Orange and Blue Hue » 29 Second loss

29 Second loss

After every loss people try and grasp onto something to explain why it happened, to find the big glaring error or mistake that which caused the loss. Some have complained about the calls from the ref, ball spots, penalties, etc, but most seem to be focusing on the timeout called right before LSU’s last touchdown. Perhaps because this was constantly harped upon (aka beaten to death) by color analyst Gary Danielson during the game. Florida called a timeout before 3rd down after 29 seconds had run off the clock. This left 1:09 on the clock instead of 1:38 for the Gators to try and respond.

I’ll admit that this was a minor tactical error that did cost the Gators another 30 seconds to on their final possession. But for anyone criticizing the Florida coaching staff for calling the timeout late and pointing to that as the biggest turning point of the game . . . what have you been drinking? Somehow the assumption is that if Tim Tebow had another 30 seconds to work with Florida would have scored a touchdown? In two, maybe three more plays the Gators were going to drive down the field and score a last second touchdown against the Tigers a la Stanford against USC. I think some people were watching a different game or maybe mixing in some X-Box fantasy with the on-field reality of Saturday’s game.

Those thirty seconds did NOT affect the outcome of the game. If Florida had another 3 minutes on the clock I could see a different outcome but a half minute??? Florida had thrown for 151 yards all game long against LSU. 37 of those coming on one play to Ingram on a blown coverage. Florida had proven the ability to move the ball against LSU by RUNNING THE BALL at the heart of the Tiger defense!!! Florida averaged just under 5 yards per carry on its rushing attempts. With less than two minutes in the game Florida was forced to become a one dimensional passing team. That one dimensionality resulted in 4 incompletions and an intentional grounding penalty (not including the incompletion that resulted in a pass interference penalty on LSU).

The biggest gain on Florida’s last drive was (go figure) a RUN by Tim Tebow. LSU has the best secondary and defensive line in the SEC and it’s not even close. The factors that affected this game included a costly fumble by Moore that halted an effective Florida drive and an interception by Tim Tebow on the next possession that gave LSU the ball at the 27. There were three turnovers in the game and the only one that resulted in points for the other team was the interception. Tebow’s errant pass to Caldwell (which ricocheted off of Cornelius Ingram’s helmet) was the SINGLE biggest factor in the game. LSU had a first down inside the Florida 30 yard line and 5 plays later in less than 2 minutes time LSU was within a score of tying or taking the lead.

Following that series Florida went 3 and out. LSU got the ball with 9:20 left in the fourth quarter and ran over 8 minutes off the clock on their scoring drive. During that drive LSU converted TWO 4 and 1 yard plays including one set of downs that included a 3rd and 16. The Gator defense was gashed and knocked around in the second half. The Florida offense gained 142 total yards in the second half and committed two turnovers. Florida was outscored in the second half 21 to 7 yet with another 29 seconds things would have been different. Yeah, right. Vince Young and Randy Moss couldn’t have couldn’t have pulled a win out of Baton Rouge in that situation.

If you look at Florida versus LSU and look for the biggest factors in the loss they are very clear and simple. Turnovers in the second half - two for Florida while LSU had none - and an inability to play at a high enough level on either side of the ball after halftime. Perhaps Florida lost focus and let their surroundings start to affect them or perhaps the Tigers stepped up their intensity and focus and began to separate themselves from the young Gator team. Either way, you have to play hard in both halves to win a game and Florida dominated just the first half.

Hats off to LSU, they may still slip up further along in the year. Their resume still lacks a big road win against a quality team (no offense to Mississippi State) and their biggest enemy will be complacency and believing their own hype. The recent discussion is that these two teams may again matchup in the SECCG at the end of the year. For those Florida fans who believe that the Gators will have an advantage at a neutral site keep in mind that many of the plays Florida ran against LSU had been saved all year long for this game (so the LSU defense couldn’t prepare for them). In order for Florida to win a rematch they will need to assume the kind of mental toughness that last year’s team possessed and improve on both sides of the ball.

The Gators need to continue the progress and improvement they showed in the running game, specifically from the tailback position. They need to continue to spread the ball around to ALL their playmakers. Tebow needs to become more comfortable with his reads and progressions when throwing the ball. The offensive line needs to remain healthy and the Gators need to avoid injuries to its key playmakers. But most importantly the defense needs to grow up in a hurry. Last year around this time we lost both Marcus Thomas, the most dominant defensive lineman on the team, and Javier Estopinian, who was playing his best ball and had just been named a starter. It took several additional games before the defensive line solidified and became a team strength. In order for Florida to repeat as SEC champions history needs to repeat itself.

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I agree with most of this, Kelt…

Except…

On the interception drive there was about ten minutes to play…

Why is Mullen throwing the ball there when, prior to his fumble, K-Mo had been tearing up the LSU D enroute to what appeared to be a century mark day rushing…

After K-Mo fumbled, he never received another carry the rest of the game…

And further adding to the frustration for myself personally…

I see them lining up K-Mo at the wideout and then calling Tebow up the middle in a naked sneak…

If they are not going to let K-Mo carry the ball in favor of Tim…

At least, have K-Mo block for Tebow rather than just sending him naked up the middle…

I just think that the coaching staff should have been looking to play possession ball at that ten minute mark with the lead rather than come out throwing…

JMHO but I don’t get paid $4 Mill to coach so what do I know…

You are right, after K-Mo’s fumble the only run was by Harvin for 4 yards. Other than that it was all passes.

Good assessment. I was tired of hearing about those 29 seconds 10 seconds after the announcer first started bitching about it. The game wasn’t decided in 29 seconds, it was decided by turnovers and UF’s D just not being able to record the stop on LSU that they needed.

Nice analysis.

I said it two years ago, and I’ll say it again: Jason Hester is one tough dude. Also, a big attaboy Ma. Pouncy; he pretty much had his way with Glen Dorsey all night.

Now if Tennessee will kindly flop before one more SEC foe (not expecting a problem there), and our Gators can stay focused the rest of the way, we’ll see these guys again with a different result.

Dave, I think you’re right about UT dropping another…

I’m more worried about us…

Meyer & Co. need to let K-Mo get his reps and put faith in him and this young line late in the game to drive the carries and keep the opposing D off balance with some passes and Baby Rhino runs in the mix…

I think we have reason for great hope here. This is the first time our “conventional” rushing attack has worked and it did so against the best defense in the country, on their turf.

I really like our chances of running the table. We can’t lose another one or we’re out of the SEC race. That will motivate our guys.

I disagree. 29 seconds is a pretty big deal on a game winning drive. With 2 Timeouts and 1:38 on the clock, you can do a lot. Clock stops on first downs. That 29 seconds could have changed the drive. We wouldnt have had to go so far so fast.

I agree with Gator Boys. They don’t call it a two-minute drill for nothing, and 1:38 is a hell of a lot more time than a minute and a few pennies. Our offense can be explosive at any time and in any down/yardage situation. It has been all year and it was during this game, albeit mostly in the first half. We sure could have used that time. Saurian Sagacity wrote a piece on this coaching mistake which I think sums it up well: http://sauriansagacity.blogspot.com/2007/10/observations-on-tonights-loss.html

Unfortunately this is not the first time the coaching staff has made some boneheaded tactical moves late in the game. I just don’t understand the reluctance to use a time-out to stop the clock when it is obvious that the opponent is controlling the clock and positioning themselves for a game-winning score, for which there can be no answer.

29 seconds might have mattered were we down a field goal or playing against Louisville. That was the best defense in the SEC and maybe the entire country. UF completed 2 out of its last 10 passes of the game including an interception and an intentional grounding. Florida had completed one deep pass all game and that was on a busted coverage.

The odds were far greater that we would have thrown another interception or been sacked than scored a TD.

Everyone in the country who watched that game knew if we didn’t hold them to a field goal the game was over. That was our worst offensive game of the year (check the stats). UF had 3 plays of 20 yards or better and one of those was a Tebow scramble. 1/3 of our possessions were 3 plays or less. That’s hardly what I call “EXLOSIVE”. We attacked the middle of the field with short passes and running the ball. We played ball control football guys.

If you honestly believe Florida was going to drive 80 yards and score a touchdown in 1:38 against the best defense in the country in a hostile, deafening stadium despite our lack of a sophisticated passing attack then God bless you. But then again those same people were probably sure we’d be 6-0 and on our way to another national title by now with this team and are both pissed and confused that it hasn’t gone that way.

I dont think you can say that the Gators couldnt score with 1:38 like its a sure thing KG. What is the minimum amount of time you think it would take to go about 80 yards with 2 timeouts? Even if the odds are against the Gators scoring in 1:38 (which I think they are), you have to admit that the chances or scoring with 29 more seconds are better than without it. We’re obviously not saying that we’re sure the Gators would have won with those 29 seconds, but in that situation time was the most important thing in the game. I’m also not saying Meyer lost the game, he just hurt our chances of coming back. Its not monday morning quarterbacking either, because everybody knew that calling the T.O. was the right thing to do.

I agree the 29 seconds was important and calling a TO in that situation was definitely needed there…

However…

If the defense holds on at least 1 of those LSU fourth down conversions then it becomes a non-factor…

Coaching mistake? Yes…

Meyer is still a relatively VERY young coach and UF will be lucky to keep him as a career guy…

But in alot of ways he’s like alot of these young kids we’re watching play for him…

Still learning and earning his chops…

Keltic: with an attitude like that, I guess we should have just taken a knee in the final seconds rather than trying to win a game in which we led for 58 minutes and enjoyed a 10 point lead in the 4th quarter. Give me a break, man. This offense can score points. They did it all game long. Yeah, LSU put the clamps down and asserted their will. It was time for us to assert ours offensively and we didn’t answer the call. This team played good ball for 3.25 quarters. No reason to think that just because we had a bad 10 minute stretch it was time to give up. Jeez.

This is great analysis. I came away from that game with a renewed appreciation for Florida and the SEC in general. In my opinion, Florida is a top 5 team right now, if not top 3. I’d take Florida on a neutral field right now over Cal and a bunch of others(and I’m sure Vegas would agree). It was the Tim Tebow and Jacob Hester show — Tebow’s stats are what the Heisman voters will notice, but what made the performance great were the number of times he turned a sure-fire 10 yard loss/sack into a 2 or 3 (or 10) yard gain. He’s got an unbelievable amount of talent (and is a good guy to boot). It was great, passionate football, and it seemed to showcase everything that’s great about the SEC and college football as a whole. LSU made some mistakes, but Florida seemed to make just as many. I really don’t know who would win a rematch in the SECCG, but I really hope (for our sake) that Tenn finds a way to win out so we don’t have to find out. Florida is a great program with great fans, great tradition, great players and a great coach. All of that showed through on Saturday. Good luck the rest of the way. And Geaux Tigers!!

I’ll grant you that I’d rather have 30 seconds than not but even if the odds went from 8% to 13% it’s like trying to imagine that if we had let time run out at the end of the 3rd quarter instead of running Moore (who fumbled) that everything would be different right now.

NFL teams practice the two minute drill all the time, they have very sophisticated passing schemes (aka they do not need to rely on the threat of the QB to run the ball to open up the middle of the field) and their percentages in that situation are very low. LSU had bracketed coverage on the outside all game which is why Cooper and Caldwell were non-factors. By the end of the game their LBs were dropping 15-20 yards downfield.

For example, last year when the situation was reversed UF came away with what . . . 3-4 interceptions doing the same thing against a guy who ended up being the first pick in the NFL draft and two other first round WRs?

If Tebow doesn’t throw the pick or Moore doesn’t fumble or Stamper tackles Hester a split second earlier . . . those are game changers. Adding 30 seconds doesn’t guarantee anything. We couldn’t block LSU when they were pinning their ears back against the pass. Without the threat of the run Tebow had no time to throw.

Don’t buy into the Danielson hype. That game was over and we are lucky no one besides Tart got hurt on that last drive. The LSU defense is built to destroy a one dimensional offense.

“Give me a break, man. This offense can score points.”

Yep, we were only outscored 21-7 in that second half. I can see your point. Dismissing the fact that Ole Miss and Troy were able to shut us down in the second half, LSU had no chance against our two minute offense (which we don’t really have by the way, not a true hurry up attack. Which is what I’m trying to explain to you guys. We are a spread offense, not fun and gun. The offense is predicated on RUNNING the ball. Spurrier is with the Gamecocks now. That was a great two minute offense. This offense is not designed to utilize a bunch of plays with deep and intermediate routes combined like the ole ball coach liked to run. It just isn’t. Look at the tapes. Our deep passes are fly and post patterns with one or two recievers running deep. That isn’t going to drive you down the field against a cover 3 or prevent late in a game.).

“It was time for us to assert ours offensively and we didn’t answer the call.”

Yeah, that’s my exact point. We didn’t assert in the previous two quarters so now we were going to dominate in a minute and a half???

“This team played good ball for 3.25 quarters.”

Kestahn Moore fumbled just before the end of the 3rd quarter with the score 24-14. Florida had a 3 and out and a 2 play interception drive before the final drive of the game as time expired. To me that sounds like slightly less than 3 quarters so where does your “3.25″ come from? This game could easily have been 34-24 had their kicker not pulled a Chris Hetland for us.

Glad you’re not coaching our guys in 4th quarter Kelt… that’s all I’ve got to say. Eesh!

???? I don’t get your point. We lost the game. If I was coaching . . . what??? We win? The result differs how?

I tell you what I would probably do (like to have seen). Throw a couple of screens against that pass rush and run some of those fake reverses (where the flanker comes back towards to QB as if on a reverse to hold the end and safeties a split second longer). But I thought Florida called a great game. We just lost, no shame in that.

But of course you disagree. The coaches were stupidly shortsighted and blew the game on that timeout. If not for that we would have won!

That’s the difference here. You think we would have won with those 29 seconds and I don’t think it would have changed anything and there for is not important.

I’m looking at the matchups on the field between the teams and the style of play. You are looking at this with an X-Box mindset and thinking back to all the great NFL Alcoa Fantastic Finishes you remember seeing on TV as a kid. Teams just don’t drive 80 yards with 90 seconds against good defenses very often, let alone against a great defense that was fresh from sitting out most of the quarter.

I guess you’re not reading the responses of those of us who thought Meyer should have used the timeouts when they mattered. None of us are saying it would have made THE difference. But if one can be bothered to care about winning a game we led for every second up to the point that LSU scored that last TD, it’d be nice to use every possible tool and advantage to score. Increasing your available time by almost 50% would certainly be a logical thing to do if the option was there to do it, which it was.

This is college football. Maybe you missed some of the fantastic finishes we’ve already seen this year. We have one of the best teams in the country. No reason to think they’re not capable of beating the odds once in awhile.

The reason I’m glad you’re not coaching our kids is that you would apparently have given up and taken a knee after LSU made their once and final TD. In 2006, that attitude would have lost the South Carolina game, possibly the Tennessee game, and maybe even the SEC CG. So as you can tell, I’m not too thrilled with your opinion on this. :)

Well KG, we all agree that more time would have given us a better chance of winning and it was a mistake not calling the T.O. I dont think it lost us the game, but I definately think 29 seconds is more important than you do. Anything can happen in CF, especially with our great players. Writing this I realized I’m saying the same thing and we’re not going to convince you.

That is a good point about the kicker though.

Cal just drove like 70 yards in less than 50 seconds, with no timeouts. I know it wasnt against the LSU D, but still. It happens a lot.

What happened to picks? I was totally gonna win that thing

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