And areas for improvement....
Penalties 7 for 55 yards...but three were questionable (perry's, the illegal man downfield and a delay of game). No holding calls, No Pass Interference, No defensive penalties (discounting the personal foul on Bush to start the game). Very impressive for a first game. The team performed much better than the officials, lol.
Missed tackles? Were there any? I remember Hudson flipping over Zaire (but also causing a fumble simultaneously, lol), but i can't recall Florida breaking ANY tackles. Again VERY impressive.
Turnovers...2 bad interceptions. Most would say one was on Speight and one on Crawford. And that's mostly true. But the dropped pass could have been a little better throw and was slightly mistimed. And a DE flashed in front of Speight which caused him to shorten his follow through and the ball sailed. Forcing 4 fumbles was impressive, though, and Hill deflected an easy INT for Khaleke.
Missed blocks...lots of room for improvement here. Part of me wants to give credit to a good Florida Defense for 5 sacks given up, but I don't think they are that good right now. So giving up 5 sacks is too much. Both Tackles were beaten, but I think the interior played well. Gentry and Eubanks whiffed on a couple blocks, too. I don't agree with another poster who said Gentry didn't belong on the field yet, though. He got knocked around once or twice, but I think he showed a willingness to mix it up...at least as good as Butt did last year. The RBs were pretty good at finding small lanes and making the most of a few poorly blocked plays.
Actually, the RBs played very well with only a couple exceptions. Evans tripped on what was likely a TD. Higdon made one bad read that I recall and Isaac needs to be decisive when he puts his shoulder down (which isn't really his nature, so I still appreciate the effort).
Dropped passes...3 balls hit receivers in the hands, but were not hauled in.
QB...I counted 2 BAD throws. The INT that sailed and the missed wheel route to Crawford that was wide open. There were a few other throws that could have been better, but mostly landed harmlessly OOB. THere were several very good throws, though. After game 1 I am still very comfortable with Speight managing the game, but I'd like to see him give his receivers more chances on those OOB balls.
Newbies...Ulizio was pretty "meh". Again, I'd like to give credit to the Florida D for that, but I guess we'll see. The upside on Crawford, DJP, and Black is tremendous...BUT it's still upside until they prove they can hold on the football, get upfield and make plays. McKeon and Eubanks had very nice debuts (not counting a few snaps last year, of course). Mason is a missile on ST. He might kill somebody this year... a Florida special teamer was wise to step aside as he projectiled himself downfield. Again, Gentry got knocked around a bit but competed. Ambry Thomas got his feet wet and made a play. Solomon was on the field for the sack/strip/fumble/TD. Paye looked to play fast. I noticed St. Juste on ST, but did not see Ross or Steuber.
There's not very much to nitpick on the defense. It was very exciting to see them dominate the way they did. That's without much from Mone. Bush, Hudson, Gary, Hurst and Winovich played all B1G ball. Probably McCray, too. Kinnell and Metellus were there when needed. Furbush lost contain once, and Hill could have turned for the ball on that first play from scrimmage.
Overall, a very very very good effort. We will be very very very hard to beat if we continue to play like we did in week 1.
Penalties 7 for 55 yards...but three were questionable (perry's, the illegal man downfield and a delay of game). No holding calls, No Pass Interference, No defensive penalties (discounting the personal foul on Bush to start the game). Very impressive for a first game. The team performed much better than the officials, lol.
Missed tackles? Were there any? I remember Hudson flipping over Zaire (but also causing a fumble simultaneously, lol), but i can't recall Florida breaking ANY tackles. Again VERY impressive.
Turnovers...2 bad interceptions. Most would say one was on Speight and one on Crawford. And that's mostly true. But the dropped pass could have been a little better throw and was slightly mistimed. And a DE flashed in front of Speight which caused him to shorten his follow through and the ball sailed. Forcing 4 fumbles was impressive, though, and Hill deflected an easy INT for Khaleke.
Missed blocks...lots of room for improvement here. Part of me wants to give credit to a good Florida Defense for 5 sacks given up, but I don't think they are that good right now. So giving up 5 sacks is too much. Both Tackles were beaten, but I think the interior played well. Gentry and Eubanks whiffed on a couple blocks, too. I don't agree with another poster who said Gentry didn't belong on the field yet, though. He got knocked around once or twice, but I think he showed a willingness to mix it up...at least as good as Butt did last year. The RBs were pretty good at finding small lanes and making the most of a few poorly blocked plays.
Actually, the RBs played very well with only a couple exceptions. Evans tripped on what was likely a TD. Higdon made one bad read that I recall and Isaac needs to be decisive when he puts his shoulder down (which isn't really his nature, so I still appreciate the effort).
Dropped passes...3 balls hit receivers in the hands, but were not hauled in.
QB...I counted 2 BAD throws. The INT that sailed and the missed wheel route to Crawford that was wide open. There were a few other throws that could have been better, but mostly landed harmlessly OOB. THere were several very good throws, though. After game 1 I am still very comfortable with Speight managing the game, but I'd like to see him give his receivers more chances on those OOB balls.
Newbies...Ulizio was pretty "meh". Again, I'd like to give credit to the Florida D for that, but I guess we'll see. The upside on Crawford, DJP, and Black is tremendous...BUT it's still upside until they prove they can hold on the football, get upfield and make plays. McKeon and Eubanks had very nice debuts (not counting a few snaps last year, of course). Mason is a missile on ST. He might kill somebody this year... a Florida special teamer was wise to step aside as he projectiled himself downfield. Again, Gentry got knocked around a bit but competed. Ambry Thomas got his feet wet and made a play. Solomon was on the field for the sack/strip/fumble/TD. Paye looked to play fast. I noticed St. Juste on ST, but did not see Ross or Steuber.
There's not very much to nitpick on the defense. It was very exciting to see them dominate the way they did. That's without much from Mone. Bush, Hudson, Gary, Hurst and Winovich played all B1G ball. Probably McCray, too. Kinnell and Metellus were there when needed. Furbush lost contain once, and Hill could have turned for the ball on that first play from scrimmage.
Overall, a very very very good effort. We will be very very very hard to beat if we continue to play like we did in week 1.
