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 41-34, With An Asterisk (Or Three)I wasn't worried about the Kentucky game. It's not that I was over-confident after the Tennessee game. It's not that Kentucky hasn't given Florida some tough games in the past. It's just that while the Wildcats have maybe their best team in the last decade, I was certain that Kentucky's 4-0 record was misleading. They may give South Carolina or Georgia problems this year, but not Florida. On two previous occasions, a solid, but clearly inferior Kentucky team almost shocked the Gators. In 1991, a stunned Florida Field crowd watched the Wildcats trade scores with Florida, who was fighting the old ghosts needing just to beat Kentucky at home to secure their first official SEC championship. Florida would win that day 35-26, but the outcome was in doubt until most of the way through the fourth quarter. In 1993, a very talented UF squad was trailing the Wildcats on the road until about 3 seconds to go, when Chris Doering pulled down a Danny Weurffel pass to secure the 24-20 season-saving win. Since then, though, the Kentucky games have been memorable for other reasons. For example, there was Terry Dean's finest football game ever; 1994's 73-7 throttling that set an NCAA record for first quarter touchdown passes. There was the "perfect game" in 1995 when the Gators won 65-0. Would this year be a display of solid Florida football or another nail-biter? Would you believe it was both? Enjoy the Sunshine So unworried was I about Kentucky that I decided to do something unusual: despite the game being televised on national TV, I decided to take advantage of one of Portland's final sunny afternoons and take my kid to the zoo. I taped the game instead. We saw no Gators at the zoo, but there was an African crocodile enjoying a fake rain storm. The wildcats that day were in hiding. When we got back to the car I made the decision to listen for the score. I'm not a guy that likes to know, usually, but this wasn't Tennessee or FSU for goodness sake, this was Kentucky. Therefore, I already knew Florida was the winner, I just wanted to know the score. 41-34. Interesting! I decided two things from those numbers: one, that Kentucky was pretty good after all, and two, that our defense, which had made big strides at Tennessee, had had a big let down. Presumably both teams also missed extra points, or more likely, Florida had and Kentucky scored 4 TDs and added two field goals. Then I started to wonder: maybe the defense wasn't at fault. Maybe, in fact, they scored some of the points, intercepting Lorenzen and running the picks back for touchdowns. Maybe they played great, but Rex threw two or three interceptions and that's why the score was so bad. In fact, in all the scenarios I worked up in my mind, the only acceptable one was this: our offense played well, our defense played well, but Kentucky got maybe one score off a turnover and a couple off special teams. Now why that would seem any better to me than the other scenarios is hard to defend. But that's the only game I wanted to see. So watching the game this week had a strange flavor to it. I knew who won, I knew the score, but I was keenly interested in how the score came to be. As it turned out, although my favored scenario was closest to the truth, the box score would end up being one of the more unlikely ways of getting to 41-34 it was possible to dream up. "Special" Teams There are a couple of definitions of the word "special". In "special teams", it usually refers to the fact that the players are given a rather unique job, one not easily assigned to the regular football categories of offense and defense. Special, as used to modify, say "Olympics", has a less PC definition. It is a rather unkind insult. Florida's special teams; well, I'll leave it to you to decide which definition is appropriate. Florida has had it both ways in the last 12 years. The Gators have had two fun-to-watch kickers that defy the usual expectation of the 150 pound weekling who should run to the bench immediately after kicking the ball. Shayne Edge was a tough-guy punter who occasionally mixed it up with charging defensive linemen after his punt was away; this year's Matt Piotrovich is a nose guard-turned kickoff specialist who is one of the leading tacklers on the coverage team. Florida also had a Lou Groza Award winning field goal man in Judd Davis, and Ron Zook's mid-90's special teams were a fearsome kick blocking force. And Florida has often had dangerous return men, from Jack Jackson to Jaquez Green to Lito Sheppard. But equally often, Florida's special teams have been scary in a bad way. Scary where every punt snap is a potential punt block, where every 4th and 5 on the 20 yard line is a go-for-it, beause the field goal is so unlikely. This year, the punting situation is atrocious. Not becuase the kickers can't kick, maybe they can, some of the time, but because they can't catch the snap. Or they run up to the line of scrimmage before kicking the ball (a minor exageration; usually they only run half the distance and the defense runs half the distance and agree to meet in the middle). The Gators have missed several extra points. The Kentucky game exposed coverage concerns. In 1994, criticism of Ron Zook's defense caused Steve Spurrier to demote Zook to special teams coordinator. The move had a moderately-positive impact on the defense, and a strongly-positive impact on special teams. Before the Tennessee game, many fans wanted to see Zook demoted again. Hopefully Florida's success has reduced that desire, but now the job he needs to get corrected is special teams coordinator. A Weird 41 As it turned out, the offense on Saturday was great, the defense very good, and the special teams abysmal. Florida had only one turnover (though it was costly), gained 134 yards on the ground and 375 yards in the air, spread the ball around and still allowed Taylor Jacobs a huge day, and got quality running from both Earnest Graham and Ran Carthon. On defense, Florida essentially stopped Kentucky's three superstars, held UK to 88 yards rushing and 180 yards passing, and forced 8 punts. So how did Kentucky score 34 points? I was wondering the same thing watching the video as Kentucky managed no points and very little threat in the first half. Florida got to its 41 in a pretty strange way: 6 points (blocked extra point), 6 points (missed 2 pt conversion), 7 points (one of only 2 normal TD-PAT combo of the game), 6 points (PAT blocked), 7 points, and 7 points (PAT pushed back 20 yards on penalties but nonetheless made) and 2 points (interception return of a Kentucky 2 pt try). Kentucky's 34 came from several short drives, one from an uncharacteristic Earnest Graham fumble, another 2 from bungled punts. Kentucky's Derek Abney ran back a 100 yard kickoff return and a 49 yard punt return for touchdowns. In a game that Florida absolutely dominated, the Wildcats were even able to take the lead at one point thanks to Florida's inability to claim free extra points and their inability to get away punts. In some respects the game was exactly what I was hoping for: the offense and defense played strong. How worried should one be about the special teams? While there were errors earlier in the season, they never threatened the outcome of a game like on Saturday. Hopefully it was a fluke. But for sure it was a game that the score doesn't even come close to telling the story. |
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