2022 [W12: UF] What Was, What Is and A Look Ahead

[Weeze]

What Was...

Seniors Go out On Top:

Gators Stonewall Gamecocks 31-7 in Final Home Game

 

Gators win big over Gamecocks in final home game in Gainesville.

Seniors Gathered together at the fifty yard line and huddled together at the end of their final home game. A game that saw a big win over one of the SEC most frustrating teams. The 5-4 South Carolina Gamecocks have played spoiler several times this season and were looking to do it again Friday night against a Florida team that is in survival mode. While it wasn't always pretty, the Seniors and the rest of the orange and blue fought hard to secure the final home win in Gainesville. The 31-7 Win over the gamecocks ensured their bowl hopes stay alive for another week.

 

QB Morgan Neal 23 of 37 for 172 yards and 3 Int, 1 Att for 5 yards and 1 TD

The win wasn't pretty. Senior QB Morgan Neal turned the ball over 3 times Friday night. While it was not his worst showing as far as competitions(23 of 37, 62%) and yards(172 yards) were concerned, it was his worst game by far as protecting the ball. This includes coming off a terrible game a week before against the SEC East favorite Tennessee. The Gamecocks have had a strong secondary all season, and are one of the best as far as forcing turnovers. However the Gator Faithful were hoping he would be a bit more efficient. The Road doesn't get any easier next week against the best overall defense in the SEC in the Georgia Bulldogs. Not only are they the best rushing defense, they rank right up there with Florida as one of the best passing defense in the SEC. But Neal's 172 yards and 5 yard rush for a TD was enough to secure the win, so we can be a lot more forgiving this week, especially with the way the defense played.

 

Far more impressive was the Florida Gator rushing attack, which for the third time this season reached over 200 yards as a team. Neal, Bowman and Haynes all combined for 287 rushing yards and 3 Touchdowns. Bowman, who lead the way this week, racked up 228 rushing yards with 2 touchdowns, as well as 16 receiving yards off 5 competitions. The former starting back for the Gators, Sam Haynes, rushed for 54 yards off 6 attempts(9YPA). As you can imagine, the receiving game was pretty pedestrian with no one outside of Michael Burawa doing much of anything to note. 8 completions off 11 targets for 111 yards, he has continued to show defenses he is the big dog in this receiving corp.

 

Defensively, the Gators were outstanding. A+. Allowing only 141 total yards, even with the three interceptions given up, the Gamecocks only scored on one possession in the second quarter. The Gators defense managed to sack Kemoko Allard 3 times, tackle the ball carrier 8 times behind the line, and managed a season low of allowing only 67 yards rushing(18 total attempts). The defense also allowed only 74 yards passing(16 of 27 attempts). The Gators also looked good on special teams, they went 3 for 3 on FGs, and only had to punt twice, with one of those going inside the 20.

 

What is...

 

So. RB Ryan Bowman 6 Games, 144 Attempts for 583 Yards, 7 Touchdowns, 36 completions on 43 targets for 233 yards.

The Gators have had an up and down season. After starting the season 1-5, they have been on a bit of a roll lately, going 3-1. The one loss unfortunately was a rough an embarrassing loss for the Gators who were starting to feel good about themselves. But perhaps it was the loss the team needed to keep the focus till the end of the season. The one player who might have faced the most criticism so far this season has got to be Morgan Neal.

Forename

Surname

Position

Year

Games

Completions

Pass Att

Pass %

Pass Yards

Pass Tds

Ints

YPC

YPG

QBR

Long Pass

Sacks

Morgan

Neal

QB

Sr

10

233

383

60.8%

2040

7

8

8.76

204.00

111.61

51

11

 

 

His completion percentage took a hit after the game against South Carolina. But either way, his numbers this season have not been great. The offense as a whole has not been great scoring, and you have to wonder if he is the reason for that. 7 TDs through 10 games is embarrassing for a Senior QB. Even though the Offense as a whole has been in a much better place the last four games, it has to be noted the team is also facing the better defenses of the SEC. Tenn has some of the best overall defense in the conference, SCAR and Vandy both have a top five pass defense, Tenn and UK both with a top five rushing defense. It should be noted UGA coming up is top 2 in all those categories mentioned. But that could explain why, despite the vast improvement of the offense in the last few weeks, why we aren't seeing Neal put up bigger numbers. Gators Currently rank 11th in passing.

 

Forename

Surname

Position

Year

Game

Rush Att

Rush Yards

Rush Tds

FUM

YPC

YPG

Longest Run

Over 20

Sam

Haynes

RB

Sr

10

137

648

5

3

4.73

64.80

74

3

Morgan

Neal

QB

Sr

3

11

46

1

0

4.18

15.33

8

0

Mason

Matthews

RB

Jr

4

21

59

0

0

2.81

14.75

16

0

Tommy

Murton

FB

So

5

9

39

0

0

4.33

7.80

9

0

Ryan

Bowman

RB

So

6

144

583

7

1

4.05

97.17

46

2

Team

Rushing

Total

10

322

1375

13

4

4.27

137.75

 

 

The Rushing game for Florida has been much better. After the loss to Mizzu, the coaching staff went ahead and made a change at the starting running back. Senior Sam Haynes who had been up and down, was finally booted to second string. Ryan Bowman, the sophomore back was given his shot to prove himself. While there was a slight uptick against LSU, the team had to abandon the run after the 4th quarter collapse. It would be the following two weeks which would make the change permanent as Bowman lead the way rushing against #21 UK and on the road against Vandy. But Bowmans ability to run the ball wasn't the only thing that made him useful, it was his ability to run and catch the ball out of the backfield. He became a weapon through the air game as well. The Gators currently rank 6th in Rushing amongst their fellow SEC schools.

 

Forename	Surname	Position	Year	Games	Targets	Receptions	Catch %	Yards	YPC	Receiving Tds	Fum	Longest Rec
Kai	Benkert	WR2	Jr	10	78	41	53%	409	9.98	3	0	29
Johnathan	Kling	TE1	Jr	10	71	46	65%	395	8.59	0	0	34
Sam	Haynes	RB	Sr	9	33	19	58%	71	3.74	1	3	10
Anthony	McCray	TE2	Sr	7	14	10	71%	81	8.10	1	0	34
Michael	Burawa	WR1	Sr	10	94	65	69%	726	11.17	2	0	51
Bruce	Gedeon	WR3	So	9	16	8	50%	89	11.13	0	0	40
Mason	Matthews	RB	Jr	2	5	1	20%	0	0	0	0	0
Tommy	Murton	FB	So	7	10	7	70%	36	5.14	0	0	19
Ryan	Bowman	RB	So	6	43	36	84%	233	6.47	0	1	46

Team

Receiving

Totals

10

364

233

64%

2040

8.76

7

4

 

The Florida Receiving game has been...hard to figure out. Michael Burawa, the senior WR1 has been far and away the best receiver on the team, but even he didn't come on till a few weeks ago. From the look of things, florida won't have a thousand yard receiver this season unless Burawa blows up the last 2 games. The one good thing about the Neal is he has found a way to spread the ball around. Getting as many people involved as possible. Ryan Bowman, as much as his rushing attack has been a breath of fresh air for the offense, his pass catching abilities have really helped the passing game. 233 yards in 6 games, he has become the fourth leading receiver on the team, as well as the leader in all purpose yards. If there is anything that can be said about this group, it is that they need to help their QB get into the endzone.

 

The total offense on the year thus far, is 2040 pass yards, and 1375 rushing yards(3415 total offense). They've scored 167 points, and 16.7 PPG.

 

Forename

Surname

Position

Year

Games

Sol TKL

Asst TKL

TFL

SCK

FF

FR

INT

Manasseh

Swoope

DE

Sr

10

35

5

4

3.5

0

2

0

Byron

Caupain

DT

Jr

3

7

0

1.5

1.5

0

0

0

Gerald

Jefferson

SS

Sr

10

42

4

2

0

1

0

2

Keenan

Williams

ILB

Jr

10

64

7

17.5

0

1

0

0

Chad

Iyiegbuniwe

DE

Jr

3

13

2

0

0

0

0

0

Rusney

Carasiti

OLB

Sr

9

36

3

0.5

0

0

0

0

Darrell

Capela

CB

Jr

9

30

0

0

0

0

0

0

Auden

Busenitz

FS

Sr

10

42

0

1

0

0

1

1

David

Kingery

DT

Jr

9

42

4

5.5

4

1

0

0

Trayvon

Johnson

CB

Sr

9

28

0

0

0

1

0

3

Robert

Moxey

CB

So

7

13

0

0

0

0

0

0

Kendrick

Locke

OLB

Jr

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

Elvis

Thompson

OLB

So

6

13

2

0

0

1

0

0

Chris

Mejia

CB

Sr

5

7

0

0

0

0

0

0

Edgar

Gilliam

DT

So

6

18

0

2

2

1

0

0

Nick

Gamboa

DE

Sr

7

23

5

3

3

2

0

0

Morgan

Neal

QB

Sr

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

Chris

Nieves

SS(CB3)

Jr

3

6

0

0

0

0

0

1

Defense

Team

Totals:

419

33

37

14

8

4

7

 

Much like the rest of the team, the defense is a very up and down group. In the 4 wins on the season, the defense kept the opponent to less than 10 points. In the 6 losses, they allowed the opponent to score 28 points or more. The unit has allowed 1690 pass yards in ten games, and 2128 rushing yards. They've given up 232 points or 23.2 PPG. Our first and biggest defensive star is Keenan Williams. Leads the team in tackles with 64 tackles, 7 assisted tackles, and 17.5 tackles for loss. He has by far been the most aggressive defender and could be a player on Sunday. Captain of the defense, he has been a steady force for the rest of the unit. DT David Kingery, leads the team with 4 sacks, and is second in TFL with 5.5. a strong force up the middle, he has really been one of the few bright spots when it has come to stopping the run alongside Keenan Williams. The defense as a whole has not been good at forcing fumbles and Nick Gamboa with 2 is a prime example of that. Leading the team with 2, it should be noted he was not the Day 1 starter. He moved to play opposite of Swoope(who leads the team in FR, 2) a few weeks into the season as the coaching staff struggled to find an answer in the run defense. Trayvon Johnson, the best corner and perhaps the best player in the secondary leads the team with 3 interceptions.

 

A Look Ahead...

 

It is Florida's turn to host the hated rival Georgia in Jacksonville Florida. The Gators manage a win last season and look to keep that streak going against a potentially dangerous Georgia team. While it is Coach Weeze's first season with the Gators, it is not his first time seeing Georgia. Last season as the coach of Arkansas Razorbacks, he squeaked out a small 17-16 win over the then winless bulldogs. The Razorbacks needed that win last season as it broke a string of losses that saw the team at 1-5. Sound Familiar? Going to 2-5 the Razorbacks began to turn it around and went down to the end almost managing to make a bowl game and finish the season 5-7. Again sound familiar Gator fans? Coach Weeze is familiar with the Bulldogs and know just how dangerous this defense is.

"I remember all to well how good that defense is and it has only gotten better. Last week we saw the potential that is the Georgia Bulldogs as they bullied the Volunteers. A team that wrecked us pretty good. So I can assure you not a single person on my staff, or those young men on the field expect this game to be a pushover. They are for sure better than their record and they need this win as badly as we do." Coach Weeze said to local media ahead of the game on Saturday.

 

Georgia sits at 4-5 and just over Florida in the SEC East rankings. This is the final SEC game for both teams so a win for Florida at least could see the Gators end was the season above Georgia for whatever that is worth. But as the coach said, they are for sure better than their record indicates and could easily still see a bowl game with a loss to Florida. UGA is third in points allowed, but first in total yards allowed, second in Pass yards allowed, and second in Rushing yards allowed. But more than that, they are very discipline on both sides of the ball. Only Auburn has fewer penalties than the Bulldogs. Coach Sarge is for sure building a very scary team who could be doing some serious damage in the seasons to come.

 

If they can figure out their offense. Last week, we saw an explosive Georgia offense. That alone is enough to make these Florida Coaches nervous. They have not been great consistently keeping opponents off the board. We've already establish that the UGA defense is tough, but to play a tough defense as well as battling an offense that is able to score at will? Gator fans are already praying last week was a fluke. Despite their 34-19 win over the favorites to win the East, UGA has the second worst scoring offense in the SEC with 104 points. A significant stat to watch as the Gators have the 5th worst scoring defense in the SEC. Compared to the Gators at 6th total offense, the Bulldogs are ranked 8th in total yards. Again, important to watch as the Gators ranked 10th in yards allowed. Will Outman has had a rough season, completing 53% of his passes, and a 12:10 touchdown-interception ratio. But his 2354 passing yards sees Georgia ranked 6th in the SEC. This could be the stat that wins Florida the game. If their top rank passing defense can find away to force turnovers, and keep Outman off the board, it could allow their own offense enough time to score. UGA does not have a strong rushing game, but Florida has only manage to stop the run twice this season. Lets hope this balances out to meh at best.

 

This could be a really good game if both teams play up to their potential. Florida and Georgia both have similar stats in a lot of areas, seem to cancel each other out in others, its everything you could want in a rivalry game. Both teams need the win with Florida on the verge of missing out on a bowl game, UGA not far behind. Both are trying to find a way to encourage recruits to join this program and this could be a big statement win for either team why recruits should join them. Both teams are trying to show the rest of the SEC they have turned a corner and ready to take the next step next season. Saturday can not get here fast enough for either of these teams.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Weeze

[Sarge]

Incredible piece of media, probably the best this year in the conference. Thanks for the excellent write-up and best of luck tomorrow.

 

Also Florida smells.

[Weeze]

Thank you! I wanted to try a new format for how I did media since it has been a couple weeks. I really liked it and might carry this over into next season. It’s easier now to give better in-depth analysis with the stats for everyone on the interface. I keep my own but to compare with everyone else like I did. I’d like to try conference media pieces here and there next season as well