Dooley Grades The Gators: Can’t Sustain Success
Pat Dooley, who co-hosts The Tailgate Show on WRUF with Jeff Cardozo, brings you the latest segment of Grading the Gators after Saturday night’s 34-17 loss at No. 5 Texas A&M:
OFFENSE: D
FIRST HALF: Florida came out firing and DJ Lagway was hot. The Gators (2-4, 1-2 SEC) scored touchdowns twice on their first three possessions before cooling off. Florida was 0-for-6 on third downs, but the freshmen receivers were putting on a show. UF went two-for-two in the red zone. Yay!
SECOND HALF: Two turnovers certainly did not help and Florida struggled to get first downs and stay on the field (three in the half until two meaningless ones at the end). Lagway was not the same player once the Gators got off script and the running game never got going.
FOR THE GAME: Florida’s offensive line really struggled with the Aggies (6-0, 3-0) pass rush. Jadan Baugh had 22 touches and only 75 yards. The play-calling was especially weak in the second half and Florida finished the game going 1-for-11 on third down. That’s unacceptable.
DEFENSE: D
FIRST HALF: Marcel Reed looked like a guy who wanted to win the Heisman Trophy on the first three possessions (his QB Rating was 394.5 at that point). The defense had given up 231 yards with 13:04 left in the half, but only gave up 39 yards after that so maybe they made some adjustments.
SECOND HALF: The defense wasn’t helped by the decision to go for it down seven at midfield and plenty of time left. Jordan Castell, who was crucified early on social media, had a nifty interception in the end zone that kept Florida in the game.
FOR THE GAME: For the life of me, I can’t explain how a defense that has played so well could be that bad at the start of a game. The Gators allowed 9-of-16 third down conversions overall. Again, unacceptable. They gave up 417 yards and 34 points. Say it with me, Unacceptable, oh never mind.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C
FIRST HALF: Tommy Doman had a 66-yard punt called back because of a facemask penalty on Sharif Denson. Doman had a nice half though, including a 57-yard punt that went out of bounds on the A&M 4-yard line.
SECOND HALF: Let’s not take anything away from Trey Smack for making a 45-yard field goal when the game was still in doubt. Doman continued to punt well and Vernell Brown III had two nice returns, but it would be nice to see him return more kicks and punts.
FOR THE GAME: The special teams were not the problem. They were fine and Doman ended up with a 45.2 average and two of his six punts were inside the 20. Smack was booming his kickoffs.
OVERALL: F
Florida is the first team in 57 years to play four consecutive games against top-10 teams. Unfortunately, three of those games were on the road, all losses. Billy Napier is now 4-12 in true road games. Nobody wants the schedule Florida has had, but the Gators showed in all three of those losses they could play with the opponent. They just can’t play 60 minutes and that’s on the coaches.
WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.
Category: College Football, Feature Sports News, Pat Dooley
