Week 7: Gators post-game news and notes

The No. 22/22 Florida Gators (4-3, 2-3 SEC) lost their third-straight game on Saturday, falling 10-7 to the Mississippi State Bulldogs (5-2, 2-2 SEC) on homecoming at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL. With so much to discuss, OGGOA presents some important notes and quotes following the contest.

“WE’RE NOT VERY GOOD RIGHT NOW”

A handful of times in his post-game press conference, head coach Urban Meyer uttered the above phrase, and based on Florida’s performance over the last three contests it is quite obvious that sentiment is true. For the Gators, it all starts with health and execution, two things the team has been severely lacking lately.

“Obviously we got to get a lot better, Meyer said. “When you’re dealing with health issues, that’s part of it. We are going to have a chance to reflect a little bit here on the bye week and make some adjustments.” His biggest disappointment right now? “Finding a way to win a game. We’ve won a lot of games around here as guys made a play here, made a play there. You find a way to win a game. If you look back there’s been some big time wins around here where guys stepped up and made a play. We just have to do that. Right now we’re not.”

INJURED RUNNING BACKS SPELL DOOM FROM GET-GO

Prior to kickoff, Meyer was told “we were going to be without a tailback” by the training staff. That is one of the reasons Florida spread the ball five-wide to start the game and attempted to run the offense through the air rather than on the ground. “We were going to come out throwing, it just wasn’t real successful at it so we had to find ways to create movement, move the ball,” he said.

That proved to be difficult for the Gators as some of the running backs, who may not have been playing in different circumstances, got injured again as the game went on. “We were down to zero backs at one point today,” Meyer said. “[Junior starter Jeff] Demps came out, [redshirt senior Emmanuel] Moody had a thigh strain, [sophomore Mike Gillislee] had a sprained ankle. I thought there were some guys who made some spark plug plays like [freshman quarterback] Trey [Burton] and [sophomore wide receiver] Omarius Hines.”

“We even ran Omarius on a couple counter plays because it’s tough to get the run game going. We had a couple direct snaps to [Burton]. Even on third downs because we were misfiring a little bit too. I thought [Burton] provided a spark and he’s one of our only runners. […] Omarius is a good runner. Barebones now.”

DEFENSE CAN’T STOP THE RUN

Mississippi State was successful in milking the clock in the second half by running the ball on 27 of 28 plays in that period with their one non-run being a shovel pass. An astounding 26 of those 27 runs gained positive yardage. In fact, on their final offensive possession, the Bulldogs wasted almost six minutes of precious playing time before punting the ball and leaving Florida on their own four with just two minutes remaining.

After the game Meyer noted that MSU succeeded by always being plus-one (having an extra blocker) and chipping away a few yards at a time – something UF used to do routinely when they had a power rushing quarterback and strong offensive line.

INJURIES CONTINUE TO PILE UP

In a game Florida entered with apparently no healthy running backs and plenty of other injuries, the Gators had four more players hurt – three early on in the contest. Redshirt freshman wide receiver Andre Debose went down with an ankle sprain on a kickoff return, redshirt freshman linebacker Jelani Jenkins suffered a concussion while playing defense and redshirt junior defensive tackle Jaye Howard also hurt his ankle at some point in the first half. UF even lost their kickoff specialist during the game.

QUOTES (After the break…)

Meyer on the team as a whole: “We’re not very good. We’re not very good. We just got to get some guys healthy. We were down to zero backs at one point today. Demps came out, Moody had a thigh strain, Gilly had a sprained ankle. I thought there were some guys who made some spark plug plays like Trey and Omarius Hines. We just didn’t get her done. We’re not very good right now. “

Meyer on red zone issues: “We missed a field goal, even our kickoff guy got hurt. Lack of execution. We’re not very good right now.”

Meyer on taking shots into the end zone at the end: “We did. We had a couple plays called but they were dropping eight defenders.”

Meyer on struggles with blitz pick-up: “We missed a couple protection checks. You can point the fingers all over the place, but it was picked up and there was a missed assignment twice. And I think we missed a check one time.”

Meyer on if the offense needs a major rehaul: “I think so. You have to be able to run the ball. I think the offensive line gets hammered pretty good. Whether it’s deserving or not, there’s enough blame to go everywhere. We’re not certainly in the position to say that yet. But we have to have some run game. And right now when Jeff Demps misses his fourth game…he certainly wasn’t himself tonight. He hadn’t practiced in a long time. We just gotta get him back and get him healthy. Same with Gilly. All three of them were out. They told me before the game that we were going to be without a tailback.”

Meyer on if he is hesitant to kick a field goal with any distance: “Yup. Yes. [Senior punter] Chas [Henry] is trying.”

Meyer on if the injuries remind him of 2005: “We went through a four-week period there where we were dead in the water.”

Meyer on redshirt junior WR Deonte Thompson’s drops: “We still have confidence in Denote, we’re not going to throw him under the bus. He’s just gotta get a little better.”

Senior safety Ahmad Black: “I practice with my offense every day. I believe in them. I got confidence in them. I’m their biggest fan.”

Senior center Mike Pouncey: “Around here at Florida we’re so used to winning, we’re not used to losing. Only thing we can do is go out and practice hard.”

Redshirt junior QB John Brantley: “We got coach [Steve] Addazio‘s back. We got coach Meyer’s back. Whatever they want to do, we’re on board.”

Burton: “We’re not executing, I can tell you that. We gotta learn how to execute.”