Thoughts on the South Carolina game

First off, it's clear that the current combination of Steve Addazio, John Brantley and the offensive line isn't working.  But that is nothing new.  The offense just isn't working. 226 total yards of offense, but most of that came when South Carolina had the game wrapped up.

After starting out with a 99 yard kick-off return for a touchdown, the Gators didn't do anything. Andre Debose provided that instant offense, but then wasn't involved in the game at all until the 4th quarter. Give me a break Addazio...that's bad game management.  Give your best players the ball and after someone returns a kick like that for a touchdown, it would probably be a good idea to give him the ball on offense. Just a suggestion. 

The defensive line was weak, but it has been just that throughout the season so it wasn't that much of a surprise. I know Marcus Lattimore is good, heck, he's probably the top freshman running back in the country, but there is no way that he should be able to run the ball 40 times for over 200 yards (212 to be exact) and 3 touchdowns.  Just absolutely pathetic when you consider that most of the Gators defensive line players were just as highly rated coming out of high school as Lattimore, and I'm willing to bet they were higher rated than the entire South Carolina offensive line. But that is falling on the apparently broad shoulders of Addazio and his ability to apparently screw up the offensive line beyond repair. 

The plan before the game had to be make Stephen Garcia beat you. And judging by the game and considering that Garcia only attempted 22 passes (including many 3rd down completions) and the South Carolina rushing attack had 54 carries, that the Gators failed on their game-plan. Once again, bad coaching led to this. If you can't stop the one thing that you preached all week about stopping, then you don't deserve to win the game.

As for the Gator defense, Janoris Jenkins did about what every single Gator fan expected when it came to covering Alshon Jeffery.  Jenkins held Jeffery to roughly 6 catches for 53 yards and no touchdowns. And that's fantastic as probably everyone in the country assumed that Jeffery would find the endzone at least once. 

We also see what happens when the Gator defense doesn't create the turnovers needed to compensate for a below average offense. All year long the defense has held up this team with the hopes that the offense would eventually kick it into gear and begin to dominate. But of course, when the turnovers don't happen, the defense who has been a "bend but not break" defense finally gives in because it can only be asked to do so much.

As a side note, the entire Gator receiving group last night caught 20 passes for 191 yards and a TD, remember the days in which that seemed like what one wide receiver would do during a single game? So do I.

It is clear that changes to the coaching staff needs to be made. Steve Addazio clearly needs to be on the chopping block, but I would also suggest removing Dan McCarney from his defensive line duties as well. Since McCarney arrived to Gainesville in 2008 the defensive line has done nothing but under-produce year after year despite recruiting some of the best defensive linemen in the country. That is unacceptable and shouldn't be tolerated at the University of Florida.

But, we continue to march on.....

In all kinds of weather....

Next weeks game is against Appy State at 12:30 and is on PPV. Though check Sun Sports, Fox Sports South, Sports South Plus and all those related channels as those who get those channels should be able to find the game somewhere.

FSU is in two weeks and judging by the current state of both offenses, it appears that the first team to 20 points will win that game. At least the game won't be sold out so any Gator fan traveling to Tally should be able to get as many tickets as they want.

Go Gators!