.

East Carolina vs Florida: Pirates to Get Chomped in the Swamp

  

 The Mac Attack is back!

Game two of the Jim McElwain era is at hand.

Are you ready for some football?

The Gators came out of the gates strong last week in their season opener pasting New Mexico State 61-13.

This week they face a slightly more difficult test in East Carolina, the team they beat a little over 9 months ago in the Birmingham Bowl 28-20. 

In that one the Gators gave up 536 yards of offense including 427 yards passing by quarterback Shane Carden (34-66,2 td’s, 2 Int’s). 

Carden has graduated and third stringer Blake Kemp is the new starter after backup Kurt Benkert went down with a season-ending knee injury.

Kemp was efficient in their opener going 29-37 for 237 yards with 1 td and 1 int leading the Pirates to a 28-20 victory over FCS foe Towson. 

They didn’t ask him to do too much in his first start giving him an opportunity to settle in.

“Blake did a good job for a first game,” according to Pirate head coach Ruffin McNeal.”In any game, but especially first games, we give them what they can handle, not too much.”

The Gators defense will once again have their hands full with a quick-tempo, short passing game. They’ll need to have an effective plan to rotate lineman as the East Carolina tempo can wear down lineman and make it difficult to substitute players.

On that note, the Gators get back starting defensive end Alex McCalister from a game one suspension. They will need his speed off the edge if they hope to get pressure on Benkert.

Also back this week are safeties Marcus Maye (suspension) and hard hitter Keanu Neal (injury).

They will be needed this week as well as it’s all-hands-on-deck in the secondary with the Pirates penchant for passing. You’ll likely see the Gators in nickel and dime coverage most of the game.

For the Pirates, does the familiarity of meeting twice in nine months help at all?

Probably not as this is a much different Florida team particularly on offense.

“What we talk about is nothing last year counts,” Ruffin said. “Whether it was tackles, touchdowns or whatever you did. This is a whole new team.”

Indeed they are different teams on both sidelines. Florida has a new coaching staff, a new quarterback in Will Grier who gets his first career start on Saturday, several new receivers and a couple new running backs who all made their collegiate debuts last week, as well as a new pro-style offensive scheme installed by McElwain and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier.

This Gator team on paper at least looks to be much improved over the one the Pirates faced in Birmingham. That point is not lost on Ruffin.

“It’s an SEC team. They’ll be very talented,”Ruffin said. “They have a lot of NFL guys on that team. We know that. They have a great staff. Any experience you go through helps. You have to back it up and you can’t get lost. You have to re-frame this thing, stay focused on our team concept and never get away from that.”

Although Grier gets the start this week, last week’s starter Treon Harris will split time just as the two did last week.

Grier will likely start the first quarter or so and then Harris should come in during the middle part of the game and then back to Will. McElwain said they like to rotate them around 4 series blocks.

Last week the offense was efficient, not flashy but can they maintain that efficiency this week against a step-up in competition? 

Can the team as a whole continue their level of disciplined play? They only committed one penalty last week, something that hadn’t been done at Florida since Doug Dickey was head coach. 

Much has been written this week of the depth chart that listed potential first round receiver Demarcus Robinson as third string.  Apparently, this was the penalty for skipping a team meal. 

However, as coach Mac opined, don’t read too much into that. While DRob, as he is affectionately known, may not be on the field for the game’s first snap he will most certainly play early and often.

He’s their best receiver and best deep threat at this point. 

Expect to see a healthy dose of the running game with an improved Kelvin Taylor and two true freshman phenoms Jordan Scarlett and Jordan Scarlett. 

The trio led the Gators to a 224 yard rushing effort with each scoring a td.

The Gators tight ends, an area of renewed focus for the Gators under the new staff had a great game as well last week. The trio of Jake McGee, DeAndre Goolsby, and C’Yontai Lewis finished with 7 catches for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns by Lewis.

Expect that trend to continue against the Pirates.

Defensively, the Gators must get off to a better start than last week when they gave up 13 points and 200 first half yards, although one td was set up by a Will Grier fumble.

The Pirates fast tempo passing game will be a huge test for this defense, considered to be one of the nation’s best. If they come out flat and making communicating mistakes they could find themselves in a quick hole. 

I expect, however, that the staff has gotten their attention this week and they’ll come out with more fire and focus.

All in all, despite the step up in competition this week, the Gators, with an improved team over the one that eked out a victory in Birmingham, should cruise to victory.

I don’t see the Gators putting up 61 this week but I still think they get an easy victory in front of a raucous home crowd in the Swamp. 

Gators 45-17.

The Monday Morning Quarterback: Mac Attack Debut Is Roaring Success

by Eric P. Burdette

There’s a reason college football programs schedule patsies to begin the season. Besides the obvious easy home payday, it gives them the opportunity to get started on a good foot.

For the Florida Gators, an overmatched New Mexico State team offered just that and more.

Carrying a roster loaded with youth, the Gators were presented with a great opportunity for many of their young players to get some live game experience in front of a packed, screaming orange and blue clad home crowd.

For Gator fans anxious for some offensive signs of life and continuity after several years of ineptitude, it was an opportunity for new head coach Jim McElwain to showcase exactly why he was hired.

While it was a fun night for fans and a rousing success on the scoreboard (61-13 victory), The Monday Morning Quarterback believes it was a great first step forward for many more reasons than simply yardage or points.

While admittedly, New Mexico State was far outclassed talent-wise and we’ve seen this act before (Gators won 65-0 over Eastern Michigan in the de facto opening game last season), this one was different.

Far different.

Why, you say?

Well for starters, we witnessed offensive continuity, something that hasn’t been shown by a Florida Gators team since a guy named Tebow was winning championships and a Heisman in a Gator uni.

And the reason for that was more than just X’s and O’s.

First, the Gators didn’t stop themselves, they forced the opponent to do it.

This is extremely important.

The last few seasons the Gators biggest problem on offense wasn’t an inability to move the football. They did make plays here and there.

The bigger problem was that when they did start moving the football they always seemed to shoot themselves in the foot with drive killing penalties, turnovers, and drops by the receivers.

Against the Aggies, the Gators were penalized only once for ten yards.

Once… For only ten yards.

Let that sink in for a moment.

The Monday Morning Quarterback has been following Gator football since 1977 and I cannot remember any other time when the Gators finished a game with only one penalty.

Even in the championship seasons under Spurrier and Meyer the Gators always seemed to be one of the most penalized teams in the conference and in the nation.

Fortunately, those teams had enough firepower to overcome those silly mental mistakes. Muschamp’s teams were certainly not so lucky.

Time and again promising drives ended prematurely after losing momentum due to untimely penalties often in scoring position.

Another all-too-common issue the last few seasons was drops by the receivers, often coming on third down when simply catching the ball would have kept the drive alive.

On Saturday evening, the receivers caught nearly everything including a beautiful catch in the red zone by slot receiver Alvin Bailey on a pass that was poorly thrown behind him. He flipped around mid-stride and snagged the pass for a first down leading to a 3 yard touchdown run by true freshman Jordan Cronkite, his first in a Gator uniform.

Discipline.

Gator Nation witnessed, not so much an offensive juggernaut, but a disciplined offensive unit that executed well and played within itself.

So without having to overcome negative plays the Gators quarterbacks were able to get into and stay in a rhythm all night long.

The result was a well executed offensive display, which, while fans do need to temper expectations because it was against lowly New Mecico State, does give them hope moving forward.

In terms of X’s and O’s, Gator fans witnessed creative play calling that not only kept the defense off balance and featured all of its weapons but also allowed the quarterbacks to make quick decisions and use their athleticism to make plays.

For fans tired of dive plays, repetitive read options, and tons of horizontal throws, Saturday’s game offered a vertical passing game. The staff showed that you don’t have to throw low probability deep throws to get the ball downfield.

Offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier actually accomplished what the previous three Gator OC’s could not: a schematic advantage a term coined by Muschamp’s first OC Charley Weiss.

And most importantly, they didn’t pull any punches. They threw the bus at the Aggies.

In previous seasons, the staff would put a very vanilla offense on the field in the first couple of games, presumably so as to not tip their hand on film for the SEC schedule.

The Monday Morning Quarterback believes that’s a bad idea when installing a new offense. It’s important to get game reps early and as often as possible to build confidence in your players and to get them reacting rather than thinking when you get into the meat of your schedule.

Against the Aggies the Gators had a good mix of dropback passing, play action, roll outs, misdirection, and naked bootlegs as well as a good mix of routes from deep to intermediate to quick screens and bubble screens.

They were able to get everybody involved in the offense. Fourteen different players caught passes and the quarterbacks finished a combined 30-37 for 382 yards and four touchdowns. They averaged a first down every time they completed a pass (10.3 yds/catch).

You’re going to win a lot of games with that kind of output.

Again, it was against a team with an extreme talent disadvantage, but it has to be encouraging for fans and players moving forward.

The main negative offensively was a somewhat shaky performance by the offensive line. There were missed assignments galore, particularly in blitz pick up, leaving the quarterbacks to scramble and hurry throws far more often than the staff would like.

They also had several snap problems particularly on shotgun snaps which could be problematic against the better teams on their schedule if they don’t get that worked out.

Perhaps it was due to first game jitters or perhaps it was due to guys playing out of position due to injuries or the staff moving guys around to find the right mix but The Monday Morning Quarterback believes this is a big cause for concern coming out of the season opener.

Certainly the staff will identify the issues during film study and work to overcome these issues before lining up against a much better opponent in East Carolina.

They had better because the SEC schedule presents a daunting defensive gauntlet for this young offensive unit.

Overall, though, The Monday Morning Quarterback believes it was a successful debut for new head coach Jim McElwain and his staff besides simply getting the victory and putting up 61 points, the most by any Florida head coach in their initial outing.

I’m The Monday Morning Quarterback and I’m out!